Amanda Thomsen is a landscape designer, project manager, and garden writer. Recently, she opened Aster Gardens in Lemont, Illinois. This neighborhood boutique offers plants, home décor, classes, and events. Amanda brings an irreverent, punk-rock spirit to her horticultural work, so she is the perfect person to help adventurous gardeners to explore some plants with personality. Unusual herbs, hardy cacti, and a foxglove that is not your usual cottage garden suspect all make appearances in this fun episode.
Here’s Amanda’s personality-packed plant list:
- Lovage (Levisticum officinale, Zones 4–8)
- Rozanne geranium (Geranium ‘Gerwat’, Zones 5–8)
- Rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium, Zones 3–8)
- Fernleaf peony (Paeonia tenuifolia, Zones 4–8)
- Eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa, Zones 4–9)
- Rusty foxglove (Digitalis ferruginea, Zones 4–8)
- ‘Forelock’ ornamental onion (Allium ‘Forelock’, Zones 4–8)
- Bear’s breeches (Acanthus spinosus, Zones 5–9)
