Signature Plants 2013

As its name implies, this cultivar produces exceptionally sweet fruit. Its compact size and medium to dark green semiglossy leaves make it an attractive choice for container gardening. ‘Sweet Charlie’ produces a June crop (and sometimes a second) of one to two pints of delicious medium-size fruit each season. This perennial is vigorous once established and easily propagated from the runners. Expect your first crop in the first year. For best results, grow this strawberry in full sun and reliably moist, well-drained, organically rich soil with a pH between 5.6 and 6.6.

From Cape Cod to the Jersey Shore, the fruit of this hardy native of the northeastern seaboard has long been cherished for its profuse white spring flowers and tart late-summer fruit. The attractive one-inch purple fruit taste like a cross between sour grape and plum and make distinctive-flavored preserves. Beach plum tends to resemble a bush more than a tree; it suckers freely from the roots and can produce dense thickets. The summer leaves are typically dull green but turn an eye-catching red hue in autumn. Beach plum grows on beaches and is unphased by salt and loose, sandy soils. Grow it in well-drained, loamy soil for more vigorous growth and higher fruit yields.

Photo: Rick Uva for the Cornell Beach Plum Project

Like its close relative the blackberry, dewberry fruit shines in jams, jellies, and cobblers, and its leaves can also be used to make tea. Unlike other Rubus species, this native bramble does not have upright canes; rather, its long, prickly stems trail along the ground, putting forth new roots along the length of the stem. In midspring, white flowers appear before forming green fruit that ripen to deep purple-blue. Dewberry grows best in light shade to full sun in medium to dry soils but tolerates a wide range of conditions. The canes can be staked, trained on a trellis, or allowed to trail.

Photo: James H. Miller and Ted Bodner, Southern Weed Science Society

This arching, multistemmed North American shrub is a great addition to the naturalized landscape or container garden. In summer it bears large lacy white flowers in broad, flat-topped to slightly rounded clusters above the foliage, which turns yellowish green in autumn. The aromatic flowers flavor tea, syrups, fritters, and other foods, and the dark purple-black fruit is used in wine, jam, syrup, and pies. Elderberry attracts butterflies in spring and birds when berries form; deer may browse it, but it’s very resilient and grows back fuller. It tolerates a wide range of conditions but prefers moist soils and partial to full sun.

Photo: Janet Allen

Threatened with extinction in its native Madagascar, Aloe rauhii is being conserved through cultivation. ‘White Fox’, a lovely miniature variety, has mottled white-and-green succulent leaves with sharply serrated edges. The more sunlight it gets, the greater the white variegation. In winter, one or more straight stalks with tubular salmon flowers develop. Great for a windowsill or summer container outdoors, this plant should be protected from exposure to temperatures below 40°F as well as from blazing summer sunlight. Water it sparingly in summer and even less in winter. This plant is toxic to house pets.

Photo: AG3

This tropical ornamental showstopper brings exotic flair to the summer patio pot or indoor garden with lush, glossy, deep green foliage and fragrant red torch-shaped inflorescences. The flowers, stalks, and rhizomes are aromatic but not edible. Red ginger is easily grown and maintained, preferring rich, mildly acidic potting media containing compost or peat moss and vermiculite. ‘Dwarf Red’ requires a minimum of one inch of water per week.

Photo: Agristarts

The sturdy, star-shaped flowers of this rare tropical houseplant hang in eye-catching waxy clusters of yellow-orange and maroon along woody stems covered with small, shiny oval leaves. It is an upright, compact grower that looks great in a hanging basket or trained on a trellis. Wax flower has a highly fragrant but hard-to-pin-down scent, with descriptions ranging from vanilla to cinnamon to citrus. It is an ideal choice for gardeners who prefer low-maintenance plants, as it requires only infrequent watering. It prefers bright shade and needs temperatures over 40°F to thrive.

Photo: Glasshouse Works

This herbaceous eastern native offers spectacular three-season appeal to shady gardens. Also called white baneberry, this perennial is best recognized by its white berries with dark spots resembling an antique porcelain doll’s eyes. In late spring, small puffy, fragrant white flowers appear on stalks well above the foliage, followed by poisonous berries that ripen over the summer and persist until frost. Grow doll’s eyes in rich organic, well-drained soil in full to partial shade. It will disappear and go dormant by early fall, sometimes earlier if it’s been very hot.

Photo: Cyndy Cromwell

The frilly, deep brown to purple, slightly luminescent foliage of this Heuchera cultivar is special enough to satisfy any gardener’s sweet tooth. ‘Dark Chocolate’ is an adaptable, easy-to-grow plant with a low mounding habit perfect for flower borders, rock gardens, and containers. In early May, it develops deep pink buds that mature into long-lasting large (for coral bells) whitish-pink bell-shaped flowers. It tolerates a wide variety of conditions, from full sun to full shade and moist to dry conditions once established. It is attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds but less so to deer.

Photo: Creek Hill Nursery

Named for the only female emperor in Chinese history, this impressive cultivar may be the largest hosta yet. Reaching a mature size of four to five feet tall and five to six feet wide, this clump-forming plant has dark-green leaves measuring an impressive 18 inches across. It grows vigorously, with a mounding, upright habit, and in midsummer, it produces tall bloom stalks with tubular, pale reddish-violet flowers. ‘Empress Wu’ makes an excellent focal point and conversation piece for shade gardens. Plant it in rich, deep soil and keep it well watered to ensure that leaves reach their full growth potential.

Photo: NH Hostas

This fast-growing creeping stonecrop provides a lush, low carpet of emerald-green, scalloped foliage. It spreads vigorously to form a thick one- to two-foot-wide patch and is highly tolerant of hot, dry sites with poor soil, making it an excellent choice for roof gardens, rock gardens, containers, and sunny borders. Clusters of attractive bright pink star-shaped flowers appear in midsummer to early fall, and the leaves develop warm, red-hued edges in autumn. It is resistant to both deer and rabbits, and the flowers are attractive to butterflies. ‘Summer Glory’ should be divided every three to four years to maintain compact growth.

Photo: Jelitto Perennial Seeds

This cultivar of our native deciduous ninebark is captivating in all seasons. In spring, its serrated leaves are an orangey-copper tone as they emerge, setting off clusters of small, light-pink flowers that appear in May before the foliage turns red in summer. Leaf drop in late fall reveals the lovely peeling reddish to light-brown bark that gives this shrub its common name. This compact shrub tolerates various conditions, including shallow soils and short-term drought. Prune as needed after flowering in late spring. Plants can be rejuvenated by cutting them down to the ground in the winter.

Photo: Carol Reese, University of Tennessee

This hard-to-find cherry’s foliage offers three seasons of beauty—the shiny, reddish-brown spring leaflets mature to a lustrous green in summer before taking on bronze to subdued red hues in autumn—and in winter its bark glows with an attractive reddish to bronze sheen. Small black fruits ripen from June to August. But the stars of the show are the pinkish-white, five-petaled blossoms that appear in clusters of two to six before leaf-out in April. Although it tolerates partial sun and various conditions, this tree requires good drainage and grows best with at least six hours of sun and moist, fertile soil with a neutral pH.

This abundantly fragrant light purple lilac has a fascinating provenance: It is descended from bushes planted at the Little Harbor, New Hampshire, home of Governor Benning Wentworth in 1750—arguably the first lilacs cultivated in North America. Nursery cuttings of these historic plants have been carefully nurtured and are available in limited numbers. Grow this shrub in full sun or partial shade in average, well-drained soil. When watering, avoid wetting the foliage to avoid mildew problems. For continuous vigor, prune a quarter to a third of the largest stems annually after the flowers have faded.