My North Creek Nurseries Wish List

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.

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. 

Handsome crowns of feathery fronds are typical of this genus. Delicate and lacy with arching fronds and dark red stems at maturity. Strong-growing and dependable, lady ferns are great garden plants. Tough and easy to grow, this beauty is the right choice for perennial borders and woodlands alike. A breathtaking flush of new fronds appears in the spring, with new leaves appearing throughout the season for a continuously fresh look. Found in swamps, thickets and damp woods east of the Rockies.

"This is the most spectacular of all cultivars in its magnificent frond architecture. It is really the Queen of Green", according to Dr. John Mickel, former curator of ferns at the New York Botanical Garden and author of "Ferns for American Gardens". As with other forms of lady ferns there is so much variability with spore production that it is necessary to produce this form in tissue culture, so its clones are identical to the parent. This superb selection has fronds whose pinnae (leaflets) crisscross to form x's and has crested pinnae tips. Another superior cultivar in the Mickel Collection™.

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.

One of the most popular garden grasses in the world, 'Karl Foerster' is known for its ease of culture, tidy vertical habit and beautiful feathery blooms. In mid summer flowers open a creamy white tinged with pink. As they age they become narrow plumes of golden straw and last well into winter.

Carex cherokeensis is a native sedge with a soft-medium texture. It prefers moist conditions but is adaptive. Grows in part shade but tolerates full sun in the morning. The inflorescence has been noted as insignificant but, we like the little wispy spikes that add a interest in the spring. 

A bright groundcover for a shady spot, 'Ice Dance' has long shiny leaves trimmed in bright white. It spreads slowly to fill in and make a tidy cover that discourages weeds. Deer and disease resistant, it is long-lasting and easy to grow!

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. 

Spikes of elegant white flowers top shiny green foliage in late summer and early fall. Grows best in moist meadows, stream banks, and swamps. Favorite breeding site for the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly.

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.

The leathery leaves of Dryopteris marginalis are a beautiful addition to the woodland garden and can form a lovely and easy to maintain groundcover. A sturdy east coast native, it forms a tidy clump that will not spread and is very tolerant of dry shade conditions once it has established. Marginal wood fern is often found in shaded crevices of rocky ledges and bluffs from Newfoundland to Georgia, west to Oklahoma and Minnesota.

An explosion of golden yellow flowers combined with a manageable height makes this a superior selection. Despite its name, this plant can be found literally blanketed in flowers in the late summer and into the fall when most other Helianthus are past. Flowers form on upright, self-supporting stems but instead of the typical tall sunflower, Helianthus 'First Light' forms a nice, compact clump of fuzzy, linear leaves topping out just above 3 feet.

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!

A widely used and attractive evergreen groundcover which is dense, but not invasive. Deep green, oval leaves and 2" gold flowers with pincushion-like, center-clustered stamens in late spring and early summer. One of the nicest groundcovers when in bloom. Most content in cooler areas away from drying winter winds, although quite tough once established.

This durable native cool-season rush is deer-resistant and semi-evergreen. Perfect for everything from diminutive filler for rain gardens, as a groundcover, and for erosion control.

A uniform plant both in production and the garden. Extremely tolerant to heat & humidity with superior winter survival and hardiness to Zone 5 - this lavender has been tested in several locations in Minnesota and Michigan with excellent results. Also resistant to common root and foliar diseases. Blooms best after vernalization. Developed & introduced by Peace Tree Farm. Required breeder tags must ship with all orders.

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.

A White Flower Farm introduction. The buds really do resemble raspberries! Clear wine-red flowers from June through August. Very mildew resistant. Cherished by butterflies and hummingbirds, but loathed by deer. Also makes an excellent cut flower.

A tough and reliable perennial, well-suited to hot dry sites. The stems of Oenothera fruticosa are thin, hairy, and reddish with similar leaves. The buds begin as red but open into beautiful bright yellow flowers in early summer. Easy, dependable, a strong grower that can spread a bit, particularly in sandy soils. Great color for a meadow! Native to dry soil, open fields, and open woods from Nova Scotia to Florida.

We’re thrilled to offer Chris Hansen’s breakthrough new Sunsparkler® series! Selected for compact growth habit, attractive foliage, large flower heads, and brilliant bloom color…'Cherry Tart' does not disappoint! Masses of brilliant pink, 5" diameter flower clusters explode above cherry-red leaves from late summer into early autumn. Perfect for the landscape or container garden.

'Sweet Kate' is an easy-to-grow perennial that produces a profusion of unusual deep-blue flowers from summer to fall. An eye-catching accent for the border, the vibrant golden-yellow foliage is the perfect foil for its bloom and a bright companion for purple-foliaged plants.

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.

This selection of the Arkansas native comes to us from Dr. Allan Armitage's trials at the University of Georgia. It has lovely fine foliage like Amsonia hubrichtii and is a compact, well-branched and vigorous plant. In late summer it is covered with true purple flowers that attract plenty of butterflies. Found in rocky flood plains, Vernonia lettermannii is very tolerant of hot, dry locations, yet can withstand brief periods of inundation.