Woody Ornamentals

Dura-Heat® ('BNMTF') River Birch has lighter bark than Heritage® Birch, showing lovely whitish tan exfoliating bark at a young age.  Since it hails from Georgia, its heat tolerance is excellent, with the result that its compact dark green leaves are retained all summer.  The fall color is yellow, and its striking bark makes it a particularly welcome addition to the winter landscape.  Like all River Birches, Dura-Heat® is very tolerant of wet sites and resistant to typical Birch diseases.

Heritage® ('Cully') Riverbirch is one of the best Birches for the Northeast.  Discovered in a St. Louis suburb and tested and introduced by the extraordinary plantsman Earl Cully. Noted for it's cold hardiness, beautiful creamy exfoliating bark, disease and borer resistant, wet site tolerant, fast growth habit, we could go on and on...

'Black Knight' Butterfly Bush boasts fragrant purplish violet flowers starting in late June. This Buddleia has a vigorous and large habit, and blooms all summer into fall.

'Miss Molly' Butterfly Bush starts blooming in July and continues all summer without deadheading.  The fragrant flowers are pinkish rub red and plentiful.  Buddleia davidii 'Miss Molly' is a midsized Butterfly Bush, so it works well in the back of perennial beds as well as a low hedge.  Butterflies and hummingbirds consume the nectar all summer.  Another beauty from Dr Dennis Werner of NC State, who crossed 'Miss Ruby' with 'Attraction' to produce 'Miss Molly'.

Flutterby Petite® 'Blue Heaven' ('Podaras #8') Butterfly Bush is a new introduction to the groundcover Buddleia world, with blue fragrant flowers all summer over low growing silvery foliage. It is largely sterile, and is a great nectar source for hummingbirds, butterflies and other insects. A Ball Ornamentals introduction from hybridizing work by Peter Podaras.

PRN Preferred: Although quite compact in habit, Petite® ‘Blue Heaven’ is a very heavy bloomer all summer and shows better cold tolerance than many other ‘dwarf’ Buddleias. 

Lo & Behold Ruby Chip® (‘SMNBDD’) Butterfly Bush has the same shocking pink blooms as Buddleia ‘Miss Molly’, but on a dense compact habit. The flowers start in June and are produced all summer, especially if occasionally deadheaded. The green deer resistant foliage is dense and tight, so Buddleia Ruby Chip® makes a great addition to sunny perennial borders. Megan Mathey of Spring Meadows Nursery is the breeder of this dwarf beauty.

'Purple Haze' Butterfly Bush is an exciting new groundcover Buddleia with a low mounding habit and an all summer display of bluish purple fragrant flowers. The foliage is green, the flowering branches are arching, and the flowers are sterile. Another breakthrough from Dr. Dennis Werner of NCSU.

Pugster Blue® ('SMNBDBT') Butterfly Bush blooms throughout the summer and into the fall, producing large blue flowers on sturdy short stems. The growth habit of Buddleia x Pugster Blue® is very compact, making this a good candidate for containers and perennial borders. The blooms are fragrant, and attract butterflies and other pollinators all summer. The Pugster® series from Spring Meadow shows better winter cold tolerance than other dwarf Buddleias.

Pugster Pinker® (‘SMNBDB’) Butterfly Bush has large deep pink fragrant flower spikes on a compact, sturdy plant all summer. The Pugster® series shows good cold tolerance and does not require pruning because of the neat compact habit. Megan Mathey is the breeder and Spring Meadow Nurseries is the introducer through the Proven Winners® program.

Pugster White® (‘SMNBDW’) Butterfly Bush is a compact but sturdy Buddleia, with large fragrant white flowers. The short stature means that the Buddleia x Pugster White® does not need the pruning that earlier large cultivars have required. Also, the Pugster® series is somewhat more cold tolerant than several earlier Buddleia cultivars. This would make a good potted plant for sunny patios in summer.

Pugster® Amethyst ('SMNBDL') Butterfly Bush is a more cold tolerant compact Buddleia, with large lavender purple blooms on short sturdy stems.  Pugster® Amethyst starts blooming in June and keeps on flowering until early fall.  A Spring Meadows introduction, this Buddleia is recommended for use in rock gardens, perennial beds and tighter sites than most Buddleia can handle.

