Collections

Plant groups with a purpose

Each collection gathers plants that make sense together in a specific place: what they do, where they belong, and how to arrange them without starting from a blank bed.
Annabelle hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle') showing large white ball-shaped flower clusters on a rounded deciduous shrub.
Coral bells (Heuchera 'Marmalade') showing a low mound of ruffled coppery-orange foliage characteristic of the Heuchera villosa-derived hybrids.
Collection · 2 plants
Bright shade foundation
A part-shade planting with shrub structure and low foliage contrast.
Annabelle hydrangea
Coral bells
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) mature clump in the green growing season, its upright vase-shaped habit topped by the airy, diffuse open panicles diagnostic of the species.
Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) clumps in a garden bed, showing the species' upright, fine-textured blue-green vase-shaped growing-season habit.
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) mature clump in flower, showing its stout upright reddish stems, broad opposite leaves, and pink-mauve flower umbels with young green pods.
A full clump of black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm') in a garden bed, showing the dense mounded foliage base topped with golden, dark-centered daisies on branching stems.
+4
Collection · 8 plants
Climate-resilient natives for warming zones (eastern NA)
A pollinator-supporting palette of eastern North American natives with broad hardiness ranges and wide native distributions. Built for gardeners who want a planting that can handle warming zones without giving up wildlife value.
Switchgrass
Little bluestem
Common milkweed
Orange coneflower
Wild bergamot
Sweet Joe-Pye weed
Cutleaf coneflower
New England aster
Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) as a mature tree in open lawn, showing the upright single trunk and irregular, rounded crown.
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) - a mature multi-stemmed understory tree in full summer leaf, showing its broad, rounded, suckering crown of large drooping leaves.
Canadian serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) in full spring bloom, with drooping clusters of five-petaled white flowers along branches before leaf emergence.
A mature highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) shrub in a botanical garden, showing the dense, rounded multi-stem habit hung with ripening blue berries.
+4
Collection · 8 plants
Food-forest layered edible
A vertically stacked edible polyculture: nut-bearing canopy, fruit-bearing understory, berry shrub layer, herbaceous layer, and groundcover for temperate eastern North America.
Shagbark hickory
Pawpaw
Canadian serviceberry
Highbush blueberry
Allegheny blackberry
Chives
Parsley
Wild strawberry
A clump of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) in garden soil, showing the upright, branching bushy habit and terminal flower spikes of a maturing plant.
Lacinato kale (Brassica oleracea var. palmifolia) showing the characteristic upright rosette of long, narrow, savoyed blue-green strap leaves.
Coral bells (Heuchera 'Marmalade') showing a low mound of ruffled coppery-orange foliage characteristic of the Heuchera villosa-derived hybrids.
Collection · 3 plants
Kitchen patio planters
A compact edible collection for containers, patios, and near-door harvesting.
Genovese basil
Lacinato kale
Coral bells
English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) as a broadly mounded, dense subshrub of fine silvery blue-green aromatic foliage.
Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) showing dense needle-like aromatic foliage on woody branches.
Garden sage (Salvia officinalis) showing gray-green velvety foliage + spike of lavender summer flowers.
Oregano (Origanum vulgare) showing spreading mat of small aromatic leaves + pink-white flower clusters.
+2
Collection · 6 plants
Mediterranean drought-tolerant edible
A low-water edible palette of culinary herbs + a hardy grape for hot dry sunny sites. Mediterranean-origin plants thrive on neglect; their primary failure mode is overwatering, not underwatering.
English lavender
Rosemary
Garden sage
Oregano
Common thyme
Fox grape
A mature butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) clump in a garden bed, showing its bushy mounded habit with several flat-topped orange umbels above a dense whorl of narrow leaves.
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) mature clump in flower, showing its stout upright reddish stems, broad opposite leaves, and pink-mauve flower umbels with young green pods.
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in bloom, showing pinkish-purple ray petals around a brown-domed central cone on an erect stem.
Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) clump in an open meadow, its several upright square stems each topped by a ragged lavender flower head over toothed mint-family foliage.
+5
Collection · 9 plants
Native pollinator border (eastern US)
A continuous-bloom native pollinator strip for eastern North America. Covers spring through frost with host + nectar plants spanning monarchs, native bees, hummingbirds, and specialist Lepidoptera. Little bluestem provides the matrix grass + Hesperiidae host.
Butterfly weed
Common milkweed
Purple coneflower
Wild bergamot
Scarlet bee balm
Little bluestem
Sweet Joe-Pye weed
Swamp sunflower
Smooth blue aster
A mature oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) in flower - a broad, mounded multi-stemmed shrub studded with upright white panicles above coarse, deeply lobed oak-shaped leaves.
Woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata) showing five-petaled pale lavender-blue flowers on slender erect stems above a low spreading mat of foliage.
Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) whole plant in rocky-ledge habitat, the airy blue-green compound foliage hung with nodding red-and-yellow spurred flowers.
Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) showing characteristic frothy white spring flower spikes above heart-shaped foliage.
+2
Collection · 6 plants
Part-shade woodland edge
A part-shade / bright-shade planting for morning sun or dappled light - eastern North American woodland-edge natives with spring bloom, season-long foliage, and a fern + shrub structure.
Oakleaf hydrangea
Woodland phlox
Wild columbine
Foamflower
Hairy alumroot
Christmas fern
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) 'Lollo Bionda' cultivar showing loose-leaf rosette of light-green ruffled foliage.
