Plant Profile: Honesty (Lunaria annua)
Karen This biennial often grown as an annual is native to the Balkans and southwest Asia and is also called money plant, silver dollars, Chinese coins, and similar, because of its…
Pink Variegated Plants for the Garden
Variegated plants are always desirable in the garden for the long term color they provide. They draw the eye and can be used to move the eye around the garden,…
Plant Profile: Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum)
A native of Greece and western Asia, the opium poppy is the oldest poppy in cultivation, dating back to ancient Sumerian times, 4000 BC. The ancient Minoans, 2000-1450 BC, made…
Plant Profile: ‘Gage’s Shadow’ Perilla (Solenostemon x perilla)
A tall annual, ‘Gage’s Shadow’ perilla has purple green foliage that is a great backdrop for many plants especially pink flowered ones. It has excellent heat and humidity tolerance and…
Plant Profile: Godetia/Farewell to Spring (Clarkia amoena)
A native of Chile and western North America from San Francisco to British Columbia, this annual was named for Captain Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition fame. It thrives…
Plant Profile: Mexican Sunflower ‘Fiesta Del Sol’ (Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Fiesta del Sol’)
‘Fiesta del Sol’ is the first truly dwarf Mexican sunflower topping out at 2½’ instead of 5-6’ like other varieties. The plants thrive in heat and humidity, are drought tolerant,…
Plant Profile: Zahara ‘Starlight Rose’ Zinnia (Zinnia marylandica Zahara ‘Starlight Rose’)
If you have been browsing zinnias lately you may have noticed the bicolor ones. ‘Starlight Rose’ has 2½” flowers with white petals surrounding a rose center that grows more intense.…
Plant Profile: Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
There are few flowers that can light up a their surroundings like nasturtiums can. Their intensely colored flowers in red, yellow and orange add zip to any garden border and…
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: 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…