previous
  • Comfortable Alfresco Dining
    Comfortable Alfresco Dining
  • 6 Tips for Weed Control
    6 Tips for Weed Control
  • Containers as Focal Points
    Containers as Focal Points
  • Colorful Selections for Shade
    Colorful Selections for Shade
  • Thoughts From a Foreign Field
    Thoughts From a Foreign Field
  • Elephant's Ears
    Elephant's Ears
  • Designing with Curved Terraces
    Designing with Curved Terraces
  • Mulch for a Healthy Garden
    Mulch for a Healthy Garden
  • Make a Succulent Topiary
    Make a Succulent Topiary
  • Fragrant Plants for Pathways
    Fragrant Plants for Pathways
  • Dwarf Citrus Trees
    Dwarf Citrus Trees
  • Stylish Shady Containers
    Stylish Shady Containers
  • Garden Confidential: A Plant Walks into a Bar
    Garden Confidential: A Plant Walks into a Bar
  • Homegrown / Homemade
    Homegrown / Homemade
  • Pretty in Pink
    Pretty in Pink
  • Lawn Alternatives
    Lawn Alternatives
  • Plant an Easy-to-Water Strawberry Jar
    Plant an Easy-to-Water Strawberry Jar
  • Save Money by Growing Your Own
    Save Money by Growing Your Own
  • Building a Compost Bin
    Building a Compost Bin
  • Fast-Growing Trees for Impatient Gardeners
    Fast-Growing Trees for Impatient Gardeners
  • Plants that Spark!
    Plants that Spark!
  • In Pursuit of the Perfect Potting Shed
    In Pursuit of the Perfect Potting Shed
  • Slideshow: Beautiful Clematis
    Slideshow: Beautiful Clematis
  • Indeterminate or Determinate Tomatoes?
    Indeterminate or Determinate Tomatoes?
  • NEW Video Series: There's a Better Way
    NEW Video Series: There's a Better Way
next

Browse Plants

Narrowed By:Uses: Focal Point+ Characteristics: Attracts Hummingbirds, Interesting Bark
Displaying 1 - 20 of 52 listings   1 | 2 | 3View AllNext > Sort By: Sort
Acer griseum Acer griseum
(Paperbark maple)
(2 user reviews)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This slow-growing understory tree has highly ornamental, peeling orange-cinnamon bark. Its dark green, three-lobed leaves turn a brilliant orange-red in autumn.

Acer triflorum Acer triflorum
(Three-flower maple)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This broadly columnar to spreading tree has peeling brown bark, three-palmate mid-green leaves, and brilliant orange-red fall foliage. It grows up to 30 feet tall and 25 feet wide.

no image available Aesculus pavia
(Red buckeye)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This conical shrub to small tree has palmate leaves and bears red (sometimes yellow-marked) flowers in 6-inch panicles in summer, followed by smooth-skinned fruit. The flowers attract hummingbirds.

no image available Arbutus unedo 'Elfin King'
(Strawberry tree)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This picturesque tree has rough, shredding, red-brown bark and glossy green leaves. It produces small white flowers followed by spherical, warty, reddish fruit.

Buddleia 'Lochinch' Buddleia 'Lochinch'
(Butterfly bush, Summer lilac)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Butterfly bushes are carefree deciduous shrubs that are reliably fragrant and easy to grow. Butterflies swarm to their blooms all summer long. 'Lochinch' has extremely fragrant lilac-blue flowers with orange eyes. It is a cross between B. davidii and B. fallowiana. Its arching, mounded habit typically reaches 3 to 5 feet in one season, but can grow much taller in the deep South. The 8-  to 12-inch-long flower spikes begin in late summer and bloom until frost, starting a little later than the B. davidii cultivars.

Calycanthus floridus Calycanthus floridus
(Carolina allspice, Strawberry shrub, Common sweetshrub)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This deciduous shrub has a dense, rounded habit, growing 6 to 9 feet tall and as wide. Its unusual, waterlily-like, fragrant flowers combine the scent of strawberries, banana, and pineapple. Flowers appear in May and continuing blooming on and off into June and July. The dark green leaves and bark release a clove or camphor-like scent when crushed.

