(Rockrose)

A dense low evergreen shrub with handsome foliage and vivid flowers, this hybrid of two western Mediterranean rockroses is an excellent choice for dryland gardens. Masses of luminous magenta-red blooms cover the plant in late spring and early summer. The unblotched, five-petaled blooms have a tuft of orange stamens at their center. Narrowly oval sage-green leaves are paired along the spreading branches.

This sun-loving shrub likes well drained soil and needs relatively dry summers. It resents...

(Rockrose, Sunset Rockrose)

This is a groundcover selection of orchid rockrose that is proving to be reliable for massing and covering a slope. A hybrid, ‘Sunset’ is the result of crossing pink-flowered Cistus albidius with the less hardy, magenta-flowered Cistus crispus to yield a richly-colored low-growing plant. Both parent species are native to southern Europe and adapted to the Mediterranean climate of mild wet winters and very long dry summers that has produced some of our most attractive drought-resistant...

(Skanberg's Rockrose)

This demure, pink-flowered rockrose is a prized, evergreen shrub for dry cottage gardens. It is a hybrid of Cistus parviflorus with Cistus monspeliensis, both native to southern Europe and adapted to a Mediterranean climate of mild, wet winters combine and long, dry summers, a combination that has produced some of our most attractive drought-resistant plants.

Though small, this shrub was once highly valued by Old World perfumers for the oil in its gray-green aromatic leaves....

(Amelia Clematis, Clematis)

The upright-growing, non-vining ‘Amelia’ produces 3-inch-wide (8 cm) flowers in late summer to early fall. The six-petaled blossoms are a pale pink-lavender and surround a bright yellow crown of stamens.

This hybrid clematis is a hardy deciduous woody vine that doesn't really climb and clasp in a traditional sense but grows upright. The stems are lined with green compound leaves that appear in spring. The large flowers appear from summer to fall and are followed by fluffy clusters of silvery...

(Avant-Garde Clematis, Clematis)

The dark blood-red (or violet-red) flowers of the Avante-Garde clematis are gloriously contrasted by a central tuft of pink stamens in their centers. The high number of stamens creates the illusion of a double-form blossom. This cultivar was selected by Raymond Evison and Mogens Olesen in their British Channel Islands garden in the summer of 1996.

Hybrid clematis is a hardy deciduous woody vine that climbs by twining stems. The vines are lined with green compound leaves that appear in spring....

(Gloryblower, Mexican Hydrangea)

With handsome, glossy, plump heart-shaped leaves, cashmere bouquet steals the show in summer with clustered flower-balls of fragrant, dark and light pink blossoms. A subropical, semi-woody, deciduous shrub that very aggresively spreads out roots to become a thicket, it is native to eastern India, Burma and southwestern China. The leaves emerge with a purple tint, unfurling into a large, obese, heart-shaped blade with a semi-glossy dark green color. The edges are lined with many short, soft teeth....

(Glorybower)

Lovely long, white, tubular flowers and colorful red and blue seeds makes the starfish clerodendrum among the most beautiful large shrubs in the tropical garden. A fast growing, and relatively short-lived shrub, it is native to the island of Sulawesi (Celebes) in Indonesia. Its leaves are smooth, glossy and handsomely green with deep veins. In late spring, the branch tips fill with clusters of pinkish, pleated flowerbuds that are very pretty, and soon thereafter the long, white flower tubes emerge...

(Pagoda Flower)

Pagoda flower has big, maple-like, glossy green leaves that accentuate the large, vivid, orange-red flowers in a long-lasting, dome shaped cluster at the tips of stems throughout spring and summer. Native to southeastern Asia from southern China to Malaysia, this is a frost-tender, suckering, evergreen, multi-stemmed shrub. The bright green foliage is large and obviously veined, with three to five short lobes, resembling those of a maple tree. At anytime of year, but more reliably in the warmest...

(Pagoda Flower)

Pagoda flower has big, maple-like, glossy green leaves that accentuate the large, vivid, orange-red flowers in a long-lasting, dome shaped cluster at the tips of stems throughout spring and summer. Native to southeastern Asia from southern China to Malaysia, this is a frost-tender, suckering, evergreen, multi-stemmed shrub. The bright green foliage is large and obviously veined, with three to five short lobes, resembling those of a maple tree. At anytime of year, but more reliably in the warmest...

(Shooting Star, Starburst Clerodendrum)

This is one of the tropic's most beautiful flowering shrubs. Large, dark-green and burgundy leaves are the backdrop for firework-resembling, pink and white flower clusters in late winter and early spring. A large, frost-tender shrub from the Philippines, shooting star is typically evergreen but will lose foliage if the dry season is exceptionally cool or dry. The leaves can grow quite long, being oval to oblong in shape, a dull, dark green above with a glossy, purple to burgundy underside.

Depending...