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What’s Beautiful This Season

Below are some plants that are especially interesting or typically in bloom this season at Duke Gardens. 

While every year unfolds differently, depending on seasonal weather conditions, you may wish to seek out these plants on your next visit.

Winter Highlights

Evergreen needles of Duke Gardens plum yew.
‘Duke Gardens’ Plum Yew
Cephalotaxis harringtonia
'Duke Gardens'
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A row of dwarf boxwood plants in a formal garden.
‘Little Missy’ Boxwood
Buxus microphylla
‘Little Missy’
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A garden setting with a potted plant with long, upward-reaching blue-green leaves, and a garden wall with more trees and plants in the background.
Agave
Agave
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Close-up of Algerian iris flower.
Algerian Iris
Iris unguicularis
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A trained weeping bald cypress over a staircase.
Bald Cypress (Weeping)
Taxodium distichum
‘Cascade Falls’
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Leafy foliage of cast iron plant.
Cast Iron Plant
Aspidistra elatior
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A cluster of three rounded evergreen cryptomeria trees in a snowy landscape
Chapel View™ Japanese Cedar
Cryptomeria japonica
‘PIICJ-I’ Chapel View™
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Low-growing clumps of Cherokee sedge in a woodland setting.
Cherokee Sedge
Carex cherokeensis
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Green China fir foliage with yellow pollen catkins at the tips.
China Fir
Cunninghamia lanceolata
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Five medium green fern plants with brown leaves and pine straw in the background.
Christmas Fern
Polystichum acrostichoides
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Coast redwood foliage and developing cones.
Coast Redwood
Sequoia sempervirens
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Tangled corkscrew hazel branches
Corkscrew Hazel
Corylus avellana
'Contorta'
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Trunk of dawn redwood tree in a grassy lawn.
Dawn Redwood
Metasequioa glyptostroboides
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A fan-shaped array of long deep green leaves with frozen dewdrops on them and a soft-focus background.
Dwarf Palmetto
Sabal minor
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Bicolor needles of dwarf tigertail spruce.
Dwarf Tigertail Spruce
Picea
‘Howell’s Dwarf’
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Close-up of a plant with large deep purple and green leaves.
Edible Brassica
Brassica
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Pink flowering plum blossoms with a soft focus background.
Flowering Plum
Prunus mume
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Close-up of snowdrop flowers in a woodland setting.
Giant Snowdrop
Galanthus elwesii
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Extreme close-up of medium pink toned flower petals with deeper pink striations.
Hybrid Hellebore
Helleborus × hybridus
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A Japanese black pine in a Japanese garden.
Japanese Black Pine
Pinus thunbergii
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Extreme close-up of a deep red flower with dark green leaves.
Japanese Camellia
Camellia japonica
‘Professor Charles Sargent’
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Rolled needles of Korean fir.
Korean Fir
Abies koreana
'Silberlocke'
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Purple Loebner magnolia flower with a soft focus background.
Loebner Magnolia
Magnolia × loebneri
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Close-up of orange flowers with delicate, stringy petals, on a slim branch with a soft focus background that includes more of the same flowers.
Ozark Witch Hazel
Hamamelis vernalis
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Close-up of tree trunk with red strips of peeling bark.
Paperbark Maple
Acer griseum
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Close-up o a trio of yellow flowers with green centers on a slim brown stem, with more flowers in soft-focus in the background.
Paperbush
Edgeworthia chrysantha
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Close-up of a Persian ironwood flower cluster with a soft focus background.
Persian Ironwood
Parrotia persica
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Blue rosemary flowers and foliage.
Rosemary
Salvia rosmarinus (Rosmarinus officinalis)

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Purple magnolia flowers breaking bud
Saucer Magnolia
Magnolia × soulangeana
'Alexandrina'
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Five white flowers and another five buds on slim branches with a soft-focus deep green background.
Star Magnolia
Magnolia stellata
‘Royal Star’
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Close-up of a white tea camellia flower on a leafy branch
Tea camellia
Camellia sinensis
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Delicate yellow flowers on a slim branch with a soft-focus background.
Wilmott Winterhazel
Corlyopsis willmottiae
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Variegated winter daphne leaves and flowers.
Winter Daphne
Daphne odora
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Eight delicate yellow flowers on a pair of slim branches with a blue sky in the background.
Wintersweet
Chimonanthus praecox
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A yellow flower with delicate, stringy petals on a slim branch with a soft-focus brown background.
Witch-hazel
Hamamelis
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Expand your plant knowledge by checking out our Garden Talk series, searching our plant highlights and following us on social media.

Questions about what’s beautiful this season?

Please contact us at 919-684-3698 or gardens@duke.edu.