Description
Very fragrant, recurved white trumpets with gold bands radiating from the center down the middle of each petal, decorated with red spots. Blooms in late summer.
Very fragrant, recurved white trumpets with gold bands radiating from the center down the middle of each petal, decorated with red spots. Blooms in late summer.
Very fragrant, recurved white trumpets with gold bands radiating from the center down the middle of each petal, decorated with red spots. Blooms in late summer.
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 8th 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.
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.”
OUT OF STOCK
White-lavender flowers in May atop wiry stems look like fantastical birds with too many wings, or a four-cornered bishop’s hat. Ornamental heart-shaped leaves and red stems.
Size: 6-12” x 18” slow spreader
Care: shade to part shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Once roots established, valuable in dry shade
Native: China, Japan & Korea
Its Chinese name is “Yin Yang Ho” meaning “Licentious goat herb, “ because allegedly an aphrodisiac for goats! In China & Japan thought to remedy impotence, liver ailments & all age related maladies. In Western gardens since 1834.
Striking, late summer to fall on the top third of tall stalks, covered with flowers, blue washed purple each topped with a hood, in ancient times like a monks’ hood, today like a sweatshirt’s hoody.
LIMITED QUANTITIES AVAILABLE, LIMIT OF 1 PER CUSTOMER PLEASE.
Size: 2-3’x 12”
Care: part shade, cool, moist soil
Native: Europe
Wildlife Value: Aconitums are unusual. They change sex, which, in turn increases procreation! When first blooming they have a “male phase” of about 5-6 days when pollen is available, and the plant produces more nectar and stronger scent. Then the male parts wither making the pollen available to the female parts. The pollen is toxic to bees so most avoid it leaving more for the female parts, therefore increasing fertilization. However, bees are able to collect nectar without harm. https://botany.one/2019/11/aconitum-offers-bees-more-nectar-to-carry-its-toxic-pollen/ Also deer resistant.
Awards: Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Picks
The name Aconitum is from the mythical hill Aconitus in Pontica where Hercules fought with Cerberus. The Monkshood reputedly sprang from the jaws of Cerberus, the guard dog of the underworld. Believed to make a potion that helped witches fly. Identified by Dioscorides in De Materica Medica for medicinal use c. 70 A.D. Philip Miller in The Gardener’s Dictionary (1768) wrote that the name Aconitum comes from Greek word for dart “because the Barbarians used to daub their darts therewith.” Used by physicians in 1200’s and to poison wolves: “This Wolf’s bayne of all poisons is the most hastie poison.” Wm. Turner, 1560’s. Called Monkshood due to the shape of each flower like a monk’s hood. Introduced to the new world by John Winthrop in 1631.