Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Patrinia monandra

Family: Caprifoliaceae

(P) to 4′.  Golden Lace.  China to Taiwan.  A showy, clump-forming perennial with five-petalled, yellow-green flowers borne on dense, upright, branched, flat-topped clusters.  As the flowers fade, the bleached, flat seed heads provide an extended period of interest lasting through late summer.  Basal, dark green, lobed foliage with crenate margins.  An uncommon, stunning species great for the flower garden.  Sun to part shade.  3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Lycium barbarum

Family: Solanaceae

Hardy shrub to 8′.  Goji Berry.  China.  An edible and ornamental shrub with a dense, bushy habit. The dark green, narrow foliage varies in shape from oblanceolate to elliptic with rounded or pointed tips.  Funnel-shaped purple flowers bloom singly or in groups up to three from the leaf axils and have five reflexed lobes. Flowers are followed by eye-catching orange to red, oblong, fleshy berries with considerable nutritional value.  Valued by many as a superfood! Delicious, nutritious and attractive!  Pruning is recommended after the first growing season for best fruit yields.  Best grown in evenly moist, well-draining, sandy soil in full sun.  3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Solidago puberula

Family: Asteraceae

(P) to 3′.  Downy Goldenrod.  North America.  A less cultivated member of the genus, with unique, bright yellow flowers bearing eye-catching, large disk florets surrounded by strap-like ray florets, borne on leafy stems covered with fine, spreading hairs. This species has ovate, dark green glabrous foliage varying greatly in size depending on growing conditions.  Fantastic in a native or prairie garden, best in full sun to part shade.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris

Family: Hydrangeaceae

(P vine) to 50′.  Climbing Hydrangea.  Japan & Taiwan.  An extremely versatile vine with both climbing and procumbent habit. Ten-inch-wide flower clusters with creamy white-to-light green fertile flowers surrounded by showy white, four-petalled, sterile flowers.  Eye-catching, intriguing, russet brown, woody stems with profusely exfoliating bark gives this species great winter interest.  Slow to establish but then a vigorous climber for training against a wall, trellis, or well-established tree.  5 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Geum triflorum

Family: Rosaceae

(P) to 16″.  Prairie Smoke.  North America.  A wonderful choice for the native garden or rock garden, this Geum has distinct, light red, globular, drooping flowers with styles that elongate and collectively begin to resemble a hair blowing in the wind.  Rosette-forming habit, with dissected dark green foliage.  A slow growing but fantastic groundcover. Unusual and unique.  3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Deinanthe caerulea

Family: Hydrangeaceae

(P) to 18″.  False Hydrangea.  China.  An unusual herbaceous Hydrangea relative first identified in the wild in the early 20th century by Ernest Henry Wilson, (1876-1930).  Medium-to-dark green leaves up to eight inches long are rugose with dentate margins, prominent veins and pointed tips.  Nodding, cup-shaped, violet-blue, fertile flowers bloom above the foliage in June-July.  The petals of each flower curl around a decorative central boss of light violet stamens. A great collector’s pick for the shade garden.  Best grown in peaty, fertile, humus-rich, well-drained but consistently moist soils in light shade.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Aquilegia fragrans

Family: Ranunculaceae

(P) to 18″.  Fragrant Columbine.  Western Himalayas.  A wonderful Columbine with delicate, nodding, short-spurred flowers that have pale yellow, cupped centres surrounded by five white, ovate sepals sometimes flushed pale purple.  Triternate, rich green foliage is suggestive of Meadow Rue.  This species is fantastic for cultivation in the rock garden and has a sweet honeysuckle-like scent. 4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Achillea alpina

Family: Asteraceae

(P) to 20″.  Sibirean Yarrow.  North America to Asia.  A lovely Yarrow perfect for cultivation in the rock garden and alpine trough.  This species has six to eight creamy white ray florets that are notched at the tips, surrounding yellow disk florets with 10 to 25 flowerheads.  Intriguing, highly serrated, dark green narrow foliage.  Late spring bloomer.  Tough & sweet.  4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Verbena officinalis var. grandiflora ‘Bampton’

Family: Verbenaceae

(P) to 3′.  Vervain.  This cultivar originates from Bampton Manor in Oxfordshire England, coming true from seed.   A short-lived perennial with a loose and informal habit, great in a mixed border.  Mini, lavender-pink flowers forming gentle clouds of colour on drooping spikes.  Late to mid-summer bloomer.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Rhus typhina ‘Laciniata’

Family: Anacardiaceae

(P) to 15′.  Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac.  Eastern North America.  A wonderful cultivar of our native Sumac with large, deeply dissected, compound pinnate, bright green leaves giving a fern-like appearance.  Female flowers produce showy, pyramidal, fruiting clusters (to eight inches long), with each cluster containing numerous hairy, berry-like drupes which ripen bright red in autumn, gradually turning dark red as they persist through much of the winter. Fruit is attractive to wildlife and can be used to make lemonade.  Fantastic autumn colour in shades of orange, yellow and red, as well as interesting architectural winter framework gives this shrub year-round interest.  1 & 2B & 3 & 6