Perennials & Biennials
Showing 25–32 of 496 results
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Allium sphaerocephalon Drumstick allium Z 4-11
Claret colored, egg shaped flower heads
Claret colored, egg shaped flower heads top leafless stems in June to July. Good see through plant to intermingle with purple coneflowers or tickseed. Good cut flower. You get a clump of a 3-4 plants with this order. Self-sows
Size: 2-3’ x 2-3”
Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Deer resistant
Native: Mediterranean, Caucasus & EuropeIn gardens before 1750. Used as an edging around vegetables at Mount Vernon.
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Allium tuberosum Garlic chives
August & September bright white balls on erect stems. Pretty in fall gardens & delicious too.
August & September bright white balls on erect stems. Pretty in fall gardens & delicious too. Ornamental in gardens and in arrangements, both fresh and dried, delicious edible – both leaves and flowers taste just like garlic.
Size: 12-18” x 8”
Care: Full sun or shade in any soil
Native: Southeast Asia
Wildlife Value: nectar source for many butterlies including the Tiger Swallowtail.Used medicinally in Asia as a remedy for incontinence, bladder weakness, and kidney trouble and knee injuries. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners made a powder from the seeds called Jiu Cai Zi used for numerous ailments.
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Althaea officinalis Marshmallow Z 4-9
Tall spires of small pale pink mallow-like blooms
Tall spires of small pale pink mallow-like blooms from July to September
Size: 5-6’ x 3’
Care: Full sun moist to moist well-drained soil. Drought tolerant
Native: Central, south and east EuropeAlthaea is Greek meaning “to cure.” More than 2000 years ago ancient Egyptians added honey to the cooked root. Ancient Romans used leaves and flowers as a strewing herb to repel lice and fleas. Emperor Charlemagne (742-814) cultivated the marshmallow in his gardens. According to Nicholas Culpepper, 16th century English herbalist, marshmallows were a medicinal candy. The plant eased pain, helped bloody fluxes, the stone and gravel and gripping of the belly. Considered an herb of Venus, it voided offensive humors, made milk for nursing, cured bee stings, dandruff, balding and coughs. The French concocted the fluffy white confection in the mid 1800’s “from a decoction of marshmallow root, with gum to bind the ingredients together, beaten egg white to give lightness and to act as a drying agent, while sugar was incorporated to make the whole palatable.” American gardens since 1700’s when John Bartram received seeds from Europe. Jefferson grew it at Monticello.
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Alyssum wulfenianum syn. Alyssum ovirense Alpine alyssum, Madwort Z 3-9
Spring to early summer, clumps of sunny yellow blooms over gray foliage
OUT OF STOCK
Spring to early summer, clumps of sunny yellow blooms over gray foliage
Size: 4-6” x 12-18”
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: GermanyDescribed in Willdenow’s Enum. pl. suppl. Before 1814. Grown at the Agricultural Center in Beltsville Maryland in 1897.
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Amsonia hubrichtii Thread leaf amsonia Z 5-8
Blue spring flowers, feathery green summer foliage and golden fall color
An erect, clump-forming plant that is primarily grown for its blue spring flowers, feathery green summer foliage and golden fall color. Powdery blue, 1/2″ star-like flowers appear in late spring atop stems rising to 3′ tall.
Size: 2-3’ x 2-3’
Care: full sun to part shade in well-drained soil
Native: Ouachita Mountains in central Arkansas.First recorded in the 1770s as A. angustifolia, but later named Hubricht’s Amsonia, after Leslie Hubricht, an American biologist who re-discovered it in the 1940s.
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Amsonia orientalis syn. Rhazya orientalis European bluestar Z 5-8
Purplish blue flowers that are larger and longer lasting than other Amsonia. Yellow foliage in Fall.
OUT OF STOCK
“Immensely tough and useful filler” “100 Plants Every Gardener Should Grow,” Gardens Illustrated No. 231
Purplish blue flowers that are larger and longer lasting than other Amsonia. Yellow foliage in Fall.Size: 12-20” x spreading
Care: sun to light shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: TurkeyDeer resistant, salt and heat tolerant. Classified as critically endangered as it is losing its native habitat and was over harvested. Collected before 1844.
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Amsonia tabernaemontana Willow bluestar Z 4-10
Sky blue bells flower along terminal panicles from May to June. In fall thin, willow-like foliage turns sunny yellow.
Sky blue bells flower along terminal panicles from May to June. In fall thin, willow-like foliage turns sunny yellow.
Size: 24”x 18”
Care: full sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil. Heat and drought tolerant.
Native: Pennsylvania to Florida
Awards: Chicago Botanic Garden Award of Merit.Amsonia named for 18th century colonial physician Charles Amson. Tabernaemontana named for a physician who lived in the 1500’s, First described in 1788. Jakob van Bergzabern who changed his name to Tabernaemontanus. Listed in The Wild Flowers of America, 1879.
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Anchusa azurea Bugloss Z 3-8
June-July true blue flowers, or all summer if deadheaded after bloom and before seeds set.
OUT OF STOCK
June-July true blue flowers, or all summer if deadheaded after bloom and before seeds set.
Size: 2-3' x 12'
Care: full sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil.
Native: Mediterranean region“…perennial plant, with broad rough leaves … the branches grow more erect, and the flowers which are of a bright azure colour, are collected into spikes, coming out singly between the leaves.” Philip Miller 1768. ” Lovely rich gentian blue flowers, freely borne from May to August.” H.H. Thomas 1915. Recommended by Gertrude Jekyll, mother of today’s perennial gardens, in 1908. Anchusa from anchousa a paint used on skin.
