If you’re looking to plant a rare flower with a storied past that’s had a well-known song written about it, edelweiss will check all your boxes.

My mother grew up in northeastern Italy, just over the Austrian border, near the Alps, where edelweiss grow wild along steep rocky ledges. When I was a child, she told me stories about the elusive white flowers, and how young men had died after climbing and falling from the cliffs while trying to pick edelweiss for their beloveds.

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