This perennial, deciduous tree grows to 20 by 25 feet. It is leafless for most of the year, but has blue-green wood and produces attractive yellow blooms in early spring. It is drought tolerant, growing in full sun and dry soil. This tree attracts pollinators as well as birds that feed off its seeds.
Also known as Wand Panic Grass, this clump-forming, perennial grass grows 3 to 6 feet tall, with open, delicate sprays producing small seeds. Bright green leaves sprout along the stem, and turn bright yellow in fall. This plant grows in full sun to partial shade, and in a variety of dry to moist soils including sandy, sandy loam, clay, and limestone-based soils. It is attractive to butterflies, highly resistant to deer, and provides cover, nesting material, and food (seeds) to ground-feeding/game birds.
This plant goes by many names, including American, Eastern, or Woolly Hop-hornbeam, Roughbark Ironwood, Deerwood, and Leverwood. It is a perennial tree that typically grows 30 to 50 feet in height, with a trunk that looks like sinewy muscles and a rounded crown of slender, spreading branches. Catkins appear in April just before or with the appearance of new leaves, and fruits are borne in a hanging, hoplike structure. It prefers shady areas, but can also grow in the sun, and does best in rich, well-drained, dry to moist soils.
Also known as Engelmann's Prickly Pear, this is an evergreen cactus that can reach 6 feet in height, with a spread of up to 15 feet. Its produces thick, spiny pads for leaves and funnel-shaped, yellow or orange-red flowers that bloom from April to May. Cactus-Apple grows in full sun and dry conditions, and produces edible, egg-shaped, fleshy fruit much loved by wildlife.
Desert Ironwood, also called Tesota and Palo De Hierro, is a long-lived, evergreen desert tree that grows to 15 by 20 feet in full sun and dry, rocky or sandy soils. It produces attractive lavender flowers and edible, beanlike seeds enjoyed by a variety of wildlife. A low water use plant, it is very hardy when established.
Also known as Indian Plum, Oso-berry is a perennial, deciduous shrub native to stream banks and open woodlands. It is one of the earliest plants to bloom, producing clusters of white flowers as early as February, followed by purple berries that are favored by birds. This plant can grow 15 to 20 feet tall in full sun to shade and moist to dry soils.
Also known as Tupelo, Sourgum, and Pepperidge, this is a pyramidal, deciduous tree that grows 30 to 50 feet tall, and occasionally to 90 feet. It produces glossy foliage and small, greenish-white flowers on long stalks in the spring, as well as small, blue berries that are very popular with fruit-eating birds and mammals. This slow-growing species is very adaptable, tolerating many conditions and habitats, but preferring moist, acid soils.
Deergrass, also known as Meadow Muhly and Deer Muhly, is a summer-growing, perennial bunchgrass that grows to 3 by 4 feet. It produces dense, tufted foliage with narrow leaves that reach to about 3 feet in length and range from silver-green to purple. It grows in full sun and moist soils, and is highly resistant to deer. This grass attracts birds and small mammals that feed on its seeds and use its foliage for nesting and denning.
Also known as Hairy-awn Muhly, Hair Grass, and Pink Muhly, this perennial grass grows to 3 by 3 feet in size. Its wiry, thread-like, dark green leaves and stems form an attractive basal clump, producing masses of airy, loosely branched, pink to pinkish-red inflorescences, each up to 1 foot long. It is highly deer resistant, and grows in full sun, and in dry to moist soils, which can be sandy, rocky, or clayey.
Otherwise known as Moral, this medium-sized, perennial tree grows up to 60 feet tall, with a short trunk and a broad, rounded crown. It produces catkins that are highly attractive to birds, and turn from light green to red and then to black, blooming from March to June. It is adaptable to different conditions, growing in full sun to shade, and in dry to moist sandy, loam, and clay soils.
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