Landscaping Plants

Flower heads the size of a softball, hundreds of them, every April.Viburnum macrocephalum is the one people stop the car for. In early spring it covers itself in 6-8 inch globes that open lime-green and age to pure white, held on arching branches that...

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...

Sky-blue phlox-like clusters on a loose shrub that flowers through the hottest stretch of the year.Plumbago auriculata, Cape leadwort, is one of the few true blues that holds up to Alabama heat. It grows as a sprawling, semi-woody shrub with slender arching stems that...

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...

The evergreen screen the Southeast plants instead of Leyland cypress.Cryptomeria japonica 'Yoshino' is a fast, soft-needled evergreen conifer that forms a dense pyramid without the canker and bagworm problems that shorten Leyland cypress in Alabama. Blue-green through summer, taking a bronze cast in hard...

A Southeast native evergreen that holds its leaves and its berries straight through winter.Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) is one of the toughest evergreens native to the Southeast - glossy small leaves, dense branching, and scarlet berries on female plants that persist into spring. It...

Enormous upward-facing leaves on a plant that comes back every spring in zone 8a.Alocasia odora holds its huge glossy leaves upright rather than drooping, building a bold tropical clump through the summer. It dies back after frost and returns from the rhizome, making it...

Intensely fragrant white flowers in late summer, when almost nothing else is blooming.Hedychium coronarium sends up canes of lush green foliage through summer and opens sweetly scented white butterfly-shaped flowers from late summer into fall. It is hardy in the ground here, spreads slowly...

A real banana that survives an Alabama winter in the ground - tropical scale with none of the fuss.Musa basjoo is the hardiest banana in cultivation, dying back after frost and returning from the root each spring with mulch. It throws paddle leaves several...

Willow and Nuttall oaks grow shade fast for oaks, drop small tidy leaves, and hand the yard deep red color every November.These two native red-group oaks are the practical choice for large shade in the South. Willow oak has narrow, willow-like leaves that rake...

'Little Gem' brings full-size fragrant magnolia flowers to a compact tree that fits a courtyard and blooms from spring into fall.'Little Gem' is a dwarf Southern magnolia with the same glossy dark leaves and bronze felted undersides as the full-size species, on a narrow...

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...

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...

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...

'Nellie Stevens' builds a dense evergreen privacy screen fast and sets heavy red berries every winter without needing a male pollinator nearby.'Nellie Stevens' holly is the South's favorite screening holly, forming a broad dark green pyramid of glossy spined leaves and setting abundant red...

Distylium gives you a clean blue-green evergreen with no blight, no bagworms, and no shearing - the low-maintenance answer to holly and juniper.Distylium is a relatively new landscape shrub bred specifically to replace the workhorse evergreens that give Southern gardeners the most trouble. It...

Boxwood shears into crisp hedges, spheres, and edging that hold their shape year-round and give a landscape instant formal structure.Boxwood is the classic evergreen for clipped hedges, parterres, and foundation lines, with small dense leaves that take shearing better than almost anything else. It...