The curious gardener’s and landscaper’s guide to undiscovered, low-maintenance, climate-adaptive, and beautifully decorative trees, and shrubs.

In Hidden Gems for Home Landscapes authors Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano begin with the story of how their passion for plants led them to found Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens 20 years ago, experimenting with planting native and non-native trees and shrubs, collecting seeds from unusual and exciting plants, and seeing how those plants might flourish in their home base of the Catskill Mountains of New York.

The results of their arboretum and botanical garden experiments over the years are a resilient and biodiverse ecosystem, a thriving habitat for wildlife and pollinators, and beautiful plant life wherever you look.

Allyson and Scott celebrate the best decorative landscape plants they grow that are low maintenance, adaptable to shifting climates, and offer multiple types of aesthetic interest, such as attractive flowers, bark, and seedheads at different stages of the plant’s growing season. Alongside beautiful photography of each plant the authors provide:

• Plant description 
• History of cultivation
• Design uses 
• Growth difficulty rating 
• Site and soil conditions 
• Hardiness zones 
• Cultivars
• And, more! 

About The Author

Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano are the authors of Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts, which was named one of the best gardening books for 2023 by Gardens Illustrated magazine. They are co-founders and directors of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in New York’s Hudson Valley. In 2001, Allyson and Scott begin creating a botanical garden of native trees, shrubs, perennials, and unusual edibles in their backyard property as a source of inspiration and raw materials for their art. Over time, the project expanded into a formal arboretum comprising four large gardens covering 11 acres of land. The arboretum includes an extensive collection of cold-hardy cacti, magnolia trees, viburnums, shade-tolerant native perennials, and fruit and nut trees. The arboretum is now a nonprofit organization and Level II arboretum. The authors and their garden have been featured in The New York Times and Edible Hudson.