Growing Zone 4

An evergreen trailing groundcover that holds a slope and keeps its leaves all winter.Vinca minor, common periwinkle, is the groundcover you plant where you are tired of fighting. Glossy dark evergreen leaves on trailing stems that root as they run, with small violet-blue flowers...

Upright spikes of blue that bloom for months and bring every bee in the yard.Veronica sends up narrow vertical spires above a tidy clump of foliage, flowering from late spring well into summer if you cut the spent stems back. It is one of...

Chartreuse trails that spill out of a container and root wherever they land.Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' is the golden spiller you see cascading over the edge of every good mixed planter, and it works just as hard as a groundcover in a damp, part-shaded spot....

Silver-marked foliage that lights up a shady bed all winter.Lamium maculatum is grown for its leaves first - silver centres edged in green that brighten deep shade from a distance - with pink or white flowers as a bonus in spring. It spreads politely...

An evergreen groundcover that carpets shade where grass gives up.Ajuga reptans spreads by runners into a low mat of glossy, often bronze-purple foliage, then sends up short spikes of blue flowers in spring. It holds its leaves through an Alabama winter, takes foot traffic...

Our fresh peppermint is cool and refreshing with a crisp menthol finish, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh peppermint is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny...

Our fresh sage is earthy and aromatic with a soft, savory fragrance, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh sage is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny...

Our fresh oregano is bold, peppery, and Mediterranean, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh oregano is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny sill and snips as...

Our fresh chives is delicate and mild with a gentle onion flavor, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh chives is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny...

Pull thick crimson stalks in spring for the sharpest, most electric pie filling in the garden, tart in a way no other crop delivers.Be honest with yourself about zone 8a: rhubarb needs real winter chill and it genuinely sulks in Deep South summers, so...

Harvest handfuls of smooth grape-sized kiwis you eat skin and all, sweeter than the fuzzy supermarket kind and ready by the bowlful in fall.YOU NEED BOTH A MALE AND A FEMALE PLANT. Hardy kiwi is dioecious, and a lone female will flower beautifully and...

Strings of jewel-bright berries in early summer, tart enough to make the best jelly you have ever had and impossible to buy fresh locally.IMPORTANT: Ribes species are restricted or require a permit in some states because they are an alternate host for white pine...

Dig crisp, nutty sunchoke tubers after the first fall frost, harvesting from a tall sunflower relative that returns every single year.Sunchokes are supplied as dormant tubers rather than seedlings, and they are a true perennial that comes back reliably and spreads vigorously, so give...

Plant a dormant crown once and cut tender spring spears for twenty years, though the first real harvest waits two to three seasons.Asparagus is supplied as a one-year dormant crown, not a leafy seedling, and it needs a permanent bed you will not till...

Spires of waxy blue, pink or white bells rise through spring shade, turning the ground beneath hardwoods into a soft flowering haze.Spanish Bluebell is one of the few classic spring bulbs that genuinely thrives in the Deep South - it needs no winter chill,...

Nodding white teardrops on gray-green leaves push straight through cold January ground, the first flower of the year in most Alabama gardens.Wade Greens supplies Galanthus elwesii, the Giant Snowdrop, because it is the only snowdrop with a real chance in zone 8a - it...

Autumn Blaze maple grows a broad shade canopy in just a few years and turns brilliant orange-red every fall, right on schedule.Autumn Blaze is a hybrid of red and silver maple that combines fast growth with the dependable scarlet fall color and stronger branching...

Juniper thrives where nothing else will - hot slopes, poor soil, salt, and drought - and stays evergreen and textural through it all.Juniper covers an enormous range of forms, from flat groundcover types that hold banks together to upright columns used as accents and...

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...

Yarrow blooms in flat colorful clusters through the worst of summer, thriving on drought and poor soil where fussier perennials give up.Ferny aromatic foliage and long-lasting flower heads in white, gold, red, and terracotta make yarrow a workhorse for hot, dry, unirrigated beds, and...