Ligularia japonica syn. Ligularia kaempferi syn. Farfugium japonicum Leopard plant

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• Helleborus niger Christmas rose, Black hellebore Z 5-8 POISON

  Outfacing, white, waxy cup-shaped flowers resembling single roses in late winter, evergreen leaves.

  

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  Outfacing, white, waxy cup-shaped flowers resembling single roses in late winter, evergreen leaves.

  Size: 12-20” x 12”
  Care: part shade in moist well-drained soil
  Native: rocky places in Europe
  Awards: Received Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.

  The name Helleborus is Greek from hellein meaning “to kill” and bora meaning “food” referring to the plant’s poisonous qualities if placed in food.  This species is ancient – known as long ago as 300 BC in Greece where it “purged and cured the mad or melancholicke daughters of Praetus with the roots thereof.” (Parkinson, 1629) Grown in the Eichstätt Garden, the garden of Johann Konrad von Gemmingen, prince bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria, c. 1600.  In Middle Ages petals thrown on floor to drive out evil and ward off power of witches. English herbalist John Gerard (1545-1612) strangely recommended it for curing poisoned animals. Sorcerers made themselves invisible by tossing the powdered plant in the air.

• Sempervivum tectorum Hens and chicks Z 3-10

  Rosettes of succulent leaves

  

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  Rosettes of succulent leaves

  Size: 4” x 4”
  Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
  Native: Alps & Pyrenees Mountains

  Grown in gardens for thousands of years.  Sempervivum means “live forever.”  Romans planted Hens and chicks on their roofs to ward off lightening.  As a succulent it holds water and is probably more difficult to catch fire.  “This practice was preserved for historians when Charlemagne (720-814), first Holy Roman Emperor and unifier of a large part of northern Europe, o:rdered that all villagers within his crown lands plant houseleeks on their roofs He decreed: “Et ille hortulanus habeat super domum suam Iovis barbam. (And the gardener shall have house-leeks growing on his house. Capitulare de villis, about 795,  LXX.)”

• Myrica pensylvanica syn. Morella pensylvanica Wax myrtle, Northern bayberry SHRUB Z 3-6

  Green flowers in summer then, “conspicuous in winter when covered with its grayish white fruits which stay on the branches until spring.”  Bailey “The leaves turn a fine brown-purple in the fall, but the berries are the thing – pewter in color, with a texture like those Fourth of July sparklers of childhood memory, they have a delicious fragrance.” Allen Lacy.

  

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  Green flowers in summer then, “conspicuous in winter when covered with its grayish white fruits which stay on the branches until spring.”  Bailey “The leaves turn a fine brown-purple in the fall, but the berries are the thing – pewter in color, with a texture like those Fourth of July sparklers of childhood memory, they have a delicious fragrance.” Allen Lacy.

  Size: 9’ x 10’
  Care: sun in any soil
  Native: Canada to Southeastern U.S. No pruning needed but can be pruned at any time of year, if desired.
  Wildlife Value: Berries relished by chickadees, red-bellied woodpeckers, swallows, Titmouse, catbirds, bluebirds, Northern flicker & yellow-rumped warblers. Bayberry thickets also provide nesting sites for songbirds, offering excellent protection from predators.

  Probably 1^st collected for gardens by John Bartram (1699-1776).  Offered for sale in Bartram Garden’s 1783 Broadside, America’s 1^st plant catalog.  In 1800’s considered “very ornamental in the shrubbery.”  Fragrant leaves used for potpourri, abundant berries used to make candles.  Good road-side plant, salt tolerant.  Berries used to make candles.  Boil berries (drupes) to melt wax coating.  Collect wax from surface of water.   In American Medicinal Plants Charles F. Millspaugh noted that “Candles made from this wax, though quite brittle, are less greasy in warm weather, of fine appearance, slightly aromatic, and smokeless after snuffing, rendering them much more pleasant to use than those made of either wax (paraffin) or tallow (animal fat).” 1892.

• Silphium perfoliatum Cup plant Z 3-9

  Golden daisies waive at the sun from July to September, its cup shaped leaves hold water where butterflies drink & bathe

  

  $12.95/bareroot

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  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.