{"title":"The Prop House","description":"\u003cp\u003eEvery plant Woodlanders sells begins here, in the propagation house, long before there is a photograph or a price. This is the working end of the nursery: benches of rooted cuttings under mist, seed sown in flats and keeping their own slow clocks, small plants potting up toward a size worth shipping. The Prop House opens that room to you. Browse what we are growing on for the seasons ahead, follow a plant from cutting to gallon, and ask us to write when the one you want is finally ready to travel. Some are old Southeastern natives we propagate a few dozen at a time; some have never been offered anywhere before. All of them are on their way.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"abutilon-megapotamicum","title":"Abutilon megapotamicum","description":"\u003cp\u003eAbutilon megapotamicum is the trailing one of the flowering maples, a slender, half-vining deciduous shrub that drapes and clambers rather than standing stiffly upright. Its species name means \"of the big river,\" for the Rio Grande basin of southern Brazil where it grows wild, and like the rest of its tribe it belongs not to the maples its leaves suggest but to the mallow family, in company with hibiscus and hollyhock.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe flowers are its whole charm: curious hanging lanterns, each a swollen red calyx from which a skirt of yellow petals and a dark tuft of stamens protrude, swinging along the branches from late summer well into fall. Hummingbirds and bees find them readily. A Victorian favorite for the conservatory and the hanging basket, it has never quite gone out of fashion among gardeners who like a plant that does something unexpected.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt can be used in several ways: left to spill several feet across a bed in a single season, trained up a support or trellis, or planted in a basket where the lanterns can dangle. Give it full sun to part shade and well-drained soil. In zone 8 it behaves as a dieback shrub, cut down by frost and returning from the base; in warmer zones it holds more of its frame.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSite it where the hanging flowers can be read at eye level or above, against a wall, over the edge of a raised bed, or from a basket on the porch, where its long season of quirky bloom can be enjoyed up close.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057805234291,"sku":"ABUT-MEGA-01G","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-265.jpg?v=1720136098"},{"product_id":"acer-fabri","title":"Acer fabri","description":"\u003cp\u003eAcer fabri, known as Faber's maple or emerald jade maple, is a small evergreen to semi-evergreen tree of rounded habit whose slender, prominently veined, pointed leaves are entirely unlobed; few would guess the plant for a maple until the winged seeds appear. The new growth flushes a fine copper red, and the samaras ripen red as well before fading to brownish yellow in late summer, so the tree carries color without depending on the usual autumn display.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFaber's maple is a rare species in cultivation, native to China, and a favored subject for bonsai, where the glossy foliage and tidy proportions show to advantage. In the open garden these trees have performed very well across several areas of the southern United States, holding their leaves through mild winters and shedding them only when hard cold arrives.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUse the tree as an evergreen specimen or small patio tree where the glossy leaves and red new growth can be enjoyed up close, in a sheltered spot with good drainage and even moisture. Native to China.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057805758579,"sku":"ACER-FABR-01G","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-1591.jpg?v=1720136119"},{"product_id":"acer-griseum","title":"Acer griseum","description":"\u003cp\u003eFew trees carry a collector's story as plainly as the paperbark maple. Ernest Henry Wilson gathered seed of \u003cem\u003eAcer griseum\u003c\/em\u003e in central China in 1901 for the Veitch nursery, and for most of the twentieth century nearly every paperbark grown in Western gardens traced back to that introduction and one that followed. The maple sets abundant winged samaras, yet most are empty, a parthenocarpic habit that leaves only a small fraction viable. That quirk is why the species has always been scarce, slow to propagate, and quietly treasured wherever a good specimen takes hold.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe bark is the glory of the tree. Within two or three years the trunk and larger limbs begin to shed in papery curls of cinnamon to coppery red brown, and the peeling layers cling rather than fall, catching low winter light until the whole canopy seems lit from within. Three-part leaves, blue green through summer, turn scarlet and orange before dropping, while the small greenish yellow spring flowers pass almost unnoticed, content to leave the bark and the autumn fire to carry the season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSlow and well mannered, the paperbark maple settles at twenty to thirty feet with a rounded, oval crown, a scale that suits a small lawn, a courtyard, or the corner of a mixed border. Site this maple where the trunk can be read at close range, beside a path, a patio, or a window framed for winter, and give the bark a dark backdrop of evergreens to play against. Adaptable to clay and to both acid and alkaline ground, the tree asks only for reasonable drainage and a few patient years of watering to establish.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"1 Gallon","offer_id":42961950474355,"sku":"ACER-GRIS-01G","price":31.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"1 Quart","offer_id":42961950507123,"sku":"ACER-GRIS-01Q","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/AcergriseumWoodlanders-3.jpg?v=1750637242"},{"product_id":"adina-rubella","title":"Adina rubella","description":"\u003cp\u003eA medium to large deciduous shrub closely related to the native buttonbush, \u003cem\u003eAdina rubella\u003c\/em\u003e wears smaller leaves and bears similar but daintier flowers: round, scented heads of pale pink and white, each bristling with styles into a small Sputnik, carried over a long season from early summer well into fall. The pincushion blooms draw bees and butterflies just as the buttonbushes do, and an open, arching habit gives the shrub a fine-textured grace.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNative to the streamsides and sandy banks of central and southeastern China and South Korea, the Chinese buttonbush takes happily to wet ground and ordinary soil alike, reaching perhaps ten feet in a warm climate. In Chinese and Korean folk medicine the plant has a long use, the leaves and bark prepared for dysentery, diarrhea, skin complaints such as eczema, and toothache, though the shrub reaches Western gardens as an ornamental and a pollinator plant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA graceful, water-loving shrub for a pond edge, a rain garden, a streambank, or any moist, sunny to part-shaded spot where the long season of fragrant buttons can be enjoyed. \u003cem\u003eAdina rubella\u003c\/em\u003e tolerates wet feet that defeat many shrubs, pairs naturally with the native buttonbush and other moisture lovers, and can be cut back in late winter to keep the arching frame tidy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057806905459,"sku":"ADIN-RUBE-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-267.jpg?v=1720136178"},{"product_id":"aesculus-pavia","title":"Aesculus pavia","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNative peoples knew the buckeye well, though not as food without effort: every part is poisonous, rich in the saponin aescin and the glycoside aesculin, and the bright seeds are the most dangerous. The same saponins made the buckeye useful, the crushed seeds and branches tossed into still pools to stupefy fish, which rose to the surface to be gathered, while leached and roasted nuts could be eaten and the lather of the seeds served as a soap. Handsome as the seeds are, treat the red buckeye as ornamental, and keep the poisonous parts away from children and livestock.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy late summer the red buckeye often drops the leaves early, so site where a summer gap reads as seasonal rather than sad, among other shrubs or at a woodland edge that fills in around the bare frame. Plant in sun to part shade in moist, well-drained soil, and enjoy the early flowers as one of the first nectar sources of the southern spring. Lovely with native azaleas and dogwoods that bloom in the same season.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057807102067,"sku":"AESC-PAVI-01G","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-7.jpg?v=1720136191"},{"product_id":"afrocarpus-falcatus","title":"Afrocarpus falcatus","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe yellowwoods are to South Africa roughly what the live oaks are to the Lowcountry: the tree everyone knows, the tree in the old photographs, the tree the furniture was made from. \u003cem\u003eAfrocarpus falcatus\u003c\/em\u003e, the Outeniqua yellowwood, is the tallest of them, a conifer of coastal and montane forest from the Eastern Cape north through Mozambique and Malawi, reaching thirty to sixty feet in cultivation and a great deal more in the deep forest at Tsitsikamma. The famous specimens live for centuries and carry trunks two or three feet through. Yellowwoods collectively are treated as South Africa's national tree, and cutting one is regulated by law.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNothing about the plant looks like a conifer to an eye trained on pines. There are no needles and no woody cones; instead the branches carry sprays of narrow, flat, slightly sickle-shaped leaves about two inches long, blue-green and soft in outline, and the seed is a fleshy yellow drupe that birds eat and distribute. This is the Podocarpaceae, an old southern-hemisphere family that split from the northern conifers a very long time ago and never adopted any of the northern habits. \u003cem\u003eFalcatus\u003c\/em\u003e means sickle-shaped, for the curve of the leaf, and the genus name is simply the African branch of the group, separated from \u003cem\u003ePodocarpus\u003c\/em\u003e proper in the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn cultivation the tree is well known in coastal California and in the mildest parts of the Southeast, where the qualities that recommend the plant are the ones a slow conifer offers: dense evergreen structure, a clean pyramidal habit when young broadening with age, no litter to speak of, and a tolerance of heat that many conifers lack. The wood behind the reputation is pale, fine-grained, and worked for centuries into furniture, floorboards, roof beams, and boats; a good deal of the yellowwood antique trade in South Africa came off this one species.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGive the tree deep, fertile, well-drained soil and full sun to light shade, and give real room to a plant that intends to become large. Water through establishment; established specimens are notably tough. One honest caution about hardiness: this is a zone 9 tree that succeeds in the milder parts of zone 8, and a hard Piedmont winter will find the limit. Plant in a sheltered position with good drainage, accept that a severe freeze may burn the foliage, and understand that patience is the whole proposition with a conifer that measures growth in decades. Cuttings of this plant came off the Armstrong Campus in Savannah in August 2026, which is a fair test of the mild coastal end of the range.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057807560819,"sku":"AFRO-FALC-01G","price":52.