Lilium lancifolium Tiger lily, in Japan called “oniyuri” Z 2-7

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• 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).

• 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. 

• Linaria purpurea Purple toadflax Z 5-9

  Violet racemes all summer July to September

  

  $9.95/bareroot

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  Violet racemes all summer through fall

  Size: 36” x 12”
  Care: Sun, well-drained soil
  Native: Southern Europe

  Both the Latin and common names are related to flax.  Linaria comes from “linum” which is Greek for “flax” and toadflax includes the word “flax.”  The leaves of Linaria purpurea resemble flax leaves.  According to 17^th century English herbalist, John Parkinson, the plant “causes one to make water.”  Grown by English plantsman and explorer, Tradescant the Elder, 1634.

• 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.