(Eastern Larch, Tamarack)

Illuminating the fall landscape with golden yellow needles, tamarack reaches skyward with its tall, open-branched, pyramid-like form. A tree native to much of Canada and the far northern United States, it is a relatively slow-growing deciduous conifer that thrives where soils are moist and summers cool. It is often found growing in bogs alongside wild blueberries and cranberries.

The needles are green to blue-green, short, three-sided and arranged in spiraled clusters atop short stubby spurs....

(Blue Sparkler Eastern Larch, Eastern Larch)

Brightening the landscape with a dense foliar display of light blue-green needles, Blue Sparkler dwarf tamarack also heralds fall with golden yellow needles. Native to much of Canada and the extreme northern United States, this variety was selected by Sid Waxman of the University of Connecticut. It is a vigorous, dwarfed, deciduous shrub that will become broader than tall.

The needles are bright blue-green, short, three-sided and arranged densely in spiral clusters atop short stubby spurs. The...

(Deborah Waxman Eastern Larch, Eastern Larch)

A compact, conical dwarf shrub, the blue-green needles of Deborah Waxman dwarf tamarack turn coppery gold in autumn. Native to much of Canada and the extreme northern United States, this variety was selected by Sid Waxman of the University of Connecticut. It is a very slow growing, dwarf, deciduous cone-bearing shrub with dense branches and needled foliage.

The needles are bright blue-green, short, three-sided and arranged densely in spiral clusters atop short stubby spurs. The branchlets are...

(Eastern Larch, Lanark Eastern Larch)

Brightening the landscape with a dense foliar display of light green needles on yellow branchlets, Lanark dwarf tamarack also heralds fall with golden yellow needles. Native to much of Canada and the extreme northern United States, it is a slow growing, dwarfed, deciduous shrub that will become round and chest-high with time.

The needles are bright green, short, three-sided and arranged densely in spiral clusters atop short stubby spurs. The thin, yellowy, young branchlets are held up and out...

(Eastern Larch, Newport Beauty Eastern Larch)

A tiny, dense foliar balled shrub teeming with blue-green needles, Newport Beauty dwarf tamarack also greets fall with golden yellow foliage. Native to much of Canada and the extreme northern United States, it's a dense, dwarf, deciduous conifer that very slowly becomes a rounded mass.

The needles are mildly blue-green, short, three-sided and arranged densely in spiral clusters atop short stubby spurs. The short, young branchlets are held out from the dense congestion of foliage. With considereable...

(Siberian Larch)

A tall and narrow tree with somewhat upward-held branches, the Siberian larch has finely textured, soft needles that become yellow in autumn and drop before winter. From the mountains of Europe eastward into northern and central Asia, this cone-bearing tree is deciduous with a sienna brown bark that is scaly and lightly ridged. With age it attains a very narrow pyramidal shape.

In spring the thin yellow-gray branches fill with short, soft, light green needles that have two white bands on their...

(Sweetpea)

The sweet pea is an old favorite annual vine prized for the color and fragrance of its flowers. The blooms of this Mediterranean native have three distinctive parts: a large broad upper petal (banner), two smaller central petals (wings), and a large protruding central petal (keel). All sweet peas on the market are heavily bred and cultivated and come in all colors except true yellow. Doubles and those with ruffled petals are also available. The fruit is a flattened pea pod.

This easy to grow...

(Sicilian Sweetpea, Sweetpea)

This is a very old sweet pea cultivar. In fact, its namesake is Father Francis Cupani, the seventeenth century Sicilian monk said to have selected and cultivated this fine sweet pea.

The colorful and highly fragrant 'Cupani' is a delicate but vigorous annual vine. Its blooms have a deep purple-red broad upper petal (banner), two smaller violet-purple central petals (wings), and a protruding violet-purple central petal (keel). The fruit is a flattened pea pod.

This easy to grow vine climbs...

(Bog Labrador Tea, Labrador Tea)

Once you've encountered the green leaves with rolled edges and fuzzy tan undersides, you'll likely never forget the Labrador tea shrub. This broadleaf evergreen has an open, rounded to spreading shape. It's native to the peaty soils and cool bogs of North America from Greenland to Alaska southward across Canada into the northern United States. In some American states it has become an endangered species.

The densely woolly twigs have long oval leaves, mainly arranged alternately but often in whorl-like...

(Marsh Labrador Tea, Muskeg Tea, Wild Rosemary)

Circumboreal in origin, wild rosemary is a plant of the Northern latitudes, bringing white blossoms to rocky terrain normally cloaked in lichen and moss. More prostrate in habit with some upright but spreading stems, this small mounding shrub is native to lands around the North Pole, including northern Europe and Siberia, and Greenland, Canada and Alaska in North America. Plants are usually buried under snow in winter and grow and bloom in the short summer when snow has fully melted away.

The...