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Of the 18 rice varieties being trialed at the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, some are green, some have flowered or display curved golden panicles heavy with grains.

By summer, the dark green leaves provide a foil for pyramidal panicles of white flowers that gradually age to pink.

In its natural form, Mr. Hinkley said, the typical hydrangea flower can be either a flattened lacecap or a cone-shaped panicle, “both possessing the sterile florets that act as notice to passing pollinators.”

Grandiflora is the classic and hulking variety, but others have been developed for a more refined habit and attractive flower panicles.

The sterling tree of the moment is the yellowwood, a medium-size shade tree with beechlike gray bark, a pleasing symmetric outline and panicles of delicate but showy white flowers that announce its leguminous clan.