I’ve been fascinated with cigar flowers since I was in my teens, only to find out years later that some were actually winter hardy here is Zone 7b. In flower now is one of my favorites, Cuphea cyanea ‘Ashevilla’. This gem looks so dainty, that it’s hard to imagine it making it through a winter, but here it is again this early summer, having survived for a decade in our gardens. Thanks to Asheville, NC gardeners Peter and Jasmine Gentling for sharing and alerting us to its winter hardiness there.

I plant them for the feathered hummingbirds.