I have a love for funky, fun and unique garden plants.
Here's one to try. It's called Sea Holly, and it's actually in the thistle
family. Sea Holly is a perennial garden plant, which means you plant it once and
it comes up year after year, somewhat depending on your climate. This plant
never did fail to bring attention And comments from people seeing my garden. It
grows about 3-4 feet high, very branchy and the branches are a brilliant
electric blue color. It's stunning!
The only drawback to this lovely plant, in the fall you
must cut it to the ground and burn or compost the plant. Do not let it go longer
than that, or it will be casting seeds and you'll soon discover it's family
trait of being a thistle, if you know what I mean. The following spring, it'll
come back again to it's beauty.
It is an easy plant to grow and does best with full sun, or
as much sun as is available to you. I live in the Pacific Northwest, U.S.A. so
we get a lot of rain and fairly mild summers and yet it seems to be enough for
this plant. You can search for Sea Holly seeds in seed catalogs or sometimes you
can find it in some nurseries. An internet search would surely find you a source
for this lovely plant.
I thought I'd let you know about one of the coolest, funky
plants for outdoors I've ever run across. It's called Evening Scented Stock, it
is NOT the common stock, however. This is an annual plant, that needs to
be sown early spring, directly into the soil where it is to bloom and grow. I
recommend planting it nearby windows and doors, porches, etc. This plant really
doesn't look like much in and of itself, it's not a pretty plant per se..but
when about 5:00 PM rolls around watch it do its stuff!
This plant has a VERY powerful fragrance similar to
hyacinths or lilacs. At the gentlest breeze it sends a waft of fragrance to die
for. This is why it's so excellent to plant near a window, door or pathway. When
you open up your screen in the evening, this will scent your entire house. One
place that I have found the seeds for this rare plant is at Fragrant Path, PO
Box 328, Fort Calhoun, NE 68023.
Here's another one to try. This one is called Autumn
Crocus. In this case you can tell a lot by it's name. You generally purchase it
as a bulb, which are usually quite large. It does return year after year without
needing to re-plant it. In the spring it shoots up a lot of foliage, this is
preparing the plant for it's autumn blooms, be sure to just leave this alone.
Come about mid June or so, this foliage starts looking like it's dying, again
just leave it be. In late August/early September, when most of the flowers are
past their prime and the garden is starting to look sparse, out comes the Autumn
Crocus, with their beautiful lilac colored blooms. They bloom for quite a long
time when few things are blooming. A fun plant, give it a try!
This one is an annual (only lives 1 growing season) plant
called Love Lies Bleeding. It's as strange as it's name. It is very easy to
grow. You simply direct seed it in the soil (full sun preferably) where it is to
grow in the spring. It's height seems to vary greatly. I've seen it be as small
as about 2 feet high, and reach up to 6 or7 feet high. It's "flowers" are long,
burgundy colored ropes that hang. It is simply stunning. Always gets attention!
It will usually re-seed itself so you'll get new plants the following year
without doing anything. It's best to try to find this seed in an unusual type
seed catalog. It is in the amaranth family.
Here's the last one. Ever tried the hellebore family?
There are many varieties. They are perennial which means they come back year
after year. These are best planted in shady areas, but where they will get sun
in the winter, like under leafed trees or something of that nature. What is so
unusual about hellebores is that they Bloom somewhere between Dec. and March.
There are very few plants that do that! One variety is called a Christmas Rose.
It's quite striking to see flowers in the midst sometimes of snow.
These plants usually must be purchased at a nursery.
Check out your local nursery for this wonderful family of plants.
