Perennials & Biennials - Heirloom Garden Plants

Acanthus spinosus   Bear's breeches  Z 5-9
A WOW plant. Bodacious two-toned spikes of purple & lavender bracts, June to August. Even its leaves are attractive, glossy, deeply incised. Both flowers and leaves have thorny ends.

Size: 3-4' x 2-3'
Care: Sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil.    
Native: Italy & Turkey

Acanthus means "thorn" and spinosus means "spine" referring to the leaves. Grown since at least 5^th century B.C. Inspiration for Corinthian column capital in architecture of ancient Greece and Rome

Achillea clypeolata   Balkan yarrow  Z 3-9
Erect, fern-like, thick clumps of striking silver foliage.  Mustard yellow platter flowers in summer.  I 1^st saw this plant - at the harbor garden in Port Washington about 6 AM one fall morning. The foliage was so arresting it stopped me in my tracks.

Size: 18" x 24"
Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil.  Deer and drought tolerant
Native: Balkins

Collected before 1804.

Achillea filipendulina  Fernleaf yarrow   Z 4-8

Mustardy-gold saucers top erect 3' tall erect stems from early through late summer. One of the best dried flowers.

Size: 3’-4’ x 30”
Care: Full sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil, drought tolerant & deer resistant.
Native: Caucasus

Introduced to gardens in 1804 when it was sent from the Caucasus Mountains to Europe. 1800's in America.

Achillea ptarmica var. ‘The Pearl’ Sneezewort, Shirtbuttons  Z 3-9
Frilly ivory pearls flower all summer and fall on this cottage garden classic.

Size:  12-36”x 24”
Care: Full sun, well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Deer resistant
Native: North temperate regions

Named "sneezewort" because its flowers reputedly caused sneezing. English brides carried A. ptarmica at their weddings and called the plant "Seven years' love." (After that, you could use Lobelia cardinalis to cure the 7 years' itch.) Cultivated in Europe since the Middle Ages and in America since the 1700's. The double form 'The Pearl' describes as "'The Pearl' is a pearl indeed," May 1905, "The Garden."

Achillea tomentosa  Woolly yarrow   Z 4-8
Lemony colored flower heads from June to September, wonderful, wooly foliage. Good in front of the border or on rock gardens.

Size:   8” x 12”
Care: Full sun in moist to dry soil, will rebloom if deadheaded.  drought tolerant & deer resistant
Native: Southern to Eastern Europe

Grown in Tradescant the Elder’s garden 1630. "A splendid plant with fern like foliage and rich golden-yellow flower heads." H.H. Thomas, 1915. Received England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.

Aconitum napellus   Monkshood, Wolfsbane  Z 5-8
Midsummer, blue spikes of hooded flowers

Size: 2-3' x 12"
Care: part shade to shade, moist soil
Native: Europe

This flower sprang from the jaws of Cerberus, the guard dog of the underworld. Aconitum comes from the mythical hill Aconitus where Hercules fought with Cerberus. Witches made a potion from Monkshood that helped them fly. Also used to poison wolves: "This Wolf's bayne of all poisons is the most hastie poison." William Turner, 1560. All parts of the plant are poisonous. Introduced to the New World by John Winthrop in 1631.

Adenophora lilifolia    Ladybells   Z 3-8
Fragrant, flared, downfacing bluebells in midsummer, July and August

Size: 18" x 12" spreader
Care: full sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: central Europe east to Siberia

Adenophora is Greek from aden meaning "gland" and phore meaning "to bear." Japanese cultivated for edible root. "Fragrant blue flowers, freely borne on a loose pyramidal inflorescence." H.H. Thomas, 1915. "Well suited for the mixed border." William Robinson, 1899.

Aethionema cordifolium   Lebanon stonecress, Persian candytuft   Z 4-8
Short subshrub with lovely, tiny blue-green leaves on upright stems with terminal clusters of pale pink blooms in spring. Perfect for rock gardens and front of the border.

Size: 6-8” x 12-15”  
Care: sun in well-drained soil. Sheer back after blooming to keep compact and rebloom.
Native: Lebanon and possibly Caucasus on chalky summits.

