Browse Plants

Leatherleaf mahonia  is a thick shrub with a formal feel. Its stiff, green-blue foliage looks something like holly foliage, and in spring, airy clusters of tiny, golden yellow flowers appear. These are followed in fall by inky blue berries. Consider this plant for a a mixed-shrub foundation planting, or use it as a hedge plant. -Nellie Neal, Regional Picks: Southeast, Fine Gardening issue #127

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Honey bush has attractive, 12- to 20-inch-long pinnate leaves with sharply toothed silver-green leaflets. It bears spike-like racemes of oddly scented brownish crimson to brick-red flowers from late spring to midsummer.

This compact, rounded shrub produces reddish-purple buds that first open as soft-pink then mature to white. It grows to about 5 feet high and wide, making it a superb specimen for a container or small garden.

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This short-lived shrub or small tree with feathery foliage is blanketed in late spring with fragrant, pea-shaped violet blooms with white wings. Though it is native to streamsides, scurf pea doesn't require extravagant watering and survives occasional drought. When the plants eventually die, they leave ample progeny and straight branches useful for garden stakes. Combine with azaleas and camellias, which bloom at the same time.

This native azalea, winner of the 2007 Georgia Gold medal award,  will thrive in heat and humidity, which is why it is a good choice for the South. Large, fragrant yellow blooms appear in early spring. Reportedly pest- and disease free, 'Admiral Semmes' is a  progeny of Exbury hybrid R. 'Hotspur Yellow' and R. austrinum. -Allan Armitage, Plants to know and grow, Fine Gardening issue #119

This narrow deciduous azalea bears fragrant, funnel-shaped, white, pink, or deep rose flowers. It grows to 15 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide. Mid-green leaves are densely hairy beneath.

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In spring, this North American native shrub produces clove-scented, lemon-yellow flowers, which are followed by black edible fruits. It has attractive leaves, and grows 6 feet high and wide.

This outstanding rose has single, fragrant blossoms of rich cabernet-red. The young foliage emerges chartreuse, while the new stems and small thorns are claret. The flowers are followed by hips the color of ripe grapes, which contrast with the amber autumn foliage. This rose grows up to 8 feet high.

'Betty Boop' is a bushy, upright, floribunda rose growing to 3 to 5 feet tall. Semi-double, ivory-white flowers with red edges are borne in clusters over a long period. They are mildly scented. New leaves are dark red, maturing to glossy green. This cultivar does not produce hips.

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This rose produces single, carmine-pink, slightly fragrant blooms nonstop from June until frost. It grows 2.5 to 5 feet high and wide.

This fragrant rose produces generous clusters of double apricot flowers that fade to a soft yellow. It usually grows to 5 feet and taller when trained, making it an ideal candidate for screening or growing up a wall, arch, or trellis. It blooms from spring to autumn. 

This is one of the darkest-flowered roses from the oldest class of garden roses, the gallicas. 'Cardinal de Richelieu' is a strong grower with a compact, lax habit. The rounded, double, fragrant, deeply colored flowers are a deep burgundy-purple. They are in bloom from spring to early summer. Introduced in 1840.

This old-fashioned looking rose has a bicolor look with its clustered coral buds and pink double flowers with copper centers. It forms an arching shrub, reaching 5 feet high and wide, and blooms from spring to autumn, with its largest flush in the spring. 

This scented rose was reputed to be a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt. It has beautifully formed, double rosy-pink blossoms. It blooms all season long and grows to 5 feet high and wide.

(1 user review)

This choice rose has single, gently cupped light-pink flowers that exude an intense, clove-scented perfume. It blooms in spring and sporadically throughout the season, and produces red hips. In autumn, the foliage turns deep maroon, which changes to yellow tinged with coppery highlights. It grows to 3 to 4 feet high and wide.   

This Floribunda rose was the 2010 All-America Rose Selections winner. It has abundant ruffled blooms in shades of mango, peach and apricot -- and has a fruity fragrance. More important is its disease resistance.

This fragrant rose produces single salmon-pink blossoms with yellow basal highlights. It blooms nonstop from June until frost and grows 3 to 5 feet high and wide.

This deeply fragrant rose produces rounded double blossoms of mauve-red in spring and fall. It grows to 6 feet high and wide.

This rose produces musky and sweet-scented blossoms of pale to medium pink, which bloom continuously from spring until frost. They are followed by large orange hips. 'Old Blush' grows to about 4 feet high and wide.