A great native alternative to boxwood! This cool new dwarf, broadleaf evergreen looks more like a boxwood than an inkberry. A dense, ball-shaped plant, Gem Box ilex has small, dainty, dark green leaves with attractive red tips during the spring flush. It maintains good branching right to the ground so it never looks bare-legged like […]

Rhododendrons and azaleas, both from the genus Rhododendron, have long been mainstays of late spring because of their spectacular clusters of showy blooms—plus, large green leaves that often stay green through winter. The flowers are tubular-, funnel-, or bell-shaped—and often fragrant. The leaves of the smaller azalea are usually pointed and narrow; the leaves of the rhododendron are generally large and leathery. With thousands […]