Plant Spotlight

What Should I Prune in Spring and What Should I Not Prune?

Spring pruning is safe and helpful for deadwood removal, many summer bloomers, ornamental grasses, and most repeat blooming roses. It is risky for spring flowering shrubs and many old wood bloomers because you can cut off the season’s flowers. Use the bloom timing rule, prune lightly when unsure, and plan the look first. iScape helps you visualize the layout and plant sizes so pruning supports a cleaner, more balanced yard.

How to Choose the Right Winter-Friendly Plants for Your Yard

This guide shows how to choose winter-friendly plants that can handle cold, wind, and freeze-thaw cycles while keeping your yard structured and healthy all season. You’ll learn what makes plants truly winter-ready, which types survive the lowest temperatures, and how site conditions like sun and drainage affect results. It also covers simple planning tips, plus how iScape can help you visualize plant spacing and winter layouts before you plant.

5 Tricks for a Beautiful Garden You’ll Love All Year

Master five easy design tricks for any garden size. Plan the perfect layout in iScape with intuitive drag-and-drop, and start building with total confidence.

Late-Winter Pruning List: What to Cut Now, What to Leave for Spring

Late winter is prime pruning season, but only for the right plants. Use this guide to cut smart, avoid removing spring buds, and preview perfect shapes with iScape before you start.

Low-Maintenance Winter Plants That Add Color to Your Garden

Keep vibrant color in your garden all winter with hardy, low-maintenance plants that offer blooms, berries, foliage, and structure. Learn what to plant, where to place it, and preview your layout in iScape before you buy.

Pruning Hydrangeas the Right Way: Your 2026 Guide to Bountiful Blooms

Learn exactly when and how to prune each hydrangea type so you protect next year’s blooms. Use iScape to preview shape and height before you make the first cut.

Viburnum: A Versatile Shrub for Every Landscape

Viburnum is a versatile, low-maintenance shrub that adds year-round color, texture, and wildlife appeal—perfect for hedges, accents, or foundation plantings.

Flowers that Bloom at Night

Spice up your yard day and night!

Allium in the Garden

Plant information and how to use Allium in a garden

Planting with Butterfly Weed

Natural or native landscapes are becoming more and more popular. Check out when, where, and how to plant this native prairie plant.

Dappled Willow: Plant Spotlight

Dappled Willow is a spectacularly colored cultivar and can be found in the iScape database as a deciduous shrub that is a standout in the landscape for its vibrant color changing leaves.

New Plants & Products Featuring Dahlia American Dawn, Jasmine Arabian Sapling & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Aeonium Black Rose, Cactus Peruvian Apple Blooming & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Morning Glory, Cactus Apple Monstrose & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Cabbage & Kale Ornamental, Laurel Mountain & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Zinnia, Yellowwood Real & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Devil's Ivy, Queen’s Wreath Rustic Bench & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Viburnum Burkwood, ZZ Plant & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Hydrangea Ruby Slippers, Lily Kaffir & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Bougainvillea, Cactus & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Agapanthus Magic Lily, Aloe Fynbos & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Silver Spear, Spruce Colorado & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Lavender Sea, Mahonia Orange Flame & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

New Plants & Products Featuring Daffodil Tazetta, Hazel Tree & More!

Check out the new plants and products we’ve added to our database.

Try these Summer Bulb Combinations

The time is right to take notice of bulb combos and plantings you may want to replicate in your own yard.

Plant Spotlight On Dappled Willow

Dappled Willow is a spectacularly colored cultivar and can be found in the iScape database as a deciduous shrub that is a standout in the landscape for its vibrant color changing leaves.

Plant Spotlight on Spirea

Spirea is unfussy and versatile, making it ideal for the home landscape. Planted in rows, meadowsweet makes a lovely hedge or privacy screen, or planted en masse on a hillside, they double as erosion control and the compact cultivars are well-suited for containers.

Plant Spotlight on Pot Marigold

Design with this short-lived perennial in mild winter climates that is treated as a hardy annual in cold winter climates.

Plant Spotlight on Hellebore

Long-lived perennials, these blooms typically arrive early through late winter and make for wonderful cut flowers.

Plant Spotlight on Hosta

Check out this carefree herbaceous perennial plant desired for its lush leaves, as well as its love for the shade. Design with it in iScape today!

8 Plants You Won't Believe Are Winter Hardy

Check out these plants that look just as good at home during winter as they do in a tropical climate

New Plants & Products Featuring Kalanchoe Florist, 3-Tier Birdhouse Decor & More!

Check out the new plants and products we've added to our database.

Plant Spotlight On Muhly Grass

Many grasses can grow bigger than you’d like for a suburban yard, but this North American native is a compact alternative and a knockout in a yard design.

Plant Spotlight on Smoke Bush

Smoke bush (tree) and American Smoke bush are deciduous shrubs that bring textural interest and color to the yard from spring to fall. Add them to your outdoor landscape with iScape today!

Plant Spotlight On Oakleaf Hydrangea

There are compelling reasons to incorporate Oakleaf hydrangea into the landscape, including how it brings an encore of color during the cool season.

