Description
Tall, erect, purplish- pink spike in August-September
Tall, erect, purplish- pink spike in August-September
Tall, erect, purplish- pink spike in August-September
$12.75/bareroot
BuyOne sided, horizontal, purple tinged spikelets looking like a row of eyelashes, July-October.
Size: 2' x 12"
Care: sun in dry to moist well-drained soil
Native: all US except SE & NW, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Host for caterpillars of Green skipper butterfly. Deer resistant
Awards: Great Plants for Great Plains Grass of the Year 2008
For the Navajo this was a “life medicine” and an antidote to an overdose of “life medicine.” Also used to cure sore throats and cuts – chew on the root and blow on the cut. Navajo girls carried it in the Squaw Dance. Hopi made baskets from this grass. Zuni made brooms & hairbrushes from it. Several tribes ate this & made bedding for their animals from this. Lakota children played a game using this grass: Most of the stems have two flowers on them. Children competed to see who could find the stems with three flowers, like finding a four-leaf clover. First collected for horticulture by Humboldt & Bonpland who scoured Latin America from 1799-1804.
$9.25/bareroot
BuyOUT OF STOCK
“Dwarf ornamental shrub, ornamental in foliage, flowers and berry.” Rand 1866. In spring fragrant, pinkish-white bell-shaped flowers, evergreen, glossy foliage and Marlboro red berries in fall. Great for cascading over edge of wall or groundcover.
Size: 4” x 20” forms dense groundcover over time. Stems root to spread.
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to dry, acidic soil. Needs watering until established. Best grown with protection from wind.
Native: No. America, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Host for several butterfly species including Hoary Elfin, Brown Elfin and Freija Fritillary.
Awards: Cary Award Distinctive Plants for New England
Kinnikinnick is Algonquin meaning “mixture.” Used as an ingredient in Native American smoke mixtures. For centuries leaves used to make medicinal tea as a tonic and diuretic in many parts of the world. Cheyenne drank the tea to cure back sprains. Some Native Americans used it to cure venereal disease, others to cure pimples and itching, peeling skin. Both Indians and colonists mixed leaves with tobacco for smoking. Collected by Meriwether Lewis on the Expedition.
$12.75/bareroot
BuyMay – June, scarlet and yellow columbines
Size: 24-36”x 12”
Care: part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: Eastern Canada to Florida, west to New Mexico, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: Rich, sugary nectar important food for ruby-throated hummingbirds. Buntings and finches eat the seeds. Sole food source for columbine duskywing caterpillar.
Seeds are fragrant when crushed, used by Omaha, Ponca and Pawnee as perfume. Pawnee used the plant as a love charm by rubbing pulverized seeds in palm of hand and endeavoring to shake hand of desired person. Crushed seeds also used to cure fever and headaches. Cherokee made a tea for heart trouble. The Iroquois used the plant to cure poisoning and to detect people who were bewitched. Grown by Englishman Tradescant the Elder in 1632. He may have received it from France. Cultivated by Washington & Jefferson.
$12.75/bareroot
BuyAugust – October, classic violet, pink or magenta daisies
Size: 3-4' x 24"
Care: Full sun dry to moist soil. Heat and drought tolerant.
Native: Vt to Alabama, west to N. M., Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Nectar source for many butterflies - Checkered white and Checkered skippers, Spring azure, Pearl crescent, Buckeye, Painted lady, Fiery skip butterfly, Sachem, Sleepy orange, Silver-spotted skipper and Monarch. Host for caterpillars Wavy-lined emerald moth.
Aster means star, referring to the flower’s form. For the Cherokee New England aster tea cured fevers and diarrhea. Roots remedied pain and inflammation of the nose and throat. Introduced to garden cultivation by John Tradescant the Younger (1608-1662) in 1637 when he sent it to England where upon borders of New England aster became common. Washington grew New England Aster at Mount Vernon.