• The azalea is a popular ornamental landscaping plant.ULTRA.F/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  Found indoors as houseplants or outdoors in the garden, ornamental plants serve as feasts for the eye. Choose popular varieties to accent your home or landscaping. Before deciding on an outdoor ornamental plant, make sure it grows well in your climate. Some container-grown ornamental plants may spend warm weather on a deck or patio and overwinter indoors.
  
  

Azalea

• Easy to care and maintain in the garden, these spring-blooming bushes are perennial favorites. According to the Azalea Society of America, bloom times vary from early spring to midsummer, depending on the type of azalea. Evergreen azalea colors include red, white and lavender, while deciduous varieties also include yellows and oranges. Some types are bicolor, with two colors in the individual blossom. With all types, the entire plant blooms at the same time, lasting approximately two weeks.
  
  

Roses

• Known as the queen of flowers, roses are among the most popular of ornamental plants. Choose from a variety of sizes and colors of these fragrant flowers. Indoors, miniature roses grow well in full sun. Outside, climbing roses accent fences or trellises, while shrub roses can make a flowery hedge or landscape plant. Grow hybrid tea roses for cutting and displaying in vases. According to the American Rose Society, among the easiest varieties to grow in the rose garden are the pink and nearly thorn-free Reine Victoria, the yellow Lady Banks rose and the white Sombreuil tea rose.
  
  

Oleander

• The popularity of this ornamental plant dates back to biblical times, according to the International Oleander Society. Planted In the garden or kept as houseplants in containers, flowering oleanders come in dozens of colors. Some varieties are quite fragrant, while others have little odor. While beautiful, oleanders can be toxic if ingested, so they may be unsuitable in environments with small children or pets.
  
  

Ornamental Grasses

• Increasingly popular landscape choices, ornamental grasses fall into cool- and warm-season types. Cool-season grasses, growing right after winter passes, may remain somewhat evergreen. These species include blue oat grass, fescue and tufted hair grass. Warm-season grasses, including Japanese silver grass, switch grass and northern sea oat, do not require as much regular division in the landscape to remain healthy and in good appearance as their cool-grass cousins.