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Showing 161–168 of 168 results

  • Uvularia sessilifolia Merrybells Z 4-8

    Elongated cream colored bells dangle under lily-like leaves in April-May

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    Elongated cream colored bells dangle under lily-like leaves in April-May

    Size: 6-10” X 8”
    Care: Sun to shade in moist, well-drained acidic soil
    Native: Eastern & central North America, Wisconsin native.
    Wildlife Value: attracts bees & other pollinators

    Grown at Elgin Botanic Garden, America’s 1st botanic garden, 1811. Cherokee made a tea from the roots to treat diarrhea; made a poultice for boils and cooked and ate the leaves. Iroquois made a tea from roots to purify blood and a poultice to mend broken bones. It is taken internally to aid in healing broken bones. Ojibwa used root in hunting to bring deer closer. Collected before 1753. 

  • Vaccinium angustifolium Lowbush Blueberry Z 2-6

    Urn-shaped white flowers in May and June turn to glossy blue berries.  Foliage turns fiery red in fall.  This is the true native bearing small, intensely flavored blueberries.

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    Urn-shaped white flowers in May & June turn to glossy blue berries.  Foliage turns fiery red in fall.  The true native, bearing small, intensely flavored blueberries.

    Size: 2-12” x 3’ spreading by runners
    Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained, very acidic soil. Mulch, roots shallow & wide spreading.
    Native: entire NE of No. America as far west as Minnesota & South to N. Carolina, Wisconsin native.
    Wildlife Value: nectar source for butterflies esp. Zebra swallowtail Food source for moth caterpillars, terrestrial turtles, numerous birds (Turkey, Blue Jay, Bluebird, Wood thrush & Robin) and numerous mammals. Deer & rabbits like the branches & leaves. Habitat for ground nesting birds.
    Awards: Cary Award Distinctive Plants for New England

    Described in literature, 1789. Many Native Americans ate the berries (fresh or dried) or mixed berries with other ingredients for food: Algonquin, Iroquois, Ojibwa & Menominee.  A few ate the flowers.  Algonquin made medicine from the leaves and roots for colic, miscarriages & inducing labor. Ojibwa put dried flowers on hot stones to inhale the fumes for “craziness.” stated that the fruit, leaves, and root bark were useful in the treatment of mouth sores, diarrhea, and other bowel complaints. Winnebago dried the berries to and added them to flavor medicine including stimulate appetite https://nativeplants.ku.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Kindscher-1998-Huron-Smiths-Ethnobotany.pdf Rafinesque (1828-1830) discussed this taxon as a diarrhea cure. Berries were formerly rendered into a syrup-like beverage that was consumed for chronic dysentery. The leaves and root bark were made into a tea that was administered as a treatment forsore throats and diarrhea (Angier 1978; Krochmal and Krochmal 1973).”

  • Verbascum chaixii Nettleleaved mullein Z 5-8

    Spikes covered in white flowers with pink eyes from mid to late summer

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    Spikes covered in white flowers with pink eyes from mid to late summer

    Size: 36” x 18”
    Care: Full sun in well drained, poor soil
    Native: Europe

    Verbascum was named by the Roman Pliny who said they attracted moths, calling them Moth mulleins. Described by Parkinson in 1629: “a stalk, the flowers hereof are pure white with the like purple threads in the middle.”

  • Veronica allionii Alpine speedwell Z 2-9

    Purple-blue spikes bloom from early to late summer

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    Purple-blue spikes bloom from early to late summer

    Size: 4-6” x 8-12”
    Care: sun, moist well-drained to well-drained soil
    Native: Alps

    Described in 1779 in Prosp. Hist. Pl. Dauphiné

  • Veronica incana syn. V. spicata subsp. incana Silver speedwell, Hoary Veronica Z 4-9

    Erect blue racemes June – September atop gray foliage give a serene effect

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    Erect blue racemes June – September atop gray foliage give a serene effect

    Size: 12-18” x 12”
    Care: sun to part shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
    Native: mountains & fields of Ukraine

    Introduced from Russia by 1759.   LH Bailey declared it “has a good appearance both in and out of bloom; useful in the rockery, border or geometrical garden.” (1933)

  • Veronica oltensis Turkish-leaf speedwell, Thyme-leaf speedwell Z 4-9

    Tiny azure flowers smother the ground in spring-early summer on this groundcover or rock garden plant, or grow in walkway crevices.

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    Tiny azure flowers smother the ground in spring-early summer on this groundcover or rock garden plant, or grow in walkway crevices.

    Size: 1" x 24" slow spreader
    Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil
    Native: Mountain valleys of Oltu and Coruh inTurkey.

    Described in literature in 1914.

  • Viola corsica Corsican violet Z 4-8

    Rare species violet. Clouds of blue violets with veined heart leading to tiny yellow centers

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    Rare species violet. Clouds of blue violets with veined heart leading to tiny yellow centers from late spring thru fall-blooms its head off. Reliably perennial. More heat tolerant than pansies.

    Size: 5-7” x 8-10”
    Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil.
    Native: Corsica

    1st described by Swedish botanist Carl Fredrik Nyman before 1893.

  • Zinnia grandiflora Rocky Mountain Zinnia SUBSHRUB Z. 4-9

    Profuse golden yellow flowers from July through fall, slow to emerge in spring so don't prematurely assume it's gone.

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    Profuse golden yellow flowers from July through fall, slow to emerge in spring so don’t prematurely assume it’s gone. Very sweet yellow blooms over long period of time.

    Size: 4-6”x 12-15”
    Care: full sun in well-drained soil
    Native: Colorado & Kansas south to SW U.S.

    The name Zinnia honors German botany professor Johann Gottfried Zinn (1727-1759). This species 1st collected by Edwin James, physician and botanist on the Long Expedition in 1820.