Laurus nobilis, or sweet bay, is the bay leaf used in cooking. It is a handsome evergreen shrub that grows anywhere from twelve to forty feet, but in our climate, usually stays in the twelve to fifteen foot range. Yellow flowers appear in spring. It can take full sun or partial shade and needs moderate…
The Cotoneasters listed here are all evergreen and require little to moderate water. They have small white flowers in spring and red berries in autumn and winter. The most common groundcover types are ‘Coral Beauty’, ‘Lowfast’ and ‘Streib’s Findling’, all of which will get about ten feet wide and do well in sun or partial shade. …
Helianthemum is a great low growing evergreen shrub. It only gets about six inches tall and spreads two to three feet. Flowers can be white, yellow, pink, orange or red. The biggest flower show occurs in late spring or early summer, but further flowering can be encouraged by shearing off the spent flowers. Full sun,…
Callistemon, or bottlebrush, is a well-known shrub. It is loved by hummingbirds and bees. The most commonly grown species is C. citrinus, a fast grower to ten to fifteen feet tall and wide. An excellent dwarf variety is C. viminalis ‘Little John’ which grows about three by three feet and sports intense red flowers. All Callistemon like…
Buxus, or boxwood, is the classic hedging plant. It responds well to pruning and clipping and is also great for topiaries. It is a slow grower and is very cold hardy. Some varieties and species turn orange to bronze in winter. For green foliage all year, plant ‘Green Beauty’ or ‘Winter Gem’. Buxus will also…
Parthenocissus is a deciduous vine known for its outstanding autumn color. The most common species are P.quinquefolia, or Virginia creeper, and P. tricuspidata, or Boston ivy. Both cling to surfaces by suction disks. They can get as large as fifty to sixty feet, so be prepared to control size if necessary. In our climate, they…
Most Clematis is deciduous, but there is an evergreen species, C. armandii, which grows to fifteen to twenty feet and has white, vanilla scented flowers in the spring. It can take some sun, but also does well in the shade. One of the many deciduous clematis species, C. Montana, has about two inch wide pink flowers…
Wisteria is a very vigorous, very large vine with leaves divided into many leaflets and large clusters of purple, white or pink flowers in spring. The plants need little to moderate water, full sun, good drainage and little fertilizer. Be very cautious about planting location as the vines get very large and heavy. If you doubt, come…