Prairie Plants

Showing 17–24 of 85 results

  • Bouteloua curtipendula Sideoats grama Z 4-8

    Narrow, blue-green leaves tinged purple or red in fall when golden oat-like seeds hang down one side of each leaf, eye-catching.

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    $12.75/bareroot

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    Narrow, blue-green leaves tinged purple or red in fall when golden oat-like seeds hang down one side of each leaf, eye-catching.

    Size: 2-3' x 1'
    Care: Sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil, drought tolerant
    Native: most of US, incl. Wisconsin
    Wildlife Value: nesting material for butterflies and bees; larval host for some Skipper butterflies,
    Awards: state grass of Texas

    Kiowa natives who had killed an enemy in battle with a lance wore this.  Collected and described by French planthunter André Michaux (1786-1802) who scoured Eastern North America west to the Mississippi over 11 years.

  • Bouteloua gracilis Blue grama Z 4-9

    One sided, horizontal, purple tinged spikelets looking like a row of eyelashes, July-October

    $12.75/bareroot

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    One sided, horizontal, purple tinged spikelets looking like a row of eyelashes, July-October.

    Size: 2' x 12"
    Care: sun in dry to moist well-drained soil
    Native: all US except SE & NW, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: Host for caterpillars of Green skipper butterfly. Deer resistant
    Awards: Great Plants for Great Plains Grass of the Year 2008

    For the Navajo this was a “life medicine” and an antidote to an overdose of “life medicine.”  Also used to cure sore throats and cuts – chew on the root and blow on the cut.  Navajo girls carried it in the Squaw Dance.  Hopi made baskets from this grass.  Zuni made brooms & hairbrushes from it.  Several tribes ate this & made bedding for their animals from this. Lakota children played a game using this grass: Most of the stems have two flowers on them. Children competed to see who could find the stems with three flowers, like finding a four-leaf clover. First collected for horticulture by Humboldt & Bonpland who scoured Latin America from 1799-1804.

  • Callirhoe involucrata Wine cups, Prairie poppy mallow

    Magenta-purple upfacing cups, June - October

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Magenta-purple upfacing cups, June – October, non-stop.  Wonderful for rock gardens or as a ground cover.

    Size: 6" x 12"
    Care: Full sun in well-drained soil. Drought tolerant
    Native: Missouri to Texas

    Although an American prairie native, Callirhoe is named for the daughter of the Greek river god. Teton Dakota burned its dried root for smoke to cure the common cold and aches and pains. First collected by Thomas Nuttall in 1834. Ferry’s 1876 catalog described it as having “a trailing habit, of great beauty.” William Robinson extolled Prairie mallow as “excellent for the rock garden, bearing a continuous crop of showy blossoms from early summer till late in autumn.”

  • Calylophus serrulatus Yellow sundrops, Shrubby evening primrose Z 4-9

    Lemon yellow silky petals bloom late spring to early fall on this tough-as-nails native

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    Lemon yellow silky petals bloom late spring to early fall on this tough-as-nails native

    Size: 9-18” x 12-15”
    Care: sun in well-drained soil, drought tolerant
    Native: Great Plains: Central Canada to TX, Michigan to Montana, WI native

    1st described in 1818 by Thomas Nuttall, English planthunter who collected hundreds of “new” plants in North America. Caly is Greek for calyx; lophos for “the back of the neck; crest of a hill or helmet”  serrulatus means “minutely serrate” or “saw-toothed” describing the leaf margins.

  • Campanula rotundifolia Harebell, Bluebell of Scotland Z 3-8

    Its delicate appearance conceals its hardy constitution. Dainty bluish-lilac bells to 12” stems on bushy round ground-hugging foliage.  Blooms from June to October.  Perfect for rock gardens and borders.

    $9.95/pot

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    Its delicate appearance conceals its hardy constitution. Dainty bluish-lilac bells to 12” stems on bushy round ground-hugging foliage.  Blooms from June to October.  Perfect for rock gardens and borders.

    Size: 9-12" x 12"
    Care: Sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
    Native: Europe, Siberia and North America, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: Walnut tolerant

    Lakota ate the leaves raw and cooked and made an infusion of the roots to remedy earaches.  Sir Walter Scott immortalized the Bluebell of Scotland in Lady of the Lake.  Also a subject of Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

  • Carex grayi Gray’s Sedge Z 3-8

    Cool club-like maces at the ends of stems- June to October

    $12.95/bareroot

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    Cool club-like maces at the ends of stems- June to October

    Size: 30" x 24"
    Care: Full sun to part shade in moist or moist well-drained soil
    Native: Vermont west to Wisconsin, south to Georgia and Missouri
    Awards: Great Plants for Great Plains

    1st described in 1835.

  • Carex rosea Rosy sedge, Stellate sedge PERENNIAL GRASS Z 3-9

    Mounds of thinnest of medium green leaves mingled with stems with star shaped seed clusters in May-June

    $12.95/bareroot

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    Mounds of thinnest of medium green leaves mingled with stems with star shaped seed clusters in May-June.

    Size: 12” x 10”
    Care: part shade and shade in moist well-drained soil
    Wildlife Value: No. Dakota south to TX & east incl. WI, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
    Awards: Great Plants for the Great Plains Grass of the Year 2020

    Collected before 1811.

  • Clematis virginiana Virgin’s bower, Devil’s darning needles Z 4-8

    July-September star-like white blossoms

    $16.95/bareroot

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    July-September star-like white blossoms cover this vine – good for clambering up small trees.

    Size: 12-20’ x 4’
    Care: Sun to shade moist well-drained soil. Flowers on new stems so cut back in late winter or early spring to 6-8” above the ground.
    Native: Nova Scotia to Georgia and as far west as Kansas, Wisconsin native

    The genus Clematis was named by Dioscordes, physician in Nero’s army, from “klema” meaning climbing plant. One of 1st No. American plants sent to Europe – grew in Tradescant the Elder’s South Lambeth nursery in 1634.  Grown by Jefferson at Monticello in 1807.  Described by Breck in his 1851 book The Flower Garden: “The flowers are white borne upon cymes, and make a handsome appearance.”  Cherokee mixed this plant with milkweed to remedy backaches.  A root extract cured stomach aches, nervous conditions and kidney ailments.  For the Iroquois powdered root fixed venereal disease sores and an extract of the stem brought on strange dreams.  Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.