The midnight blue heart plant is an AI-generated scam sweeping TikTok, eBay, and Amazon seed listings. Here’s how the fake works, four red flags to spot the pattern in any plant listing, and 15 real blue plants worth planting instead: real blue hostas that hold their color in shade, heart-shaped houseplants with cool silvery-blue foliage, and flowers that actually bloom blue.
Seven cold hardy palms that actually make it through Zone 7 winters, ranked hardiest to most-marginal, plus the siting and first-winter tricks that keep them alive.
Hardy tropical plants for zone 7 that actually survive winter, from cold-hardy palms and Musa basjoo banana to elephant ear, agave, and prickly pear. 17 tested picks from our own Raleigh yard.