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/3734AC9F-35A5-41F3-9F84-A1983C656BDA.jpg?v=1787792955"},{"product_id":"allium-cernuum","title":"Allium cernuum","description":"\u003cp\u003eA graceful native onion, \u003cem\u003eAllium cernuum\u003c\/em\u003e, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNative across much of North America, including the piedmont and mountains of the mid-Atlantic, the nodding onion thrives in well-drained soil and full sun to part shade, tolerating rocky slopes and dry hillsides once established. Deer and rabbits leave the oniony foliage alone. The mildly oniony leaves and bulbs are edible, with a long record in Indigenous cooking and folk medicine, and the city of Chicago is thought to take the name from an Algonquin word for this wild onion. Our most ornamental native onion, easy and long-lived.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"1 Quart","offer_id":43055335800947,"sku":"ALLI-CERN-01Q","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"1 Gallon","offer_id":43055335833715,"sku":"ALLI-CERN-01G","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/AlliumcernuumMBGWoodlanders5.jpg?v=1747170635"},{"product_id":"aloysia-virgata","title":"Aloysia virgata","description":"\u003cp\u003eSweet almond verbena is grown for one glorious thing above all: scent. From midsummer until hard frost, \u003cem\u003eAloysia virgata\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA vigorous, shrubby plant native to Argentina, sweet almond verbena can be trained as a small multi-stemmed tree in subtropical gardens or grown as a dieback shrub farther north, cut to the ground by winter and returning from the roots in spring. The dark green leaves are sandpapery to the touch, and the loose, open frame reaches eight to fifteen feet where the season is long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGive sweet almond verbena a sunny spot with well-drained soil, near a path, a patio, or an open window where the evening perfume can be enjoyed. Drought tolerant once established and seldom troubled by deer, the shrub pairs well with other pollinator plants in a sunny border. In zones 8 and 9 expect a return from the roots after a hard winter; farther south, a standing small tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAdditional photo courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057808773235,"sku":"ALOY-VIRG-01G","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/B30C7994-8D13-4A88-885A-4937093B7369.jpg?v=1787795594"},{"product_id":"amelanchier-x-grandiflora-autumn-brilliance","title":"Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance'","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAmelanchier x grandiflora\u003c\/em\u003e is the apple serviceberry, a naturally occurring cross between two eastern natives, the downy serviceberry and the smooth Allegheny serviceberry, and 'Autumn Brilliance' is the selection that made the group famous. The Illinois nurseryman Willet Wandell found this seedling in his Urbana nursery and introduced the plant to gardens in 1986 under U.S. Plant Patent 5,717, choosing the seedling above all for the blaze of autumn color behind the name. Decades on, 'Autumn Brilliance' remains the most widely planted serviceberry in the trade, prized for a vigorous, gracefully branched frame and reliable good looks in every season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe show begins in early spring, when clusters of white flowers open from pink-tinged buds ahead of the leaves and draw the season's first bees. By June the blossoms have become small pomes that ripen through red to deep purple-black, sweet and blueberry-like with a whisper of almond, so good that cedar waxwings, robins, and bluebirds usually harvest the crop before a cook can. Summer foliage is a clean blue-green, and then autumn arrives with the trait Wandell selected, a vivid wash of orange and red held more evenly and brilliantly than on ordinary seedlings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eServiceberries carry a tangle of country names. Shadbush recalls the spring bloom that once coincided with the shad running up the rivers; Juneberry marks the month the fruit ripens; and serviceberry itself most likely traces to \u003cem\u003eSorbus\u003c\/em\u003e, the rowans with similar small pomes. The fruit has fed people here for a very long time, gathered fresh, cooked, or dried by many Indigenous nations and later baked by settlers into the pies and preserves that keep the Juneberry name alive. Apple serviceberry offers that same harvest on a manageable garden tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmong the reasons 'Autumn Brilliance' earned such a following is unusually good resistance to the rust, leaf spot, and mildew that trouble lesser serviceberries, though no serviceberry is wholly immune. Grow the tree in full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil, as a single-stemmed specimen for the lawn or a multi-stemmed clump at the woodland edge. Underplanted with ferns, spring ephemerals, redbud, and dogwood, this small tree rewards the gardener in every season, from the first white bloom to the smooth gray winter bark.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057809166451,"sku":"AMEL-GRAN-AUTU-BRIL-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Amelanchierxgrandiflora_AutumnBrilliance_UOS.jpg?v=1787183856"},{"product_id":"amelanchier-x-grandiflora-princess-diana","title":"Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Princess Diana'","description":"\u003cp\u003eApple serviceberry, \u003cem\u003eAmelanchier x grandiflora\u003c\/em\u003e, is the graceful natural hybrid of two eastern native serviceberries, the downy and the smooth Allegheny, and 'Princess Diana' is among the loveliest selections of the group. The plant appeared in a cultivated garden in Elm Grove, Wisconsin, was propagated and introduced by Tom Watson of Christom Farms Nursery in Cambridge, Wisconsin in 1983, and was granted U.S. Plant Patent 6,041 in 1987, chosen for a wide, gracefully spreading canopy, generous white bloom, and fall color that arrives early and holds late. Where many serviceberries grow stiffly upright, 'Princess Diana' reaches outward, a small tree with the airy, layered poise the name suggests.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn April, before or with the first leaves, the branches fill with showy white flowers rising from yellow buds, an early feast for bees. The new foliage unfolds with a bronze cast, deepens to green through summer, then turns brilliant scarlet and red in autumn, the trait that anchors the plant's reputation. Between bloom and fall color come the berries, small pomes ripening from red to deep bluish-purple by June, sweet and blueberry-flavored, and stripped almost overnight by waxwings, robins, and thrushes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe old names tell the plant's story. Shadbush marks a bloom timed to the spring shad runs, Juneberry names the month the fruit ripens, and serviceberry most likely descends from \u003cem\u003eSorbus\u003c\/em\u003e, the rowans whose small pomes the fruit recalls. Serviceberry fruit has long been food across North America, eaten fresh, dried into cakes, and pounded with fat and meat into pemmican by many Indigenous peoples, and later gathered by settlers for the Juneberry pies and jams still made today. 'Princess Diana' brings that heritage into a compact, ornamental tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGardeners reach for 'Princess Diana' where a graceful small tree is wanted, as a lawn specimen, at a woodland edge, or among naturalized native plantings, and growers report good resistance to the leaf spot that can mar serviceberry foliage. Give full sun to part shade and average, well-drained soil, with even moisture through establishment. The reward is a true four-season tree: white flowers, June fruit for the birds, early and lasting red fall color, and a smooth gray winter silhouette spreading wide against the sky.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057809264755,"sku":"AMEL-GRAN-PRIN-DIAN-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Amelanchierxgrandiflora_PrincessDiana_1.jpg?v=1787183970"},{"product_id":"amelanchier-nantucketensis","title":"Amelanchier nantucketensis","description":"\u003cp\u003eAmong the rarest of the serviceberries, Amelanchier nantucketensis is a low, thicket-forming shrub that Eugene Bicknell first described in 1911 from the sandplains of Nantucket, the Massachusetts island whose name the plant carries. Nantucket serviceberry belongs to a small, taxonomically slippery group within the rose family, so closely tangled with neighboring shadbushes that botanists have argued for more than a century over whether this is a true species or a stabilized hybrid. What sets the plant apart is disarmingly small: petals shorter than those of any other serviceberry in the Northeast, often dusted with pollen along their own margins, a quirk called andropetaly that appears nowhere else in the group.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the wild, colonies cling to open, sandy, sun-baked ground, the pine barrens, sandplain grasslands, and maritime heaths scattered thinly from Nova Scotia and Maine down the coast to Long Island, with the stronghold on Nantucket itself. This is a shrub built for lean living, spreading quietly by underground stolons into low drifts rather than rising into a single crown. White flowers open in mid-spring on short, erect racemes, feeding early bees and butterflies, and give way by early summer to small pomes that birds strip almost as fast as they ripen. Because Nantucket serviceberry is globally uncommon and state-protected across much of that range, growing nursery-propagated stock is a small act of conservation as much as gardening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe genus name travels from amelanchièr, the old Provençal word for the European serviceberry, while the English names carry their own folklore. Shadbush marks the moment the flowers open, timed to the spring run of shad up the rivers; serviceberry most likely descends from Sorbus, the rowans whose small red pomes the fruit resembles, though a fond old story ties the word to the funeral services held once spring thawed the ground. Serviceberry fruit across the genus is sweet and blueberry-like with a faint almond note from the seeds, long gathered for pies, jams, and preserves, and this species offers the same edible reward on a smaller, wilder scale.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWoodlanders is indebted to Richard Lynch of the Sweetbay Magnolia Bioreserve on Staten Island, New York, for the original stock behind these plants, a lineage worth preserving. In the garden, Nantucket serviceberry asks for full sun and sharp, sandy, acidic soil, the leaner the better, and repays neglect once established. Set the shrub where a low, suckering colony is welcome, along a sunny bank, at a meadow or woodland edge, or woven into a coastal or native planting beside little bluestem, bearberry, lowbush blueberry, and bayberry. Deer tend to pass the plant by, and the autumn foliage warms to orange and red before the bare, twiggy winter frame takes over.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057809363059,"sku":"AMEL-NANT-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-1235.jpg?v=1720136300"},{"product_id":"amelanchier-obovalis","title":"Amelanchier obovalis","description":"\u003cp\u003eCoastal 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe spring flowers give way to small clusters of sweet, blue-purple fruit in early summer, edible straight from the bush or baked into pies and preserves, and as good for birds as for people. Native from New York and Massachusetts south to Georgia and Alabama, often in dry pine barrens and open woods, the shrub takes naturally to lean, well-drained, sunny ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStanding only three to five feet, coastal serviceberry suits the small garden where the taller serviceberries would overwhelm, lovely in a native border, a wildlife planting, or a naturalized edge in sun to part shade. The early bloom, the edible berries, and the easy, colony-forming habit make this a generous, low-key native. Drought tolerant once established.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057809559667,"sku":"AMEL-OBOV-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-1593.jpg?v=1720136314"},{"product_id":"amsonia-montana","title":"Amsonia montana","description":"\u003cp\u003eDwarf 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, \u003cem\u003eAmsonia montana\u003c\/em\u003e stays small and shapely, a fine choice where the taller bluestars would sprawl.