The red buckeye is the South's hummingbird herald, a clump-forming, round-topped deciduous shrub or small tree whose lustrous, palmately compound leaves break very early, often before the last frosts, and whose six-inch panicles of tubular scarlet-red flowers open in spring just as the ruby-throated hummingbirds return north. The bright bloom, unusual among the buckeyes, draws hummingbirds and bees in numbers and gives the plant a long place in the affection of native-plant gardeners across the southern United States.
A low, often half-prostrate form of the red buckeye, Aesculus pavia var. humilis keeps to a small, spreading shrub where the typical red buckeye grows into a small tree. The scarlet spring flowers come in smaller panicles, and in every other respect the plant follows the species: lustrous palmate leaves that break early, a love of moist, well-drained woodland soil, and the same magnetism for returning hummingbirds.
A red or scarlet flowered buckeye of the Gulf Coast, Aesculus splendens stands close to the red buckeye, Aesculus pavia, and may be no more than a striking form of that species. Dirr, in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, notes that Rehder listed this buckeye as a distinct species and that several horticulturists feel strongly about the authenticity, the chief differences being scarlet flowers and leaves felted on the undersides. Native to Louisiana and perhaps other Gulf Coast states, the scarlet buckeye is grown much as the red buckeye is.
A graceful native onion, Allium cernuum, the nodding onion, lifts loose clusters of pink to lavender, bell-shaped flowers that bend over in a soft arc at the top of slender stems, swaying through mid and late summer above tufts of grassy, blue-green foliage. The nodding habit gives the plant a particular charm, and the flowers draw native bees, butterflies, and other pollinators in good numbers.
Hardiness
Zones 4–8
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
12–18 in.
Spread
6–8 in.
Bloom
Pink
Plant type
Perennial
Traditional use
respiratory support, digestive health, immune support
Korean mountain ash is the unusual member of the clan, a deciduous tree from Korea, recently moved by botanists from Sorbus into the genus Alniaria, with simple, finely toothed, alder-like leaves rather than the compound leaves of the familiar mountain ashes. White flower clusters open in May, and the fall foliage turns warm shades of orange and red.
Sweet almond verbena is grown for one glorious thing above all: scent. From midsummer until hard frost, Aloysia virgata tips every branch with slender spikes of small white flowers that pour out an intoxicating vanilla-almond fragrance, strongest in the late afternoon and evening and carrying clear across a garden. Butterflies and hummingbirds work the spikes all season.
Coastal serviceberry is the compact, low-growing member of a beloved native clan, a small deciduous shrub of the Atlantic coastal plain that spreads gently into colonies and opens clouds of white, five-petaled flowers in early spring, among the first shrubs to bloom as the woods wake.
Amorpha fruticosa, the false indigo bush, is the largest and most widespread of the native false indigos, a fast, open, deciduous shrub that carries long spires of tiny deep blue-purple flowers, each lit with a single vivid orange anther, at the branch tips in late spring and early summer. From a suckering base rise arching stems six to twelve feet tall, clothed in soft, ferny, pinnate leaves that give off a clean, resinous scent when crushed. In full bloom the whole shrub seems to smoke with color, and the flower spikes hum with bees.
Hardiness
Zones 4–9
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
6–12 ft.
Spread
6–12 ft.
Bloom
Purple
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
digestive health, general wellness, pain relief, topical applications
Smooth false indigo is a rare deciduous shrub of sandy southern streambanks, carrying pinnate, compound leaves whose leaflets are notably large and rounded, a softer, more luxuriant texture than the ferny foliage of the common false indigos. In early summer the branch tips raise slender spikes of tiny blue to purple flowers, each lit with the bright orange anthers typical of the genus.
Ampelaster carolinianus is a woody, scrambling, semi-evergreen vine that climbs through shrubs and over stream banks along the coastal plain of the southeastern United States, opening lavender-blue flowers in November and December when every other aster has long since finished. The climbing aster keeps a private schedule, and that contrary timing is the whole charm.
