The MSHS Educational Display on herbs at the Minnesota State Fair has some great plants that can be grown indoors, outdoors or, as Nancy Leasman says, as commuters, who spend summer outside and winter inside. One interesting commuter is the coffee plant (Coffea arabica), which has attractive, shiny evergreen leaves. Mature plants will produce white, jasmine-scented flowers, but they only last a few days. In its native habitat, coffee will grow 15 or more feet tall, but it stays smaller here.

In our climate, growing coffee plants is easiest in filtered light with fast-draining potting soil. They need regular watering, however, and must spend winter indoors. The coffee we drink comes from the dried seeds of the coffee fruit. Traditional medicine has used coffee to treat everything from asthma to vertigo.

For more on growing coffee as an indoor plant, check out the display at the fair!