Wisconsin Native
Showing 13–16 of 112 results
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Artemisia frigida Prairie sagewort, Silky wormwood, Z 3-10
Erect stems bear silvery-white, finely-divided foliage. Leaves smell like camphor. Small yellow flowers bloom in summer.
Erect stems bear silvery-white, finely-divided foliage. Leaves smell like camphor. Small yellow flowers bloom in summer.
Size: 6-18” x 12-18”
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: all North America except the SE, CA and OR, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: deer resistant, source of nesting material for native bees, food for caterpillars of several butterflies & moths
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit
Size: Native Americans used this Artemisia to preserve meat, feed horses, repel insects, to remedy toothache, headache, coughing, lung ailments, heartburn, and colds. Indians in Great Basin used it in ceremonies .Chippewa made a decoction of root for convulsions.Meriwether Lewis collected this in early September 1804 along the Missouri River in South Dakota on October 3 1804.
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Asarum canadense syn. Hexastylis canadense Wild ginger Z 3-7
brown bells with flared tips hide under this groundcover's lacquered, round leaves
Asarum canadense syn. Hexastylis canadense Wild ginger Z 3-7
Concealed brown bells with flared tips hide under this groundcover’s crinkled, lacquered, round leaves.Size: 6" x 6" spreading
Care: part shade to shade, moist well-drained soil
Native: Canada to North Carolina, Wisconsin nativeNative Americans used Wild ginger for such diverse purposes as flavoring food, cure heart palpitations, induce menstrual cycles, cure “the bite of the serpent,” mend broken bones and lure catfish. Colonists used the plant to break fever and stimulate the appetite.
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Asclepias incarnata Swamp milkweed Z 3-9
pink umbels, like an upside down ballerina’s skirt
Asclepias incarnata Swamp milkweed Z 3-9
Fragrant medium pink umbels, like an upside down ballerina’s skirt, July – September.Size: 3’-4’ x 2-3’
Care: Sun in moist to moist well-drained soil, deer resistant
Native: North America – all states (except along the Pacific coast) & eastern half of Canada, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: host for Monarch caterpillars, flowers are source of nectar for several butterfliesNamed after Asclepias, a Greek god of medicine. Native American groups used Swamp milkweed – Chippewa to increase their strength & the stems made into twine; Iroquois to heal navels in babies, to increase or decrease urine and to make a person strong enough to punish witches; Meskwaki to drive out tapeworms; and Menominee used it as an ingredient in food – added to deer soup & cornmeal mush. Listed as growing in England in Miller’s Gardeners’ Dictionary, 1768. Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.
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Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly weed, Pleurisy-root Z 4-9
striking orange cymes in July-August
Striking orange cymes in July-August on this American native.
Size: 2-3' x 12"
Care: Sun in moist well-drained to dry soil, Drought tolerant & deer resistant
Native: East and south North America, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: host for Monarch & Gray hairstreak butterfly caterpillars.Omaha Indian’s Shell Society took 4 days to dig, prepare and distribute the root to cure bronchial and pulmonary ailments. Most important medicine for the Menomonie. Iroquois smashed the root on runner’s legs to give them strength. Butterfly weed cured flu and remedied coyote bites for the Iroquios. 1st collected for gardens by Rev. John Banister in colonial Virginia in 1678 He died when he bent over to collect a plant and a gunman mistakenly shot him. Jefferson grew this at Monticello.
