For most people, their first attraction to plants and gardening is an appreciation of the beauty of flowers and foliage. Few hearts can remain cold to a hellebore opening on a late winter day or a red rose blooming in early summer. But if it is the beauty that first draws us in, then it must be the diversity of the plant world that keeps us coming back for more and that hooks us as lifelong gardeners. After all, gardening really is a journey to find plants that you truly love. Yet sometimes our interests change, our sense of aesthetics evolves, and new plants come to us that present new possibilities. I often find myself coming to just like plants that I once loved and to love other plants that I’ve just discovered. The following are 10 good plants that many gardeners have liked for years, and 10 alternatives to those plants that you might—like me—just love.

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