Ornamental plants are grown for their aesthetic features, for their flowers, leaves, scent or overall appearance. Having ornamental plants in the garden contributes to the view of your home, gives you the joy of gardening and the apprecitation of your guests. In the list below you will find some of the most astonishing woody plants to grow with their description. Choose well and enjoy!
Cistus is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 20 species. They are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal through to the Middle East, and also on the Canary Islands. Cistus, with its many hybrids and cultivars, is commonly encountered as a garden flower. The common name rock rose (rock rose in the UK) is applied to the species, a name also shared by the related genera Halimium, Helianthemum and Tuberaria, all in the family Cistaceae. The common name gum cistus is applied to resin-bearing species, especially C. ladanifer.
Callicarpa species are deciduous, the tropical species evergreen. The leaves are simple, opposite, and 5–25 cm long. The flowers are in clusters, white to pinkish. The fruit is a berry, 2–5 mm diameter and pink to red-purple with a highly distinctive metallic lustre, are very conspicuous in clusters on the bare branches after the leaves fall. The berries last well into the winter or dry season and are an important survival food for birds and other animals, though they will not eat them until other sources are depleted. The berries are highly astringent but are made into wine and jelly. Callicarpa species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Endoclita malabaricus and Endoclita undulifer.
Juniperus communis is a small coniferous evergreen tree or shrub, very variable in form, ranging from 10 m (33 ft)—rarely 16 m (52 ft)—tall to a low, often prostrate spreading shrub in exposed locations. It has needle-like leaves in whorls of three; the leaves are green, with a single white stomatal band on the inner surface. It never attains adult foliage. It is dioecious, with male and female cones, which are wind pollinated, on separate plants. The fruit are berry-like cones, initially green, ripening in 18 months to purple-black with a blue waxy coating; they are spherical, 4–12 mm (0.16–0.47 in) diameter, and usually have three (occasionally six) fleshy fused scales, each scale with a single seed. The seeds are dispersed when birds eat the cones, digesting the fleshy scales and passing the hard, unwinged seeds in their droppings. The male cones are yellow, 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long, and fall soon after shedding their pollen in March–April.
Acer rubrum, the red maple, also known as swamp, water or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest service recognizes it as the most abundant native tree in eastern North America. The red maple ranges from southeastern Manitoba around the Lake of the Woods on the border with Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to Florida, and southwest to eastern Texas. Many of its features, especially its leaves, are quite variable in form. At maturity, it often attains a height of around 30 m (100 ft). Its flowers, petioles, twigs and seeds are all red to varying degrees. Among these features, however, it is best known for its brilliant deep scarlet foliage in autumn. Over most of its range, red maple is adaptable to a very wide range of site conditions, perhaps more so than any other tree in eastern North America. It can be found growing in swamps, on poor dry soils, and most anywhere in between. It grows well from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft). Due to its attractive fall foliage and pleasing form, it is often used as a shade tree for landscapes.
Calycanthus plants are deciduous shrubs, growing 1–4 m (3.3–13.1 ft) tall and wide. The bright green leaves are opposite, entire, 5–15 cm (2.0–5.9 in) long and 2–6 cm (0.79–2.36 in) broad. The bark has a strong camphor smell that is released when stems are scraped. The smell remains strong on twigs that have been stored several years in a dry environment. The strongly scented flowers are produced from late spring through early autumn for C. occidentalis, and April to July for C. floridus. They are 4–7 cm (1.6–2.8 in) broad, with numerous dark red to burgundy to purplish brown tepals. Typical of the family Calycanthaceae, the flowers lack distinct sepals and petals, but instead have distinct spirals of tepals. The lotus-shaped flowers can resemble a small magnolia flower. They are pollinated by beetles in the family Nitidulidae. The fruit is an elliptical dry capsule 5–7 cm long, containing numerous seeds.
