Neal P. Beasley’s Top Plant Picks for the Landscape
(based on drought tolerance, maintenance, availability in the trade and overall performance)

Large Trees
Chinese Elms – Cloned varieties such as ‘Allee’ or ‘Bosque’ are the best.
Tulip Poplar – Our “Green Giant” of native trees. Not good for the home landscape but has many good qualities including a bloom and fall leaf color.
Willow Oak – Top most used street and parking lot tree. A native tree with supreme adaptability. This too now has a clone; ‘Hightower’.

Flowering Trees
Natchez Crape Myrtle – Most utilized and for good reason. Larger of the crape Myrtles topping out at 25-30’.
Cercis ‘Don Egolf’ – Durable seedless variety that blooms along the stems from the ground up. Superb dark green foliage and dwarf characteristics make it great for the home landscape. May have to hunt for this one a bit but it’s worth it.
Yoshino Cherry – Can’t beat the spring flush when it floats like a cloud in your garden. Washington DC attracts thousands of spectators every year to see them.
Magnolia sieboldii – Urban tolerant late bloomer with atypical blooms.

Evergreens
Thuya plicata – Maintains good green color in the winter as opposed to occidentalis. I like ‘Green Giant’ where you need height and quickly. Being sold as an alternative to Leyland Cypress.
Chinese Junipers – Upright selections like ‘Hetzii Columnaris’ are great for manageable screens.
Red Hollies – Mature height and width are smaller than the American varieties. ‘Oakleaf’ is most available but there are many more.
Foster Holly – Most available and worth a spot in every garden. Allow it to grow unrestrained find a female for berries.
Ilex latifolia – the one straight species I really like and the parent to many of the larger leaved cultivars. Good coarse texture in the garden.
Cupressus ‘Blue Ice’ – A selection that is “Everblue” and great for fragrance and color contrast in the garden. Grows quickly and more colorful than the Arizona Cypress. May have to order this particular cultivar.

Flowering Shrubs
Syringa ‘Miss Kim’ – Fragrant with manageable size and although not bulletproof, less disease prone that the traditional Lilacs.
Callicarpa ‘Issai’ – Not your blow away bloomer but an attractive grower and compact form. Berry set is a lavender in late summer. A very drought tolerant offspring of the native shrub. May have to selectively prune a stray branch or two to retain shape.
‘Knockout’ Rose – Can’t say enough about this one. Not problem free but close. There’s hope for the weekend gardener! This variety, among a few others have elevated the use of shrub roses in the commercial landscape. There are now pink and double bloom varieties. Glossy Abelias of any variety based on size constraints. ‘Rose Creek’ is one my favorites.
Dwarf Crape Myrtles – Good for later summer color when your garden needs it and newer varieties are emerging that are even better. Patients may be a virtue for this shrub when those improved cultivars emerge into the market in a few years.
Loropetalum – Evergreen maroon foliage with very early blooms kick start Springtime. Could loose some foliage in extreme colds.
Itea-Sweetspire – Can tolerate compacted wet soils and do even better in good garden soil. Great bloom in the spring supported by maroon leaf color through fall. ‘Henry’s Garnet’ is my top choice.

Evergreen Shrubs
Steeds Holly – Find a more moist section of the garden for Japanese Hollies. Generally drought tolerant but long extremes can cause portions to die out. Steeds is a great small hedge with a good form but there are plenty of others in this group.
Osmanthus x fortunei – Provides the best hardiness and fragrance in a combination. Blooms and fills the garden with a sweet fragrance in the fall.
Ilex x attenuata ‘Green Dragon’ – Good rigid texture with dark green foliage. Not a very fast grower so buy a little larger and be patient.

Vines
Hybrid honeysuckles – Manageable with unique flowers.
Clematis tangutica – Most unique bloom followed by attractive seed heads. You may not even recognize this as being a Clematis.

Perennials
Black Eyed Susan’s – Tough with a long bloom cycle and conditioned to handle full sun to moderate shade. Transplants easily.
Hosta Francee – #1 commercial variety and tolerant of some sun.
Salvia greggii – Long bloom cycles and retains some winter structure in the garden.
Hemerocallis ‘Hyperion’ – My favorite butter yellow with good foliage. These will tolerate some light shade.
Canna – ‘Australia’ and ‘Richard Wallace’ depending on foliage and flower color desired.
Peonies – Many to choose from but drought tolerant and good show of color after the spring blitz.
Echinacea ‘White Swan’ – Can go anywhere in the sunny garden. Attracts Gold Finches without the feeder.

Bulbs
Daffodils of any kind but partial to ‘Hillstar’ and ‘Fragrant Rose’. Most cost effective and long lasting of all the bulbs.