Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Tanacetum vulgare

Family: (Asteraceae)

(P) to 3′.  Tansy.  Europe.  Button-like yellow flowers with absent or inconspicuous rays appear in compact, flat-topped clusters.  Fern-like green leaves up to eight inches long are pinnately divided, strongly-scented, and somewhat reminiscent of Yarrow. Dating back to ancient Greece and Rome, this plant has a long history of use as a folk medicine remedy, the foliage has been used as an insect repellant, and the flowers have been used in funeral shrouds and wreaths. Summer bloomer.  Well-drained soil.  Sun to part shade.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Solidago canadensis

Family: (Asteraceae)

(P) to 5′.  Canadian Goldenrod.  This North American native with its rhizomatous growth is perfect for the meadow.  Central stems are clad with many narrow, alternate, lance-shaped, sharply-toothed, leaves with conspicuous lateral veins.  The leaves are hairless above but hairy beneath and tapered at each end. Stems are topped in late summer to fall with large horizontally branched, terminal pyramidal panicles containing one-sided recurving branches filled with masses of tiny yellow flowers, each to 1/8″.  A magnet for pollinators, beneficial insects, and birds.  Average soil.  Full sun.  4 &T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Silene virginica

Family: (Caryophyllaceae)

(P) to 18″.  Fire Pink.  Eastern North America.  A lovely wildflower that features brilliant, two-inch, scarlet red flowers, each with five spreading, notched-at-the-tip petals plus sepals which are united into a long sticky tube. Flowers bloom in spring atop slender, downy, and sticky stems clad with narrow, lance-shaped, green leaves. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are the principal pollinator of Silene virginica.  Flowers also provide nectar for native bees, butterflies, and nocturnal moths. Well-drained soil.  Part sun to part shade. 3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Fagopyrum esculentum

Family: (Polygonaceae)

(A) to 3′.  Common Buckwheat.  Asia.  Cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop, Buckwheat is also a great plant for the meadow at Stonecrop.  It is somewhat erect but has a tendency to sprawl in the absence of support. The stems become ribbed and reddish green with maturity. The alternate, cordate leaves are up to four-inches long and 3-inches across with a slightly undulated edge. One or two racemes of flowers develop from the axils of the upper leaves; some of these racemes may be terminal. The racemes are one to three inches long, and densely crowded with whorls of flowers. Each flower is up to ½-inch across, consisting of five petal-like, white sepals that become green toward the throat of the flower. Long bloom period and a pleasant floral scent. Each flower is replaced by a winged achene with three sides. Primarily bees and ants visit the flowers for their abundant nectar. When honeybees visit the flowers of Common Buckwheat in fields, they produce a distinctive honey.  Self-sows.  Prefers moist, rich soil.  Direct sow or 3 & 7 for 3 weeks then T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Cichorium intybus

Family: (Asteraceae)

(P) to 4′.  Common Chicory.  Europe.  Attractive, stalkless, typically clear blue flowers to 1”, clasp rigid, nearly leafless stems in a long procession of bloom from May to October. Rays are typically blue but occasionally white or pink, and usually close by noon. Lower lance-shaped, dandelion-like, basal leaves up to 6″ long are variously toothed, cut or lobed and have rough-hairy surfaces. Upper stem leaves are smaller with clasping bases. The deep fleshy taproot exudes a milky sap when cut. Chicory can be found along roadsides, and is now common in North America, China, and Australia, where it has become widely naturalized. Many varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons (blanched buds).  Chicory roots (var. sativum), which are baked and ground, were used as a coffee substitute by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War and also used in the United Kingdom during the Second World War, where Camp Coffee, a coffee and chicory essence, has been on sale since 1885 and still popular today. 4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Achillea millefolium

Family: (Asteraceae)

(P) to 2-½’.  Common Yarrow.  Native to Europe, Asia and introduced to America in colonial times and has since naturalized throughout the U. S. The leaves are hairy, deeply dissected, fern-like and aromatic.  Tiny, long-lasting, white flowers appear in dense, flattened, compound corymbs up to 3″ across.  Blooms throughout the summer.  Great flower both fresh-cut and dried.  Average, well-drained soil.  Sun.  4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Achillea filipendulina

Family: (Asteraceae)

(P) to 4′.  Fern-leaf Yarrow.  Native to the Caucasus, Iran, and Afghanistan.  Deeply dissected, hairy, fern-like, aromatic (spicy) green leaves up to 10″ long are divided into many pairs of linear-lanceolate toothed segments and form an attractive basal clump of foliage. Tiny, long-lasting, bright golden flowers (yellow rays and yellow discs) appear in dense flattened plate-like compound corymbs up to 4″ across on stiff, erect stems rising above the foliage.  Blooms throughout the summer.  The genus name Achillea refers to Achilles, hero of the Trojan Wars in Greek mythology, who used the plant medicinally to stop bleeding and to heal the wounds of his soldiers.  Great flower both fresh-cut and dried.  Average, well-drained soil.  Sun.  4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Lepechinia salviae

Family: (Lamiaceae)

Tender subshrub to 3′.  Chile.  A more compact form of Lepechinia hastata with large, blue-green, arrow-shaped leaves that are highly pebbled and pleasantly aromatic.  The flowers are magenta in colour, however in combination with the dark calyx and deep pinkish flower stem they have an overall smokey hue to the magenta. burgundy flowers, held in dark calyces on deep pinkish stems. Sun.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Aurinia saxatilis (syn. Alyssum saxatile)

Family: (Brassicaceae)

(P) to 10″.  Basket-of-Gold.  Central Europe to Turkey.   A mat-forming perennial with woody roots that features grey-green spatulate basal leaves to 5″ long and smaller linear-oblanceolate stem leaves. Bright yellow flowers in corymbose panicles bloom in spring.  Particularly attractive in rock gardens, sprawled over rocks or cascaded over rock walls. After bloom, it will remain in the garden as an attractive ground cover unless the foliage dies back from hot summer conditions. Sun.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Lilium henryi

Family: (Liliaceae)

(P) to 5′.  Henry’s Lily.  Central China. Slender green to purple stems are clad with lance-shaped deep green leaves up to 6 inches long. The leaves just below the flower clusters are ovate and shorter. Nodding, two-inch wide, light orange flowers are spotted maroon with dark orange anthers.  The deeply recurved tepals have prominent protuberances. Flowers bloom in clusters of 10-20 from mid to late summer. Specific epithet honors Augustine Henry (1857-1930), Irish plant explorer, who found and collected this species at Ichang Gorge in central China in 1888. Well-drained soil.  Full sun to part shade.