(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...

(Chinese Plumbago, My Love 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...

(Kuster's Feather Cycad)

Bearing large, glossy, palm-like leaves on arching, spine-free petioles, this low-growing cycad makes an elegant addition to tropical gardens and greenhouses. It is a rare endemic of cloud forests in a small area of the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains in Tamaulipas, Mexico.

The long, feathery, rich-green leaves are spirally arranged atop a short, swollen, trunk-like stem. The numerous, narrow, blade-shaped leaflets are soft and pliant when new, becoming leathery and rigid with age. New leaves...

(Chinese Redbud)

Larger in leaf and flower than eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), this Chinese native makes a beautiful shrub or small tree for sun or light shade. The bright purple-pink pea-flowers cluster along the upright gray branches in mid-spring, before the large, glossy, heart-shaped leaves emerge. Abundant green seedpods follow the flowers, maturing to brown. The leaves turn dull yellow in fall.

Less cold hardy than eastern redbud, Cercis chinensis shares its preference for well-drained,...

(Avondale Redbud, Chinese Redbud)

When 'Avondale' came onto the scene, its small size meant that the beauty of the Chinese redbud would fit spaces and gardens too small for the species. A deciduous shrub or small tree native to China and Japan, Cercis chinensis is found thriving in a wide range of growing conditions. One aspect of its beauty lies in its leaves: rounded hearts that hang gracefully from fine, reddish stems. They are held on the upright gray branches of a vase shaped shrub or multiple-trunk tree.

The gorgeous...

(Chinese Redbud, Don Egolf Redbud)

Larger in leaf and flower than eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), this Chinese native makes a beautiful shrub or small tree for sun or light shade. The bright purple-pink pea-flowers cluster along the upright gray branches in mid-spring, before the large, glossy, heart-shaped leaves emerge. Abundant green seedpods follow the flowers, maturing to brown. The leaves turn dull yellow in fall.

Less cold hardy than eastern redbud, Cercis chinensis shares its preference for well-drained,...

(California Redbud, Western Redbud)

The drought tolerance and intense color make western redbud a top notch tree for dry gardens. It is native to the hill country of California, Arizona and Utah where the dry season can result in no rainfall for as long as six months a year. It prefers conditions from the toe of west facing foothill exposures to middle elevations. This prized member of the dry garden is a multi-stemmed tree in the wild, branching off a large underground woody crown. Its distinctive large heart-shaped leaves are often...

(Chain Flowered Redbud, Pendulous Redbud)

Having the pretty heart-shaped foliage common among all redbuds, this species is unique with its pendent clusters of light pink flowers in mid-spring. Chain flowered redbud is an attractive decidious tree from western China that has a rounded canopy, pretty as a dual-purposed specimen flowering and small shade tree in the landscape.

The grayed sandy brown bark of the branches becomes less interesting in mid-spring once the pastel pink flower buds and glossy light green new leaves emerge. Leaves...