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!
Alstroemeria, commonly called the Peruvian lilyor lily of the Incas, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Alstroemeriaceae. Many hybrids and at least 190 cultivars have been developed, featuring many different markings and colours, including white, yellow, orange, apricot, pink, red, purple, and lavender. The most popular and showy hybrids commonly grown today result from crosses between species from Chile (winter-growing) with species from Brazil (summer-growing).Plants of this genus grow from a cluster of tubers. They send up fertile and sterile stems, the fertile stems of some species reaching 1.5 meters in height. The leaves are alternately arranged and resupinate, twisted on the petioles so that the undersides face up.
Rudbeckia is a plant genus in the sunflower family. The species are commonly called cone flowers and black-eyed-susans; all are native to North America and many species are cultivated in gardens for their showy yellow or gold flower heads. The species are herbaceous, mostly perennial plants (some annual or biennial) growing to 0.5–3.0 m tall, with simple or branched stems. The leaves are spirally arranged, entire to deeply lobed, and 5–25 cm long. The flowers are produced in daisy-like inflorescences, with yellow or orange florets arranged in a prominent, cone-shaped head; “cone-shaped” because the ray florets tend to point out and down (are decumbent) as the flower head opens. Rudbeckia species are eaten by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species including cabbage moths and dot moths.
Agapanthus is the only genus in the subfamily Agapanthoideae of the flowering plant family Amaryllidaceae. The family is in the monocot order Asparagales. Agapanthusis a genus of herbaceous perennials that mostly bloom in the summer. The leaves are basal, curved, and linear, growing up to 60 cm (24 in) long. They are rather leathery and arranged in two opposite rows. The plant has a mostly underground stem called a rhizome (like a ginger ‘root’) that is used as a storage organ. The roots, which grow out of the rhizome, are white, thick and fleshy.
Corydalis is a genus of about 470 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the Papaveraceae family, native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere and the high mountains of tropical eastern Africa. Corydalis species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species (butterflies), especially the clouded Apollo. Corydalis cava and some other tuberous species contain the alkaloid bulbocapnine, which is occasionally used in medicine but scientific evidence is lacking in the correct dosages and side effects. Many of the species in Corydalis contain other toxins and alkaloids like canadine, which blocks calcium.
Verbascum are biennial or perennial plants, rarely annuals or subshrubs, growing to 0.5 to 3 metres (1.6 to 9.8 ft) tall. The plants first form a dense rosette of leaves at ground level, subsequently sending up a tall flowering stem. Biennial plants form the rosette the first year and the stem the following season. The leaves are spirally arranged, often densely hairy, though glabrous (hairless) in some species. The flowers have five symmetrical petals; petal colours in different species include yellow (most common), orange, red-brown, purple, blue, or white. The fruit is a capsule containing numerous minute seeds. In gardening and landscaping, the mulleins are valued for their tall narrow stature and for flowering over a long period of time, even in dry soils.
Brunnera thrives in shade but also likes morning sunshine as long as it is in consistently moist, rich, organic soil. It does not tolerate dry conditions. It is often used in woodland gardens along streams of ponds and in naturalized areas as a specimen plant or clumped together as a border. Clumps slowly spread by creeping rhizomes to form thick ground covers.
Deutzia is a genus of about 60 species of flowering plants in the family Hydrangeaceae, native to eastern and central Asia (from the Himalayas east to Japan and the Philippines), and Central America and also Europe. By far the highest species diversity is in China, where 50 species occur. The species are shrubs ranging from 1–4 m (3 ft 3 in–13 ft 1 in) in height. Most are deciduous, but a few subtropical species are evergreen. The leaves are opposite, simple, with a serrated margin. The flowers are produced in panicles or corymbs; they are white in most species, sometimes pink or reddish. The fruit is a dry capsule containing numerous small seeds. Identification of the species is very difficult, requiring often microscopic detail of the leaf hairs and seed capsule structure.
Astrantia is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family Apiaceae, endemic to Central, Eastern and Southern Europe and the Caucasus. There are 8 or 9 species, which have aromatic roots, palmate leaves, and decorative flowers. They are commonly known as great masterwort or masterwort which may also refer to other plants, particularly the unrelated Peucedanum ostruthium. The stems and rhizomes of the Astrantia can be used for medicinal purposes. They provide an essential oil that can be used as a stomachic. The dried leaves of the plant can be used in herbal medicines as an infusion to help with digestion and help stimulate appetite. Many strains of Astrantia have been selected for their value in the garden, where they grow well if given reasonable soil, some shade and moisture. Their unusual pincushion flowerheads provide summer colour in shades of red, pink and white.
Agastache is a genus of aromatic flowering herbaceous perennial plants in the family Lamiaceae. It contains 22 species, mainly native to North America, one species native to eastern Asia. The common names of the species are a variety of fairly ambiguous and confusing “hyssops” and “mints”; as a whole the genus is known as giant hyssops or hummingbird mints. Most species are very upright, 0.5–3 m tall, with stiff, angular stems clothed in toothed-edged, lance shaped leaves ranging from 1–15 cm long and 0.5–11 cm broad depending on the species. Upright spikes of tubular, two-lipped flowers develop at the stem tips in summer. The flowers are usually white, pink, mauve, or purple, with the bracts that back the flowers being of the same or a slightly contrasting colour.
Stipa gigantea has leaf blades that are narrow and gray-green, creating a bunchgrass foliage mass 2–3 feet (0.61–0.91 m) in diameter. It is evergreen to semi-evergreen, depending on the climate. The plant has prominent flower spikes emerging silver-laveneder in the late spring, aging to a radiant golden over the summer, and persisting in tan into winter. The spikes typically grow to 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, rising high above the foliage. Stipa giganteais grown as an ornamental grass for planting as single specimens and massed drifts in parks, public landscapes, and gardens. It is used in drought tolerant and Mediterranean climate — plant palette gardens. The tall golden flower spikes are attractive on the plant, especially radiant when backlit by the sun. They may also be used for dried flowers.
