Sedum Hybridum

Sedum Hybridum) - The perfect ground cover plant for hot dry sites! Sedum hybridum has evergreen foliage that spreads to form a dense mat of scalloped green leaves. In the summer, clusters of tiny star-shaped yellow flowers cover the foliage. The foliage can turn to shades of red and orange in the fall. Yellow Stonecrop Sedum can be grown from ground cover seeds to form a spreading, hardy perennial that is resistant to both deer and rabbits. It's a good choice for rock walls, containers, and between stepping stones or used as a green roof.

Sedum seeds can be sown indoors or directly outdoors. Indoor sowing can be done 6 - 8 weeks before last frost date. Use small pots or flats and sterile starter mix. Pre-moisten the starter mix and sow 5 - 7 Sedum ground cover seeds per container. The Sedum seeds are exceptionally small, so only press the seed into the moistened soil, and do not cover it. Keep the seeds moist but not saturated until they germinate. For outdoor sowing, wait until garden soil temperatures are 70F. Select a site with well-draining soil. If necessary amend soil with organic matter. Loosen the top 1 - 2 inches of soil, remove any weeds, and gently broadcast the Stonecrop seeds over the soil. Lightly press the seeds into the soil, and keep the seed continuously moist until germination.

Sedum hybridum ground cover plants are easy to maintain. Trim or mow the plants back in spring to maintain a compact form. Yellow Sedum plants are easily divided in spring or fall if desired.

White Violets

                          
                      The Common White Violet belongs to a group of violets that produce their leaves and flowers from stems – other violets produce their flowers and leaves directly from their root system in the ground. The Common White Violet produces unusually large stipules at the base of its leaves (up to 1" long); the margins of these stipules have abundant fringe-like teeth (see the lower photograph). This latter characteristic separates this species from other white-flowered violets in Illinois. The species Viola canadensis (Canada Violet) produces white flowers from stems, but its stipules are quite small and they lack conspicuous teeth along the margins. A form of the Common Blue Violet, Viola pratincola alba, produces white flowers, but this is a stemless violet. Other common names for Viola striata are Cream Violet and Pale Violet.   http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/wh_violet.htm

Lupine  

Hearty local perennial

Lupine draws the eye skyward with its gorgeously colored and interestingly structured flower spikes. Bicolor Russell hybrids are the most popular type. Their large pea-like flowers come in amazing colors and combinations, clustered in long spikes on sturdy stems.

Lupine prefers light, well-drained soil that is slightly acidic, and it does not tolerate heat or humidity well. It performs best in areas with cool summers, especially the Pacific Northwest.

Light:

Sun,Part Sun

Zones:

4-8

Plant Type:

Perennial

Plant Height:

2-3 feet tall

Plant Width:

1-2 feet wide

Bloom Time:

Blooms early summer and midsummer, depending on variety

Landscape Uses:

Containers,Beds & Borders,Slopes

Special Features:

Flowers,Attractive Foliage,Cut Flowers,Tolerates Wet Soil,Deer Resistant,Easy to Grow

Tiger Daisy

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   These maynot be Daisies,,does anyone know their name???Beautiful cream and white foliage stiped like tiger stripes.  Yellow Daisies

Mahogany Ajuga

Beautiful ground cover, deep burgandy then blossoms with a purple cone flower

Mahogany Ajuga AJUGA Reptans ‘Mahogany’

Mahogany Ajuga is a robust Ajuga with a flat trailing habit and shiny, short-stemmed leaves. The lush, almost black-burgundy, glossy leafed foliage will turn to a deep rich Mahogany color and turns even darker and more lustrous during the winter months. It is excellent when used for borders and in mixed containers, as well as in areas where grass won’t grow because of too much shade. Mahogany ajuga is a very fast grower. Space 6-12" apart when used as a groundcover. Mahagany ajuga displays lovely bright blue flower panicles in the spring. This Ajuga does best in fertile, well-drained soil. A site in morning sun and afternoon shade, or in filtered light allows this ajuga to really look its best. This Ajuga looks great in rock gardens, as a border plants, in mass plantings and is great for preventing erosion. Butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to Ajuga, and the plants are deer resistant. This is an extremely hardy ground cover with lush waxy foliage that hugs the soil with flowers appearing in May and June. Ajuga can be walked on, mowed over, and generally abused. In fall, blowing autumn leaves are easily raked off its dense foliage. If you are looking for a perennial ground cover to fill in a hard to grow shady area, Ajuga is the way to go. Hardy in zones 3-9. These plants are currently growing in 4” pots in our greenhouse. They will be shipped with moist material wrapped around their roots.

Yellow Primrose

Beautiful yellow flowers and stalks turn red in fall.

The evening primrose plant is one of the few native wildflowers in North America. As the name suggests, the yellow evening primrose blooms at night. It produces lovely yellow flowers from May to July.
It is considered to have a wide array of medicinal uses from relieving headaches and inducing labor to curing baldness and as a treatment for laziness.

The all parts if the evening primrose plant can also be eaten. The leaves are eaten like leaves and the roots are eaten like potatoes http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/flower/yellow-evening-primrose-plant-wildflower-in-the-garden.htm

Lambs Ear

                        Beautiful pastel colors for the garden.  Nice soft foilage like a lambs ear.

Lamb's Ears is the perfect example of plant over planter (and we mean the person doing the planting not a cute little pot). So widely grown and cultivated that it seems to be a native of almost everywhere. Actually, it is native to Northern Turkey, the Southern Caucasus Mountain region and Southern Iran where it grows on rocky hills and scrub areas. In other words, it is a weed. Which is exactly the quality it makes apparent in a rational planned garden. Like many weeds we adopt, it does its own thing. This makes it important to use it the right way in your garden and not try to make it something it isn't. For instance, it isn't the border plant to end all border plants. The potted plants are so cute and they look so nice when you line the driveway with them, but this is a mistake. Why? Because they aren't going to stay there. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mean they are going to sneak off in the middle of the night or anything as clandestine as that. What they do is grow outward from the center and leave a nice bare spot in the middle. This usually starts happening after they finish blooming.

While Lamb's Ears can take partial shade, they can't take excess water, which makes them a poor choice for planting near a lawn.

So what are they good for? Pure pleasure. Let them be free and they will spread their seeds and grace the garden with their downy softness and tall graceful purple flower heads. Here a Lamb's Ear and there a Lamb's ear, almost everywhere there will be a Lamb's ear, and you will be glad you let them have their way.

Oh, and some of you may wonder why an Herb Company grows Lamb's Ears. While there are a few folkloric references to herbal uses for Lamb's Ears, like to staunch wounds (thus the old name woundwort) and as a washcloth, it has a home here because of its association with the medicinal herb Betony. Both are in the genus Stachys and we tend to collect as many members of any herbal genus as possible. We don't always like all the different species, but Lamb's Ears found a permanent, yet variable, spot in our gardens.

Just a note about the variety of Lamb's Ears that do not bloom; they are slow. We did trial these years ago in the hope that they would be a better border plant or perennial addition to the garden. But, we weren't too impressed. Our original clumps are still in the garden. Over 8 or 10 years they have gone from 6 inch mounds to eighteen inch mounds; a little too tame for us.  http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/stalanata.htm