Drought, Xeric & Dry Soil Plants
Showing 17–24 of 126 results
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Baptisia leucantha syn. Baptisia lacteata, Baptisia alba White Wild Indigo, Prairie wild indigo Z 3-9
Towering creamy white flower spikes in May & June followed by dark seed pods.
Towering creamy white flower spikes in May & June followed by dark seed pods.
Size: 3-5' x 2-3'
Care: full sun to part shade in rich well-drained soil.
Native: Wisconsin native – from Minnesota to Texas.
Wildlife Value: food source for several caterpillars and nectar and pollen for a number of butterflies and bees. Deer resistant.Winnebago (HoChunk) mashed cooked root to make a poultice applied to remedy inflammation of the womb. Baptisia is Greek meaning to dye referring to use of Baptisia australis as a substitute for indigo dye. Leucantha means white flowered.
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Baptisia sphaerocarpa Yellow wild indigo Z 5-8
Spikes of yellow pea-like flowers in spring cover this broad plant - really makes you say “awe” or “oooh” when it blooms. All season resembles a shrub Flowers turn into round seed pods the size of a marble. This is a legume that improves soil fertility by making nitrogen available to the Baptisa and surrounding plants.
Spikes of yellow pea-like flowers in spring cover this broad plant – really makes you say “awe” or “oooh” when it blooms. All season resembles a shrub, flowers turn into round seed pods the size of a marble. This is a legume that improves soil fertility by making nitrogen available to the Baptisa and surrounding plants.
Size: 3’ x 3’
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to dry soil.
Native: Missouri to Mississippi to TX
Wildlife Value: Attracts butterflies. Deer resistant
Awards: Missouri Botanic Garden Plant of Merit.Baptisia is Greek meaning “to dye” referring to use of Baptisia australis as a substitute for indigo dye. Sphaerocarpa means “round seed.” Collected before 1834 by Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) English planthunter who scoured the US from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
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Buddleja davidii Butterfly bush, Summer lilac, do ye zui cao in China Z 5-9
Fragrant, large, lilac to purple arching spikes from mid-summer through fall
OUT OF STOCK
Fragrant, large, lilac to purple arching spikes from mid-summer through fall
Can not ship to: Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington
Size: 6' x 4'
Care: Sun in well-drained soil.
Native: Sichuan & Hubei provinces, China
Wildlife Value: flowers very fragrant, attracts many butterflies, excellent cut flower
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.Buddleja named to honor Reverend Adam Buddle, Vicar of Farmbridge in Essex and botanist. (1662-1715) Davidii honors Fr. Armand David a French missionary who noticed it. Introduced to gardens by another French missionary Jean Soulie (1858-1905). Soulie made dangerous expeditions to the Tibetan border of China and ultimately lost his life when he was tortured and shot in 1905. This species 1st sent to the West (Kew Gardens) by Dr. Ernest Henry who found it near Ichang in 1887. Irishman Dr. Henry worked as a customs officer in Shanghai and an assistant physician in Ichang.
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Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta syn. Clinopodium nepeta ssp. nepeta Lesser calamint Z 4-9
Profuse violet blooms on mint-scented, gray-green foliage gives frosty image, June-October
Profuse violet blooms on mint-scented, gray-green foliage gives frosty image, June-October
Size: 18-24” x 8-12”
Native: Europe and Mediterranean
Wildlife Value: attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirdsThis subspecies 1st described by Linnaeus in 1753. Genus name comes from Greek kalos meaning beautiful and minthe meaning mint. It is not, however, a mint and is not invasive.
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Callirhoe involucrata Wine cups, Prairie poppy mallow Z 3-9
Magenta-purple up-facing cups with white centers, June - October
Magenta-purple up-facing cups with white centers, June – October
Size: 6" x 12-24"
Care: Full sun in well-drained soil.
Native: Missouri to Texas
Wildlife Value: host for larva of Gray Hairstreak butterfly and nectar source for many different butterflies.
Awards: Missouri Botanic Garden Plant of Merit; 1999 Plant Select®; Great Plants for Great Plains Plant of the Year 2020Callirhoe is named for the goddess Callirhoe, daughter of Hermocrates, the Greek river god. Teton Dakota fired the dried root for smoke to cure the common cold and its aches and pains. The liquid used to boil the root relieved internal pain. First collected and named by English plant hunter Thomas Nuttall (1785-1859) but then renamed by other botanists. Ferry’s 1876 catalog described it as having “a trailing habit, of great beauty.” William Robinson (1838-1935), father of today’s mixed perennial border, recognized it to be “excellent for the rock garden, bearing a continuous crop of showy blossoms from early summer till late in autumn.”
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Centranthus ruber Jupiter’s beard, Red Valerian, Pretty Betsy Z 5-8
Clusters of crimson, star-shaped florets atop 2’ stems bloom their heads off ALL summer into fall.
Clusters of crimson, star-shaped florets atop 2’ stems bloom their heads off ALL summer into fall.
Size: 24-36”x 12”
Care: Sun in well-drained alkaline soil, drought tolerant
Native: Mediterranean
Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies, bees and hover flies.Centranthus is from the Greek meaning “spurred flower.” According to Culpepper, an English herbalist from the early 1600’s, this plant comforts the heart and stirs up lust. Parkinson, in 1629 describes it “of a fine red colour, very pleasant to behold.”
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Cerastium biebersteinii Mouse ear Z 4-7
White felt-like foliage, white flowers in spring. “Ornamental foliage dwarf plant with beautiful silvery tinted foliage,” Bliss & Sons Catalog 1872.
White felt-like foliage, white flowers in spring. “Ornamental foliage dwarf plant with beautiful silvery tinted foliage,” Bliss & Sons Catalog 1872.
Size: 6" x spreading
Care: Sun in well-drained soil
Native: TauriaCerastium is from the Greek keras meaning “horn” because of the shape of the seed capsule. Used as a groundcover under tropical plants in Victorian gardens. In 1913 Sanders identified it as a “good edging or rockery plant.” Grown in American gardens since 1860’s.
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Clematis ternifolia Sweet Autumn clematis Z 4-8
Fragrant, small white blossoms smother this vigorous vine
Fragrant, small white blossoms smother this vigorous vine in September and October.
Can not ship to: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Size: 15-20’ x 6-10’
Care: Sun moist well-drained soil mulched. Flowers on current year’s wood. Cut back in early spring to 6-8” above the soil.
Native: JapanThe genus Clematis was named by Dioscordes, physician in Nero’s army, from “klema” meaning climbing plant. In 1877 seeds of this vine sent from Russia to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, then distributed to nurseries throughout America.
