(Blue Rock Bindweed, Ground Morning Glory)

Beautiful purplish blue or pink morning glory flowers cover this trailing perennial subshrub in the heat of summer. Ground morning glory is native to the Mediterranean regions of North Africa and Italy where it naturally grows along rocky, limestone cliff faces and ground along the seaside. Its tough natural environment enables it to withstand difficult garden spots with hot sun, drought, wind, salt-spray and alkaline soils.

This low, ground-hugging plant is fully evergreen where hardy. Its...

(Ground Morning Glory)

A dense, freely flowering morning glory selection for the perennial or annual border, 'Moroccan Beauty' is a compact, sprawling tender perennial from the western Mediterranean that bears an ongoing display of petite, light blue-violet, trumpet-shaped flowers from spring until frost. The small rounded green to gray-green leaves are evergreen except in the coldest of winters. The trailing stems are woody at the base.

Although tolerating a wide range of conditions, this tough perennial does best...

(Ground Morning Glory)

Ground morning glory is a diminutive, non-twining tender perennial native to North Africa, Spain and Italy. The trailing branches bear very small, hairy, roundish leaves. Trumpet-shaped, flaring, morning glory flowers are violet-blue and stay open for a few days. The tidy plant is covered with blooms from early summer through frost.

Ground morning glory is a tough plant which reliably flowers in many conditions. Plant it in loose, gravelly, well-drained soil and full sun. It is drought-tolerant,...

(Dwarf Morning Glory)

The dwarf morning glory bears deep royal blue, funnel-shaped flowers marked with yellow and white above a spreading mound of emerald green leaves. This bushy, tender perennial is short-lived, so it is most commonly planted as an annual. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin where winters are cool and wet and summers warm and dry.

Narrow oval or lance-shaped leaves cover the bushy plant. At the peak of summer, it bears many funnel-shaped flowers that are royal blue with white streaks and yellow...

(Dwarf Morning Glory)

Grown for its summer-long display of deep blue, funnel-shaped flowers, 'Blue Enchantment' is a selection of Convolvulus tricolor, a low, mounding, short-lived perennial from the Mediterranean Basin. It is usually cultivated as an annual.

Narrow oval or lance-shaped leaves cover the bushy plant. The short-lived flowers have five fused petals which spread at the tips, forming a pentagonal "face." An egg-yolk-yellow throat surrounded by a starburst of radiating white feather-marks ornaments...

(Anacahuita, Texas Olive)

Texas olive is an attractive small tree with great drought tolerance, rough sandpapery leaves and wonderful ivory-white flowers. Native to Mexico and Texas and New Mexico in the United States, it can have a varied habit. In more desert conditions it tends to be a sprawling shrub, but in a garden setting where there is average and consistent moisture a nice small rounded tree will develop. It will become a deciduous plant in areas with a definite cold or very dry winter.

The outstanding feature...

(Muyuyo, Peruvian Cordia, Yellow Cordia, Yellow Geiger)

Yellow Geiger's arching branches produce showy clusters of funnel-shaped, cheerful yellow flowers when temperatures are warm. Native to western Ecuador, Peru and the Galapagos Islands, this evergreen tree may grow more like a spreading, floppy shrub. It naturally inhabits arid slopes and is tolerant of drought and salt spray. The trunk is often obscured by the bushy canopy, but the sandy gray bark underneath has an exfoliating texture.

The large rounded to oval leaves are matte green with slightly...

(Cordyline, Festival Grass Cordyline)

This fabulous purple grass-like perennial is all the rage with modern designers. Great form and intense color mean it gets well noticed in any setting. The genus of sword leaf plants (Cordyline) is indigenous to Australia and New Zealand where this and many more of the contemporary hybrids have originated. They are quite similar to the Phormium, offer a more relaxed form and shorter stature. Over time, the original rosette of a plant will branch at the base increasing its overall...

(Cabbage Tree, Cordyline)

A New Zealand native, cabbage tree is a fast growing woody evergreen with long sword-shaped leaves. The upper leaves are erect or arching; the lower leaves droop. Large panicles of small fragrant white flowers appear on mature plants in late spring and summer, followed by small white blue-tinged fruits. Although it can form a small palm-like tree, it is often grown as a shrub or container plant.

Cordyline grows best in deep, well-drained soil in full sun, and will tolerate alkaline soils. Use...

(Cabbage Tree, Cordyline, Dracaena, Red Sensation Cordyline)

Red Sensation cabbage tree is a fast growing woody plant native to New Zealand that can be grown as a palm-like shrub or a small tree. Its narrow, swordlike upper leaves remain erect while the lower leaves in the tip cluster droop. Panicles of fragrant white flowers appear in late spring, followed by small white or blue fruits.

'Red Sensation' is grown for its dulled purple-burgundy leaves and is often used for height and texture in annual container plantings. Cordyline grows best in deep,...