Probably the most widely grown cultivar of Crocosmia, award-winning Crocosmia 'Lucifer' produces decorative clumps of erect pleated leaves and brilliant wands of fiery scarlet red tubular flowers which bloom for 5-8 weeks from mid to late summer. Extremely showy, this South African native is a magnet for hummingbirds and butterflies. Its vibrant blossoms give way to seedpods that persist into fall and attract hungry birds.

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

Geranium 'Rozanne' is an exceptional, unique, and unsurpassed geranium selection. There are not enough superlatives to describe this fabulous perennial. Robust and vigorous, with one of the longest flowering periods of all hardy geraniums and rare blue-colored flowers of great decorative beauty, it is an ideal element of the garden, patio, or balcony. A prolific bloomer, it continuously produces masses of large violet-blue flowers with attractive purple-violet veins and small white centers for months of color from late spring to the first frost.

Carex comans Bronze-Leaved is a delightful New Zealand Hairy Sedge forming a low, cascading mound of narrowly linear, reddish-brown leaves, with inconspicuous brown flower spikes in late summer. Evergreen, this perennial grass is valuable for its year-round appeal and is regarded as one of the most beautiful ornamental grasses for the garden, where it provides a lovely contrast with other plants, mulch, or gravel.

Long-lived and drought tolerant, Sedum 'Jose Aubergine' is a lovely sight in the landscape with its masses of deep, dusky pink flowers, densely packed in large umbrella-shaped flower heads, and showing off atop dark purple stems clad with deep, rich aubergine, fleshy leaves. Vigorous, hardy, carefree, good-looking, with a season of interest lasting more than 6 months from early summer until well into winter, who could resist? Resulting from a cross between 'Purple Emperor' and 'Linda Rodney', 'Jose Aubergine' grows strong and upright without flopping over.

Magnificently colored, award-winner Sedum 'Red Cauli' never fails at providing a great show in the late summer garden. Opening from green buds, its deep raspberry-red flowers, about 4 in. wide (10 cm), are borne on arching, purple-red stems that contrast nicely with the light gray-green foliage of oblong, fleshy leaves. This Sedum is one of the darkest forms and closest to a true red flower. Easy to grow, this standout perennial forms an 8-12 in. tall (20-30 cm) and 12-24 in. wide (30-60 cm) clump of thick, fleshy blue-green foliage topped with flower buds resembling broccoli. Gradually, these densely clustered buds will reveal tiny, star-like soft pink flowers in mid to late summer, which will softly change to deep cherry-red and then coppery-rust in winter as they die. Winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society

A beautiful pyramidal form, Thuja occidentalis 'Degroot's Spire' (American Arborvitae) is a dwarf, evergreen shrub with twisted, feathery sprays of rich green foliage that takes on a purple tinge in winter. Slowly forming a majestic exclamation point in the landscape, it is reliable and cold weather resistant and represents a valuable, hardy alternative to cypress. When you bruise the foliage, it gives off a very pleasant fragrance reminiscent of citrus.

Low-growing, compact and incredibly floriferous, Pennisetum orientale (Oriental Fountain Grass) is a clump-forming tufted perennial grass and one of the most striking hardy fountain grasses. Blooming over an exceptionally long season, its fluffy flower spikes rise high above the foliage, arching upward or outward, and cascading down the deep green to gray-green foliage that rustles in the wind. Resembling bottle brushes, the flower spikes consist of soft, pinkish spikelets that are formed in long, narrow panicles, about 4-5 in. long (10-13 cm). They sway in the breeze and literally glow when lit from behind in early morning or late afternoon sun. Over time, those pink panicles mature to a light brown. The foliage turns straw-colored in the fall and generally remains attractive, well into the winter.