Salt Tolerant Plants

Brilliant crimson red bottlebrush-like flowers are produced in summer often into fall to potentially year-round under warm tropical conditions and attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. Red Clusters Bottlebrush, a selection of Callistemon viminalis, is a vigorous freely flowering, naturally evergreen large shrub that can also be trained into a small tree form that matures to about 12' high by about 8' wide. In zone 8, the foliage may drop after hard freezes potentially reducing flowering and so this cultivar may be best grow in warmer winter climates like zones 9 and 10. They can also be enjoyed as container plants where not reliably hardy. Provide Bottlebrush with a full to mostly sunny site in an average to well-draining, fertile soil and they are moderately drought resistant once fully established. Item# 603

The large glowing red 'parent' flowers of the original El Capitolio Hibiscus appear to have a second smaller double bloom that is held out away from it creating a 'poodled' effect. The El Capitolio Hibiscus have the potential to flower throughout the year under good conditions and with enough warmth and sunlight.The large blooms often have a streak of white adding to their tropical beauty. Their unique form, flower size, vigor, and flower power all make the El Capitolio Hibiscus types some of our favorites for large tropical specimens. They can be used as formal or informal shrubs for hedging and screens, as tree forms, or even trained into large espalier. Caterpillar host: Gray hairstreak. Item# 610.

The Red Firecracker Fern produces loads of 1" showy red tubular flowers that are born in large loose clusters along the arching ferny stems throughout the warmer months of the year or nearly year round where winters are mild. Excellent for Hummingbirds! This is a durable and long-lived, clump forming perennial that requires little additional care once well-established. The Firecracker Fern has excellent heat and sun tolerance as well as moderate drought resistance once well-established. It is even listed as being suitable for xeriscaping. Firecracker Fern, Russelia equisetiformis, is listed as a Texas A&M Outstanding Coastal Plant as it has excellent resistance to soil and wind born salts, though it could use some protection from harsh, drying winds. It is also an RHS Award of Garden Merit selection. It can be used as a low informal hedge, allow it to spill over walls, enjoy it as a hanging basket, window box, or container specimen, as well as in mixed container gardens. Item# 417

The Red Firecracker Fern produces loads of 1" showy red tubular flowers that are born in large loose clusters throughout the warmer months of the year or nearly year round where winters are mild. Excellent for Hummingbirds! This is a durable and long-lived, clump forming perennial that requires little additional care once well-established. The Firecracker Fern has excellent heat and sun tolerance as well as moderate drought resistance once well-established. It is even listed as being suitable for xeriscaping. Firecracker Fern is listed as a Texas A&M Outstanding Coastal Plant. Item# 11842

Clusters of dark red to red-orange daisy-like flowers with yellow fading to red 'eyes' are produced throughout the growing season, and potentially year-round under warm tropical conditions, on this vigorous and easy small to medium-sized vine. The Sao Paulo Mexican Love Vine, a somewhat rare selection of Senecio confusus, is a naturally evergreen, twining herbaceous tropical vine that can be grown as a die-back perennial in areas with mild winters, like zones 9-10 and even into 8B, if provided with a breathable insulative protective mulch for winter. It is vigorous enough to be grown as an annual in colder climates and can also be maintained as a container plant that is overwintered indoors. The Mexican Love Vine, a.k.a Mexican Flame Vine, is a heat and sunloving free-flowering tropical suitable for small to medium-sized trellises, fences, and can even be allowed to spill from hanging baskets. The flowers attract a variety of butterfly species and seem to be especially popular with migrating Monarchs as well as bees and hummingbirds. Provide a full to partly sunny site in any average to well-drained, fertile, average moist soil. Item# 612

Red Spread Lantana produces clusters flowers that open orange and then darken to deep rich red on a mounding to spreading plant. Lantanas are excellent free flowering perennials that love the heat and the sun. Use Red Spread as a ground cover or allow it spill from large containers. Great for butterflies and other pollinators. Item# 10104

A compact hydrangea sporting large flower heads of rich purple to shades of magenta florets depending on soil ph. Royal Purple Big Leaf Hydrangea is still considered to be one of the darkest colored varieties around. It's compact habit lends it to confined spaces, smaller gardens and even container culture. Provide a humus-rich, moist, well-drained soil and grow it where it gets mid-day shade. Item# 629

