Centaurea dealbata Persian cornflower Z 3-8

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• Platycodon grandiflorus albus Balloon flower Z 3-9

  Balloon shaped buds as though puffed with air, open to white, five-petal bells from mid-summer to early fall.

  

  $10.25/bareroot

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  Balloon shaped buds as though puffed with air, open to white, five-petal bells from mid-summer to early fall.

  Size: 24" x 12"
  Care: Sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil, heat and drought tolerant. Deadhead for rebloom.
  Native: Eastern Asia
  Wildlife Value: attracts hummingbirds, bees & butterflies
  Awards: England's Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.

  Platycodon is Greek from platys meaning “broad” and kodon meaning “bell”, referring to the shape of the flower. Cultivated in China for hundreds of years where it is called Jie-geng.  The Chinese used the root boiled to cure a chill in the stomach. Mentioned in Man’yoshu, a Japanese anthology of poems written in the 8^th century.  German botanist Johann Gmelin first collected this in Siberia in 1754.  Gmelin’s Siberian mission, sponsored by Catherine the Great, took 10 years and nearly killed him.  Gmelin introduced it to European gardens by 1782.  Robert Fortune found the white form in a nursery near Shanghai and sent it to England in 1845. 

• Helleborus niger Christmas rose, Black hellebore Z 5-8 POISON

  Outfacing, white, waxy cup-shaped flowers resembling single roses in late winter, evergreen leaves.

  

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  Outfacing, white, waxy cup-shaped flowers resembling single roses in late winter, evergreen leaves.

  Size: 12-20” x 12”
  Care: part shade in moist well-drained soil
  Native: rocky places in Europe
  Awards: Received Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.

  The name Helleborus is Greek from hellein meaning “to kill” and bora meaning “food” referring to the plant’s poisonous qualities if placed in food.  This species is ancient – known as long ago as 300 BC in Greece where it “purged and cured the mad or melancholicke daughters of Praetus with the roots thereof.” (Parkinson, 1629) Grown in the Eichstätt Garden, the garden of Johann Konrad von Gemmingen, prince bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria, c. 1600.  In Middle Ages petals thrown on floor to drive out evil and ward off power of witches. English herbalist John Gerard (1545-1612) strangely recommended it for curing poisoned animals. Sorcerers made themselves invisible by tossing the powdered plant in the air.

• Limonium minutum Dwarf statice Z 5-9

  All summer long, droves of lavender blossoms above a mini pillow of spoon-shaped, glossy foliage.

  

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  All summer long, droves of lavender blossoms above a mini pillow of spoon-shaped, glossy foliage.

  Size: 6-8” x 6-8”
  Care: sun in well-drained soil
  Native: southeast France on limestone seacliffs
  Wildlife Value: deer resistant, salt tolerant

  Described by Linnaeus, 1753. The name Limoniuim comes from the Greek word for meadow.

• Silene dioica Red Campion Z 5-8

  Dark pink-purple flowers from late spring to mid-summer

  

  $13.25/bareroot

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  Dark pink-purple flowers from late spring to mid-summer

  Size: 32” x 18”
  Care: full sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
  Native: Europe
  Wildlife Value: a favorite of Bumblebees

  In Greek mythology Silene was a companion of Bacchus who was covered with foam. Dioicus means that male and female plants are separate. Described by 1750’s.  Grown in American gardens since 1800’s