Description
May – June, scarlet and yellow columbines
May – June scarlet and yellow columbines
May – June, scarlet and yellow columbines
OUT OF STOCK
Atop a mound of spatula-shaped, crinkled leaves with scalloped edges rises a bounty of 4 to 5 inch tall spikes, each crowned with a hoard of tiny fuchsia-colored trumpets blowing their horns “look at me” in early to mid-summer.
Size: 4-8" x 8-12" spreading slowly by rhizomes
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: South Africa
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant. Attracts small bees and butterflies
English adventurer and naturalist William John Burchell (1781-1863) scoured South Africa from 1803 to 1815 collecting more than 50,000 specimens packed in 48 crates. In places unexplored he found insects, animals, fish and unknown plants, this being one. Although he published two volumes of his exploration, he did not finish the last, third volume, leaving another to write the botany. Premier English botanist George Bentham (1800-1884) took up the task authoring Labiatarum Genera et Species, published in 1834. He wrote the first published description and named this tiny plant with outsized charm.
OUT OF STOCK
Bushy plants bear showy, red-purple pea-like blooms age to rich purple in March-June. Ephemeral, dying back in August when you can cut it back. Spring gem.
Size: 12” x 12”
Care: sun in north to shade in south, moist well-drained soil. Drought tolerant once established
Native: No. Europe - Siberia
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit, Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Picks
Introduced to gardens before 1629. Parkinson called it “Blew Everlasting Pease.”
OUT OF STOCK
Rosettes of succulent leaves
Size: 4” x 4”
Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
Native: Alps & Pyrenees Mountains
Grown in gardens for thousands of years. Sempervivum means “live forever.” Romans planted Hens and chicks on their roofs to ward off lightning. As a succulent it holds water and is probably more difficult to catch fire. “This practice was preserved for historians when Charlemagne (720-814), first Holy Roman Emperor and unifier of a large part of northern Europe, ordered that all villagers within his crown lands plant houseleeks on their roofs, presumably as a safety measure. He decreed: Et ille hortulanus habeat super domum suam Iovis barbam. (And the gardener shall have house-leeks growing on his house. Capitulare de villis, about 795, LXX.)”
$12.95/bareroot
BuyGolden daisies waive at the sun from July to September, its cup shaped leaves hold water where butterflies drink & bathe
Can not ship to: Connecticut and New York
Size: 7’ x 3’
Care: full sun to part shade in moist soil
Native: Central North America, native to Wisconsin.
Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit
Sap used by Native Americans to chew and freshen breath. Also used to cure colds, neuralgia, fever, and liver disorders. The Chippewa used to stop lung hemorrhaging, menstrual bleeding and cure chest pain. The Winnebago drank a potion from the plant to purify themselves before a buffalo hunt. For the Iroquois it cured paralysis, prevented children from seeing ghosts and illness caused by the dead. Lakota Sioux: “Children sometimes use the resin as chewing gum. An infusion of the whole plant is used to rid horses and humans of intestinal worms. An infusion of the leaves is used to loosen phlegm in the lungs. Described and classified in 1753.