Funky, Fun Garden Plants

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, casting it
seeds or you'll soon discover it's family trait of
being in the thistle family, 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 nurserys. 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 hyacynths 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 They were about $1. a packet but the price
may have gone up. Please write and ask them. Enjoy!

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 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 just 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 or 7 feet high. It's
"flowers" are long, burgandy 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 puchased at a nursery.
Check out your local nursery for this wonderful family
of plants.

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