Description
Heads of numerous deep, royal purple, platter-forming flower several feet high above in late summer
Heads of numerous deep, royal purple, platter-forming flower several feet high above in late summer
Heads of numerous deep, royal purple, platter-forming flower several feet high above in late summer
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.
June – September (WOW!) short blue-purple, more blue than purple, spikes of compact flowers bloom on short, slowly creeping mat of sword-shaped foliage that suppresses weeds.
Size: 6-8” x 12”
Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil
Native: Siberia, Mongolia & Kazakhstan
Wildlife Value: attracts pollinators. Drought tolerant; deer and rabbit resistant
According to Christian tradition, as Jesus carried the cross to Calvary, a woman wiped his face with her handkerchief, leaving the imprint of the features of his face, the vera iconica, meaning “true likeness.” When the Catholic Church canonized the woman, the Church gave her the name Saint Veronica. Medieval gardeners named a different Veronica after her due to the perceived likeness of the flower to her handkerchief. Collected by 1950 Russian botanist Nikolái Pávlov (1893-1971) described and named this in Vestn. Akad. Nauk Kazakhsk. S.S.R v.4 p. 92 (Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR) in 1951. Kazakh is the name of the language of people of Central Asia inhabiting mainly Kazakhstan which became independent of Russia in 1991.
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.
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.