(Tall Ornamental Onion)

One of a host of alliums native to Central Asia, this ornamental onion bears large globular heads of star-shaped flowers on tall stems in late spring. The cultivar 'Mount Everest' has snow-white flowers. The long, strap shaped, grayish-green leaves wither as the flowering stems appear. The leaves, stems, and bulbs carry the typical "onion scent".

Plant the bulbs in autumn at a depth three times their height in fertile well-drained soil and full sun. Lift and divide the clumps only when they become...

(Chinese Chives)

There are lots of reasons to love and hate garlic chives, also called Chinese chives. On the upside, they’re easy to grow, attractive and delicious to eat. The downside is they're impossibly invasive if one doesn't remove their flower heads before they set and drop seed. Each seedhead produces copious amounts of viable, black, wedge-shaped seeds that germinate fast. You’ll be weeding baby garlic chives out of every garden nook and cranny. The plants originate from Southwest China but have become...

(Oneleaf Garlic)

This ornamental onion, a bulbous perennial, is grown for its showy dense umbels of star-shaped lavender-pink flowers, which bloom in the late spring. Strappy, blue-green leaves wither before the flowers emerge. Alliums belong to the onion family and thus all have the familiar pungent fragrance when their leaves or stems are crushed. Allium unifolium is native to California, where it grows in full sun and well-draining, often sandy soil.

In the fall, plant this bulb two inches deep in well-drained...

(Italian Alder)

Glossy heart-like leaves and the persistent brown seed fruits make Italian alder a great shade tree with multi-season interest and grace. An upright deciduous tree that does not get too wide, it hails from southern Italy and Corsica. Its barks becomes light gray-sandy brown with shallow fissures and small plates, often blotched.

In early spring this tree flowers. The male flowers are in drooping, finger-like clusters called catkins and are yellow-green. The female flower are small and red and...

(European Alder)

Black alder is a medium-sized, fast-growing, deciduous tree native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa, but has naturalized in other regions including the northeastern and central United States. It bears handsome, glossy, dark-green leaves from spring to fall, and its catkins provide mild interest in winter and early spring.

Requiring sun but thriving in most soils, it excels as a shade or screening tree in sites that are too damp or barren for other trees. It may be invasive in some...

(Cutleaf European Alder)

Black alder is a medium-sized, fast-growing, deciduous tree native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa, but has naturalized in other regions including the northeastern and central United States. It bears handsome, glossy, dark-green leaves from spring to fall, and its catkins provide mild interest in winter and early spring.

Requiring sun but thriving in most soils, it excels as a shade or screening tree in sites that are too damp or barren for other trees. It may be invasive in some...

(European Alder)

Black alder is a medium-sized, fast-growing, deciduous tree native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa, but has naturalized in other regions including the northeastern and central United States. It bears handsome, glossy, dark-green leaves from spring to fall, and its catkins provide mild interest in winter and early spring.

Requiring sun but thriving in most soils, it excels as a shade or screening tree in sites that are too damp or barren for other trees. It may be invasive in some...

(Japanese Alder)

Glossy green leaves and the persistent brown seed fruits make Japanese alder a great shade tree with a broad adaptability to landscape soils and moisture. A pyrimad-shaped deciduous tree that does not get too wide, it hails from Japan, Korea and China's Manchuria. Its barks becomes light gray-sandy brown with shallow fissures.

In early spring this tree flowers. The male flowers are in drooping, finger-like clusters called catkins and are yellow-brown. The female flower are small and purplish...

(White Alder)

White alder is a large, fast growing, short-lived, deciduous tree native to the western United States. It bears glossy, nearly diamond-shaped, dark green leaves from spring to fall. Its catkins provide mild interest from winter and early spring. White alder grows best in sites with full sun but also excels as a shade tree. It thrives in most soils and grows will in sites that are too damp or barren for many other trees.

(Candelabra Aloe, Tree Aloe)

While it takes many years for this branched, tree-like evergreen to reach full size, it’s absolutely fabulous in the meantime. Eventually growing to well above head height, this native of southern Africa bears rosettes of long, succulent, dagger-shaped leaves a candelabra of stems. The grayish green leaves have saw-toothed edges. In winter or early spring, long stalks topped with conical clusters of red tubular flowers arise from the leaf rosettes. Some plants have yellow blooms. Adapted for pollination...