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Echinacea purpurea and hybridsOf all the native plants that have gone from America’s prairies to the world’s gardens, few have a history to rival that of the purple coneflower.For many years gardeners had two choices: Pinky-purple, and Not-quite-white. Then came 2002, when breeder Jim Ault of Chicago introduced the first orange and yellow hybrids. That was the genus’s Big Bang, and like the universe, it’s still expanding.Now, you can have your “purple” coneflowers in myriad hues, solids and bi c

Indigenous American grasses aren’t just for native plant enthusiasts. Tough and carefree, clump-forming, warm-season “switch grass” is perfectly at home in any sunny landscape. Its surprisingly formal-looking upright habit works in masses, or as specimens punctuating the perennial border.Panicum virgatum Ruby Ribbons™ (‘RR1’) PP17944Bred at the University of Connecticut, Ruby Ribbons™ comes by its good looks honestly. One of its parents is the best-selling ‘Heavy Metal’. Ruby Ribbons™ was select

Geography Lessons in the GardenA good mixed perennial garden can be a trip around the world – or at least across a continent or two. Today’s tour involves a plant whose name sounds deceptively like a land it did NOT come from. Nepeta kubanica Neptune (‘Bokratune’ PP29556)Is that a funky way to spell Cuba, land of cigars and Castro? Nyet! The specific epithet refers to “big-leaf catmint’s” ancestral home on the Kuban Peninsula in Southern Russia, on the Black Sea. This particular beauty was bred

So you think Latin names are difficult, you silly English-speaking person? Hah!Let’s examine first a popular perennial, then the less-familiar story behind its name. GaillardiaA backbone of the sunny garden, “blanket flower” is known and loved world-wide for its array of bright, cheerful, often bicolor blooms.Complex daisy-like flowers feature a plethora of petals with toothy, pointed or fluted tips. Puffy gold/red centers remain attractive and interesting even after petals fade. As you mig

Purple is such a striking hue, Rome once decreed that only the emperor could wear it. But it’s also one of Nature’s favorite colors. She bestowed it lavishly upon numerous genera in the plant kingdom and even some in the animal (think birds and fish).Verbena ‘Homestead Purple’ straddles the annual/perennial line: Technically it’s a perennial, but it’s tender enough that in northern climes, it’s used as an annual and replaced each year.Whichever way works in your zone, it’s a worthy addition to t