(Albanian Pink, Mountain Pink Dianthus)

The fine, blue-green foliage of Albanian pink provides a beautiful foil to its summer display of flowers. This diminutive, mat-forming perennial hails from the Balkan Peninsula of southeastern Europe. It forms a dense, evergreen tuft of needle-like leaves topped with many small, brilliant, dark-pink flowers in late spring to early summer. The flowers bloom on short stems just above the foliage and attract bees and butterflies.

Grow this gem of a perennial in full to part sun and gritty, sharply...

(Firecracker Flower)

Clusters of tubular, multi-colored flowers on a tall, thin stem in early summer is firecracker flower's claim to fame. An herbaceous perennial that grows from a corm (a rounded storage root), it is native to the coastal grasslands and woodland edges of northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. After flowering it needs a warm, dry period for its corms to harden and then foliage to go dormant.

The foliage is yellow-green to medium green and strap-like grassy in form. In late spring to midsummer,...

(Silver Dichondra, Silver Ponysfoot)

Dichondra is a low-maintenance, creeping or trailing plant native to the southwestern United States. It is an evergreen perennial in warm climates but is often used as an annual in frost-prone climates. The flowers are small and insignificant. The leaves are heart-shaped to kidney-shaped and attached to long, trailing stems. This vigorously fast growing plant can grow very long in just one season.

Dichondra is very heat and drought tolerant and requires well-drained soil and full sun. Use it...

(Dichondra, Silver Falls Dichondra, Silver Ponysfoot)

Dichondra is a low-maintenance, creeping or trailing plant native to the southwestern United States. It is an evergreen perennial in warm climates but is often used as an annual in cooler, frost-prone climates. The flowers are small and insignificant. The leaves of 'Silver Falls' are heart-shaped, covered with soft, silver hairs and attached to long, trailing stems. This vigorously fast growing plant can grow very long in just one season.

Silver Falls dichondra is very heat and drought tolerant...

(Bush Honeysuckle, Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle, Northern Bush Honeysuckle)

A compact, adaptable plant for many dry garden applications, the tiny yellow-orange fragrant blossoms and the yellowish fall foliage display of the northern bush honeysuckle are pleasing. A mounding deciduous shrub, it's native to drier woodlands from southern Canada to North Carolina and Iowa in the United States. It is rather short-lived shrub and grows from spreading rhizomes (underground stems), often naturally rejuvenating after fires in pine woodlands.

The oval lance-like leaves emerge...

(Spanish Foxglove, Sunset Foxglove, Willow-leaved Foxglove)

The narrow or willow-leaved foxglove is a semi-woody perennial with more linear leaves that standard foxgloves and spikes of bright pretty sunset-hued bells that appear in late spring to summer. This exceptionally long-lived foxglove is an evergreen perennial that comes from the montane regions of Spain. It will bloom for an extended period of time and is quite drought tolerant once established.

The leaves of this clump-forming foxglove are linear, dark green and thick. In late spring and midsummer...

(Hairy Crabgrass)

A common weed of lawns, ornamental plantings, vegetable gardens and all disturbed areas, hairy crabgrass is known by all who dig in the dirt. Native to Eurasia, this invasive grass now grows worldwide in temperate and tropical zones as a common weed. (However, it is less common in the southeastern United States.) A heat-loving annual, crabgrass thrives in heat of summer and produces loads of seed in one season. Fortunately, it's fairly easy to weed out and manage.

Hairy crabgrass is a low-growing,...

(African Daisy, Cape-marigold, Star-of-the-veldt)

A pretty South African daisy that bursts with flowers in white, yellow, orange or pink, cape-marigold is a fantastic bedding annual that prospers in dry sun and warmth. An upright tender perennial that often grow as an annual flower, the blossoms usually have a purple-brown center disc.

The fragrant foliage is mid-green in color and are lance-like with coarse teeth. In the warmth of summer, so long as the soil is not overly wet, each plant produces many daisies that will attract butterflies and...

(Cape-marigold, Sunshine™ Orange African Daisy)

A pretty South African daisy that bursts with flowers in white, yellow, orange or pink, cape-marigold is a fantastic bedding annual that prospers in dry sun and warmth. An upright tender perennial that often grow as an annual flower, the blossoms usually have a purple-brown center disc.

The fragrant foliage is mid-green in color and are lance-like with coarse teeth. In the warmth of summer, so long as the soil is not overly wet, each plant produces many daisies that will attract butterflies and...

(Sunshine™ African Daisy, Sunshine™ Cape-marigold)

A pretty South African daisy that bursts with flowers in white, yellow, orange or pink, cape-marigold is a fantastic bedding annual that prospers in dry sun and warmth. An upright tender perennial that often grow as an annual flower, the blossoms usually have a purple-brown center disc.

The fragrant foliage is mid-green in color and are lance-like with coarse teeth. In the warmth of summer, so long as the soil is not overly wet, each plant produces many daisies that will attract butterflies and...