Actea pachypoda
The
common name of this native garden beauty says a
lot about the plant, "Dolls Eyes", but,
that only tells you about the Autumn interest of
this old timey favorite. For in the Spring you
have fragrant white soft and fluffy flowers over
lush green dissected foliage. Over the Summer
months, these flowers slowly turn into
greenish-yellow berries and as they finish out
their growing season become huge, alabaster white
with black dots at each tip resembling the eyes
of a doll. Has thick brilliant red stems that
attach each berry to the stem. Plants stand about
18"-24" tall and do well in rich
woodland shade.
Ajuga ‘Chocolate
chip’
Cute
little lanceolate leaves on this somewhat dwarf
form of Ajuga. Lovely chocolate colored foliage.
I can't comment on the flowers yet as I've just
obtained it this Summer. But the foliage is
darling.
Allium pulchellum
A
mid-Summer bloomer with very flowing deep pink
flowers. 12" -24" tall. Perfect for mid
border in full sun to part shade. Will seed in to
make a dramatic colony.
Aquilega canadense
Variable
shades of red and yellow flowers on lovely
dissected foliage. Self sown seedlings abound to
form a wonderful drift of early Spring color in
full sun or part shade on 12" - 18"
plants.
Artemesia lactiflora
‘Ghuizo’
Not
one of those invasive running Artemesias, this is
a medium green clump forming species from China.
24-36" tall in flower with sprays of milky
white flowers in late Summer when there really
isn't much else blooming. Grows equally well in
sun or shade. Has red petioles, darker and more
dissected foliage, whiter blooms.
Aster tataricus
If
you're on the lookout for something to liven up
your garden from mid-Autumn to mid-Winter, you
need this guy. He's a tall one from the Tatar
Mountains in Russia and blooms his head off with
medium sky-blue flowers on 5-7 foot stems from
October till those killing freezes. Very, very
vigorous.
Begonia evansii
A
hardy Begonia?? Of course. And although it over
winters from the rootstock in zone 5 and possible
colder, it is very late to emerge in the Spring
and very easy to over plant. Preferring moist
shade it'll grow up to 30" tall with pink or
white flowers. Bulbils are produced in the axils
and drop to the ground to sprout the following
year. A colony is formed rather quickly and can
be quite dramatic.
Bergenia ciliata
Carex dolichostachya
‘Kaga Nishiki’
Carex flacca
This fine textured,
bluish-green grass-like plant is a very vigorous
sedge. It grows equally as in full shade as it
does in full sun. Height is 4”-8” and
it spreads quickly, but controllably by rhizome.
Caryopteris divaricata
Corydalis cheilanthifolia
Corydalis fexuosa
“China blue”
The
lovely dissected foliage is quite attractive, the
flowers are a blue that gardeners would kill for
and the fragrance, oh the fragrance. But I can't
seem to keep it alive in the garden. Everyone
that I talk to has the same problem, yet they
keep buying it year after year by the thousands.
I know that it needs moist shade and can tolerate
dry during its Summer dormancy, but.... think
that most gardeners would do well to grow it as
an annual or tender perennial that you bring a
small piece of inside for the Winter. It does
well in a pot and will increase so rapidly that
all of your friends will have a pot before you
know it.
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Cyclamen coum
One of my
favorite plants! A wonderful winter flowering
plant . Similar to C.
hederifolium, described
below, with the exception of a more rounded leaf
and even more variable flower color, this species
flowers after the foliage appears, usually in
November in my garden, and continues through the
end of the year. Wonderful leaf marble effect!
Cyclamen
Hederafolium
What other
plant gives you beautiful pink and white
pendulous flowers in September and Octpber and
spectacular silvery mottled, immensely variable
foliage all Winter? Plant with the bulbs slightly
above soil level under a tree for shade and
drainage and you'll soon have a huge colony. But
do watch the drainage - keep them on the dry side
in the summer dormant period.
Disporopsis pernyi
Very
interesting plant from the Himalayas. The two
clones that we are producing are from Elizabeth
Strangman at Washfield Nursery in Kent, England.
One has clear white pendulous Disporum like
flowers below the horizontally weeping sprays of
dark green glossy foliage and the other form has
dark stripes on the flowers. Plants grow to
??" tall and form a clump of 6-12 plants in
a year or two.
Dodecatheon meadia
Fragrant,
white pendulous flowers resemble "Shooting
Stars", hence the common moniker. A very
early Spring bloomer fades away into the sunset
once the upfacing capsules of seeds ripen to a
rich brown color. This Primrose relative is very
easy to grow from seed. Flower stalks emanate
from a basal rosette and reach up 12-18". A
large colony is quite a statement.
Eupatorium
cannabinum flore plena
Blooms in mid Summer
with a profusion of long lasting flat heads of
double, pinkish-magenta flowers. I
use it in the back of a sunny border and it
always elicits comments. It's almost shrub like
appearance and the attractive medium green
foliage is quite imposing as it attains a height
of 36" - 48" with an almost equal
spread. Give it some room as it reaches maturity
over 2 - 3 years. It holds up well
until the first freezes. I grow it in full
sun in a South facing border. Soil moisture and
texture are average and its growth rate is quite
vigorous.
Euphorbia dulcis
‘Chameleon’
Dark
burgundy foliage provides a great foil for the
small yellow flowers on a 12" -24"
plant. Self seeding can be a slight nuisance, but
the seedlings pull up very easily - or give to
all your friends!
