Oh, how we love the Mavericks. They are a southern gardener’s salvation, thriving even in the sopping-wet humidity and searing heat of our summers. Other container plants look wilted even the same day you water them, but never Maverick. It’s compact, well-branched, large-flowered, and thoroughly agreeable to weather extremes. We wouldn’t want anything less for our terracotta pots and white window boxes.

Maverick is a very compact plant, reaching just 14 to 16 inches high (in full bloom) and nearly as wide. The foliage is large, softly lobed and creased, and bright green. It forms bushy rosettes beneath the flowering stems, which hold their giant spheres of blooms several inches above the rest of the plant.

And such blooms they are. White is a gleaming bright shade that stands out perfectly in the garden, particularly in late afternoon and early evening, when it appears to glow. The flowerheads are beautifully rounded and quite lar