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'Rosie O'Day' is an old reliable cultivar whose flowers are basically pink.

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"Carpet of Snow' is a reliable old cultivar, even an heirloom cultivar, that used to be the most common selection in the 1960's until around 2000. I think it is still used a lot, but many new similar white blooming selections have come forth that are a little more compact, as 'New Carpet of Snow' and that are a little more heat and humidity tolerant. However, there are some other white cultivars that get taller to 9 to12 inches and have bigger flowers. Sweet Alyssum loves cool weather that is not humid and does best in spring and fall, but makes it through hotter and more humid summer, though it does not thrive as much. It might even need some pruning down if it looks icky. It is very frost tolerant, but winter will finally kill it off usually in December. It is a short-lived perennial in its native habitat along the Mediterranean Sea but makes a usually reliable short annual that is often used as the outside edging of flower beds, or it works as a cascading annual out of a big pot.

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This is such a prolific grower in zone 6A for me! This gorgeous iris was hybridized just 40 minutes away in Elwood, Utah. It's one of my Brad Kasparek favorites

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Pachyphytum is a genus of classic leaf succulents from east-central Mexico. These plants are cousins of the Echeverias, with similarly shaped flowers. The flowers are tubular but usually hidden behind giant sepals and thus invisible from the side. They attract hummingbirds, and intergeneric hybrids are known with related Mexican plants.

The distinguishing feature of the genus is the little flaps on the inside of the flowers (scale-like appendages of the corolla lobes), though this feature is not unique to it (some Echeverias apparently have reduced ones). Most of the common Pachyphytums in cultivation are glaucous to one degree or another.

The former Pachyphytum cuicatecanum has very recently been moved to its own monotypic genus, Jeronimoa, based in part on genetic analysis.

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'Merry Morgan' (Bunting 2008) is noted as being polymerous (99%) and single form. In reality, it doubles in form (nearly 99%), but does not poly with any consistency. I think I have seen two or maybe three poly blooms on it in the five years I have had it.

If you appreciate it for its double (not single) form, then I would say that it is reliably hardy in northern gardens. If your interest is for its ability to produce polymerous blooms, then I would say there are many better options to choose among.

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'Emerald Isle' is a vintage daylily (Fay, 1954) with 40-inch scapes, and with buds and blooms which just won't quit. The flowers are about 5.5 to 6-inches... I have never noticed any fragrance... but they start the early day at almost a pastel, pale butter yellow and by afternoon, light the garden with deep golden-yellow sunshine.

As a clump, there are between 10 and 15 scapes, but each scape is just loaded with slender, elegant buds. 'Emerald Isle' blooms from late July till end of August (end of summer) and should never be taken for granted. The flowers are well-spaced, never hang up or water spot, and 'Emerald Isle' tosses out poly blooms almost casually among the usual flowers... at least one (among the dozen or more) almost daily. Cold-hardy and gorgeous.

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Clump-forming spiny cactus with pinkish magenta flowers bearing pale or white throats. Stems grow from about 0.5 to 5 inches in diameter, reaching up to about 12 inches long, either upright or sprawling. They have 5-12 ribs (sometimes tubercular, sometimes not), 1-6 central spines per areole, 6-10 radial spines per areole. Fruit is green and spiny and edible.

Relatively common in cultivation. Rot prone if subjected to excess moisture. Lovely flowers. Reddish stress color on stems.

Widespread in east-central Mexico in the outskirts of Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and San Luís Potosí. Three recognized subspecies: Alicoche (Echinocereus cinerascens subsp. cinerascens) with stems 1.5 to 5 inches in diameter, bearing 6-12 ribs, found above 2000m; Alicoche (Echinocereus cinerascens subsp. septentrionalis) with stems about 2.5 inches in diameter and 6-8 ribs, from SLP and Zacatecas above 1200m; Alicoche (Echinocereus cinerascens subsp. tulensis) with stems 1.5 to 2.5 inches in diameter with 4-7 ribs, from Tamaulipas and SLP below 1200m. The former Echinocereus cinerascens subsp. ehrenbergii apparently is no more.

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Amsonia hubrichtii has been growing for 2 summers in my zone 8a north Georgia garden, and it has NOT thrived. The first summer, the flowers turned moldy when they bloomed. The second summer, the plant was small with only a few flowers. In the autumn of the second summer, the foliage turned orange-yellow for a couple of weeks, then died back. This plant is in full sun all day, which it may not like in hot and humid Georgia.

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This is a selection of the species bred by Russell Lynch (of Russell Lynch Orchids) in Alice Springs, Australia. Like Russell's other canaliculatum selections, this is a group name for a batch of similar-looking seedlings from a single pod.

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This is a known plicata carrier.

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It's a small and particular rose. More than once I noticed that the second bloom may occur in just one full color (yellow on mine, I read elsewhere that it can bloom also only in red) instead of the striped one.

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If you either grow this hybrid, or know of someone who grows it, then take the time to inspect the golden rim of the standards close up. What's fascinating is how this region is actually comprised of small specks of both yellow and purple pigmentation, which when seen from a distance gives the remarkable illusion of a solid golden edge. Isn't Mother Nature wonderfully, amazingly clever?

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As this plant produces new flowers from the tips of each branch and does not flower from the tip to the root end in succession, removing spent flowers will also prevent new flowers from those branches!
The bonus of this plant, apart from the very long bloom season, is that each branch gets longer and longer, ending up as gorgeous waving wands usually with bees bouncing up and down with them LOL

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Practically pod infertile for me. I pollinate as many of its flowers (on a large clump) as I can year after year and most years do not see a single pod even start to develop.

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This a selection of the species bred by Russell Lynch (of Russell Lynch Orchids) in Alice Springs, Australia. Like Russell's other canaliculatum selections, this is a group name for a batch of similar-looking seedlings from a single pod.

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A wild-collected plant from the Warrumbungles used in breeding by Russell Lynch of Russell's Orchids (Alice Springs).

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This is an unregistered grex hybridised by Russell Lynch. He used Orchid (Cymbidium Peter Fire 'Cutie') and Orchid (Cymbidium canaliculatum 'Carbine').

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This is a newly-registered grex hybridised by Russell Lynch. Orchid (Cymbidium Michael Herbert 'ANZAC') was used as the pod parent and a tetraploid canaliculatum as the pollen parent (Russell was not certain, but it was probably from a treated cross using 'Val's Carbine' as one of the parents with one of his "peloric" lookalikes, which produced a canaliculatum with unspotted yellow petals and solid dark red sepals). The seedlings have exhibited varying shades of yellow flowers with few or no spots/stripes.

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This is an Australian-developed selection of the sparkesii form of the species which originated with Russell Lynch Orchids and is one of his most popular cultivars. Like Russell's other canaliculatum selections, this is a group name for a batch of similar-looking seedlings from a single pod. It typically has 80 to 100 blooms per spike.

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This is an Australian-developed selection of the species which originated with Russell Lynch Orchids and is one of his most popular cultivars. Like Russell's other canaliculatum selections, this is a group name for a batch of similar-looking seedlings from a single pod.

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