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A native of the wild east of Washington state, this is one outlaw that couldn't escape the long arm of taxonomical law and its free-wheeling life as the impossible to spell Synthyris has ended in emasculation at the hands of all consuming Veronica. Cormac would weep. Nonetheless it's evergreen discs of boot-spur margined foliage and vivid purple gun-barrel flowers spikes will live on in garden legend.

One of the true stars of our new crevice garden this Turkish native may not be what you expect of a Veronica but certainly is what you expect of a first-rate garden plant. Slowly forms a glossy evergreen mat of tiny cut leaves that conjure up thoughts of ultra-skilled clockmakers or artists who craft on grains of rice. This alone makes it a worthwhile do-er but the all-encompassing eruption of botanical-blue star shaped flowers is the real charmer. These arrive beginning in Spring and are still chugging along, if not at full force, in October at the time of this writing. 

Native to Chile, this is in the Solanaceae and will become a 4'-6' evergreen shrub with drooping and narrowly tubular yellow flowers with long exserted stamens. The foliage is a bit unpleasant when crushed - and only then - which makes us think it will be deer proof. Has proved hardy outside in our PT frost pocket for a good decade now, may get cut back by the fiercest winters but bounds back quickly. Good for a sunny position and was given the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.

This natural hybrid of one of the classic South African bulb genera is endemic to Cape Province, and you'd be hard pressed to find it much further than that native range even in cultivation, luckily we have excellent connections like Michael Wickenden who generously shared it with us. Bladelike foliage, while nice, is unlikely to wow. The flowers however can grow in great spikes of up to 6 1/2 ft tall! Individual florets can come in red or pink and look rather similar to a more trumpeted Hesperantha, corollas flaring out to a star shaped opening. Prefers a Mediterranean climate and very well draining soil, can be pot-grown in a similarly draining mixture for those not living the riviera lifestyle.

Crazy fern that takes away the need to fuss of growing this from spore, as it makes a multitudinous panoply of ready-to-go plantlets on the leaves that will soon have you owning the corner in your 'hood dealing in fern babies. Remember, if it's a kid, the first one is free. Warmer gardens or indoors, mulch protect in zone 8 winters.This is often seen as W. orientalis in the trade but the pterido-prophets say the signs point to prolifer.