Opening Day doublefile viburnum is our plant mascot - we just opened! There are a lot of Viburnum plicatum var. plicatum cultivars in circulation, but the leaves on Opening Day are my favorite - they are highly corrugated-puckered (interesting texture for designers to use), handsome bright green all summer, then turning red then...

The finer leaf texture and more controlled size (it's less leggy than the species, but is still not puny at 8-10' tall) make Delta Blues chastetree an attractive big shrub, but when it flowers, goodness! It's loaded with blue flower cones for a long time during some of the toughest months...

This is another of my paddle-by plants. I see it a ton from a canoe on a river. It's in native gardens too and here and there you'll see it as a surprise in regular gardens. It stands out because it flowers in the summer heat and those flowers. They are spherical! Perfectly spherical. It's...

Sweet Tea Gardenia has large, tennis ball-sized, double flowers. It's a strong rebloomer and a zone cold hardier than most. Gardenias are beloved members of every southern garden, but they do sometimes cause heartbreak due to lack of winter hardiness. We admonish to select a cold hardy variety (there aren't many) and we...

BananAppeal is half the size as other small anise-trees, forming a 3-4' tall by 3-4' wide, round shrub. So this one has a different shape, being a lower mound, rather than an upright-oval form like FLA Sunshine. Small anise-tree grows wild in moist, woodland soils, but this species transitions well to typical home-garden...

Vanilla Strawberry panicle hydrangea is a long-lasting white and pink flower show. Flowers start out white and when nighttime temperatures cool in late summer, they age/antique deep rich pink like in the pictures, then darken mauve-rose. The pictures show the flower color progression. New white flowers are reported to still be...

Since the day I saw a fistful of red winter stems of this silky dogwood at Dr. Dirr's I had to have it. Dr. Michael A. Dirr found Cayenne growing in a swamp in Virginia and brought twigs home to propagate. I'm sure glad he did - I've long coveted the red stems of Cornus...

Strawberry Sunday panicle hydrangea is similar to Vanilla Strawberry, but it's a couple feet shorter and the flowers age lighter pink. Due to the shorter size, it's great for containers, patios, and smaller gardens, as well as the same applications as its cohort. Flowers start out white and in areas with...

I wish you could see this in person. Imagine purplish-grayish leaves smothered in lavender-blue flowers that are in turn decorated with pollinators galore. This is a jump-up-and-down-gotta-have-it plant, so stop skimming and slow down to read about Flip Side chastetree. The upper-sides of the leaves are dark olive-greenish early in the season...

Centennial Blush magnolia puts on a heavy flower show. The flowers are blush pink and fragrant like nice Italian soap. Each flower has a double row of petals so that it looks like a porcelain powder puff or (dare we say?) a chrysanthemum, like those in a Japanese print. Dr. Michael Dirr, who bred the...

Double Mint Gardenia is a great name for these perky, 2" diameter, abundant flowers. It is our best reblooming gardenia, to the point of continuous bloom through summer. Heavenly-scented flowers adorn a slightly smaller stature that's perfect for smaller spaces and containers. To compare with Sweet Tea, this one is a better rebloomer...