Canna 'Centenaire de Rozain-Bourcharlat' Canna 'Centenaire de Rozain-Bourcharlat'
(Indian shot)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This 3-foot-tall canna from the 1920s has impossibly deep, pure-rose flowers recalling orchids and leis. It's an old French variety.

Canna 'Erebus' Canna 'Erebus'
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Each of this plant's stunning lance-shaped leaves is the softest gray-green, edged subtly with a cream-colored pinstripe. These luminous 5-foot-tall plants are crowned with spires of delicate pink flowers with just a blush of salmon.

Canna 'Madame Paul Caseneuve' Canna 'Madame Paul Caseneuve'
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

A great canna to start with if you're convinced you hate them is 'Madame Paul Caseneuve', from 1902. The pearly-bronze leaves and almost purple stems of this 3- to 5-foot-tall antique beauty are the perfect foil for its elegant, sensual flowers of soft pink shading to peach and apricot.

Canna 'Sémaphore' Canna 'Sémaphore'
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Growing to 6 or 7 feet, 'Sémaphore' features slender, dark-bronze leaves topped by spikes of narrow-petaled flowers of an unusual glowing color that's not quite yellow and not quite orange; perhaps flickering tongues of flame would be the best description. It is a Victorian classic from 1895.

Canna ‘Phasion’ Canna ‘Phasion’
(Tropicanna® canna)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This vigorous 5- to 6-foot plant sports fascinating foliage colors. Spring leaves emerge an intense purple and are soon striped with green, yellow, pink, and red. Vivid orange flowers appear in summer on this quick multiplier.

Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Aurea' Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Aurea'
(Hinoki cypress)
Be the first to rate this plant
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.

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.

Cornus alba 'Elegantissima' Cornus alba 'Elegantissima'
(Redtwig dogwood, Cream-edge tatarian dogwood)
(2 user reviews)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This vigorous deciduous shrub provides a long season of interest in the garden with its variegated leaves, attractive berries, pretty fall color, and red winter stems.

Cornus florida Cornus florida
(Flowering dogwood)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This native flowering tree is best known for its early spring blossoms, which are actually yellowish green flowers clustered in the center of four showy, white to pink bracts 1-1/2 to 2 inches long. Clusters of four bright red fruits mature in early fall, often persisting into the beginning of winter. 

Fouquieria splendens Fouquieria splendens
(Ocotillo)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This southwestern native shrub grows to 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide and sports long, dull, spiny stems that green up and leaf out after a rain, followed by long, scarlet flowers that attract hummingbirds.When dry conditions return, ocotillo drops its leaves again. This cycle can replay several times a season. Great as a surprising specimen or forbidding hedge.

Fuchsia magellanica Fuchsia magellanica
(Fuchsia)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This erect shrub grows to 10 feet high and wide and produces many small, tubular, pendent flowers in shades of red, pink, and sometimes white. Flowers are followed by reddish purple fruits. Native to Chile and Argentina, Fuchsia magellanica is hardy in Zones 6-9 and adds bright colors and a tropical feeling to the garden. Use as a specimen or in a bed or border.

Ginkgo biloba Ginkgo biloba
(Maidenhair tree)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

One of the oldest tree species on the planet, ginkgo grows only about a foot a year, reaching 50 to 80 feet. Female trees set fleshy fruit that smell unpleasant as they decay; they contain edible nuts.

Halesia carolina Halesia carolina
(Carolina silverbell)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Carolina silverbell is a handsome tree with clean green foliage and an upright spreading habit. In mid- or late spring, hundreds of silvery-white bell-shaped flowers dangle from every branch before foliage emerges. The tree also has attractive bark, unusual four-winged seedpods, and yellow fall color.

Hosta 'Halcyon' Hosta 'Halcyon'
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

‘Halycon’ is a wonderful blue hosta that holds its strong leaf color all season. Its textured, blue-green leaves are thick enough to be slug resistant. Bell-shaped, pale lilac flowers are followed by seed heads that attract birds late in the season. 'Halcyon' grows fairly slowly. It can be used as either a ground cover or a specimen plant. -Jane Hutson, Regional Picks: Midwest, Fine Gardening issue# 127


Displaying 1 - 20 of 52 listings   1 | 2 | 3View AllNext > Sort By: Sort