Our Plants
Showing 393–400 of 612 results
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Melica ciliata Silky spike melic grass Z 5-9
Ornamental arching white spikes from June through mid-summer. Especially nice for its early bloom, long before most grasses.
OUT OF STOCK
Ornamental arching white spikes from June through mid-summer. Especially nice for its early bloom, long before most grasses.
Size: 2' x 12"
Care: full sun in moist well-drained to moist soil.
Native: Eurasia to North Africa
Wildlife Value: Deer resistantMelica is Greek for “sweet grass.” This species collected before 1753.
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Mertensia virginica syn. Mertensia pulmonarioides Virginia bluebells Z 3-7
Clusters of pink buds turn to sky blue trumpets in May. Ephemeral, disappearing in summer to return next spring.
Available for purchase in Spring only
Clusters of pink buds turn to sky blue trumpets in May. Ephemeral, disappearing in summer to return next spring.
Size: 18" x 10" spreads slowly
Care: Moist well-drained soil in part shade.
Native: N.Y. to Tennessee, west to Kansas, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Provides nectar and pollen to honeybees, bumble and mason bees, as well as Skipper butterflies and Sphynx moths. Deer resistant.
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.Cherokee cured whooping cough and consumption with Virginia bluebells. Other Natives treated whooping cough, venereal disease, and plain poor health with this. First collected for gardens by John Banister in colonial Virginia C. 1690. Named Mertensia after Franz Karl Mertens (1764-1831), a German botanist who never set foot in America. Grown by both Washington and Jefferson.
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Metasequoia glyptostroboides Dawn redwood Z 4-8
Fast-growing, pyramidal-shaped deciduous conifer.
Fast-growing, pyramidal-shaped deciduous conifer. The orange to brown trunk base tapers and thickens with up to a dozen large buttress-like root flares extending several feet up the trunk. Feathery, fern-like, soft foliage emerges light green in spring, and turns red-bronze in fall before dropping. Its branches are well-attached and make excellent climbing.
Size: 70-90’ x 15-25’
Care: sun in moist to moist well-drained, slightly acid soil
Native: Szechuan China
Awards: Royal Botanic Garden Award of Garden Merit, Yew Dell Botanical Gardens’ Theodore Klein Plant Awards & Pennsylvania Horticultural Society GoldFrom fossil records, dawn redwood is known to have existed as many as 50,000,000 years ago. However, it was not until 1941 that dawn redwood was first discovered growing in the wild near the town of Modaoqi China by Chinese forester, T. Kan. Seeds collected from the original site were made available to the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1947. Seedlings grown therefrom were planted in front of the Lehmann Building at MBG in 1952 where they have now developed into large mature trees (70’+ tall). Dawn redwood is a deciduous, coniferous tree that grows in a conical shape to 100’ tall. It is related to and closely resembles bald cypress (Taxodium) and redwood (Sequoia).
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Miscanthus sinensis ‘Variegatus’ Striped Maiden grass Z 4-
Vertical white srtipes on 4' arching green grass blades, inflorescenses coppery russet in fall,
Vertical white srtipes on 4′ arching green grass blades, inflorescenses coppery russet in fall
Size: 6' x 4' clump forming
Care: Sun moist well-drained soil. Cut back in spring.
Native: S.E. AsiaMiscanthus is Greek meaning stem and flower. Mentioned in Man’yoshu, a Japanese anthology of poems written in the 8th century, where it symbolized the melancholy of autumn. This variegated form frequently used in Victorian bedding designs. American garden cultivation since late 1800’s. Recommended by Gertrude Jekyll, mother of mixed perennial borders, in 1908, for its “great white striped” foliage.
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Miscanthus sinensis subsp. purpurascens syn. Miscanthus ‘Purpurascens’ Flame grass Z 4-9
Flame grass starts in spring tinged with red in the leaves, increasing as summer passes. By fall the leaves turn brilliant orange-red, darkening to burgundy by winter. It retains its color for a few months. Tassel-like inflorescences appear in late summer, opening into creamy plumes by fall. It is upright and clump-forming.
Flame grass starts in spring tinged with red in the leaves, increasing as summer passes. By fall the leaves turn brilliant orange-red, darkening to burgundy by winter. It retains its color for a few months. Tassel-like inflorescences appear in late summer, opening into creamy plumes by fall. It is upright and clump-forming.
Size: 4-5’ x 3-4’
Care: sun to part shade in any soil - sandy to clay soils. Cut back in late winter to spring.
Native: Japan
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant and tolerant of Walnut trees.Miscanthus is Greek meaning stem (“miskos) and flower (“anthos”). Miscanthus mentioned in Man’yoshu, a Japanese anthology of poems written in the 8th century, where it symbolized the melancholy of autumn. This specific plant described by Swedish botanist Nils Johan Andersson (1821-1880) in 1855 in Öfvers. Kongl. Vetensk.-Akad. Förh. 12:167.
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Monarda didyma ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ Beebalm Z 4-9
Whorls of scarlet tubes & bracts looking like fireworks, in summer
Whorls of scarlet tubes & bracts looking like fireworks, in summer
Size: 3-4' x spreading
Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil.
Native: N. E. America
Wildlife Value: Checkered white, Fritillary and Melissa blue butterflies relish Beebalm’s nectar.Cherokee used the species medicinally, to cure colic, flatulence, nosebleed, measles, flu, hysteria and to induce restful sleep. Monarda was named in honor of Nicholas Monardes (1493-1588), a Spanish botanist who wrote about plants of the New World. Discovered by John Bartram (1699-1777) being used by colonists in Oswego N.Y. to make tea. Oswego Indians taught the colonists how to make tea from the dried leaves. Bartram sent this Beebalm to Peter Collinson in England in whose garden it grew in 1744. By 1757 its English availability was “nearly universal” among gardeners. During the American Revolution used as a substitute for tea. Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811.This cultivar ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ recommended by Gertrude Jekyll in 1908.
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Monarda fistulosa Wild bergamont Z 3-9
Whorls of hooded lavender tubes in July - August
Whorls of hooded lavender tubes in July – August
Size: 3-4' x 2' spreading
Care: Sun to part shade any soil.
Native: central U.S., Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Checkered white, Tiger swallowtail, Giant swallowtail and Melissa blue butterflies relish Wild bergamot’s nectar. Supports over 70 bee species including Rusty patched Bumble Bee.Used medicinally by many Native tribes- Blackfoot, Cherokee, Chippewa, Choctaw, Crow, Dakota and Flathead. Cherokee: to cure colic, flatulence, nosebleed, measles, flu, hysteria and to induce restful sleep Blackfoot called it “Single-young-Man.” Teton Dakotas boiled the leaves and flowers for medicine to cure abdominal pain. Ho-Chunk boiled the leaves to make a medicine for pimples. Choctaws cured chest pain in children. The Flathead cured colds and sore teeth with Wild Bergamot. HoChunk inhaled fumes in a sweat bath to cure colds. Oneidas made a tea. For the Sioux it was nourishment and a panacea: tea, stomachache, fever, indigestion, sore throats, fainting, whooping cough, wounds, sore eyes, ulcers, and snakebites. First documented by French explorers before 1635. Plant exported to Europe by Tradescant the Younger in 1637. Grown by Washington at Mount Vernon. Today it is a flavor in Earl Grey tea.
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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.
OUT OF STOCK
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 1st collected for gardens by John Bartram (1699-1776). Offered for sale in Bartram Garden’s 1783 Broadside, America’s 1st 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.
