Category: Seminum | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Myrrhis odorata
Family: (Apiaceae)
(P) to 5′. Sweet Cicely. Europe. Grown for its anise-scented, fern-like foliage. Flowers bloom midsummer and are small, white, flat, compound umbels. Well-suited to naturalizing in woodlands and flower borders where it is an admirable foil for withering bulb foliage. Important for any herb garden for both culinary and medicinal uses. Chew the leaves and young stems for their anise flavour or chop and add the leaf stalks to acid fruits to reduce the amount of sugar required in cooking. Moist soil. Sun/partial shade. 3 & 6
Category: Seminum | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum
Family: (Lamiaceae)
(P) to 12″. Greek Oregano. Greece. Similar to the common oregano except much more pungent and a better choice for cooking purposes. This plant has a low, creeping growth habit with hairy, dark green leaves which are highly aromatic and flavourful. Erect spikes with clusters of tiny, white flowers appear in July. Sun. 4 & T2
Category: Rarium | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Paeonia ostii
Family: (Paeoniaceae)
(P) to 5′. Osti’s Tree Peony. China. Named for Dr. Gian Lupo Osti, President of the International Dendrological Society. This woody peony is very floriferous with six-inch wide, sweetly fragrant, pure-white flowers with ruffled edges. In the centre of the flower is a cluster of pistils with prominent red stigmas surrounded by a mass of stamens with yellow anthers and pink filaments. When the petals drop, the big, fleshy receptacle is exposed with a green, drooping calyx and fat fruits/carpels with the still-prominent red stigmas, all together resembling a court jester’s hat. The attractive, medium green foliage is deeply divided into oval to lance-shaped leaflets on red petioles and is good-looking throughout the season. A real show-stopper in our Order Beds. Sun/partial shade. 3 & 6A
Category: Seminum | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Patrinia scabiosifolia
Family: (Caprifoliaceae)
(P) to 4′. Gold Lace. A great “see-through” plant with open, airy cymes of sweetly scented, dainty, star-shaped chrome-yellow flowers in summer. Attractive glossy dark green leaves that turn yellow in autumn. Long bloomer. Sun/partial shade. 3 & T2 & Δ
Category: Seminum | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Peucedanum verticillare
Family: (Apiaceae)
(B) to 7′. Hog Fennel. Eastern Alps into Hungary. The foliage emerges pink in spring, quickly producing impressive, ruby-red, broomstick-sized, hollow stems clad with pinnate, irregularly toothed, triangular leaves, and topped in mid-summer with huge umbels of yellow-green flowers. Makes a stately, yet delicate architectural presence for the back of the border. Plants are monocarpic, so be sure to collect seed or allow to self-sow. Well-drained soil. Sun/partial shade. 3 & T2
Category: Seminum | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Phlomis tuberosa 'Amazone'
Family: (Lamiaceae)
(P) to 5′. Central and southern Europe. Numerous stems with many dense whorls of rosy purple blooms, each with a long upper lip. Whorls can have from 14 to 40 flowers each. Attractive clumps of large, arrow-shaped, slightly hairy, textured leaves. Late spring to early summer. Robust and floriferous. Moist, well-drained soil. Sun. 4 & T1 & Δ
Category: Seminum | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Pimpinella saxifraga
Family: (Apiaceae)
(P) to 4′. Burnet Saxifrage. Europe. Fragile, white, arching umbels with a basal rosette of dark green, serrated leaves. A wonderful, airy “filler.” Summer blooming. Self-sows. Sun/partial shade. 4 & T2
Category: Seminum | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Platycodon grandiflorus
Family: (Campanulaceae)
(P) to 3′. Balloon Flower. China. So named because the flower buds puff up like balloons before bursting open into upward-facing, bell-shaped, rich blue flowers with five pointed lobes. Clump-forming perennial with elliptic whorled leaves below and alternate above with dentated margins. Blooms mid to late summer. Sun. 4 & T2
Category: Seminum | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Rubia tinctorum
Family: (Rubiaceae)
(P) to 2′. Dyer’s Madder. East Mediterranean to Central Asia. The roots of this plant have been used since ancient times as a red dye for leather, wool, cotton and silk. Early evidence of dyeing comes from India where a piece of cotton dyed with madder has been recovered from the archaeological site at Mohenjo-daro (3rd millennium BCE). The red coats of the British Redcoats were dyed with madder, after earlier being dyed with cochineal. The foliage resembles sweet woodruff or bedstraw with whorled lanceolate leaves that are leathery, rough and prickly. The mostly five-petalled flowers are tiny in loose, many branched, leafy cymes, yellow-green to honey coloured. Round, shiny black, berry-like fruit follow. Summer flowering. Sun. 3 & T1
Category: Seminum | Sub-Category: Perennials for Sun
Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Rudbeckia triloba
Family: (Asteraceae)
(P) to 5′. Brown-eyed Susan. Central eastern United States. Actually, the “eyes” are black to purple button discs which accent the yellow-orange ray petals. Good colour for the garden throughout the summer. Excellent cut flower and a mainstay in our bouquets. Sun. 4 & T2