Plant Spotlight On Lavender

Professionals find lavender’s billowy form perfect for flanking walkways and borders while homeowners find them an elegant and easy-to-grow solution for outdoor pottery. Design in iScape today!

Plant Spotlight On Pineapple Guava

Pineapple guava is a handsome, evergreen shrub or small tree that can offer much to the home landscape. Design with it in iScape today!

Plant Spotlight On Rosemary

This evergreen is everything you want in a foundation plant including handsome, fragrant, hardy, and drought-tolerant benefits. Learn more here:

Plant Spotlight: Linden Tree

Lindens have a powerful honey-lemon scent that enlivens the neighborhood with fragrance when blooming. Design with it in iScape today!

Plant Spotlight on Tuliptree

As one of the largest hardwood trees in North America, tuliptree can grow up to 120 feet in height in garden zones 4 to 9. Design with it in iScape today!

Plant Spotlight: Trumpet Vine

Trumpet vines (Campsis sp.) are gorgeous sprawlers for garden zones 4 to 9. They are quite beautiful in shades of yellow, orange, or red that flower all summer. Design with them in iScape today!

Plant Spotlight On Japanese Yew Shrub

Yews can be used as a low maintenance design answer in city settings and Japanese gardens. Learn more here about how to plant and design with them in iScape!

Plant Spotlight: Magnolia

Flowering magnolia trees (Magnolia sp.) grow to 30 feet tall and have some of the most outstanding blooms in nature. Design with it in iScape today!

Plant Spotlight on Douglas Fir Tree

A most important tree for the environment, this one does best in areas with hot summers and cold winters. Design with it in iScape today!

Plant Spotlight on Black Chokeberry

Grow black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) for the birds; it is a native to North America and has attractive green deciduous leaves with black berries. Learn more here:

Growing Guide for 2 Spectacular Large Evergreen Arborvitae

Excellent as hedges, feature shrubs, and foundation plants, arborvitae are remarkably evergreen four seasons of the year. The American Arborvitae is surprisingly resistant to pollution, which makes it an exceptional plant for city and suburban landscaping.

Plant Spotlight on Carex

Carex is an incredibly versatile foliage plant in the garden. While it looks like an ornamental grass, it is really a perennial plant with grassy looking plant leaves.

Plant Spotlight on Alyssum

The Sweet Alyssum is a flowering annual plant, seemingly dainty, and known for its explosive flower power. Learn more here:

Plant Spotlight on Hybrid Elm

Hybridized varieties of the elm tree have made a strong comeback because of their resistance to Dutch elm disease. Learn more about them here:

Sky Pencil Holly

Sky Pencil Holly is remarkable for its slender shape and truly deserves its name. It makes a great focal point, hedge or container planting.

Plant Spotlight On Brunnera

An incredible perennial for garden zones 3 to 8 with memorable foliage and sweet tiny flowers. Read more to learn how to design with it on iScape.

Plant Spotlight On Beech Tree

Beech trees have smooth silver trunks that stand quite straight, with glossy green leaves which turn yellow, then brown in the fall. Read more on how to design with it in iScape!

Plant Spotlight: Groundcover Shrub Rose

Groundcover roses are tough, low-growing shrub roses that are well-suited to plant below larger shrubs and in the garden as a beautiful flowering, easy-to-grow groundcover for sunny situations.

Marigold: The Best Late Summer Annual Flower

While it is great when planted in bulk in the landscape, it is also beautiful as a single plant in a small pot. No matter where you put the marigold, it brings a little bit of sunshine and happiness.

3 Cacti for Southern Gardens

These very special cactus plants are grown best in the desert southwest, but can also survive in gardens and landscapes in much of the southern United States. Read more to learn how you can use these in your outdoor space.

Growing Guide for 3 Spectacular Summer Blooming Perennials

Choose these blooming perennials for an absolutely brilliant flowering that will add much to your mid-summer garden.

How to Grow Aster "Wood's Purple" in the Landscape

Aster is a great plant to plant in summer with the expectation of a lovely display of first-season flowers in autumn. Check out our growing guide for Aster ‘Wood’s Purple’.

Create Brilliance with Balloon Flowers

Try Balloon Flower in your yard using iScape, an easy perennial that brings a touch of fun to the home landscape.

Plant Spotlight On Swamp Aster

Swamp Asters resemble a New England Aster, but are a North American native that tolerates heavy moisture and is a pollinator favorite. Design with it in iScape today!

Plant Spotlight on Artichoke

The artichoke plant makes an interesting statement plant mixed in a loose and cottage-like garden and fits well in a Mediterranean garden. Learn more here:

Plant Spotlight: Japanese Maple Bloodgood

Japanese Maples have always been the darlings of the “understory” landscape. Download iScape to design with it today!

Plant Spotlight: 3 Types of Birch Tree Compared

Those birch trees come in many shapes and sizes, these trees can be a very ornamental display in smaller landscapes, which makes them worthy of installing.

Plant Spotlight: Summersweet Clethra

Learn how Summersweet Clethra grows in this post and you will have amazingly sweet-scented flowers bloom throughout the heat of the season.

