1 Dark and Handsome hellebore
HELLEBORUS ‘DARK AND HANDSOME’, ZONES 4 TO 9
Part of the Wedding Party series, Dark and Handsome steals your heart with black-purple good looks. Hellebores thrive in part to full shade. After the blooms fade, attractive leathery green foliage remains.
Why we love it: This sturdy chap stands its ground when facing ravaging deer and rabbits and quickly naturalizes in woodland gardens.
2 Chocolate cosmos
COSMOS ATROSANGUINEUS, ZONES 9 TO 11 OR ANNUAL
Chocolate cosmos sprout from tender tubers that can be grown as annuals or brought inside for winter in cold climates. They ultimately reach up to 30 inches tall, growing best in a sunny garden patch. They shine from midsummer into fall and are easy to care for.
Why we love it: This cosmos is an absolutely luscious, calorie-free form of chocolate. The smell of the blooms even brings to mind red velvet cake.
3 Black Barlow columbine
AQUILEGIA VULGARIS ‘BLACK BARLOW’, ZONES 3 TO 9
This deep maroon, almost black double-petaled columbine adds drama to a late spring garden. Grow this 24- to 30-inch perennial in sun or part shade. It’s short-lived, but it self-sows like a champ.
Why we love it: It sounds as if it was named after a pirate, and it may rebloom if it’s deadheaded.
4 Black Knight hollyhock
ALCEA ROSEA ‘BLACK KNIGHT’, ZONES 4 TO 9
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Sense or Nonsense? - Why some birds can taste and smell - but others can't
Does a porcelain berry taste like a blueberry to a gray catbird? Does a block of lard smell like frying bacon to a northern flicker? The short answer is no. While some avian species do have a well-adapted sense of taste or smell, they can't distinguish between flavors and odors the way humans can. They're not picking up every ingredient in the suet you put out, says José Ramírez-Garofalo, an ornithology researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey and the director of Freshkills Biological Station in Staten Island, New York.
Maple Mania - Amazing facts about this fall foliage mainstay
Amazing facts about this fall foliage mainstay
Food-Focused and Fierce - Meet Canada jays and learn why they eat almost anything they can find
Even if you haven't heard of Canada jays, you've heard of their relatives. Members of the corvid family, they belong to the same group as American crows, blackbilled magpies, and jays including blue, Steller's and scrub. "Unlike many of the other jays, a Canada jay doesn't have a crest of any kind; it just has a rounded head," says Dale Gentry, director of conservation for Audubon Upper Mississippi River.In 2018, the Canada jay's name was changed from gray jay, but Dale thinks the former adjective was fitting. "Most of its body is shades of gray with some white," he says. "There are different subspecies that have different physical traits, but most of them have some lighter coloring on their foreheads, upper breasts and throats, each with a darker streak that starts at each eye and goes back."
IN GOOD COMPANY
BIRDS OF A FEATHER MAY FLOCK TOGETHER, but what about other collectives of critters-and what do you call them when they do?
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