Dracocephalum botryoides Dragonhead Z 4-7

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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. 

• Lilium superbum Meadow lily Z 4-8

  Brilliant orange with purple spots, Turks’-cap type, reflexed petals (tepals), blooming in late summer to early fall.

  

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  Brilliant orange with purple spots, turks-cap lily with dramatic, swept-back petals blooming late summer to early fall.  Slow to mature but when it does it bears up to 40 flowers on one plant.

  Size: 10’ x 12”
  Care: Sun in moist to moist-well-drained, acidic soil
  Native: from VT to Fl & west to Mississippi River, Wisconsin native

  Lilium was named for the Greek word for smooth, polished referring to its leaves. This collected before 1665. In his 1665 book, Flora, seu de Florum Cultura John Rea, nurseryman and author, called it the “Virginia Martagon.” Sold in America’s 1^st plant catalog, Bartram’s Broadside, 1783. L.H. Bailey (1913): “The most magnificent and showy of native North American species, well worthy of extensive cultivation.”

• 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.

  

  $10.25/bareroot

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  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.”

• Metasequoia glyptostroboides Dawn redwood Z 4-8

  Fast-growing, pyramidal-shaped deciduous conifer.

  

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  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 Gold

  From 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).