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This most unusual plant shown in the accompanying photo is not a crocus although the flower resembles one. It is totally unrelated to a crocus, being in the mallow family, Malvaceae, and producing its flowers in summer from a low, wooly leaved plant. The flower is large in scale to the foliage, at one to two inches wide, is very low and with hardly any stem. The foliage grows as a two or three-inch high cushion of small glaucous leaves. It hails from the northern Andes of South America at altitudes of 14,000 to 15,000 feet. In the garden it needs afternoon shade and protection over winter from excessive moisture. Another name for this is Malvastrum macleanii.

This is for growing in a scree bed or rock garden. There are more plants suitable for growing in a rock garden than any gardener can grow in a lifetime. It is an interesting world to explore.

Although its flowers are small, this is a true orchid, rooted in the ground instead of growing in trees. And though small, the flowers are plentiful and very fragrant, like vanilla. Its season of bloom is late in the year, in October. The flowerstem is long, up to about 24 or 30 inches, with the lower flowers opening first and successively upwards, for about a month. The pure white flowers are arranged in a sprial around the long, thin stems. After flowering the plant dies back to regrow the following spring. A plant will spread underground and form a colony where happy. It is easy to grow provided it has a fairly wet but not waterlogged soil.

This terrestrial orchid is native to the Southeast, from Virginia to Florida. The roots are thick and long rather than thin and branching. A fungus lives with the roots and helps to feed the plant. It is essential to never let the plant dry out.

Said to be cold hardy to +20°F, this survives well in USDA Zones 8 to 10. It grows as a low, spreading shrub of 3 feet height and an eventual width of six to ten feet. Its attractive flowers open white and fade to tan. Best of all, they show from October to February. This plant grows well in dry shade. Don't leave a newly planted youngster to fend for itself without additional water or you may loose it. After it settles in and develops deeper roots, watering it is unnecessary. Thought to be a cross of the two species, C. alba and C. backhousiana. Its evergreen leaves are small and rounded, gray-green above and wholly white below.

The name, 'Kewensis,' is for a plant chosen at Kew Gardens for its large clusters of pink flowers. This selection lives on by propagating it from cuttings rather than from seeds. The flower clusters hang at the end of branch tips. Its season is long -- many weeks for us in late summer. And where summers are warmer, from May to July. The green leaves are large and somewhat evergreen.

Surviving outdoors without snow cover to -5°F, the native range of this cobra lily is Nepal to southeast China. It needs partial shade, especially from the afternoon sun. The flower stalk is mottled in colors resembling a snakeskin with various hues of tan, brown and black. The flower has an open hood-like spathe that is mottled in mixed colors, and the spadix held within the spathe. The leaf opens after the flower shows. At first the leaflets are folded against the leafstalk, and take some time to fully open. A plant grows from a tuberous root and spreads into a group over several years.

With the popular name of “golden iris,” this species has yellow petals with brown veins, although other colors do occur. Its native range is southwest Oregon into northern California, close to the coast of the Pacific Ocean although not usually within sight of water. It grows in sunny or lightly shaded clearings within the evergreen forests of fir and pine. Growing it in the garden can be a challenge, and even more of a challenge to grow where summers are humid and hot.

The ruins of Dulce Cor or Sweetheart Abbey can be found today in the town of New Abbey, five miles south of Dumfries in southwest Scotland. It dates from 1273 when Lady Dervorguilla founded it in memory of her husband John Balliol (not the King of Scots, but his father, founder of Balliol College, of the University of Oxford). The monks bestowed this name upon their abbey in her honor after her death, when she was laid to rest together with her husband's embalmed heart. The fragrant flower has a full head of double petals, colored in crimson that lightens at the edges. The petals' edges are fringed with a sawtooth pattern as if cut with pinking shears.