Growing Zone 10

Leyland cypress screens a property line faster than almost any evergreen, adding three to four feet a year of soft, feathery green.Leyland cypress is the fastest privacy screen most Southern yards can grow, filling in low to the ground with fine, soft foliage that...

Bald cypress handles standing water and dry ground alike, then closes the year with rust-orange fall needles before dropping them clean.Bald cypress is a native deciduous conifer with soft, feathery needles that turn coppery orange in autumn and fall, revealing a strong buttressed trunk...

String of hearts trails delicate marbled heart-shaped leaves on wiry purple vines, softening a shelf or hanging basket with fine, jewel-like texture.This semi-succulent vine grows from small tubers and stores water in its leaves, so it wants bright indirect light and a thorough soaking...

String of bananas cascades several feet of plump curved leaves from a hanging basket and grows noticeably faster than string of pearls.This trailing succulent is more forgiving and more vigorous than its pearl-leaved cousin, tolerating a wider range of light and less precise watering....

Lithops mimic pebbles so convincingly that most people miss them entirely, then split open in autumn to push out a daisy-like flower.Living stones are collector plants with one non-negotiable rule: their watering calendar is the opposite of a normal houseplant, and overwatering is what...

Ghost plant forms pearly gray rosettes that blush pink and gold in strong sun, trailing over pot edges and rooting from any fallen leaf.This is one of the toughest and most forgiving succulents we sell, surviving hard drought, poor soil, and considerable neglect, and...

Aloes store water in thick sculptural leaves, surviving weeks of neglect on a sunny windowsill and multiplying into free plants from offsets.Our assorted aloes range from the familiar medicinal Aloe vera to smaller textured and speckled species that stay compact enough for a windowsill....

Aeonium builds glossy geometric rosettes on branching stems, giving containers a sculptural look no other succulent quite matches.Unlike most succulents, aeoniums grow actively in cool weather and go semi-dormant in high summer heat, so expect them to pause and drop lower leaves in July...

Bromeliads hold a vivid flower bract for months on end indoors, asking only bright indirect light and water poured into the central cup.These tropical rosettes are among the easiest colorful houseplants, thriving in ordinary room conditions and tolerating low humidity better than most tropicals....

Sharp licorice-anise punch on sturdy leaves that hold their flavor in hot pho, stir-fries, and curries where Genovese basil would collapse.Thai basil is built differently from sweet Genovese: narrower, firmer leaves, purple stems, and a much higher anise and slight spicy-clove content that survives...

The true pesto basil - big cupped leaves with sweet clove-anise flavor that carries olive oil, tomato, and mozzarella better than any other strain.Genovese is the Italian pesto standard, selected for large, soft, low-camphor leaves and a sweet finish. It loves Alabama heat but...

Sweeter, softer, and more floral than oregano - the finishing herb for eggs, lamb, white beans, and vinaigrettes that want warmth without bite.Sweet marjoram is a tender perennial that usually behaves as an annual or short-lived perennial in Alabama, especially through a wet winter....

Tender inner stalks bring true Thai citrus-ginger backbone to curries, broths, and cocktails that dried lemongrass simply cannot deliver.Lemongrass grows into a big architectural clump in one Alabama summer, then dies back hard below about 20F. In 8a, either grow it in a large...

The cleanest, loudest lemon flavor of any herb - one leaf perfumes a whole pitcher of tea, syrup, or sorbet base.Lemon verbena is a frost-tender South American shrub, so treat it as a container plant in zone 8a and move it into a garage...

Satsumas are the one citrus that genuinely fruits outdoors in central Alabama - seedless, zipper-skinned mandarins ripening right before Thanksgiving.A mature satsuma on trifoliate rootstock is the hardiest edible citrus available to us, taking brief dips to roughly 18-20F once established, but it still...

Pomegranates handle heat, drought, and poor soil, then repay you with flame-orange summer flowers and leathery red fruit in fall.Pomegranates are well suited to zone 8a heat, though our humidity and late-season rain can cause fruit splitting and less than perfect skins - flavor...

Figs are the most reliable backyard fruit in central Alabama - no spray schedule, no pollinator needed, and honey-sweet fruit by midsummer.Common figs are self-fruitful and thrive in our heat, with Southern standbys like 'Celeste', 'Brown Turkey', and 'LSU Purple' fruiting on well-established wood....

Tea olive scents an entire yard with apricot-sweet fragrance in fall and spring while working year-round as a dense evergreen screen.Tea olive, or sweet olive, is a broadleaf evergreen with small, inconspicuous cream flowers that carry an extraordinary fragrance across long distances. It grows...

Loropetalum holds burgundy-purple foliage every day of the year and covers itself in hot pink fringe flowers each spring.Chinese fringe flower is an evergreen shrub grown as much for its deep plum or burgundy leaves as for the shaggy pink blooms that cover it...

Gardenias produce creamy white blooms whose fragrance carries across an entire porch, set against thick, glossy evergreen leaves year-round.Gardenia is the signature fragrant shrub of the Deep South, flowering heavily in late spring with scattered rebloom through summer on many varieties. It wants acidic...