Vernonia noveboracensis Edible or anyone who would like

or anyone who would like to grow something whose lineage has

and pairings with azaleas and camellias all come easily

then brought the plant into the trade

larger-leaved alternative to creeping fig appeals

over handsome gray-green

Vernonia noveboracensis Edible or anyone who would likeIronweed earns the name twice over. The stems are stiff enough to stand through a hurricane season without staking, and the seedheads that follow the flowers rust to the exact color of weathered iron. But the reason to grow Vernonia noveboracensis is the purple: not the tidy lavender of garden asters but a saturated, almost fluorescent violet that arrives in late July and holds into October, riding five to eight feet up on strong green stems above a