Description
The classic Black-eyed susan, 2-3″ wide yellow daisies with a dark center from July – October
The classic Black-eyed susan, 2-3″ wide yellow daisies with a dark center from July-October
The classic Black-eyed susan, 2-3″ wide yellow daisies with a dark center from July – October
Small crimson-red bells dangle from July to September
Size: 8’ x 3’
Care: Sun in humusy, fertile, moist well-drained soil. Mulch around the base. Flowers on current year’s stems so cut back to 6-9” in late winter or early spring.
The genus Clematis was named by Dioscordes, physician in Nero’s army, from “klema” meaning climbing plant. The species 1st collected by the “Father of Texas botany,” Ferdinand Lindheimer in 1830’s. Max Leichtin of the Baden Garden sent Clematis texensis to Kew Botanic Garden near London in 1880’s. French nurseryman Francisque Morel sent this selection to William Robinson who named it for his English nursery at Gravetye Manor in 1914.
OUT OF STOCK
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.
Brilliant orange with purple spots, turks-cap lily with dramatic, swept-back petals blooming late summer to early fall. Slow to mature but when it does it bears up to 40 flowers on one plant.
Size: 10’ x 12”
Care: Sun in moist to moist-well-drained, acidic soil
Native: from VT to Fl & west to Mississippi River, Wisconsin native
Lilium was named for the Greek word for smooth, polished referring to its leaves. This collected before 1665. In his 1665 book, Flora, seu de Florum Cultura John Rea, nurseryman and author, called it the “Virginia Martagon.” Sold in America’s 1st plant catalog, Bartram’s Broadside, 1783. L.H. Bailey (1913): “The most magnificent and showy of native North American species, well worthy of extensive cultivation.”
Short purple spikes in June-July
Size: 3” x 24”
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: Europe & Western Asia
Size: groundcover, rock garden, herb, fragrant foliage, thyme lawn
Thymus from the Greek word for “odor” due to the plant’s fragrance. Ancient Greeks made incense with thyme. This species since at least 1753. Acc’d to Parkinson in 1640 this remedied hysterics in women. Wm. Robinson wrote,”nothing can be more charming than a sunny bank covered with” Thymus serpyllum. LH Bailey extolled it as “prized as an evergreen edging and as cover for rockwork and waste places …The leaves are sometimes used for seasoning.”