Collected before 1841.  Foster: “…when planted in quantity does wonders for mass effect in the rock garden or alpine lawn.” January 1876 issue of The Garden called these “very attractive dwarf rock garden plants.”  Aethionema from aitho meaning scorch and nema for filament.

Agastache foeniculum  Anise hyssop Z 4-8
Showy blue spikes from July to September, fragrant

Size: 3-5' x 12"
Care: Full sun to part shade in well-drained soil, drought tolerant & deer resistant
Native: North America, Wisconsin native
Wildlife value: attracts butterflies

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Agastache rupestris   Sunset hyssop    Z 5-9
Tangerine & lilac spikes of small trumpets, June - September, fragrant

Size: 24" x 10"
Care: full sun in well-drained soil.  Drought tolerant & deer resistant
Native: SW United States
Wildlife value:  Attracts butterflies

First collected by Meriwether Lewis. Introduced to gardens by Edward Greene before 1915. The name Agastache is from Greek agan and stachys meaning "much like an ear of wheat" referring to the shape of the flower spike.  Rupestris means "rock loving." 1997 Plant Select award recipient.

Alcea rosea   Hollyhock   BIENNIAL reseeds  Z 4-9
Early to late summer spikes of single platters - mixed colors. The classic cottage garden flower.

Size: 5-8' x 24"
Care: Sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil. Drought tolerant
Native: West Asia
Wildlife value: Butterfly plant, host for Painted Lady butterflies

Cultivated in China for thousands of years where it symbolized the passing of time. They cooked the leaves for a vegetable and also ate the buds. Transported from Middle East to Europe by the Crusaders and introduced to England by the 1400's. Culpepper, a 17^th century English herbalist, claimed the plant could be used to cure ailments of the "belly, Stone, Reins, Kidneys, Bladder, Coughs, Shortness of Breath, Wheesing, ... the King's Evil,, Kernels, Chin-cough, Wounds, Bruises, Falls. . . (and) Sun-burning." Both single and double forms grew in England by the time of Parkinson (1629). Parkinson said they came "in many and sundry colours." John Winthrop Jr. iIntroduced the 1^st hollyhock to the New World in the 1630's.

Alchemilla mollis syn. A. vulgaris Lady's mantle  Z 4-7
Petite chartreuse flowers cover foot long sprays in early to midsummer.  Mounds of fan-like foliage.

Size: 24"x S 30"
Care: Sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
Native: East Carpathians, Caucasus

Named for alchemists, medieval chemists who believed they could transmute ordinary substances into gold. Dew drops beading on the fan shaped leaves were added to gold-making recipes. 16th century English medicinal uses included: cures for inflammation from wounds, bruises and flu, clot blood, aid conception and discourage miscarriages. Reputedly the plant also returned women to their former beauty of youth. Cultivated in U.S. since 1800's.

Allium cernuum  Nodding onion   Z 4-8 
Umbels of arching stems with nodding bells of lilac shading to pink, June – July.

Size:  12”-18”x 3-6”       
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil, Deer resistant   
Native:  Canada to Mexico, Wisconsin native
Wildlife value: attracts butterflies
 
Cernuum is Latin meaning “nodding.”  Many groups of 1^st Americans ate the bulbs raw, roasted or dried for winter storage or as flavoring for soups and gravies. Cherokee used this plant medicinally to cure colds, hives, colic, “gravel & dropsy,” liver ailments, sore throats, “phthisic,” and feet in “nervous fever.”  Those in the Isleta Pueblo were not quite as creative as the Cherokee and used this only for sore throats and infections.  Collected for garden cultivation by 1834.

Allium rosenbachianum   Z 5-9
Decadent, huge purple balls in June

Size: 36” x 6”
Care: full to part sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil.  Deer resistant.
Native: Turkestan

Collected from the wild about 1894.

Allium sphaerocephalon  Drumstick allium  Z 4-11
Claret colored, egg shaped flower heads top leafless stems in June to July.  Good see through plant to intermingle with purple coneflowers or tickseed.  Good cut flower.  Self-sows

Size:  2-3’ x 2-3”                       
Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil.  Deer resistant 
Native: Mediterranean, Caucasus & Europe

In gardens before 1750.  Used as an edging around vegetables at Mount Vernon.

