Description
Spiky but graceful mound of thin blue gray foliage – early summer short spikes of blue-green flowers
mound of thin blue gray foliage
Spiky but graceful mound of thin blue gray foliage – early summer short spikes of blue-green flowers
OUT OF STOCK
White-lavender flowers in May atop wiry stems look like fantastical birds with too many wings, or a four-cornered bishop’s hat. Ornamental heart-shaped leaves and red stems.
Size: 6-12” x 18” slow spreader
Care: shade to part shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Once roots established, valuable in dry shade
Native: China, Japan & Korea
Its Chinese name is “Yin Yang Ho” meaning “Licentious goat herb, “ because allegedly an aphrodisiac for goats! In China & Japan thought to remedy impotence, liver ailments & all age related maladies. In Western gardens since 1834.
Purple, upfacing bells for months in mid to late summer
Size: 4-6” x 20”
Care: full sun-part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: Northern Yugoslavia
Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit. Top rated for ornamental traits and landscape performance by the Chicago Botanic Garden & Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Pick.
Campanula is Latin meaning “little bell.” In 1629 Parkinson described campanulas as “cherished for the beautie of their flowers.” This species named for one of its discoverers, Franz Edler von Portenschlag-Ledermayer (1772-1822). 1st described inSystema Vegetabilium 5: 93 in 1819. Listed in Sanders’ Flower Garden in 1913.
Amsonia hubrichtii Thread leaf amsonia Z 5-8
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.
OUT OF STOCK
Cluster of crimson, star-shaped florets atop 2’ stems bloom their heads of ALL summer.
Size: 24-36”x 36”
Care: Sun in well-drained alkaline soil
Native: Mediterranean
Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies
Centranthus is from the Greek meaning “spurred flower.” According to Culpepper, an English herbalist from the early 1600’s, this plant comforts the heart and stirs up lust. Parkinson, in 1629 describes it “of a fine red colour, very pleasant to behold.”