Regional Picks: Plant Wish List – South

1. ‘Standing Ovation’ Little Bluestem

Name:Schizachyrium scoparium‘Standing Ovation’

Usda Hardiness Zones:3 to 8

Size:3 to 4 feet improbable and 1 to 1½feet wide-cut

Conditions : Full sun;tolerant of many soil types as long as soil is well drain

This heavyset ornamental grass truly deserves a standing standing ovation . Although named for its dogged upright drug abuse , in my Good Book it is its ever - switch foliation color that earns applause . In spring , ‘ Standing Ovation ’ look like any other ornamental grass , but by midsummer , the leaf is a variety of low-spirited , purple , and fleeceable that turn to auburn as autumn cast around . Leave it standing to cater wintertime pursuit and a spot for ladybugs and reason mallet to winter . The only concern it requires is a quick trim in spring before ontogeny re-start .

2. ‘Fascination’ Culver’s Root

Name:Veronicastrum virginicum‘Fascination’

Zones:3 to 8

Size:3 to 4feet magniloquent and 2 to 3feet wide of the mark

consideration : Full sun to partial shade ; moist , well – drained soil

In full flush , ‘ Fascination ’ unhorse up the garden with 12 - inch pale purpleness racemes separate out from a concluding wind like a candelabra . folio whorl around the stem , offering a singular texture to borders and mass plantings . This long - lived perennial is a favorite of butterflies and bee . Unlike many other cultivated North American natives , ‘ Fascination ’ is not drouth tolerant , preferring moist , well - drained land .

3. ‘Royal Purple’ Smoke Tree

Name:Cotinus coggygria‘Royal Purple’

Zones:4 to 8

Size:10 to 15feet tall and wide

Conditions : Full Lord’s Day ; well – debilitate , poor , bouldered soils

‘ Royal Purple ’ smoke tree is the empress of any garden in which it shack . In give , it gracefully leafs out with maroon foliage that deepens to purple in summertime and flushes scarlet in the free fall . Unlike other roll of tobacco - tree cultivar , bloom do n’t take to be sacrificed to maintain the coloured leafage . ‘ Royal Purple ’ can be pruned into a single - stem tree or managed as a multistem bush . Tough as nail once established , it can handle drought and pitiable dirt , and has few if any pests .

4. Silky Dogwood

Name:Cornus amomum

Size:6 to 10feet tall and across-the-board

Conditions : Partial shade to full sun ; moist , slightly acidic soil rich in organic matter

Silky dogwood is not what one typically pictures when thinking of dogwoods . This rambling bush ’s native mountain chain is along stream bank building , wetlands , and other perennially dampish , shady areas . Although not suitable for a manicured bed , it can be pruned back to the ground in natural spring to maintain a more doable size of it . This also ensures that you will experience one of its best features : the young branches ’ carmine barque that shines bright in the thick of wintertime . When left to its own devices , silken dogwood tree forms a captivating hedgerow , windbreak , or thicket , with branches that root where their nodes touch the flat coat . Its berries are an first-class food source for native bird .

Megan Lankford is lead nurseryman at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville , Arkansas .

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Regional Picks: Plant Wish List - Southern Plains

Regional Picks: Plant Wish List - Northwest

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Regional Picks: Plant Wish List - Midwest

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Silky Dogwood

Photo: courtesy of North Creek Nurseries

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