(Mesquite, Velvet Mesquite)

Native to arid regions of southern Arizona and northern Mexico, this shrubby deciduous tree forms a dense low crown of wickedly spiny branches. Cultivated plants are sometimes limbed up to expose their trunks.

This relatively cold-hardy desert native bears feathery blue green leaves on its spreading to arching branches. Fluffy clusters of tiny yellow sweet-scented flowers appear in spring, attracting honeybees and other pollinators. The edible fruits are large tan pods containing protein-rich...

(Pink Ice Protea, Protea)

Cold hardiness and beautiful pink and black flowers are the hallmarks of the hybrid, 'Pink Ice.' A cross between the South African natives, mink protea (Protea neriifolia) and stink-leaf sugarbush (P. susannae), this evergreen is an upright to loosely rounded shrub that blooms in fall and winter. Its stellar blooms are beautiful when cut and last for two to three weeks in a vase.

The narrow, oval foliage of this shrub is medium green with a leathery, hard texture. When fall...

(Mink Protea, Oleanderleaf Protea, Protea)

The spectacularly large flowers of the mink protea are both alluring and provocative with their papery pink bracts edged in feathery black. Native to South Africa, this upright evergreen shrub blooms in fall and winter. When cut, flowers last in bouquets for about three weeks.

The medium green leaves of this shrub are elongated and elliptical with smooth edges and a leathery, hard surface texture. As the days shorten and temperatures cool in fall and winter, the leaf edges blush red or rosy...

(Protea, Waboom, Wagon Tree)

This is a South African shrub with many uses, both functional and ornamental. In Africa waboom was traditionally used to tan leather, make ink, and construct wagon brake blocks and wheel rims, but this compact protea is also an ornate small tree with large, ivory flowers and pleasing blue-green foliage. It is native to the dry slopes and screes of South Africa where it often attains a gnarled, picturesque habit. In its native habitat, it has become adapted to cyclical fall brush fires followed by...

(Dapple Dandy Pluot, Plum Apricot Hybrid)

In very early spring, the upright branches of the Dapple Dandy plumcot (a plum and apricot blend) are flocked with single, five-petaled white blossoms that become delicious edible fruits in late summer. A hybrid fruit-bearing tree with ornamental qualities, the plumcot results by crossing an apricot (Prunus armeniaca)with a plum (Prunus domestica) that shows slightly more apricot qualities than those of plum, thus sometimes called by the trademarked name of Pluot™.

The branches...

(Chinese Apricot Plum Hybrid, Hanska Plumcot)

Robust, vigorous, pretty when in bloom, the Hanska plumcot bears red, firm-fleshed fruits in the latter half of summer. This hardy deciduous tree was introduced by Dr. Niels Hansen in 1908 in Brookings, South Dakota as a cross between the American wild plum (Prunus americana)and the Chinese apricot (Prunus simonii), known commonly as a plumcot. This tall, round-canopied tree has slightly spreading branches, allowing it a dual purpose of a small yard shade tree as well as for fruit...

(Dwarf Plum, Morris Plum)

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(Flowering Cherry, Snow Goose Flowering Cherry)

In early to mid-spring, the upright branches of ornamental cherry ‘Snow Goose’ are flocked with single, five-petaled white blossoms. These feature delicate, light pink stamens which gradually darken to deeper rose over time. Bright green leaves emerge as the flowering subsides, which in autumn turn to shades of yellow and gold with flashes of red. Small, inedible, blue-black fruits may occasionally develop following bloom. This deciduous small tree possesses an upright form which becomes more...

(Plum, Toka Plum)

A robust and productive plum tree perfect for both ornamental and fruit use, 'Toka' bears pretty white springtime flowers followed by sweet but spicy red fruits in late summer. A hybrid small deciduous tree, it was developed by the South Dakota Experimental Station in 1911. It abundantly produces pollen as well, making it a great tree for pollination of other plum cultivars in an orchard.

Flowering with pale silvery-blue to white blossoms in early spring prior to new leaves emerging, 'Toka' is...

(Apricot)

This deciduous fruit bearing tree is the parent of most modern apricot cultivars. Native to Northeast China, and introduced to cultivation there more than 3,000 years ago, the apricot reached southeastern Europe via Armenia or Persia in about 70 BC. It was later introduced to Spain by the Arabs. It arrived in England and the eastern United States in the seventeenth century; Spanish missionaries brought it to California in the eighteenth century. Few selections were made until the nineteenth century....