Favorite Plants

Asking Landscape Designers for their Faves

Professional landscape designers all seem to have their ‘go-to’ plants that they use in almost all their projects. In this regular feature, I ask a designer to share their favorite tree, shrub and groundcover with us - it can be a special variety of a plant. I also ask them to give us their reasons for liking this plant so much.

Laura McKillop is a professional landscape designer with over 20 years experience. She has a master’s degree in landscape design from Columbia University and currently works for Wagner Pools. She has developed complex planting designs for a wide array of projects in the Northeast US. She is also a long time instructor at New York Botanical Garden. Her plant knowledge is awesome. Here is what she shared:

It should not come as a surprise that as a landscape designer, I love trees.  Of course, there are some trees that I love more than others.  After a great deal of deliberation, I realized that my favorite tree should be native to the area I live and should provide benefits to the local ecosystem in addition to its obvious aesthetic appeal.  With this in mind, I realized I have always felt an affinity for Sweetgum or Liquidambar styraciflua.  

Sweetgum's beautiful star-shaped leaves and intense fall color as well as its pyramidal form make it an excellent choice, providing there is adequate space on a property. These trees grow to be very tall and love moisture - they can withstand occasional drought when established. Zones 5 through 9. The numerous spiky seed pods can be a bit messy, but I must admit that I find them attractive, and they make me smile to know my favorite tree is close by.

The star shaped leaves of the native Sweetgum has remarkable fall color. A great columnar variety to check out is ‘Slender Silhouette’.

My favorite shrub is definitely boxwood or Buxus.  The wide versatility of boxwood makes this choice simple for me.  I find a place for boxwoods in almost every garden I design. Boxwoods provide the perfect backdrop for perennials and other shrubs, like Hydrangea. They look good all year and create structure in any size garden. Boxwood are low maintenance and all are totally deer resistant.  

Boxwood is deer resistant and can be shaped into a hedge as shown here. There are many varieties available - like ‘Winter Gem’, ‘Green Velvet’ and ‘Newport Blue’.

My favorite groundcover is native Carex. There are many native varieties of Carex and I like them all. A serene drift of Carex pennsylvanica in a woodland setting is incredibly inviting.  Palm Sedge or Carex muskingumensis has an architectural quality and spreads nicely through a moist meadow.  I often use it in my wetland gardens.  Native Carex works very well as a matrix plant in many types of plant beds.

Carex appalachica - Tough little native with spreading habit, this grass makes an excellent part shade groundcover. Loves dry shade. Easy to grow. Zones 3-8. 12 inches tall. Full sun to part shade.