From top: 'Bay Breeze' Indian Hawthorne, Cordyline 'Red Sensation' and Diablo ninebark.

Customers at Wells-Medina in Bellevue are often looking primarily for foliage color and texture, and the nursery stocks plenty of shrubs that fit the bill. A new upright golden barberry (Berberis thunbergii 'Pow Wow') may or may not take full sun (too new to know), grows to 4 to 5 feet, with a bright golden spring color that fades to a creamy green by midsummer.

One of the newer Phormiums from New Zealand is 'Platt's Black,' with narrow leaves and near-black spiky blades. This sought-after shade of dusky foliage is the reason to track down Nandina 'Plum Passion,' whose lacy leaves are purplish-red. Diablo ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius), a broadleaf deciduous shrub that grows 9 to 12 feet high, has creamy-white flowers, with maple-like leaves that come on purple and stay dark, especially in full sun, all summer long.

Instead of that all-too-familiar green cordyline in the center of pots, you might seek out C. 'Red Sensation,' which sports a display of darkly red spikes. Or for yellow spikes, there is the slow-growing, hardy Yucca filamentosa 'Golden Sword,' striped in hot yellow, for sun or shade. For one of the prettiest pink flowers I've seen, take a look at Rhaphiolepis indica 'Bay Breeze,' an Indian hawthorne hardy to 10 to 15 degrees, slow-growing to 3 feet, with evergreen foliage tinted bronze in springtime. And those gorgeous pink flowers are fragrant.

For those who covet the filigreed foliage and fall color of a mountain ash but don't have space for it, Tanya DeMarsh at Emery's Garden Nursery in Lynnwood suggests Sorbus americana 'Red Cascade,' a diminutive copy of the larger tree. It has white-clustered flowers, red berries and yellow fall foliage burnished with orange, topping out at only 20 to 30 feet high. She also admires the foliage and form of the weeping native Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla `Thorsens'), which tolerates shade, forms a mound if left unstaked, or can be trained upright.

Our native mock orange Philadelphus lewisii now has a named form, 'Blizzard,' with a long bloom period and fragrant white, single flowers. Spirea thunbergii 'Ogon' has delicate narrow foliage in pure yellow, growing to 4 to 6 feet high.

City People's Garden Store in the Madison Valley stocks Sambucus racemosa 'Sutherland Gold,' whose new reddish foliage turns golden and doesn't scorch in the sun, as well as the dwarf Abelia 'Sunrise,' which has handsome variegated foliage in soft, warm shades. Its wide selection of hebes includes 'Broughton's Dome,' with little green leaves and pale blue flowers June through August; 'Amy', with shiny purple foliage; and 'James Sterling,' which has upright, rusty-orange foliage resembles a finely textured little juniper.

Now In Bloom Variegated Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegata') has bright green arches of foliage edged in white to match the dangling bells of its pale, fragrant flowers. It likes shade and woodsy soil, and spreads by rhizomes.

Molbak's in Woodinville is carrying eight to 10 different varieties of tree peonies grown on their own roots (usually they're grafted onto the roots of perennial peonies), which should make them sturdier.

Its rose buyer touts a rose exclusive this year to Molbak's, 'Comtesse de Provence,' a hybrid tea with glossy foliage, continual bloom and sweetly perfumed coral pink flowers. If you're in the market for roses, you might seek out 'Growing Peace,' one of the All-American rose selections for 2001, a bushy floribunda with gold-and-orange-blended flowers, and burgundy autumn foliage. Another selection is 'Sun Sprinkles,' a miniature that grows only 18 to 24 inches tall with fragrant, double yellow flowers. 'Penny Lane' is a honey-champagne-pearl-colored climber that won Rose of the Year in England in 1998 but is just now debuting in the U.S.

Advance Notice: For a wide selection of ferns, as well as advice from the experts, check out the Hardy Fern Foundation Festival and Sale on Friday, June 1, 1 to 4 p.m., and Saturday, June 2, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Center for Urban Horticulture, 3501 N.E. 41st St., Seattle. Details: www.hardyferns.org.

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian and writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine. She is the co-author of "Artists in Their Gardens" from Sasquatch Books. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com. Barry Wong is a Seattle Times staff photographer.