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStanding only about a foot, dwarf bluestar suits the front of a border, a rock garden, a container, or any tight, sunny spot, where the spring flowers and the gold fall color both earn their keep on a small frame. Like the rest of the genus, the plant carries a milky sap that deer and rabbits refuse, and asks little once settled.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrow dwarf bluestar in sun to part shade in most well-drained soils with moderate moisture, and shear lightly after bloom to keep the mound dense. Easy, long-lived, and tidier than the tall cousins.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057809920115,"sku":"AMSO-MONT-01G","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-1228.jpg?v=1720136338"},{"product_id":"amsonia-ludoviciana","title":"Amsonia ludoviciana","description":"\u003cp\u003eMost bluestars are smooth, cool customers; \u003cem\u003eAmsonia ludoviciana\u003c\/em\u003e is the outlier of the group. The Louisiana bluestar belongs to the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, and shares the clan's five-petaled, star-shaped flowers and milky sap, but the leaves set the species apart: narrow and willowy, and unusually clothed beneath with a grey-white felt, a woolly tomentum that catches the light and lends the whole plant a soft, silvered cast rare in the genus. In spring, clustered flowers of a clean sky-blue open at the tips of the upright stems, quiet and steely and worked over by the first butterflies of the season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is a real story behind these plants. Woodlanders obtained the Louisiana bluestar years ago from Brookgreen Gardens on the South Carolina coast, where the perennial had grown in cultivation since the celebrated botanist Dr. J. K. Small introduced the plant there in perhaps the 1920s. For a long stretch the species was feared lost, thought extinct in the wild, before being rediscovered in Louisiana; today botanists record scattered, uncommon populations from South Carolina west through Louisiana and Mississippi. Growing a nursery-raised plant of this rank keeps a rare Southeastern native in gardens and in circulation, a quiet piece of conservation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe names carry their own small histories. The genus \u003cem\u003eAmsonia\u003c\/em\u003e honors Charles Amson, an eighteenth-century physician of colonial Virginia, while the epithet \u003cem\u003eludoviciana\u003c\/em\u003e means simply of Louisiana, the state that sheltered the rediscovered plants. Like the milkweeds to which the bluestars are related, the stems run with a milky latex that browsing deer and rabbits leave strictly alone, so the plant reads as both delicate and durable: pollinators come for the spring nectar, and almost nothing comes to graze.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the garden the Louisiana bluestar earns a place three seasons running. Site the plant in full sun to light shade and give lean, well-drained ground; despite wet-flatwoods origins the deep-rooted perennial shrugs off drought once settled, and only floppy, over-lush growth comes of rich soil. The spring flowers read against the silvered foliage, the fine-textured mound holds all summer, and in autumn the leaves turn a warm butter-gold that lights the border before the stems die back for winter. Set a plant among little bluestem, coneflower, and baptisia for a sunny native planting, or let a drift carry the cool blue through the edge of a meadow.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057809985651,"sku":"AMSO-LUDO-01G","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-1077.jpg?v=1720136343"},{"product_id":"anisacanthus-wrightii-pumpkin","title":"Anisacanthus wrightii 'Pumpkin'","description":"\u003cp\u003eA pumpkin-orange selection of the classic flame acanthus, \u003cem\u003eAnisacanthus wrightii\u003c\/em\u003e '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'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike the scarlet-flowered species, 'Pumpkin' draws hummingbirds and butterflies through the whole warm season, and thrives on heat and drought, a natural for xeriscaping and low-water gardens. Native in parentage to Texas and adjacent Mexico, hummingbird bush asks for sun and sharp drainage and little else.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHardy, drought tolerant, and easy, 'Pumpkin' blooms from late spring through fall with minimal care. The open, airy frame suits a mixed border, a cottage garden, or a wildflower planting, and a hard cut in late winter keeps the shrub dense and floriferous.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhotos courtesy of the JC Raulston Arboretum.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057810411635,"sku":"ANIS-WRIG-PUMP-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Anisacanthuswrightii_Pumpkin_RaulstonArboretum2.jpg?v=1731872643"},{"product_id":"antigonon-leptopus","title":"Antigonon leptopus","description":"\u003cp\u003eFew vines work as hard for as little as the coral vine. \u003cem\u003eAntigonon leptopus\u003c\/em\u003e comes out of Mexico with heart-shaped leaves, tendrils that grab any small object within reach, and long sprays of small papery flowers in a hot, slightly unreasonable pink from midsummer until frost stops the show. The flowers are borne in such quantity that the whole plant seems to fizz, and the common names have piled up accordingly: coral vine, queen's wreath, Mexican creeper, chain of love, and, in the Gulf South, confederate vine. Bees find the plant before you do.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSpeed is the practical argument. In the Deep South this vine freezes to the ground most winters, returns from a tuberous root once the soil warms, and covers a trellis or a good stretch of fence in a single season, which makes the plant genuinely useful for anyone who needs a screen this year rather than in five. Only in frost-free gardens does the growth stay evergreen and woody. That tuber is worth knowing about for two reasons: the swollen root is what carries the vine through a Southern winter under mulch in a protected spot, and in Mexico the tubers are dug and eaten, growing surprisingly large with age.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe name is a small puzzle. \u003cem\u003eAntigonon\u003c\/em\u003e is usually read as Greek for against-angled or with-angles, apparently for the zigzag of the flowering stems, though botanists have never entirely agreed; \u003cem\u003eleptopus\u003c\/em\u003e is more straightforward, meaning slender-stalked, for the thin wiry stems that carry those heavy sprays of bloom. The family is Polygonaceae, which puts this vine in company with buckwheat, rhubarb, and the smartweeds, and once you know that, the papery flower parts stop looking like petals and start looking like the family trait they actually are.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSite the vine in full sun against a fence, an arbor, or an ugly chain-link run that needs disappearing, in ordinary well-drained soil, and give something thin for the tendrils to grip; the plant climbs by twining tendrils rather than clinging, so a smooth post is useless. Water through establishment and then very little. One honest caution comes with the vigor: in genuinely frost-free, humid climates, Florida and Hawaii among them, coral vine has escaped and is listed as an invasive, spreading by seed, tuber, root sucker, and stem fragment. Where winter cuts the plant to the ground each year, that risk largely disappears, but gardeners in zone 9b and warmer should site the vine where the tubers can be dug and the seedlings pulled, and should not plant near wild land.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057810641011,"sku":"ANTI-LEPT-01G","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-1728.jpg?v=1720136377"},{"product_id":"araucaria-angustifolia","title":"Araucaria angustifolia","description":"\u003cp\u003eAraucaria angustifolia is a living relic, one of the last of an ancient conifer family that shaded the dinosaurs across the supercontinent of Gondwana. The Paraná pine belongs to the Araucariaceae, kin to the Chilean monkey puzzle, the Norfolk Island pine, the Australian bunya, and the famously rediscovered Wollemi pine, a lineage once spread worldwide and now scattered mostly across the Southern Hemisphere. Despite the common name, the tree is no true pine at all, but something far older and stranger, holding stiff, sharp, dark green leaves on the branch for a decade or more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the wild, Araucaria angustifolia crowns the highland forests of southern Brazil, reaching into northern Argentina and Paraguay, the defining emergent of the Araucaria moist forests within the greater Atlantic Forest. A century of logging for that pale, valuable timber, together with clearing for farms and plantations, has taken an estimated ninety-seven percent of the original range, and the species is now listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered. To grow one is to keep a piece of a vanishing forest alive, and to plant a tree that may outlast the gardener by generations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe genus name honors the Arauco region of southern Chile and the Araucano, or Mapuche, people in whose homeland the first-known species grows, while angustifolia simply means narrow-leaved. In southern Brazil the tree means winter food. Female trees, quite separate from the males, ripen enormous cones packed with a hundred or more large seeds called pinhão, gathered by the ton and boiled or roasted through the cold months, ground into flour, and celebrated at seasonal festivals. The harvest is shared with the forest, for the azure jay caches the seeds and, forgetting some, plants the next generation, a partnership on which the tree's survival partly depends.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGiven room, Araucaria angustifolia grows tall and columnar, self-pruning to a clean trunk topped by whorls of upturned branches that flatten with age into the candelabra or umbrella crown that names the tree, well over a hundred feet in habitat and more slowly in cultivation. For Southern gardeners the appeal is practical as well as romantic, since this species tolerates the region's heat and humid summers far better than the Chilean monkey puzzle, asking mainly for full sun and well-drained soil. Site the tree in the open as a rare specimen and living fossil, where the bold, prehistoric silhouette can stand alone against the sky.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057811132531,"sku":"ARAU-ANGU-01G","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/AraucariaangustifoliaRickFencl.jpg?v=1784305075"},{"product_id":"arbutus-x-andrachnoides","title":"Arbutus x andrachnoides","description":"\u003cp\u003eA hybrid strawberry tree, \u003cem\u003eArbutus\u003c\/em\u003e x \u003cem\u003eandrachnoides\u003c\/em\u003e crosses the strawberry tree, \u003cem\u003eArbutus unedo\u003c\/em\u003e, with the Grecian strawberry tree, \u003cem\u003eA. andrachne\u003c\/em\u003e, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSalt tolerant and handsome year round, this hybrid came to Woodlanders by way of Brookside Gardens in Maryland, which had obtained the plant in Europe. Slow growing and long-lived, the tree makes an elegant small specimen where the flowers, fruit, and above all the cinnamon bark can be enjoyed at close range.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGive the hybrid strawberry tree full sun to part shade and well-drained soil, and a spot near a path, patio, or entry where the polished red-brown trunk can be admired. Drought and salt tolerant once established, a fine evergreen for a coastal or Mediterranean-style planting in zones 7 to 9.