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Browse Plants

Narrowed By:Type: Grasses, Trees+ Zone: 5+ Seasonal Interest: Summer+ Light: Full Sun Only
Displaying 1 - 20 of 29 listings   1 | 2View AllNext > Sort By: Sort
Acer rubrum ‘Red Sunset’ Acer rubrum ‘Red Sunset’
(Red maple, Scarlet maple)
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Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This is a rounded to open-crown deciduous tree up to 70 feet tall and 30 feet wide with early, brilliant red fall coloring.

Bouteloua gracilis 'Hachita' Bouteloua gracilis 'Hachita'
('Hachita' Blue Grama Grass)
(2 user reviews)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

'Hachita' has narrow, blue-green leaves that form dense mounds. In summer, elongated seedheads add visual interest. This tough, drought-tolerant grass thrives in sand or clay soil with full-sun exposure. It needs a setting with good drainage, as it won't thrive in wet conditions. -Scott Vogt, Native grasses, Fine Gardening issue #124

Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Aurea' Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Aurea'
(Hinoki cypress)
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Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Hinoki cypress is a conical, evergreen, coniferous tree with leaves that are actually minute scales on tiny branches in the form of fans. The outer foliage of 'Aurea' is golden and the inner is green. Growth can be slow. Use as a specimen or use several as screening.

Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Sungold' Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Sungold'
(Japanese falsecypress)
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Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This dwarf Chamaecyparis has a weeping habit and gold to lime green finely-textured needles. It's great for providing year-round color.

Cladrastis lutea Cladrastis lutea
(Yellowwood)
(3 user reviews)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Yellowwood is a vase-shaped spreading tree with dark green foliage that turns a delicate yellow or orange in the fall and smooth light gray bark. Breathtaking, pendulous, foot-long, wisteria-like clusters of fragrant white flowers appear in late spring and early summer, often in alternate years.

Cotinus 'Grace' Cotinus 'Grace'
('Grace' smoke tree)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This cross of the European smoke bush (C. coggygria) and the American smoke tree (C. obovatus) is a gem in the garden thanks to its multiseason interest. Its iridescent spring foliage is green overlaid with red; then its large pink clouds of blooms in summer are followed by brilliant autumn foliage that ranges from red to orange. 'Grace' combines well with just about anything; asters, ornamental grasses, and Japanese maples are good places to start.

Elymus arenarius Elymus arenarius
(2 user reviews)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This plant has densely tufted, spreading clumps of strap-like, flowing foliage. Pale blue-gray leaves arch loosely. In summer, it produces stiff, upright, blue-gray spikes of flowers that turn buff.

Festuca glauca 'Boulder Blue' Festuca glauca 'Boulder Blue'
(Blue fescue, Gray fescue)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Regarded by some as the bluest blue fescue, this plant forms compact, cascading mounds of foot-tall, intensely blue, narrow leaves that are attractive in all seasons. Blooms are generally secondary to the foliage, but this cultivar blooms more heavily than most, with spikelets in summer. This cultivar is long-lived and very hardy. Grow in groups in a border or rock garden, or as a groundcover. 

Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue' Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'
(Blue fescue, Gray fescue)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

These compact tufts of 8-inch-long powder-blue leaves are well suited for edging and naturalizing in the rock garden. 

Gleditsia triacanthos Gleditsia triacanthos
(Honeylocust)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Honey locust grows in the wild from Pennsylvania to Iowa and south to Georgia and Texas. In the landscape, this large, spreading, deciduous tree is valuable for its elegant form and pinnate, ferny leaves that cast a dappled shade. Flowers are generally inconspicuous, but are followed by unusual large seed pods. Fall color can be a nice yellow, but leaves sometimes fall without noticeably changing colors. The species has a thorny trunk and shoots, but thornless cultivars are available.

Helictotrichon sempervirens Helictotrichon sempervirens
(Blue oat grass)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Dramatic powder blue foliage and spiky architecture are hallmarks of this plant. The leaves resemble rigid, tapering pieces of steel blue linguine collected in a porcupine-like dome.

Larix decidua and cvs. Larix decidua and cvs.
(European larch)
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Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

A deciduous conifer with a pyramidal growth habit, European larch has pendulous lower branches. In spring, needles emerge a shiny chartreuse, turning to deep green by summer and to sunset gold in late fall. Cultivars include 'Pendula', a weeping cultivar; 'Fastigiata', a narrow and upright variety; and 'Pyramidalis'.

no image available Larix kaempferi
(Japanese larch)
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Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Fissured and scaly bark bark is tinted rust-brown in winter. Purplish red winter shoots are covered in a waxy bloom. Gray-green or bluish green leaves grow to 1.5 inches long.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides Metasequoia glyptostroboides
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This deciduous, monoecious, coniferous tree grows to 100 feet tall. Its oddly shaped, branch-pitted trunk is often deeply fluted and "buttressed" and has orange-brown bark. Attractive, lacy foliage is bright green in early summer, turning golden bronze before falling in autumn. Female cones are light brown and ovoid, while male cones are rounder, pendent, and darker brown.

no image available Panicum amarum 'Dewey Blue'
(Bitter switchgrass, Switchgrass)
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Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

A stunning, native dune grass, 'Dewey Blue' is perfect for coastal areas as well as inland gardens. Heat, drought, and humidity won't faze its noticeably graceful habit. This grass has exceptional blue foliage and a vigorous constitution. Airy, light beige flowers emerge in late summer and fall, persisting well into winter for a long season of interest. 'Dewey Blue' grows 4 to 5 feet tall and almost as wide.

Panicum virgatum 'Prairie Fire' Panicum virgatum 'Prairie Fire'
(‘Prairie Fire’ red switchgrass)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

'Prairie Fire' is a distinctly red form of switchgrass. Blue-green spring foliage turns shades of deep red by early summer and butter yellow in late fall. The grass persists into winter. 'Prairie Fire' has a fibrous root system that grows to more than 10 feet deep, making it drought tolerant. -Scott Vogt, Native grasses, Fine Gardening issue #124

Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah' Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah'
('Shenandoah' red switchgrass)
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Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

'Shenandoah' is truly a plant for all seasons. In early summer, its leaf blades are tipped in red, and by autumn, the entire leaf is a rich burgundy color, topped by pink plumes. In winter, the leaf color fades to beige; the blades persist and offer cover to birds. 'Shenandoah' is a compact selection of an American native prairie grass. -Chris Kelley, Regional Picks: Midwest, Fine Gardening issue #120

no image available Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’
(Switch grass)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This rhizomatous perennial grass has a narrowly upright, clumping form. Mid-green stems bear stiff, erect, blue-gray leaves to 24 inches long. Foliage turns yellow in autumn. Weeping panicles of tiny purple-green spikes appear in early autumn.

Pennisetum alopecuroides Pennisetum alopecuroides
(Fountain grass)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This species produces 2- to 5-foot-tall mounds of narrow green foliage and bottle brush-like silvery-pink to purple flowers, both of which mature to shades of brown. It is the parent of numerous cultivars with notable flowers that range from purple to gray/black. It and some of its cultivars self-sow plentifully in warm climates. It is marginally hardy in Zone 5.

Pennisetum orientale Pennisetum orientale
(Oriental fountain grass, Tall tails)
(2 user reviews)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Pink, bottle-brush flowers rise well above arching clumps of graceful foliage in summer. This grass is beautiful in a mixed border, rock garden, or massed at waterside. It blooms in June with pink plumes.


Displaying 1 - 20 of 29 listings   1 | 2View AllNext > Sort By: Sort