Wisconsin Native

Showing 1–8 of 108 results

  • Actaea pachypoda syn. Actaea alba White baneberry Z 3-8

    Short white spike flowers in June, conspicuous white berries in fall with a black dot on showy crimson stems.

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    Short white spike flowers in June, conspicuous white berries in fall with a black dot on showy crimson stems.

    Size: 36”x 18-24”
    Care: part to full shade in moist well-drained soil
    Native: native to eastern and central No. America; Wisconsin native.
    Wildlife Value: deer resistant
    Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit and Great Plant Pick Award from Elizabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden.

    Actaea is Latin meaning “elder,” the leaves resembling the elder tree. Pachypoda means thick foot referring to the stalk. The common name “baneberry” chosen because the berries are poisonous. The Blackfoot boiled the roots to cure coughs and colds. In the 1800’s, used to cure “reflex uterine headache, rheumatism, congestion in the female especially, debility and gastralgia.” Sent to England before 1768, Philip Miller.

  • Adiantum pedatum Maidenhair fern Z 4-9

    Grown for its delicate-appearing leaflets arranged in rows. One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)

    $10.25/bareroot

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    Grown for its delicate-appearing leaflets arranged in rows. One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)

    Size: 12-24”x 12”
    Care: Shade in moist soil
    Native: all parts of No. America including Wisconsin
    Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.

    Cherokee made a tea from this for flu, fever, and rheumatism, paralysis and asthma.  Native Americans used stem to make a hair wash and applied a topical poultice of masticated fronds to wounds to stop bleeding.  1st described by French botanist Cornut in 1635.  Introduced to gardens in 1635 from Canada where it grew in “such quantities that the French sent it from thence in package for other goods and the apothecaries at Paris use it for (another Maidenhair) in all their compositions in which that is ordered.” Philip Miller (1768).  Tradescant the Younger introduced it to English gardens in 1638 when he sent it from Virginia Colony to London.  English herbalist Nicholas Culpepper claimed it as “a good remedy for coughs, asthmas, pleurisy, etc., and on account of being a gentle diuretic, also in jaundice, gravel and other impurities of the kidneys.”  Father of mixed perennial gardens, William Robinson, called this “elegant…unquestionably one of the most distinct and beautiful of the hardy ferns.” The Garden 1876.

  • Agastache foeniculum Anise hyssop Z 4-8

    Purplish-blue spikes from July to October.  Fragrant foliage.

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Purplish-blue spikes from July to October.  Fragrant foliage.

    Size: 2-3' x 12"
    Care: Full sun in well-drained soil, heat and drought tolerant.
    Native: North America, Wisconsin native.
    Wildlife Value: Skipper butterflies and Rusty patched Bumble Bees love Anise hyssop’s nectar, deer resistant.

    The name Agastache is from Greek agan and stachys meaning much like an ear of wheat referring to the shape of the flower spike.  Anise hyssop leaves were used by American Americans of the Missouri River region to make tea and as a sweetener in cooking. For Cheyenne it relieved chest pain due to coughing or to a dispirited heart. Listed as an aromatic herb in McMahon’s 1805 book.

  • Allium cernuum Nodding onion, Prairie onion Z 4-8

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

    $8.95/bareroot

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    Umbels of arching stems with nodding bells of lilac shading to pink or occasionally white.  May to June.

    Size: 12”-18”x 3-6”
    Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
    Native: Canada to Mexico, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: nectar source for Hairstreak butterfly, Attracts hummingbirds.

    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.  Meriwether Lewis collected this in Montana and wrote, “I met with great quantities of a small onion about the size of a musquit ball … They were crisp, white and well-flavoured.   I gathered about a half a bushel of them before the crew arrivd.” Chicago is believed to be named for the Algonquin word for this plant chigagou.

