From 2-8 stems, each bearing a whorl of a dozen or so small, fuchsia-pink flowers encircling each leafless stem like a ballerina’s tutu,, then alternating with a leafless stem, the another whorl of flowers then another section of leafless stem in tiers, Each whorl blooms in succession from the bottom up.
From 2-8 stems, each bearing a whorl of a dozen or so small, fuchsia-pink flowers encircling each leafless stem like a ballerina’s tutu,, then alternating with a leafless stem, the another whorl of flowers then another section of leafless stem in tiers, Each whorl blooms in succession from the bottom up.
SHRUB Boxwood
Size: 24” x 30”
Care: Light to Part shade in well drained, alkaline soil. Do not crowd with other plants, roots prefer no competition. Fertilize regularly for dramatic growth. Prune in early spring. Unlike English boxwood this can be pruned back hard. One of a few shade tolerant evergreens and deer resistant too. Also the most hardy Boxwood.
Introduced from Asia to American and European gardens around 1900 by Ernest Henry “Chinese” Wilson (1876-1930) who scoured Asia for plants.
OUT OF STOCK
Wine-red petals of bell-shape with yellow centers flowers in early spring. Fun, furry foliage and Medusa-like seed heads.
Size: 12-20” x 4-8”
Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
Native: Europe
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant, early pollen source for bees.
Called Pasqueflower because it blooms at Easter time. Variety rubra considered a separate species, not a variety, by Caspar Bauhin in Theatri botanici, 1671. Illustrated in Gerard’s Herball, 1636.
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 17th century English herbalist, John Parkinson, the plant “causes one to make water.” Grown by English plantsman and explorer, Tradescant the Elder, 1634.
Atop a mound of spatula-shaped, crinkled leaves with scalloped edges rises a bounty of 4 to 5 inch tall spikes, each crowned with a hoard of tiny fuchsia-colored trumpets blowing their horns “look at me” in early to mid-summer.
Size: 4-8" x 8-12" spreading slowly by rhizomes
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: South Africa
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant. Attracts small bees and butterflies
English adventurer and naturalist William John Burchell (1781-1863) scoured South Africa from 1803 to 1815 collecting more than 50,000 specimens packed in 48 crates. In places unexplored he found insects, animals, fish and unknown plants, this being one. Although he published two volumes of his exploration, he did not finish the last, third volume, leaving another to write the botany. Premier English botanist George Bentham (1800-1884) took up the task authoring Labiatarum Genera et Species, published in 1834. He wrote the first published description and named this tiny plant with outsized charm.
