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Family: Scrophulariaceae

Half-hardy perennial herbs that make a pleasant picture in the cool greenhouse or sun room. They climb by clever coiled leaf-stems, on any thin support, to six or eight feet – and for me have grown both delicate and lush, flowering bountifully in fall and winter with delightful nodding purple or rose-red trumpets. Notably, they also survived a greenhouse furnace failure in which the temperature dropped below 20 degrees.

Good culture includes: moist, nonacid soil (add lime, if needed); cool, fresh air; and full or semisun. Propagate by stem cuttings in late winter or early spring. Or treat as an annual, sowing seeds in spring for flowering within four months. Old plants can be divided in fall.

The decorative effect is delicate and refined. Fresh green leaves are thin, shaped like miniature ivy, and lacy-looking despite their abundance. The slender stems look perishable but aren’t. And the tubular flowers are plentiful and pleasing. These plants are sometimes recommended for baskets, but for me they insist on climbing a cord or other thin support.

Asarina antirrhiniflora – Arrow-shaped leaves, violet trumpet flowers with clear white throat.

Asarina barclaiana – Purple, rose, or white flowers in late summer.

Asarina erubescens – creeping gloxinia – Look for this one listed also as maurandya or lophospermum. Three-inch rose and carmine flowers, late fall into winter; slightly fuzzy, saw-toothed, triangular leaves.