Galtonia candicans
There
are three species in this South African genus,
this is the most prolific. They're all easy to
grow. The 8-12" long 2" wide leaves
produce a 24-36 " flower spike with many
pendulous white flowers in mid Summer. Full sun
to part shade seems fine. Self-sown seedlings
make an attractive display over the years.
Gladiola x gandavensis
In
1826 in the town of LeMoine France, Louis Van
Houte crossed two species, Gladiolus natalensis
with Gladiolus oppositiflorus and created the
first Gladiola hybrid. What a great feat had he
accomplished. For all of the amazing and
sometimes gaudy hybrids that followed, this is
still the best. A 2" pot makes a
12"-18" clump in less than 2 years of
graceful iris-like foliage. In mid-Summer, dozens
of 24" stems are graced with the softest
yellow flowers painted with a delicate red blush
in the throat. And to top all this off, its been
hardy outside for over 10 years in my brutal zone
5 garden. WOW!!!
Hedera helix
‘Goldheart’
You
won't mind pruning out an occasional reversion to
all green when you see how this English Ivy
cultivar glows in the shade with its golden leaf
hearts. It's been quite hardy for me for well
over 10 years now.
Helleborus hybrids
Plants from one of
the top US breeders, Barry Glick. Different
colors and forms from Barry's selected hybrids.
Hexastylis arifolium
Huge,
philodendron like arrow-shaped leaves with
variable patterns of silver markings. Quite a
dramatic shade loving plant. This native
evergreen ginger has upright jug like flowers in
great numbers when the clump matures to a
diameter of 6-8". Height is also about
6"-8".
Hosta Ventricosa
Probably
the first species of Hosta to be introduced into
the United States back in the mid 1800's.
Iris ensata Alba
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Kniphofia thompsonii snowdenii Even
my bulb hero, world renowned expert, Brent Heath,
was fooled by this unusual plant. He thought it
was an undiscovered Lachenalia or Watsonia
species. It is a rhizomatus species from South
Africa that sports attractive foliage, but the
flowers, oh my, 5 to 6 foot stems of weeping pale
orange trumpets about 1" apart. Quickly
spreads to form a stunning display.
Unique,
hardy, easy to grow, rhizomatous member of the
Liliaceae family, very elegant plant to add
height to your border. The individual florets are
about an inch apart with 3' - 4' flower spikes.
Mertensia
virginica
Heralds
of Spring, its pink buds open into beautiful
flowers in an indescribable shade of pale blue
and make a wonderful mass if you plant them in a
colony. Easy to grow and quick to flower, but
also quick to depart. Best interplanted with
ferns that come up a little later to fill in the
void. Full shade to part sun, they get up to
about 12-24".
Osmunda cinnamomea
Pachysandra procumbens
I
could go on for miles here about my favorite
groundcover for the shade. This plant for all
seasons has the most interesting fragrant, white
spikes of flowers in early Spring and light,
almost olive-green foliage all Summer. Virtually
untouched by insects and disease, it begins to
pick up a silvery sheen by early Autumn and by
the middle of Autumn, look out, every plant has a
different pattern of the most brilliant silvery
mottling. Not at all invasive like its Asian
cousin.
Penstemon smallii
Pinellia tripartite
Primula Sunshine Star
Hardy
down to -10F and fragrant too! Has brilliant
yellow, attractively notched petals, set off
dramatically by a sunny orange star.
Primula
'Vivid'
A
brilliant bright red flowered primula to brighten
your garden!
Primula Sieboldii
One
of the most carefree Primroses to grow, I grow it
in every imaginable condition from full sun to
full shade and they do equally as well. 3-
6" plants with 12" flowers spikes of
varying colors from whites to soft pinks and
everything between.
Saxifraga fortunei
‘Beni Fuji’
Wait
till you see the foliage on this baby, somewhat
Heuchera like but covered with the neatest red
hairs. Juicy and supple, emerging a light green
with purplish tinges on the margins and then
acquiring ruby highlights. In late Autumn, deep
pink 1" flowers with bright yellow anthers
appear. Part shade to full sun. 8-12".
Sedum ’Cape
Blanco’
Small
glaucous, very succulent rosettes on wiry little
stems make this a great addition to the front of
the border or a rock garden.
Sisyrinchium ‘Devon
skies’
Native orchid Spiranthes
cernuta odorata 'Chadds Ford'
One
of the most distinctive features of Spiranthes
cernua odorata is its potent, sweet fragrance,
often compared to that of vanilla or jasmine.
'Chadds Ford' is a
wonderful cultivar--a vigorous grower with large,
extremely fragrant flowers. Strong
growing in 2" tree-band pots, hardy from
zones 3 to 9. Good
cut flower, flowers from September to frost.
Trillium grandiflorum
2-year-old
bulblets from rhizome divisions of our
flowering-size stock plants. They are in 2"
pots and should be flowering in about two years.
This is the easiest of all Trilliums to grow and
propagate and one of the earliest to flower in
the Spring.
Trillium sessile
Zephyranthes candida
Zizea
aurea
Bright
umbels of yellow flowers on this native plant.
Dark green glossy, dissected foliage. Height is
about 12"-24".
Note: For
individual selections from this collection
email to: mailto:info@auricula.com
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