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057811198067,"sku":"ARBU-ANDR-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-1111.jpg?v=1720136403"},{"product_id":"ardisia-japonica-hakuokan","title":"Ardisia japonica 'Hakuokan'","description":"\u003cp\u003eArdisia japonica 'Hakuokan' is a jewel of the Japanese shade garden, a low evergreen groundcover whose small, glossy, leathery leaves are edged in a clean band of creamy white. The green species, called yabukoji in Japan and marlberry in English, has grown wild in the woodland understory of Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan for ages, spreading quietly by underground runners into knee-low colonies. 'Hakuokan', a name that reads roughly as white royal crown, is a variegated selection prized by collectors, slower and more compact than the plain species and all the more luminous for the pale margin that catches light in a dim corner.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlants like this one carry a long cultural history. From the Edo period, Japanese growers cultivated an art of koten engei, the classical horticulture of collecting foliage variants, natural sports, and variegated forms, displayed in special pots and ranked in printed lists modeled on sumo. Yabukoji stood among the traditional subjects of that pursuit, and named variegated forms such as 'Hakuokan' descend from exactly that connoisseur's eye for the beautiful mutation. The bright red berries that follow the flowers have long earned the plant a place in Japanese New Year arrangements as a token of good fortune.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn midsummer, small star-shaped flowers of white blushed with pink nod in little clusters beneath the leaves, followed in autumn by round, coral-red berries that hold through winter against the evergreen foliage, one of the plant's quiet pleasures. The genus name Ardisia comes from the Greek ardis, a spear point, for the sharp tip of the flower's anthers, and japonica marks the plant long associated with Japanese gardens. Low, slow, and evergreen, 'Hakuokan' asks little and gives a long season of interest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBeyond the garden, the green species holds a serious place in Chinese herbal tradition, where the whole herb, known as zi jin niu, was gathered and decocted chiefly for coughs and complaints of the lungs, a use modern laboratories have traced to a well-studied compound called bergenin. In cultivation, set 'Hakuokan' in part to full shade, in moist, humus-rich, acidic soil, as a refined groundcover for woodland beds, shaded borders, and Japanese-style plantings, where the white margins lift the gloom. Pair the plant with ferns, hostas, and hellebores, shelter the foliage from hot afternoon sun, and let the slow colony knit itself together over time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057811329139,"sku":"ARDI-JAPO-HAKU-01G","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Ardisia_japonica_Hakuakan_NC.webp?v=1784297451"},{"product_id":"aronia-arbutifolia-brilliantissima","title":"Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima'","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAronia arbutifolia\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe season opens in mid spring with clusters of small white flowers, delicate and lace-like, and welcome to native bees at a moment when little else blooms. By midsummer the berries swell and deepen, and by early autumn ripen to a red so intense as to look almost artificial against the leaves. The foliage turns at the same time: the fall color of 'Brilliantissima' is among the more reliable and spectacular events of the native shrub calendar, a deep, burnished crimson that holds for weeks and earns the cultivar name outright.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe berries persist well into winter, by which point the birds have usually found them; cedar waxwings in particular descend in flocks, either a delight or a caveat depending on attachment to the fruit display. Both views are fair.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAronia arbutifolia\u003c\/em\u003e tolerates wet soils, adapts to dry ones once established, and asks very little in return for a great deal of seasonal interest. Native, four-season, wildlife-supporting, and genuinely beautiful, a combination still rarer than it should be. The berries are edible, very astringent fresh but good cooked, and exceptionally high in antioxidants.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057812246643,"sku":"ARON-ARBU-BRIL-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/AroniaarbutifoliaBrilliantissima.jpg?v=1750800949"},{"product_id":"asimina-obovata","title":"Asimina obovata","description":"\u003cp\u003eAsimina obovata is the bigflower pawpaw, a Florida native that carries the largest, showiest blooms in a genus better known for its fruit. The pawpaws are the temperate outliers of the Annonaceae, the custard apple family whose tropical members include the cherimoya, soursop, and ylang-ylang, and Asimina alone among them ventures north into the sandy uplands of the American Southeast. The genus name descends from an early Native American word for the fruit, carried into English through the French asiminier, while obovata describes the egg-shaped leaves, broadest above the middle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn spring, as the new leaves emerge, the plant opens creamy white flowers several inches across, far larger and paler than the deep maroon bells of the common pawpaw, Asimina triloba. Beetles and flies do the pollinating, and by late summer some flowers give way to aromatic, fleshy green fruits holding large brown seeds. The fruit is edible, though most gardeners rate the flavor below that of the northern pawpaw and grow this species instead for the flowers, the foliage, and the wildlife.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a plant of the Florida scrub, at home in the peninsula's dry sandhills and sandy ridges where little else will grow, in blazing sun and sharp, fast-draining sand. Bigflower pawpaw earns a place in the native and butterfly garden as a larval host for the zebra swallowtail, whose caterpillars feed only on Asimina leaves, and for the pawpaw sphinx moth as well. Where the common pawpaw wants rich, moist woodland, this southern cousin asks for the opposite, lean sand and excellent drainage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGive Asimina obovata full sun to light shade and the sandiest, sharpest soil available, with little competition from neighbors. Like other pawpaws the plant sends down a deep taproot and resents disturbance, so site the shrub thoughtfully and let the roots settle undisturbed. In a sandhill restoration, a xeric native border, or a butterfly garden, the big white spring flowers and clean summer foliage make this rare Florida endemic a quietly distinctive choice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePhotos courtesy of Jay Horn and Alan Cressler\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057813393523,"sku":"ASIM-OBOV-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/AsiminaobovataJayHorn.jpg?v=1784297285"},{"product_id":"aspidistra-elatior-variegata","title":"Aspidistra elatior 'Variegata'","description":"\u003cp\u003eA boldly striped form of the cast iron plant, \u003cem\u003eAspidistra elatior\u003c\/em\u003e 'Variegata' carries the same broad, leathery, evergreen blades, each brushed lengthwise with bands of creamy white over deep glossy green. The variegation lights up a shaded corner, and the toughness is all there too: this is a near-indestructible evergreen for difficult, low-light places.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA useful quirk: the white striping holds best on lean soil, so resist the urge to feed heavily, and the plant keeps the brightest variegation when grown a little hungry and somewhat root-bound. Native in parentage to China and Japan, slow and steady, with foliage that lasts for years before aging out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrow variegated cast iron plant in shade to part shade, in well-drained soil, as a striking foliage accent, an evergreen groundcover under trees, or a container plant for a covered porch or a bright room indoors. The bold, architectural leaves bring structure and light to shaded plantings, and the variegation stays put rather than reverting to plain green.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057814016115,"sku":"ASPI-ELAT-VARI-01G","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/F122E6EB-29EC-40DF-A597-9BFE0B5A8CB3.jpg?v=1724700130"},{"product_id":"aster-carolinianus","title":"Ampelaster carolinianus","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAmpelaster carolinianus\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe common name describes the habit accurately enough but undersells the effect. Given something to climb, the stems can reach fifteen feet or more, the woody structure persisting through winter as no other aster manages. In late fall the display is generous and sustained, hundreds of small lavender-blue heads with yellow disc centers borne on arching stems that drape and weave through whatever the plant has found to lean against. Subtle the climbing aster is not, and few natives are still feeding bees and butterflies so close to the year's end.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAmpelaster carolinianus\u003c\/em\u003e grows in scattered localities along the southeastern coastal plain, scrambling over shrubs at the sunny margins of streams and wetlands, a plant of edges and transitions rather than interiors. In the garden the vine wants something to climb or a structure to lean against, and repays the accommodation handsomely. Woodlanders was among the first nurseries to offer the climbing aster, which says something about both the obscurity and the merit of the plant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhotos courtesy of Alan Cressler.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057814442099,"sku":"AMPE-CARO-01G","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Ampelaster_carolinianus_Alan-Cressler.jpg?v=1724694681"},{"product_id":"aster-laevis-bluebird","title":"Aster laevis ‘Bluebird’","description":"\u003cp\u003eSmooth aster is one of the cleanest and most dependable of the fall natives, and 'Bluebird' is among the best forms. \u003cem\u003eAster laevis\u003c\/em\u003e 'Bluebird' builds an upright, vase-shaped clump of smooth, blue-green foliage, then opens, in late summer and fall, sprays of violet-blue daisies centered in gold, a generous late feast for bees and butterflies as the season winds down.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA selection noted for sturdy, self-supporting stems and clean, mildew-resistant foliage that stays handsome where lesser asters tatter. Native to eastern North America, smooth aster thrives in full sun and well-drained soil, takes drought in stride once established, and asks very little. The smooth, almost waxy leaves are part of the appeal, cool blue-green all season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlant 'Bluebird' in a sunny border, a meadow, or a native planting, where the violet-blue haze can close the gardening year alongside goldenrod, grasses, and other late bloomers. Deer tend to leave the foliage alone, and the strong stems rarely need staking. A pollinator magnet exactly when the season's nectar runs short.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057814540403,"sku":"ASTE-LAEV-BLUE-01Q","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-606.jpg?v=1720136500"},{"product_id":"aster-oblongifolius-raydons-favorite","title":"Aster oblongifolius 'Raydon's Favorite'","description":"\u003cp\u003eAromatic aster is the toughest and most fragrant of the fall asters, and 'Raydon's Favorite' is the classic selection. \u003cem\u003eAster oblongifolius\u003c\/em\u003e 'Raydon's Favorite' forms a dense, rounded mound of small leaves that release a clean, balsam-like scent when brushed, and in early to mid fall vanishes under a haze of lavender-blue, gold-centered daisies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA selection prized for compact, sturdy growth and reliable late bloom, aromatic aster is a creature of dry, sunny, even lean and alkaline ground, shrugging off drought and heat where softer perennials sulk. Native across much of the central and eastern United States, the plant feeds bees and butterflies deep into autumn, long after most flowers have gone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlant 'Raydon's Favorite' in full sun and well-drained soil, in a border, a dry prairie or meadow, a rock garden, or a low-water planting, where the blue fall haze pairs naturally with goldenrod and ornamental grasses. Deer-resistant and drought tolerant, with aromatic foliage that adds a second sense to the display. Shear in early summer for a tighter, more floriferous mound.