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(Photo: Caroline R. Dean: Soapwort, courtesy of Wildflowers of Alabama
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| MULTIPURPOSE PLANTS |
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Early American garden plants were not chosen chiefly for ornamental value. Some, such as okra and castor beans, offered beautiful foliage or blooms. But with health and nutrition first among day-to-day concerns, many selections
served double duty. Today, "household legacy" plants are being rediscovered. Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) is a good example. Also called "Bouncing Bet," the plant's secretions were used to clean delicate fabrics.
Grown as an ornamental, soapwort blooms all summer long, sending up soft, pinkish-white
flowers. "Soapwort deserves to be grown in every garden," says Dargan.
Landscape architect Chip Callaway has similar praise for artemisia and lavender.
Valued as insect repellents, plants in the artemisia family (which includes
southernwood and wormwood) are fragrant, with pretty foliage and showy florets.
Renowned for its medicinal and culinary uses, lavender also makes a decorative
statement with its soft, woolly leaves and purple flowers. Callaway recommends the 'Provence' variety (Lavendula intermedia).
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