Perennials & Biennials

Showing 449–456 of 508 results

  • Spigelia marilandica Carolina pink, Woodland pinkroot Z 5-9

    Stems topped with showy red tubes and fireworks-like yellow, five-pointed stars flare  atop the tubes in  late spring to early summer, later in the north.  Deadhead for rebloom

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    Stems topped with showy red tubes and fireworks-like yellow, five-pointed stars flare  atop the tubes in  late spring to early summer, later in the north.  Deadhead for rebloom

    Size: 12-24” x 6-18”
    Care: part to full shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: NJ to Fl west to TX
    Wildlife Value: nectar for hummingbirds; deer resistant
    Awards: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal 2023

    Cherokee used this to purge parasites from intestines. In garden by 1753. Philip Miller’s Dictionary “the plant “is esteemed as the best medicine (in North America) yet known for the worms.” (1768)  According to Jacob Bigelow in American Medical Botany, 1817 one doctor used it as a purgative and another as a narcotic.

  • Stachys byzantina Lamb’s ears, Woolly betony, Wooly woundwort Z 4-8

    Pale pink-lavender flowers on silver-gray spikes in summer with foliage as soft as a lamb’s ear.

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Pale pink-lavender flowers on silver-gray spikes in summer with foliage as soft as a lamb’s ear.

    Size: 12 x 12 spreading
    Care: Full sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil, low fertility
    Native: Iran
    Wildlife Value: Drought tolerant & deer resistant.

    Stachys is an old greek word meaning, “spike.” Stachys was believed to cure almost everything. Italians urged people to: “sell your coat and buy betony.” The common name “woundwort” describes the leaves’ function as bandages. Cultivated by George Washington at Mount Vernon.

  • Stachys minima syn. Stachys spathulata Dwarf betony Z 5-9

    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.

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    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.

  • Stachys officinalis syn. Betonica officinalis syn. Stachys betonica Bishop’s wort, Betony Z 4-8

    Showy reddish-purple spikes of two-lipped tubes in May and June

    $12.95/bareroot

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    Showy reddish-purple spikes of two-lipped tubes in May and June

    Size: 18-24” x 12-18” slowly spreading
    Care: sun in moist well-drained soil
    Native: Europe and Asia
    Wildlife Value: deer & walnut tolerant, attracts hummingbirds

    Once one of the most honored herbal medicines. Medicines were good if they had “as many virtues as Betony.” John Sauer, Colonial herbalist claimed “there is no illness brought on by cold in which Betony cannot be administered effectively.”

  • Stylophorum diphyllum Celandine poppy Z 4-9

    Sunny yellow cups bloom in late spring, reblooming sporadically, atop this 12-18" tall native.

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    Sunny yellow cups bloom in late spring, reblooming sporadically, atop this 12-18″ tall native.

    Size: 12-18" x 12"
    Care: Part shade, but tolerates sun, in moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: PA west to WI, south to MO & AK. Wisconsin native.

    1st collected by French plant hunter extraodinaire André Michaux, who spent 11 years in North America. (1746-1802)  William Robinson, father of the mixed perennial border, described this as “a handsome Poppywort … (with) large bright yellow flowers freely produced in early summer.”  Self-seeds and likely you’ll be happy for it.

  • Succisa pratensis Devil’s bit scabiosus Z 5- 9

    A tall, thin stem, unbranched until its upper quarter, then branching, each branch topped with its own flower head. Innumerable tiny flowers surround a global, lake-blue flower head, about the size of a ping-pong ball. Thread-like stamens poke out from the flowers all around the globe – blue too.  Blooms for nearly three months mid-to-late summer into fall.

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    A tall, thin stem, unbranched until its upper quarter, then branching, each branch topped with its own flower head. Innumerable tiny flowers surround a global, lake-blue flower head, about the size of a ping-pong ball. Thread-like stamens poke out from the flowers all around the globe – blue too.  Blooms for nearly three months mid-to-late summer into fall.

    LIMITED QUANTITIES AVAILABLE, LIMIT OF 1 PER CUSTOMER PLEASE

    Size: 2-4’ x 12”   
    Care: sun to part shade in moist to moist-well drained soil    
    Native: Europe to central Siberia, NW Africa   
    Wildlife Value: provides nectar and pollen to butterflies, moths, and bees

    Historically this has made a dye, a tea, and seasoned food.  It treated numerous medical conditions including scabies, eczema, fevers, wounds, syphilis and plague. Devil’s bit named for the legend that the Devil disapproved of the plant uses and attempted to destroy it by biting off its roots.  First described by Swiss botanist Gaspard Bauhin in 1623, Pinax theatri botanici, with a different name.  Linnaeus renamed it in Hortus Cliffortanus, 1737and then Möench renamed it to Succisa pratensis in 1794.

  • Symphyandra pendula Bellflower Z 5-8

    Panicles of creamy white bell-shaped flowers dangle over heart-shaped foliage March-June  

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    Panicles of creamy white bell-shaped flowers dangle over heart-shaped foliage March-June

    Size: 20” x 12”
    Care: Full to part sun in well-drained soil
    Native: Caucasus
    Wildlife Value: attracts bees, butterflies and birds

    Collected before 1830

  • Symphyandra zanzegura syn Campanula zanzegura   Ring bellflower, Rock bellflower    Z 5-10

    Flared petal ends of lilac bells on wiry red stems over soft, velvety leaves bloom much of summer.

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    Flared petal ends of lilac bells on wiry red stems over soft, velvety leaves bloom much of summer.

     

    Size: 15” x 15”
    Care: full to part shade in well-drained soil
    Native: mountains of Armenia, Eastern Europe
    Wildlife Value: attracts bees

    Described and published by Ukrainian botanist Vladimir Lipsky (1863-1937) in 1894. Reclassified as a Campanula in 1980.