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhotos courtesy of Mt. Cuba Center.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057814737011,"sku":"ASTE-OBLO-RAYD-FAVO-01Q","price":14.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Symphyotrichum_oblongifolium_Raydons_Favorite_1.jpg?v=1739309441"},{"product_id":"aster-grandiflorus","title":"Symphyotrichum grandiflorum","description":"\u003cp\u003eA native aster with a regional accent. Most of the asters Americans plant are wide-ranging species that turn up from Maine to Texas and read essentially the same wherever they grow. Symphyotrichum grandiflorum is more particular, with a native range small and specific: the Atlantic Coastal Plain of Virginia and the Carolinas, plus the Piedmont of the Carolinas, and little more. A few hundred miles of sandy roadsides, dry pine-oak woods, abandoned fields, and forest edges from the Tidewater into the rolling country west of the fall line. For a gardener in the Carolinas or Georgia, this is one of the few asters that is genuinely here, a piece of the actual Atlantic Coastal Plain flora rather than a borrowed prairie species filling in for a missing native.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe flower is the show. Heads an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half across, large for a wild aster, hence the species name grandiflorum, with twenty to thirty narrow ray florets in a deep, saturated violet-purple around a tight golden disk. The color carries enough blue to read cool and enough red to read warm, the kind of saturated violet that catches autumn light beautifully. The flowers open at a useful time, October into November, when most of the other asters have already finished and the garden is otherwise leaning toward seed heads, late grasses, and the first frost. Among native asters, grandiflorum is one of the latest to bloom and the largest-flowered, two genuine differentiators the more common species cannot match.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe plants stand one to three feet tall on stiff, hairy, upright stems, with narrow, lance-shaped leaves and lower clasping foliage. Not a soft, billowy, fall-flowering aster, but an upright, structural one, more architectural than romantic. Dry, sandy soils suit the plant well, and poor conditions that defeat showier perennials are taken in stride, which is part of why grandiflorum has persisted along Coastal Plain roadsides where the native communities have largely disappeared. A long list of late-season insects works the flowers, including specialist Andrena bees that depend on Symphyotrichum and a few related genera for their pollen; without late asters, these bees lose their season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor the gardener building a late-fall pollinator garden, anyone planting the actual flora of the Carolinas rather than a generic native mix, or the late-season designer wanting a structural, drought-tough, deep-purple punctuation when most other asters are spent, grandiflorum earns a place.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057815097459,"sku":"ASTE-GRAN-01Q","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Woodlanders_aster_grandiflorus_1.jpg?v=1730230236"},{"product_id":"aucuba-japonica-var-borealis","title":"Aucuba japonica var. borealis","description":"\u003cp\u003eAucuba japonica is one of the great problem-solvers of the shade garden, a glossy broadleaf evergreen that thrives in the dry, difficult shade where few other shrubs will, and var. borealis is the toughest of the clan. Drawn from the cold northern reaches of the plant's Japanese range, this small-leaved form was selected for hardiness, holding very shiny, dark green, leathery leaves through winters that would burn a common aucuba. The genus name is a Latin rendering of the Japanese aokiba, for the ever-green leaves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhere most aucubas are content only from the middle South and warmer, var. borealis pushes the boundary north, recorded surviving four degrees Fahrenheit at the U.S. National Arboretum in the winter of 1994. That cold tolerance, roughly to USDA zone 6, makes the northern Japanese aucuba a rare thing, a broadleaf evergreen for shade in gardens too cold for the rest of the genus. Like all aucubas, the plant is dioecious, and female plants carry glossy red berries into winter when a male grows nearby.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAucuba has long been a city gardener's ally, shrugging off pollution, salt, deep shade, and neglect, and this hardy form brings that resilience to colder ground. Set the shrub in part to full shade in good, moisture-retentive but well-drained soil, as a foundation planting on a north wall, a filler in a shaded border, or an evergreen anchor in a woodland corner. The small, dark, lacquered leaves catch what little light reaches them and give substance to the dim places.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe small maroon spring flowers pass almost unnoticed, for the ornament here is the foliage and, on pollinated females, the scarlet fruit. A gentle caution worth noting: the leaves and berries contain compounds that can cause stomach upset if eaten, so site the plant accordingly where small children graze. Slow, durable, and quietly handsome, var. borealis rewards the patient gardener with decades of evergreen presence.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057815982195,"sku":"AUCU-JAPO-BORE-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Aucubajaponicavar.borealisJCRA.jpg?v=1784297897"},{"product_id":"aucuba-sp-himalayica","title":"Aucuba sp. (himalayica?)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is one of the quiet mysteries of the Woodlanders collection, a narrow-leaved evergreen aucuba received years ago from the U.S. National Arboretum under the name Aucuba himalayica, and quite possibly the slender japonica form known as 'Longifolia' instead. Either way the plant is a striking departure from the usual aucuba, trading broad, spotted leaves for long, willow-like, finely serrated blades of glossy dark green. Woodlanders has not seen this aucuba offered anywhere else, which makes the plant a true collector's piece whatever the correct name proves to be.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe uncertainty is real and worth telling honestly. A genuine Himalayan species, Aucuba himalaica, does exist, distinguished from the Japanese aucuba chiefly by narrow leaves and fine hairs on the young shoots and flower stalks, where japonica is smooth. Because the narrow-leaved japonica form 'Longifolia' looks much the same, plants passed along as himalaica are often one or the other, and only a close look at the new growth settles the question. Woodlanders offers the plant as received, an intriguing narrow-leaf aucuba awaiting a final verdict.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhatever the label, this is an aucuba, and aucubas are among the most forgiving of shade evergreens, tolerant of deep shade, dry soil, city pollution, and general neglect. The genus name comes from the Japanese aokiba, for the evergreen leaves, and like the rest of the clan this narrow-leaved form is dioecious, with small maroon spring flowers and, on pollinated females, red berries in the cooler months. The elegant, tapered foliage gives the plant a lighter, more refined look than the broad-leaved aucubas.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet this narrow-leaved aucuba in part to full shade in good, well-drained soil with steady moisture, as a foundation shrub, a shaded border filler, or a distinctive evergreen in a woodland planting. The slim leaves read almost like bamboo from a distance and pair well with ferns, hellebores, and other shade companions. As with all aucubas, the leaves and berries can upset the stomach if eaten, a small caution to weigh where children play.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057816047731,"sku":"AUCU-HIMA-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-281.jpg?v=1720136557"},{"product_id":"aucuba-japonica-rozannie","title":"Aucuba japonica 'Rozannie'","description":"\u003cp\u003eMost aucubas demand a matchmaker, a male plant set near a female before a single red berry will form, but Aucuba japonica 'Rozannie' needs no such arrangement. This compact, deep green selection is self-fertile, setting large, glossy scarlet fruit without a separate pollinator, and fruiting even more heavily when a male happens to grow nearby. Add to that lustrous, coarsely toothed, unspotted foliage and a tidy three-to-four-foot frame, and 'Rozannie' becomes one of the most useful aucubas for a shaded garden.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWoodlanders obtained this clone from the Massachusetts plantsman David Geiger. The great plantsman Michael Dirr, in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, allowed that he was impressed by the plant's characteristics while warning that it may be too slow for commercial production, and slow the plant certainly is. That deliberate pace is the price of a dense, refined, long-lived shrub, and patient gardeners have long considered the trade a fair one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAucuba japonica has anchored southern shade gardens for generations, prized for thriving in the dry, sunless corners that defeat other evergreens. The genus name is a Latin form of the Japanese aokiba, for the ever-green leaves. 'Rozannie' keeps all that toughness, tolerating deep shade, poor soil, pollution, and drought once established, while offering something the old spotted laurels cannot, a reliable crop of red berries on a single plant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet 'Rozannie' in part to full shade in good, well-drained soil with occasional summer water, as a foundation shrub, a low evergreen in a shaded border, or a handsome container plant for a dim courtyard. The dark, glossy leaves and winter berries brighten the gloom, and the compact habit suits smaller spaces. As with every aucuba, the leaves and berries are mildly toxic if eaten, worth a thought where children play.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057816113267,"sku":"AUCU-JAPO-ROZA-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-2174.jpg?v=1720136560"},{"product_id":"baptisia-australis","title":"Baptisia australis","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen Woodlanders began in 1980, this was about the only Baptisia known to gardeners; we went on to introduce many of the species that have since become popular garden perennials. \u003cem\u003eBaptisia australis\u003c\/em\u003e, blue wild indigo, is a long-lived native, essentially a prairie plant of open glades on limestone soil, with handsome olive-green compound leaves topped in spring by spikes of bright indigo-blue, pea-like flowers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNamed the Perennial Plant of the Year in 2010, blue wild indigo is as tough as a perennial comes: nitrogen-fixing, drought-tolerant, deer-resistant, and long-lived, growing a deep taproot that lets the plant shrug off heat and dry spells. The black seed pods that follow the flowers rattle into fall and add a second season of interest. Native to the eastern and midwestern United States.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlant blue wild indigo in a sunny, well-drained spot, in a border, a prairie or meadow planting, or a native garden, where the blue spring spires read against fresh green and the bold, shrubby clump holds its shape all season. Site once and leave undisturbed, since the deep root resents moving. Lovely with peonies, amsonia, and early grasses.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057816735859,"sku":"BAPT-AUST-01G","price":13.