My North Creek Nurseries Wish List

Delicate, nodding white flowers bloom early to mid spring atop lustrous dense, green foliage. A low maintenance groundcover for bright shade! Easy to grow in containers, overwinters well in cold frames if protected from heavy rain and snow melt.

Vibrant, hot-pink, star-shaped flowers with yellow center accents adorn lance-shaped green foliage through autumn. The compact, mounding habit of this sport of Aster 'Purple Dome' has proven mildew resistance. Reaching between 18 and 20 inches, 'Vibrant Dome' performs best in fertile, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. A beautiful performer for late season color.

One of the most widespread species of Carex in North America, growing in wet meadows, prairies, swamps and marshes.  The seedheads mature in late summer and resemble fox tails, hence the common name.

Named by Klaus Jelitto of Jelitto Staudensamen (Perennial Seeds) in Germany, for Swedish nurseryman Magnus Nilsson, who carefully selected for ten years, looking for fine form, dark hue, and very horizontal petals. A tall, coarse plant with large, dark green leaves and a large, 3-4" flower with broad hot pink to purple petals that surround a brown/bronze cone. Plants are tough and heat and drought tolerant once established. Their roots have famous medicinal qualities, they make great, long lasting cut flowers and attract numerous butterflies and small birds.

Go above and beyond in the garden with the INTENSE blue foliage of this fantastic fescue! The unique foliage color stays bright through all seasons for year-round interest. Flowers extend above the tidy mounds of fine powder blue blades in late spring and summer. Flowers fade to light brown by late summer and can be cut back if preferred. Beyond Blue™ is a striking plant as a mass planting in the landscape or as a specimen in mixed containers. This low-maintenance gem will thrive despite heat, humidity or poor soils.

Helenium 'Mardi Gras' produces a festival of multicolored blooms to jazz up the garden for six to eight weeks in mid to late summer. Yellow petals are lavishly edged with bright orange-red, aging to clear red edged in gold, all surrounding deep chestnut cones. Gorgeous in a pot! Great as a cut flower, its long stems are sturdy and vase life is long. Heleniums are naturally resistant, even toxic, to deer and rabbits. An early pinch back helps promote branching.

Our local native with yellow or bronze single daisy-like flowers on stout branched stems in late summer. Petals have distinct tooth-like indentations; hence the common name, dog-toothed daisy. All sneezeweeds have three-lobed petals which distiguish them from Rudbeckia and other yellow coneflowers. Brown, rust colored fruit appear in fall. Great for cut flowers and the avid butterfly gardener.

Dr. John Creech, former director of the U.S. National Arboretum, discovered this little beauty in the Siberian Academ Gorodok Gardens in 1971. The small, scalloped green leaves of this weed-smothering groundcover are topped with rose pink flowers in late summer and fall. It is very hardy, vigorous and gorgeous weaving in and out of stepping stones or along a garden path. Ideal for green roofs, rock gardens and containers as well. Tolerant of light shade.

Delightful, compact and easy to grow, Silene 'Short and Sweet' is an excellent choice for bright shade or full sun. It is covered in deep pink flowers in late spring. Very reliable for us through wet and dry seasons, and in a cool spring it seems to bloom forever—one year we tracked 8 weeks of full bloom! A great native substitute for Dianthus, this Silene has similar appearance and bloom time, but tolerates a wider variety of garden situations. Silene 'Short and Sweet' is a fantastic plant for naturalizing, yet it can hold its own as a specimen in a container or patio garden as well.