Bottlebrush buckeye is a captivating, native, and mammoth-sized shrub with tremendous white "bottlebrush" flowers. The flowers are perfectly named: bottlebrush buckeye aptly describes both the whiskery flowers and the buckeye-looking seeds. The compound palmate leaves, reminiscent of windmill palm fronds, are distinctive. You'll see this buckeye shrub in big parks or expanse...

I'm getting into native shrubs more than ever before, so we planted our first red chokeberries at our new home. I've seen Aronia species forming nice thickets in gardens, but it recently hit that I have to have some too. We're starting with Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliant' and will explore the...

Athens was the first sweetshrub I purchased; not only that, it was one of the first shrubs I purchased. Relaying that Athens was one of the first shrubs purchased by a young horticulturist is meant to portray that this is a sweetshrub to covet.  The flowers are yellowish or creamy greenish - but...

Sweetshrub or Carolina allspice is a favorite native plant; the flowers being like no other. The petals on these flowers are actually tepals. Another famous example of a tepal is the "petals" on Magnolia flowers. Variety purpureus is extra special due to rich purple color of the backsides of leaves, maturing leaves especially (i.e., not...

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...

'Balsam' is also knows as 'Highland Lace' because of the lacy mophead flowers (see pic for 1,000 words of explanation). These flowers are remontant - if you prune off the spent flowers, you will likely get a second flush. The texture of the leaves are evocative of the Appalachian forests...

We simply had to get one of these Haas Halos smooth hydrangeas for our garden. Those platter-sized lacecaps couldn't be resisted.  Planted out in the garden, we were impressed with its heat tolerance and resistance to wilting during dry, baking summer days. The fat stems are a big deal to...

You must have Florida Sunshine yellow anise-tree to brighten up your winter garden. The yellow leaves glow and pulsate with sunny cheer that's especially welcome during gray days and in grayed-out garden areas, but the yellow glow is a real mood-lifter 365 days a year.  Illicium parviflorum (small anise-tree) is the quintessential native...

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...