Its five-lobed leaves grow densely on an upright oval tree that can reach a height of 70 feet with a 35 fot spread. The sugar maple is an excellent shade tree for lawns and parks. Tiny yellowish-green flowers appear in spring before the leaves emerge. The tree's winged fruit, or samaras, matures in the fall. Autumn color are shades of red. One of the best known trees of eastern North America, …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
Venus maidenhair fern, also called southern maidenhair fern, produces delicate, new, pale green fronds that mature to medium green. The stems are very thin, wiry and dark purple. Each individual leaflet, called a “pinnule” is shaped like a miniature fan, resembling ginkgo leaves. This fern is fond of moist woodland conditions and limestone cliffs. It grows in the southern half of the U.S. and …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
Ft. McNair red horsechestnut features bold spikes of pink flowers with yellow eyes rising above the foliage in mid-spring. It has dark green foliage, which emerges light green in spring. The palm-shaped leaves turn yellow in fall, and the fruit is not ornamentally significant. The rough brown bark is not particularly outstanding. Ft. McNair red horsechestnut is a dense, deciduous tree with a more …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
Native to the Pacific Northwest, where it grows at high elevations, Sitka alder is a shrubby tree growing 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide. In its native habitat, it is beneficial to wildlife and the environment. It grows quickly to form thickets for animal shelter and improves the soil through nitrogen fixation. Its fallen leaves stabilize steep slopes, and avalanches rarely damage it. It slows the …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
Native to midwestern swamps and marshes, pepper vine is a deciduous bushy vine that grows as a ground cover or a vine growing 35 feet or more. The dark green compound foliage is up to 6 inches long and wide and turns pale yellow in fall. The leaflets are toothed, dark green on the upper surface and lighter green on the lower. Flat-topped clusters of tiny green flowers are followed by clusters of …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
Anemone tomentosa ‘Robustissima’, a.k.a. Anemone × hybrida 'Robustissima', produces single, light-pink-to-lavender flowers from late summer through fall on a perennial that tops out at 32 inches in height. It is best grown in shade to partial shade with room to spread over time. This cultivar is among the most heat and drought tolerant of the fall-blooming wind flowers. However, it still …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
This round evergreen shrub grows to about 4 feet in height with full sun to partial shade and moderate moisture conditions. In late spring it produces insignificant yellowish-green blooms. It is commonly used in a hedge or a border. This boxwood is more tolerant of sunlight and alkaline soils than the common boxwood. In spring, very small yellow flowers appear. They can go unnoticed, but they are …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
Solitary clematis gets its name from the individual, nodding, blue bell-shaped flowers it produces on 2 to 3-foot stalks in early summer to early fall. Introduced into cultivation in Britain in 1573, it makes a beautiful choice when located in the front of a mixed border. It is, however, prone to flop, so be prepared to provide support. Tube clematis does best in full sun to partial shade and is …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
Sweetshrubs have untoothed, opposite, ovate leaves with a pleasant, spicy aroma. The flowers, blooming in May and June, have numerous overlapping petals and a fruity scent.‘Solar Flare’ has large 2.5” wide-opening flowers. It’s easy to see the hybrid origin of this cultivar, with burgundy petals on the outside from the American parents, and an inner ring of yellow from the Chinese parent. The …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
The golden shield fern or scaly male fern is native to the moist woodlands of eastern Europe and western Asia where it is an evergreen plant. It grows into a classic shuttlecock form with yellowish-green fronds when young, maturing into dark green fronds. The base of each frond is covered with distinctive tawny scales. This slow-growing fern can grow to about 3-4 feet high and wide and develop a …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
