Dictamnus

Dictamnus albus, the gas plant, is a remarkable long-lived perennial of the highest garden reliability for Martha's Vineyard's well-drained, sunny border gardens, thriving once established for decades with virtually no division, transplanting, or significant maintenance intervention. Its glossy, lemon-scented foliage is itself ornamental through the entire growing season, and the showy spikes of white or rosy-purple flowers in late May and June are among the most refined in the sunny border palette. It establishes slowly but builds into a substantial, self-supporting clump that handles the island's sandy soils and coastal wind exposure with exceptional composure.

Deer reliably avoid it due to the strongly aromatic compounds in all plant parts. Estate Care professionals treat gas plant as a permanent, high-value fixture in the perennial border, planting it once, protecting it through establishment, and then rewarding it with nothing more than a late-autumn cutback for the rest of its decades-long garden life.