The dense medium-sized rounded mopheads to nearly 8" across are composed of rosy pink (in alkaline soils), purple (neutral soils), to deep blue (acidic soils) double sterile florets are produced beginning in late spring to early summer and continuing into fall. Ruby Blossom Bigleaf Hydrangea is a breakthrough in breeding resulting in this double, repeat flowering mophead Hydrangea with exceptional flower power! This deciduous shrub has a naturally compact rounded habit with deep green glossy foliage. The ability to flower on new wood versus old wood ensures that even in the hardest winters this new Hydrangea will still flower in the garden and landscape whereas some of the older Hydrangeas may freeze to the ground and not flower. This is a compact and densly branching deciduous shrub that grows to about as wide as high. As with other Bigleaf Hydrangeas provide a moist, well-drained soil in an area that receives morning sun and shade during the hottest portion of the day. Images courtesy of Star® Roses and Plants, all rights reserved. Item# 12454

A breakthrough in Loropetalum breeding producing frilly bright white flowers in spring that absolutely shine against the foil of deep burgundy, purple, to near black foliage. Ruby Snow™ Loropetalum, a.k.a Chinese Witch Hazel, is an exciting new selection with a naturally rounded habit that can be utilized as a large hedge or screen and can even be trained into tree forms and espalier. Chinese Witch Hazel is fast growing and has few pests or disease problems when grown in an average to well-drained, acidic to neutral soil with average fertility in a full sun to partly shaded site. Images courtesy of Star Roses and Plants®, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12748

Just when you thought you had seen it all and then you encounter this rare form of Confederate Jasmine with its decidedly pink flowers and wonderful fragrance are produced over an extended period in spring! The rich dark green glossy foliage provides the perfect foil for the flowers and its evergreen too! A popular, and durable vine with a twining habit that is able to climb our southern pine species without any assistance. Requires minimal care once established. Item# 3038

Dense spikes of golden yellow flowers cover the upper 2/3's of this plant for an extended period beginning in mid to late summer and continuing into fall. Seaside Goldenrod is a clump forming native perennial common in coastal areas whose nectar rich flowers provide a much needed food source to fall migrating Monarch butterflies along with other butterflies, bees, and many garden beneficials. Deep green smooth foliage adorns the stems. This is a salt tolerant species that is more compact in poor and salt laden soils but in rich garden soil it is known to reach 6-8' high. Pinching out the growing tips in late spring will help to create a fuller more compact plant. Provide a full to mostly sunny location but it is otherwise adaptable to a wide variety of soil types from wet clay to sand. Item# 11627

Large deep red bottlebrush-like flowers are produced at the ends of the arching stems in spring and sporadically through summer on large established plants. Semmes' Hardy Bottlebrush was selected as much for its cold hardiness (large well-established plants have increased cold hardiness over young tender plants) as for its habit and flowering potential. Bronze tinged new growth follows the flush of spring flowers that are sure to attract hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and other garden beneficials. Semmes' Hardy Bottlebrush has a naturally compact and rounded 4-5' x 4-5' habit with somewhat arching evergreen branches. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in a well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 11886

The Smith Fig is an heirloom Louisiana variety that was introduced by Becnel Nursery near New Orleans, Louisiana. It produces large yellow fruit with a sweet red flesh. A drop of honeydew exudes from the eye which minimizes spoiling and makes Becnel's Smith Fig a choice variety for southeastern gardens. Caterpillar host: Ruddy Daggerwing. Image courtesy of F. Carter. Item# 9910.

Bright rosy pink to rosy red new growth matures to bright white and green creating a yearround splash of color in the garden, landscape, and even as a spiller for containers and over retaining walls. Snow-N-Summer™ Asiatic Jasmine, a wonderfully colorful selection of Trachelospermum asiaticum, creates a tough and easy, evergreen groundcover that has the ability to thrive even under trying conditions. This 6-12" high groundcover to small twining vine can produce creamy yellow fragrant flowers similar to Confederate or Star Jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, when grown as a vine or when allowed to trail from hanging baskets and over retaining walls, though it is generally infrequent and is the exception rather than the rule. Few plants can compete with the disposition of this dense groundcover once it is fully established in the landscape making it an easy and reliable choice for landscapers and tough to garden in areas, like beneath trees, where few other plants can thrive or in parking lot islands. It is heat loving, both sun and shade tolerant, deer and rabbit resistant, and has few pest or disease issues particularly when grown in soil with average or better drainage. For the best and brightest foliage coloration some direct sunlight during the day is beneficial and the more the better. Probably best suited to zones 8 and warmer for inground plantings but it can be used as a groundcover in containers beneath larger plants. item# 1188

