Rose of Sharon-Morning Star
The Morning Star Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus syriacus Morning Star, is an upright, deciduous shrub that is a vigorous, erect, multi-stemmed shrub that typically grows 8-12' tall. This shrub may also be trained as a single trunk tree or espalier. Leaves are diamond-shaped, dark green, slightly palmate and toothed. 'Morning Star' bears grayish blue flowers with pinkish white eyes from late summer until mid-fall. This plant really requires no pruning, unless you need to remove a dead or damaged branch. It has a long, early summer to fall bloom period. This cultivar is a sterile triploid that produces very few if any seed pods. It is an excellent flowering shrub that may be massed, planted in groups, or used as a specimen. The plant is very tolerant of summer heat and humidity. Larger flowers may be obtained by pruning back hard to 2-3 buds in early spring. Otherwise, prune to shape. ... find out more
Adams Needle The Adams Needle bush, Yucca filamentosa, has stiff evergreen rosettes and are part of the scene in hot dry Central and North American scrublands. Yuccas are hardier than they appear, and only fail in cold exposed inland positions, where they are better grown as container plants. Otherwise they are handsome architectural foliage plants for dry, sunny borders. This variety has a white edge. Yucca filamentosa makes dense clumps of stiff leaves 30 inches or so long and edged with fine curly hairs. The remarkable flower-spikes, 6' or more high, appear when plants are five or more years old.
