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Good things come to those who wait. But that barren patch of dirt is not going to fill up with flowers by itself. One reliable option for difficult locations of the garden is the beautiful Lunaria, or Money Plant, also known as Silver Dollar.

Lunaria has two stages of beauty — the beauty of the bloom and the beauty of the everlasting silvery seed pod. And wait you must for the seed pod display of the Money Plant to fill a vase and grace a corner in your living room or the top of your piano. Lunaria is a biennial. A plant whose life cycle is two years. You plant the seed and the plant grows the first year, it blooms in the second year, then sets its seeds and dies.

I‘ve always wondered about biennials — why would anyone bother to plant a seed and then wait for an entire year for a short-lived flower. Lunaria looks like much of nothing in the first year. It has large, serrated oval leaves in a basic green color — a weedy appearance even. In that first year, it’s pretty much indestructible though — dogs, kids, soccer balls — may dent but not demolish it.

Then in the second year, a spectacular show begins. Purple, white and pink blossoms atop two foot willowy stems that pass quickly into green seed pods which then dry into a everlasting shimmer. Money Plant reseeds beautifully, so you will be treated to color and light in that beaten patch of garden in years when you least expect it.

So, plant the seeds and wait. . . good things will come.