A Variety of Plants That Grow Very Large Outside in the Yard

Huge plants fill gaps in the landscape quickly. Depending on the magnitude of the lawn, these plants can overwhelm a little yard. Use them at a big parklike yard or to fill at the rear area of a landscape. Many big plants provide shade, keeping the area cool throughout the summer. Single plants develop since showcase plants, which attract the eye of visitors. Other plants are appropriate for mass planting to make a display, which blocks unsightly opinions. Choose plants depending on the space and growing conditions.

Trees

Trees are among the largest plants in the world. They provide shade and interest to a lawn. 1 big tropical tree is that the floss silk tree (Ceiba speciosa), which grows best in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11. This erect thorny tree produces evergreen leaves and showy pink flowers throughout the winter and autumn. Achieving 65 feet tall, this tree grows 12 to 24 inches per year and lives to get 50 to 150 years. Madrone (Arbutus menziesii) is an indigenous California tree that grows 50 to 65 feet tall using a 50-foot-wide canopy covered in glossy green leaves. Pink and white bell-shaped flowers appear during the summer and spring before turning into orange or red grapes, which last during the autumn and into the winter. At USDA plant hardiness zones 7 through 9, this tree sheds its attractive red bark through the summertime.

Shrubs

Large shrubs create multistemmed plants with branches growing to the ground. Some bushes can be trimmed back to resemble tiny trees by cutting off the lower branches. “Centennial Spirit” crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica “Centennial Spirit”) grows best in USDA plant hardiness zones 7 through 9 and reaches 10 to 20 feet tall and wide with deciduous dark green leaves that turn reddish-orange in the autumn. Clusters of rose-red flowers appear in the summertime, and the gray bark comes away in the back in thin strips, exposing smooth cream-colored bark. Giant bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai) remains evergreen in USDA zones 9 through 11, producing clumps of leaves 25 to 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide with blue-green 6-foot-long leaves and huge white birdlike flowers with reddish tongues appearing in the autumn and winter.

Perennial Flowers

Large perennial flowers develop for their enormous height within one hour prior to dying back to the ground for the winter. These plants fill the lawn with dark color throughout the warmer months. Marie Bleu New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus x pallidus “Minmari”), which grows in USDA plant hardiness zones 6 through 9, produces dark green leaves on stalks which are 6 to 8 feet tall and wide. Round clusters of blue flowers appear in the late spring through early summer using red seed heads showing up at the late summer and attracting birds to the yard. “Nigra” hollyhock (Alcea rosea “Nigra”) reaches 5 to 8 feet tall, forming clumps 2 feet wide with towering spikes of dark maroon, almost black, bowl-shaped flowers appearing in the summertime. This blossom attracts hummingbirds and butterflies to the lawn.

Annual Flowers

Large yearly flowers last only through the warm months of the year. They could fill in huge gaps in the lawn, but they don’t create long-lasting alterations. 1 tall annual is that the “Jewel of Africa” nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus “Jewel of Africa”), which is an old climber that reaches 8 feet tall and is covered with maroon, yellow, cream and orange flowers throughout the summer and autumn. At full-sun exposure, the round green leaves develop a white marbling. Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) range in size depending on the number. Most sunflowers develop a big dark core surrounded by bright yellow raylike outer petals. Some of the taller types include the classic-looking “Sunbeam,” which reaches 6 feet tall, and “Autumn Beauty,” which reaches 8 feet tall when it’s planted in the full sunlight.

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