Good Life: City Planter

Recommendations for weather-hardy plantings from Mary Costello and Peter Smith of City Planter in Northern Liberties.

LARGER PLANTS FOR LARGER POTS

Contorted witch hazel (crazy branching) – Hamamelis virginiana

Ilex sky pencil (fastigiate) – Ilex crenata ‘Sky Pencil’

Ilex verticillata (berries) – Ilex verticillata

Upright junipers – Juniperus scopulorum or Juniperus virginiana

Topiaried junipers or boxwood (defined form) – Buxus sempervirens or Buxus sinica or Buxus harlandii

Chamaecyparis varieties (rich green, black hues) – Chamaecyparis [numerous species]

Any Meserve hollies (rich blue-green color) – Ilex x meserveae (not shown)

Any tree hollies (Nellie Stevens, etc for pyramidal form) – Ilex x ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ (not shown)

SMALLER PLANTS

Mugo pine (needle evergreen, dense habitat) – Pinus mugo

Crimson barberries (purple leaves) – Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea

Euonymus emerald and gold (colorful evergreen leaves, low growing) – Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald and Gold’

Winter jasmine (semi-evergreen and early yellow flowers) – Jasminum nudiflorum

Juniper procumbens nana (low and cascading green) – Juniperus procumbens nana

Cotoneasters (reddish green leaves) – Cotoneaster [numerous species]

Santolina incana (gray all winter) – Santolina incana or Santolina chamaecyparissus

Hellebores (heavy loved and leathery leaves) – Helleborus [numerous species]

Variegated liriope (strappy foliage in yellows, grays and black) – Liriope muscari

Stachys big ears (gray and fuzzy) – Stachys byzantina

Christmas fern (evergreen fern) – Polystichum acrostichoides

Variegated ivies (lots of varieties) – Hedera helix or Hedera hibernica

Dwarf conifers (tidy, compact, will fit into the smallest containers) (not shown)

Sedum vera Jamison (gray and succulent) – Sedum vera jamison (not shown)

Heuchera amber waves and plum pudding (colorful leaves all winter) – Heuchera ‘Amber Waves’ and Heuchera ‘Plumb Pudding’ (not shown)