Browse Plants

Butterfly bushes are carefree deciduous shrubs that are reliably fragrant and easy to grow. Butterflies swarm to their blooms all summer long. 'Lochinch' has extremely fragrant lilac-blue flowers with orange eyes. It is a cross between B. davidii and B. fallowiana. Its arching, mounded habit typically reaches 3 to 5 feet in one season, but can grow much taller in the deep South. The 8-  to 12-inch-long flower spikes begin in late summer and bloom until frost, starting a little later than the B. davidii cultivars.

Butterflies can’t resist this fast-growing shrub! The gorgeous, bi-colored blooms are wonderfully-fragrant and unattractive to pesky deer. Best of all, it begins blooming in midsummer, when gardens need an extra jolt of color. -American Meadows

Butterfly bushes are carefree deciduous shrubs that are reliably fragrant and easy to grow. Butterflies swarm to their blooms all summer long. 'Black Knight' has deep purple-blue, almost black, flowers in elongated clusters on arching branches to 10 feet tall if not cut back, and half that size if cut back. The blooms come from early summer to first frost. The foliage is willow-like and grayish green.

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'Longwood Blue' is ideal for a mixed or shrub border. It's an attractive woody shrub up to 3 feet tall and 5 feet wide with silvery leaves and violet-blue flowers.. The flowers appear along the stems in late summer and early autumn.This plant is relatively drought tolerant and very heat tolerant. The shrub expands as branches that touch the ground form their own roots and may self-seed.

'Jason' has bright yellow-green foliage with rich amethyst blue flowers in late summer and fall. It's a vigorous grower for a mixed border or mass planting in sunny areas.

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This clump-forming perennial has deep to mid-green leaves and dense clusters of small white, pale rose-pink, or dark crimson flowers in long, slender stems. It blooms from late spring to late summer.

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A wonderful hybrid derived from Cestrum diurnum and C. nocturnum, 'Orange Peel' is a veritable living bouquet of pure orange blossoms that, in warmer climates, begin with the first mild days in spring and last until the first hard frost. The tubular flowers have no fragrance during the day, but as soon as the sun sets, a sweet scent lingers in the air. In Zones 8 and warmer, 'Orange Peel' will be a deciduous shrub 6 feet tall and wide. In Zone 7, it will act as a die-back perennial and easily reach 3 to 5 feet tall and wide during the growing season. In colder zones, it makes an incredible summer-blooming annual.

A hardy perennial, chamomile has aromatic, threadlike leaves that fill the air with a pleasing apple-pineapple scent. White, daisylike blooms appear in summer. The cultivar 'Treneague' is valued because it does not flower, making an attractive lawn. 'Flore Pleno' has double flowers showier than those of the species.

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This species is grown for its billowy clusters of fragrant white blossoms, which appear in May or June. The erect clusters are more substantial than C. virginicus, and open at the same time as the leaves. Female specimens produce blue-black fruits in autumn.

This North American native is unrivaled in beauty for its pendulous and diaphanous clusters of fragrant white blossoms, which appear in May or June. The individual blossoms are made up of four petals that dangle from threadlike stems in great silken clusters. The leaves are late to emerge in the spring, and this species flowers before leafing out. Female specimens produce blue-black fruits in autumn.

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Yellowwood is a vase-shaped spreading tree with dark green foliage that turns a delicate yellow or orange in the fall and smooth light gray bark. Breathtaking, pendulous, foot-long, wisteria-like clusters of fragrant white flowers appear in late spring and early summer, often in alternate years.

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This deciduous, late-flowering twining vine with deep green leaves and profuse, fragrant white flowers is easy to grow and will thrive and bloom in shade. Star-shaped blossoms are 1 inch across, appearing from late August to October and maturing to attractive, plume-like seed heads. The shiny green foliage is leathery.

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This large shrub offers a late-summer display of jasmine-like white flowers encased in red tepals and scent. Bright blue berries in autumn are accented by conspicuous bright, pinkish-red calyxes.

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A chocolate scented flower! Dark red-brown, sometimes almost black, velvety flowers on long, slender, reddish brown stems bloom from early summer to autumn. Chocolate cosmos is a tuberous-rooted, tender perennial native to Mexico that can be overwintered indoors where not hardy. Grow in a border or in containers where the flowers can be appreciated up close. They also make good cut flowers.

This small shrub to 3-4 feet tall and wide blooms from late spring to fall with a liberal sprinkling of small, white, highly fragrant flowers over grey-green leaves that form a fine-textured mound. This shrub is semi-evergreen. It will retain some of its leaves in winter, though in colder climates it may be completely deciduous.

Datura metel grows 3 to 4 feet tall with large dark green leaves that have a bad smell. However, the large trumpet-shaped flowers have a sweet fragrance that spreads throughout the garden in the morning and evening. Flowers may be single or double and range from white and yellow to pink and purple.

Dianthus 'Bath's Pink' is a stunning, wide-spreading ground cover with grassy, blue-green foliage and pink flowers. Use it to edge a bed or grow it in your rock garden for a splash of cool color. To keep its blooms going, be sure to deadhead.

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This hybrid has a compact, mounding habit, with silvery-blue foliage and fluorescent pink toothed flowers, which continue blooming with deadheading.

These short-lived perennials or biennials are charming plants, and are worth their weight in gold in the cottage border. After flowering, the attractive foliage holds the space well.