One of the most superb ornamental grasses, Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' (Hakone Grass) is a very beautiful golden variegated grass. Its foliage forms attractive mounds of gracefully arching, shiny leaves that ripple in the slightest breeze. The leaves are almost entirely variegated with gold longitudinal stripes that take chartreuse colors in the shade and turn brighter in the sun. Bringing alive any garden area, its foliage provides outstanding fall color when it changes to exquisite copper-orange shades before dying to the ground in winter.

Adding a bright note to the garden year-round, Phormium tenax 'Yellow Wave' (New Zealand Flax) is a very ornamental and robust evergreen perennial featuring a basal rosette of arching, strap-shaped leaves up to 40 in. in length (100 cm), heavily striped with cream, butter-yellow and lime-green. The architectural, cascading foliage is topped in summer with a dramatic flowering stalk bearing panicles of tubular, yellow flowers which attract nectar-seeking birds. Native to New Zealand, Phormium tenax is primarily grown for its attractive foliage and makes a stunning focal point in the garden. Most plants do not flower until they are fully mature.

Phormium 'Platt's Black' is a very popular dark-leaved variety of New Zealand Flax with vertical, sword-like, chocolate to black spiky leaves. Glossy on the surface, the foliage has a sheen on the back, providing a delightful architectural effect. Robust, this evergreen perennial is topped in summer with a dramatic flowering stalk bearing panicles of tubular, red flowers which attract nectar-seeking birds. Native to New Zealand, this Phormium is primarily grown for its attractive foliage and makes a stunning focal point in the garden, specifically when combined with and amongst brightly colored plants. Ideal for containers or massed in beds to create a dramatic textural effect!

Cordyline australis 'Pink Passion' or 'Seipin' (Cabbage Palm) is an incredibly showy evergreen shrub with arching, sword-like, gray-purple leaves adorned with bold pink margins. Adding drama year-round with its bold colors and tropical look, this beautiful palm introduces substance to the garden and your containers. A sport of 'Red Star', it produces impressive panicles of small, sweetly scented white flowers in late spring to early summer, on mature plants (container-grown plants rarely flower). Often seen as a specimen gracing a terrace or deck, it is also well-suited to both traditional and contemporary planting schemes.

One of the best and most colorful of all Blue Fescue varieties, Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue' is a wonderful dwarf ornamental grass, mostly grown for its superb, evergreen, bright silver-blue foliage. Densely tufted, the foliage of finely-textured, blade-like needles forms a neat mound topped by upright flower plumes in summer. At first, the flowers are colored like the foliage before maturing to light tan. Stunning when massed as a ground cover, Blue Fescue adds a superb color accent to the landscape all year around. Drought tolerant, deer resistant, it requires low maintenance and low watering

Incredibly beautiful and majestic, Agave americana (Century Plant) is a very large, evergreen perennial forming handsome rosettes of thick, spiny-edged, blue-green leaves, up to 6 ft. long (180 cm). The older leaves often gracefully arch down, suggesting motion, which makes the garden even more intriguing. Mature plants (at least 10 years old) are topped with a magnificent flower stalk that can reach 15 ft. (4m50), and bears large greenish-yellow flowers. This desert plant makes a dramatic focal point or accent and can be used in decorative pots away from foot traffic.

Extraordinarily eye-catching, Carex testacea 'Prairie Fire' is also one of the cold-hardier New Zealand Hairy Sedges. It forms a low, cascading mound of narrow, arching, olive-green leaves tipped with bright orange highlights. Inconspicuous brown flower spikes are produced in summer whose stems droop gracefully as they age. Evergreen, this clump-forming perennial grass retains its color year-round.