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-614.jpg?v=1720136585"},{"product_id":"baptisia-minor","title":"Baptisia minor","description":"\u003cp\u003eBaptisia minor is the dwarf of the blue false indigos, a compact native perennial that gives all the drama of the well-known Baptisia australis on a smaller, tidier frame. Often treated botanically as Baptisia australis var. minor, the plant stands lower and more compact, yet carries full-sized spires of indigo-blue, pea-shaped flowers held well clear of the blue-green foliage. Much admired in the Woodlanders garden, this is a perennial that settles into a sunny bed for decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe genus name comes from the Greek bapto, to dip or to dye, for the old use of these plants as a homegrown substitute for true indigo. Colonial dyers, following a practice learned in part from the Cherokee, boiled wild indigo to draw a blue far less brilliant than the real Indigofera, and the common names false indigo and wild indigo still carry that history. Being a legume, Baptisia also feeds the soil, fixing nitrogen through deep roots, and the inflated seed pods ripen charcoal-black and rattle in the wind, good for dried arrangements.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn spring the blue racemes draw queen bumblebees and other long-tongued native bees, and the foliage serves as a larval host for the wild indigo duskywing and the frosted elfin among other butterflies. Deer and rabbits leave the plant alone, put off by the alkaloids that make every part mildly toxic to eat, so a word of care is due where the seed pods might tempt a curious child. In the garden, few native perennials give so much for so little fuss.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBaptisia minor wants full sun and average, well-drained soil, and asks mainly for patience, sending down a deep taproot that makes the plant slow to establish, long-lived, and best left unmoved once planted. Native to the prairies and glades of the south-central United States, the dwarf blue false indigo suits a sunny border, a rock or gravel garden, a meadow, or a native planting, where the spring blue, blue-green summer mounds, and black autumn pods carry three seasons of interest. Give the plant room, sun, and time, and the plant repays all three.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057816932467,"sku":"BAPT-MINO-01G","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-617.jpg?v=1720136596"},{"product_id":"baptisia-alba","title":"Baptisia alba","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBaptisia alba\u003c\/em\u003e, white wild indigo, is a striking native perennial of tall spires of white, pea-like flowers over deep blue-green foliage. Native to the eastern and central United States, the species carries a rich history as a dye plant, used by Native American peoples and early settlers as a substitute for true indigo, and the genus name, from the Greek bapto, to dip, records that role.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBeyond the beauty, white wild indigo fixes nitrogen to enrich the soil and draws bees and butterflies to the spring flowers. Drought-tolerant, long-lived, and low in fuss, the plant grows a deep taproot that resents disturbance, so site once and let the plant settle in place. A piece of American garden history for a sunny border or a naturalized planting, with handsome black seed pods that rattle into fall.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhoto courtesy of David Brenda.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057816965235,"sku":"BAPT-ALBA-01G","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Baptisia-alba-closeup_lg-DavidBrenda.jpg?v=1725495481"},{"product_id":"barleria-cristata","title":"Barleria cristata","description":"\u003cp\u003eCalled Philippine violet, though neither Philippine nor a violet, \u003cem\u003eBarleria cristata\u003c\/em\u003e is a showy subtropical shrub that saves its display for the close of the year, opening dark blue-violet, trumpet-shaped flowers through late summer and autumn when much of the garden is winding down. A perennial in zones 8 and 9 and a four-to-six-foot shrub in zone 10, native to India and Myanmar.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn zone 8 the tops are killed by frost; cut the plants back, mound about ten inches of coarse sand over the stubs, and mulch over with pine straw. As the weather warms, remove the covering to let new shoots emerge. Given rich soil and ample water, the Philippine violet makes a fine addition to the subtropical garden, valued for that long, late season of cool blue bloom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUse Barleria cristata in a warm, sunny to lightly shaded border, where the late flowers extend color into fall and draw bees and butterflies. Fast and easy in heat and humidity, a reliable performer for the Deep South and a worthwhile experiment, with winter protection, at the cold edge of the range.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057817194611,"sku":"BARL-CRIS-01G","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Barleria_cristata_Woodlanders_1.jpg?v=1731873171"},{"product_id":"bejaria-befaria-racemosa","title":"Bejaria (Befaria) racemosa","description":"\u003cp\u003eBejaria racemosa, the tarflower, is one of the odd and lovely surprises of the Florida scrub, a heath-family shrub that looks nothing like the rest of the clan. Where blueberries and azaleas carry small, fused, bell-shaped blooms, tarflower opens wide flowers of seven separate petals, white to soft pink and sweetly fragrant, held in loose summer racemes. The genus honors the eighteenth-century Spanish botanist Jose Bejar, and though older books spell the name Befaria, botanists have since settled on Bejaria.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe common names tarflower and flycatcher come from the plant's strangest habit. The buds, young twigs, and flowers are coated in a sticky, resinous film that catches small insects like flypaper, and whether the shrub draws any nourishment from the trapped visitors or simply fends off nectar thieves is a question botanists still debate. Either way, the large native bees strong enough to work the blooms pass freely, doing the real business of pollination while ants and small flies stay stuck at the door.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTarflower belongs to the fire-shaped scrub and sandy pine flatwoods of Florida and the neighboring Deep South, thriving on lean, acid sand where richer soil and standing water would spell trouble. Like the blueberries and azaleas nearby, the plant depends on sharp drainage and an acid root run, and repays those conditions with fragrant summer flowers and a quietly picturesque, often twisting form. Bees, butterflies, and at least one native moth make use of the plant through the season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSeldom offered in the trade and famously particular about transplanting, tarflower is a collector's shrub and a conversation piece for the native, xeric, or pollinator garden. Give Bejaria racemosa full sun to light shade and very sandy, sharply drained, acid soil, and resist the urge to pamper the roots. Sited well, this uncommon Florida native rewards the patient gardener with sticky, seven-petaled, honey-scented flowers found on nothing else in the border.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057817489523,"sku":"BEJA-BEFA-RACE-01G","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Bejaria_Befaria_racemosaAlanCresslar.jpg?v=1784298434"},{"product_id":"bignonia-anisostichus-capreolata-var-atrosanguinea","title":"Bignonia capreolata var. atrosanguinea","description":"\u003cp\u003eCrossvine is a vigorous, semi-evergreen native climber that ascends by tendrils and adhesive holdfasts, and var. \u003cem\u003eatrosanguinea\u003c\/em\u003e is the red one: where the typical crossvine flowers orange, this striking selection, introduced by Woodlanders, carries abundant deep red to red-purple trumpets, often over narrower, longer leaves. The flowers even smell faintly of mocha on a warm day.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA fine vine for a wall, a fence, or a trellis in sun or part shade, where the red spring trumpets draw hummingbirds in numbers. Like all crossvines, this red form suckers from the roots and can spread in beds, and is best planted on an isolated support where the roaming can be managed. Native to the southeastern United States, fast and tough once established.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057818144883,"sku":"BIGN-CAPR-VAR-ATRO-01G","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-807.jpg?v=1720136655"},{"product_id":"bouvardia-ternifolia","title":"Bouvardia ternifolia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBouvardia ternifolia\u003c\/em\u003e, the firecracker bush, is a compact, heat-loving shrub of the southwestern United States and Mexico, hung from late spring to frost with clusters of long, slender, scarlet-red tubular flowers. Few plants pull hummingbirds in like this one: the bright tubes are pitched exactly for their bills, and the bloom keeps coming through the hottest months when little else holds color.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhorls of narrow leaves clothe a tidy, two-to-three-foot frame. A creature of sun and lean, dry, well-drained ground, the firecracker bush shrugs off heat and drought and thrives where water is scarce. Native to the desert Southwest, root-hardy in zone 8 and a year-round shrub in frost-free gardens.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlant firecracker bush in a hot, sunny border, a rock or gravel garden, a dry bank, or a xeric planting, where the scarlet tubes draw hummingbirds and butterflies all season. Pairs naturally with salvias, agastache, and other sun-and-drought lovers, and earns a place as one of the best heat-tolerant flowering shrubs for the warm garden.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057818374259,"sku":"BOUV-TERN-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Bouvardia_turnifolia_Woodlanders_1.jpg?v=1737245785"},{"product_id":"buddleia-alternifolia","title":"Buddleia alternifolia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBuddleia alternifolia\u003c\/em\u003e, the fountain or alternate-leaf butterfly bush, stands apart from the usual butterfly-bush crowd. A deciduous shrub native to northwestern China, the fountain butterfly bush is the most cold-hardy of the genus, and is grown above all for a weeping form and an early-season flood of fragrant, lavender-purple bloom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn shape the shrub recalls a small weeping willow, the long, arching branches cloaked in narrow, silver-green leaves set alternately, a key difference from other butterfly bushes. In late spring and early summer the branches erupt into a waterfall of softly scented blossoms, densely packed along the previous year's wood, an elegant cascade and a magnet for butterflies and bees.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBecause the flowers come on old wood, prune right after bloom to protect the next year's display. Left unpruned, the fountain butterfly bush settles into a naturally flowing eight-to-fifteen-foot fountain, a striking specimen for a cottage garden, an informal border, or a naturalistic planting. Tough and drought-tolerant once established, and reliably hardier than the modern butterfly-bush hybrids.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057818734707,"sku":"BUDD-ALTE-01G","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/0B9E2FF4-06DE-4F18-A79F-BF748D95DA4C.jpg?v=1772275407"},{"product_id":"buddleia-cordata-ssp-tomentella","title":"Buddleia cordata ssp. tomentella","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBuddleia cordata\u003c\/em\u003e ssp. \u003cem\u003etomentella\u003c\/em\u003e is a striking, large evergreen shrub with broad, somewhat heart-shaped leaves in soft gray-green, the lighter undersides flashing in every breeze. First collected by Yucca-Do Nursery near Los Lerios in Coahuila, Mexico, the plant was originally offered by Woodlanders as Buddleia sp. 