Description
ARCHIVED
Note: This is a plant not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.
Cone-shaped fuzzy yellow flower spikes rise above sparse foliage in April-June
Cone-shaped fuzzy yellow flower spikes rise above sparse foliage in April-June
ARCHIVED
Note: This is a plant not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.
Cone-shaped fuzzy yellow flower spikes rise above sparse foliage in April-June
$12.25/bareroot
BuyPurplish-blue spikes from July to October. Fragrant foliage.
Size: 2-3' x 12"
Care: Full sun in well-drained soil, heat and drought tolerant.
Native: North America, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: Skipper butterflies and Rusty patched Bumble Bees love Anise hyssop’s nectar, deer resistant.
The name Agastache is from Greek agan and stachys meaning much like an ear of wheat referring to the shape of the flower spike. Anise hyssop leaves were used by American Americans of the Missouri River region to make tea and as a sweetener in cooking. For Cheyenne it relieved chest pain due to coughing or to a dispirited heart. Listed as an aromatic herb in McMahon’s 1805 book.
$9.95/POT
BuyGorgeous, tall creamy white flower spikes in May & June followed by black seed pods. This is a legume that improves soil fertility by making nitrogen available to the Baptisia and surrounding plants.
Size: 3-5' x 2-3'
Care: full sun to part shade in rich well-drained soil. Drought tolerant.
Native: Wisconsin native – from Minnesota to Texas.
Wildlife Value: food source for several caterpillars and nectar and pollen for a number of butterflies and bees. Deer resistant.
Winnebago (HoChunk) mashed cooked root to make a poultice applied to remedy inflammation of the womb. Meskwaki applied root to cure old sores and, made a compound to remedy wounds from a rattlesnake bite, knife or ax, an infusion to remedy dropsy, Leucantha means white flowered.
$12.75/bareroot
BuyFragrant medium pink umbels, like an upside down ballerina’s skirt, July – September.
Size: 3’-4’ x 2-3’
Care: Sun in moist to moist well-drained soil, deer resistant
Native: North America – all states (except along the Pacific coast) & eastern half of Canada, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: host for Monarch caterpillars, flowers are source of nectar for several butterflies
Named after Asclepias, a Greek god of medicine. Native American groups used Swamp milkweed – Chippewa to increase their strength & the stems made into twine; Iroquois to heal navels in babies, to increase or decrease urine and to make a person strong enough to punish witches; Meskwaki to drive out tapeworms; and Menominee used it as an ingredient in food – added to deer soup & cornmeal mush. Listed as growing in England in Miller’s Gardeners’ Dictionary, 1768. Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.
$12.75/bareroot
BuyAugust – October, classic violet, pink or magenta daisies
Size: 3-4' x 24"
Care: Full sun dry to moist soil. Heat and drought tolerant.
Native: Vt to Alabama, west to N. M., Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Nectar source for many butterflies - Checkered white and Checkered skippers, Spring azure, Pearl crescent, Buckeye, Painted lady, Fiery skip butterfly, Sachem, Sleepy orange, Silver-spotted skipper and Monarch. Host for caterpillars Wavy-lined emerald moth.
Aster means star, referring to the flower’s form. For the Cherokee New England aster tea cured fevers and diarrhea. Roots remedied pain and inflammation of the nose and throat. Introduced to garden cultivation by John Tradescant the Younger (1608-1662) in 1637 when he sent it to England where upon borders of New England aster became common. Washington grew New England Aster at Mount Vernon.