Yes, it's true: On a hot day this elegant perennial releases enough oil directly into the air that you can flare a match near it.
Darn that this is no help as a sustainable energy solution. It ain't fuel, just fun.
But this is an essential perennial regardless.
Those spikes of white flowers couldn't be more reliable or more self-supporting. (Take that, you floppy delphinium!) And while the plant is famously slow to establish—and impossible to transplant thereafter—once it's settled in, you'll need to include it in your will, and your kids in theirs. Like peonies, it's as immortal as a perennial can be. (Take that, you short-lived delphinium!)
Why why why isn't it in my garden? Even on my plan for my garden? An unaccountable lapse. Yesterday I was thrilled to visit two legendary gardens in Little Compton, Rhode Island, not usually open to the public. This picture is one of several from the first highlighting plants that I now understand can't be planted too soon, by me or by you.
Just provide sun, decent soil and drainage, and your sense that for years to come, it will get the respect it so clearly deserves.