Plant Profile: Leadwort (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides)
Karen Plumbago is at the top of my list for ground covers blooming late in the season. It starts in mid summer with its vivid blue flowers and continues well into…
Plant Profile: Dwarf Black Fountain Grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Moudry’)
A small mound of glossy, bright green foliage begins to grow in the spring; by August the mound is a couple of feet tall, cascading, and has long black foxtails…
Plant Profile: Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundiolia)
When I stand next to my flowering Mexican sunflower plant I feel like Jack with his beanstalk. The plant towers over me and grew to such heights in just a…
Plant Profile: Fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hameln’)
I have two plants of fountain grass ‘Hameln’, one on either side of the stairs leading to my formal garden. Growth starts in spring, by June the plants are looking…
Plant Profile: Bluebeard (Caryopteris x clandonensis)
Bluebeard seems to be the most frequently used common name but two others are blue spirea or blue mist, both of which seem more descriptive. Whatever you call it, this…
Plant Profile: Star flower (Pentas lanceolata)
I had never heard of pentas until I came to North Carolina a few years ago and now I hear about them, read about them and see them everywhere. They…
Plant Profile: Hardy Verbena (Verbena x hybrida)
Chuck Every year I look forward to seeing the two large patches of hardy verbena that I have at one entrance to my formal garden. I grow the cultivar ‘Homestead Purple’…
Plant Profile: Bush Violet (Browallia speciosa)
Bush violet is an old fashioned plant that looks just right in my secret garden with other old fashioned plants that are right at home in a cottage garden. It…
Plant Profile: Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) ‘Strawberry Fields’
Globe amaranth is an annual in the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae, that also includes Russian thistle, beet, and spinach. Native to Texas and Mexico, it grows 1-3′ tall, depending on the…
Plant Profile: Mock Orange Miniature Snowflake (Philadelphus x virginalis ‘Miniature Snowflake’)
The clear white flowers of mock orange ‘Miniature Snowflake’ standout against the crisp dark green foliage and the citrus fragrance perfumes the air all around it as spring turns into…