(Aristate Hollyfern, East Indian Hollyfern, Variegated East Indian Hollyfern)

The variegated East Indian holly fern has magnificent tapering green fronds with prominent midribs glowing in a pale yellow. This evergreen fern is usually found in dry woodlands among rocks near the coast from India, southeastern Asia into Polynesia and New Zealand. The leaves are long, quite stiff as if made from plastic and arise from a creeping rhizome.

Grow this fern in a shady spot in a moist but well-drained soil. Cold winters may render the plant deciduous, with new fronds arising in...

(East Indian Holly Fern, Indian Holly Fern , Simplicior Holly Fern)

This attractive, fern produces broad triangular fronds directly from scaly creeping rhizomes (lateral stems). Indian holly fern is native to China and Japan and is found in a wide variety or habitats from dry uplands to moist stream banks.

Indian holly is clumping to spreading. The rhizomes scales are brown to tan and the leaf stalks green. The large triangular shiny leaves are evergreen in mild climates and deciduous in colder zones. They are two to three times divided with each pinna (the...

(East Indian Holly Fern, Indian Holly Fern, Simplicior Holly Fern)

This attractive evergreen fern with broad triangular fronds that are deeply divided is useful for flower arrangements. 'Variegata' has deep green leaves with yellow along the midribs and burgundy tinges during the cool season. Native to China and Japan, it is well-suited to the woodland border or shaded rockery.

Plant the variegated simpler hollyfern in rich, moist soil for a nice ground cover or mix with other shade-loving plants. This perennial fern may die to ground in cold winters and resprout...

(American Spikenard)

American spikenard is a deciduous perennial with green compound leaves with delicate heart-shpaed leaflets. Ball clusters of white to greenish-white flowers on a tall spike in spring or summer. Tiny berries are formed and are dark purple or black. It spreads slowly by aromatic underground roots to create a colony.

Plant in moist, well-drained soils in full sun to partial shade. American spikenard makes a great addition to woodland gardens or naturalized areas with its bold presence.

(American Angelica Tree, Devil's Walking Stick, Hercules' Club)

This fierce plant is well named. Devil's walking stick is a suckering deciduous shrub to small tree with large, bold leaves that appear above nearly branchless stems covered with vicious thorny spines. In summer it produces striking plumes of creamy white flowers followed by showy clusters of black fruits on reddish stems.

This plant prefers full to part sun and is tolerant of a wide range of well drained soil types. Though it is a unwieldy to prune, it does make a bold statement in mixed borders...

(House Pine, Monkey Puzzle Tree)

Sparse, architecturally interesting branches laced with sharp, triangular needles makes monkey puzzle tree one of the more odd but entertaining trees for mild temperate zone landscapes. A tall evergreen tree native to the slopes of the Andes Mountains in Chile and Argentina, it has dark grayish brown bark and produces cones. It is pleasingly pyramid-shaped when young, looking like an artificial Christmas tree without the wiry needles yet extended. With time, its shape become tall with a rounded upper...

(Madrone, Madronio)

Madrone is a large round-headed tree with amazing smooth cinnamon colored bark that flakes from the trunk. Small white or pink flowers emerge in early summer on this tree native to the Pacific coast in the western United States. Red and orange fruits develop over the next year, ripening that second autumn. Bees pollinate the flowers.

Madrone is best suited to climates matching its native habitat. Acidic, well-drained soils in a climate that is cool and dry in summer and cool and wet in winter...

(Strawberry Tree)

The elegant strawberry tree is best distinguished by its highly ornamental fruits that turn from gold to red. It is a broad, upright large shrub or small tree native to southern European and the eastern Mediterranean with an adjunct population in Ireland. Like many members of the heath family (Ericaceae), it favors moist, rich, slightly acid soil but will also tolerate summer drought. Mature specimens adopt an appealing vase-shaped habit and gnarled branches.

Fully evergreen, ovate leaves of...

(Compact Strawberry Tree, Strawberry Tree)

The Compacta strawberry tree is a large shrub or small tree with white flowers that lead to ornamental red fruits. It is identical to the species except it will only reach one-half the mature size. The bark is gray and peeling, revealing a nice cinnamon brown layer on this southern European and eastern Mediterranean native plant. Often blooming in autumn, the urn-shaped flowers give rise to the gold and then red "strawberry" fruits the following autumn. Over time the trunk becomes gnarled and more...

(Bearberry, Emerald Carpet Bearberry, Kinnikinnick)

Many lawns in the American West were abandoned and replanted with this creeping, evergreen shrub to conserve water, and it has proven itself over the long term. It is a hybrid selection of Arctostaphylos uva ursi, which is native to a large range in Eurasia. The small, round green leaves of ‘Emerald Carpet’ are bone densely on twigs with characteristic sepia-colored, smooth bark that peels periodically as the plant ages. Growth is low and spreading, and becomes quite dense and uniform with...