• Botanical gardens are home to a variety of plants.Ancient ginkgo tree image by Celeste Scholz from Fotolia.com
  
  Plants with woody stems in U.S. botanical gardens include shrubs and trees. These are examples of the “more than 400,000 kinds of plants which inhabit the earth,” according to the Missouri Botanical Garden. Botanical gardens, such as the Missouri Botanical Garden, describe their mission as, “to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life.”
  
  

Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo Biloba)

• Maidenhair is a large, easy-care deciduous conifer with fan-shaped leaves and green catkins in the spring (male trees) or small, almost unnoticeable green flowers (female trees). Trees feature a single woody trunk and grow to a height of 50 to 80 feet; they spread to approximately 30 to 40 feet wide. Maidenhair leaves turn bright yellow and golden brown in fall. A slow-growing and easily maintained tree, maidenhair tolerates city pollution, a variety of soils (including compacted types), heat and salt spray. It prefers sandy, well-drained soils and requires a medium amount of water. Plants are hardy between USDA zones 3 and 8.
  
  

Allegheny Serviceberry (Amelanchier Laevis)

• The Allegheny serviceberry, also known as Juneberry, is a small, deciduous tree or large shrub (often found with multiple woody stems) with showy, sweet-scented white flowers in April and edible red fruits (dark purple-black when ripe) in June. Oval leaves are purple-bronze tinged in spring, shiny dark green in summer and reddish-orange in autumn. Plants grow between 15 and 40 feet in height and enjoy locations with full sun to partial shade. This low-maintenance serviceberry tolerates poor soils but prefers well-drained, moist loam. Plants are hardy in USDA zones 4 to 8. Ripe fruits attract such wildlife as birds.
  
  

Pussy Willow (Salix Caprea)

• The pussy willow is a small tree or shrub with large gray-pink (male) or smaller green (female) flowers in the form of catkins between March and April. It is described as ”dioecious,” meaning only male or female flowers appear on each tree. Pussy willows grow to between 12 and 25 feet in height and spread to a maximum of 15 feet in width. To keep the plants as shrubs, cut back to the ground every three to five years. Plants prefer full to partial sun, abundant water and moist to wet, well-drained soils, but this willow will tolerate some dryness. Pussy willow is hardy in USDA zones 4 to 8.
  
  

Hibiscus (Rosa-Sinensis “Persimmon”)

• Hibiscus is a medium-sized evergreen shrub with woody stems and large, showy, rose pink flowers between May and September. Plants grow to a height of 6 to 10 feet and spread out to a maximum width of 8 feet. Hibiscus needs high humidity, is sensitive to frost and grows in USDA zones 10 to 11. Container planting and indoor wintering protects plants from hard freezes. Hibiscus enjoys fertile soils in locations with full sun to partial shade and needs protection from drafts and strong winds.