(Blue Ice Bluestar, Bluestar)

This is one of the best bluestars for the garden. Discovered at White Flower Farm in Connecticut, 'Blue Ice' is a dwarf hybrid that is believed to be a cross between among Amsonia tabernaemontana and Amsonia montana. It is a heavy-flowering, vigorous selection that looks good even after it has stopped blooming.

In spring this bushy perennial puts forth stems lined with linear green leaves that become covered with loose clusters of blue starry flowers. These are highly attractive...

(Hubricht's Bluestar)

This plant is beautiful in spring, summer and fall. Hubricht's bluestar is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial grown for both its beautiful flowers and foliage. This native of Arkansas and Oklahoma is tough, clump-forming and can become quite large over time.

In spring, clusters of five-petaled starry pale blue flowers appear with the first foliage. The dense upright stems are densely lined with very fine green leaves. These offer a soft ferny appearance to the garden throughout the rest...

(Willowleaf Eastern Bluestar)

Willow-leaved blue star is a vigorous herbaceous perennial prized for its size, distinctive fine texture, starry flowers, and its golden fall color. In spring, thin unbranched stems rise from the center of the roots. The inner stems grow upright while the outer stems lean slightly, giving the plant a spreading silhouette with a rounded crown. The willow-like leaves of this variety are much narrower than those of the species and grow almost at right angles to the stems, producing a resemblance to...

(Red Pineapple)

Closely related to the commercial pineapple, red pineapple is an evergreen, terrestrial perennial from southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. Plants form rosettes of erect, sword-shaped, olive-green leaves that blush red in full sun. Rosettes produce offsets at the base and between the leaves. When mature (about 18 months after propagation), the central rosette gives rise to a tall stout stem bearing an oval cluster of lavender flowers with large prickly red bracts. A plume of stiff...

(Variegated Red Pineapple)

Closely related to the commercial pineapple, red pineapple is an evergreen, terrestrial perennial from southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. Plants form rosettes of erect, sword-shaped, olive-green leaves that blush red in full sun. Rosettes produce offsets at the base and between the leaves. When mature (about 18 months after propagation), the central rosette gives rise to a tall stout stem bearing an oval cluster of lavender flowers with large prickly red bracts. A plume of stiff...

(Tricolor Red Pineapple, Variegated Ornamental Pineapple)

Closely related to the commercial pineapple, red pineapple is an evergreen, terrestrial perennial from southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. The cultivar 'Tricolor' (also known as 'Striatus') has rosettes of erect, sword-shaped, olive-green leaves with creamy margins and red spines. The rosettes produce offsets at the base and between the leaves. When mature (about 18 months after propagation), the central rosette gives rise to a tall stout stem bearing an oval cluster of lavender...

(Pineapple)

Who doesn’t love sweet, juicy pineapple? This popular fruit has been long cultivated in hot spots like Southeast Asia, Costa Rica and Hawaii. Believed to have originated from Brazil, pineapple had already been grown and selected by indigenous Americans before Europeans arrived in the 15th Century. Today no wild form is known, but many variable selections exist that differ in flavor quality, vigor and fruit size. Some have even been developed for their ornamental appeal.

Ananas comosus...

(Ivory Coast Pineapple, Variegated Pineapple)

A cultivar of pineapple grown for its colorful foliage rather than its edible fruit, 'Ivory Coast' is an evergreen, terrestrial, rosette-forming perennial whose erect, sword-shaped, olive-green leaves have creamy white, spineless edges. Mature specimens produce pyramidal clusters of small lavender flowers with showy pink bracts. These are borne atop a stout central stem in summer. The flowers give rise to fleshy amber or golden brown fruitlets that fuse into a large, cone-shaped pineapple. The fruit...

(Variegated Pineapple)

Variegated pineapple is a terrestrial bromeliad with a rosette of narrow evergreen leaves colored green, creamy yellow and a little pink. Nasty spines line the leaves, and protect the fleshy amber to golden brown fruit that rises on a central stalk. It is believed to be native to Brazil.

Variegated pineapple needs sunlight and a moist, well drained soil. Full sun promotes the light pink blushing on the leaves, although it is faint or simply not present. It loves humidity and moisture, but soggy...

(Bushy Beardgrass, Bushy Bluestem, Bushy Broom Grass)

Exceptionally showy in flower and once dried in autumn and winter, the fluffy and broom-like seed heads of bushy bluestem are worth inclusion in any garden. An upright, clumping perennial grass native to Central America and the West Indies, it will reseed itself in the landscape especially if soils are moist.

The upright grassy foliage is bluish green and semi-evergreen in very mild winter regions. From late summer to late winter, depending on climate, upright plumes of silvery white to light...