A greenish, long-tipped spadix (the “dragon’s tongue”) grows several inches beyond a narrow green spathe, a narrow, greenish, hooded, cylinder. Numerous tiny flowers crowd onto the 6-inch-long flower stem. Tiny white flowers in spring turn into a spike of red berries in fall.
OUT OF STOCK
A greenish, long-tipped spadix (the “dragon’s tongue”) grows several inches beyond a narrow green spathe, a narrow, greenish, hooded, cylinder. Numerous tiny flowers crowd onto the 6-inch-long flower stem. Tiny white flowers in spring turn into a spike of red berries in fall.
OUT OF STOCK
Atop a mound of spatula-shaped, crinkled leaves with scalloped edges rises a bounty of 4 to 5 inch tall spikes, each crowned with a hoard of tiny fuchsia-colored trumpets blowing their horns “look at me” in early to mid-summer.
Size: 4-8" x 8-12" spreading slowly by rhizomes
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: South Africa
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant. Attracts small bees and butterflies
English adventurer and naturalist William John Burchell (1781-1863) scoured South Africa from 1803 to 1815 collecting more than 50,000 specimens packed in 48 crates. In places unexplored he found insects, animals, fish and unknown plants, this being one. Although he published two volumes of his exploration, he did not finish the last, third volume, leaving another to write the botany. Premier English botanist George Bentham (1800-1884) took up the task authoring Labiatarum Genera et Species, published in 1834. He wrote the first published description and named this tiny plant with outsized charm.
OUT OF STOCK
Brilliant orange with purple spots, Turks’-cap type, reflexed petals (tepals), blooming in late summer to early fall.
Size: 10’ x 12”
Care: Sun in moist to moist-well-drained, acidic soil
Native: from VT to Fl & west to Mississippi River, Wisconsin native
Lilium was named for the Greek word for smooth, polished referring to its leaves. This collected before 1665. In his 1665 book, Flora, seu de Florum Cultura John Rea, nurseryman and author, called it the “Virginia Martagon.” 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.”
Golden daisies waive at the sun from July to September, its cup shaped leaves hold water where butterflies drink & bathe
Can not ship to: Connecticut and New York
Size: 7’ x 3’
Care: full sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
Native: Central North America, native to Wisconsin.
Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit
Sap used by Native Americans to chew and freshen breath. Also used to cure colds, neuralgia, fever, and liver disorders. The Chippewa used it to stop lung hemorrhaging, menstrual bleeding, and cure chest pain. Winnebago drank a potion from the plant to purify themselves before a buffalo hunt. For the Iroquois it cured paralysis, prevented children from seeing ghosts and illness caused by the dead. Lakota Sioux children sometimes chewed resin like chewing gum. An infusion of the whole plant is used to rid horses and humans of intestinal worms. An infusion of the leaves is used to loosen phlegm in the lungs. Described and classified in 1753.
OUT OF STOCK
Lavender-Pink outside and white inside funnels in June
Size: 20” x 12-24”
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: northeast North America
Wildlife Value: attracts Baltimore butterfly and feeds the Rusty patched Bumble Bee
Penstemon is named for its five stamens, penta meaning “five” and stemon meaning “stamen” in Greek. Penstemons are “handsome and deserving,” Bailey. P. hirsutus sent from America to England in 1758.
