Camellia

This is a very low maintenance, evergreen plant that requires little water and is greatly appreciated for its deer resistance. Fragrant white flowers appear in the spring and, occasionally, again in the autumn.  The plant is fairly fast growing and can reach six to eight feet high and wide, but four to five feet is normal…

Loropetalum, or Chinese fringe flower, is a very attractive shrub that thrives in shade.  It is fairly slow growing to six to ten feet high and wide.  Most of the varieties available have purple leaves and pink, fireworks-like flowers, but the green leaved, white flowering varieties are lovely, too.  Flowering is heaviest in the spring,…

Grown strictly for its foliage, Fatsia adds a very tropical look to the shade garden.  It will have white puffy flowers in late autumn and winter, but they are not particularly showy, just interesting and unexpected.  Fatsia can take deep shade and is very suited to containers.

Sarcococca is an evergreen shrub with dark green leaves and very fragrant tiny white flowers that bloom in late winter and early spring.  It is a slow grower that will eventually reach four to six feet.  It can grow even in very deep shade and needs moderate to regular water.

Pittosporum tobira is an evergreen shrub with either all green or variegated foliage.  The species can grow six to fifteen feet, but “Wheeler’s Dwarf’ gets only to three feet and about five feet wide.  There are also variegated dwarf forms, ‘Turner’s’ that is the same size as ‘Wheeler’s”, and ‘Cream de Mint’ that grows to about two and…

Hydrangeas come in many sizes and forms.  The two most well-known types are mophead, the old-fashioned large flower with a rounded flower head, and lacecap, in which the small fertile flowers are surrounded by large, colorful flowers.  With some varieties, flower color is determined by the soil pH, with acidity causing blue flowers and alkalinity resulting in pink flowers.  Other varieties…