Threadleaf bluestar is grown for two seasons at once: a haze of soft, powder-blue stars in late spring, and a billow of fine, needle-thin foliage that turns a blazing clear gold in fall. Native to the Ouachita Mountains of central Arkansas, Amsonia hubrichtii forms a large, dense, shrub-like clump of upright stems clothed in those threadlike leaves, and the autumn color alone earns a place in any sunny border.
Dwarf bluestar is the compact, well-behaved member of the clan, a tidy mound of upright stems and soft green leaves topped in late spring with clusters of powder-blue, star-shaped flowers. Often treated as a low form of the eastern bluestar, Amsonia montana stays small and shapely, a fine choice where the taller bluestars would sprawl.
Eastern bluestar is the bluestar most gardeners know, a robust native perennial with broader, willowy oval leaves and the clear blue, star-shaped flowers that name the genus, carried in clusters at the stem tips in spring. Amsonia tabernaemontana grows happily in deep, moist soil in part shade, and rewards almost any reasonable site with bloom and easy good health.
Flame acanthus, better known as hummingbird bush, is a tough, airy deciduous shrub for hot, dry places, hung from late spring until frost with slender orange to red tubular flowers that ruby-throated hummingbirds cannot resist. Small, pointed leaves give a light, open texture, and the long bloom season makes Anisacanthus wrightii one of the best hummingbird plants for the southern garden.
A pumpkin-orange selection of the classic flame acanthus, Anisacanthus wrightii 'Pumpkin' trades the usual scarlet for warm, glowing orange, lighting the late-season garden with the same slender, tubular, hummingbird flowers. The clone was discovered at the San Antonio Botanic Garden and is generally taken to be the selection known as 'Pumpkin'.
Madeira vine is a fast, twining, deciduous climber with fleshy, heart-shaped leaves and sprays of tiny, fragrant cream-white flowers in late summer and fall. Anredera cordifolia climbs by winding tuberous stems, and a warty crop of aerial tubers along the stems, some as large as a small potato, is the surest mark of the plant and a ready means of increase.
Hardiness
Zones 7–9
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
10–20 ft.
Spread
6–10 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Vine
Traditional use
topical applications, reproductive health, general wellness
Few spring sights stir the woodland gardener like wild columbine in bloom. Aquilegia canadensis hangs nodding red-and-yellow bells, spurred and lantern-like, over lacy blue-green foliage, catching the low light of April along forest edges, rocky outcrops, and Appalachian coves where the plant has grown for ages. The eastern red columbine, or simply wild columbine, is among the most beloved of native spring wildflowers.
The strawberry tree is a handsome broadleaf evergreen, a large shrub or small tree hung in fall and early winter with clusters of nodding, urn-shaped, pinkish-white flowers, just as the previous year's fruit ripens to warty, orange-red, strawberry-like globes. Flowers and fruit on the branches at once is the particular charm of Arbutus unedo, and the glossy leaves and shredding cinnamon bark hold interest year round.
Hardiness
Zones 7–9
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
15–25 ft.
Spread
10–15 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
detoxification & cleansing, digestive health, heart support
A hybrid strawberry tree, Arbutus x andrachnoides crosses the strawberry tree, Arbutus unedo, with the Grecian strawberry tree, A. andrachne, and takes the best of both: white, bell-shaped flowers and pink, strawberry-like fruit on a small evergreen tree, over dark green leaves an inch and a half to four inches long. The real prize comes with age, when the bark peels away to a smooth, rich red-brown that rivals any madrone.
Aronia arbutifolia has grown in the wet woods and pocosins of the eastern United States for a very long time, largely unbothered by the horticultural world's attention. 'Brilliantissima' changed that. Selected for foliage with a deeper gloss and berries of a more saturated, almost lacquered red than the straight species, this is the form that finally made gardeners look twice at a native shrub long overlooked despite centuries of quiet usefulness.
