Featured Plants

Naturalized yarrow has soft-fern like leaves that provide textural interest in the garden with soft white blooms in summer and occasionally into fall. Beloved by pollinators, yarrow spreads by rhizome and can be trained to be a full sun native lawn substitute.

A new and distinct cultivar from Darwin Perennials that is characterized by its medium violet-purple flowers, dark green foliage, and moderately vigorous, upright-mounded grow habit. In side-by-side comparisons with its cousin, Agastache ‘Black Adder’, A. ‘Little Adder’ sits a little lower in the perennial border and exhibited a better-branched habit.

The bonus of ‘Little Adder’ is the abundance of blooms—with three times the blooms of ‘Black Adder’ for three times the flower power—it’s safe to say pollinators will be very happy with the addition of this little gem in the landscape.

She's the belle of the ball! Sweetly scented with blooms of blush pink, Asclepias incarnata 'Cinderella' from Walter's Gardens lasts longer in your garden than her namesake. A perennial with beauty, grace, and staying power, this wetland native does well in average garden conditions and is a pollinator favorite!

'Grape Crush' is a deep purple New England aster introduction by Walters Gardens. Growing into a neat mound, 30" high by 40" wide, this fall blooming aster does not splay open as other aster cultivars can, providing a beautiful profusion of saturated flowers for a great fall display.

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. 

Bright white flowers are larger and showier than the species. It is a longer-lived and better smelling substitute for baby's breath! June-October bloom in an average to dry location.

Airy plumes with numerous small, barely blue flowers over mint-scented, oregano-like foliage from June to October. Great in rock walls. It does need good drainage. It looks like a small, light blue Heuchera when in flower, which seems like all the time. 2021 Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association. 

Carex rosea, or rosy sedge, is a petite woodland sedge with fine-textured foliage and elegant star-like flower clusters that appear in spring. Topping out at roughly a foot tall, the tidy bright green clumps provide form and function when used en masse—or is just as noticeable dotted about the landscape.

Spotted joe-pye weed grows 4-7 feet tall with mauve-pink flowers blooming in late summer to early fall. A native perennial, Eupatorium maculatum attracts swallowtail butterflies and lives happily in sunny, wet soils. 

Eupatorium Euphoria™ Ruby is a compact, early-flowering variety of the classic summer flowering native perennial. It's small size makes it perfect for growers and homeowners alike while it's early-flowering is a delight to pollinators. This is Darwin Perennial's answer to the age-old customer question in garden centers - "I like this, but do you have something that grows smaller?"

Easily flowing through the landscape, this grass softens the garden with its gracefully arching blades as they drift between plantings. The soft vibrant green of this species indigenous to the mountains of Japan lends tranquility to your plantings – especially impactful in large masses under limbed-up deciduous trees.

Heuchera 'Green Spice' spices up the shade garden! With dark red venation in spring transition to cool greens and silver in the summer, it wraps up it's foliage show with oranges and rust colors in fall! This groundcover is a perfect way to brighten up dull spots, to edge along a garden path, or to intermingle with other interesting textures to liven things up. 

A beautiful display when used en masse, the long flowering stems of this alumroot sway high above deep green foliage mottled in silver highlights. Tubular calyces surround the pale yellow flowers and securely affix them to upright stems. Expect flowering from late May into June.

A superb intro from Charles Oliver of the Primrose Path, this is a native late-flowering groundcover. This has much shinier, almost lacquered looking foliage vs. H. villosa 'Purpurea'. Like its cousin 'Autumn Bride', 'Bronze Wave' is sturdy, perhaps an 18", or a bit larger, clump. September-October flowering spikes of small tan flowers. Excellent shade groundcover that can happily compete with tree roots and come out looking good.

Plainly stated, it’s a show stopper. Beyond other Iris selections on the market, ‘Purple Flame’ has a richer, more intense cast to stems and flowers, yes. However, the true beauty lies in the irresistible foliage. Emerging in March, the purple flame-like foliage provides an unparalleled performance of vivid and intense eggplant purple foliage followed by an encore of rich and abundant flowers. 

From Peace Tree Farm comes the next generation of Lavender - Lavender 'Sensational!' What makes it different from 'Phenomenal'? With large, thick flowers and sturdy stems, this lavender has a dense silver habit and great branching. The flowers are packed with that trademark lavender scent with low camphor notes. Peace Tree has improved its heat and humidity tolerance, as well as its cold tolerance, making this plant a great addition to a wider range of gardens!

The short stature, continuous sunny bloom, and deep wine coloring of this native plant make Lysimachia lanceolata a new favorite groundcover, winning over our R&D Department by how it keeps weeds at bay and is a carefree plant. 

'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. 

The darkest, truest purple flowers to come out of Mt. Cuba’s bee balm evaluations—this selection has upright rigid stems, strongly verticality, and a rough, sand-papery texture to its foliage. Very resistant to powdery mildew.

