Hopleys abelia is sought after for the year-round pop of foliage color and the summer-long flowering. The leaves are multi-colored variegated - that means they are green with gold and cream streaks up the sides. In winter those streaks turn pink on the youngest leaves. This color change is so...

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...

The name butterfly bush describes the powerful lure that this bush has over butterflies, but it doesn't say it all. It simply doesn't describe the powerful lure it has over humans (it's so pretty!) nor the array of flower colors. In this case we have a magenta (dark pink) cone...

Windy Hill butterfly bush has lavender flower heads and, like all butterfly bushes, it has the flower power one craves - reblooming freely on new growth from summer through fall, as long as it's actively growing (it flowers on new growth). Where perfectly cold hardy this is a large shrub;...

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...

Hartlage Wine sweetshrub brings bodaciousness to the otherwise demure-looking flower of a never-the-less beloved native shrub. It's a strange and captivating flower, but prone to blending in amongst the leaves - thus, demure. Hartlage Wine gives gardeners the visual wow factor from bigger and showier flowers, borne more abundantly on...

This is the true tea bush. Yes, indeed, the beverage is also a garden-worthy evergreen shrub. Why isn't everybody talking about what a massive block of leaves this shrub forms? This plant should be used more in gardens! We had two in front of our former house and they were vigorous...

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...

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...

Mt. Airy Fothergilla or witch alder is the gold standard for all Fothergillas. Michael Dirr selected it from Mt. Airy Arboretum 30 years ago and no other Fothergilla has appreciated like Mt. Airy - it stands the test of time. White, 2" tall, bottlebrush-style flowers blanket Mt. Airy from top...

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...

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...

Colbalt-n-Gold Kalm St. Johnswort is a small, cheerful, decorative shrub. The small flowers cover the shrub in June and look good on top of the gray-green leaves. Everything about this plant is pretty - the small stature, the button-like flowers (albeit the showy yellow stamens would make them spiky awkward buttons),...

Henry's Garnet Virginia sweetspire is a favored "naturalistic" shrubs because it has multi-season interest and wears well in innumerable garden styles. In spring, the 6" long, white pendulous flowers dangle all over the shrub like a designer who loves tassels and fringe. Then it looks well-dressed all summer with arching branches and green leaves; wrapping it...

The best new naturalistic, smaller Virginia sweetspire with the flower power you expect from a Love Child. It flowers heavily in spring for several weeks with beautiful, long racemes of white flowers. Raceme is the botanically correct way of saying in this case, "pendulous, long, bottlebrush-like flowers." Fall color is...

We were fond of elderberry bushes when we'd float by them in a canoe - all in flower during summer paddles on Georgia rivers. Then we learned the dried berries can be steeped in vodka for a medicinal concoction and we had to plant a few for ourselves. We planted...

We adore our Red Pixie lilac bush because she's not only a lilac for regions with sizzling hot summers, but her flowers are what one wants out of a lilac - compelling, confident, and colorful. (I don't want to knock the two other zone 8a heat tolerant lilacs that I...

Susy is a four season sharp dresser. Her slightly fragrant flowers have pink buds, opening pure white, and they cover the shrub in spring. Excellent, heat-tolerant summer foliage is dark green. In some winters the evergreen (semi-evergreen in harsh winters) turns red for winter. The red-turning-black fruits appear in autumn and...