(Louisa Silver Zebra Plant, Zebra Plant)

The popular zebra plant cultivar, 'Louisae', is much like the species but has a tighter, more compact habit and larger ornate striped leaves and yellow and red flowers. It is superior for container culture and better suited to smaller tropical landscapes.

Long loved as a houseplant, zebra plant is a beautiful tropical shrub with glossy dark green leaves striped with white. This robust shade lover is fully evergreen and originates from the humid jungles of Central and South America, so it thrives...

(Fiery Spike, Red Aphelandra)

Fiery scarlet, cockscomb-like flower heads top the red aphelandra in summer or fall. A frost tender evergreen shrub, it is native to the rainforests of northern South America and the West Indies. It becomes an upright-stemmed plant with a spreading habit.

The medium green leaves are flared ovals, having a waved wider midsection. Flowering in the warm months, often delayed into late summer or well into autumn, each stem tip forms an architectural "hand". It has a primary upward stem that bears...

(Baby Sun Rose, Heartleaf Ice Plant)

The small, heart-shaped leaves of baby sun rose contrast with its magenta-red, daisy-like flowers. This tender, succulent, creeping evergreen perennial is native to southern Africa.

The fleshy leaves are bright green, heart-shaped, and covered in very tiny hairs, and thus feel felt-like. The flowers, with many string-like petals surrounding a small, yellow-white eye, are the size of a large thumbnail and open only when the sun is shining. They are a rich magenta-red and attract butterflies.

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(Heartleaf Ice Plant, Red Apple Heartleaf Ice Plant)

The small leaves of ‘Red Apple’ heartleaf make a soft carpet and background below its daisy-like flowers. This tender, succulent, creeping, evergreen perennial is native to southern Africa.

The leaves are fleshy, heart-shaped, and covered by tiny hairs, and thus feel felt-like. The flowers, with many string-like petals surrounding a small yellow-white eye, are the size of a thumbnail and open only when the sun is shining. They are a rich red and attract butterflies.

Grow 'Red Apple' in full...

(Columbine)

Naturally small from the start, perennial columbine offers great flowers and the vigor of a wild plant for adding charm to protected beds and borders. It is native to woodlands of Japan and is little cultivated as a species in the west. The foliage bears three part lobed leaves of lush green that resemble that of maidenhair fern in shape and texture. They are more densely held at the base of the plant, feathering out as they rise to flower. While plants are attractive during the bloom season, the...

(Calimero Columbine, Columbine)

The nodding, lantern-like flowers of Aquilegia buergeriana ‘Calimero’ feature an outer ring of plum-purple sepals with long, reflexed, inward-curving spurs, contrasted with inner petals of soft, creamy yellow. A selection of a low-growing, woodland species native to Japan, ‘Calimero’ was chosen for its more intense flower coloration. The dainty blooms appear on finely-branched, wiry stems above compact mounds of lacy, blue-green foliage from mid-spring through early summer.

Performing...

(Aristate Hollyfern)

The East Indian holly fern has magnificent fronds of green arising from a furry brown creeping rhizome. 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 and seem made from plastic.

Grow this fern in a shady spot in a moist but well drained soil. Cold winters may find the plant deciduous and returning its fronds in spring. Once established, this fern can handle periods...

(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...

(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...

(Bunya Bunya Pine)

With shiny, prickly foliage concentrated in tufts at the ends of branches, bunya-bunya pine is known for its spiny, heavy cones that drop like bombs to the ground below. Only found naturally in the coastal and inland rainforests of Queensland, Australia, it is a tall evergreen tree that attains a triangular dome canopy at maturity. When youthful, the tree has a pyramid-like habit with a tall central leading tip. The leaves are dark green, brighter when new, and waxy, stiff and notably sharp at their...