(Harrington's Plum Yew, Korean Gold Plum Yew)

Harrington's plum yew is a needled evergreen shrub or small tree with an upright to arching and spreading habit. This native of Korea and Japan is yew-like in appearance and has glossy, flattened dark green needles with silvery bands on their undersides. It is technically coniferous, but much like true yews its round fruits have a fleshy, purple-red exterior. Fruits only exist on female plants and appear in late summer to fall.

Plum yew grows well in sandy, well drained soil. Where climates...

(Harrington's Plum Yew, Prostrate Plum Yew, Spreading Plum Yew)

This is an elegant, underused needled evergreen for the landscape. Prostrate plum yew has a spreading habit and attractive arching branches. It is yew-like in appearance and has glossy, flattened dark green needles with silvery bands on their undersides. Though technically coniferous, its round fruits have a fleshy, purple-red exterior, much like that of true yews. Fruits only exist on female plants and appear in late summer to fall.

Plum yew grows well in sandy, well drained soil. Where climates...

(Harrington's Plum Yew, Spreading Plum Yew)

This East Asian native is a wide-spreading evergreen conifer with flat, dark green, sharply pointed needles. Plants with female flowers produce edible fruits that resemble small plums.

Spreading plum yew thrives in partial shade (or full sun in cool climates) and moist, well drained soil, and is an attractive feature plant that also works well in masses. This tough conifer is more tolerant of heat, shade, and alkaline soils than many conifers, ideally suiting it for regions such as the southern...

(Snow-in-Summer)

Snow-in-Summer is an easy-care, mat-forming perennial that flowers so profusely in sproing that it resembles a drift of snow. This is a rampantly-spreading plant with small, wooly silver leaves that can persist through a mild winter. In spring, a carpet of clear white, star-shaped flowers with button centers rise above the leave on short stems and cover the plant into summer.

Grow Snow-in-Summer in full sun and average well-drained soil, A native of Italy and Sicily, it tolerates hot, dry conditions....

(Snow-in-Summer)

Tough and hardy, snow-in-summer is a vigorous, mat-forming perennial native to Italy. Its low-growing, fine, wooly, silver-gray leaves often persist through winter. In late spring to early summer, it blooms showily with five-petalled, star-like white flowers on stalks, covering the plant so densely that it resembles a mound of snow. This selection, ‘Columnae,’ lifts the flowers slightly higher than the parent species. The flowers draw many pollinators.

Give ‘Columnae’ full sun and average to poor...

(Silver Carpet Snow-in-Summer, Snow-in-Summer)

Tough and hardy, snow-in-summer is a vigorous, mat-forming perennial native to Italy. Its low-growing, fine, wooly, silver-gray leaves often persist through winter. In late spring to early summer, it blooms showily with five-petalled, star-like white flowers on stalks, covering the plant so densely that it resembles a mound of snow. This selection, ‘Silver Carpet,’ lifts the flowers slightly higher than the parent species. The flowers draw many pollinators.

Give ‘Silver Carpet’ full sun and average...

(Bell Flower Cherry)

Filling its branches with dense clusters of pink to deep pink-red flowers in late winter, the Taiwan cherry is a fantastic tree for warm winter regions where traditional flowering cherry trees grow poorly. A deciduous cherry tree that has an oval but spreading canopy, it is native to the mid-elevations of southern China, Taiwan, southern Japan and Vietnam.

In late winter to early spring while the branches are still leafless, they fill with flowers. Each flower hangs downward and resembles a bell...

(St. John's Bread)

The carob tree offers deep shade for warm, dry climates. It is native to the eastern Mediterranean where winters are mild and wet and succeeded by a very long, dry season. Adapted to poor, rocky ground that is well drained, it solves a landscaping challenge in the sandy-gravelly soils of desert gardens. This is a medium-sized evergreen tree with dense branching and large, glossy, leathery leaves.

The Carob tree blooms in spring with small flowers that release a pungent scent. They are followed...

(Blue Leadwort, Plumbago)

Blue leadwort is a deciduous perennial from western China. Foliage emerges in late spring, followed by true blue phlox-like flowers summer. In fall the foliage turns a striking bronze-red.

The drought-tolerant perennial blue leadwort will perform best in rich, well-drained soil in full sun. Use it as a groundcover (even under a small tree), an edger, in a mixed border, or a rock garden. Blue leadwort is great for mixing with spring bulbs because its leaves emerge when bulbs are fading. In hot...

(Chinese Plumbago)

Chinese plumbago is a small twiggy shrub with an open habit and diamond-shaped apple green leaves. Valued for late season interest, it bears clusters of true blue flowers in late summer. Autumn brings a beautiful show of color with red to bronze foliage.

Tolerant of drought and poor soils, Chinese plumbago is a good candidate for banks and slopes. Small enough for the patio or container, this Chinese native looks best when grown in sun and lightly shaped before growth begins in the spring. It...