Common name:Oleander
Botanical name:Nerium oleander

Oleander is an evergreen shrub with moderate to fast growth. Leaves are narrow, 4"-12" long, dark green, leathery, and glossy. It is attractive in all seasons. Flowers are in clusters on branch ends and blooms from late spring through fall.

Common name:Red Star Cordyline
Botanical name:Cordyline australis 'Red Star'

The 'Red Star' cultivar is an evergreen shrub that grows 12' to 30' tall and 10' to 15' wide with sword-like leaves with a reddish color. It likes full sun, and is very tolerant of heat and drought. It will live in any type of soil that is well drained. Cut back to develop multiple trunks.

Common name:Potato Vine
Botanical name:Solanum laxum

This twisting vine will grow 25' in length and has deciduous, glossy green leaves with blue and white flowers that are in constant bloom.

Common name:Chinese or Evergreen Elm
Botanical name:Ulmus parvifolia

This evergreen tree will grow about 40'-60' tall and 50'-70' wide. It has leathery, dark green leaves and round fruit in the fall. It grows quickly to provide a beautiful shade tree. Bark exfoliates in the winter providing various colors. Foliage turns yellow, gold, orange, red or purple. This tree is lovely all year round but tends to be messy with falling fruit.

Common name:Mexican Bush Sage, Velvet Sage
Botanical name:Salvia leucantha

The Mexican Sage is a bushy shrub that grows 3'-4' tall and wide. It has hairy white stems, gray green leaves and velvet-like purple flower spikes that bloom summer through fall. This shrub tolerates sun, light shade, little water, and is hardy to 15 degrees F. The Mexican Sage is drought tolerant and attracts hummingbirds. -Cornflower Farms

Common name:Jerusalem Sage
Botanical name:Phlomis fruticosa

This hardy perennial is a useful, old-time garden plant with coarse, woolly gray green, wrinkled leaves and yellow, 1" flowers in ball-shaped whorls. It handles drought and poor soils but needs full sun.

Common name:Rock Purslane
Botanical name:Cistanthe grandiflora

This perennial will grow 12"-36" and produces large blue-green rosettes that last for a long season. It produces large, silky, lavender pink flowers that have lime-green, purple spotted calyces.

Common name:Verbena
Botanical name:Verbena peruviana

This perennial forms a flat mat that covers an area rapidly. It has dark green leaves with clusters of bright flowers that bloom all year. Hybrids will have a little more height, different flower colors and spread more slowly. It is drought tolerant.

Common name:Pink Jasmine
Botanical name:Jasminum polyanthum

This fast-growing evergreen vine features clusters of fragrant white flowers almost all year in cool climates. It does best when grown in sun to part shade. -Monterey Bay Nursery