With waxy, sedumlike foliage and airy heads of tiny pink flowers like baby’s breath, jewels-of-opar is a contrast in textures unto itself. Leaves are that ever-popular glowing chartreuse.
Masses of wine-red flowers on airy three-foot stems nod in the slightest breeze. A classy new flowering tobacco from Floranova, more compact than its ‘Tinkerbell’ cousin. Annual.
New leaves on this Indian bean tree emerge wine colored to chocolate, segueing to green in summer. White flowers are lavender-tinged. Though it can reach 40 to 50 feet tall and wide, it can be pruned hard to keep it shrubby. Zones 5-9. forestfarm.com
An elegant, slow-growing small tree, Picea pungens ‘Hillside’ is a dwarf form, reaching 3 to 6 feet tall in 10 years, creating a flattened pyramid. Stiff bottlebrushes of needles are blue-gray-green. Zones 3 to 7.
Frosted-blue foliage on delicate branches makes a striking contrast against the brown bark of Cupressus arizonica var. glabra ‘Blue Pyramid’. Much taller than wide, this upright, symmetrical form of Arizona cypress can reach 20 to 25 feet high by 10 to 12 feet wide in 10 years. Zones 6 to 9.
Discovered as a witch’s broom on Cryptomeria japonica ‘Gracilis’, C. japonica ‘Little Champion’ is a dwarf form with a tidy globular shape, about 1 to 2 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide in 10 years. The finely textured needles, pale-green color and compact size make this a perfect container or rock-garden plant. Zones 6 to 8.
Discovered growing in Vermont, Pinus strobus ‘Louie’ has brilliant golden needles, which hold their color year-round and really pop against the darker foliage in the shaded interior of the tree. Grows into a broad pyramid, about 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide in 10 years. Zones 3 to 8.
A dwarf form of Taiwan-native Cunninghamia lanceolata, ‘Little Leo’ forms a globe of soft, densely packed needles, looking like a pincushion. After 10 years, this rare conifer will still be less than 3 feet tall. Leaves are dark green during the growing season, taking on a bronzy, purplish cast in winter. Zones 7 to 9.
