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.
OUT OF STOCK
Truest of blue flowers from summer through fall. Do you need to know anything else?
Reseeding annual in colder zones.
Size: 8” x 8”
Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
Native: So. Africa.
Awards: Plant Select® Central Rocky Mountain region
Collected and introduced to Europe in 1794 by von Thunberg (1743-1828). Carl Peter von Thunberg, student of Linnaeus at Uppsala University in Sweden, made three trips to the Cape of Good Hope 1772-1775 where he collected about 1000 new species, Java and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1777 and 15 months in Japan where he befriended local doctors who gave him hundreds of plants new to Western horticulture. He succeeded Linnaeus as professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala and King Gustav beknighted him. Young Cape forget-me-not plants were eaten as a vegetable, Annals of the South African Museum, 1898. Louise Beebe Wilder loved this plant, effusing, “One of the prettiest (blue annuals) is the Cape Forget-me-not. Not one of its cerulean family boasts a purer blue and its summer-long period of bloom and indifference to drought make it a really valuable annual. It has also a sturdy habit of growth and sowing its hardy seeds freely it does its best to become a permanent resident.” Robinson called it “Remarkably fine…” The Garden 1873. The name Anchusa from anchousa paint used on skin.
$12.75/bareroot
BuyShowy, white to pinkish inflorescences summer thru fall. Richard Darke, grass guru, describes this as “One of the most striking hardy fountain grasses. Low growing, compact and exceptionally floriferous … Blooms over an unusually long period from late June through October”
Size: 2' x 2'
Care: sun in well-drained soil or moist well-drained soil. Deer resistant and drought tolerant.
Native: central & SW Asia
Awards: Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Picks
The plant is named for its soft inflorescences; Latin penna and seta mean feather-bristle. This species collected before 1821.
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.
OUT OF STOCK – EMAIL FOR AVAILABILITY
Erect, fern-like, thick clumps of striking silver foliage. Mustard yellow platter flowers in summer. I first saw this plant at the harbor garden in Port Washington about 6 AM one fall morning. The foliage was so arresting it stopped me in my tracks.
Size: 18" x 24"
Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Deer and drought tolerant
Native: Balkans
Collected before 1804. The Balkan yarrow is known to attract butterflies with its Yellow Flowers.