Waters Median Plants

This is a weird rose. It’s happy in shade, and never gets larger than about five feet tall. So it’s sometimes known as a Dwarf Rose or a Little Wood Rose.

Plant people can’t decide whether Beach Strawberry is an “aggressive” ground cover, or one in the more reassuring “moderate” growth category.

The delicate red and orange flowers on this guy have been likened to a tiger’s eyes, hence the name.

We’ve put a ton of these hardy plants all along the median, partly because of their staying power.

Yarrow is such a popular and well-known plant, it has more names than most: gordaldo, milfoil, nosebleed plant...

So let’s get a few things straight. This is not the same cranberry that produces the refreshing red juice or the sauce that goes with your Thanksgiving turkey.

Our pine is a bit lazy. If we don’t prop it up, it will turn into a blob. The sprawling crazy beast is exactly like other pines in that it grows quickly: about a foot a year.

Like people, these shrubs will grow a bit wider as they reach full maturity. With the Sky Pencil, we’re talking 30 years, though. So stick around.

The leathery leaves of the Common Bearberry typify northwest native shrubs.

Japanese Maples come in many forms. Along the median, all our trees have to be short and squat.

The blossoms on this shrub look an awful lot like orange or lemon blossoms, and they smell rather like citrus as well. Mock Orange is a spectacular combination of fragrance and stunning good looks.

It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish these green woody native shrubs from each other, but Oceanspray simplifies things. Look for leaves that are fairly dark green on one side, and much lighter green on the other.

Many layers of papery bark give this hardy shrub its distinctive name. Of the native plants on the median, the Ninebark has one of the largest range in the wild.

Foxgloves are a choice on the median that we made out of sheer love for a stunning flower.

The common name for this lavender, Platinum Blonde, refers to the unusual, striking light foliage on this lavender. Look closer for a moment and you’ll see it’s also variegated, or a mixture of light and dark on the same leaves.

This humble marigold has so much going on.

Piercing red and three feet tall, this spire of a flower demands attention as you drive by the median.

This tidy little thing is sometimes grown as much for its dainty, wooly “evergray” foliage as its striking red blooms.

Ruby red leaves early in the season, darkening to nearly black as they mature.

Compact sedums really shine when tucked between rocks, or other bigger, more bombastic plants.

Come by in the winter to visit these shrubs and spot the brilliant white berries pop against the dark green leaves.

Japanese cherry trees are a sentimental favorite, certainly in the Pacific Northwest. The nine on the median are the "Snowgoose" variety.

So many reasons to have lavender on the median...

We love jasmine. Certainly we hope you do, too, because we’ve planted it along the entire length of a wall that’s about 300 feet long.

This Flamingo Heather works hard to avoid disappointment. What other plant has foliage that is hues of red, pink, and green, as a bakground for pink flowers?

If you’re wondering if this shrub is defined partly by what it is not, namely short or small, you’d be right. There is also a Low Oregon Grape (Mahonia nervosa), and we really should get some on the median.

Yes, pairs of berries cling to this shrub by the score. It’s part of the honeysuckle family.

Think of this as the median’s Steve Buscemi or John Candy: hugely appealing background characters who make the better-known stars shine.

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This winter heather, or heath if you prefer, rocks a riot of color: Yellow and green foliage with pink flowers.