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There are certain rules we follow if we adhere to the traditional dogma of landscape design. These rules tell us what plants can be planted where, what types of plants work well in combination with each other, even what shapes, textures, and heights are most appealing. As is often the case, these rules serve as a helpful guide, but strict adherence to them can be boring or even problematic. Take for example the way edible plants have typically been incorporated into residential landscapes. Traditionally if you grew vegetables, you did so in a large rectangular shaped vegetable garden somewhere in the backyard. If you had fruit trees, or grape vines, or blueberries, they were likely similarly confined to a particular section in the backyard. However, as property sizes shrink, the trend of incorporating these plants into flower beds and mixed areas, referred to as edible landscaping, has become more common. Perhaps the natural extension of erasing the lines between where edible plants and ornamental plants is to breed ornamental versions of favorite edible plants. We’ve seen this with sweetpotato, our state vegetable. Ornamental sweetpotato cultivars have been bred to highlight the color and texture of the foliage, and these are now commonly used in containers, hanging baskets, or as groundcovers. This weekend, my wife went shopping for some fall decorations for the porch and yard, and came home with classic “fall” plants like mums and sunflowers, but also with a few different types of ornamental peppers. These plants are the same species, Capsicum annuum, as the peppers we eat, but are cultivars that have been bred specifically to enhance their ornamental characteristics (color, size, and shape of the fruit), more so than the flavor or taste.
Ornamental pepper cultivars are often more compact than the varieties we grow for food, and fruit tend to form primarily at the apex of each stem rather than along the stem and in leaf axils. These smaller plants are easy to fit in containers, or pop into the ground to fill empty spaces in sunny flower beds in late summer or fall, and the cluster of fruit at the top creates a striking visual display during a time of year where flower color in the garden begins to become sparse. The cultivar that my wife purchased is called ‘Medusa,’ which forms red, long, skinny, Cayenne-like fruit that point in all directions, resembling in full bloom the mythical character Medusa’s head of snakes. Other popular ornamental cultivars include ’Basket of Fire,’ which produces fruit in a mix of orange, yellow, and red, resembling a burst of flames, and ‘Purple Flash,’ a purple-leaved variety with small rounded fruit that are almost black.
Wherever you choose to plant your ornamental peppers, make sure they are in full sun, and have moist, well-drained soil. They can tolerate being a little on the dry side, but they don’t like being overly wet, so providing adequate drainage is very important. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705.
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In many ways, landscapes are like blank canvases for gardeners to fill as they see fit. We use plants of all different shapes, sizes, and colors in the hopes that the result will be something pleasing to the eye. Most of us primarily use trees and shrubs, as well as flowering herbaceous plants (either annuals or perennials) to complete our landscapes. Many landscapes also make space for vines, which have a unique ability among plants to travel and stretch along structures like trellises and arbors. This growth habit leads to really interesting shapes that we wouldn’t otherwise see in our landscapes. Among vines, soft-stemmed plants like clematis, Carolina jessamine, and morning glories are fairly common, often used around mailboxes or on small trellises. Woody-stemmed plants like honeysuckle, and climbing roses are also familiar to most gardeners and are a good fit for climbing on heavy duty structures. All of these plants are lovely and fine choices for the proper situation, but if you’re a plant geek like me, you’re always looking for something a little bit different. Akebia quinata, commonly known as Five-leaf Akebia or Chocolate Vine, is just such a plant. Akebia has the distinction among vines of producing both attractive flowers and interesting fruit. Many vines have nice blooms, of course, but far fewer produce fruit worth mentioning. Akebia’s blossoms are found in small clusters early in spring, opening just shortly after the plant has finished leafing out. The color and the light fragrance of the bloom remind one of chocolate, hence its common name. The flowers are attractive, particularly from up close, but may not overwhelm you as the glossy foliage of Akebia tends to hide some of its blooms.
