Plant Profile: Creeping Polemomium (Polemomium reptans)
Karen The lovely light blue flowers create a magic moment in late spring for a couple of weeks when the foliage takes over and provides the main interest. The leaves are…
Plant Profile: Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
If you are familiar with this plant you either live in the northwest United States or know it from the floral trade. A member of the heather family salal is…
Plant Profile: Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum)
At twelve feet tall and with a taproot that can be fifteen feet long, this native of tall grass prairies is a plant to be taken seriously. Add to its…
Plant Profile: Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium)
Also called American feverfew, wild quinine is a herbaceous perennial and a member of the Aster family, Asteraceae, that also includes sunflower, daisy, and lettuce. It is native to eastern…
Plant Profile: Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)
A native of dry prairies and savannas, yellow coneflower has a folksy look with its droopy soft yellow petals. The center cone is green at first but changes to dark…
Plant Profile: Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)
This native of prairies and meadows is one of the odd looking plants that make gardening such fun. It’s yucca-like leaves are spiky, its stems are stout and unbranched except…
Plant Profile: Twinflower (Linnacea borealis)
A native of cool moist woods, twinflower often grows into large mats forming a beautiful ground cover. Bright green, glossy, evergreen leaves are borne in pairs on slender woody stems…
Plant Profile: Fremont’s Leather Flower (Clematis fremontii)
This small non-climbing shrubby clematis has a long season of interesting beginning with attractive green leathery foliage in spring. In late spring nodding bell-shaped purple to white flowers appear singly…
Plant Profile: Leadplant (Amorpha canescens)
A native of woods, savannas, and prairies from Ontario and Manitoba, south to Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico, leadplant is a small shrub with silvery green leaves and bluish-purple flowers…
Plant Profile: Nodding Wild Onion (Allium cernuum)
There are many different kinds of onion cultivated as garden plants but the nodding wild onion has a special charm all of its own. In summer a cluster of white…