Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Dianthus barbatus 'Albus'

Family: (Caryophyllaceae)

(B/A) to 18″.  Sweet William.  South Europe.  This old-fashioned favourite has long-lasting mini carnation-like flowers with a spicy, clove-like fragrance that wafts in the air.  The five petalled flowers have wonderfully serrated edges and are borne in dense clusters of up to 30 at the top of the stems and occur in a variety of colours including white. Glaucous green to blue-green, tapered leaves form a low and spreading mat.  Sun. 4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Anoda cristata var. albiflora

Family: (Malvaceae)

(A/TP) to 3′.  Blooming from June until frost, pure white, satiny, mallow-esque flowers are accented by large triangular leaves.  Never needs deadheading.  This Central American and West Indian native prefers poor soil.  Sun.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Euonymus carnosus

Family: (Celastraceae)

Deciduous shrub to 12′.  Fleshy-flowered Spindletree.  Taiwan.  A special Euonymus noted for its excellent ornamental qualities.  Fragrant creamy-white flowers in showy, dense corymbs of 5 to 8 flowers, dangle from long pedicels over a long bloom period from spring into summer.  Glossy, waxy-looking, elliptic to ovate, dark green leaves up to seven inches long are notable throughout summer.  In late summer, coral-red fruit capsules develop which split open to reveal fleshy, orange arils that encase the seeds.  The leaves turn deep-red to burgundy-purple colour in late autumn, followed by smooth grey bark in winter after leaf drop.  You cannot go wrong with this all-season show-stopper.  Full sun to partial shade. 3 & 6

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Campanula rigidipila

Family: (Campanulaceae)

(P) to 12″.  This rare plant is the world’s most southerly occurring Campanula from Ethiopia and the Kenyan highlands.  From a clump of thick, triangular, hairy, grey-green leaves, arise strong, erect stems carrying pale buds that open to lovely, clear blue bells with flared tips edged with white hairs.  Summer-blooming.  Sun.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Yucca smalliana

Family: (Asparagaceae)

(P) to 4′.  Bear Grass Yucca. Southern North America.  This Yucca is similar in many ways to the more popular Adam’s Needle (Yucca filamentosa), however smaller in stature.  Also, the leaves are finer, flatter, and narrower with smoother leaf margins, except for the occasional thread-like fibres.  The flowers are opalescent white and may at times have a light pink-tinge.  Yuccas will form a small colony over time from basal offsets.  Well-drained soil.  Sun.  3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Agastache nepetoides

Family: (Lamiaceae)

(P) to 5′.  Yellow Giant Hyssop.  South Canada to Southeast US.  Whorls of tiny, greenish-yellow flowers closely packed into five-inch terminal spikes appear on stiff, square stems. Toothed, arrowhead-shaped leaves are up to five inches long. Whilst the leaves lack the strong smell like other species in the mint family, the bitterness of its leaves make it deer resistant.  Tolerant of summer heat and humidity, this late summer bloomer is a favourite of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.  Grows best in rich, open woodlands. Sun/partial shade.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Ixiolirion tataricum subsp. pallasii

Family: (Ixioliriaceae)

Hardy bulb to 16″.  Lavender Mountain Lily.  Asia minor, Afghanistan and Syria circa 1821. This deer- and-rodent resistant naturalizer has slender stems topped with loose umbels of a dozen or so flowers that range from light to deep violet-blue flowers with paler mid-veins and grass-like foliage. They start funnel-shaped and then open into large star-shaped flowers. It makes a terrific cut flower.  Sun, well-drained soil.  A star at the Order Beds.  Blooms late-spring.  3 and 40º for 2-3 months, then T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Dianthus carthusianorum

Family: (Caryophyllaceae)

(P) to 2′.  Cluster-head Pink.  Native to sunny hillsides and dry meadows throughout central and southern Europe.  Dianthus carthusianorum was named to commemorate the monks of the Carthusian order, founded in the 11th century in the Chartreuse Valley in the French Alps.  Dense, terminal clusters of five-petalled, toothed, pinkish purple flowers on slender, airy stems.  Grassy clumps of narrow, pale grey-green foliage adds to the charm.  Blooms in midsummer.  Well-drained soil.  Sun.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Amsonia elliptica

Family: (Apocynaceae)

(P) to 18″.  Dwarf Oriental Blue-Star.  China, Japan, and Korea.  Amsonia elliptica makes a bushy mound of tight-clumped, upright stems topped with starry, five-petalled, porcelain-blue flowers in early June. The glossy green, broad, grass-like leaves make an excellent backdrop for other garden plants during the summer.  In fall the foliage turns a glowing yellow to orange.  A great Amsonia for the small garden with a good display of flowers and excellent autumn colour.  Sun/partial shade.  3, 7 for 4 weeks, then T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Ipomoea lobata (syn. Mina lobata)

Family: (Convolvulaceae)

Annual vine to 10′.  Spanish Flag or Firecracker Vine.  Mexico.  An excellent, vigorous, twining vine with attractive, tri-lobed leaves and single-sided, six-inch long racemes of tubular flowers held on slender red stems.  The flowers gently arc upward and outward, away from the vine, and mature from red to pale yellow, creating a gradient from the top to the base of the raceme. Blooms freely from mid to late summer until frost. The flowers are highly attractive to hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators. A show-stopper on a tripod.  Sun.  1, 2B, 3 & T3