As many of you are already aware, the threat of Boxwood Blight is increasing in our area. At PRN, we are taking additional steps to provide healthy Boxwoods. First, we only source from growers who can provide Boxwood Compliance Certificates. Additionally, we are limiting access to our Boxwoods at the nursery. This is being done to reduce the risk of spreading the disease to healthy plants. Boxwood Blight is often transmitted through spores carried on shoes and clothing, and resistant but healthy Boxwoods have been shown to carry the disease as well. Customers will be able to view and order Boxwoods from PRN but they will be a “PRN Pull Only”. These extra precautions will keep PRN clean from Boxwood Blight so you can feel reassured that you are purchasing healthy, disease free Boxwoods which will thrive at your job site.

NewGen™ Freedom® (‘SB300’) Boxwood comes from years of testing by Saunders Brothers Nursery of Virginia, in their Boxwood Blight resistance trials. Freedom® and Independence® are both highly resistant to both Blight and Boxwood Leafminer. Buxus NewGen™ Freedom® is the taller of the two, with a rounded but vigorous habit. It makes a beautiful green hedge or foundation planning, and benefits from a light yearly pruning to maintain the tight shape.

New Gen™ Independence (‘SB108’) Boxwood was found as a chance seedling near Williamsburg, VA. The Boxwood Kings of Saunders Brothers selected it after years of observing Independence® because of its proven excellent resistance to both Boxwood Blight and Boxwood Leafminer. Buxus New Gen™ Independence® is the best replacement for English Boxwood in size and shape. The evergreen foliage maintains its deep green color well in the winter.

'Little Missy' Little Leaf Boxwood is an excellent substitute for Buxus 'Justin Brouwers' is areas where Boxwood Blight is increasingly a problem.  The Buxus microphylla cultivars are much more resistant to the effects of the blight, and 'Little Missy', with it's compact mounding habit and diminutive size works well where really small Boxwoods are needed.  The leaves are lustrous dark green and tolerate sun well.  Buxus 'Little Missy' does well with trimming, so it can be used to make knot gardens and short formal hedges.

Baby Gem™ ('Gregem') Little Leaf Boxwood is a sport of Buxus 'Winter Gem' with a tighter habit and neater foliage.  Although Buxus Baby Gem™ eventually reaches the size of its parent, it is slower growing and needs little pruning.  The summer color is a good dark green, and Baby Gem™ does not bronze in winter.  An introduction from Greenleaf Nursery of Oklahoma.

'Jim Stauffer' Little Leaf Boxwood is a vigorous and formal microphylla cross, with good cold tolerance.  Buxus microphylla var. japonica 'Jim Stauffer' maintains a neat rounded habit with little pruning, and makes an attractive foundation plant or tight hedge.  This Boxwood has shown good resistance to both Boxwood Blight and Leaf miner.  

'Winter Gem' Little Leaf Boxwood has large glossy evergreen leaves with bronze backs and an upright rounded habit. Winter color is a bronzy green.

'Dee Runk' Common Boxwood has glossy dark green foliage that makes its conical shape a standout. It is evergreen, disease resistant and slow growing and is an exciting newcomer to the Boxwood scene.

Fastigiate Common Boxwood has dark green foliage which often has a bluish cast to the evergreen leaves.  The habit is a neat upright cone, somewhat wider at the base than B. 'Dee Runk'.  Buxus s. 'Fastigiata' shows minimal bronzing in the winter, and makes an impressive formal specimen.

'Vardar Valley' Common Boxwood is an unusually tough Buxus sempervirens, with excellent insect and disease resistance coupled with attractive green foliage that has a distinctive bluish cast.  It was found by Edgar Anderson of the Arnold Arboretum and Missouri Botanical Garden in 1945, along a river in Macedonia.  After years of observation it was named and released by the Arnold Arboretum because of its proven excellence.  Slow growing and compact, it forms an excellent low maintenance shrub for shady locations.

A cross between B. sinica var. insularis and B. sempervirens, 'Green Gem' Boxwood is a slow growing round evergreen that combines excellent hardiness with good winter color. An introduction by Sheridan Nurseries of Ontario, Canada.

'Green Velvet' Boxwood is a very hardy selection from Sheridan Nurseries in Canada. Glossy evergreen foliage on a round maintenance free shrub.