Perennials & Biennials

Showing 9–16 of 548 results

Aconitum fischeri Fischer’s monkshood syn. A. carmichaelii
Spikes of cobalt blue hooded blooms September – October
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Spikes of cobalt blue hooded blooms September – October POISON

Size: 24-36”x 10”
Care: part shade in moist soil
Native: No. Japan, E. Russia, Korea, China
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant. Attracts butterflies.
The name Aconitum is from the mythical hill Aconitus in Pontica where Hercules fought with Cerberus. 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.” The Monkshood reputedly sprang from the jaws of Cerberus, the guard dog of the underworld. In China called “bao ye wo tou.” Wm. Robinson considered this one of the best monkshoods. Collected before 1820.
Aconitum napellus ‘Albus’ White Monkshood, Wolfsbane Z 4-8 POISON
Purest of white hooded blooms flowering along spikes in mid to late summer
$10.95/bareroot
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Purest of white hooded blooms flowering along spikes in mid to late summer

Size: 2-3” x 18-24”
Care: part shade, cool, moist soil
Native: Europe
The 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. This was identified by Dioscordies in De Materica Medica for medicinal use around 70 A.D. 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.” He also considered “in flower it makes a pretty appearance.”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. Called Monkshood due to the shape of each flower like a monk’s hood.
This white variety in English gardens before 1768, Philip Miller’s Garden Dictionary
Aconitum napellus Monkshood Wolfsbane Z 5-8 POISON
Midsummer, blue spikes of hooded blooms
$10.95/bareroot
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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 Picks
The 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.
Adenophora lilifolia Ladybells Z 3-8
Fragrant, flared, downfacing bluebells
$10.95/bareroot
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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 this 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.
Adiantum aleuticum Western Maidenhair Fern Z 3-9
Bright green fronds perch atop black stems like the fingers of an open hand
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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: 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, Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit
According to folklore if a girl can hold the stem without causing the leaves to tremble, then she was chaste.
Natives used the stems in basketry designs and made tea from the leaves to use as a hair wash. 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, inserting them into the ear lobe to keep the hole from closing. They chewed the leaves to remedy internal wounds, chest pain, or stomach trouble and made a cough syrup from it.
Adiantum pedatum Maidenhair fern Z.4-9
Grown for its delicate leaflets arranged in rows. One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)
$8.25/pot
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Grown for its delicate leaflets arranged in rows. One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)

Size: 12-24”x 12”
Care: Shade in moist soil
Native: all parts of No. America including Wisconsin
Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.
Adiantum is from Greek adiantos, unwettable because its fronds repel water.
Cherokee made a tea for flu, fever and rheumatism, and powdered parts for heart ailments, paralysis and asthma. Native Americans made a hair wash from the stems and applied a topical poultice of masticated fronds to a wound to arrest bleeding. 1st described by French botanist Cornu (1635). Introduced to France from Canada where it grew in “such quantities that the French send it from thence in package for other goods and the apothecaries at Paris use it for (another Adiantum) in all their compositions in which that is ordered.” Philip Miller (1768). Tradescant the Younger introduced this fern to garden cultivation when he sent it to England around 1638. English herbalist Nicholas Culpepper claimed it to be “a good remedy for coughs, asthmas, pleurisy, etc., and on account of it’s being a gentle diuretic also in jaundice, gravel and other impurities of the kidneys.” Father of the mixed perennial border, William Robinson, called this “elegant.” It “is unquestionably one of the most distinct and beautiful of the hardy ferns.” The Garden 1876.
Adiantum venustum Himalayan maidenhair fern Z 5-8
Black stems hold triangular, delicate, lacy fronds of tiny leaflets
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Black stems hold triangular, delicate, lacy fronds of tiny leaflets. Favorite short fern.

Size: 6" x 12", slow spreader
Care: part or light shade in moist well-drained soil but tolerates any soil
Native: China and Himalayan Mountains
Awards: Great Plant Pick from Elisabeth Cary Miller Botanic Garden & Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit
Adiantum is from Greek adiantos, “unwettable” because its fronds repel water. Venustum means attractive in Latin. (We think it should be “venustumest” for most attractive.) Collected for gardens by 1841.
Adlumia fungosa Allegheny vine, Climbong fumitory, Bleeding heart vine Biennial Z 4-8
Dangling pink to white Bleeding heart-like flowers bloom all summer,June-September. Fern-like foliage on twining stems
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Dangling pink to white Bleeding heart-like flowers bloom all summer,June-September. Fern-like foliage on twining stems

Size: 6-10’ x 12”
Care: part shade to shade in moist to moist well-drained, acidic soil
Native: Nova Scotia to No. Carolina west to Minnesota Wisconsin native status-special concern
Wildlife Value: attracts bumblebees
Named for John Adium (1759-1836), surveyor, judge and planter on 200 acre farm in Georgetown.
1^st described in 1789 (Aiton, Vol. 3 Hortus Kewensis).