Description
Showy bluish-purple spikes of bell-shaped flowers forming short spikes, June-September
Showy bluish-purple spikes of bell-shaped flowers forming short spikes, June-September
Showy bluish-purple spikes of bell-shaped flowers forming short spikes, June-September
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.”
Purple, upfacing bells for months in mid to late summer
Size: 4-6” x 20”
Care: full sun-part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: Northern Yugoslavia
Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit. Top rated Chicago Botanic Garden & Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Pick.
Campanula is Latin meaning “little bell.” 1st described in Systema Vegetabilium 5: 93 in 1819 by one of its discoverers, Franz Edler von Portenschlag-Ledermayer (1772-1822).
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).
Powder-blue flowers in early summer; feathery foliage turns caution-sign yellow in fall.
Size: 2-3’ x 2-3’
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: Central-So, US
Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies & bees
Awards: Missouri Botanic Garden Plant of Merit; Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal; and Mount Cuba Center, botanic garden in Delaware, trialed several Amsonias and gave this its highest rating.
Collected in 1940 in Yell County Arkansas along a stream 3 miles west of Birta.