Claret pincushions float at the tips of airy wands all summer & fall
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Lathyrus vernus Spring vetchling, Spring pea, Spring vetch Z 4-9
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.
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.”
Thymus serpyllum syn. Thymus praecox Mother-of-thyme, creeping thyme Z 4-9
Size: 3” x 24” Care: sun in well-drained soil Native: Europe & Western Asia Size: groundcover, rock garden, herb, fragrant foliage, thyme lawn
Thymus from the Greek word for “odor” due to the plant’s fragrance. Ancient Greeks made incense with thyme. This species since at least 1753. Acc’d to Parkinson in 1640 this remedied hysterics in women. Wm. Robinson wrote,”nothing can be more charming than a sunny bank covered with” Thymus serpyllum. LH Bailey extolled it as “prized as an evergreen edging and as cover for rockwork and waste places …The leaves are sometimes used for seasoning.”
Silene dioica Red Campion Z 5-8
Dark pink-purple flowers from late spring to mid-summer
Dark pink-purple flowers from late spring to mid-summer
Size: 32” x 18” Care: full sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil Native: Europe Wildlife Value: a favorite of Bumblebees
In Greek mythology Silene was a companion of Bacchus who was covered with foam. Dioicus means that male and female plants are separate. Described by 1750’s. Grown in American gardens since 1800’s
Lilium superbum Meadow lily Z 4-8
Briliant orange with purple spots, turks-cap type lily blooming in late summer to early fall
Briliant orange with purple spots, turks-cap type lily blooming in late summer to early fall
Size: 10’ x 12” Care: shade to sun in moist, acidic soil Native: from VT to Fl & west to Mississippi River, incl. Wisconsin
Lilium was named for the Greek word for smooth, polished referring to its leaves. Collected before 1762. Sold in America’s 1st plant catalog, Bartram’s Broadside, 1783. L.H. Bailey (1913): “The most magnificent and showy of native North American species, well worthy of extensive cultivation.” Found growing in moist meadows from Massachusetts to Indiana and Alabama. In 1665 John Rea called it the “Virginia Martagon,” In 1738 colonial botanist John Bartram sent it to his “brothers of the spade” in London where it caused a sensation. A challenge to grow, it demands well-drained, acid soil and plenty of moisture.