Plant Spotlight: Hakonechloa Grass

A long-lived herbaceous ornamental perennial, this graceful foliage plant can truly light up the dark understory of a wooded area with its waterfall-like foliage. Learn more here:

Plant Spotlight: Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus

Prickly Pear Cactus is a beautiful ground hugging, native, multi-stemmed cactus that can survive both northern winter snow and harsh southwest weather with ease. Growing the cactus is easy and quite a novelty in northern gardens.

A Fast Growing Palm Tree

Many palm trees are slow growers, but the King Palm Tree can help fill in an area quickly, and is a positive feature in city and urban areas that need less tree replacement and more consistent growth.

Plant Spotlight On: Yellow Wood Trillium

Considered a rhizomatous herb that flowers in April or May, this plant is a lovely addition to a shaded woodland garden or landscape. As a spring bloomer, it will grow into large colonies that will make a stronger impact in the landscape.

Plant Spotlight: 3 Spruces You Choose

Spruces are well-loved as strong statements in the landscape that come in many shapes and sizes. Here are three spruce tree varieties to consider; Black Spruce, Norway Spruce, and White Spruce.

Plant Spotlight: 3 Bamboos You Choose

Bamboo can make a delightful choice for your garden that will add an element of height and beauty. Which bamboo is for you?

Plant Spotlight: Redbud Tree

A remarkable tree that heralds warm days and new possibilities, find this tree on iScape and design with it to create a beautifully styled landscape.

Planting Edible Shrubs for Homeowners

Now, more than ever, it is important to incorporate edible plants into the landscape as a way to encourage every day Americans to find food at a reasonable cost.

Plant Spotlight On: Chestnut Trees

This ornamental edible plant for the landscape can be a long-lived tree for your landscape and provide a fun holiday treat.

5 Easy Cool Weather Annual Flowers

There are many annuals that can provide loads of color pop that work well in the fall and early spring. If you are fortunate enough to live in the warmer southern regions, these flowers might last from fall all the way through to the following summer.

Plant Spotlight: Butterfly Weed

Natural or native landscapes are becoming more and more popular. Check out when, where, and how to plant this native prairie plant.

Plant Spotlight: Autumn Crocus

Explore through many different features and plants that will let you know just what type of season to plant them in along with other useful information about the plant.

Plant Spotlight On: Spruce Tree

Spruce is a native conifer from the Colorado Rockies that has a high ornamental value in the landscape. Find out when, where, and how to plant here:

Plant Spotlight On: Weigela

Modern day hybridizations have changed the common weigela from 20 years ago, adding flower color selection, foliage variegation, and broad range in size. Read more here:

Plant Spotlight On: Lantana

Lantana has the most amazing clusters of intensely colored showy cymes that are captivating in the garden. Find out when, where and how to plant this:

Plant Spotlight On: Wisteria

Here’s how to plant the wisteria vine in a well-thought-out site in the landscape with iScape.

Plant Spotlight: Mugo Pine

Find out why these beauties in the home landscape are darlings of the winter season.

Plant Spotlight: Magnolia Tree

Flowering Magnolia trees have some of the most outstanding blooms in nature. Find out how to plant these trees with plenty of room with iScape!

Plant Spotlight: Threadleaf Coreopsis

This delicate-looking herbaceous perennial has an exceptionally long bloom period. Does it perform well in urban areas though?

You Can Do It: Shrub Rose Care

These breath-taking rose bushes can be good functioning tools in the landscape. Find out why:

Plant Spotlight: Parry's Agave

Read more on how to care and grow this delightfully small gray/blue-toned plant with a very slow growth rate.

Plant Spotlight: Dusty Miller

This amazing statement in an annual garden bed or window box is best known for its leaf designs, which can be delicate and lacy or quite bold. Read more about when, where, and how to plant.

Plant Spotlight: Boston Ivy

Here are some growing tips for this fast-growing, woody, deciduous vine.

iScape's New Vegetable Database

We added tons of new crops, in various stages of growth, so you can plan out all the food you're going to grow this year.

Tough Indoor Plants

6 plants that are more likely to die from too much attention than from neglect

Containers for Late Fall

Try out these tough mid-season plants

Birch Trees 101

Check out these highly desirable, beautiful-barked trees

Plant These Bulbs in Fall

Add long-lasting color and life before the cold comes and goes

Spotlight On: Maples

Trees That Will Go Into Fall Mode Before You Do

Get a sweet, colorful nudge to put the flip flops away and get out the cozy sweaters!

Arborvitae 101

Bring your yard to life with this "tree of life"

Hot Houseplants

Check out some varieties of plants and helpful tips on how to care

What You Need to Know About Ornamental Grasses

Spotlight On: Fallopia Japonica ‘Variegata’

A stunning backdrop for other plants in your garden

How to Prune Hydrangeas

Learn how and when to prune for every kind of Hydrangea!

Spotlight On: Balloon Flowers

An easy perennial that brings a touch of fun to the home landscape!

Spotlight On: Red Roses

Here are a few red roses for every purpose in your home landscape! #NationalRedRoseDay