Alpine, Rock, Miniature, Bonsai and Railroad Gardens

Showing 49–56 of 97 results

  • Edraianthus tenuifolius syn. Wahlenbergia tenuifolius Grassy bells Z 5-8

    Clusters of upfacing blue-purple bells in June, with a base of grassy foliage.

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    Clusters of upfacing blue-purple bells in June, with a base of grassy foliage.

    Size: 4” x 8”
    Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil
    Native: Dalmatia in southern Austria (Balkans)

    Introduced to gardens by M. Fröbel of Zurich who sent it to Kew Botanical Garden where it flowered in 1819. The name Edraianthus comes from Greek meaning “without a stalk.” Tenuifolius means “slender leaved.”

  • Erigeron aureus Alpine yellow fleabane Z 5-8

    White hairs cover frosted-looking basil leaves making this worthy of any garden even without flowers, but then its school bus yellow daisies flower from spring through fall.

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    White hairs cover frosted-looking basil leaves making this worthy of any garden even without flowers, but then its school bus yellow daisies flower from spring through fall.

    Size: 3-4” x 3”
    Care: sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
    Native: Cascade Mountains from Alberta to State of Washington
    Wildlife Value: attracts bees, butterflies and birds

    1st described in literature in 1884.

  • Erigeron compositus Cutleaf daisy, Dwarf mountain fleabane Z 3-8

    Cushion shaped plant with wooly grey leaves topped by small bluish, pink or white rays like a daisy with a yellow center. Flowers in June-July.

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    Cushion shaped plant with wooly grey leaves topped by small bluish, pink or white rays like a daisy with a yellow center. Flowers in June-July.

    Size: 6” x 6-12”
    Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil.
    Native: all of western No. America from prairies to alpine slopes.

    Thompson Indians from British Columbia chewed on the plant then spit on sores to remedy skin ailments.  They also made a decoction of the plant, mixed with any weeds for broken bones.  Collected by Meriwether Lewis in late spring 1806 near Lewiston Idaho.  Erigeron comes from Greek er meaning “spring” and geron for “old man” due to some of these species having white downy hair like an old man.

  • Eryngium maritimum Sea holly Z 5-10

    Round thistles turning steely blue in July-August atop silver colored, prickly bracts. Ivy-shaped prickly foliage.

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    Round thistles turning steely blue in July-August atop silver colored, prickly bracts. Ivy-shaped prickly foliage.

    Size: 12" x 10"
    Care: Full sun in well-drained soil.
    Native: Seacoasts of Europe

    “Eryngium” is Greek for thistle.  Anglo-Saxons prescribed Sea holly root to cure the king’s evil, serpent bites, broken bones, stiff necks and melancholy. Also considered an aphrodisiac and brought on “kissing comfits.”   This was identified by Dioscorides in De Materica Medica for medicinal use around 70 A.D.  Eryngium was described in Gerard’s Herball  in 1597 for its uses: ”old and aged people that are consumed and withered with age, and which want natural moisture (and also) amended the defects of nature in the younger,”  William Robinson, father of the mixed perennial border, considered this plant “very pretty.”

  • Galium odoratum Sweet woodruff, Bedstraw Z 4-8

    Whorls of fine textured leaves, like spokes of a wheel, with white blooms in spring lighting up the shade

    $7.45/pot

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    Whorls of fine textured leaves, like spokes of a wheel, with white blooms in spring lighting up the shade

    Size: 6-12" x 18" spreading
    Care: shade to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil.
    Native: Europe and Mediterranean area

    Called “Bedstraw” because, according to legend, Mary rested on hay of Bedstraw on Christmas.  May wine made an ancient herbal remedy: handful of dried and crushed leaves plus fresh lemon juice steeped in wine for 3-4 hours “makes a man merry and (is) good for the heart and liver” per Gerard, 1633.  Garlands hanging in houses in summer “coole and make fresh the place, to the delight and comfort of such as are therein.”  Gerard.  Dried branches give a grassy vanilla fragrance, used in sachets and potpourris, as an insect repellant and to make grey-green dyes.

  • Gaultheria procumbens Wintergreen, Checkerberry, Teaberry Z 3-8

    “Gaultheria procumbens is in absolute perfection and beautiful – first as regards its bell-shaped blossoms, and afterwards its berries…”  The Garden January 1876.

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    “Gaultheria procumbens is in absolute perfection and beautiful – first as regards its bell-shaped blossoms, and afterwards its berries…”  The Garden , January 1876.

    Size: 4” x 2’, slow but dense groundcover in time.
    Care: part shade in moist to moist well-drained, acidic soil
    Native: Eastern North America – Canada to Georgia west to Wisconsin
    Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.

    Berries 1st described as a grape in 1717.  Named by Swedish botanist Peter Kalm after Dr. Gaulthier, with whom he botanized in Canada in 1749. Ojibwa made tea from the leaves; the tea “makes them feel good.”  Oneida used this for women having a painful menstrual cycle. For the Algonquin Wintergreen cured the common cold, headaches, grippe and stomachaches.  Cherokee cured swollen gums and colds.  Sold in America’s 1st plant catalog, Bartram’s Broadside, 1783. During the American Revolution when tea became unavailable, colonists used the plant to make tea.  The tea reputedly relieved pain from headaches, muscle pains and colds.  The leaves contain oil effective against pain – methyl salicylate. Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.

  • Geum triflorum Prairie smoke, Old Man’s whiskers Z 1-8

    Pale purplish-pink dangling cup-shaped flowers in spring to early summer, followed by hair-like, pink seed heads like the hair on a troll doll.

    $9.25/bareroot

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    Pale purplish-pink dangling cup-shaped flowers in spring to early summer, followed by hair-like, pink seed heads like the hair on a troll doll.

    Size: 10" x 8" but slow to grow to this width
    Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
    Native: all of northern No. America, Wisconsin native
    Awards: Great Plants for Great Plains

    Introduced to gardens in 1609.  Many Native American medicinal uses.  Blackfeet used it to cure coughs, skin sores and wounds on people and horses, swollen eyes, canker sores, and fuzzy thinking in people. Crushed, ripe seeds made a perfume.  Okanagan-Colville women made a love potion from the roots, as well as curing vaginal yeast infections.  The Eastern Cascades of Canada brewed a medicinal tea for eye-wash, sore throats and general aches from the plant. Sioux used it for many ailments:  sore eyes ,canker sores, sore throat, perfume, wounds, and added it to mixtures of plants for smoking Collected by Meriwether Lewis in June 12, 1806 on the Weippe Prairie, at the villages of the Nez Perce in Idaho.

  • Globularia cordifolia Globe daisy, Wedge leaved globularia Z 5-9

    Dense, blue, globe-shaped umbels in spring

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    Dense, blue, globe-shaped umbels in spring, mat forming, leathery, spoon-shaped leaves.

    Size: 5” x 12”
    Care: sun in well-drained soil
    Native: alpine pastures in Switzerland and Pyrenees
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.

    Collected before 1753.  “The most desirable (Globularia) for the rockwork is the neat G. cordifolia which is a little prostrate trailing shrub with bluish flowers.” William Robinson 1879.