Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Callicarpa dichotoma

Family: Lamiaceae

Hardy shrub to 4′.  Beautyberry.  China.  Grown for its distinctive, glossy, lilac-violet berries.  These glorious fruits appear in abundant bunches in fall and persist on naked stems long after the leaves drop.  Fabulous in arrangements, if you can bear to cut them.  Fruit is preceded by small, discreet, pink to lavender flowers that bloom in the leaf axils along the stems in summer.  Sun to partial shade.  PC- 4 weeks, 3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Tradescantia virginiana

Family: Commelinaceae

(P) to 3′.  Virginia Spiderwort, Spider Lily.  Eastern US.  This Spiderwort has three-petalled, blue-purple flowers with contrasting yellow stamens in terminal clusters above a pair of long, narrow, leaf-like bracts, each opening for only a day.  Clump-forming with multiple stems bearing narrow, pointed, olive green leaves.  A useful and robust perennial for native gardens, open woods and borders.  Blooms late sprint to mid-summer.  Sun to part shade.  Moist, well-drained soil.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Thalictrum pubescens

Family: Ranunculaceae

(P) to 7′.  King of the Meadow.  Eastern US and Canada. This native beauty has tall panicles of apetalous flowers with white, thread-like, stamens that form a cloud-like fluff and tower over blue-green, Columbine-like leaves.  The foliage turns bright yellow in the fall.  Use in the back of borders, native gardens, and moist woodlands.  Blooms spring to summer.  Shade to part shade.  Medium to wet, well-drained, organically rich soil.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Sanicula canadensis

Family: Apiaceae

(B) to 2′.  Canadian Black Snakeroot.  Eastern US and Canada.  This common woodland wildflower produces umbels of tiny five petalled, greenish white flowers with a green calyx.  Each umbel consists of one to four umbellets.  Each umbellet has five male flowers and two or three perfect flowers.  The perfect flowers are very short stalked and have a prominent ovary covered in rows of hooked bristles.  The green bristly fruit splits into two seeds.  Leaves are alternate and palmately compound with three leaflets.  Useful for naturalizing in woodland areas and native gardens.  Blooms late spring to early summer.  Shade to part shade.  Moist to dry, loamy soil.  Best sown in situ.

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Salvia argentea

Family: Lamiaceae

(B) to 3′.  Silver Sage.  Southern Europe, Portugal to Bulgaria.  This biennial or short-lived perennial is grown mostly for its two to three-foot wide silver basal rosettes of woolly, wrinkled foliage in its first year.  However, the two to three foot tall spikes of tubular, hooded, white flowers are attractive too, but the main appeal are the rosettes.  May self-sow gently.  Excellent for gravel gardens and drought-resistant plantings.  Blooms spring to summer.  Full sun.  Average, well-drained soil.  4 & T3

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Salpiglossis sinuata Mix

Family: Solanaceae

(A) to 3′. Painted Tongue. South America. This Petunia-esque beauty has four-inch, pale green, elliptic to lanceolate leaves, with a wavy, lobed or toothed margin.  The funnel-shaped flowers are five-lobed, each lobe with a notched apex.  They are velvety in texture, in colours of purple, red, orange and bronze, with contrasting darker veins.  Popular for bedding, cut-flowers, and containers. Blooms early summer. Prefers cool weather so best to sow early indoors, or direct sow when the soil is warm.  Sun to part shade. Moist, fertile, well-drained soil.  4 & T3, cover and keep dark

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Plantago erecta

Family: Plantaginaceae

(A) to 1′.  Dotseed Plantain.  California.  This unassuming annual produces five-inch, needle-like leaves with long, soft hairs.  Small spikes of translucent white flowers follow in spring.  Host species for Checkerspot Butterflies.  Full sun.  Well-drained soil.  Adaptable to sand, clay and drought conditions.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Hydrangea arborescens subsp. radiata

Family: Hydrangeaceae

Shrub to 7′.  Silver Leaf Hydrangea.  Eastern US.  This versatile, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrubs is very free-flowering.  The inflorescences consist of two to six-inch wide, flat corymbs of sterile flowers with creamy white, large sepals.  These showy, sterile flowers are borne around the periphery of an inner cluster of smaller, shorter, fertile flowers.  Leaves are opposite, serrated, and dark green; the undersides are densely covered with silvery, felt-like hairs that look striking when revealed by a breeze.  Long blooming.  Shade to part shade. Moist, well-drained soil.  5 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Carpinus japonica

Family: Betulaceae

Deciduous tree to 30′. Japanese Hornbeam. Japan. A slow-growing, medium-sized, understory tree noted for its graceful form, attractive foliage and ornamental catkins.  The dark green leaves are doubly-toothed, oblong-lanceolate with prominent veining, and turn a golden-yellow colour in fall. The attractive, brown fruiting catkins, up to 2-½ inches long, are sausage-shaped and feature dense overlapping bracts. Blooms late summer with catkins into the fall. Shade to part shade. Average, moist, well-drained soil. PC 4 months & 3

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Veronicastrum virginicum

Family: Plantaginaceae

(P) to 6′.  Bowman’s Root.  Northeast America.  A beautiful plant adorned with eight-inch long spikes of tiny, blue, tubular flowers.  At the base of each central spike exists a second whorl of smaller flower spikes.  This plant makes an exotic and very architectural statement in the garden.  Midsummer.  Sun.  4 & T2