Browse Plants

This subshrub from New Zealand has scalloped leaves that reach 3 inches across with 11 to 15 tiny, purple-brown to pale olive leaflets. Its rhizomatous roots spread in a mat to support this plant's wonderful ground-cover form. In early summer, the flower stems rise nearly 3 inches tall, ending with numerous 3/4-inch-wide flowers composed of brownish green sepals and white anthers. Purple sheep's burr spreads slowly until well established. It requires little attention, other than pruning every five years or so to tidy things up.

(3 user reviews)

This 2.5- to 3-feet-tall and 1.5-foot wide plant produces dense, flat clusters of golden yellow flowers above fern-like, silvery foliage starting in early summer.

(2 user reviews)

This rhizomic, mat-forming and aggressive perennial frows to 2 feet tall and wide with ferny, finely-textured, green foliage. Flowers are produced in flat corymbs in early to late summer.

(1 user review)

It's hard not to love this perennial. Its delightful blooms start out a deep reddish apricot, then mature to a pale salmon, and they are happy to mingle with any color. Smaller than most yarrows, 'Apricot Delight' has long-blooming flowers, which go from early to late summer with deadheading and are good for a vase.

(2 user reviews)

This popular gray-leaved yarrow has 18-inch-tall yellow flower heads that last for several weeks in late summer.

(1 user review)

Flat-topped corymbs of small, daisy-like flowers in colors of salmon-peach to yellow-orange are borne simultaneously on one plant up to 2 feet tall and wide. Flowers are complemented by silvery-green, finely-textured foliage.

This rhizomatous, mat-forming, upright, aggressive perennial produces strong red flowers in flat corymbs in summer atop finely-textured, aromatic foliage.

(2 user reviews)

Each flowering stem of this bulb produces eight to twelve flowers that open consecutively over a period of three to four weeks. The flowers are fragrant, white, and starry, and have a conspicuous red/maroon center. Its linear, sword-shaped, 2- to 3-foot-tall leaves resemble those of Gladiolus, but are more slender and graceful.

Variegated sweet flag is a deciduous, aquatic perennial with 5-foot-long bright green leaves with creamy, longitudinal stripes. Its flowers are insignificant, but its leaves are aromatic and resemble the foliage of an iris. Sweet flag makes a striking statement at the shallow end of a pool, in a bog garden, or in a marshy woodland area.

This 3-foot-tall and 2-foot-wide clumping perennial displays spiky racemes of white flowers in late spring and early summer followed by bright white berries with dark tips on bright red stalks. The berries are exceptionally showy and especially effective in shady woodland beds.

Actaea racemosa is a native woodland perennial with white, somewhat fuzzy flowers in midsummer that wave above astilbe-like, deeply cut foliage. The flowers can be unpleasantly scented, thus the name "bugbane." Formerly in the genus Cimicifuga, this plant is great for use in a woodland garden or moist border.

This clumping woodland perennial with deep green foliage up to 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide bears spikes of  fragrant white flowers 1 to 2 feet long in fall. Cultivars exist with varying leaf colors and forms.

This chocolate-leaved cultivar up to 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide bears compact spikes of white flowers in late summer. This plant may languish in very warm temperatures. The flowers remain ornamental for three to four weeks.

Ferns are perfect plants for providing light, airy texture to shady areas. Many ferns are grown and loved in our gardens, but one of the best is the southern maidenhair fern. This beautiful fern has fluffy, airy, elegant foliage, which works equally well in containers or in open ground.

Northern maidenhair fern spreads slowly by branching rhizomes and forms large colonies. The gracefully curved fronds have wiry black stems, which wave in the wind. Adequate moisture is needed to keep the frilly fronds in perfect shape during the growing season. Its delicate texture looks most beautiful when paired with broad-leaved plants.

This is an elegant, deciduous fern with medium green fronds on dark brown or black stalks with thick creeping rhizomes. It provides a distinct form in a woodland setting or shaded border.

(2 user reviews)

Even those accustomed to the diversity and color of succulents are amazed by the "flowers" of black rose. They are actually burgundy-black leaves arranged in rosettes at the ends of stalklike stems. The bright yellow flowers in winter are a stunning contrast against the dark foliage. 'Zwartkop' is a wonderful backdrop plant, providing a black velvet canvas against which many companion plants shine.

(1 user review)

This hummingbird mint boasts large spikes of reddish-pink tubular flowers with an orange tint over a long season in summer and early fall. The whole plant is aromatic. Grow in a bed, border, rock garden, or xeric garden.

Agastache ‘Summer Breeze’ produces hundreds of 1.5-inch-long translucent, tubular blossoms. The flowers are painted in luscious sunset shades and appear from late spring to frost. In hot weather, peach, champagne, and soft pink are its colors, while in cooler months the flowers darken to pale copper and medium rose. It forms an open, airy, 2- to 3-foot-tall clump, and the upper third of each stem bears a long succession of hummingbird-attracting blooms.