Green to bright chartreuse flowers appear in clusters above scalloped, grey-green foliage from late spring through summer. Robust and vigorous, Alchemilla mollis 'Auslese' prefers full sun to part shade and has a wonderfully uniform habit.
Up the WOW factor in your garden with PowWow® Wild Berry, a 2010 All-America Selection award winner! This spectacular variety is extremely well-branched for profuse blooms and flower power summer to frost. Brilliant rose-purple flowers retain color longer without fading and will bloom without the need for deadheading. Amazing in a sunny perennial border or wildlife garden. Easy to grow and very adaptable to heat, humidity, drought or poor soils.
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.
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.
This great plant was named by Mike and Barbara Bridges, of Southern Perennials and Herbs, for their daughter. Soft lavender pin cushion-like flowers. Quite mildew resistant, with excellent, shiny foliage. Extremely showy. A must for the avid butterfly gardener!
A valuable ecological species, Monarda punctata is the equivalent of a juice bar at the gym for nectar loving/needing insects! BONUS, it also resists all other kinds of mites that could impact the bees because it is incredibly high in thymol. If you are in the area where the endangered Karner Blue still resides, you will be helping restore them to safe status by planting a stand of Monarda punctata, as this is their food mothership.
This plant was selected by Darrell Probst of Garden Visions in Hubbardston, MA. 'Miss Manners' is notable for its well-behaved, non spreading habit. It is a compact, clumping form, with excellent secondary branching and good rebloom. Pure white snapdragon-like flowers from June to September over deep green, glossy foliage. A nice late season addition to the garden for bees and hummingbirds.
Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Little Goldstar'
Common Name: orange coneflower
This knee-high performer is a knockout in the landscape! Selected for copious floral display and dwarf habit with increased manageability, this variety has excellent branching and forms a tidy, compact clump. A bit more floriferous than 'Goldsturm', flowers are held high above rich green foliage and bloom from July into October.
Our friend Larry Lowman of Ridgecrest Nursery in Wynne, Arkansas graciously gave us this marvelous plant. It was collected from a railroad prairie remnant in southern Illinois and named for the man who found it, Henry Eilers, a horticulturist and retired nurseryman. Basal leaves appear in early spring and flowering stalks begin their ascent in June, reaching five to six feet and full flower by August, often staying in bloom into September. 'Henry Eilers' has finely quilled flowers of true yellow, not gold, and is stunning in a mass planting. It has captivated many visitors who have seen it here and motivated them to ask us to grow it. The leaves of Rudbeckia subtomentosa are sweetly scented with a subtle vanilla fragrance. It is lovely with Joe-Pyes and grasses, and it blooms with the Hibiscus hybrids and makes a great companion for them as well. 'Henry Eilers' has undeniable potential as a cut flower with its unique appearance, sturdy straight stems and long vase life.
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.
Chris Hansen has done it again! Lime green foliage with a crisp, contrasting red edge. Hot pink flower heads last for weeks through late summer into fall, and don't flop or fade! A perfect addition to the front of the perennial border, and works great in containers.
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.