'Los Lerios', and the true identity was later confirmed by Dr. Jon Lindstrom of the University of Arkansas, a longtime customer and plantsman of note.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRemarkably hardy for a Mexican evergreen, reliable in zone 8, this robust shrub thrives in a sunny site with well-drained soil. In summer, dense terminal clusters of tiny greenish to creamy-white flowers gather at the branch tips, an unusual but quietly handsome display. In form and effect, Dr. Lindstrom notes, the shrub can resemble a sumac, lending a soft, architectural presence to the garden.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs a specimen or part of a mixed border, Buddleia cordata ssp. tomentella offers year-round gray-green foliage, summer bloom for pollinators, and a fascinating backstory, a plant for the collector and the adventurous gardener. Drought-tolerant once established.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057819062387,"sku":"BUDD-CORD-SSP-TOME-01G","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Buddleiacordatassp.tomentellaWoodlanders1.jpg?v=1755116341"},{"product_id":"buddleia-loricata","title":"Buddleia loricata","description":"\u003cp\u003eBuddleia loricata, the mountain sagewood, is a rugged evergreen from the high Drakensberg of South Africa and Lesotho, and one of the hardiest of all the butterfly bushes. Unlike the familiar deciduous buddlejas, this species holds narrow, crinkled, sage-like leaves the year round, dark green above and felted silvery white beneath. The species epithet loricata means clad in mail or armored, a nod to that tough, quilted foliage, while the genus honors the English clergyman-botanist Adam Buddle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the warm months the shrub carries dense terminal heads of small, sweetly honey-scented flowers, creamy white to pale yellow and often lit with an orange eye. Butterflies and bees work the fragrant clusters as they do on the common buddlejas, but here the show comes on an evergreen, mountain-tough plant rather than a rangy summer one. In the wild, mountain sagewood grows among rocks and in sheltered, moist gullies high on the slopes, well above six thousand feet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat alpine origin gives the mountain sagewood an unusual toughness, shrugging off frost and cold that would cut down more tender kin, and standing among the most cold-hardy buddlejas in cultivation. Give the shrub full sun and well-drained soil, where the plant asks little once established and holds a neat, bushy form on non-invasive roots. Little known and still largely untested in American gardens, this is a plant for the curious grower and the collector.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet Buddleia loricata where the fragrance and the pollinators can be enjoyed, in a sunny border, a rock garden, a low hedge, or a butterfly planting. The evergreen, silver-backed foliage earns a place even out of bloom, and the sweet summer flower heads bring in the winged traffic buddlejas are loved for. For a fragrant, frost-hardy, evergreen alternative to the usual butterfly bush, the mountain sagewood is a quietly rewarding choice.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057819193459,"sku":"BUDD-LORI-01G","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/buddleja-loricataJohnGrimshaw.jpg?v=1784298596"},{"product_id":"buddleia-salvifolia","title":"Buddleja salviifolia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBuddleja salviifolia\u003c\/em\u003e, the sage-leaf butterfly bush, is a medium to large evergreen shrub from the sun-soaked hillsides of South Africa, and despite the exotic origin the plant has proven remarkably hardy in southeastern gardens, coming through winters at the University of Georgia's Athens trials with quiet resilience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn late spring and early summer the shrub carries airy clusters of pale lavender flowers, soft in tone and lightly fragrant. But the real draw is the foliage: long, sage-like leaves, softly textured and silvered beneath, a rare and quiet kind of beauty. As Dr. Michael Dirr once noted, \"All visitors to our trials have become enamored with the foliage.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSage-leaf butterfly bush also has a long life in South African folk medicine, an herbal tea and remedy in the home gardens of its native range. Grown here for the silvered foliage and the lavender bloom, the plant wants a sunny spot with well-drained soil and room to take its natural, upright, architectural form: a fine specimen, a texture contrast in a dry or Mediterranean-style garden, or a backbone for a wildlife planting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhotos courtesy of Julian Sutton and John Wursten.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057819226227,"sku":"BUDD-SALV-01G","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/buddleja-salviifolia-1AndrewLargeWoodlanders2.jpg?v=1747576534"},{"product_id":"caesalpinia-gillesii","title":"Caesalpinia gilliesii","description":"\u003cp\u003eFew hardy shrubs put on a show like Caesalpinia gilliesii, the desert bird of paradise, whose summer flowers open clear yellow and send out a spray of long scarlet stamens like fireworks caught mid-burst. A legume from the dry country of Argentina and Uruguay, long naturalized across the American Southwest, the plant carries ferny, blue-green, mimosa-like foliage that sets off the flamboyant bloom. Botanists now place the species in the genus Erythrostemon, meaning red stamen, though gardeners still know the plant as Caesalpinia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe species name honors John Gillies, the Scottish physician who botanized in Argentina in the early nineteenth century. Borne in tall upright clusters through the heat of summer, the flowers draw hummingbirds and pollinators by day, and the long stamens and evening scent suggest a partnership with night-flying moths as well. Flat, curved seed pods follow, ripening until they twist open and fling the seeds free.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a plant for hot, dry, difficult places, thriving in full sun and sharp drainage where heat and drought defeat softer shrubs. Fast-growing and root-hardy, Caesalpinia gilliesii stays evergreen in warm winters and dies back to the ground in colder ones, resprouting in spring, which lets the plant reach into the middle South and the high desert alike. A word of caution belongs on the label, since the green seed pods and seeds are toxic if eaten, worth keeping in mind where children and pets roam.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUse Caesalpinia gilliesii as a xeric specimen, an informal screen, or a background shrub in a hot, sunny border, water-wise landscape, or desert-style planting. The lacy foliage and spectacular summer flowers bring an exotic, almost tropical air to ground that stays bone dry, and the hummingbird traffic is a bonus. Give the plant full sun, excellent drainage, and room to show off, and expect little trouble in return.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePhotos courtesy of Miguel Gonzalez\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057819979891,"sku":"CAES-GILL-01G","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/CaesalpiniagilliesiiMiguelGonzalez.png?v=1784299361"},{"product_id":"callicarpa-americana-bok-tower","title":"Callicarpa americana ‘Bok Tower’","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCallicarpa americana\u003c\/em\u003e 'Bok Tower' is the white-fruited form of the American beautyberry, swapping the species' electric magenta for clusters of clean, pearly white berries that ring the arching stems in late summer and fall. The pale fruit is cool and luminous, lovely against the green leaves and a striking foil to the purple-berried kinds, and just as good for the birds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe selection comes from Polk County, Florida, chosen by Jonathan Shaw at Bok Tower Gardens, and performs best in warm southern zones where winters stay mild. Blooming a little later than the species, 'Bok Tower' carries small white flowers in summer before the white berries follow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUse white beautyberry in a shrub border, a naturalized planting, or a native garden, where the white fruit lights a shaded spot and plays against darker foliage and the purple beautyberries. Like the species, the leaves are the famous southern insect repellent, and the shrub fruits best cut back hard in late winter. A five-to-seven-foot native for warm gardens.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057820962931,"sku":"CALL-AMER-BOK-TOWE-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/9A3E38AB-C67C-49B2-B03E-690FBE66BD77.jpg?v=1727119296"},{"product_id":"callicarpa-formosana","title":"Callicarpa formosana","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCallicarpa formosana\u003c\/em\u003e, the Taiwan beautyberry, is a handsome deciduous shrub that lines the stems with vivid purple berries in fall, the clusters glowing against the fading leaves for strong late-season color. Native to Taiwan and southern China, the Taiwan beautyberry is built for warm climates and keeps a fuller, more robust frame than the smaller Asian beautyberries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSmall pink-lavender flowers open in summer before the purple fruit follows, and birds work the berries through fall and winter. Easy and undemanding, the shrub wants full sun to light shade and well-drained soil, and holds a compact shape once established.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUse Taiwan beautyberry in a shrub border, a mixed bed, or a wildlife planting, where the purple fall fruit suits both formal and naturalistic schemes. Like the rest of the genus, the shrub fruits on new wood, so a hard late-winter cut keeps the shrub compact and fruitful. A five-to-six-foot beautyberry for the warm-climate garden.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhotos courtesy of the JC Raulston Arboretum.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057821192307,"sku":"CALL-FORM-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/JMW4199.jpg?v=1720557306"},{"product_id":"callistemon-rigidus-clemson","title":"Callistemon rigidus 'Clemson'","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn exceptional cold-hardy bottlebrush, \u003cem\u003eCallistemon rigidus\u003c\/em\u003e 'Clemson' is a compact to medium evergreen shrub hung with brilliant red, brush-like flowers that bloom heavily in late spring and often rebloom through summer. Native to Australia, this selection defies expectations for the genus by thriving outdoors in upstate South Carolina, where winters are usually too cold for bottlebrushes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cultivar was introduced by Ted Stephens of Nurseries Caroliniana, who noticed the plant's resilience and long bloom in Clemson, South Carolina. The bright red, nectar-rich flowers draw bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, and the dense, fine-textured foliage gives structure to sunny borders, foundation plantings, and large containers in milder climates.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith a proven track record in Southeastern gardens, 'Clemson' brings a touch of the exotic to temperate landscapes without giving up durability.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057821552755,"sku":"CALL-RIGI-CLEM-01G","price":31.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Callistemon_Clemson_Woodlanders-3.jpg?v=1750633928"},{"product_id":"callistemon-paludosus-hybrid","title":"Callistemon paludosus (hybrid?)","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn evergreen bottlebrush with arching to pendulous branches and dark green, lance-shaped leaves, \u003cem\u003eCallistemon paludosus\u003c\/em\u003e carries terminal, pink bottlebrush spikes freely in midsummer, an unusual color in a genus mostly given to red. Relatively cold-hardy for a bottlebrush, this is a graceful, easy shrub for a hot, sunny spot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe pink flowers raise a question: in the wild the straight Callistemon paludosus is described as yellow-flowered, so this plant may be a hybrid with one of the red-flowered species. The trail behind this plant is a long one, reaching Woodlanders from Joe Levert of Augusta, Georgia, by way of Tom McClendon before him and, most likely, Yucca-Do Nursery in Texas before that, which raised the original from seed sent by the University of California, Santa Cruz. A long journey for a fine plant for the sunny garden.