Plum Delight loropetalum (Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum ‘Plum Delight’) is one of the most striking and versatile evergreen shrubs available for mild-climate gardens, a Chinese fringe flower whose combination of rich, deep burgundy-plum foliage and vivid magenta-pink flowers creates a year-round color statement that’s simply unmatched by any other medium-sized evergreen shrub in its size…

Pink pussy willow (Salix discolor ‘Rosea’ and Salix gracilistyla) is one of the most eagerly anticipated plants of the late winter garden, a large, deciduous shrub whose silky, rose-tinted catkins emerge on bare stems weeks before almost anything else in the garden dares to show color, delivering a soft, warm display that feels like a…

Pink Princess escallonia (Escallonia ‘Pink Princess’) is a compact, floriferous evergreen shrub that delivers one of the most sustained and cheerful flower displays available from any small-scale flowering shrub, producing clusters of delicate, tubular pink flowers in such continuous abundance from late spring through fall that the plant is rarely without color for more than…

Pink pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana ‘Rosea’ and similar pink-plumed cultivars) is one of the most dramatically beautiful ornamental grasses in cultivation, a large, bold, architectural plant whose enormous silky plumes in shades of soft rose to blush pink create a spectacle in the late summer and fall landscape that’s simply impossible to replicate with any…

Pineapple guava (Acca sellowiana, formerly Feijoa sellowiana) is one of the most underappreciated and rewarding fruiting shrubs available to gardeners in mild climates, a handsome, adaptable evergreen that delivers outstanding ornamental interest year-round alongside fruit of such distinctive, complex flavor that those who discover it rarely stop growing it. Native to the highlands of southern…

Pink Lemonade blueberry (Vaccinium ‘Pink Lemonade’) is one of the most visually striking and genuinely surprising fruiting plants available to home gardeners, a rabbit-eye blueberry hybrid that produces abundant clusters of berries that ripen to a clear, bright pink rather than the expected deep blue-purple, creating a fruit display that’s as ornamentally spectacular as it…

Peppermint (Mentha × piperita) is one of the most widely recognized and universally useful herbs in the world, a vigorous, aromatic perennial whose intensely cool, mentholated fragrance and flavor have made it indispensable in kitchens, medicine cabinets, tea collections, and herb gardens across virtually every culture that has encountered it. A natural hybrid between watermint…

Pee Gee hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’) is one of the most cold-hardy, adaptable, and reliably spectacular flowering shrubs in cultivation, a large, vigorous plant whose enormous panicles of white flowers have been a defining feature of American landscapes since the late nineteenth century. The name Pee Gee comes from the initials of its botanical variety…

Paw paw (Asimina triloba) is the largest edible fruit native to North America, a deciduous understory tree with deep ecological roots, extraordinary fruit, and an increasingly devoted following among home orchardists, native plant enthusiasts, and adventurous eaters who have discovered that one of the most remarkable tropical-tasting fruits in the world grows right in their…

Patriot hosta (Hosta ‘Patriot’) is one of the most widely grown and universally admired hostas in cultivation, a medium-sized shade perennial whose bold, dramatic foliage has made it a staple of American gardens since its introduction in the 1990s. Selected as a sport of the popular ‘Francee’ hosta, Patriot takes the clean white-margined look of…