Wide Brim hosta (Hosta ‘Wide Brim’) is one of the most striking and widely admired variegated hostas in cultivation, a medium to large shade perennial whose boldly patterned leaves have made it a staple of American shade gardens since its introduction in the 1970s. An Alex Summers introduction that received the American Hosta Society’s prestigious…

Weeping birch (Betula pendula ‘Youngii’ and related weeping cultivars) is one of the most graceful and instantly recognizable ornamental trees in the landscape, a small to medium deciduous tree whose dramatically pendulous branches cascade in long, sweeping curtains of slender twigs that sway with every breeze and create a silhouette of extraordinary elegance in all…

Washington hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) is one of the finest native trees in the eastern North American landscape, a small to medium deciduous tree whose extraordinary four-season ornamental display, exceptional wildlife value, and remarkable adaptability have earned it a permanent place among the most recommended trees for home landscapes, urban plantings, and naturalistic garden designs across…

Perovskia Russian sage (Salvia yangii, formerly Perovskia atriplicifolia) is one of the most widely celebrated and universally admired perennials in the modern landscape, a tough, silvery-stemmed plant whose long, airy spikes of violet-blue flowers and aromatic, finely cut silver-gray foliage have made it one of the defining plants of the late-summer garden across North America…

Pyracantha (Pyracantha spp.), commonly called firethorn, is one of the most spectacularly ornamental and ecologically valuable shrubs available to gardeners in temperate climates, a thorny, semi-evergreen to evergreen plant that earns its common name with a fall and winter berry display so vivid and so abundant that a well-established specimen genuinely looks as though it’s…

Purple lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is one of the most deeply beloved flowering shrubs in the history of American gardening, a large, vigorous, deciduous plant whose legendary spring fragrance and generous clusters of purple flowers have been woven into the fabric of domestic life across the northern United States and Canada for more than three centuries.…

Purple leaf sand cherry (Prunus × cistena) is one of the most cold-hardy and widely adaptable purple-foliaged ornamental shrubs available to northern gardeners, a compact, multi-stemmed deciduous plant whose rich wine-red to deep burgundy-purple leaves provide a bold, sophisticated color statement from the moment they emerge in spring through the end of the growing season.…

Provence lavender (Lavandula × intermedia ‘Provence’) is one of the most widely grown and most beloved lavenders in the world, a large, vigorous lavandin hybrid whose long-stemmed, intensely fragrant flower spikes have made it the defining lavender of the fragrance and culinary industries and one of the most evocative plants in the garden. The lavandins,…

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is one of the most beloved and ecologically valuable native perennials in North American gardens, a tough, adaptable prairie plant whose bold, daisy-like flowers have made it a staple of mixed borders, naturalistic plantings, and pollinator gardens from coast to coast. Native to the central and eastern United States, growing naturally…

Primrose lilac (Syringa vulgaris ‘Primrose’) occupies a singular and genuinely surprising position in the lilac world, producing flowers in a soft, creamy pale yellow that’s so unexpected in a genus dominated by purple, lavender, pink, and white that first-time observers often do a double take to confirm what they’re seeing. Introduced in the Netherlands in…