Wisconsin Native

Showing 57–64 of 111 results

  • Geranium maculatum American Cranesbill, Wild geranium, Spotted geranium Z 3-8

    Clusters of two to five pink infused with lavender, flowers of five, paddle-shaped petals bloom in late spring to early summer.

    $12.95/bareroot

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    Clusters of two to five pink infused with lavender, flowers of five, paddle-shaped petals bloom in late spring to early summer.

    Size: 24" x 18"
    Care: Full sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: East North America, Wisconsin native.
    Wildlife Value: primarily visited by several kinds of bees.

    Native Americans taught colonists to use the plant to cure diarrhea, dysentery, and hemorrhaging.  Also used on sores, open wounds, canker sores and sore feet.  The Choctaw prescribed it for venereal disease.  Sent to Europe in 1732. Jefferson asked John Bartram to obtain seeds, 1786.  Collected by French plant hunter André Michaux (1746-1802).  Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.

  • Geum triflorum Prairie smoke, Old Man’s whiskers Z 3-7

    Pale purplish-pink dangling cup-shaped flowers in spring to early summer, followed by hair-like, pink seed heads like the hair on a troll doll.

    $10.25/bareroot

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    Pale purplish-pink dangling cup-shaped flowers in spring to early summer, followed by hair-like, pink seed heads like the hair on a troll doll.

    Size: 10" x 8" but slow to grow to this width
    Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
    Native: all of northern No. America, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies, bees, wasps, and moths. Resists deer and rabbits.
    Awards: Great Plants for Great Plains

    Introduced to gardens in 1609.  Many Native American medicinal uses.  Blackfeet used it to cure coughs, skin sores and wounds on people and horses, swollen eyes, canker sores, and fuzzy thinking in people. Crushed, ripe seeds made a perfume.  Okanagan-Colville women made a love potion from the roots, as well as curing vaginal yeast infections.  The Eastern Cascades of Canada brewed a medicinal tea for eye-wash, sore throats, and general aches from the plant. Sioux used it for many ailments:  sore eyes, canker sores, sore throat, perfume, wounds, and added it to mixtures of plants for smoking. Collected by Meriwether Lewis on June 12, 1806 on the Weippe Prairie, not far from the villages of the Nez Perce in Idaho.

  • Hypericum kalmianum Kalm’s St. Johns wort SHRUB Z 4-7

    Eye-catching yellow saucers with a puff of showy prominent stamens in mid to late summer complimenting the glaucous blue leaves on this mounding, easy- to-grow, shrub.

    $18.95/ONLY AVAILABLE ON SITE @ NURSERY

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    Eye-catching yellow saucers with a puff of showy prominent stamens in mid to late summer complimenting the glaucous blue leaves on this mounding, easy- to-grow, shrub.

    Size: 3-4’ x 3-4’
    Care: sun to shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Blooms on new growth so prune in late winter to early spring as far back as you wish.
    Native: Quebec to WI, S. to IL, Wisconsin native.
    Wildlife Value: attracts bees and butterflies
    Awards: Great Plants for Great Plains

    The name Hypericum comes from Greek hyper, meaning above, and eikon, meaning icon or image. The yellow flowers of some species were placed above images to ward off evil spirits, and according to legend, Satan pierced the leaves in revenge.  This species collected by and named for Peter Kalm (1716-1779), Swedish plant hunter, on his expedition in North America, 1747-1751.  Offered for sale in Bartram Garden’s 1783 Broadside, America’s 1st plant catalog.  David Douglas (Douglas fir guy) also collected this at Niagara Falls per British botanist William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865).

    **LISTED AS OUT OF STOCK BECAUSE WE DO NOT SHIP THIS ITEM.  IT IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT OUR RETAIL LOCATION.

  • Iris versicolor Blue flag Z 3-9

    Purple, lavender or blue flowers in June

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Purple, lavender or blue flowers in June

    Size: 36" x 12"
    Care: sun, moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: Eastern United States, Wisconsin native

    Iris is named after the Greek goddess who accompanied the souls of women to the Elysian Fields by way of the rainbow.  Her footprints left flowers the colors of the rainbow.   Iris means the eye of heaven. Omaha Indians used the roots topically to cure earaches. Other tribes applied a poultice to cure sores and bruises. Root is poisonous. Cultivated in gardens since the 1700’s.

  • Knautia macedonica syn. Scabiosa rumelica Pincushion plant Z 5-9

    Claret pincushions float at the tips of airy wands all summer & fall

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Claret pincushions float at the tips of airy wands all summer & fall

    Size: 2- 3’ x 10”
    Care: sun in well-drained soil. Keep compact by cutting back to 10” in spring, if you wish
    Native: Central Europe
    Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies and bees

    Knautia named for German doctor & botanist Christoph Knaut (1656-1716) who published a method of classifying plants.  Collected before 1879

  • Lathyrus japonicus v. maritimus Beach pea Z 3-6

    Magenta pea flowers June through August on its trailing stems.  A legume, it puts nitrogen in the soil fertilizing plants growing nearby.

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    OUT OF STOCK – EMAIL FOR AVAILABILITY

    Magenta pea flowers June through August on its trailing stems.  A legume, it puts nitrogen in the soil fertilizing plants growing nearby.

    Size: 18-24” tall but lays on ground, not upright
    Care: sun in well-drained soil. Drought tolerant.
    Native: all northern states from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Wisconsin native. (It seems strange that a variety of a plant native to Japan grows as a native in North America. The species, although named “Japonica” is circumpolar, native in the entire northern hemisphere.)
    Wildlife Value: pollinated by bees, primarily bumblebees

    Iroquois cooked the stalks and leaves to remedy rheumatism. Taxonomic mess.  First described and named in 1735 then another name in 1824, now changed again to its current name. 

  • Liatris aspera Rough blazing star Z 4-9

    Feathery purple buttons along tall spikes August-October

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    OUT OF STOCK

    Feathery purple buttons along tall spike in late summer: August-October

    Size: 24”-30” x 12”-18”
    Care: Sun in well-drained soil
    Native: So. Canada, much of eastern 3/4th of U.S., Wisconsin Native
    Wildlife Value: attract butterflies (favorite nectar for Monarchs and Buckeyes) & hummingbirds.

    Aspera is Latin meaning rough.  1st collected by Frenchman André Michaux (1746-1802) who spent 11 years in America collecting hundreds of new plants.

  • Liatris spicata Blazing star, Gayfeather, Button snakeroot Z 3-8

    Rosy purple spikes in July and August, a flower arranger’s dream

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Rosy purple spikes in July and August, a flower arranger’s dream

    Size: 2-3' x 18"
    Care: Full sun in moist to well-drained soil.
    Native: Eastern and southern U. S., Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: favorite nectar source for Buckeye butterflies & host for caterpillars of Painted lady, Fritillaries, Skippers, Sulphurs, Coppers & Checkerspot butterflies.

    Native Americans used roots medicinally for backaches, colic, dropsy and to strengthen a weak heart. The Dakota recognized L. spicata as an indication “when the flower is blue-red that corn is good to eat.”  Nicollet Diary, August 13, 1838. The dried root reputedly repelled moths from stored clothes. First collected by English naturalist Mark Catesby (1683-1749) and cultivated since 1732. Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811.