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  • Mertensia virginica syn. Mertensia pulmonarioides Virginia bluebells Z 3-7

    Clusters of pink buds turn to sky blue trumpets in May.  Ephemeral, disappearing in summer to return next spring.

    $10.25/bareroot

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    Available for purchase in Spring only

    Clusters of pink buds turn to sky blue trumpets in May.  Ephemeral, disappearing in summer to return next spring.

    Size: 18" x 10" spreads slowly
    Care: Moist well-drained soil in part shade.
    Native: N.Y. to Tennessee, west to Kansas, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: Provides nectar and pollen to honeybees, bumble and mason bees, as well as Skipper butterflies and Sphynx moths. Deer resistant.
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.

    Cherokee cured whooping cough and consumption with Virginia bluebells.  Other Natives treated whooping cough, venereal disease, and plain poor health with this. First collected for gardens by John Banister in colonial Virginia C. 1690.  Named Mertensia after Franz Karl Mertens (1764-1831), a German botanist who never set foot in America. Grown by both Washington and Jefferson.

  • Metasequoia glyptostroboides Dawn redwood Z 4-8

    Fast-growing, pyramidal-shaped deciduous conifer.

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    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).

  • Minuartia larcifolia Larch leaf sandwort Z 5-8

    White blooms May-June over needle-shaped foliage

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    Note: This is a plant not currently for sale.  This is an archive page preserved for informational use.

    White blooms May-June over needle-shaped foliage

    Size: 4-5” x 12-15”
    Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
    Native: Mountains from Austria to Spain

    Collected before 1753.

  • Miscanthus sinensis ‘Variegatus’ Striped Maiden grass Z 4-

    Vertical white srtipes on 4' arching green grass blades, inflorescenses coppery russet in fall,

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Vertical white srtipes on 4′ arching green grass blades, inflorescenses coppery russet in fall

    Size: 6' x 4' clump forming
    Care: Sun moist well-drained soil. Cut back in spring.
    Native: S.E. Asia

    Miscanthus is Greek meaning stem and flower.  Mentioned in Man’yoshu, a Japanese anthology of poems written in the 8th century, where it symbolized the melancholy of autumn.  This variegated form frequently used in Victorian bedding designs.  American garden cultivation since late 1800’s.  Recommended by Gertrude Jekyll, mother of mixed perennial borders, in 1908, for its “great white striped” foliage.

  • Miscanthus sinensis subsp. purpurascens syn. Miscanthus ‘Purpurascens’ Flame grass Z 4-9

    Flame grass starts in spring tinged with red in the leaves, increasing as summer passes.  By fall the leaves turn brilliant orange-red, darkening to burgundy by winter. It retains its color for a few months. Tassel-like inflorescences appear in late summer, opening into creamy plumes by fall. It is upright and clump-forming.

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Flame grass starts in spring tinged with red in the leaves, increasing as summer passes.  By fall the leaves turn brilliant orange-red, darkening to burgundy by winter. It retains its color for a few months. Tassel-like inflorescences appear in late summer, opening into creamy plumes by fall. It is upright and clump-forming.

    Size: 4-5’ x 3-4’
    Care: sun to part shade in any soil - sandy to clay soils. Cut back in late winter to spring.
    Native: Japan
    Wildlife Value: Deer resistant and tolerant of Walnut trees.

    Miscanthus is Greek meaning stem (“miskos) and flower (“anthos”).  Miscanthus mentioned in Man’yoshu, a Japanese anthology of poems written in the 8th century, where it symbolized the melancholy of autumn. This specific plant described by Swedish botanist Nils Johan Andersson (1821-1880) in 1855 in Öfvers. Kongl. Vetensk.-Akad. Förh. 12:167.

  • Monarda bradburyana Eastern beebalm, Bradbury’s Monarda Z. 5-8

    Whorls of pale pink hood-shaped petals with dark purple spots, April to June.

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    ARCHIVED

    Note: This is a plant not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.

    Whorls of pale pink hood-shaped petals with dark purple spots, April to June.

    Size: 18-24" x 24"
    Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil. Walnut toxicity resistant.
    Native: IL west to KS, south from AL to TX
    Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies and hummingbirds

    Named for its collector, Englishman Bradbury who searched for plants in central No. America in 1810.  In gardens by 1826.

  • Monarda didyma ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ Beebalm Z 4-9

    Whorls of scarlet tubes & bracts looking like fireworks, in summer

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Whorls of scarlet tubes & bracts looking like fireworks, in summer

    Size: 3-4' x spreading
    Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil.
    Native: N. E. America
    Wildlife Value: Checkered white, Fritillary and Melissa blue butterflies relish Beebalm’s nectar.

    Cherokee used the species medicinally, to cure colic, flatulence, nosebleed, measles, flu, hysteria and to induce restful sleep.  Monarda was named in honor of Nicholas Monardes (1493-1588), a Spanish botanist who wrote about plants of the New World. Discovered by John Bartram (1699-1777) being used by colonists in Oswego N.Y. to make tea.  Oswego Indians taught the colonists how to make tea from the dried leaves.  Bartram sent this Beebalm to Peter Collinson in England in whose garden it grew in 1744.  By 1757 its English availability was “nearly universal” among gardeners.   During the American Revolution used as a substitute for tea. Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811.This cultivar ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ recommended by Gertrude Jekyll in 1908.

  • Monarda fistulosa Wild bergamont Z 3-9

    Whorls of hooded lavender tubes in July - August

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Whorls of hooded lavender tubes in July – August

    Size: 3-4' x 2' spreading
    Care: Sun to part shade any soil.
    Native: central U.S., Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: Checkered white, Tiger swallowtail, Giant swallowtail and Melissa blue butterflies relish Wild bergamot’s nectar. Supports over 70 bee species including Rusty patched Bumble Bee.

    Used medicinally by many Native tribes- Blackfoot, Cherokee, Chippewa, Choctaw, Crow, Dakota and Flathead. Cherokee: to cure colic, flatulence, nosebleed, measles, flu, hysteria and to induce restful sleep Blackfoot called it “Single-young-Man.”  Teton Dakotas boiled the leaves and flowers for medicine to cure abdominal pain. Ho-Chunk boiled the leaves to make a medicine for pimples.  Choctaws cured chest pain in children. The Flathead cured colds and sore teeth with Wild Bergamot. HoChunk inhaled fumes in a sweat bath to cure colds. Oneidas made a tea. For the Sioux it was nourishment and a panacea:  tea, stomachache, fever, indigestion, sore throats, fainting, whooping cough, wounds, sore eyes, ulcers, and snakebites. First documented by French explorers before 1635.  Plant exported to Europe by Tradescant the Younger in 1637.  Grown by Washington at Mount Vernon.  Today it is a flavor in Earl Grey tea.