Full Sun
Rainwater OnlyMature Size: 10’X 10’
Blooming Season: Summer
Flower Color: Yellow with thread-like red stamens
Yellow Bird of Paradise is a favorite of hummingbirds and provides months of color with a miserly amount of water. Plant it where it receives extra runoff from a canale or gutter downspout, and within a few growing seasons, you can put away the hose and enjoy the show.
Full Sun, Part ShadeLow WaterMature Size: 3-6’X 3-6’
Blooming Season: April
Flower Color: Yellowish-green
An ornamental native shrub that is well adapted to a wide range of soils from sandy to rock to heavy clay. Three-Leaf Sumac is a moderate to fast grower, depending on how much water it receives. The unremarkable tiny flowers are followed by tart, red berries that are much sought after by wild birds. A good choice for screening and wind breaks, its leaves turn glorious shades of red and orange in the fall.
Full Sun,Low WaterMature Size: 4-6’X 5’
Blooming Season: Mid-Summer
Flower Color: White
Fernbush is an unusual native rose that’s great used as a single specimen or clustered in groups or rows for visual screening and hedges. The showy flower spikes resemble those of white lilacs and attract butterflies all summer. Its aromatic olive green foliage is soft and fern-like and its upright stems with their peeling bronze bark create a pleasant, rounded silhouette without shearing. This hardy plant loves south- and west-facing exposures and well-drained soil.
Full Sun, Part Shade
Medium WaterMature Size: 2’X 3’
Blooming Season: July-August
Flower Color: Blue-purple
A very popular, low-care shrub that’s perfect for landscape or flower beds. It needs only average garden soil to thrive. Hundreds of purple-blue flower spikes cover the mature plant in late summer. Cut back 1/3 of its previous year’s height in spring to encourage heaviest flowering. Butterflies love this shrub!
Full Sun, Part ShadeMedium WaterMature Size: Climbing X 15’
Blooming Season: Summer
Flower Color: Red
What’s not to love about a plant named for one of the major food groups? Alas, the common name refers to the brownish red flower color rather than the flavor of its tasty (but not even remotely chocolate) purple-brown fruits. This graceful vine with slender stems and finely divided leaves is semi-evergreen in warm microclimates, and an asset where a light shade canopy or tracery of foliage against a north or east facing wall are needed.