Liriope ‘Big Blue’

* Common name: Lilyturf ‘Big Blue’

* Botanical name: Liriope muscari ‘Big Blue’

* What it is: One of the toughest and most versatile perennial flowers you’ll ever grow, liriope ‘Big Blue’ has grassy-looking foliage and purple flower spikes that last from late August into early fall. It then gets non-messy, black berries that birds eat in fall. The foliage stays green most winters.

* Size: Foliage grows about a foot tall with flower spikes that poke a few inches higher.

* Where to use: One of those rare plants that will take sun or shade, damp or dry and everything in between. Makes a great edging but also an excellent, dense groundcover, even in dry shade under trees where little else will grow.

* Care: Needs only occasional watering in the worst dry spells and little, if any, fertilizer. Cut to a stub each March before new growth starts. Last year’s leaves will brown out later in the spring if you don’t. Even a lawn mower or weed whacker is fine… you won’t hurt them. ‘Big Blue’ creeps slowly, not invasively like Liriope spicata types. But if it spreads where you don’t want it, it divides easily in spring or fall to make new plants.

* Great partner: Contrasts nicely with the wide leaves of hosta or dark-leafed coralbells in shadier settings. Also makes nice underplantings around trees and pairs well with boxwoods in a more formal front-yard setting.