Large pure white mopheads are borne in late spring and summer on this beautiful old favorite. The flowers of Sister Theresa change to green and often to red by fall. This Hydrangea is a good choice for an east or northern exposure, or any mostly shaded position as it does not tolerate full sun well. This has long been a favorite of ours where it's white flowers glow against its own rich dark green foliage and a bed of dark green English Ivy. Item# 10130.

The large, palmate, tropical-looking, glossy medium to deep green foliage is heavily overlaid with contrasting white to creamy white variegation including the major veins which are almost solid white. A choice evergreen shrub for shaded sites. Mature plants produce large loose clusters to 18" or more across are composed of 1" to 1-1/2" diameter, ball-shaped white flowers that are produced in fall to winter attracting an amazing number of mainly smaller pollinators and are followed by 1/4" diameter green berries that ripen to black. Spider's Web Fatsia or Japanese Aralia makes an excellent choice for shaded locations and develops into a medium to large, often multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with an initially slow rate of growth that increase to moderate once plants are well-established. Makes a wonderful specimen, informal hedge, or container plant for indoors or out. Provide Fatsia with an average moist, fertile, acidic soil rich in organic matter with average or better drainage. Photos courtesy of TERRA NOVA® Nurseries, Inc., www.terranovanurseries.com, all rights reserved. Item# 12829

The beautifully mottled, splashed, and flecked yellowish, chartreuse, and deeper green variegated succulent ovate foliage adorns the zig-zagging stems of this upright growing succulent and summer may bring a ring-like cluster of 1" long deep red, bird-shaped flowers that attract hummingbirds and give the plant its common name. The Splish Splash or Mottled Red Bird Cactus is an easy to grow highly decorative form of this heirloom and Florida native plant that has an easy and forgiving disposition creating fantastic, architecturally pleasing specimens. A shrub-like native of tropical forests of southern Florida and as far south as Central America, it makes an easy porch or patio plant where it partial shade to bright shade but can also be enjoyed as an easy indoor plant.  Allow the soil to become somewhat dry between waterings although it can tolerant more moisture when in active growth and less during winter. Item# 12608

A 1958 Monrovia introduction, Spreading Sunset Lantana produces rounded clusters of nectar rich flowers that open yellow and fade through shades of orange to near red creating an overall orange effect. This a trailing Lantana that lends itself to use as a groundcover in the garden or landscape or as a spiller from large containers. The flowers attract a variety of pollinators especially butterflies and bees. Provide a full to mostly sunny position for the best results. Item# 11048

The rounded clusters of flowers open a bright golden yellow and mature through bright pumpkin orange and finally into deep red tones all the while attracting a wide variety of pollinators with their nectar reward from spring until fall. Star Landing Lantana was selected for its low mounding habit, excellent flower power, vigor and reliable zone 7B cold hardiness. Use it as a groundcover in the garden and landscape for traffic stopping color throughout the growing season as well as for low-maintenance container specimens. When planted alone it is reported to produce almost no seed. Provide a full sun to partly shaded site in an average moist, average to well-drained, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 12886

Huge round clusters composed of extra large bell-shaped deep violet-blue flowers held on sturdy stems atop the narrow strap-like medium green foliage in late spring to early summer and potentially into fall on well-established clumps. Stevie's Wonder Lily of the Nile or Agapanthus is a vigorous, clump-forming perennial with a tropical look but this cultivar has proven to have excellent hardiness into zone 7. The flowering spikes are typically 2-3' high in areas that experience hardy winter freezes (zone 7-8) but they are reported to reach up to 6' high in zone 9 with reports that the flower clusters can reach near volleyball size! The flowers of Agapanthus attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Provide Stevie's Wonder Lily of the Nile a full to partly sunny site in a well-drained, average moist, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Makes an easy and low-maintenance container plant where not hardy. May be fully winter deciduous. Item# 12467