Plant Profile: Italian Alder (Alnus cordata)
Karen A native of Corsica, the timber was used as piles to support the buildings of Venice. The foliage is dense with small heart-shaped leaves that are bright, glossy green, and…
Plant Profile: Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum)
Also known as moosewood, this native of eastern United States and adjacent Canada is an under-story tree known for the vertical white stripes on the greenish gray bark of is…
Plant Profile: Rose ‘Rose de Rescht’
Spherical buds open to crimson flowers with tightly packed neatly arranged petals, and sometimes a button eye. The flowers are in clusters of three to seven and are carried on…
Plant Profile: Century Plant (Agave americana)
This native of Mexico, and southeastern United States is a tender evergreen perennial or shrub. Large sword-like leaves form a basal rosette to six feet tall. The leaves are gray…
Plant Profile: African Lily (Agapanthus praecox subsp. orientalis)
A native of South Africa, Agapanthus praecox has naturalized in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, Mexico and elsewhere, and is considered a weed in some parts of Australia. It freely hybridizes…
Plant Profile: Large Purple Aeonium (Aeonium arboreum) ‘Zwartkop’
This tender succulent subshrub is a native of Gran Canaria Island in the Canary Islands of the Atlantic Ocean. Also known as ‘Schwartzkopf’ and ‘Schwarzkopf’ meaning “black head’, it can…
Plant Profile: Actinidia kolomikta
This twining climber is native to eastern Asia and is grown for both its variegated leaves and its small fruits. The leaves emerge with a tint of purple and then…
Plant Profile: Chinese Gooseberry aka kiwi (Actinidia chinensis)
Closely related to camellias, Chinese gooseberry is a fine garden plant with its fragrant flowers and edible fruit. Although also known as kiwi, however, A. chinensis is not the same…
Plant Profile: Climbing Monkshood (Aconitum hemslehannum)
The slender stems of this climbing monkshood look especially well scrambling over medium sized shrubs. Indigo-violet flowers are produced in pendulous clusters with about seven flowers per cluster. Each flower…
Plant Profile: Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum var. heptalobum)
There are many beautiful Japanese maples and this is one of them. With its elegant form and superb autumn coloration it is a fine choice for a courtyard, cottage garden,…