Erica arborea var. alpina - TREE HEATH

$7

Too cool! There are a lot of tree heaths out there, but this one is special because it's actually totally hardy west of the Cascades. This species grows to 6' tall and wider with soft green, plume-like evergreen foliage. In spring the plant is covered with beautiful white bell flowers. This plant is a must for any Mediterranean or xeric garden and is related to the truly treelike heaths of the highlands of tropical Africa. It's easily accommodated in partial to full sun and any reasonably well-drained soil, and hardy to at least 5°F.

Genista hispanica - SPANISH BROOM NEW Spring 2010!

$7

Here's one of those old fashioned plants that really deserves a second chance. I see it in old gardens, but I can't say I've ever seen it in a nursery, apparently having been replaced by more trendy choices. However there's no reason it shouldn't be popular again as it is both useful as an extremely drought tolerant groundcover, and showy. Its stems of small prickly leaves spread out to about 6' or more while usually remaining about 18" tall or less. In the Northwest, it's perfectly adapted, thriving in sun or part shade on no irrigation and rewarding constant neglect with showy yellow flowers every spring. It can also grow in many other regions, and is hardy down to at least -20°F.

Medicago arborea NEW Spring 2010!

$9

This unique, easily grown and drought tolerant deciduous shrub is native to Southern Europe and especially the Mediterranean Basin. Soft textured trifoliate leaves on long stems are decorated with long terminal spikes of showy yellow pea-ish flowers that cover the plant in spring. If it's really happy it might get 6' tall or more but it is easily kept smaller. As a legume family member it also fixes nitrogen, but it has never set a single seed for us. So far we haven't ever had cold damage on it: it's certainly hardy to 10°F, and perhaps to 0°F or even lower.

Myrtus communis 'Compacta' - DWARF MYRTLE NEW Spring 2010!

$9

Can't tolerate drought? This plant can! If that's not a catchy hook, I'm not sure what is. I'll skip all the stuff about how legendary this plant is since I wouldn't really know what I'm talking about. The main point is it's a useful garden plant that we don't see enough of in the Northwest. Native to the Mediterranean, it has glossy, deep green, evergreen leaves and white exotic looking flowers followed by edible fruit. This dwarf form remains only a few feet tall and would be great for borders and edging, as a feature shrub or for many other uses. Hardy to about 10°F.

Prunus laurocerasus 'Marbled White'

$7

All right, so I've resorted to growing cherry laurel. The thing about cherry laurel is that it's all the boring cultivars that are being widely produced (does the world really need another 'Otto Luyken' laurel?), while there are actually a number of cool ones out there that remain quite rare. And this is but one of them. Instead of the usual annoying green, the leaves are variegated with white and really do look something like green marble. Thankfully, it is a less vigorous grower than the species, but may still eventually reach 15' tall. I'm curious to find out how this would look trained as a standard. By golly, I may just have to try that myself. This may be the same thing as 'Castlewellan' but I don't know these plants well enough to be sure, so for now I'll go with the name under which I received it. Hardy to at least 0°F.

Prunus lusitanica 'Variegata' - VARIEGATED PORTUGESE LAUREL

$9

Portugese Laurel is rather common, but I still think of it as a useful and (when not pruned into a square) appealing plant. It's drought tolerant, evergreen, and well adapted to the Northwest. Eventually it grows into a tree. The only think I'm not so thrilled with is how its dark, glossy leaves really look somber under the cloudy skies of winter. So here we have a variegated form, which ought to make a splendid small evergreen tree to brighten up your garden year-round. Hardy to at least 0°F.

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