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUse the pink bottlebrush in a sunny border, a hot bank, or a coastal planting, where the arching branches and pink brushes draw hummingbirds and bees through the heat of summer. Drought tolerant once established, and a distinctive pink note among the usual reds. Four to six feet, evergreen, for zones 8 to 10.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057821814899,"sku":"CALL-PALU-HYBR-01G","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-1883.jpg?v=1720136837"},{"product_id":"callistemon-pinifolius","title":"Callistemon pinifolius","description":"\u003cp\u003ePine-leaved bottlebrush earns the name honestly: the foliage is fine, stiff, and needle-like, closer to a young pine than to the broad leaves of most bottlebrushes, and the whole shrub stands upright and a little spare, which is part of the charm. Native to southeastern Australia, this species is uncommon in cultivation in the southern United States, so growing one is a small act of plant collecting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe flowers are the surprise. Where most Callistemons blaze red, \u003cem\u003eCallistemon pinifolius\u003c\/em\u003e usually opens in a soft greenish yellow, with the occasional plant throwing true red instead, a quiet and slightly otherworldly version of the classic bottlebrush. Bees and hummingbirds find the brushes readily, and the plant shrugs off drought once established while resisting the sawfly larvae that trouble broader-leaved kin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGive this bottlebrush a sunny or lightly shaded spot with soil that drains freely but holds some moisture. A note on names: we obtained this plant as \u003cem\u003eCallistemon viridiflorus\u003c\/em\u003e, another green-flowered species, and some botanists would file the whole group under \u003cem\u003eMelaleuca\u003c\/em\u003e rather than \u003cem\u003eCallistemon\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePictures courtesy of Australian Plants Society NSW.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057821913203,"sku":"CALL-PINI-01G","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Callistemon-pinifolius-2.jpg?v=1720561800"},{"product_id":"calycanthus-floridus-athens","title":"Calycanthus floridus 'Athens'","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCalycanthus floridus\u003c\/em\u003e 'Athens', also circulated under the name 'Katherine', is a yellow-flowered selection of the Eastern sweetshrub, a deciduous native of the Southeastern woodlands long grown for fragrance, adaptability, and strange, many-tepaled flowers. Where the wild plant blooms a deep maroon, 'Athens' opens soft, buttery yellow, an unexpected and elegant turn on a familiar shrub.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pale flowers carry a ripe, almost tropical perfume, closer to melon and pineapple than the strawberry scent of the maroon forms. Bloom comes in mid to late spring and returns here and there through summer, the flowers tucked among glossy mid-green leaves that furnish the shrub densely from spring to the clear yellow of autumn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis selection was shared with the plantsman Dr. Michael Dirr by Jane Symmes of the now-closed Cedar Lane Farms in Madison, Georgia. Dirr named the plant 'Katherine' for his daughter, but the name 'Athens', honoring the University of Georgia town where the selection took hold, became the one most gardeners use. Dirr rated this group among the most sun and heat tolerant of all the sweetshrubs he trialed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrowing six to eight feet tall and wide, 'Athens' sweetshrub takes part shade to full sun and a wide range of well-drained soils, spreading slowly by suckers into a loose colony over time. Deer-resistant, drought-tolerant once established, and altogether low-maintenance, the shrub belongs wherever fragrance is wanted up close: a woodland border, a native planting, or beside a door or path where the scent can be caught mid-stride.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057822208115,"sku":"CALY-FLOR-ATHE-01G","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Calycanthusfloridus_Athens_JCRAWoodlanders2.jpg?v=1749161653"},{"product_id":"calycanthus-floridus-michael-lindsey","title":"Calycanthus floridus 'Michael Lindsey'","description":"\u003cp\u003eCalycanthus floridus 'Michael Lindsey' is the sweetshrub gardeners reach for when fragrance is the whole point. The species, Carolina allspice, is a southeastern native beloved for reddish-brown flowers that smell of ripe fruit, but the scent varies wildly from seedling to seedling, and 'Michael Lindsey' was chosen precisely for a rich, dependable perfume. Add glossy dark green foliage and clear golden fall color, and this selection has become a benchmark, one the plantsman Michael Dirr called the standard by which other introductions will be measured.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWoodlanders owes this plant to the plantsman Allen Bush, who selected, named, and introduced 'Michael Lindsey' through his Holbrook Farm and Nursery in Fletcher, North Carolina, now long closed. The clone earned a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal on merit, chief among the reasons that reliable fruity fragrance carried on flowers of deep reddish-brown. In warm weather the scent, variously read as strawberry, pineapple, or melon, drifts on the air rather than waiting to be found.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe genus name joins the Greek words for calyx and flower, for the curious bloom in which petals and sepals look alike, a ring of narrow, strappy, magnolia-like tepals. Those flowers run a clever trap, since the fruity scent lures small beetles inside, where they shelter and feed before carrying pollen out to the next bloom, an ancient pollination bargain older than bees on flowers. The aromatic bark and leaves, spicy when bruised, gave rise to the allspice names, though every part carries the alkaloid calycanthine and should never be eaten.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSite Calycanthus floridus 'Michael Lindsey' where people pass close, beside a path, a doorway, a patio, or a seat, so the fragrance is part of the day. The shrub takes full sun to part shade and average, well-drained soil, growing dense and rounded and asking little, and the cut flowers scent a room. For a native, trouble-free, deer-resistant shrub that earns a place on perfume alone, this is among the very best.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057822306419,"sku":"CALY-FLOR-MICH-LIND-01G","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-1911.jpg?v=1720136858"},{"product_id":"calycanthus-hybridus-venus","title":"Calycanthus hybridus ‘Venus’","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCalycanthus\u003c\/em\u003e 'Venus' is a white-flowered sweetshrub bred by Dr. Tom Ranney at North Carolina State University, drawing on three species at once: the Eastern Carolina allspice (\u003cem\u003eCalycanthus floridus\u003c\/em\u003e), the California sweetshrub (\u003cem\u003eCalycanthus occidentalis\u003c\/em\u003e), and the Chinese sweetshrub (\u003cem\u003eCalycanthus chinensis\u003c\/em\u003e, long known as \u003cem\u003eSinocalycanthus\u003c\/em\u003e). The result is a deciduous shrub that carries the best of all three: hardiness, substance, and an unusual flower.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlump, yellow-green buds open to broad white blooms, magnolia-like and a little smaller than a star magnolia, washed with yellow and a flush of purple at the center. The flowers are fragrant, ripe and fruity in the manner of strawberries and melon, and appear from late spring into summer above glossy, dark green leaves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'Venus' grows upright and full, roughly five to six feet tall and wide, and asks little beyond sun or light shade and a moist, well-drained soil. Clean foliage, a long season of bloom, and a tidy, non-running habit make this hybrid an easy choice for a mixed border, a fragrant foundation planting, or anywhere a white-flowered shrub is wanted near a path or seat.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057822339187,"sku":"CALY-HYBR-VENU-01G","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Calycanthushybridus_Venus_JohnGrimshaw.jpg?v=1784858664"},{"product_id":"camellia-oleifera","title":"Camellia oleifera","description":"\u003cp\u003eThree things to know about this camellia. First, the tea-oil camellia is the most economically important non-tea member of the genus. China has cultivated \u003cem\u003eCamellia oleifera\u003c\/em\u003e for over two thousand three hundred years for the oil pressed from the seeds, a light, sweetish, monounsaturated cooking oil chemically close to olive oil (around eighty percent oleic acid in both), used for cooking, traditional cosmetics, hair tonics, and the historic rust-proofing of Japanese woodworking tools and chef's knives. Tea oil sits with olive, palm, and coconut among the four major woody oil crops on Earth. This is a working tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecond, the tea-oil camellia is also the quiet foundation of cold-hardy camellia growing in North America, and almost no one knows it. In the late 1970s a run of brutal winters at the US National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. destroyed 941 of the 956 camellias in the collection. Among the handful that came through unharmed were specimens of \u003cem\u003eCamellia oleifera\u003c\/em\u003e. Dr. William Ackerman, then a research geneticist at the Arboretum, took notice, and beginning in 1979 crossed the cold-hardy species, especially the cultivar 'Lu Shan Snow', with \u003cem\u003eC. sasanqua\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eC. hiemalis\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eC. vernalis\u003c\/em\u003e. The resulting Winter Series hybrids, released in 1991 ('Polar Ice', 'Snow Flurry', 'Winter's Hope', 'Winter's Joy', 'Pink Icicle', 'Winter's Star', and others), are the reason camellias can now be grown reliably into USDA zone 6. Every fall-blooming Ackerman hybrid on the East Coast traces back to this one species.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThird, and this is the part most people miss on hearing the words tea-oil camellia, the plant is beautiful. Smooth, peeling, cinnamon-to-tan bark clothes mature trunks; the glossy, finely toothed, willow-textured leaves are evergreen; and single white flowers two to three inches across, sometimes flushed pink at the edge, open around a generous boss of golden stamens from October into January, carrying a soft sweet fragrance unusual among fall-blooming camellias. Spent petals drop individually, the trait growers call self-grooming, so the plant never slumps into the brown decay that troubles many older japonicas. Slow-growing and eventually ten to twenty feet over decades, the tea-oil camellia builds into a multi-trunked large shrub or a small tree, depending on the pruning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA plant for the gardener building a tea garden beside a \u003cem\u003eCamellia sinensis\u003c\/em\u003e, for the collector after the species behind every modern cold-hardy hybrid, or for anyone in zone 6 or 7 wanting a fragrant, fall-flowering evergreen with documented winter survival to fifteen below zero. A genuinely useful plant masquerading as a beautiful one, or the reverse, depending on which side you come at it from.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057822568563,"sku":"CAME-OLEI-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-307.jpg?v=1720136871"}],"url":"https:\/\/woodlanders.net\/collections\/prophouse.oembed?page=12","provider":"Woodlanders","version":"1.0","type":"link"}