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A cracking plant originally collected in the Lydenburg District of Mpumalanga of South Africa and grown for years in the treasure house of Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden. This comes naturally from a fairly cold location and these plants have decent hardiness for an Agapanthus. Upright gray-green leaves lead the eye up and up to over 40" where the pale sky blue flower heads with large drooping individual florets are captivating. Not an easy plant to obtain here in the States.

Robust can often go without saying when it comes to mint relatives but this one really hits that sweet spot of pow and wham without the "I work alone" bullheadedness of thuggy culinary relatives and superheroes with poor social marks from their supergroups. A Hinkley collection from turkey which forms a nicely mounded clump of pleated arrowhead leaves topped off by bright pinky-purple flowerheads on foot tall stems. Happy in the sun and amidst both the probing antennae and the roving chompers of your local fauna. Easy and likeable, be a Superman not a Punisher.

There are many bigger and more impressive Uvularias and even more similar enough to pass the same tests. BUT. If I was a fairy, or a gnome, there are none that would match this one for planting priority. The perfect diminutive but not tiny size, drowsily nodding habit, and large cream yellow bells, all capped off with a painted margin of white just make this so incredibly charming in a children's book sort of way. Wood make for a truly idyllic groundcover in a woodland garden where all your local fae-folk friends live their merry or naughty lives outside the gaze of the plodding 'Big People', oh to live in such a world. 

This evergreen Solomon Seal mimic was collected in Taiwan by horticultural powerhouse Adam Black who graciously shared a plant with us some years ago.  Evergreen leaves on a low spreading plant with white flowers although severe cold events might turn evergreen to deciduous.  Pair this with fine-textured ferns, smaller Ophiopogon, Trillium or really, whatever floats your garden design boat.  Follow Adam on Instagram – he goes deep!

Ahh the beach, sun, salt, spray and....botanizing? What can we say we can't help ourselves, and locally when doing some beachside botanizing what is likely to draw you in is that perfect beach body, hairy and bigheaded, that's right we're talking Carex macrocephala, the big-headed sedge. Normal grassy sedges have edges leaves but with far more flower power than your average Carex. Rare in cultivation so sandy and well-draining if you want to be safe, but will likely tolerate a wide range of conditions like its brethren.