By Southern Living Plants
Photographs courtesy of Southern Living Plants
Every gardener's dream is a low-maintenance, distinctive landscape. Each of these Southern Living plant varieties requires little maintenance, possesses individually unique characteristics, and blooms vibrant flowers between spring and early winter.
These must-have shrubs and trees grow in different sun exposures from full sun to shade, can be watered as needed, and are hardy to 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
This reblooming gardenia brings beautiful, milky white double blooms that open spring through fall and fill the air with their pleasantly sweet aroma. This evergreen shrub’s fragrant flowers and love of heat and humidity make it a Southern favorite. Jubilation Gardenias thrive in full sun with a little afternoon shade and in moist, but well-drained acidic soil.
Purple Diamond Loropetalum delivers an impact, with magenta ribbon flowers in spring and deep purple foliage all year round. Use as a backdrop in flowers beds or as a standalone shrub feature. Plant in full sun to part shade in moist, acidic, well-drained soil. Read what Southern Living’s The Grumpy Gardener has to say about Purple Diamond® in his article, “What – a – Petalums.”
This beautiful new hydrangea is a stunning compact grower for a small garden space. True jewel red blooms on a backdrop of shiny dark green foliage slowly darken over time, aging to a rich antiqued red perfect for fall. Mature plants flower on both new and old wood adding to the number of flowers and extending the blooming season.
Like all the Southern Living Agapanthus, Ever Amethyst™ Agapanthus blooms very early and reblooms with multiple brilliant purple flowers. Fast-growing, tough and drought tolerant, these visually striking plants range from dwarf to semi-dwarf with blooms 5 to 10 inches in diameter. Plant them in your landscape, then bring the beauty inside as cut flowers.
This is a vigorous rabbiteye variety that blooms with tiny, white, bell-shaped flowers in spring, followed by many large berries known for their appealing color, flavor, firmness and shelf life. Tough and beautiful, this University of Georgia developed variety is disease and pest resistant and heat tolerant. You’ll want to plant with other rabbiteye blueberry varieties for the best fruit set.
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By Laura Root
Photos courtesy of Jackson & Perkins
Gardeners are always thinking ahead to the next season or the next year. And, fall is the ideal time to think about spring. Flowering shrubs, perennials and spring bulbs are great choices.
Click here for an interesting article about spring bulbs.
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