False Forget-Me-Not, True Garden Star

Once every couple of weeks I get an email from Terra Nova, the innovative plant breeder and wholesaler that has enriched the gardening world with scores of new, colorful garden perennials.  The most recent email announced the arrival of ‘Alexandria’, a new variety of Brunnera macrophylla or false forget-me-not. Common forget-me-nots or Myosotis scorpioides are … Read more

Pulmonaria

Every five or ten years the horticultural world goes through a vogue for patterned leaves.  Everything old is new again as gardeners snap up some of the flashier hostas, variegated weigelas, Japanese painted ferns and all manner of plants with splotched, splashed and marbled leaves.  Breeders pump out even more of them to meet the … Read more

Parlor Maple

Pity the poor parlor maple. It is not a maple tree by any stretch of the imagination and its days of houseplant stardom peaked back when people still had parlors. It’s a sad predicament for a lovely plant. The plant taxonomists will never assign parlor maples, more formally known as Abutilon x hybrida, to the … Read more