Independent gardening advice for real gardens, balconies and windowsills.
From pollinator borders to cutting gardens, discover flowers that bring colour, scent and life to every outdoor space.
(Lacinaria squarrosa; Liatris squarrosa of Gray) Thistle family Flower-heads - Composite, about 1 in. long, bright purple or rose purple, of tubular florets only, from an involucre of overlapping, rig...
(Castalia odorata; Nymphaea odorata of Gray) Water-lily family Flowers - Pure white or pink tinged, rarely deep pink, solitary, 3 to 8 in. across, deliciously fragrant, floating. Calyx of 4 sepals, gr...
(Limodorum tuberosum; Calopogon pulchellus of Gray) Orchid family Flowers - Purplish pink, 1 in. long, 3 to 15 around a long, loose spike. Sepals and petals similar, oval, acute; the lip on upper side...
(Pyrola rolundifolia) Wintergreen family Flowers - Very fragrant, white, in a spike; 6 to 20, nodding from an erect, bracted scape 6 to 20 in. high. Calyx 5-parted corolla, over 1/2 in. across, of 5 c...
(Lobelia cardinalis) Bellflower family Flowers - Rich vermilion, very rarely rose or white, 1 to 1 1/2 in, long, numerous, growing in terminal, erect, green-bracted, more or less 1-sided racemes. Caly...
(Parnassia Caroliniana) Saxifrage family Flowers - Creamy white, delicately veined with greenish, solitary, 1 in. broad or over, at the end of a scape 8 in. to 2 ft. high, 1 ovate leaf clasping it. Ca...
(Smilax herbacea) Smilax family Flowers - Carrion-scented, yellowish-green, 15 to 80 small, 6-parted ones clustered in an umbel on a long peduncle. Stem: Smooth, unarmed, climbing with the help of ten...
(Glecoma hederacea; Nepeta Glechoma of Gray) Mint family Flowers - Light bluish purple, dotted with small specks of reddish violet; growing singly or in clusters along stem, seated in leaf axils; caly...