(Rockcress)

Usually pest-free and blooming in many shades of pink in mid to late spring, hybrid rockcress creates a delicate show in an alpine setting. This mat-forming, evergreen, short-lived perennial resulted from the cross of the vigorous wall rockcress (Arabis caucasica) with Arabis aubrietioides. The small leaves are held in loose rosettes. Each blade is an oval with small teeth and may range in color from medium green to gray-green, with or without tiny hairs. The small flowers, appearing...

(Compinkie Rockcress, Rockcress)

The long-blooming rockcress, ‘Compinkie’, produces a mat of tiny, fuchsia-pink flowers in mid to late spring. This colorful rock garden favorite is a cross between two alpines, the vigorous wall rockcress (Arabis caucasica) and Arabis aubrietioides. It is a short-lived perennials and is evergreen to semi-evergreen.

Its small, oval, light gray-green leaves are slightly hairy and held in loose rosettes along the trailing stems. The small flowers appear in mid-spring in where...

(Aralia)

An immense herbaceous perennial that forms lusty luxuriant clumps of elegant foliage, this East Asian native is grown not only for ornament but also for its edible young shoots. The large airy pinnate (feather-shaped) leaves are held on tall stems, which in some forms are a striking dark purple. Clouds of small greenish white flowers hover above the foliage in late summer, followed by showy purple berry-like fruit.

Intolerant of drought and hot sun, this gargantuan perennial does best in partial...

(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...

(Pinemat Manzanita)

Within its range, this cold hardy carpet-like manzanita provides a valuable wild groundcover in areas challenged by lean acid soils and long periods without rain. It is found beneath the evergreen forests from Washington state to California where it can be the dominant vegetation. Depending on elevation these plants may become semi or wholly deciduous in winter. This mountain dweller is slow growing, bearing oval green leaves that gradually weaves itself through rocky outcroppings or spreads out...

(Bearberry, Kinnikinnick)

Drought tolerant and adaptable, bearberry, or kinnikinnick, is a spreading, mat-forming evergreen shrub typically grown as a groundcover. This super tough, plant is so cold tolerant that it naturally extends up into the farthest reaches of Alaska and northern Canada across into northern Eurasia. It has small, leathery, glossy leaves year-round and produces sweet clusters of pearly white to pale pink flowers in summer followed by bright red berries in late summer to fall. Its flowers attract bees,...

(Bearberry, Kinnikinnick, Massachusetts Bearberry)

Drought tolerant and adaptable, bearberry, or kinnikinnick, is a spreading, mat-forming evergreen shrub typically grown as a groundcover. This super tough, plant is so cold tolerant that it naturally extends up into the farthest reaches of Alaska and northern Canada across into northern Eurasia. It has small, leathery, glossy leaves year-round and produces sweet clusters of pearly white to pale pink flowers in summer followed by bright red berries in late summer to fall. Its flowers attract bees,...

(Bearberry, Kinnikinnick, Point Reyes Bearberry)

Drought tolerant and adaptable, bearberry, or kinnikinnick, is a spreading, mat-forming evergreen shrub typically grown as a groundcover. This super tough, plant is so cold tolerant that it naturally extends up into the farthest reaches of Alaska and northern Canada across into northern Eurasia. It has small, leathery, glossy leaves year-round and produces sweet clusters of pearly white to pale pink flowers in summer followed by bright red berries in late summer to fall. Its flowers attract bees,...

(Bearberry, Kinnikinnick, Vancouver Jade Bearberry)

Drought tolerant and adaptable, bearberry, or kinnikinnick, is a spreading, mat-forming evergreen shrub typically grown as a groundcover. This super tough, plant is so cold tolerant that it naturally extends up into the farthest reaches of Alaska and northern Canada across into northern Eurasia. It has small, leathery, glossy leaves year-round and produces sweet clusters of pearly white to pale pink flowers in summer followed by bright red berries in late summer to fall. Its flowers attract bees,...

(Corsican Sandwort)

Corsican sandwort is an extremely low, evergreen, mat-forming perennial with shiny, light-green, oval leaves. It is native to the islands of the western Mediterranean Sea, where the climate is hot and dry for half the year. From late spring into summer the plant is covered with small, star-like, white flowers. It reseeds itself freely and sometimes to the point of weediness.

Grow Corsican sandwort in sharply drained soil, such as sand, or loam with coarse aggregate mixed in. The soil should have...