Photo credit: Thinkstock

Liz Fleming - Jul 14

Garden plants you just can’t kill, even if you try

Has your green thumb turned black? Fear not, even the most notorious garden killer will have a hard time offing these plants.

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Garden plants you just can’t kill, even if you try

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  Astilbe

  Plants that bloom just once but have staying power are the black thumb gardener’s best friend. Shade-loving and colorful, the frothy fronds of this perennial will look great in your garden from June through September and beyond.Thinkstock

• Hosta

  Need to fill a shady corner? How about a hosta? Available with leaves in solid greens or variegated stripes of green and white or green and yellow, hostas produce flowers early in the season and then stay green into the late fall. Give them space — a single hosta can grow to six-feet wide but can be easily divided. Thinkstock

• Hydrangeas

  For big, bouncy blooms, choose a shade-loving hydrangea. While they will look alarmingly limp when the weather’s hot, they rebound at sunset or when the rain clouds come out. If you’re in a nurturing mood, soak them with a hose. Best feature? You can cut the flowers and stick them in a vase for some country flair.Thinkstock

• Bouganvillea

  For showy color with little gardening effort, you can’t beat bouganvillea. A tropical vine that grows as an annual in colder areas, plant it in a sunny spot where it will produce huge, bright bracts of pink, lavender, red, orange or gold blossoms. Note: Some varieties have thorns.Thinkstock

• Agapanthus

  Ranging in color from deep blue to white, the heads of agapanthus blooms are like huge, round lollipops, teetering on tall stems. They handle drought well and don’t need anything special in the soil but if you have the hose out, you might give them a spritz. Thinkstock

• Black-Eyed Susan

  Here’s a girl you can count on all season long. A black-eyed Susan vine is an annual that will climb up a trellis or fence and pump out dozens of blooms in yellow, orange, white, or apricot, each punctuated with a chocolate center. Put her in full sun and Susan will grow to two meters! Thinkstock

• Canna Tropicana

  Canna Tropicana will be the showgirl of your garden. Bold, bright leaves add a reddish pop of color wherever you plant them. You can’t kill this plant with a stick, so put it wherever you like. Thinkstock

• Coneflower

  Sunny yard? Sorta shady? Dark as a tomb? No worries. Coneflowers like it all and will grow to nearly two meters high and a meter and half wide, sprouting big pink, purple, crimson, white, yellow, orange or green (yes green) flowers and attracting birds, bees and butterflies all the while. Thinkstock

• Cosmos

  Throw some cosmos seeds into your garden, wait a while and then brag about the big beautiful flowers that pop up. They’ll grow to almost two meters high and, if you’re lucky, they’ll even reseed themselves. It truly can’t get any easier. Thinkstock

• Hens and Chicks

  Got rocks? Weird spaces to fill? These tiny, tenacious succulents will bloom all summer long in full sun or light shade. The only way to kill them is by overwatering — so just ignore them and they’ll do their own thing. Thinkstock

• Honeysuckle

  A delicate looking vine, honeysuckle is a big favorite with butterflies. Ready to climb a fence or trellis, honeysuckle produces a summer’s worth of red, orange or yellow flowers that smell divine. Thinkstock

• Nasturtium

  The poorer the soil, the better your nasturtiums will like it! These quick growing, brightly coloured flowers will cover up any ugly corners of your garden and if you’re running low on groceries, it can even be added to your salads.Thinkstock

• Sedum

  With star-shaped flowers that pop out in shades of either pink, orange, yellow, red or white, Sedum grows up to two-thirds of a meter high and blooms all summer. Butterflies love it, so plant some in your garden, sit back and wait for the pretty fluttering.Thinkstock

• Shasta Daisies

  Nothing says summer like a garden full of easy-to-grow Shasta daisies. With sturdy stems, bright white petals and golden centers, Shasta daisies like almost any kind of soil, bask in full sun and are great for making a indoor bouquet.Thinkstock

• Tweedia

  Fill your garden with lovely blue tweedia vines and you’ll have flowers for cutting all season. The flowers smell lovely, the foliage is a soft greenish grey and the whole thing will grow approximately a meter high with very little help from you. This plant likes partial sun, so don’t fry it. Thinkstock

• Yarrow

  Red, white, pink, yellow — take your pick of colors. Yarrow flowers grow all summer long and stretch to more than a meter tall and two-thirds of a meter wide. Not fussy about soil composition or how much sun they get, Yarrow will bloom almost anywhere, any time — even in a flat out drought. Thinkstock

• Yucca

  They might look like they belong in the desert, but Yucca plants thrive in cooler climates too and don’t expect much in the way of watering. Not only do they grow green, spiky foliage that looks great against contemporary buildings, but they also shoot out amazingly tall stalks of white flowers. Thinkstock

• Zinnia

  Zinnias can handle heat and drought and still look perky and colorful until the first frost. Brightly colored heads sit on solid stems that grow to almost a meter in height. Plant them from seed — they’ll grow like weeds — or pop them in full grown. Thinkstock

• Ferns

  Ferns are among the most primitive of plants and there’s a reason they’ve lasted so long — they’re invincible. Sun, shade, heat, drought, rain — nothing bothers a fern. These plants have been churning out big green fronds since the dinosaurs walked the earth.Thinkstock