Cup Plant is a large native prairie plant that catches water at the base of its wide large leaves. The height of its strong square stem depends on how much moisture it gets but average is 6 feet. Birds and insects enjoy the water, but those that drown are actually absorbed by the plant making it “carnivorous”. In summer, yellow daisy like flowers are held high atop the stems and smaller clusters emerge at the leaf margin. This plant is great in the prairie or meadow. It can be used in the garden as a tall accent but be sure to give it the space that it will need and remove seed heads to prevent too many babies.
Category: Perennials Page 2 of 4
Our favorites for gorgeous, successful gardens in the north!
This native prairie plant is smaller than the better known blue indigo. This is good for a landscape setting as the height is still over 2 feet with a 2 to 3 foot spread. This plant is a member of the pea family with yellow pea like flowers. The plant produces beneficial bacteria from its roots called rhizobia. Baptisia blooms from late July through August and is hardy from zone 3 to 9. The blue green foliage and black seed pods are also interesting. This plant has been used as a dye plant and is attractive to butterflies.
This ornamental strawberry is great in a rock garden; with healthy dark green foliage and large bright hot pink flowers. It flowers from April until frost and bears edible fruit.
The plant spreads, like most strawberries, on runners, and forms a ground cover that is great with almost any perennial. The plants can be redirected to grow where you want them to. It’s best to get new plants rooted before cutting the runner to the mother plant.
Lipstick Strawberry was created in 1966 by crossing Fragaria x ananassa with marsh cinquefoil (potentilla plaustris).
The plant prefers full sun to part shade and will grow in any soil that is not too wet. Be sure not to cover the crown with soil when planting. This plant is great in window boxes and containers too.
You get 10 plants for this price.
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- Ornamental strawberry Lipstick
Dragon’s Blood Sedum is a rapidly growing, zero maintenance ground cover. It forms a dense mat about 5” tall, of fleshy foliage that is green purple in summer and develop a brighter red purple color in cooler weather. The color is also brighter in full sun though the plant will grow in light shade. Foliage holds its beauty far into fall and early winter here in Wisconsin.
The flowers are a brilliant hot pink in summer. The only thing I do to this plant is to remove the dried flower stems when they are done, but this is not necessary for the health of the plant.
These plants will stand up to whatever nature can dish out from heat and drought to extreme cold and humidity. They don’t bat an eye about poor soil, but will be bigger and even more fleshy if better fertility is provided. They also do fine in containers and will spill over the edge. This is one of the only perennials that will survive the winter in a container here in Wisconsin.
These will arrive bare root. You will get a nice bunch of them. As with most sedums they are very easy to propagate. At least some of the ones that you receive will have roots, plant those but also plant any small or long pieces and they will grow. You need to water then until they are established but after that no supplemental care is needed unless you live in the desert.
The plant is in the middle left of this picture.
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- Sedum Angelina, Dragon’s blood, packerland, curly chives and rough with semps
This little sedum forms a dense mat of blue foliage that looks like mini Christmas trees. A ground cover for any sunny spot it looks great from early spring to late fall, but it June it develops 8” stems that are topped with bright yellow flowers. Really easy maintenance is its middle name. All you have to do is remove the flower stems after bloom. It will flourish in almost any soil and is great for containers, walls and paths as well.
These will arrive bare root. You will get a nice bunch of them. As with most sedums they are very easy to propagate. At least some of the ones that you receive will have roots, plant those but also plant any small or long pieces and they will grow. You need to water then until they are established but after that no supplemental care is needed unless you live in the desert.
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- Catmint, Blue Fescue and Sedum Reflexum Blue Spruce
Sea holly Eryhgium planum and Sedum sarmentosum graveyard moss
Sea Holly although it behaves like a prairie plant is not native. It has however been in North America since the 1800’s. I love it for its true blue color. This small thistle like plant has round umbels with bright steel blue flowers and blue-green bracts, on bright blue stems. The color, although quite bright blue also appears somewhat silvery; so this plant is wonderful in the moon garden and as a backdrop for white flowers. This is one of those plants that will live nearly anywhere, but it is best in full sun and sandy or poor soil and not too wet. If placed in shade or overly rich soil it tends to get bigger and flop over. In preferred conditions it stays about 2 feet tall, fuller and upright. This plant is very drought tolerant once established and is also ignored by deer. It is a super easy care free plant, just cut the taller stems from the basil leaves once a year. I usually do it very late in fall. The plant dries really well and holds its color when dried. If using it for wreaths and arrangements wait until the stems and flowers develop their brightest color.
$7.00
Rudbeckia-Triloba
This native plant is 3-4 feet tall and a branched form can make it equally as wide. The fuzzy, dark green, three lobed leaves make it deer resistant. It prefers moisture but will do fine in any condition including drought when established. The plant self-sows easily and flowers in the second year so don’t worry that they are considered a short lived perennial. These plants seem to “move around” in your garden. The first year it is a mound of basal foliage and the next year a mass of 1-2 inch bright yellow flowers with contrasting dark brown centers. They bloom from midsummer into hard frost. It plays well with native grasses and is a great cut flower.
$4.00
‘Karl Rosenfield’ produces magnificent deep red to magenta flowers that fill the garden with fragrance. Hardy to zone 3 The Peony is an extremely long lived, hardy, shrub-like plant. Flowers are extremely showy, and foliage remains attractive throughout the growing season.
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- peony karl rosenfield
Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’
Commonly called Beardtongue, this native plant is a perennial that is fully hardy to zone 3. Mature plants can be 2 feet tall and a foot and a half across. The shiny leaves are dark green/maroon and the undersides are fully colored maroon, as are the stems and flower stalks. It holds its color long into fall, after most things have gone dormant. The beautiful upright stems of lipped, tubular flowers are white to very light pink. Husker’s Red blooms in April to June and then re-blooms until frost if cut back when the first stalks start to go to seed. The white flowers have high contrast with the foliage so the plant is ideal for the moon garden. The plant has the best foliage color, and blooms best, in full sun, but it can take some shade. It’s super easy to care for, just remove old foliage in spring and cut off seed heads in fall if you don’t want self-sowing. It has many other benefits including being deer resistant, drought tolerant once established, and attractive to bees, birds and butterflies. Being the Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year in 1996 is what brought this plant into the public eye and into our gardens. Penstemon means five stamens in Greek.
$7.00
This Lupine is native to western Canada and north western US. It was hybridized by Russell in the 1930’s by crossing with other species to get a wide range of colors, the Russell lupine is not the same as the plant that I have. The selection that I’m offering is mainly purple, but I occasionally get different shades of pink. Lupines prefer cool moist conditions, full sun to part shade. The flower spikes are 3-4 feet tall, rising above a cluster of compound palmate leaves. This plant is perennial and can live for many years in the right conditions. Although they do need moisture, they do best in a sandy soil. Here’s another benefit of the lupine; because they are in the pea family they fix nitrogen and can improve dry sandy soils. Some say that these plants don’t transplant well. I find this to be untrue. Small plants do very well as long as they are watered frequently after planting. Lupines are poisonous to livestock, but this is a benefit to those of us living in the woods, since deer won’t touch them. Lupines flower in response to day length which is why they bloom earlier, the farther north you are…interesting.
One order consists of multiple one year old plants or one two year old plant. You may specify which you prefer.
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- Lupine
