I have had both C. canescens and C. verticillata in a pot with lots of rocks, permatil, etc. My first C. verticillata died due to too much moisture...I did not have enough permatil in the pot, I think. A friend gave me cuttings, however, and one is growing in the amended soil mixture. I am also trying it in a very dry location out in the yard. The C. canescens is four years old now. At the NC Botanical Garden they have a lovely spread of Conradina. The plant appears NOT to be able to take soggy soils and is better suited to a rock garden or very dry locale. Oh, I don't think you are really supposed to eat it.

Here's some info that I posted a couple months ago in response to another quetion about false rosemary. I love my false rosemary and it is one of the toughest plants I've ever grown. It thrives in both drought and rainy conditions as long as it has well drained soil, blooms beautifully, has wonderfully fragrant foliage, and really attracts bees. Once it was fully mature it also became thick enough to smoother any potential weeds and since it's evergreen I never have to weed under it. I really need to trim mine back but I love how it looks so much that I haven't been able to do so yet. To propagate it just pin some of the longer braches to the ground and partially cover them with dirt. The branches will root themselves fairly quickly. My main plant is surrounded with smaller plants where it's branches have layed on the ground and rooted themselves. I bought my original plant at a native plant sale up in Gainsville several years ago and it was in a 3" pot. This is a florida native that is also known as a scrub mint in the Conradina genus. This particular variety gets between 2 and 3 feet tall and as wide as you will let it. I've had this plant for about three years now and have never had any problems with it as long as you don't count the fact that when it is in bloom it is constantly covered in bees. Even though I walk past this plant and brush against it while it's in bloom none of the bees have paid me a bit of attention. I believe that there are 4 different varieties of Conradina native to florida, two of which are endemic and endangered and a third is endemic and threatened. My plant is probably the fourth variety, Conradina canescens, but I'm not positive. As the first picture shows the plant is slowly trying to swallow up both my plumbago and my bleeding hear vine. The trash can in the background gives you an idea of the plants size. This is a plant that loves full sun but will tolerate some light shade (mines under a moderately large multi-trunked crape myrtle) and needs plenty of room to grow! Yes, my swamp sunflowers are Helianthus angustifolia. They do spread but so far I haven't had an issue with them, when they started migrating beyond the area I wanted them in I just just off the babies with a shovel and pulled them out. The native monarda is Monarda punctata and does have the lavender and white flower bracts. One native plant I forgot to mention that makes a great background plant is the Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum). It's north america's largest member of the blueberry family although the fruit doesn't taste all that good. Here is a link that might be useful: Sparkleberry

I looked at Robin's images of S. clinopodioides, Flowers appear to be as blue as those of S. guaranitica 'Black and Blue', but smaller. An eBay seller is offering both of these live plants for sale. I believe that S. lineata has been bid up to $15.95 and is being offered by eyeesoteric, and S. clinopodioides is being offered by sweet65splitty on eBay, currently bid at $8.00. I just discovered these folks by googling these Salvias. I've never heard of them. Have you guys? Both offer other hard to find Salvias for sale or bid. sweet65splitty notes that he/she has over 200 species of Salvia seeds. Does not list them, but advise that e-mail thru eBay and he/she will let you know what she has or if she has what you're looking for. Sorry, Richard, didn't mean to steal your post but wanted to post this info while I had it handy. S. lineata looks like a real beauty of a red with those tomentose flowers and leaves. Susan

My favorite unusual perennials are pitcher plants and sundews, but if you mean plants for a regular non-wetland garden, mine are: a very narrow-leaved Bluestar (Amsonia ciliata), Ironweed (Vernonia angustifolia), Dotted Horsemint (Monarda punctata), Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos), Swamp Hibiscus (Hibiscus grandiflorus), Salt Marsh Mallow (Kosteletzkya virginica), Red Basil (Calamintha coccinea), Conradina (Conradina cansecens), Sensitive Plant (Mimosa strigillosa), Deertongue (Carphephorus odoratissima), New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) and all the Blazing Stars, especially the really tall blazing star, Liatris squarrulosa.