Detailed plant profiles with growing tips for weekend gardeners. Browse by category or search for a specific plant to find zone-specific planting advice, care instructions, and troubleshooting help.
Japanese barberry is a dense, thorny deciduous shrub grown for its tidy form, small yellow spring flowers, and bright red berries that often persist into winter. It is easy to grow in a wide range of soils and is valued for hedges, barriers, and seasonal color. Gardeners should note that it is considered invasive in many parts of North America, so planting may be restricted or discouraged in some areas.
Black birch is a handsome native deciduous tree valued for its glossy bark, graceful form, and spicy wintergreen scent in its twigs. It makes an excellent long-term shade tree for larger landscapes and naturalized plantings. Gardeners also appreciate its wildlife value and strong adaptation to eastern North American woodland conditions.
Ethiopian mustard is a fast-growing brassica grown for its nutritious leafy greens and, in some regions, for oilseed production. It has a bold, mustard-like flavor and performs especially well in cool weather, making it a useful crop for spring and fall gardens. Home gardeners appreciate its vigor, productivity, and versatility in the kitchen.
Bluestar is a dependable native perennial grown for its clusters of soft, star-shaped blue flowers and its fine-textured foliage. It brings long-lasting garden value, blooming in spring and often turning a rich golden yellow in fall. Easy to grow and adaptable, it fits beautifully into borders, pollinator gardens, and naturalistic plantings.
Cardinal flower is a striking native perennial prized for its tall spikes of vivid red blooms that light up damp garden beds in summer. It is especially loved by hummingbirds and fits beautifully into rain gardens, pond edges, and partially shaded borders. Despite its dramatic look, it is quite manageable for beginners when given consistently moist soil.
Flowering dogwood is a beloved small native tree grown for its showy white spring bracts, red fall fruit, and rich autumn color. It fits beautifully into home landscapes as a specimen tree, woodland edge planting, or wildlife-friendly accent. With the right siting and steady moisture, it rewards gardeners with year-round beauty.
Giant sequoia is one of the most awe-inspiring trees a gardener can grow, prized for its massive size, reddish bark, and stately conical form. While it is best suited to large properties, parks, and arboretum-style landscapes, young trees can make striking specimen plantings in the right climate. This evergreen conifer is long-lived and ornamental, offering year-round structure and a strong sense of permanence in the landscape.
Marginal wood fern is a handsome native evergreen fern valued for its tidy, leathery fronds and dependable performance in shady gardens. It brings year-round texture to woodland borders, rock gardens, and naturalized plantings. This fern is especially useful for gardeners who want a durable, low-maintenance plant for dry shade or humus-rich forest soils.
Sourwood is a graceful native tree prized for its drooping clusters of white summer flowers and brilliant red fall color. It is especially loved by pollinators and is famous as a source of premium sourwood honey. For home gardeners, it makes an elegant specimen tree for acidic, well-drained soils.
Coral bean is a striking native shrub or herbaceous subshrub grown for its vivid red, tubular flowers and bold tropical look. It attracts hummingbirds and adds bright seasonal color to warm-climate gardens with relatively little care. In colder parts of its range, it may die back to the ground in winter and return from the roots in spring.
Honey locust is a fast-growing deciduous shade tree valued for its airy canopy, fine-textured foliage, and adaptability to tough growing conditions. It is widely planted in landscapes because it tolerates heat, drought, and urban stress better than many other large trees. Thornless selections are especially popular for home gardens, while the species is also known for its long seed pods and rugged character.
Weekend Plant