Top left: The blossoms appear in early spring, and have a light chocolate fragrance. Photo: Alspdake, CC BY-SA 3.0 Top right: Close-up of the palmately compound leaves. Photo: Monado, CC BY-SA 3.0 Lower left: Grown as a vine. Photo: J. Robbins, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Lower right: The purple, sausage-shaped fruit. The foliage itself is an attractive bluish green, made up of five leaflets. It emerges in the spring with just a tinge of purple in March, before fading to its usual color. It remains on the vine until about December without changing color in the fall. When grown in warmer climates, Akebia is an evergreen.
Akebia’s odd fruit are what make it truly unique among vines. Each vine produces several light-purple seed pods that reach 2 to 4 inches long. Many sources describe the fruit as sausage-shaped, though they tend to be much plumper than your average sausage, swelling as the seeds inside mature. In fall, the pods split open and reveal a pulpy white core that surrounds the numerous black seeds inside. It is an unusual sight, to say the least. Unfortunately, It should be noted that while Akebia is not listed as a noxious weed by the federal government, several states list it as an invasive weed due to its propensity to spread aggressively and reseed. The North Carolina Invasive Plant Council does list it as an invasive plant. It’s not nearly as aggressive as wisteria or English ivy, but given this, I can’t in good conscience recommend that you plant Akebia. It is, nonetheless, an interesting plant that you may encounter in public gardens and arboreta, including both of the ones that I have worked at, though I myself did not plant it in either location. While it can be a problematic plant, it is one that I will always stop and spend some time with every time I encounter it. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Plant names have always been fascinating to me for a number of reasons. When I first started studying plants, it always seemed easier for me to remember the more outlandish botanical names than the plainer ones. I suppose this is because the more it twisted my tongue to try to pronounce an unusual name, the more frequently I’d repeat it. More recently, I spend less time thinking about how names sound, and more time thinking about what they mean and what those names tell us about the plants themselves. More often than not, a plant’s name tells us something important about where that plant is from, who discovered it, what it looks like, how it grows, and so on. What exactly that is might not always be evident on first glance, however. Let me give you an example. Suppose I’m a plant that blooms from April to October, with colorful, daisy-like flowers. I’m a low-growing, spreading perennial that loves sun and dry soil. In fact I’m a succulent, and this means that I thrive with little to no water. I’m native to Africa. What would you name me? Why, ice plant, of course! Huh? Ice plant is the common name of several species of the genus Delosperma, most notably Delosperma cooperi, and several other hybrids. Although it’s not evident why the name ice plant fits based on the description I shared, it does start to make sense on further inspection. Ice plant’s leaves are plump, fleshy green leaves with bladder-like hairs on them. These hairs reflect light in a way that makes it appear on occasion that there are crystals on the leaves. This effect can make it appear as though a layer of frost or ice glistens on the tips of the leaves. 
Lower left: It also makes a very attractive groundcover. Photo: S. Ehsani, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Lower right: Ice plant loves sun and dry soil. Make of that explanation what you will. Regardless, ice plant is an interesting addition to the landscape because it is a long-blooming, reliably hardy perennial plant that thrives in tough situations. It’s a great fit for rock gardens, the hottest and driest corners of the landscapes, on slopes or near walls and paths, or in hanging baskets and containers. Ice plant is also resistant to deer and salt.
Delosperma cooperi blooms are pinkish-purple, but there are hybrid cultivars that bloom dark purple, red, yellow, and white. It makes a colorful carpet wherever it is planted. Think of other favorite creeping perennials such as phlox, which gives a fantastic burst of color for a few weeks in early spring and then all but disappears for the rest of the year. Ice plant grows in many of the same spots, but tolerates more extreme heat and drought, and flowers for an extra four months. It may not ever replace phlox entirely, but it certainly is worthy of wider usage. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. |
Matt Stevens
Pitt County Extension Director & Horticulture Agent Archives
February 2026
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