"New" Heirloom Plants
Showing 1–4 of 95 results
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Aconitum napellus Monkshood, Wolfsbane Z 5-8 POISON
Midsummer, blue spikes of hooded blooms
Aconitum napellus Monkshood, Wolfsbane Z 5-8 POISON
Midsummer, blue spikes of hooded blooms.Size: 2-3’x 12”
Care: part shade, cool, moist soil
Native: Europe
Awards: Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant PicksThe name Aconitum is from the mythical hill Aconitus in Pontica where Hercules fought with Cerberus. The Monkshood reputedly sprang from the jaws of Cerberus, the guard dog of the underworld. Believed to make a potion that helped witches fly. Philip Miller in The Gardener’s Dictionary (1768) wrote that the name Aconitum comes from Greek word for dart “because the Barbarians used to daub their darts therewith.” Used by physicians in 1200’s and to poison wolves: “This Wolf’s bayne of all poisons is the most hastie poison.” Wm. Turner, 1560’s. Introduced to the new world by John Winthrop in 1631. Miller wrote “in flower it makes a pretty appearance” so that many people grow it in their gardens.
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Adiantum aleuticum Western Maidenhair Fern Z 3-9
Bright green fronds perch atop black stems like the fingers of an open hand
Bright green fronds perch atop black stems like the fingers of an open hand
Size: 30” x 30”
Care: shade in moist, well-drained soil
Native: Both east and west of the Cascade Mountains and is also found scattered along the eastern seaboard
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant
Awards: Elisabeth C Miller Great Plant Pick, RHS Award of Garden MeritNatives used the stems of Maidenhair Fern in basketry designs. They also used a tea made from the leaves as a hair wash. The Quinault burnt the leaves and rubbed ashes in their hair to make it long, shiny and black. California natives used the stems for pierced earrings, either alone or with feathers; inserting them into the ear lobe to keep the hole from closing. The leaves were also chewed for internal wounds, chest pain, or stomach trouble. Capillaire cough syrup originally made from A. capillus-veneris has also been made from A. aleuticum.
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Agastache aurantiaca Navajo sunset Z 5-9
Brilliant light orange blooms from spring-fall, silvery-grey aromatic foliage
OUT OF STOCK
Agastache aurantiaca Navajo sunset Z 5-9
Brilliant light orange blooms from spring-fall, silvery-grey aromatic foliageSize: 12-18” x 24”
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: Western US
Wildlife Value: attracts bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and birds. Deer and rabbit resistantPublished in American Midland Naturalist 1945.
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Alcea rosea var. nigra Black hollyhock BIENNIAL Z 4-9
Early to late summer spikes of single jet-black/maroon platters.
Alcea rosea var. nigra Black hollyhock BIENNIAL Z 4-9
Early to late summer spikes of single jet-black/maroon platters.
Size: 5-8’ x 24”
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: West Asia
Wildlife Value: Attracts bees, butterflies and birdsHollyhocks have been 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 1573. Grown in the Eichstätt Garden, the garden of Johann Konrad von Gemmingen, prince bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria, c. 1600. Culpepper, a 17th 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. introduced the 1st hollyhock to the New World in the 1630’s.
In the 1880’s Mr. W. Charter of Saffron Walden in England cultivated frilly doubles, now known as ‘Charter’s Doubles.’
