Native-plant experts from Alabama recommend this four-season plant for USDA Zones 6 to 8.

Here’s an excellent selection for groundcover in moist shade.

We asked native-plant experts to recommend a favorite native. Alaska’s answer was dwarf dogwood, also known as bunchberry.

Chandelier plant (Kalanchoe manginii) makes a good hanging houseplant, blooming for weeks and tolerating infrequent watering and low humidity

Japanese pieris (Pieris japonica), also known as lily of the valley shrub, isn’t just evergreen, it bears attractive flower buds through fall and winter

Old man cactus (Cephalocereus senilis) is a friendly cactus, trading sharp spines for a dense coat of white hair. At the holiday season it may even remind you a little bit of a certain jolly old elf

Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’ is an easy-to-grow dwarf conifer with lovely blue needles

Slipper orchids (Paphiopedilum) are fairly easy orchids to keep as houseplants

Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera xbuckleyi) is an ideal houseplant that will bloom for the holidays

Black dalea (Dalea frutescens) is a low-growing Southwest-native shrub that blooms in purple from August into November

‘Galilee’ paperwhite (Narcissus ‘Galilee’) offers more flowers than other cultivars and has a softer fragrance. Bulbs should be potted by Thanksgiving for holiday bloom.