Allium tuberosum  Garlic chives    Z 4-8
August & September bright white balls on erect stems. Pretty in fall gardens & delicious too. Ornamental in gardens and in arrangements, both fresh and dried, delicious edible - both leaves and flowers taste just like garlic.


Size:  12-18” x 8”   Care:  full sun or shade in any soil  
Native:  Southeast Asia
Wildlife value: nectar source for many butterlies including the Tiger Swallowtail. 

Used medicinally in Asia as a remedy for incontinence, bladder weakness, and kidney trouble and knee injuries.  Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners made a powder from the seeds called Jiu Cai Zi used for numerous ailments. 

  Althaea officinalis      Marshmallow   Z 4-9
  Tall spires of small pale pink mallow-like blooms from July to September

Size:  5-6’ x 3’    
Care: Full sun moist to moist well-drained soil. Drought tolerant 
Native: Central, south and east Europe

Althaea is Greek meaning “to cure.” More than 2000 years ago ancient Egyptians added honey to the cooked root. Ancient Romans used leaves and flowers as a strewing herb to repel lice and fleas. Emperor Charlemagne (742-814) cultivated the marshmallow in his gardens.   According to Nicholas Culpepper, 16^th century English herbalist, marshmallows were a medicinal candy. The plant eased pain, helped bloody fluxes, the stone and gravel and gripping of the belly.  Considered an herb of Venus, it voided offensive humors, made milk for nursing, cured bee stings, dandruff, balding and coughs.  The French concocted the fluffy white confection in the mid 1800’s “from a decoction of marshmallow root, with gum to bind the ingredients together, beaten egg white to give lightness and to act as a drying agent, while sugar was incorporated to make the whole palatable.” American gardens since 1700’s when John Bartram received seeds from Europe. Jefferson grew it at Monticello.

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Amsonia tabernaemontana      Willow bluestar  Z 4-10
Sky blue star-shaped panicles from May to June.  In fall foliage turns sunny yellow.

Size:  24”x 18”     
Care:  full sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil. Drought tolerant   Native:  Pennsylvania to Florida

Amsonia named for 18^th century colonial physician Charles Amson.  Tabernaemontana named for a physician who lived in the 1500’s, Jakob van Bergzabern who changed his name to Tabernaemontanus.  Listed in The Wild Flowers of America, 1879.  A 1910 book describes the “leaves are willow-like, the flowers small bluish bells in terminal panicles.”

Anchusa azurea Dropmore alkanet, Dwarf wild indigo Z 3-9
June-July true blue flowers, or all summer if deadheaded

Size: 2-3' x 12'
Care: full sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil.  Drought tolerant
Native: Mediterranean region

"Lovely rich gentian blue flowers, freely borne from May to August." H.H. Thomas 1915. Recommended by Gertrude Jekyll, mother of today’s perennial gardens, in 1908.

Anchusa capensis  Cape forget-me-not, Cape bugloss  Self-seeding biennial or annual, possibly perennial, time will tell, stay tuned   Z 5-9
Truest of blue flowers from spring through fall.  Do you need to know anything else?

Size: 8” x 8”      
Care: sun in well-drained soil     
Native: So. Africa

Collected and introduced to Europe in 1794 by von Thunberg (1743-1828). Carl Peter von Thunberg, student of Linnaeus at Uppsala University in Sweden, made three trips to the Cape of Good Hope 1772-1775 where he collected about 1000 new species, Java and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1777 and 15 months in Japan where he befriended local doctors who gave him hundreds of plants new to Western horticulture.  He succeeded Linnaeus as professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala and King Gustav beknighted him.   Young Cape forget-me-not plants were eaten as a vegetable, Annals of the South African Museum, 1898.  Louise Beebe Wilder loved this plant effusing, “One of the prettiest (blue annuals) is the Cape Forget-me-not.  Not one of its cerulean family boasts a purer blue and its summer-long period of bloom and indifference to drought make it a really valuable annual.  It has also a sturdy habit of growth and sowing its hardy seeds freely it does its best to become a permanent resident.”  Robinson called it “Remarkably fine…” The Garden 1873.  The name Anchusa from anchousa, paint used on skin.