Arugula (Eruca vesicaria) growing as a low basal rosette of irregular, pinnately-lobed green leaves with a large terminal lobe and several small lateral lobes.
Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) growing as a low basal rosette of broad, dark-green, slightly savoyed leaves.
A clump of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) in garden soil, showing the upright, branching bushy habit and terminal flower spikes of a maturing plant.
+4
Collection · 8 plants
Salad & herb bed
A compact cut-and-come-again bed of salad greens and culinary herbs for near-kitchen harvest: cool-season leaves, a warm-season basil anchor, and a perennial herb backbone.
Garden lettuce
Arugula
Spinach
Genovese basil
Cilantro
Dill
Parsley
Chives
A green-season spicebush (Lindera benzoin) in its native woodland understory, showing the loose, open, multi-stemmed branching and alternate obovate leaves.
Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) - a clump rising from a mossy forest floor, paired heart-shaped leaves on fuzzy petioles arching over the maroon jug-shaped flowers nestled at ground level.
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) showing characteristic white multi-petaled flower wrapped in a rounded leaf.
Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) showing pendulous pink-to-blue bell-shaped flower clusters above smooth blue-green foliage.
+3
Collection · 7 plants
Shade & understory woodland
A full-shade woodland-floor community for deep shade beneath a closed canopy: an understory shrub, spreading groundcovers, spring ephemerals, and a large fern - eastern North American natives that expect low light and leaf-litter soil.
Northern spicebush
Wild ginger
Bloodroot
Virginia bluebells
Mayapple
Ostrich fern
Foamflower
English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) as a broadly mounded, dense subshrub of fine silvery blue-green aromatic foliage.
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in bloom, showing pinkish-purple ray petals around a brown-domed central cone on an erect stem.
A full clump of black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm') in a garden bed, showing the dense mounded foliage base topped with golden, dark-centered daisies on branching stems.
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) mature clump in the green growing season, its upright vase-shaped habit topped by the airy, diffuse open panicles diagnostic of the species.
Collection · 4 plants
Sunny pollinator border
A durable sunny border with summer bloom, seedheads, and upright winter texture.
English lavender
Purple coneflower
Orange coneflower
Switchgrass
Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) - single woody trunk supporting a tree habit with a broad, spreading crown, fine, feathery alternate-pinnate foliage of many small leaflets, dense green canopy showing the evergreen, leafy crown form.
Baobab (Adansonia digitata) - massive swollen water-storing bottle-trunk with a large hollow at the base, sparse crown of stout tapering branches fanning out like roots in the air (the 'upside-down tree' silhouette), solitary tree in open african savanna habitat among smaller acacias.
Marula (Sclerocarya birrea) - broad, rounded/dome-shaped spreading crown typical of a mature savanna marula, single sturdy grey-barked trunk dividing into heavy ascending main branches, dense canopy of fine compound foliage set in open red-soil grassland savanna.
Guava (Psidium guajava) - elliptic-oblong leaves with strongly impressed, prominent pinnate venation typical of guava, opposite, decussate leaf arrangement on a slender reddish-tinged young stem, upright woody seedling/sapling habit with new growth flushing at the shoot tip.
+2
Collection · 6 plants
Tropical dry edible shade
A warm-climate edible structure palette for seasonal dry forests, savannas, and frost-free gardens that need shade, food value, and drought recovery.
Tamarind
Baobab
Marula
Guava
Cassava
Roselle
Pineapple (Ananas comosus) - whole-plant habit growing in the ground, the dense ground-level rosette of long, stiff, channeled spiny-margined leaves bearing a single fruit on a short central stalk.
Papaya (Carica papaya) - large, deeply palmately-lobed leaves clustered at the top of the stem, single unbranched, soft fibrous trunk (palm-like habit), cluster of green oval fruits borne directly on the upper trunk below the leaf crown.
Cacao (Theobroma cacao) - cauliflorous orange-ripening pods borne directly on the woody stem, large oblong-elliptic leaves with prominent venation, slender understory treelet habit growing in shaded forest/plantation.
Guava (Psidium guajava) - elliptic-oblong leaves with strongly impressed, prominent pinnate venation typical of guava, opposite, decussate leaf arrangement on a slender reddish-tinged young stem, upright woody seedling/sapling habit with new growth flushing at the shoot tip.
+2
Collection · 6 plants
Tropical edible canopy + patio
A frost-free edible palette for humid subtropical and tropical gardens: fruiting canopy, understory crops, edible roots, and container-friendly patio plants.
Pineapple
Papaya
Cacao
Guava
Cassava
Turmeric
Paper flower (Bougainvillea glabra) - a mature plant trained as a dense rounded shrub, showing the whole-plant habit with its dense, thorny, evergreen green-leaved canopy.
Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) - large funnel-shaped flower, long projecting staminal column, red throat, glossy toothed leaves.
Sweet thorn (Vachellia karroo) - broad, rounded crown of fine bipinnate foliage typical of the sweet thorn, golden puff-ball flowers densely covering the canopy in summer flush, mature single-trunk tree habit set in its native south african veld/grassland.
A Cape honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis) shrub with arching evergreen foliage and clusters of slender orange tubular flowers.
+2
Collection · 6 plants
Warm flowering screen
A colorful warm-climate screen and hedge palette for frost-light gardens: flowering shrubs, scrambling color, wildlife nectar, and dry-season structure.
Paper flower
Chinese hibiscus
Sweet thorn
Cape honeysuckle
Lion's ear (wild dagga)
Cape leadwort