Perennials & Biennials
Showing 161–168 of 471 results
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Echinacea pallida Pale purple coneflower Z 4-8
Narrow, weeping pink rays surround rusty hedgehog cone
Narrow, drooping, rosy-pink rays surround rusty hedgehog cone in early summer
Size: 14" x 2'
Care: Full sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Deer resistant.
Native: much of continental US east of Colorado, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies, seed heads provide bird foodEchinacea is Greek meaning “hedgehog” referring to the bristly conehead. Indians (Cheyenne, Crow, Dakota & Sioux) used this native plant to cure numerous ailments – arthritis, rheumatism, burns, colds, boils, fever, sore mouths, throats & gums, toothaches, snakebites, headaches, stings and distemper in horses. First collected for gardens by Englishman Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) who searched much of North America for plants – the Atlantic to the Pacific, Canada to Florida and Hawaii.
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Echinacea paradoxa Bush’s coneflower Z 3-9
Sulphur yellow petals droop down below the bristly central cone
Sulphur yellow petals droop down as a skirt around the bristly central cone – summer
Size: 2-4' x 14"
Care: sun to part shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Deer resistant.
Native: Ozark Mountains
Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies, birds eat seed headsEchinacea is Greek meaning “hedgehog” referring to the bristly conehead. Paradoxa because yellow petals on a purple coneflower is a paradox. Collected by 1902.
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Echinops ritro Globe thistle Z 3-9
Mid to late summer, round, steel blue flower heads, great dried flowers
Mid to late summer, round, steel blue flower heads at 1st prickly then turning soft and fuzzy. Great cut flower – fresh or dried.
Size: 3-4' x 18"
Care: Full sun in well-drained soil. Drought tolerant & deer resistant
Native: Southern Europe
Wildlife Value: attracts American painted lady butterfliesThe name Echinops is Greek meaning “like a hedgehog” describing the circular spiny thistles. Introduced to England in 1570. By the last half of the 1800’s the Globe thistle became a popular Victorian flower. Cultivated by Washington at Mount Vernon.
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Echium russicum Vipers bugloss Z 2-9
Striking spikes of wine red from May to July
Striking spikes of watermelon, wine red from May to July – exceptional and rare.
Size: 20" x 16"
Care: Sun in moist well-drained soil. Deer resistant
Native: Russia & eastern EuropeBristly hairs on stems can cause skin irritation. Collected by Johann Gmelin, German botanist, before 1791 who spent 10 years in Russia searching for plants, nearly dying in the process.
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Edraianthus pumelo Dwarf grassybells Z 5-8
June to July cushion of up-facing purple bells atop silvery leaves
OUT OF STOCK
June to July cushion of up-facing purple bells atop silvery leaves
Size: 1” x 3”
Care: sun in very well-drained soil
Native: Balkins
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of MeritDescribed in 1819 and named as a Campanula. Name changed in 1839.
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Edraianthus tenuifolius syn. Wahlenbergia tenuifolius Grassy bells Z 5-8
Clusters of upfacing blue-purple bells in June, with a base of grassy foliage.
OUT OF STOCK
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.”
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Elsholtzia stauntonii Chinese mint shrub Z 4-8
Tube-shaped purple flowers ascend in spires in fall on this subshrub that dies back in colder areas to regrow from the roots in spring. Valuable for its late bloom and fragrant foliage.
Tube-shaped purple flowers ascend in spires in fall on this subshrub that dies back in colder areas to regrow from the roots in spring. Valuable for its late bloom and fragrant foliage.
Size: 3-5’ x 3-5'
Care: sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
Native: hills, mountainsides and river banks in Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, ChinaNaemd for name Prussian horticultulurist and doctor Johann Sigismund Elsholtz (1623-1688). This species described in 1833.
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Epilobium angustifolium syn. Chamaenerion angustifolium Fireweed Z 2-7
Bright pink to lilac purple flowers June-September atop red stems covered in willow-like leaves
Bright pink to lilac purple flowers June-September atop red stems covered in willow-like leaves
Size: 2-6’ x 3’ spreading
Care: Sun to part shade in dry to moist well drained soil
Native: Circum-polar to the temperate northern hemisphere (Wisconsin native)
Wildlife Value: Attracts hummingbirds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Host for Fireweed Clearwing moth & Nessus Sphinx moth.Common name comes from its quick reappearance after a wildfire. First Nations used fireweed externally for burns and other skin conditions, and drank a tea for gastro-intestinal and bronchial problems. Its shoots eaten as a vegetable and young leaves added to salads. Fireweed yields a honey so prized that some Canadian beekeepers drive – or even fly – their hives to areas rich in fireweed for the blossoming season.
