Recently I stumbled across a plant recipe called "This is the Life." Not only was it a collection of some of my favorite plants, it was a wake-up call to an old favorite: the Persian Shield. Known botanically as Strobilanthes dyerianus, it is native to Myanmar and has 8-inch-long iridescent leaves in shades of purple, lilac and pink with purple-maroon on the undersides. If those colors aren't awesome enough, the foliage looks as though it has a light coat of silver electroplated to the leaf.