10 Plants You Really Ought to Have Somewhere in Your Yard

   These are some of my all-around favorites… plants that are easy to grow, action-packed, interesting and versatile enough to deserve widespread landscape use in central Pa.

The original 'Knock Out' shrub rose.

1.)    Shrub rose ‘Knock Out.’ No spraying, blooms wire-to-wire, tough in drought, stays 4-by-4 with a single season-starting cutback. Best plant ever. ‘Double Knock Out’ and ‘Pink Knock Out’ also superb. Sun or part shade. 

2.)    Dwarf Virginia sweetspire ‘Little Henry.’ Compact native shrub with arching, white, bottle-brush flowers in late spring and glossy scarlet fall foliage. Sun or shade.

3.)    Purple-leaf ninebark ‘Diabolo’ or ‘Summer Wine.’ ‘Diabolo’ is 8-foot shrub with dark-burgundy leaves, white flower clusters in late spring, then BB-sized red fruits, then coppery fall foliage, then peeling bark in winter. Tough, too. ‘Summer Wine’ is a smaller 5- to 6-foot version. Full sun.

4.)    Hardy geranium ‘Rozanne.’ Trailing perennial flower with purple blooms that keep coming all season. Amazing endurance. Rabbits don’t eat it either. Sun to part shade.

5.)    Liriope ‘Big Blue.’ Super-tough grassy-looking perennial with late-summer purple flower spikes. Great edger anywhere or as groundcover in dry shade. Sun to shade.

Spirea 'Ogon' (Mellow Yellow)

6.)    Red switchgrass ‘Shenandoah.’ 4-foot ornamental grass with dainty pinkish seedheads and burgundy-tinged blades. Sun to light shade.

7.)    Spirea ‘Ogon’ (Mellow Yellow). 5-foot shrub that gets snow-white flowers all along the stems just before the leaves push out in early spring. Leaves are willowy and golden, turning russet in fall before dropping. Sun to part shade.

8.)    Holly ‘Red Beauty.’ Wonderful new compact, pyramidal holly with dense, dark-green leaves and loads of red fruits. Sun to part shade.

9.)    Oakleaf hydrangea ‘Snow Queen.’ 6-foot shrub with white cone-shaped early-summer flowers, huge oak-like leaves that turn a rich burgundy in fall and peeling bark in winter. Nearly full sun to shade.

10.)            Dwarf Hinoki cypress ‘Nana Gracilis.’ Compact, slow-growing upright evergreen with irregular pyramidal habit. Nearly pest-free and has character. Sun to part shade.