Drought, Xeric & Dry Soil Plants
Showing 73–80 of 132 results
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Linum perenne ‘Lewisii’ Perennial flax, Prairie flax Z 4-8
Sky blue flowers closing by afternoon all summer
Sky blue flowers closing by afternoon all summer
Size: 24" x 12"
Care: Full sun in well-drained soil.
Native: Wisconsin west and southLinum is Greek for “flax,”, a different species grown for centuries as the source of linen cloth. This variety was named for Meriwether Lewis who found this plant on July 9, 1806 near Great Falls, Montana. Western Natives used the seeds in cooking; Navajo for heartburn; Okanagon as a shampoo; Sioux ate the leaves to cure poor circulation, fever, cramps. They added it to a mixture for smoking.
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Lupinus perennis Sun-dial lupin, Old maid’s bonnet, wild pea Z. 4-9
Many flowered blue, pea flowered raceme May-June
Many flowered blue, pea flowered raceme May-June
Size: 1-2' x 12"
Care: full sun in well drained soil. A legume, so it enriches the soil by adding nitrogen.
Native: Maine to FL, Ontario to MN to Louisiana, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: Attracts both hummingbirds and butterflies. The only food for larvae of endangered species, Karner Blue butterfly.Lupinus is Latin from Lupus meaning “wolf.” Cherokee used this to stop bleeding. The Menominee fattened their horses with this Lupin and made them spirited. They rubbed the plant on themselves to give power to control the horses. Likely sent from its native Virginia to England by Tradescant the Younger in 1637. Collected by André Michaux(1746-1802) in late 1700’s. Grown by Jefferson. Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811.
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Malva sylvestris ‘Zebrina’ Striped mallow – According to the books a perennial, but here it acts like an annual that reseeds – just watch for the seedlings in early summer. Z 5-8
June to October pink with purple striped mallow flowers
June to October pink with purple striped mallow flowers
Size: 36-48" x 24"
Care: Sun, moist well-drained soil. Moderately fertile.Malvas cultivated for food or flower since 6000 B.C. This Striped mallow was identified by Dioscorides in De Materica Medica for medicinal use around 70 A.D. Flowers and young leaves are edible – add petals to salads. The Malva sylvestris ‘Zebrina’ was listed as cultivated in the empire pursuant to Charlemagne’s Capitulare de Villis c. 800 A.D. The French word “mauve” comes from the color for this flower. Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.
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Melampodium leucanthum Blackfoot daisy Z 5-10
No fail low mounds of up to 50 small white daisies spring-fall, atop narrow, hairy, grey-green leaves
OUT OF STOCK
No fail low mounds of up to 50 small white daisies spring-fall, atop narrow, hairy, grey-green leaves
Size: 6-10” x 12-20”
Care: sun to part-shade in well-drained soil. Its tap root reaches down for moisture and hair on foliage protects if from desiccating winds and sun - xeric plant
Native: Colorado, Oklahoma, TX &AZ (no wonder it likes well drained soil) but perfectly happy as far north as 20° below zero in winter.
Wildlife Value: birds eat seeds –pollen and nectar attract bees and butterflies. Deer resistantBotany professor John Riddell found this in Texas, Described in Flora of North America, 1842.
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Monarda fistulosa Wild bergamont Z 3-9
Whorls of hooded lavender tubes in July - August
Whorls of hooded lavender tubes in July – August
Size: 3-4' x 2' spreading
Care: Sun to part shade any soil.
Native: central U.S., Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Checkered white, Tiger swallowtail, Giant swallowtail and Melissa blue butterflies relish Wild bergamot’s nectar. Supports over 70 bee species including Rusty patched Bumble Bee.Used medicinally by many Native tribes- Blackfoot, Cherokee, Chippewa, Choctaw, Crow, Dakota and Flathead. Cherokee: to cure colic, flatulence, nosebleed, measles, flu, hysteria and insomnia. Blackfoot called it “Single-young-Man.” Teton Dakotas boiled the leaves and flowers to cure abdominal pain. Ho-Chunk boiled the leaves to remove pimples. Choctaws cured chest pain in children. The Flathead cured colds and sore teeth with Wild Bergamot. HoChunk inhaled fumes in a sweat bath to cure colds. Oneidas made a tea. For the Sioux it was nourishment and a panacea: tea, stomach ache, fever, indigestion, sore throats, fainting, whooping cough, wounds, sore eyes, ulcers, and snakebites. First documented by French explorers before 1635. Plant exported to Europe by Tradescant the Younger in 1637. Grown by Washington at Mount Vernon. Today it is a flavor in Earl Grey tea.
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Nepeta racemosa syn. N. mussinii Persian Catmint Z 4-8
Lavender blue fragrant flowers from May through September, cut back for rebloom
Lavender blue fragrant flowers from May through September, cut back for rebloom
Size: 18" x 18"
Care: Full sun in well-drained soil
Native: Caucasus
Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.Nepetas may have been named after Nepete, an old Etrusrian city. Mussinii named for the plant’s discoverer, Russian Count Apollos Apollosovitch Mussin-Pushkin. In gardens before 1810 and a favorite Victorian bedding plant by the late 1800’s. Catmints contain various amounts of an essential oil (nepetalactone) both a cat stimulant and a mosquito repellant.
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Nicotiana langsdorffii Langsdorff’s tobacco Z 10-11, grow as annual in colder areas
Pendulous Granny Smith apple colored, tube-shaped flowers in summer through fall.
Pendulous Granny Smith apple colored, tube-shaped flowers, in summer through fall.
Size: 2-3’ x 6”
Care: full sun to part shade in well-drained soil
Native: Chile and Brazil
Wildlife Value: attract hummingbirds
Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.Nicotiana langsdorfii introduced in 1819. The genus name nicotiana named after John Nicot who introduced smoking tobacco to Europe. Langsdorfii named to honor Russian naturalist Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff, Baron de Langsdorff ( 1774 -1852), Russian consul general in Brazil and leader of Langsdorff Expedition of Brazil, 1826-1829.
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Oenothera macrocarpa syn. O. missouriensis Ozark sundrops Z 3-7
Four wide petals form a cup of big, canary-yellow blossoms much of the summer, then turn into curious big oval seed pods
Four wide petals form a cup of big, canary-yellow blossoms much of the summer, then turn into curious big oval seed pods
Size: 9-12" x 12"
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: Missouri & Nebraska
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.Oenothera is Greek meaning wine tasting referring to the ancient use of Sundrop roots. This discovered in 1810 by Thomas Nuttall when he traveled along the Missouri River “on the elevated summits of the …hills in the vicinity of the lead-mines of the river Meremeck, 30 miles from St. Louis, Louisiana.” (then in the Louisiana Territory). Nuttall described it as a “splendid and singular species.”
