Veronica

Koromiko (Veronica salicifolia, formerly Hebe salicifolia, the name Plants For A Future and many nurseries still use) is a bushy evergreen shrub with upright branches, native to New Zealand's South Island, Stewart Island and the subantarctic Auckland Islands and, disjunctly, to southern Chile. It carries narrow, willow-like, lance-shaped leaves up to 5 inches long year-round and, in summer, dense spikes up to 8 inches long of tiny white to pale lilac flowers that bees work readily. Sources disagree on how large it gets: RHS gives an ultimate height and spread of 5 to 8 feet, reached in 5-10 years, while Plants For A Future documents plants to 14 feet by 9 feet, so give it room rather than assuming the smaller figure. It is frost hardy rather than fully cold hardy: RHS rates it H5, hardy to about 5°F, so Plotwright publishes zones 7b-9b rather than the 6a cold edge in Plants For A Future's hardiness listing. It is very wind resistant and tolerates maritime exposure and atmospheric pollution, which makes it a dependable shelter hedge for coastal, cottage and wildlife gardens, though Plants For A Future calls it intolerant of drought while RHS marks it drought resistant, a genuine disagreement worth knowing before you skip watering. It has no known edible uses and Plants For A Future lists no known hazards; Maori traditionally chewed the leaves to help cure diarrhea and applied them to the skin for ulcers and wounds.

A clump-forming herbaceous perennial of the plantain family (Plantaginaceae), native across much of Europe, Great Britain included, and east through Russia and Siberia to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northwestern China. In summer, dense, tapering spikes packed with tiny, star-shaped, violet-blue flowers rise above a lower mound of narrow, toothed leaves, on stems 2 to 3 feet tall according to NC State Extension and the Missouri Botanical Garden; the RHS gives about 24 inches. Bees and butterflies visit the flowers, deer and rabbits tend to leave it alone, and the spikes are good for cutting. It wants sun and soil that drains well but does not dry out: root rot in wet soil, especially over winter, is the one problem NC State and the Missouri Botanical Garden both name. In North America it is a garden plant, which USDA PLANTS lists as introduced, with no invasive or noxious status.