Blueberry “Sunshine Blue Dwarf” – Vaccinium corymbosum Origin: North America “One morning as I was drinking my first cup of coffee of the day, I looked out the window to find a couple of birds jumping up and down around…

Variegated Sedum – Sedum Alboroseum mediovariegatum Origin:  USA This Sedum hybrid will definitely get you in the mood for Valentines Day. Why? Because butterflies love this plant! It’s a new variation of an old standard perennial groundcover. The striking variegated…

  Norfolk Pine – Araucaria heterophylla Origin: Norfolk Island (in the Southern Pacific Ocean, east of Australia) These little living Christmas trees appear often in the post-holidays sales blow-outs. So if you are looking for a fairly easy to grow…

Variegated Shell Ginger – Alpinia zerumbet variegata Origin – Asia This easy to grow, easy to propagate ginger is a member of the largest genus in the Zingiberacae family. It’s yellow, cream and green leaves make it a strikingly attractive…

Persian Shield – Strobialanthus dyerianus Origin – Burma Simply put, this perennial plant is pure eye candy. Its long leaves are iridescent shades of purple, lilac and pink. As if those colors aren’t awesome enough, the Persian Shield looks like…

      Lime Basil –  Ocimum americanum   Origin – United States of America Now that we are getting into autumn, it’s time to be setting your windowsill garden  to spice up those long winter days for you and…

Spicy Puerto Rican No-Burn Pepper – Capsicum annuum Origin – South America This is probably the longest, most convoluted  name that I’ve ever included as a featured plant. But I couldn’t get through a summer without talking about at least…

Japanese Striped Maize – Zea mays japonica Origin – See below The origins of this striking maize with its dramatic cream, green, and raspberry-pink striped foliage is the subject of some debate. In the Gardener’s Chronicle of 1866, this variety…

Alpine Strawberry – Fragaria vesca Origin – Cousin of the wild strawberry found in Europe, Western Asia,  North America, and temperate areas of Chile.    These lovely little plants fruit their first summer, producing small elongated berries with a very…

  Lemon Catnip – Nepeta cataria v. citrata Origin: Variation of the heirloom catnip. Developed in Holland  These lemon-scented leaves get a big non-opposable thumbs-up from our resident catnip expert, Mini-Me. You can use them dried or fresh from the…

 Dandelion – Taraxacum officinale Origin: Northern Temperate Zone No, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke, I’m serious! Although now days many folks consider this a #@%& weed, it has been valued as a tasty harbinger of  Spring and medicinal herb…