Pistacia mexicana
Pistacia mexicana is a large, airy, rounded shrub or multi-trunked small tree, 12-20 ft. tall. Its glossy foliage, reddish in spring, dark-green later, is pinnately compound. Clusters of small, white flowers are followed by clusters of red, nut-like drupes on females. These become almost black on drying.
Platanus occidentalis
The American sycamore is a wide-canopied, deciduous tree, usually 75-100 ft. tall, with a massive trunk and open crown of huge, crooked branches. The bark of large, old trunks sloughs off in scales or plates leaving a smooth, whitish inner bark. Leaves broadly ovate or broader, blade often wider than long, long pointed. Globular fruits […]
Salvia coccinea
Several whorls of red to pinkish flowers form an interrupted spike on a square stem. This showy southern native is characterized by the loose, widely spaced nature of the flowering spike. It is found in the hot sands of the South. The flamboyant, cultivated member of this group, Scarlet Sage (S. splendens), was introduced from […]
Rudbeckia hirta
Depending on growing conditions, this species may act as an annual, biennial or as a short-lived perennial. Bright-yellow, 2-3 in. wide, daisy-like flowers with dark centers are its claim-to-fame. They occur singly atop 1-2+ ft. stems. The stems and scattered, oval leaves are covered with bristly hairs. Coarse, rough-stemmed plant with daisy-like flower heads made […]
Rhus aromatica
Fragrant sumac is an irregular, spreading, deciduous shrub, 6-12 ft. tall, with velvety twigs and lower branches turned up at the tips. Glossy, somewhat blue-green, coarsely toothed, trifoliate leaves turn orange, red, purple and yellow in the fall. Yellowish catkin-like flowers precede dark-red berries which persist into March. A sprawling, small to medium-size shrub with […]
Ratibida columnifera
A plant branched and leafy in lower part with long leafless stalks bearing flower heads of 3-7 yellow or yellow and red-brown, drooping rays surrounding a long, red-brown central disc. With sombrero-shaped flower heads, it is usually 1 1/2 ft. tall but can reach 3 ft. Flower petals range from dark red and yellow, to […]
Schizachyrium scoparium
Little Bluestem is a very ornamental bunchgrass with fine-textured foliage that forms very dense mounds 18-24 inches tall. Slender blue-green stems often reach 5 feet, or more, by September, and become radiant mahogany-red with white, shining seed tufts in the fall. Color remains nearly all winter. Perennial clumps grow up to a foot in diameter.This […]
Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii
Soapberry is a single-stemmed, low-branched, round-crowned tree, growing 10-50 ft. tall, depending on habitat. Gray, sculpted bark is distinctive in the dormant season. Leaves up to 18 inches long with a central axis and as many as 24 paired leaflets, usually fewer, and often no terminal leaflet. Leaflets unsymmetric with the broader part of the […]
Salvia roemeriana
A red-flowered, hirsute, perennial salvia that grows from 1 to 2 feet tall, with rounded, scalloped leaves, Salvia roemeriana is adapted to grow in the shade and leaf mulch of Juniperus species, especially Juniperus ashei (Ashe Juniper). The leaves are normally 1 to 2 inches wide, and flowers are 1 to 1.5 inches long on […]
Salvia greggii
Autumn Sage is a soft, mounding shrub normally 2-3 ft. tall, with small, mintily aromatic green leaves that are evergreen in warmer climates. The flowers are borne on racemes from spring to frost and can be red, pink, purple, orange, or white. Its natural range is from south-central and west Texas south to San Luis […]