Ranunculus repens var. pleniflorus Creeping buttercup Z 3-9

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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.”

• Sempervivum tectorum Hens and chicks Z 3-10

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  Rosettes of succulent leaves

  Size: 4” x 4”
  Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
  Native: Alps & Pyrenees Mountains

  Grown in gardens for thousands of years.  Sempervivum means “live forever.”  Romans planted Hens and chicks on their roofs to ward off lightening.  As a succulent it holds water and is probably more difficult to catch fire.  “This practice was preserved for historians when Charlemagne (720-814), first Holy Roman Emperor and unifier of a large part of northern Europe, ordered that all villagers within his crown lands plant houseleeks on their roofs He decreed: “Et ille hortulanus habeat super domum suam Iovis barbam. (And the gardener shall have house-leeks growing on his house. Capitulare de villis, about 795,  LXX.)”

• Myrica pensylvanica syn. Morella pensylvanica Wax myrtle, Northern bayberry SHRUB Z 3-6

  Green flowers in summer then, “conspicuous in winter when covered with its grayish white fruits which stay on the branches until spring.”  Bailey “The leaves turn a fine brown-purple in the fall, but the berries are the thing – pewter in color, with a texture like those Fourth of July sparklers of childhood memory, they have a delicious fragrance.” Allen Lacy.

  

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  Green flowers in summer then, “conspicuous in winter when covered with its grayish white fruits which stay on the branches until spring.”  Bailey “The leaves turn a fine brown-purple in the fall, but the berries are the thing – pewter in color, with a texture like those Fourth of July sparklers of childhood memory, they have a delicious fragrance.” Allen Lacy.

  Size: 9’ x 10’
  Care: sun in any soil
  Native: Canada to Southeastern U.S. No pruning needed but can be pruned at any time of year, if desired.
  Wildlife Value: Berries relished by chickadees, red-bellied woodpeckers, swallows, Titmouse, catbirds, bluebirds, Northern flicker & yellow-rumped warblers. Bayberry thickets also provide nesting sites for songbirds, offering excellent protection from predators.

  Probably 1^st collected for gardens by John Bartram (1699-1776).  Offered for sale in Bartram Garden’s 1783 Broadside, America’s 1^st plant catalog.  In 1800’s considered “very ornamental in the shrubbery.”  Fragrant leaves used for potpourri, abundant berries used to make candles.  Good road-side plant, salt tolerant.  Berries used to make candles.  Boil berries (drupes) to melt wax coating.  Collect wax from surface of water.   In American Medicinal Plants Charles F. Millspaugh noted that “Candles made from this wax, though quite brittle, are less greasy in warm weather, of fine appearance, slightly aromatic, and smokeless after snuffing, rendering them much more pleasant to use than those made of either wax (paraffin) or tallow (animal fat).” 1892.

• Amsonia hubrichtii Thread leaf amsonia, Arkansas amsonia Z 5-8

  Powder-blue flowers in early summer; feathery foliage turns caution-sign yellow in fall.

  

  $13.25/bareroot

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  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.