Do you have that one flower bed or border that seems to get ignored season after season? You always mean to do something with it, make some changes, add some color or interesting foliage, anything to improve its appearance, but other areas of the garden always take precedence. Jim and I have a bed like that in the front garden.

The bed is at the back of the garden and the last one we planted five years ago. It received a hodge-podge of leftover plants that didn’t fit in anywhere else. Last year we added several anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) plants to the bed. Anise hyssop is a North American native perennial herb with anise or licorice scented foliage and scentless flower spikes that come in many colors; ours are deep lavender. The leaves of anise hyssop are yellowish green. The bed also contains our new rose ‘Louise Odier,’ which also has yellow-green leaves.

While shopping at a local nursery several weeks ago, I saw the lovely Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ with its feathery, ...