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Amsonia x Butterscotch™ brings a fresher, richer, healthier glow to a famous native perennial genus. Like Amsonia hubrichtii, Butterscotch™ is in constant graceful motion in the slightest breeze. It, too, has starry blue flowers in spring. And like its more famous sibling, its billowy masses of fine, rich green foliage segue to a beautiful golden autumn color. So how is it different? Let us recount the ways:■ Leaf Color: Butterscotch’s slim leaves take on a deeper, richer golden hue in fal

In perennials, true blue and true red can be hard to find. Some of the best examples of each are found in the same genus: Salvia. Salvia nemorosa Blue Hill (‘Blauhugel’) boasts one of the truest blue flowers you can grow. At maturity, it lives up to its name, forming neat, uniform mounds of sturdy blue spikes. Blue Hill’s size makes it a natural for the middle of the border. At retail, it makes good-looking gallons with minimal fuss. It’s not as well known as some other hardy Salvia varieti

Say Veronica, and many of us picture flower spikes rising a foot or two in mid-border. But another category of “speedwell” keeps a lower profile. These varieties charm as groundcovers and edging, or planted as a “spiller” in containers or beside stone walls. Here’s the lowdown.Veronica peduncularis ‘Georgia Blue’Mats of small round leaves disappear under a slathering of tiny blue flowers with white eye zones. The foliage turns dark green in summer, then bronze in fall. The name is from Eura

Cheerful, sun-loving and easy to grow – what’s not to like? Award-winning British breeder David Tristram (UK) gave the world’s gardeners many lovely varieties in multiple species. These two are probably his best-known and most widely-distributed work.‘Butterfly Blue’ was the Perennial Plant Association’s choice for Perennial Plant of the Year in 2000. ‘Pink Mist’ was bred specifically to keep it company. Both perform best in full sun, and in slightly moist but well-drained soil. Once establ

The word “Low” does not describe the height of this lovely, fragrant perennial. It stands 2½ – 3’, which makes it a good fit mid-border, or even back-of-the-border in smaller settings. It brings a cheerful, informal look to plantings of any size. Rather, the name honors the owner of the Irish garden where ‘Walker’s Low’ originated – where its soft mounds of gray-green foliage and loose spikes of lavender-blue flowers, from late spring well into summer, were first appreciated. ‘Walker’s