Perennials & Biennials

Showing 273–280 of 511 results

  • Iris versicolor Blue flag Z 3-9

    Purple, lavender or blue flowers in June

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Purple, lavender or blue flowers in June

    Size: 36" x 12"
    Care: sun, moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: Eastern United States, Wisconsin native

    Iris is named after the Greek goddess who accompanied the souls of women to the Elysian Fields by way of the rainbow.  Her footprints left flowers the colors of the rainbow.   Iris means the eye of heaven. Omaha Indians used the roots topically to cure earaches. Other tribes applied a poultice to cure sores and bruises. Root is poisonous. Cultivated in gardens since the 1700’s.

  • Kalimeris incisa syn. Asteromoea , Kalimeris integrifolia False aster Z 4-8

    Pale lavender single daisies that bloom from July – September, deadhead after 1st flush of blooms for repeat flowering

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Pale lavender single daisies that bloom from July – September, deadhead after 1st flush of blooms for repeat flowering

    Size: 2-3’ x 12”
    Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to dry soil. Cut back halfway in early June to make bushier with more flowers.
    Native: Japan, northern China & Siberia

    Collected before 1812 when first named and described. Renamed about five times   July 6, 1872 issue of The Garden reported that “Callimeris incise” was blooming in London.

  • Kirengeshoma palmata Yellow Waxbells 5-8

    pale yellow bells in late summer and fall

    $13.95/bareroot

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    Pale yellow bells- the color of moon light – in late summer and fall. One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)

     

    Size: 36" x 30"
    Care: part shade to shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: Mt. Ishizuchi in Japan
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.

    Kirengeshoma means “yellow” in Japanese.  1st described in Tokyo’s Botanical Society Botanical Magazine in 1890.

  • Knautia macedonica syn. Scabiosa rumelica Pincushion plant Z 5-9

    Claret pincushions float at the tips of airy wands all summer & fall

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Claret pincushions float at the tips of airy wands all summer & fall

    Size: 2- 3’ x 10”
    Care: sun in well-drained soil. Keep compact by cutting back to 10” in spring, if you wish
    Native: Central Europe
    Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies and bees

    Knautia named for German doctor & botanist Christoph Knaut (1656-1716) who published a method of classifying plants.  Collected before 1879

  • Kniphofia caulescens Red hot poker, Regal torch lily Z 5-10

    fat spikes of flowers open coral-red, turning pale lemon-yellow

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    Evergreen perennial with short, stout stems bearing grass-like broad, grey-green leaves. Blooming July to August, fat spikes of flowers open coral-red, turning pale lemon-yellow

    Size: 3’ x 2-3’
    Care: sun in moist well-drained soil
    Native: Lesotho South Africa
    Wildlife Value: deer and rabbit resistant. Attracts hummingbirds
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit; Denver Botanic Garden Plant Select

    Introduced to gardens by Mr. T. Cooper about 1860.  1st described by French botanist Carrière in Revue Horticole in 1884

  • Kniphofia triangularis Dwarf Red hot poker Z 5-8

    From early to late summer, with dead-heading, vivid coral spikes, like a torch .

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    In late summer and fall vivid coral spikes, like a torch.

    Size: 2’ x 12-18”
    Care: sun in moist to well-drained soil, Drought tolerant once established
    Native: mountain grassland & moist areas in the Eastern Cape to the Northern province of South Africa.
    Wildlife Value: resistant to deer & rabbits, feeds hummingbirds, bees and butterflies

    1st described in 1854 in Enumeratio Plantarum Omnium Hucusque Cognitarum: Secumdum familias naturales v. 4 p. 551..

  • Lathyrus japonicus v. maritimus Beach pea Z 3-6

    Magenta pea flowers June through August on its trailing stems.  A legume, it puts nitrogen in the soil fertilizing plants growing nearby.

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    Magenta pea flowers June through August on its trailing stems.  A legume, it puts nitrogen in the soil fertilizing plants growing nearby.

    Size: 18-24” tall but lays on ground, not upright
    Care: sun in well-drained soil. Drought tolerant.
    Native: all northern states from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Wisconsin native. (It seems strange that a variety of a plant native to Japan grows as a native in North America. The species, although named “Japonica” is circumpolar, native in the entire northern hemisphere.)
    Wildlife Value: pollinated by bees, primarily bumblebees

    Iroquois cooked the stalks and leaves to remedy rheumatism. Taxonomic mess.  First described and named in 1735 then another name in 1824, now changed again to its current name. 

  • Lathyrus vernus Spring vetchling, Spring pea, Spring vetch Z 4-9

    Bushy plants bear showy, red-purple pea-like blooms age to rich purple in March-June. Ephemeral, dying back in August when you can cut it back. Spring gem.

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    Bushy plants bear showy, red-purple pea-like blooms age to rich purple in March-June.  Ephemeral, dying back in August when you can cut it back. Spring gem.

    Size: 12” x 12”
    Care: sun in north to shade in south, moist well-drained soil. Drought tolerant once established
    Native: No. Europe - Siberia
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit, Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Picks

    Introduced to gardens before 1629.  Parkinson called it “Blew Everlasting Pease.”