Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Bellevalia dubia

Family: (Asparagaceae)

Tender bulb to 16″.  Portugal.  An unusual bulb that we grow in our Pit House, formerly in the genus Muscari.  A Grape Hyacinth look-alike.  In bud, loose racemes of bright, violet-blue flowers with green tips turn to a maroon-brown with yellow-tinted lobes as they open.  Blooms in early spring.  Summer dormant.  Sun.  3 & ∆, then T1

This seed is either sold out or unavailable

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Clethra pringlei

Family: (Clethraceae)

Tender shrub to 6′.  Mexican Sweetspire.  Whorls of large, glossy, elliptic leaves with toothed margins that are bronze when young, then turn a deep green with age.  Long, showy racemes of white flowers that are sweetly fragrant with a cinnamon-like aroma.  Summer blooming.  Makes a reliable pot plant – we’ve had for over 20 years, and we still love it.  Sun.  3 & T1

This seed is either sold out or unavailable

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Pisum sativum subsp. elatius

Family: (Fabaceae)

(Annual vine to 6′).  Wild Pea.  Europe.  The Wild Pea is one of the oldest cultivated plants in Europe. A glabrous climber with angular or roundish hollow stems covered with a waxy bloom. Leaves consist of one or more pairs of opposite, slightly toothed, ovate leaflets with distinct ribs, and are borne on petioles together with several pairs of tendrils. The two large stipules at the base of the leaf are striking, ovate, much larger than the leaflets, and deeply toothed. The flowers are characteristically pea-shaped with a large bright pink upper petal (standard), two wing petals that are a dark maroon and two fused inner keel petals that are a paler pink.  We grew this in a pot last season…a lovely addition to the Garden Room.  Seed collected from the Jerusalem Botanical Garden, courtesy of Stephen Zelno.  Sun.  2A & 3 then T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Cyrtanthus mackenii

Family: (Amaryllidaceae)

Tender bulb to 12″.  South Africa.  Narrow, lance-shaped leaves from which rise stems flushed red at the base.  Atop sits clusters of long, slender, tubular flowers of pale yellow flaring only at the very tips and displaying darker stamens.  Blooms in March and April.  Sun.  3 & 6

This seed is either sold out or unavailable

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Salvia macrophylla

Family: (Lamiaceae)

(TP) to 4′.  Peruvian Sage.  Columbia, Peru, Bolivia.  We have grown this plant underglass in pots for a few years and had enough to plant out in our Flower Garden last season.  It was a big presence and performed beautifully.  The architectural, lime green spikes in bud are attractive in themselves, with hints of blue as the flowers start to open.  The flowers are large and typical of a Salvia, but of a striking Persian blue with protruding white filaments tipped with blue anthers.  The leaves add to the show; triangular-hastate in shape and very large, up to 8 inches long and 5 inches wide, and strikingly violet on the underside.  Sun.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Leonotis menthaefolia

Family: (Lamiaceae)

(TP) to 2′.  Mint-leaved Lion’s Ear.  South Africa.  Vibrant, warm orange, tubular flowers are held in whorls.  Small, serrated leaves have a pungent, spicy fragrance, reminiscent of Agastache.  A long blooming, compact Lion’s Ear perfect for containers.  Overwinter in a frost-free conservatory.  Summer through to fall.  Sun.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Ennealophus euryandrus (syn. Herbertia euryandra)

Family: (Iridaceae)

Tender bulb to 12″.  Argentina.  This Iris relative has pleated linear to lanceolate leaves.  Intriguing, blue to violet flowers with three large, broadly spreading, triangular to obovate, outer tepals with white markings at the base…they look like an airplane propeller.  The three smaller, inner tepals are rounded, erect and reflexed, with a spot of orange on the reflex.  In the centre, the trifid, white stigma is showy and heavily clefted, with the stamens held below.  The flowers only last for part of a day. Grows on humid slopes near the forest’s edge but nicely for us in a pot.  3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Cuphea salvadorensis

Family: (Lythraceae)

(TP) to 5′.  Salvadoran Cigar Flower.  Central America.  A large, shrubby perennial producing tubular, red-orange flowers with green tips that attract hummingbirds.  Overwinter indoors.  Ours reliably goes out every year planted in the Order Beds.  Blooms summer into fall.  Sun to part shade.  Moist, well-drained soil.  4 & T3

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Campanula pyramidalis Mix

Family: Campanulaceae

(P) to 6′.  Chimney Bellflower.  Native to Italy and the Adriatic coast.  In Graham Stuart Thomas’ words, “one of the most striking of herbaceous plants”.  Tall spires of starry, open flowers in blue or white appear through July and August.  Performs exceptionally well when grown in pots and makes a striking, long-lasting display for the cool greenhouse.  Sun/partial shade.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Gomphocarpus physocarpus (syn. Asclepias physocarpus)

Family: Asclepiadaceae

(TP) to 4′.  Bladder Fruit.  Narrow, lanceolate leaves and attractive, hanging, pendant clusters of cream to green-white, starry flowers.  However, the main attraction follows with huge, inflated, spherical, spiny seedpods that are pale green blushed maroon in colour.  They are terrific fresh or dried in flower arrangements.  Sun.  4 & T2