A graceful, clump-forming ornamental grass — the Chinese fountain grass — with a fountain-shaped mound of arching green leaves topped from late summer into autumn by soft, bottlebrush, foxtail-like flower plumes that range from creamy white to smoky purple-black. Easy and adaptable in full sun, it rises 2-4 feet and reads as a fine-textured movement plant in borders and mass plantings. Honest caveat: the straight species self-seeds freely and has become weedy or invasive in mild climates (a problem weed in parts of California and Australia), so deadhead before the seed ripens where that is a concern, or plant the far less seedy compact cultivars such as 'Hameln' and 'Little Bunny'. Its accepted botanical name is now Cenchrus, though it is sold everywhere as Pennisetum alopecuroides.

A virtually stemless, broadleaf-evergreen native of central and eastern North America: a basal rosette of rigid, sword-shaped, spine-tipped leaves up to 30 inches long, fringed along the margins with the curly white threads that give the species its name. In early summer a flowering stalk shoots from the center to 5-8 feet, carrying nodding, bell-shaped, creamy-white flowers. Tough enough for poor sandy soil, heat, drought, and salt spray, it earns its keep as architectural structure in dry and seaside gardens.

A large, vigorous, fountain-shaped deciduous shrub that earns its common name in late spring, when its arching stems are smothered in masses of pale-pink, yellow-throated, bell-shaped flowers. Native to China, it is one of the great old-fashioned spring shrubs — spectacular in full bloom, much loved by bees, and offering peeling brown bark for quiet winter interest. It is also genuinely big: expect 6 to 10 feet tall and wide at maturity, so give it room rather than fighting its size with the shears. The form to seek out is the Award-winning "Pink Cloud", which carries a clearer, richer pink than the variable seed-grown species.

A deciduous shrub grown almost entirely for its explosion of yellow four-lobed flowers that line the bare arching stems in early spring, before the leaves emerge. A garden hybrid of two Asian species (Forsythia suspensa × F. viridissima) — not native to North America. Missouri Botanical Garden describes it as a "one-season wonder" that fades into the background after bloom, so it earns its place as a late-winter color signal rather than a four-season anchor.

The stately, classic tall border perennial — the parent of the great Elatum-hybrid delphiniums — grown for towering, densely packed spires of spurred flowers, most famously an intense pure blue (also purple, white, or pink), each bloom centred on a contrasting tuft of petals known as the "bee." It rises on tall hollow stems above deeply palmate-lobed leaves and flowers in early to mid summer. Magnificent but high-maintenance and load-bearing in its honesty: the tall spikes need staking and shelter from wind, the plant is hungry, thirsty, fairly short-lived, a slug magnet on its emerging shoots, and it dislikes hot, humid summers, performing best in cool-summer climates. It is also HIGHLY TOXIC in all parts (diterpenoid alkaloids), and the sap can irritate skin — which is also what makes it reliably deer-resistant. POWO (Kew) places it native to the mountains of Europe across to Siberia and central Asia; RHS rates the species fully hardy (H7) and has given the Award of Garden Merit to many of its hybrids.

The classic broadleaf-evergreen shrub of formal hedges, topiary, and clipped borders — small, glossy dark-green opposite leaves on a dense rounded frame that takes shearing better than almost any other shrub. Native to southern Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa, it carries inconspicuous greenish-cream spring flowers and holds its leaves year-round. All parts are toxic if eaten and the foliage can cause skin irritation, but that same chemistry makes it reliably rabbit- and deer-resistant.