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Common yarrow is a carefree garden plant that spreads easily to fill available space. 'Fireland' is a vigorous grower with brick red flowers that fade to deep orange throughout the summer. Named for Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire. Introduced by Ernst Pagels. An excellent cut flower!

Silver foliage with 3' tall stems topped with broad sulphur-yellow flower heads. A hybrid of A. x 'Taygeta' and A. clypeolata, introduced by Alan Bloom in the 1950's. An excellent choice for a hot dry site, especially if it's windy. A beautiful cut flower!

Common yarrow is a carefree garden plant that spreads easily to fill available space. 'Summer Wine' is a vigorous grower with deep wine-colored flowers that fade to rose pink throughout the summer. An excellent cut flower!

'Tutti Frutti' has bright lavender pink flowers all summer. A vigorous and trouble-free grower, it is an excellent choice for the middle or back of the border. If it gets consistent moisture, it may reach 5 feet. A favorite of butterflies and hummingbirds. In containers it benefits from one or two early cut backs. A strong bloomer, it will quickly recover from a trim. A. barberi x A. mexicana.

Selected for its profusion of long lasting, deep violet blue flower spikes, that appear from July to September and fragrant foliage. Prefers average to dry locations, and is a butterfly magnet. Bred (A. foeniculum x A. rugosa) and selected by Gert Fortgens of the Arboretum Trompenberg, in Rotterdam. Agastache 'Blue Fortune' is long flowering, heat and drought tolerant, as well as insect and disease resistant. Blue Fortune is a hybrid of species native to the US and Korea.

Replacing Canyon Vista as our compact red-stemmed selection, Little Lanterns is short in stature, but free with flowers. Numerous pendant flowers in shades of red and yellow cover the plant in late spring. This selection resolves a few grievances that some have expressed about Aquilegia canadensis by having consistantly shorter stature and more intense color than the species.

Red flowers with yellow centers hang like drifts of softly illuminated lanterns in April and May. Excellent as a shady rock garden naturalizer, it also is quite content in average garden conditions. Occurs naturally in rich rocky woods, north-facing slopes, cliffs, ledges, pastures, and roadside banks. Native to all states east of the Rockies, but not found in Louisiana.

'Bluebird' is a superlative selection of the native Smooth Aster introduced by Dr. Richard Lighty of the Mt.Cuba Center. This tall vased-shaped wildflower has large 1" diameter blue flowers held in cloud-like clusters at the tips of the arching branches. You can pinch back the young shoots in June for denser habit and more flowers, but it is not essential. Staking is helpful by late summer if you forget to pinch. Perfectly clean foliage makes for easy maintenance in production and in the landscape. Aster laevis is a great source of nectar for migrating monarchs and other late season butterflies.

Shorter, bushier, bluer sister of 'Raydon's Favorite'. A strong growing low mound of bushy foliage covered in lavender blue flowers in mid fall. Highly tolerant of drought and poor soils. This Primrose Path introduction has excellent groundcover potential.

Medium blue, fine textured single ray flowers in September and October, aromatic foliage. Irresistable, a really tremendous plant. Introduced by Holbrook Farm.

Discovered by Rob Gardener of the North Carolina Botanical Gardens and introduced by Niche Gardens of Chapel Hill, NC. Apparently a chance hybrid of B. australis and B. alba, this has the charcoal-gray stems of alba and the blue color from australe, although it is more purple than B. australe. It is a good and vigorous grower and destined to be very much treasured.

A riot of yellow in late spring-early summer! Larry Loman of Ridgecrest Nursery in Wynne, Arkansas selected this brilliant yellow-gold Baptisia for the bodacious and profuse flower display, deep green foliage, and compact rounded habit.

Blue Mist Shrub is aptly named as its gray-green foliage is shrouded in a cloud of blue from mid to late summer. It is a well-behaved garden plant that is very attractive to butterflies. Dark Knight has deep purple blue flowers closely spaced on long stems.

Lustrous, deeper green foliage, topped in August and September with rose pink turtle head shaped flowers. Red stems that persist most of the season. Bronze green early season growth is another distinctive feature.

A wonderful new addition to the fall palette of pink and blue asters. Clusters of loose, single, 2", bright yellow daisy flowers cover the plant in the fall. Maryland goldenaster truly is drought tolerant and easy to grow.

A more vigorous version of 'Moonbeam' that fills in faster in the spring and has larger flowers that occur all along the stems rather than just above the foliage, giving a fuller overall appearence. This plant is new to us, but did overwinter 100% in the cold wet conditions of 2003.

Awarded the 1992 Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year Award, Coreopsis 'Moonbeam' is a dependable bloomer and all round plant. The flowers of threadleaf coreopsis are a glowing, lemon-yellow color and sit on top of tall, erect, lacey, somewhat mound forming, delicate (thread leaf) looking green foliage that has an airy appearance. The flowers are plentiful and bloom continuously throughout the entire summer. If the dead blossoms are removed, flowers will be more abundant and healthy. Truly a bright sight. Great in rock gardens and gardens with poor soil. Makes a nice cut flower.

Many wonderful pastel pink, flat-topped flowers with black cones track the sun like sunflowers. Tennessee Coneflower is a great choice for hot dry sites that are difficult for other species. Compact, vigorous, and very floriferous.

Helenium 'Mardi Gras' produces a festival of multicolored blooms jazzes 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. Blooms of Bressingham variety.

This delightful selection of Crested Iris came to us from Don Shadow in Winchester, TN. Tennessee White is a vigorous spreader and prolific bloomer, covering the fan-like foliage with brilliant white flowers in spring, each accented with delicate yellow crests. Its late spring show starts earlier and lasts longer than the other selections we've tried.

 

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.

Founded by garden writer Tammy Clayton, Phlox paniculata 'Lord Clayton' is a regal combination of leaf and bloom. Unique, cherry-red flowers add excitement to the perennial border from late June into September. Foliage emerges a deep purple with lime green stems and veins, later transitioning to a deep purple-green. Phlox paniculata 'Lord Clayton' performs quite well in average garden soil with average moisture.

Also known as Indian Physic or American Ipecac, Bowman's Root is an easy-to-grow native for bright shade or partial sun and it tolerates tree root competition well as long at it has a nice layer organic mulch. Bowman's Root is lovely in a mass planting where its lacy white flowers can shimmer in a light breeze. It makes a nice filler - think Gaura for shade! A compact rounded plant is topped in late spring with ethereal white flowers growing in a few loose terminal panicles, with red petioles and mahogany stems. Clean, disease-free foliage often turns deep bronzy red in fall and contrasts beautifully with the more typical oranges and yellows in the perennial border. Interesting form and unique seed heads persist into winter. Great for cut flowers!

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. We are thrilled to finally be able to offer it to you thanks to a breakthrough in propagation! Porteranthus '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.

An irresistable quilt textured creeping groundcover. Turns deep, vivid red in the fall. Small ( 1-1.5" ) deep green, maple shaped leaves, with smooth light tan undersides. Nearly evergreen, insect and pest free. White flowers with amber fruits in late spring. Very durable!

A long hoped for color break in garden Salvia. Ernst Pagels selected it for
bluer flowers and compact habit. Insect and disease resistant, long flowered and tough as its brethren to follow. Attracts birds, butterflies and bees.

Delightful, compact and easy to grow, Silene caroliniana 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 for three years now 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.

Excellent for flowers and foliage, S. 'Hummelo' hosts a lovely display of lavender-purple flowers atop tall, leafless stems while the stoloniferous nature creates small mounding clumps. Selected for strong flower production, plant health, habit quality and winter hardiness. A true garden delight!