Winter Aconite
Celebrate the end of cold weather with winter aconite, one of the first blooming plants you’ll see in your yard before spring actually arrives. It sometimes appears so early (before crocus!) that the buttercup-like flowers burst up and out of the snow. This plant catches the eye in beds and borders, along pathways, and when mixed with crocus and other ephemerals in the lawn.
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Hellebore
Hellebores are so easy and so pretty, they have a place in nearly every landscape. Their exquisite bowl- or saucer-shape flowers in white (often speckled), pinks, yellows, or maroon remain on the plant for several months, even after the petals have fallen. Deer-resistant and mostly evergreen, hellebores' divided leaves rise on sturdy stems and may be serrated (like a knife) along the edges. Grow hellebores in shade where soil remains moist; some hellebores prefer acid or alkaline conditions, depending on variety.
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Potato
Tender potatoes, harvested fresh from your backyard and then baked until tender, are a favorite entrée accompaniment. Growing potatoes is especially rewarding because they’re so easy. You can practically plant them and forget them until it’s time to harvest.
There are a wealth of potato varieties. One notable kind to try is delicious fingerlings, which come in a rainbow of colors. Skin colors include red, white, blue, tan, and brown; flesh colors include traditional white as well as yellow, red, blue, and bicolors. Dig them while they’re still small for the most delicate garden treat. Let them get larger if you want to mash or store them.
Potatoes are usually grown from pieces of tuber, called sets or seed potatoes, rather than true seed. Plant them two to four weeks before the last spring frost. After sprouts emerge, mound soil around the stems to shade developing tubers from sun. Exposed tubers turn green, bitter, and mildly toxic (cut out any green portions before serving.)
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Honeywort
Honeywort, with its leathery grey/green foliage and intriguing blue to purple bracts, is a fast-growing annual native to the Mediterranean region. This drought-tolerant plant flourishes both in the ground and in containers, which show off the semi-cascading shoots. Honeywort is also called blue shrimp plant because of the color and shape of the blooms and bracts.
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Spider Flower
Spider flower plants create striking focal points at the back of a garden due to their ability to grow 3 to 5 feet tall. Nor do they need to be staked to stay upright. In fact, one small plant can grow to create a small shrublike specimen covered in flowers. (Unfortunately, many gardeners overlook spider flower in garden centers because of its weedy appearance when young.) This plant’s spidery-looking flowers add tropical flair to mixed borders. Hummingbirds and pollinators such as butterflies and moths love spider flower for its copious amounts of nectar. Studies show this plant also attracts beneficial insects that feed on pests.
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