  • Anemone canadensis Meadow anemone Z 3-8

    Pristine pure white petal-like sepals frame many golden anthers in early summer

    $12.75/pot

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    Pristine pure white petal-like sepals frame many golden anthers in early summer

    Size: 12-24" x 12” spreading
    Care: full sun to part shade in moist soil
    Native: North America as far south as Missouri, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: pollen for small bees
    Size: Good groundcover under trees where soil is moist, naturalized garden.

    Used medicinally by many Native American groups.  The roots cleared up sores and leaves stopped nose bleeds for the Chippewa.  It relieved the Iroquois of worms and counteracted witch medicine.  For the Meskwaki this plant uncrossed crossed eyes.  Ojibwa singers used it to clear their throats and remedy lower back pain.   Sioux used the root to remedy several ailments – staunch bleeding, reduce lower back pain, sore eyes, crossed eyes and twitching of eyes.  They also ate the root to clear the throat to boost good singing.  Collected by Meriwether Lewis August 17, 1804 on the 1st leg of the Expedition.

  • Anemone cylindrica Thimbleweed Z 4-7

    In spring a whorl of leaves grows from the ground.  Then a second whorl of leaves grows from inside the 1st whorl. A long, bare stem grows from the 2nd whorl of leaves. and then a single, white 5-petaled flower tops the stem. In fall it turns into a green cylinder then transforms to cottony clouds that blow away in wind.

    $12.75/pot

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    In spring a whorl of leaves grows from the ground.  Then a second whorl of leaves grows from inside the 1st whorl. A long, bare stem grows from the 2nd whorl of leaves. and then a single, white 5-petaled flower tops the stem. In fall it turns into a green cylinder then transforms to cottony clouds that blow away in wind.

    Size: 2’ x 12”
    Care: full sun to part shade in well-drained soil.
    Native: Maine to Delaware, British Columbia to Arizona and all parts in between. Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: Leaves causing mouth irritation deters rabbit and deer. Pollinated by bees and flies.

    HoChunk and Winnebago put masticated fuzz from the seeds on boils or carbuncles, opening them after a day.   Sioux used the rot, a tap root, to treat burns, headaches and headaches.  Collected for botany from the wild before 1880’s.  Plant emits allelopathogin inhibiting seed germination of other plants.

  • Anemone multifida Cutleaf anemone, Pacific anemone Z 2-6

    Blooming in early summer small six petal-like sepals, watermelon pink, each with a center boss of sunny stamens with deep palmately divided basal leaves underneath.

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    $9.25/bareroot

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    Blooming in early summer small six petal-like sepals, watermelon pink, each with a center boss of sunny stamens with deep palmately divided basal leaves underneath.

    Size: 9” x 6”
    Care: part shade in humusy moist well-drained soil
    Native: North America except the Arctic
    Wildlife Value: hummingbirds build nests from seedheads

    Collected by Drummond & Douglas west of the Rocky Mountains Blackfoot Indians called this “Looks-like-a-plume.” The burned seed-head inhaled to stop a headache. British Columbia’s Thompson Indians used this to stop nose-bleeds, calling it “Bleeding Nose Plant.”  This red/pink one collected by C.C. Parry before 1860.  Parry (1832-1890) tagged as the king of Colorado botany.

  • Anemonella thalictroides Rue anemone, Windflower Z 4-7

    Delicate white to pinkish cups in spring to mid-summer light up woodlands

    $9.25/pot

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    Delicate white to pinkish cups in spring to mid-summer light up woodlands

    Size: 8" x 8"
    Care: part shade in moist well drained soil
    Native: N.H through Ontario to Minn. Including, south to Florida & Kansas, Wisconsin native.

    First described by Linnaeus – 1753. Philip Miller grew this in 1768. Named Anemonella because the flowers resemble those of the Amenome and thalictroides because the leaves resemble the leaves of the Thalictrum, Meadowrue. Native Americans ate the tuberous root for food and made a tea from Rue anemone by steeping the root in water. The tea supposedly cured flu-like symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting.