I have been gardening since the mid-1970’s. In Knox County, Tennessee, I now have a large front garden and a sizeable back garden. Many of my plants started out as experiments, that is, I had never grown them before or (usually) even seen them grown anywhere. But I would see a listing in the seed catalogue and I would decide to try the plant. In this way, I have found some really wonderful stuff. Nobody I know seems ever to have heard of Nierembergia and the nurseries in my area don’t carry it, but what a terrific plant it is: nothing eats it, it stands up to heat, it resows only sparingly if at all, and it has those wonderful purple flowers. Even better, it sometimes survives the winter. Other good plants I never see grown or sold around here are the Zimbabwe Foxglove (Ceratotheca triloba, which blooms enthusiastically all summer, unlike real foxglove, which blooms for maybe a week here); Statice (Limonium) latifolium; bachelor’s button (Centaurea cyanus or cornflower, in four colors); and Tithonia rotundifolia (Mexican sunflower). I have dried many types of flowers, gourds, and other plant materials, including bachelor’s button and Solanum integrifolium (mini-pumpkins). But it is a huge effort to clear the garden at the end of the year and the beginning of the spring. I think, I am getting too old for this. But then I say, one more year…..
