(Dwarf Fan Columbine, Silver Edge Columbine)

The sweet violet-blue and white flowered fan columbine 'Silver Edge' has variegated foliage that stands out most early in the season and fades as the summer progresses.

Fan columbine is a small clump-forming alpine perennial that’s well adapted to partial sun. It is a Japanese native that forms an attractive small mound of blue-green foliage streaked and edged with silvery white. The delicate leaves are three-parted and have scalloped edges. Despite its small size it offers a nice floral show....

(Columbine, Longspur Columbine)

Named and renowned for its exceptionally long-spurred yellow flowers, this elegant, hardy perennial comes from moist canyons and ravines in uplands of Texas, Arizona, and northern Mexico.

Ferny clumps of lacy, three-parted leaves appear in spring, dying back to a few wisps in summer. In early to midsummer, tall branched stems bear dainty, erect to horizontal flowers with five propeller-shaped petals, a starry collar of five pointed sepals, and five whiskery, spreading, 3- to 7-inch (7- to...

(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...

(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...

(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 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...