The pentas fulfills all those preferences but the fragrance. Planted in loamy, moderately moist soil, a small one-gallon potted plant will turn into a compact, bloom-covered shrub in a single summer.

Colorful ground cover and filler plant. From Java and India comes marble leaf, a 12-to-18-inch-tall mounding plant that sports dark-green foliage decorated with a broad yellow center.

There's a distinct satisfaction in growing a plant from seed. You carefully read up on soil conditions, sow it at exactly the ...

The pentas is a 2-foot to 3-foot tall, ever-blooming shrub from the Middle East and Africa. Its clusters of tubular flowers, in a range of colors, are irresistible to butterflies and hummingbirds.

Three of my favorites are dwarf zinnias, torenia and low-growing pentas. Equally pleasing alone or in combinations might be begonias, blue daze, coleus, impatiens, marigolds, melampodium and salvia.