Leonard Messel magnolia (Magnolia x loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’) is one of the truly great small magnolias, combining extraordinary flower beauty, exceptional frost resistance, manageable size, and an elegant multi-season presence that earns it a place among the finest ornamental trees for home landscapes. This chance hybrid arose at Nymans, the renowned garden of Colonel Leonard…

Lynwood Gold forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia ‘Lynwood Gold’, also sold as ‘Lynwood’ and sometimes spelled ‘Linwood Gold’) is one of the most popular and widely planted forsythia cultivars in North America, and it’s the selection most people picture when they think of forsythia’s dazzling early-spring display. When this shrub erupts into bloom in late winter…

Louis Philippe rose (Rosa ‘Louis Philippe’) is a historic antique China rose with a story as rich and romantic as its deep crimson blooms. Hybridized by Modeste Guerin in Angers, France, in 1834, this heirloom rose was named in honor of Louis Philippe I, the last king of the French, and presented to his court.…

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) is a handsome, broadleaf evergreen tree that pulls off a trick almost no other temperate fruit tree can manage: it blooms in fall and ripens its fruit in late winter to early spring, delivering a sweet, juicy harvest during the months when virtually everything else in the garden is dormant. Native to…

Loganberry (Rubus x loganobaccus) is a naturally occurring hybrid between a raspberry and a blackberry that was discovered in 1881 in the garden of Judge James Harvey Logan in Santa Cruz, California. The cross happened by chance when Logan planted a row of red raspberry alongside an ‘Aughinbaugh’ blackberry, and the resulting seedlings produced a…

Little Business daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Little Business’) is a compact, award-winning miniature daylily that proves you don’t need a big plant to make a big impact. Bred by Maxwell in 1971, this beloved cultivar quickly earned some of the highest honors in the daylily world, including the American Hemerocallis Society’s Honorable Mention in 1974, the Annie…

Limelight hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’) is one of the most celebrated and widely planted flowering shrubs introduced in the past quarter century, and its popularity is completely justified. Released by Proven Winners in 2002 from a selection made at the Proefstation voor de Boomkwekerij in the Netherlands, Limelight took the gardening world by storm with…

Leyland cypress (x Cupressocyparis leylandii, also classified as Cuprocyparis leylandii) is one of the fastest-growing evergreen trees available in the nursery trade, and that speed has made it both one of the most popular and one of the most problematic landscape trees planted in the past half century. This intergeneric hybrid, a cross between Monterey…

Lemon Ball sedum (Sedum rupestre ‘Lemon Ball’, also classified as Sedum reflexum) is a cheerful, low-growing, evergreen succulent ground cover that brings a splash of bright, citrusy color to the garden from the moment it emerges in spring until the last days of fall. The common name says it all: this plant forms a dense,…

Legacy blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum ‘Legacy’) is widely considered one of the finest blueberry varieties available for home gardens, and with good reason. Released in 1993 by the USDA Blueberry Research Station in Beltsville, Maryland, it has earned a reputation as the most adaptable and reliable blueberry in the United States, performing well across a remarkably…