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.

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.

Handsome and ruffled, this high-color selection has been a much requested Japanese Painted Fern. The dark violet red interior of each 'Regal Red' frond is contrasted by bright silver edges making each leaflet distinct and creating an overall tapestry effect. The pinnules also twist a little giving the frond a "fluffed" up look. 'Regal Red' combines beautifully with red-purple Heuchera such as 'Plum Pudding' and blue sedges like Carex platyphylla. The fronds work well in cut flower arrangements, providing lasting color and soft texture. Unique and beautiful!

A beautiful selection of this sedge, this one has narrow (1/4") leaves with white margins, giving it a very fine texture overall. Rhizomatous, forming thick silvery clumps. A bright addition to the shade palette!

Blooming in late summer-early fall, this vigorous native Clematis virginiana is covered in showy, sweetly-scented white flowers that are 1" across. A fine addition to fences, on trellises, or trained up trees, Virgin's bower grows 12-20' tall. Commonly found in moist, woodland edge areas east of the Mississippi, it grows well in full sun but also can tolerate dry shade. 

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.

Another Heliopsis seed selection by Jelitto Perennial Seeds, Heliopsis helianthoides 'Bleeding Hearts' stands 4' tall with dark purple foliage and black stems providing a perfect foil for the blooms beginning at a fire red then orange-red turning to bronze colored as they fade. 'Bleeding Hearts' begins blooming in its first year and blooms from June to mid-October. 

A seed selection by Jelitto Perennial Seeds, Heliopsis helianthoides 'Burning Hearts' stands 4' tall with dark red purple foliage and abundant contrasting yellow daisy-like flowers with orange centers. Plant begins blooming in its first year and blooms from June to mid-October. 

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 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.

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

While not as showy as some others, this fern makes up for it with its neat habit, easy culture, and its lustrous, nearly evergreen leaves. Often used in Christmas floral arrangements because it is still attractive in December. It is a wonderful companion for spring blooming bulbs. Found in acidic to neutral soils on shaded slopes and well drained flats.

Densely branching with fine foliage and white flowers atop terminal clusters, this Pycnanthemum tenuifolium, or slender mountain mint, has a more delicate appearance than P. muticum but with all the same pollinator action. Like its mountain mint brethren, P. tenuifolium spreads generously by rhizome making this plant a wonderful mass of white blooms in late summer. 

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. 

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. 

One of the best groundcover grasses out there - with its cool green, fine foliage and light wheat colored seed wands dancing gracefully above, this Eurasian grass adapts to most sites and is very durable and tough. A great cool-season grass to plant in large swathes, it doesn't self-sow and become invasive.

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.

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. 

An underutilized native gem, woodland pinkroot is perfect in the garden. An absolute hummingbird-magnet, 'Little Redhead' is an improvement on the species with a profuse flower display beginning in June. Tubular red flowers with yellow lips erupt forth in early summer with sporadic rebloom through the growing season. Vegetatively propagated, 'Little Redhead' is uniform, withstands full sun, and is much easier to grow than the straight species. 

Growing under 2' tall, Tricyrtis × hirta 'Miyazaki' purple-speckled flowers, arching stems, and clumping form of this hairy toadlily is a wonderful addition to the fall shade garden. 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 planted near a path or seating area in the 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.