Perennials & Biennials

Showing 25–32 of 548 results

  • Alcea rosea Hollyhock BIENNIAL

    Early to late summer spikes of single platters - mixed colors. The classic cottage garden flower.

    $10.95/bareroot

    Buy

    Alcea rosea   Hollyhock   BIENNIAL reseeds  Z 4-9
    Early to late summer spikes of single platters – mixed colors. The classic cottage garden flower.

    Size: 5-8' x 24"
    Care: Sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil. Drought tolerant
    Native: West Asia
    Wildlife Value: Butterfly plant, host for Painted Lady butterflies

    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 the 1400’s. 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.

  • Alcea rosea var. nigra Black hollyhock BIENNIAL Z 4-9

    Early to late summer spikes of single jet-black/maroon platters.  

    Placeholder

    $10.95/bareroot

    Buy

    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 birds

    Hollyhocks 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.’

  • Alchemilla alpina Alpine lady’s mantle

    short sprays of chartreuse-yellow flowers in early summer

    Placeholder

    $8.25/pot

    Buy

    From a low mound of palmate, silvery-margined leaves with silver undersides emerge short sprays of chartreuse-yellow flowers in early summer.  Will rebloom if cut back flowers after bloom

    Size: 6-8” x 8-12”
    Care: sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: Europe and southern Greenland

    Named by Linnaeus 1753. Philip Miller described this as having leaves “that are very white and deeply cut into five parts like a hand…” The Gardeners Dictionary 1783

  • Alchemilla erythropoda Dwarf lady’s mantle Z 3-7

    A miniature Lady’s Mantle for edging borders or growing in the rock garden. Short sprays of chartreuse flowers appear over a dense mound of scalloped light-green leaves that catch and hold rain or dewdrops

    $8.25/bareroot

    Buy

    A miniature Lady’s Mantle for edging borders or growing in the rock garden. Short sprays of chartreuse flowers appear over a dense mound of scalloped light-green leaves that catch and hold rain or dewdrops

    Size: 6-10” x 9-12”
    Care: Sun to shade in moist well-drained soil
    Native: Eastern Europe
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit

    You might not transmute gold with Alchemilla, but foamy clusters of tiny, starlike flowers in yellow-green chartreuse bloom above scalloped, tooth-edged foliage. A contrast of forms and greens Alchemilla was used to collect dewdrops in the medieval preparation of the Philosopher’s Stone. We find the way moisture collects and moves like mercury on the pale green leaves always magical.

    Described in Flora Kavkaza Flora Kavkaza in 1928.

  • Alchemilla mollis Lady’s mantle

    Petite chartreuse flowers cover foot long sprays

    $10.95/bareroot

    Buy

    Petite chartreuse flowers cover foot long sprays in early to midsummer.  Mounds of fan-like blue-grey foliage. Wonderful groundcover.

    Size: 24"x S 30"
    Care: Sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: East Carpathians, Caucasus

    Named for alchemists, medieval chemists who believed they could transmute ordinary substances into gold. Dew drops beading on the fan shaped leaves were added to gold-making recipes. 16th century English medicinal uses included: cures for inflammation from wounds, bruises and flu, clot blood, aid conception and discourage miscarriages. Reputedly the plant also returned women to their former beauty of youth. Cultivated in U.S. since 1800’s.

  • Allium cernuum Nodding onion Z 4-8

    Umbels of arching stems with nodding bells of lilac shading to pink

    $7.25/bareroot

    Buy

    Allium cernuum  Nodding onion   Z 4-8
    Umbels of arching stems with nodding bells of lilac shading to pink, June – July.

    Size: 12”-18”x 3-6”
    Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil, Deer resistant
    Native: Canada to Mexico, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies

    Cernuum is Latin meaning “nodding.”  Many groups of 1st Americans ate the bulbs raw, roasted or dried for winter storage or as flavoring for soups and gravies. Cherokee used this plant medicinally to cure colds, hives, colic, “gravel & dropsy,” liver ailments, sore throats, “phthisic,” and feet in “nervous fever.”  Those in the Isleta Pueblo were not quite as creative as the Cherokee and used this only for sore throats and infections.  Collected for garden cultivation by 1834.

  • Allium christophii syn. Allium albopilosum Star of Persia, Persian onion Z 4-8

    Awesome purple globe-shaped flowers nearly a foot across in late spring to early summer. Ephemeral. Flowerhead make stunning years long dried arrangements

    $10.95/bareroot

    Buy

    Available for purchase in Spring only

    Awesome purple globe-shaped flowers nearly a foot across in late spring to early summer. Ephemeral. Flowerhead make stunning years long dried arrangements

    Size: 1-2’ x 1’
    Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
    Native: Iran and Turkey
    Wildlife Value: Deer resistant. Walnut tolerant
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society award of Garden Merit

    Named Star of Persia for the 100 star shaped flowers that make up each flower head.
    Described by German botanist and plant explorer Ernst Rudolf von Trautvetter (1809-1889) in 1884. He worked at botanic gardens and universities in Kiev and St. Petersburg for 40 years.

  • Allium flavum var. minus Yellow flowered garlic

    Umbels of shatter-shot yellow florets on blue-green stems in July

    $7.25/bareroot

    Buy

    Allium flavum var. minus  Z 4-7
    Umbels of shatter-shot yellow florets, a bit like fireworks, on blue-green stems  in July

    Size: 10” x 3”
    Care: sun in moist well-drained soil
    Native: Northern Turkey
    Wildlife Value: resistant to rabbits & deer. Attracts bees and butterflies
    Awards: species received Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit

    Described by Swiss botanist Pierre Edmond Boissier before 1885