(Italian Ivy, Poet's Ivy, Poetica Arborea Poet's Ivy)

English ivy is a hardy, evergreen vine or groundcover. As a vine, it attaches itself by aerial rootlets to masonry walls and other surfaces such as tree trunks.

European in origin, it has glossy, dark green leaves with a prominently lobed, maple-like shape. As plants grow aerially, they develop bushier, more mature growth and develop sharper, triangular leaves with no lobes. There are hundreds of cultivars are available, most with beautifully variegated leaves of various shapes, colors and sizes....

(Red Ginger Lily, Scarlet Butterfly Ginger, Scarlet Ginger)

Stiff, reed-like stems with large leaves are topped with a cluster of pale orange to scarlet flowers in the heat of summer and autumn. The scarlet ginger is a semi-evergreen tender perennial native to the low-elevation tropical mountains of the Himalayas to southern China and Burma. Growing from underground rhizomes, plants may be evergreen in hot tropical locales, but often die back from winter drought or frosts elsewhere. This herbaceous plant forms an upright, thick clump.

The long, lance-shaped...

(Butterfly Ginger, Butterfly Lily, White Garland Lily)

Grown for its intensely fragrant flowers that hover like butterflies atop tall leafy stems, this tender herbaceous perennial is native from the Himalayan foothills to Southeast Asia.

The head-high stems of butterfly ginger arise from shallow creeping rhizomes in spring. The stems bear two opposite ranks of long, rich green, canna-like leaves with downy undersides. In late spring and summer, white fluttery flowers open from cone-like clusters at the stem tips. Comprising a broad upright two-lobed...

(Yellow Ginger)

Stiff, reed-like stems with large leaves are topped with a cluster of pale to rich yellow flowers in summer and autumn. The yellow ginger is a semi-evergreen tender perennial native to Nepal and northeastern India. Growing from underground rhizomes, plants may be evergreen in hot tropical locales, but often die back from winter drought or frosts elsewhere. This herbaceous plant forms an upright, thick clump.

The long, lance-shaped leaves grow off of the upright stems. Crush the stem or leaves...

(Hornbill's Ginger, Perched Gingerwort)

A rare tropical perennial, the hornbill's ginger produces fiery, multicolored flowers that look like something between a pointy tiara and Medusa's head. Native to the foothill mountains of Malaysia, this tender perennial grows from fleshy rhizomes either on trees as an epiphyte or on moist rocks as a lithophyte. The rhizomes adhere to the rock or tree bark and then absorb moisture and nutrients from piles of decaying leaf and insect debris. Cultivated hornbill's ginger will thrive if grown in loose...

(Canterbury Palm)

Prized for its elegant feather-duster crown and its colorful trunk, this small to medium-sized, single-trunked palm makes an excellent architectural plant for cool moist subtropical gardens. It comes from mountain slopes on Lord Howe Island, in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

The evergreen, pinnate (feather-like) leaves arch from the apex of the slender but sturdy trunk, forming a plumy, domed crown. Each leaf has numerous rigid blade-shaped leaflets in two rows along a stout...

(Bitter Sneezeweed, Fine-leaved Sneezeweed, Yellowdicks )

Appearing along roadsides, meadows and the marginal open areas, yellowdicks or bitter sneezeweed is a modestly pretty wildflower with fine, needle-like leaves and bright yellow daisies. A perennial native to the eastern United States, it is tough, easy to grow and is not favored by foraging animals. In fact, dairy cows that have eaten even small amounts of bitter sneezeweed will develop bitter tasting milk.

The green to maroon stems of this wildflower are lined in long, thin, bright green leaves....

(Bitter Sneezeweed, Dakota Gold Bitter Sneezeweed)

The pretty ‘Dakota Gold’ is a tidy yellow-flowered perennial that’s easy to grow and carefree. It has fine, needle-like leaves and bright yellow daisies. This cultivar has a more compact, spreading habit than wild forms, so it is ideal for edging and containers.

The green to maroon stems of bitter sneezeweed are lined in long, thin, bright green leaves. From midsummer to frost, they become covered with bright yellow daisies. Each has a large, bulbous center of yellow or brown surrounded by a...

(Cucumberleaf Sunflower)

Tolerant of the high winds, aerosol salt, and sharply drained soils of beach and dune landscapes, beach sunflower is a lovely, resilient perennial for sunny landscapes. It naturally occurs along coastal regions from Maine to Texas. There are also populations along the beaches of the Great Lakes. Northern seedstock is hardier than southern. There plants may be low-growing and spreading or upright in habit, depending on the subspecies. There are eight in total including the upright Helianthus debilis...

(Curry Plant, Gold Strawflower)

Both the wispy, silver-gray foliage and golden yellow flowers of the curry plant are ornamental. Often confused with lavender when not in bloom, this tender perennial subshrub originates from the warm, rocky regions of southern Europe and Turkey. Where hardy, it survives as a low, shrubby evergreen, but it is most commonly grown as a bedding filler for containers and sunny flower gardens because its cool, neutral foliage compliments many brightly colored annuals.

Curry plant is densely branched...