A free-blooming Nepeta that lives up to its namesake—it is summer magic! Blooming all season long on upright stems that never flop, even in the worst of storms, this plant was on RHS Chelsea Flower show’s Short List in 2013. Great for layering in the garden, placed in a container, or along a flower border. We admire its ability to ‘keep it fresh’ even in the heat and humidity of summer as other Nepeta varieties tend to fade.

Phlox carolina ssp. carolina ‘Kim’ is a fantastic selection that was discovered by Jan Midgley in Alabama. It performs much better than any other cultivar of Carolina phlox in our trial. What sets ‘Kim’ apart from other members of the species is its lush and vigorous habit (2’ tall) that remains sturdy and disease-free all season long. The leaves are also a lighter shade of green, almost lime-colored, which can prolong its horticultural interest in the garden. However, the most impressive feature of ‘Kim’ is its show-stopping light pink flowers which blanket the plant from late May through early June. Mt. Cuba Center

A new introduction from Brent Horvath of Intrinsic Perennials, this Rudbeckia is covered in blooms on a domed and shorter version of a black-eyed Susan. It is perfect planted in masses or in the perennial border and it hides spent blooms to provide uniform color as it blooms for weeks on end. Due to its thinner, hairier leaves, it is found to be resistant to septoria leaf spot.

While there may be a bounty of black-eyed susan on the market, what makes Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii a dream is its ability to wrap strength, beauty, disease and pest resistance all into one neat package. This variety won the prestigious Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993 and if you grow it, you'll soon understand why!

Rudbeckia triloba 'Prairie Glow' has our attention! With brightly colored flowers of yellow with a bright red eye fading to a glowing orange to bronze, this native beauty brings fire to the sunny border. It's multi-branching habit provides dense flower cover, more so than the straight species, and it's late blooming time, starting in July and flowering right through to October, makes this a valuable pollinator plant. 

Salvia nemorosa 'Rose Marvel' PP30118 has the largest flowers of any rose or pink Salvia nemorosa on the market. Enjoy the stunning display of color in Spring and Summer.

An early blooming, petite Salvia! Blooming a month earlier than the popular 'May Night', Salvia 'April Night' provides lush violet-blue blooms from spring to summer. 

A North Creek discovery sure to give a brilliant performance in the landscape, worthy of applause.  It keeps a tight, upright habit throughout the entire season and has stood strong even in the rich soils of our trial gardens. A warm season grass that does well in poor, dry soils.  Spikey bluish-green stems and leaves transition to a sizzling display of oranges, reds, yellows, and purplish-browns in the autumn.  Also provides winter interest before cutting back in early spring to make way for new growth.

Scutellaria 'Appalachian Blues' is a cross of S. ovata and S. serrata, both plants indigenous to the mountains of West Virginia where breeder Peter Heus resides . The result of this cross? A compact habit, clumping skullcap with serrated leaves and dark margins that adapts to both sun and shade, with spikes of bicolor purple white flowers that bloom for weeks on end. 

Sedum aizoon 'Euphorbioides' is a striking specimen, featuring strong, upright, red stems and green leaves that are serrated along the edges. Large yellow flower heads appear in midsummer. Flowers attract pollinators. Vastly underused in the industry, Sedum aizoon ‘Euphorbioides’ is one of the more interesting plants suitable for extensive green roof conditions. -Green Roof Plants

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.

Solidago flexicaulis brings pollinators to your dappled shade areas with a subtle yellow flower clusters in mid-summer to fall. A hardy native perennial, it tolerates deer, shade, and clay soils.

Brand new! We have had Golden Sunset® yellow prairie grass in our trials for a couple of years and couldn't believe how well it performed. Early flowering with gorgeous golden flower plumes, this Sorghastrum nutans selection from University of Minnesota produces hundreds of flowering stems to create a real show in the fall. It also has a very upright habit that does not lodge or fall over like the straight species tends to do. 

Growing under 2' tall, Tricyrtis hirta Miyazaki Hybrids bear purple-speckled flowers along gently arched stems—with more gently arching stems than the straight species and a clumping nature unlike other rhizomatous toadlilies on the market. Miyazaki Hybrids are best showcased along a pathway or near a seating area in the garden, as their unique flowers are certain to draw attention. A wonderful addition to the fall shade garden.

The most diminutive of hybrid ironweeds available on the market, ‘Summer’s Swan Song’ is a selection from our friend Jim Ault at Chicago Botanic Garden. The foliage is olive green with a purple tinge on wine red stems and covered in deep purple flowers from early to mid-autumn. Attention-grabbing at CBG’s Vernonia trials, the long flowering branches interlock to hold the stems upright on the blusteriest of days.

Vernonia ‘Summer’s Surrender’ is a unique plant. What makes it so? Bushy, dark olive-green foliage, disease resistance, and a distinct shrub-like form that grows wider than tall, 'Summer's Surrender' is an easy choice to submit. It doesn't lodge like other cultivars and is covered in airy purple clusters through late summer into fall.