Common name:Purple Garden Sage
Botanical name:Salvia officinalis 'Purpurascens'

This perennial sage has a mounding, spreading habit growing to about 1 to 2 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide. New foliage emerges purple, ages to grey-green, and is highly aromatic. Flowers are blue and appear in May and June. Purple garden sage is semi-evergreen to evergreen. The foliage and flowers are edible. Also attractive to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Common name:Moorhexe Purple Moorgrass
Botanical name:Molinia caerulea 'Moorhexe'

Moorhexe purple moorgrass is a lovely ornamental grass well suited to dry-shade areas. It is slow-growing, and forms a beautiful mop of foliage in a few years. Foliage is green with slight white ribbing. Plumes emerge mid-summer and are a lovely bronze to gold color; nice as cut flowers. Grows 12 to 18 inches tall and wide, with plumes rising another 12 to 18 inches.

Common name:Variegated Dogwood
Botanical name:Cornus alba 'Elegantissima'

This dogwood has the same lovely red wood that is a standout in the winter garden, but with grey-green leaves with irregular creamy-white margins that gives it a luminous look. It grows about 6 to 8 feet tall, and forms a thicket of blood-red stems. White spring flowers form in clusters, followed by blue berries enjoyed by birds. Partners well with viburnums, hydrangeas, and snowberry. Use in shrub or foundation borders, or as an informal hedge.

Common name:Creeping Mahonia
Botanical name:Mahonia repens

The creeping Mahonia is a low-growing shrub with a creeping habit, making it well suited as an understory groundcover. It grows about 12 to 15 inches tall and spreads 3 to 4 feet, though, due to its stoloniferous ways, will slowly spread wider. It has spiny, holly-like foliage that emerges red and matures to a dull green; though evergreen, leaves take on a bronzy-purple fall hue. Yellow, fragrant flowers bloom April and May, and are followed by berries that ripen purple in the fall and persist all winter. Exceptional four-season beauty. There are some planted at the Greater Avenues Water Conservation Garden.