Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Salvia argentea

Family: Lamiaceae

(B) to 3′.  Silver Sage.  Southern Europe, Portugal to Bulgaria.  This biennial or short-lived perennial is grown mostly for its two to three-foot wide silver basal rosettes of woolly, wrinkled foliage in its first year.  However, the two to three foot tall spikes of tubular, hooded, white flowers are attractive too, but the main appeal are the rosettes.  May self-sow gently.  Excellent for gravel gardens and drought-resistant plantings.  Blooms spring to summer.  Full sun.  Average, well-drained soil.  4 & T3

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Nigella damascena 'Miss Jekyll Blue'

Family: (Ranunculaceae)

(A) to 18″.  Love-in-a-Mist.  South Europe.  Soft, many-petalled, sky blue flowers are surrounded by curved, feathery bracts.  Upright stems covered with delicate, fern-like foliage make the blossoms appear to be floating on a misty green bed.  Fawn-coloured, inflated, papery seedheads are attractive when dried.  Sun.  3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Trachelium caeruleum

Family: (Campanulaceae)

(A or TP) to 3′.  Blue Throatwort.  Mediterranean.  Large, umbellate clusters on upright stems bear many small, five-petalled flowers dotted with a white exserted style that looks like a tiny white pin.  The flowers are a vibrant violet and lightly scented.  Attractive dark foliage is toothed with purple veins. A long bloomer that makes a great cut flower.  Sun with afternoon shade.  Well-drained soil.  4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Echium vulgare

Family: (Boraginaceae)

(B) to 3-½’.  Viper’s Bugloss.  Europe.  Rosettes of slender, bristly foliage from which arise many stout flowering spikes with funnel-shaped flowers along their length.  The buds start off pink, then the five-petalled flowers turn the most exquisite shades of intense blue to violet with five protruding red stamens.  As the flowers fade, they become tinged with crimson. Viper’s Bugloss is one of the best plants to attract bees to your garden by producing nectar throughout the day unlike most plants which only produce nectar for a short period of time.  Sun.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Dianthus knappii

Family: (Caryophyllaceae)

(B/P) to 16″.  A unique, yellow flowered Dianthus native to scrubby hillsides and dry, grassy meadows in the Western Balkans.  Dense, terminal clusters of soft lemon yellow flowers on slender, nodding stems.  Loose, grassy clumps of narrow, pale green foliage.  A short-lived perennial that often dies after blooming, best treated as biennial.  Blooms in midsummer.  Well-drained soil.  Sun/partial shade.  4 & T2

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Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Digitalis purpurea

Family: (Plantaginaceae)

(B) to 2-3′.  The Foxglove, a charming British native.  Rosy violet bells open wide to show off speckled interiors.  An old-fashioned ‘must’ for the cottage garden.  Great in the woodland or flower garden too.  Self-sows.  Moist soil.  Partial shade.  4 & T2

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): 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

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Dianthus japonicus

Family: (Caryophyllaceae)

(B/P) to 2′.  Hama-nadeshiko, Japanese Dianthus.  Japan and East Asia.  From lush rosettes of thick, glossy, narrowly ovate basal leaves emerge leafy stalks topped with dense clusters of vivid rosy-purple, five-petalled, toothed blooms.  Extremely floriferous the second year from seed and may be somewhat biennial.  Persistent winter foliage develops attractive, rich burgundy overtones.  Not your typical “Pink.”  Blooms midsummer till fall.  Well-drained soil.  Sun.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Mirabilis jalapa Salmon

Family: (Nyctaginaceae)

(A/TP) to 3′.  Four o’Clock, Marvel of Peru.  A lovely selection that is perfect in our Peach Bed of the Flower Garden.  Bright green foliage and delightful salmon flowers with a pink centre.  Sun/partial shade.  4 & T3