Description
ARCHIVED
Note: This is a plant not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.
Dense spikes of buttery yellow in June, resembling Baptisia or Lupin with clover-like foliage.
Dense spikes of buttery yellow in June, resembling Baptisia or Lupin with clover like foliage.
ARCHIVED
Note: This is a plant not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.
Dense spikes of buttery yellow in June, resembling Baptisia or Lupin with clover-like foliage.
$12.95/bareroot
BuyIndigo blue racemes in June followed by ornamental black seed pods on this perennial that looks like a shrub. This is a legume that improves soil fertility by making nitrogen available to the Baptisa and surrounding plants. Internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013).
Size: 3' x 3'
Care: Full sun sandy soil. Heat and drought tolerant, with no staking needed.
Native: Eastern United States, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: Food source for several caterpillars and nectar for a number of butterflies.
Awards: Received England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit. Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year Award, 2010. Missouri Botanic Garden Plant of Merit
Baptisia is Greek meaning to dye referring to use of the plant as a substitute for indigo dye. Cherokee used Baptisia australis for a number of illnesses: cease mortification, cure toothaches and induce vomiting. Collected by John Bartram (1699-1777) plant explorer and colonial nurseryman by 1748.
$12.75/bareroot
BuyTaxi cab yellow rounded, dense mass of flowers envelops the plant from May to June
Size: 10" x 12"
Care: Full sun well-drained soil, cut back after flowering to maintain compact form. Drought tolerant
Native: Central and southeastern Europe
Awards: England's Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit
Ancient Greeks may have used this to cure hydrophobia. English garden cultivation since 1710. Grown by Washington at Mount Vernon.
OUT OF STOCK
Gorgeous – July – September bright orange cymes
Size: 2-3' x 12"
Care: Sun in moist well-drained to dry soil
Native: East and south North America, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Host for Monarch caterpillars and its nectar is a favorite for 13 different butterflies: 4 Swallowtails, 2 Fritillaries, Checkered white, Spring azure, Small copper, Sachem, Monarch, and Coral and Gray hairstreaks. Attracts Ladybugs that eat many insect pests.
Awards: Great Plants for Great Plains; Perennial Plant Assn. Plant of the Year 2017.
Named after Asclepias, a Greek god of medicine. Omaha Indians ate the raw root to cure bronchial and pulmonary ailments, their Shell Society was the authorized guardian of the plant, taking 4 days to dig, prepare and distribute the root. Most important medicine for Menominee Indians. The Iroquois smashed roots on legs to impart strength to runners. Navajo cured coyote bites and flu with Butterfly weed. Millspaugh said used as “subtonic, diaphoretic, alternative, expectorant, diuretic, laxative, escharotic, carminative, anti-spasmodic, anti-pleuritic, stomachic, astringent, anti-rheumatic, anti-syphilitic and what not?” 1st collected by Rev. John Banister in colonial Virginia c. 1680. A gunman mistakenly shot and killed him while he collected plants. Used by natives for Bloody Flux; the Root must be powdered and given in a Spoonful of Rum, or rather as the Indians give it, bruise the Root, and boil it in Water, and drink the Decoction: Pehr Kalm saith it is excellent for the hysteric Passion.” HoChunk placed masticated root into wounds. Cultivated by Jefferson. Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.
$4.95/pot
BuyClean white variegated leaves and flowers (bracts), very showy midsummer to fall. Use caution with internal milky sap.
Size: 18” x 10”
Care: sun moist well-drained soil, drought tolerant.
Native: Plains from Dakota to Texas
Size: Wonderful cut flower just be careful of the milky sap.
Sioux crushed leaves in water and boiled it for a liniment to remedy swelling; boiled whole leaves in water to increase milk for new mothers. Collected on Lewis and Clark expedition three times, once July 28, 1806 along Marias River. A “most elegant species.” Breck, 1851.