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!
Echinacea is a genus, or group of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. The genus Echinacea has ten species, which are commonly called coneflowers. They are found only in eastern and central North America, where they grow in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas. They have large, showy heads of composite flowers, blooming from early to late summer. The generic name is derived from the Greekword ἐχῖνος (ekhinos), meaning “hedgehog”, due to the spiny central disk. These flowering plants and their parts have different uses. Some species are cultivated in gardens for their showy flowers. Echinacea purpurea is used in folk medicine. Two of the species, tennesseensis and E. laevigata, are listed in the United States as endangered species.
Commonly known as hellebores, genus Helleborus consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, within which it gave its name to the tribe of Helleboreae. Despite names such as “winter rose”, “Christmas rose” and “Lenten rose”, hellebores are not closely related to the rose family (Rosaceae). Many hellebore species are poisonous.The flowers have five petal-like sepals surrounding a ring of small, cup-like nectaries which are actually “petals” modified to hold nectar. The sepals do not fall as petals would, but remain on the plant, sometimes for many months. Recent research in Spain suggests that the persistence of the sepals contributes to the development of the seeds.
Ranunculus is a genus of about 500 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus include the buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The petals are often highly lustrous, especially in yellow species, owing to a special coloration mechanism: the petal’s upper surface is very smooth causing a mirror-like reflection. The flash aids in attracting pollinating insects and temperature regulation of the flower’s reproductive organs. Buttercups usually flower in the spring, but flowers may be found throughout the summer, especially where the plants are growing as opportunistic colonisers, as in the case of garden weeds.
Albizia is a genus of more than 160 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, America and Australia, but mostly in the Old World tropics. In some locations, some species are considered weeds. They are commonly called silk plants, silk trees, or sirises. Some species are commonly called mimosa, which more accurately refers to plants of genus Mimosa. Species from southeast Asia used for timber are sometime termed East Indian walnut. They are usually small trees or shrubs with a short lifespan. The leaves are pinnately or bipinnately compound. The small flowers are in bundles, with stamens much longer than the petals. The stamens are usually showy, although in some species such as A. canescens the flowers are inconspicuous.
Baptisia (wild indigo, false indigo) is a genus in the legume family, Fabaceae. They are flowering herbaceous perennial plants with pea-like flowers, followed by pods, which are sometimes inflated. They are native to woodland and grassland in eastern and southern North America. The species most commonly found in cultivation is B. australis. Baptisia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the jaguar flower moth, Schinia jaguarina.
Pulmonaria (lungwort) are evergreen or herbaceous perennials that form clumps or rosettes. They are covered in hairs of varied length and stiffness, and sometimes also bear glands. The underground parts consist of a slowly creeping rhizome with adventitious roots. Flowering stems are unbranched, rough, covered with bristly hairs, usually not exceeding 30 cm (12 in), with a few exceptions (P. mollis, P. vallarsae). The stems are usually upright, or slightly spreading. The leaves are arranged in rosettes. The blades are usually large, from narrowly lanceolate to oval, with the base ranging from heart shaped to very gradually narrowing, and can have a sharply pointed or blunt tip. The leaf margin is always entire, but in some species and forms can be rather wavy. Basal leaves are carried on stalks that can be short or longer than the leaf blade in various species. Stem leaves are smaller and often narrower, and are unstalked or clasping the stem. All leaves are covered with hairs that are usually bristly, or occasionally soft. The leaves are often prominently spotted in black and blue, or sometimes in pale green, or unspotted.
Hakonechloa macra is a genus of bunchgrass in the Molinieae tribe of the Poaceae family (grasses), native to eastern Asia. Hakonechloa macrais a small, mostly shade-loving, clump-forming bunchgrass, slowly spreading in circumference. The stalks cascade in a graceful rounded fountain shape somewhat reminiscent of Pennisetum (fountain grass) but with the actual leaves resembling Chasmanthium. The species tends to be between 45 cm and 60 cm (18″ to 24″) in height. The leaves are thin and papery and resemble many forms of bamboo. They are very flexible and have a distinctive rustling sound when the wind blows that adds to their appeal. The foliage rises from the roots on thin wiry stalks. The leaf blades are green but many color variations exist. The papery texture keeps the foliage cool to the touch and often the surface is slightly puckered or rippled. The flowers bloom in midsummer from leaf nodes near the ends of the stalks. The flowers are light purple fading to tan then dropping off over the course of several weeks.
Campsis (trumpet creeper, trumpet vine) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to woodland in China and North America. It consists of two species, both of which are vigorous deciduous perennial climbers, clinging by aerial roots, and producing large trumpet-shaped flowers in the summer. They are reasonably hardy and do well with the support of a wall, preferring full sun.
Arnica plants have a deep-rooted, erect stem that is usually unbranched. Their downy opposite leaves are borne towards the apex of the stem. The ovoid, leathery basal leaves are arranged in a rosette. They show large yellow or orange flowers, 6–8 cm (2–3 in) wide with 10–15 cm (4–6 in) long ray florets and numerous disc florets. The phyllaries (a bract under the flowerhead) has long spreading hairs. Each phyllary is associated with a ray floret. Species of Arnica, with an involucre (a circle of bracts arranged surrounding the flower head) arranged in two rows, have only their outer phyllaries associated with ray florets. The flowers have a slight aromatic smell. If taken in the wrong dose it can be very dangerous. The seed-like fruit has a pappus of plumose, white or pale tan bristles. The entire plant has a strong and distinct pine-sage odor when the leaves of mature plants are rubbed or bruised.
Potentilla is a genus containing over 300 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae. They are usually called cinquefoils in English. Some species are called tormentils, though this is often used specifically for common tormentil (erecta). Others are referred to as barren strawberries, which may also refer to P. sterilis in particular, or to the closely related but not congeneric Waldsteinia fragarioides. Typical cinquefoils look most similar to strawberries, but differ in usually having dry, inedible fruit (hence the name “barren strawberry” for some species). Many cinquefoil species have palmate leaves. Some species have just three leaflets, while others have 15 or more leaflets arranged pinnately. The flowers are usually yellow, but may be white, pinkish or red. The accessory fruits are usually dry but may be fleshy and strawberry-like, while the actual seeds – each one technically a single fruit – are tiny nuts.
