Browse Plants

Attractive, glossy, dark green leaves and red flowers are similar to those of Florida anise, but this plant flowers continuously from spring to fall. Red fruit follows.

Dime-sized, drooping, bell-shaped yellow flowers have a faint anise fragrance, but they’re hidden under new foliage in June. 

Sapphire jewelweed's serrated leaves are the color of polished jade, while the flowers are a remarkable sapphire blue. Far different from the traditional flat-disk shape of most bedding impatiens, the flower shape of this impatiens resembles an elegant crane in flight. Sapphire jewelweed grows remarkably fast, reaching almost 2 feet tall and wide. It shines in a woodland garden.

This subshrubby perennial with light green to red-flushed stems has slightly toothed, scalloped, light to bronze-green or red-flushed leaves to 5 inches long. The showy, flat flowers bloom in white or shades of orange, pink, red, purple, violet, lavender-blue, and bicolors.

This deciduous shrub growing to 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide bears erect racemes of pea-like, pink flowers from summer to early fall above leaves composed of several leaflets. The flowers are followed by long, dark purple seed pods.

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Star-shaped, honey-scented, pale silvery blue flowers are borne in spring for several weeks. The leaves, to 10 inches long, are semi-erect, strap-shaped, and silver-green.

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This twining perennial has evergreen, oval or rounded, mid- to dark green leaves. Fragrant, 6-inch white blooms appear in early summer to fall, opening in early evening.

Pacific Coast hybrid irises (PCH irises) have a range of blossom colors: from white to light lavender to deep plum. The compact, narrow foliage is glossy, evergreen, and pest resistant. PCH irises are drought tolerant once established, but they do like deep watering during the dry season. -Sylvia Matlock, Regional Picks: Northwest, Fine Gardening issue #127

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Tall bearded iris tolerates dappled shade, but full sun promotes maximum flowering of deep red blooms. Spring or fall is the time to deadhead and cut the foliage back. This perennial makes a wonderful backdrop to spring bulbs. ‘Rip City’ is just one of hundreds of cultivars of tall bearded iris.

This pretty little blue-violet iris with yellow and white falls is native to the central U.S. Its early summer flowers are somewhat hidden among the foliage, as the stems are shorter than the leaves. In the wild, it grows in damp areas. In the garden, it appreciates a moist soil, especially in hot climates. Grow it where its flowers can be seen, such as at the front of a border, in a woodland, or at waterside.

Spectacular, but fleeting, stemless blooms have blue-lilac petals, each with a white patch and a yellow or orange crest on each fall. Crested iris blooms in May. Dagger-shaped leaves 5 to 6 inches tall form an attractive, cool green carpet of stiff leaves. ‘Alba’ is a white-flowered variety.

This Laevigata iris bears 3 or 4 purple or red-purple blooms measuring 6 to 12 inches across, on single stems. Prominently ribbed leaves are 24 to 36 inches long. ‘Caprician Butterfly’ is a white, purple-veined cultivar.

This beardless, crestless iris produces blooms in midspring that are the color of terra cotta. Quick growing, with long, swordlike foliage, this plant attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, and works well in beds and borders.

This variable, beardless iris with narrow leaves to 20 inches long bears 2 to 4 blooms on each branched stem, in summer. The flowers have short, pale to deep blue or lilac-purple standards and larger falls with deep purple veining.

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An iris with foliage as showy as its flowers, 'Variegata' has bright green leaves striped with yellow and beautiful soft blue flowers with yellow beards. This bearded iris reaches four feet high and spreads indefinitely. Use to edge a border or grow at waterside.  

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Yellow flag is a vigorous Laevigata iris with ribbed, sword-shaped gray-green leaves. It grows to 3 to 4 feet high. Over 60 cultivars exist, including ‘Beuron’, with evenly yellow flowers; ‘Ecru’, with its off-white blooms; ‘Fresh Cream’, with lovely, pale-yellow flowers marked with red-violet signals; a variegated type, ‘Variegata’; ‘Donau’, a bright-yellow flower adorned with a brown signal that looks like stitchery; and nearly sterile ‘Holden Clough’, with deep-yellow blooms and reddish purple veining.

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Attractive, grass-like leaves to 18 inches long are topped by showy flowers in a wide range of colors. Flowers unfurl in May and bloom well into June. Cultivars include ‘Caesar’s Brother’, with rich purple flowers; ‘Eric the Red’, a bright violet-pink Siberian; and ‘Chilled Wine’, a garnet iris suffused with blue.

This beardless iris is one of the tallest growing. It is available in a wide range of flower colors and blooms from late spring to mid-summer. These irises are tall like Japanese irises but have upright flowers and bloom later than the tall bearded ones.

Lavender-pink or white flowers up to 4 inches in diameter have purple veins and yellow throats. Sword-shaped medium green leaves can top 6 feet tall when grown in shallow water.