My North Creek Nurseries Wish List

Profuse show of butter-yellow, lantern-shaped flowers from April to May. Its short stature, delicate color and mid spring bloom time make it an ideal companion for spring bulbs! It was spotted by Lawrence Clemens who asked that it be named after the Corbett Historic District which is near Monkton in Baltimore County, Maryland. Bluemount Nurseries, of Monkton, MD was the first to offer this charming local Aquilegia to the market. 

This native classic is best known as a food of larval monarch butterflies (along with its cousins A. incarnata and A. tuberosa). Robust, yet beautiful with deep pink clusters of fragrant flowers in June and July followed by lovely pods of silky seeds in October.

This member of the Wood's Aster group has the typical low rounded habit and profuse blooming associated with all three. 'Wood's Blue' has perfectly clean foliage, and in the early fall it is covered with clear, medium blue flowers with gold centers. Bred for compact habit, long bloom period and heavy flowering, all of the Wood's Asters are outstanding pot crops and should be used far more often as a sturdy perennial alternative for mums.

Aster 'Wood's Pink' is virtually mildew and rust free. Like all the Wood's Asters, it is a wonderful container plant, with a compact habit and unstoppable clear pink flowers with gold centers. Bred for compact habit, long bloom period and heavy flowering, all of the Wood's Asters are outstanding pot crops and should be used far more often as a sturdy perennial alternative for mums.

A dark pink fall-blooming aster with a tidy habit and smothered in flowers? Oh man, we think we may have developed a crush. A 'Pink Crush' that is. An introduction from Walters Gardens, this New England aster is a shorter variety that doesn't splay in the late season like other aster cultivars. 

A tall and lovely prairie native with long spikes of pure white flowers from May to Mid-June.  Easy and long-lived, it is native from New York to Minnesota, Texas to Mississippi.

Calamagrostis brachytricha is a clump-forming grass with bright green leaves reaching about 2 feet. In late summer blooms emerge with a pink tint and reach 3 to 4 feet. The feathery flowers fade to cream in fall and finish in a straw color in winter. A graceful addition to the shade or part shade garden! One of the few flowering grasses that is happy in the shade. Wonderful for cut flowers.

A beautiful native groundcover with striking glaucus blue foliage, Blue wood sedge is easy to grow and evergreen in warmer zones, though it benefits from a late winter cut back. Early spring flowers are slender and form interesting seed heads. Forms tidy clumps and spreads by seed.

According to Plantipp, the motto of this stunning Caryopteris is big, blue & beautiful! We found that to be true in our own trial gardens here at North Creek. Its powdery grey-green foliage is the perfect skirting to present the long wands of stacked deep blue flowers. The flowers are bigger than other Caryopteris that we have trialed with long wands lasting weeks on end. It is a wonderful addition to the landscape or container garden and excellent for cut flowers. Superior low growing habit. 

Selected for deep, dark-green foliage, late blooming period, clump-forming habit and airy, golden-yellow flowers that emerge in June and last through to September. Attractive seed heads persist through winter. An eye catching cool season, semi-evergreen ornamental grass perfectly suited for part sun to shade.

It is low and tidy and gently fills an area with its fragrant foliage. 'Azure Rush' is generously covered with light blue 2.5 inch blooms. Everything that you have come to love and anticipate from 'Rozanne' is true + improved by her lighter blue daughter.

We are very excited to offer our own selection from the woods of Landenberg! Pale lavender-pink flowers over very attractive maroon-purple foliage. A bold new look for our native cranesbill, useful as a groundcover or shade garden feature plant. G. maculatum is found naturally in open woods, clearings, woods edges and roadsides throughout the Eastern US.

We are delighted to have introduced this magnificent series from Hellebore breeder David Culp! His 15 years of breeding using rare species and prized selections from collectors and specialty nurseries has produced a premium strain with clear colors and distinctive forms. This group promises plenty of doubles and anemones, as well as dark reds, spotted pinks, picotees, and apricots. A keen eye, hand pollination, and years of careful selection mean beautiful plants for you!

An exceptional, compact native with fine-textured, deep green grassy leaves. Smallhead blazing star sends up numerous spikes with tassel-like rosy purple flowers in August and September. Unique to the genus, the flowers open from top to bottom on the spike in a slow unfurling of brilliant color. Excellent as a cut flower. Tolerant of clay and drought, very low maintenance. Loved by butterflies! Liatris microcephala can be found in sandy, dry prairies and open glades of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

The spikes of brilliant true blue flowers on this wetland native attract butterflies, hummingbirds and neighbors to your garden! Lobelia siphilitica provides outstanding color for the border, wet meadow or pond edge. Naturalizes easily in moist soils, but tolerates periods of drought.

Finally a production and landscape friendly native honeysuckle! 'Major Wheeler' is the best selection of Lonicera sempervirens we've grown and it stands out so far above the rest that we've dropped all other red cultivars. Clean foliage is the first benefit. Even in periods of drought or in overgrown production, we've never seen a speck of mildew on this one. But its real asset is FLOWER POWER! This selection is COVERED in red trumpet flowers in late spring and keeps churning them out all summer long, especially with a post-bloom trim. The hummingbirds will find it from miles around.

'Gardenview Scarlet' is one of the most mildew resistant Monarda varieties available. A classic variety that is well-earned, it's rose-red flowers sit on stems rising to 3' tall. Blooming from June to August, this long-flowering Monarda is beautiful, especially when massed in drifts to attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. 

A fan favorite at Mt. Cuba Center’s Monarda trials thanks to superior resistance to powdery mildew—this selection boasts sturdy, upright stems, and a prolific floral display of purplish-red flowers atop clean green foliage.

We've been enjoying this great native for many years in our garden, since it was given to us by the Mt. Cuba Center in 2001. 'Pink Profusion' has clear pink flowers that are held daintily above reddish leaves on deep red stems. The best part is the way the flowers shimmer in a light breeze, as though they will take flight at any moment.

Huge powder-blue leaves make up 2' to 3' of basal foliage that is effective all during the growing season. In June and July, towering flower spikes explode with large, deep gold, drooping ray flowers with a black center. A must-have for the butterfly and bird lover! Reliable and deer proof.

Compact, smoky blue-gray foliage makes an attractive groundcover throughout the season. Raspberry-pink flower heads range in diameter from 6-8” and put on a dazzling display from late summer to fall. A lovely accent to cut flower arrangements. From the breeding program of Chris Hansen.

Soft blue star-shaped flowers with gold centers rise above fine, semievergreen, Iris-like foliage from May to June. Excellent for edging, the 3/4" flowers are very good sized for the genus. A strong floral show without seeding around and a tidier habit with more flower power than the straight species.

Another fantastic Mt. Cuba introduction. A stunning show of sprays of golden yellow flowers from mid-August through September. Semievergreen heart-shaped leaves. Truly an excellent groundcover and bee and butterfly charmer! Hairstreaks, sulphurs and skippers are particularly attracted to goldenrod. Monarchs visit it during their autumn migration.

From our friend Sinclair Adam (The Pharoah of Foamflowers) of Dunvegan Nursery, Tiarella cordifolia 'Brandywine' is rated as one of the most vigorous of the genus. A strong grower with glossy, rugose leaves and excellent bronze fall and winter color. Bold, creamy white flowers persist for 6 to 8 weeks. A robust clump former with some short runners in spring and fall.

The tall, thin spikes of Blue Vervain grace the wet meadows of the US in July and August. Verbena hastata is a short-lived perennial that readily self sows where happy. A great plant for pond's edge where it seeds in between sedges and rushes and cheerfully holds its own.