Portulaca is a long-blooming, succulent annual with a low, spreading form. It comes in a variety of colors (including red, orange, yellow, and white) and blooms from June to frost. Portulaca tolerates heat, humidity, and poor, dry soil, making it an excellent plant for seaside gardens and New Jersey yards. Use Portulaca as an edging plant, in rock gardens, containers, hanging baskets, or as a groundcover in your yard.
Smooth Solomon’s Seal features small, bell-shaped, greenish-white flowers, which bloom April-May. The flowers occur under arching stems and are followed by blue-black berries in the fall. The showy, smooth leaves turn yellow in fall. Smooth Solomon’s Seal can be planted in naturalized areas of your yard, shade gardens, woodlands, or in a shady part of your perennial border.
Japanese White Pine is a small to medium, evergreen conifer. The needles occur in bundles of five. Each blue-green needle has a white stripe from tip-to-tip, offering easy identification. Japanese White Pine can be used in small spaces in your yard, as a specimen, or in small groupings.
Shortleaf Pine is a medium-sized, wildlife-friendly evergreen conifer with a pyramidal crown. Blue-green needles occur in bundles of two, and prickly cones are produced when the tree reaches maturity at around 20 years old. Shortleaf Pine features attractive, reddish-brown bark, which offers ornamental value. This tree provides cover and nesting sites for birds, which also eat the seeds. It is an important host plant for larvae (caterpillars) of the Elf butterfly (Microtia elva). Shortleaf Pine can be used as an effective screen when young; the tree tends to lose bottom branches with age. Plant Shortleaf Pine in naturalized areas of your yard. This pine species may be difficult to find commercially. Tell your local garden center or nursery about your interest in this plant.
Colorado Blue Spruce is a medium to large, evergreen conifer. It is valued for its stiff, blue-green needles and pyramidal shape. Colorado Blue Spruce displays attractive light-brown cones. Use it as a specimen tree in your yard, or plant in groups to use as a border or screen. Colorado Blue Spruce is commonly used as a holiday tree.
Virginia Creeper is a wildlife-friendly, woody, deciduous vine. Insignificant, greenish-white flowers bloom May-August, leading to attractive, dark blue to black berries, valued as food by birds and wildlife. Green, compound-palmate leaves turn deep red-crimson in the fall. Virginia Creeper is a vigorous tendril climber; however, it is not parasitic and will not smother its host. Virginia Creeper is an important host plant for moth larvae (caterpillars), including Abbotts Sphinx Moth (Sphecodina abbottii), Pandora Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha pandorus), Virginia Creeper Sphinx Moth (Darapsa myron), and White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata). This is a low-maintenance plant once established. Use Virginia Creeper to add color and accent on climbing walls, trellises, and over rock piles. Prune as necessary.
Sourwood, or Sorrel Tree, is a small to medium, flowering, deciduous understory tree. It offers four seasons of ornamental interest for your yard. Numerous small, fragrant, white flowers bloom on drooping stalks, June-July. The fall foliage is stunning crimson, red, and purple. Dried seeds persist through colder months and offer winter interest. Plant Sourwood as a specimen in your yard, around your patio, or in your shade garden.
Prickly Pear is New Jersey’s only native cactus! Flat, fleshy, oval, evergreen pads stand erect or lie horizontally on the ground. The pads become somewhat dessicated and shriveled during the winter but plump-up again in the spring. Yellow, ornate flowers develop along the top of each pad and bloom June-July. Each flower is diurnal and blooms for only one day. A red edible fruit will follow fertilization. Flowers, fruits, and pads all offer food for wildlife. The pads and fruit are also edible for humans; however, tiny reddish spikes persist and necessitate much care in handling all parts of this plant. Use Prickly Pear in seaside gardens, rock gardens, sunny borders, dry sandy areas of your yard, or as groundcover.