Growing Zone 6

Flower heads the size of a softball, hundreds of them, every April.Viburnum macrocephalum is the one people stop the car for. In early spring it covers itself in 6-8 inch globes that open lime-green and age to pure white, held on arching branches that...

An evergreen trailing groundcover that holds a slope and keeps its leaves all winter.Vinca minor, common periwinkle, is the groundcover you plant where you are tired of fighting. Glossy dark evergreen leaves on trailing stems that root as they run, with small violet-blue flowers...

Fragrant cool-season colour for the months when the bed would otherwise be bare.Erysimum blooms in the cool shoulder seasons - autumn into winter here, then again hard in early spring - with dense heads of sweetly scented flowers over grey-green foliage. In zone 8a...

Upright spikes of blue that bloom for months and bring every bee in the yard.Veronica sends up narrow vertical spires above a tidy clump of foliage, flowering from late spring well into summer if you cut the spent stems back. It is one of...

Chartreuse trails that spill out of a container and root wherever they land.Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' is the golden spiller you see cascading over the edge of every good mixed planter, and it works just as hard as a groundcover in a damp, part-shaded spot....

Silver-marked foliage that lights up a shady bed all winter.Lamium maculatum is grown for its leaves first - silver centres edged in green that brighten deep shade from a distance - with pink or white flowers as a bonus in spring. It spreads politely...

An evergreen groundcover that carpets shade where grass gives up.Ajuga reptans spreads by runners into a low mat of glossy, often bronze-purple foliage, then sends up short spikes of blue flowers in spring. It holds its leaves through an Alabama winter, takes foot traffic...

The evergreen screen the Southeast plants instead of Leyland cypress.Cryptomeria japonica 'Yoshino' is a fast, soft-needled evergreen conifer that forms a dense pyramid without the canker and bagworm problems that shorten Leyland cypress in Alabama. Blue-green through summer, taking a bronze cast in hard...

Our fresh parsley is fresh and clean with tender flat leaves, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh parsley is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny sill...

Our fresh peppermint is cool and refreshing with a crisp menthol finish, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh peppermint is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny...

Our fresh sage is earthy and aromatic with a soft, savory fragrance, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh sage is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny...

Our fresh thyme is earthy and fragrant with tiny, savory leaves, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh thyme is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny sill...

Our fresh oregano is bold, peppery, and Mediterranean, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh oregano is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny sill and snips as...

Our fresh chives is delicate and mild with a gentle onion flavor, grown at our Lineville, Alabama farm and cut fresh.Fresh chives is an aromatic culinary herb, far more flavorful picked fresh than dried from a jar. It's easy to grow on a sunny...

A real banana that survives an Alabama winter in the ground - tropical scale with none of the fuss.Musa basjoo is the hardiest banana in cultivation, dying back after frost and returning from the root each spring with mulch. It throws paddle leaves several...

Pull thick crimson stalks in spring for the sharpest, most electric pie filling in the garden, tart in a way no other crop delivers.Be honest with yourself about zone 8a: rhubarb needs real winter chill and it genuinely sulks in Deep South summers, so...

Harvest handfuls of smooth grape-sized kiwis you eat skin and all, sweeter than the fuzzy supermarket kind and ready by the bowlful in fall.YOU NEED BOTH A MALE AND A FEMALE PLANT. Hardy kiwi is dioecious, and a lone female will flower beautifully and...

Strings of jewel-bright berries in early summer, tart enough to make the best jelly you have ever had and impossible to buy fresh locally.IMPORTANT: Ribes species are restricted or require a permit in some states because they are an alternate host for white pine...

Dig crisp, nutty sunchoke tubers after the first fall frost, harvesting from a tall sunflower relative that returns every single year.Sunchokes are supplied as dormant tubers rather than seedlings, and they are a true perennial that comes back reliably and spreads vigorously, so give...

Plant a dormant crown once and cut tender spring spears for twenty years, though the first real harvest waits two to three seasons.Asparagus is supplied as a one-year dormant crown, not a leafy seedling, and it needs a permanent bed you will not till...