Common name:Eastern White Pine
Botanical name:Pinus strobus

Eastern white pine is a fast growing, pyramidal tree with strong, horizontal branches, growing about 50 to 80 feet tall and 15 to 20 feet wide. It has long, blue green needles that lends it an airy, open appearance. 8-inch long cones are pendulous and ripen in the fall. A columnar form, P. s. 'Fastigiata" has a similar, open habit but grows only about 7 to 10 feet across.

Common name:Beacon Silver Dead Nettle
Botanical name:Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver '

'Beacon Silver' is another lamium cultivar, with silver-white leaves and green margins. The margin between the white and green areas seems more crisp than in 'White Nancy.' Grows about 6 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide by underground runners. Has small pink flowers in late spring to early summer. A great groundcover for partial shady to shady areas.

Common name:Weigela
Botanical name:Weigela florida

Weigela are a group of shrubs characterized by their rounded, arching habit, tubular flowers, and attractively colored foliage. As a rule, they are rounded, with an arching to spreading habit, but size is dependent on cultivar, with shrubs as small as 3 feet to ones as large as 10 to 12 feet. Leaves are simple, finely serrated, and green to red to bronze, depending on cultivar. Flowers appear in May to June, are tubular, and range from white through every conceivable pink, to dark ruby red. Use in foundation or shrub borders, mass planting, or as hedges or screens.

Common name:Purple Coneflower
Botanical name:Echinacea purpurea

The Purple Coneflower is a long-lived, reliable standby for the perennial garden. And while not xeric, it manages quite well with just weekly watering. Rosy purple petals fall below the prominent orange-tinged cone and blooms in late June to September. Foliage is large, with a rounded lance shape. An excellent cut flower, they provide nectar for bumblebees and butterflies, and the seeds provide forage for migrating song birds, so don't cut them all!

Common name:Wintercreeper
Botanical name:Euonymus fortunei

This group of euonymus are evergreen to semi-evergreen, and have a spreading and climbing habit. As a groundcover, it has a humpy, mounding habit; as a climber, it needs a little assistance to get started but will eventually cling to and climb up any available surface. Purpleleaf Wintercreeper has particularly attractive fall color; variegated forms are nice in dry shade areas to lighten things up.