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Valued for its flowers, foliage, and fruit, Black Beauty™ elderberry is a deciduous shrub that requires regular watering during its first few yearsbut will become more drought tolerant as it becomes established. Areas with moist soil are ideal. Black Beauty™ will grow 8 feet tall if left unpruned, but fairly severe pruning in the first year will keep the plant from looking leggy. Pruning will sacrifice the large pink flowers, but the plant will be much sturdier and have a better habit if you do. The flowers, which bloom in June, are large and have a lemony scent. The foliage is dark and finely cut. Elderberries are edible and can be used to make juice or jelly, if the birds don't get there first. -Teresa Smith, Regional Picks: Northeast, Fine Gardening issue #120

(1 user review)

Its great beauty and variety of sizes and shapes makes this deciduous conifer a candidate for extensive use. Bald cypress is a tall, conical, almost columnar tree with pale brown, shallowly fissured bark. Its bright green needles become golden in the fall. The cultivar 'Monarch of Illinois' is shaped totally unlike the typical bald cypress, but shares its delicate foliage and warm-looking, ruddy bark. It has a large, rounded crown, like a maple. With an ultimate height of about 85 feet and spread to 65 feet, it is suited to large gardens. A smaller cultivar, 'Shawnee Brave', has a narrow, pyramidal growth habit, an ultimate height of 70 feet, and a span of up to 18 feet.

This luminous hybrid bears unspotted, orchid-like lavender flowers with yellow-throated bases. It has unusually large and clean leaves, which look great all season. It grows up to 3 feet tall, although its lovely, almost weeping, habit keeps the plant's height closer to 2 or 2.5 feet. It grows to about 3 feet wide. Toad lilies make subtle but exotic specimens for woodland borders and other shady sites.

The upward-facing, star-like blossoms of this species vary from white to light pink or lilac, with reddish purple spots throughout. They are reminiscent of orchids. Toad lily blooms in early autumn along arching stems to 2 or 3 feet tall. Plants grow to 2 feet wide. They make subtle, but exotic specimens for woodland borders and shady house plantings. They will colonize over time, but are not invasive. These perennials are from moist woodlands and high elevations from eastern Asia to the Phillipines.

Amethystina's upward-facing, star-like blossoms are bluish-lavender with purple spots and creamy bases. It blooms in early autumn along arching stems up to 3 feet tall and grows half as wide. Toad lilies make subtle but exotic specimens for woodland borders and other shady gardens.