(Basket Plant, Chain Plant, Inchplant)

Thin, fleshy leaves that are light green and purple line the sprawling, octopus-like stems of chain plant and small fragrant white flowers appear in late winter. A succulent tender perennial from Mexico, it can become a large mounded mass of foliage outdoors or a lovely hanging basket specimen as a houseplant.

The long, lance-shaped leaves are a bright green with edges thinly or messily lined in dark purple. The leaf undersides are usually this same deep purple hue. These leaves are spiraled...

(Crimson Bottlebrush)

Named and grown for its fuzzy spikes of bright red flowers, crimson bottlebrush is a large, spreading, evergreen shrub or small tree native to eastern Australia. It has stiff, flat, narrow, lance-shaped, green leaves which are coppery colored when young and which emit a lemony aroma when crushed. The flowers appear in heaviest abundance in spring and summer, attracting hummingbirds. The fruits are cup-shaped, small and woody and release hundreds of tiny seeds. The bark is gray to grayish brown in...

Named and grown for its fuzzy spikes of bright red flowers, crimson bottlebrush is a large, spreading, evergreen shrub or small tree native to eastern Australia. It has stiff, flat, narrow, lance-shaped, green leaves which are coppery colored when young and which emit a lemony aroma when crushed. The flowers appear in heaviest abundance in spring and summer, attracting hummingbirds. The fruits are cup-shaped, small and woody and release hundreds of tiny seeds. The bark is gray to grayish brown in...

(Compact Crimson Bottlebrush, Crimson Bottlebrush)

Named and grown for its fuzzy spikes of bright red flowers, crimson bottlebrush is a large, spreading, evergreen shrub or small tree native to eastern Australia. It has stiff, flat, narrow, lance-shaped, green leaves which are coppery colored when young and which emit a lemony aroma when crushed. The flowers appear in heaviest abundance in spring and summer, attracting hummingbirds. The fruits are cup-shaped, small and woody and release hundreds of tiny seeds. The bark is gray to grayish brown in...

(Erect Bottlebrush, Rigid Bottlebrush)

New leaves are light yellow-green and fuzzy but then mature to dark green and stiff on the stiff bottlebrush. It is showiest anytime from very late winter into late summer when branch tips are crimson-red spikes of bristled flowers. This evergreen large shrub is native to east-central Australia in Queensland and New South Wales. Its branches are a ghostly gray-beige with mildly corky dark sandy brown bark.

The dark green leaves are stiff and linear to lance-shaped although when first emerging...

(Clemson Hardy Bottlebrush, Red Cluster Bottlebrush)

Fuzzy new leaves are light yellow-green and rose but then mature to dark green and stiff on the Red Cluster bottlebrush. Botanical known as 'Clemson Hardy', it is showiest anytime from very late winter into late summer when branch tips have crimson-red spikes of bristled flowers. This evergreen large shrub is native to east-central Australia in Queensland and New South Wales. Its branches are a ghostly gray-beige with mildly corky dark sandy brown bark.

The dark green leaves are stiff and linear...

(Weeping Bottlebrush)

Usually grown as a small multi-stemmed tree or large shrub, this narrow-leaved evergreen from eastern Australia has weeping branches that produce fuzzy clusters of bright red flowers in spring and sporadically thereafter. Its light-green leaves are flushed with bronze when new. Several cultivars are available, including the dwarf 'Little John'.

Grow weeping bottlebrush in full sun and well-drained fertile soil. A nice specimen tree for the border or patio, it can also be massed for screening....

(Little John Dwarf Bottlebrush, Weeping Bottlebrush)

Often grown as a small multi-stemmed tree, weeping bottlebrush is a narrow-leaved evergreen native to eastern Australia. Its dwarf cultivar 'Little John' offers the same bright red fuzzy flower clusters but on a dwarf, dense, rounded shrub. The hummingbird-attracting flowers continue through much of the year. The blue-green leaves are flushed with bronze when new.

Grow 'Little John' in full sun and well-drained fertile soil. A nice specimen tree for the border or patio, it can also be used as...

(China Aster)

China aster is a bushy annual that is native to China. There are many varieties of flowers in this species which are classified as peony flowered, anemone flowered, ostrich feather and pompon. They bloom from summer to fall and come in a range of colors from purple, blue violet, crimson, rose pink, white or yellow. Often their stems can be somewhat crooked or open, adding to its visual peculiarity.

Callistephus chinensis can be planted in loam or sandy soil in well drained conditions...

(Astoria Blue Aster, China Aster)

Midsummer starts the pretty and copious display of hundreds of violet-petaled daisies on the Astoria Blue China aster. A bushy but sturdy-stemmed annual, it is a native of China. Green foliage is topped by yellow-centered blossoms with pink-violet to lavender-violet petals, flowering a bit earlier in summer than other China asters. The large feathery flowers are held on knee-high mounding plants.

China aster can be planted in loam or sandy soil in well drained conditions and full sun. It needs...