Common name:Bloodgood Japanese Maple
Botanical name:Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood'

Bloodgood Japanese maple is a lovely, upright to rounded small tree, well suited to patios and courtyards. It has red to bronze-red foliage, becoming more bronzy with summer heat. Fall color is brilliant red. New wood is very dark, turning a reddish brown as it ages. Grows 15 to 18 feet tall and wide, though it will do so slowly.

Common name:Bloodgood Japanese Maple
Botanical name:Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood'

Bloodgood Japanese maple is a lovely, upright to rounded small tree, well suited to patios and courtyards. It has red to bronze-red foliage, becoming more bronzy with summer heat. Fall color is brilliant red. New wood is very dark, turning a reddish brown as it ages. Grows 15 to 18 feet tall and wide, though it will do so slowly.

Common name:Russian Sage
Botanical name:Perovskia atriplicifolia

Russian sage may be the ubiquitous low-water garden plant. With its grey green, aromatic foliage, and azure blue spires, it provides a long-lasting show in hot, dry gardens. It grows to 3 to 5 feet tall, and nearly as wide. It is a woody perennial and forms a very hard trunk over time. It is both airy and substantial, and partners well with herbaceous perennials, woody shrubs, or ornamental grasses. It also would grow well against a south or west facing wall or fence.

Common name:Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass
Botanical name:Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'

Karl Foerster feather reed grass is a garden favorite, and for good reason. Its green, fine-textured foliage is gently arching and grows to about 2 feet tall and wide. Oat-like plumes stand very erect over the foliage, growing as tall as 5 to 6 feet. Plumes open whiteish green, later turning a dusky rose, and then tawny colored by winter. Blooms early summer with the plumes lasting into autumn. Holds its presence well into winter. Excellent in mixed perennial or shrub borders, or massed.

Common name:Zebra Grass
Botanical name:Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus'

Zebra grass is a dynamic addition to a garden. This Miscanthus has an upright, arching habit, and wide green leaves with distinctive yellow banding. Its plume emerges coppery pink in late summer, then turns a lovely tawny color that lasts through the fall and into the winter. The foliage clumps grow about 5 to 6 feet tall and wide, with the plume standing an additional 1 to 2 feet above the foliage.

Common name:English Lavender
Botanical name:Lavandula angustifolia

English lavender is a dependably hardy, heat tolerant, drought resistant perennial, well suited to our arid, cold climate. Aromatic, green to grey-green foliage has a rich, resin scent, and grows in tight clumps 1 to 2 feet in height and width, depending on variety. Flowers form at the ends of stiff stems, in whorls of blue to lavender to purple, again, depending on variety. Flowers may add another 6 to 12 inches of height. Use in any sunny spot, such as perennial border, herb garden, parkstrip, lining a pathway.

Common name:Autumn Joy Sedum
Botanical name:Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Autumn Joy sedum is a garden staple, and for good reason. Emerging in early spring, fleshy, green to grey-green leaves form a rosette of foliage, and soon expands on sturdy stems, growing about 18 to 24 inches tall and wide. Flower heads begin to form in early to mid summer, looking something like little cauliflower, but soon the buds open to pale pink stars that progressively deepen in color, until they become a russet red in the fall. Use in perennial, shrub, or foundation borders, in parkstrips, with ornamental grasses. Attracts butterflies and bees. Flower heads persist well into winter.