Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Syneilesis intermedia coll. DJHT 99104

Family: Asteraceae

(P) to 2′.  Japan.  Purchased from Heronswood Nursery in 2001.  Wonderful foliage plant very reminiscent of Aconitum, with woolly, peltate, filigreed leaves.  Clusters of small, fluffy pink flowerheads atop stiff, dark stems.  Intriguing.  Partial shade.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Tradescantia virginiana

Family: Commelinaceae

(P) to 3′.  Virginia Spiderwort, Spider Lily.  Eastern US.  This Spiderwort has three-petalled, blue-purple flowers with contrasting yellow stamens in terminal clusters above a pair of long, narrow, leaf-like bracts, each opening for only a day.  Clump-forming with multiple stems bearing narrow, pointed, olive green leaves.  A useful and robust perennial for native gardens, open woods and borders.  Blooms late sprint to mid-summer.  Sun to part shade.  Moist, well-drained soil.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Thalictrum pubescens

Family: Ranunculaceae

(P) to 7′.  King of the Meadow.  Eastern US and Canada. This native beauty has tall panicles of apetalous flowers with white, thread-like, stamens that form a cloud-like fluff and tower over blue-green, Columbine-like leaves.  The foliage turns bright yellow in the fall.  Use in the back of borders, native gardens, and moist woodlands.  Blooms spring to summer.  Shade to part shade.  Medium to wet, well-drained, organically rich soil.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Salvia forsskaolii

Family: (Lamiaceae)

(P) to 3+’. Indigo Woodland Sage. Balkan peninsula, Bulgaria to Turkey. This plant was named after Finnish explorer Peter Forsskål, a student of Carl Linnaeus.  Large basal clumps of textural green foliage give rise to long, branched flowering stems with whorls of showy, bi-lipped, violet-blue flowers with white streaks on the lower lip.  A great Salvia for open woodland plantings.  Blooms summer into early autumn.  Full sun to part shade.  Moist, well-drained soil. 4 & T3

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Callicarpa dichotoma var. albifructa

Family: Lamiaceae

Hardy shrub to 6′.  China and Korea.  White Fruited Beauty Berry.  Callicarpa dichotoma is, according to Dirr, the “most graceful and refined of the species.”  It is also the most cold-hardy.  This variety has white berries instead of typical purple and may get a bit taller than the typical form.  Sun to partial shade.  PC- 4 weeks, 3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Verbascum chaixii Mix

Family: Scrophulariaceae

(P) to 4′.  Europe and Russia.  A delightful blend of yellow and white Nettle-leaved Mullein. Grey-green, felted, and corrugated leaves form basal rosettes from which rise spire-like, unbranched stems with terminal racemes of five-lobed, flattish, one-inch, yellow or white flowers with violet stamens.  Very versatile.  Mid-summer. Sun.  4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Euonymus americanus

Family: Celastraceae

Hardy shrub to 6′.  Hearts-a-Burstin.  North America.  A small native shrub with many inconspicuous, greenish-purple flowers in summer.  By October however, the scarlet fruit capsules have popped open to reveal the bright pinkish orange seeds inside, hence its common name.  Excellent red autumn colour.  Truly spectacular.  Sun/partial shade.  3 & 6

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Akebia quinata

Family: (Lardizabalaceae)

Hardy vine to 20′.  Chocolate Vine.  China, Korea and Japan.  Fast growing, deciduous, and ideal for covering trellises, pergolas or other structures.  The compound leaves are tinged purplish when new and mature to a handsome blue-green.  Rather showy, pendant racemes of vanilla-scented flowers with wide, purple to dark chocolate maroon sepals.  The intriguing fruits are like fat, purple sausages, opening to reveal a white, pulpy interior with black seeds.  Well-drained soil.  Sun/partial shade.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Saxifraga stolonifera

Family: Saxifragaceae

(TP) to 6″.  Strawberry Saxifrage.  This sweet Asian native has attractive white blossoms with distinctive pointed petals and bright yellow ovaries. The plant spreads via threadlike stolons, with plantlets taking root in the vicinity of the mother plant. When grown in a pot, the interesting grey-green, mottled foliage quickly crowds the surface and drapes beautifully down the sides.  Easy to grow in average light.  Allow the soil to dry between waterings.  3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Aristolochia clematitis

Family: Aristolochiaceae

(P) to 30″.  This non-climbing herbaceous Dutchman’s Pipe has small apetalous, tubular, greenish yellow flowers that bloom from late spring to early summer in clusters from the leaf axils. Each flower has a straight funnel-shaped tube with pointed, curved upper lips (considerably different in appearance from the curved Dutchman’s smoking pipe-type blooms found on some other species in the genus).  Full sun to part shade.  4 & T3