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Deinanthe
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Light Shade Zone: 4-7 24" tall Origin: Japan
Open House/Web-Only!
This bizarre hydrangea relative hails from the mountain woodlands of Japan, where it forms a 2' tall x 2' wide clump of rough-textured, bi-lobed, light green leaves. The clumps are topped in June (NC) with white flowers resembling miniature hydrangea florets. The leaves can be cooked and eaten, but we prefer spinach. This is about as esoteric as it gets, so it's not going to get gobbled up by the Wal-Mart marigold and impatiens crowd. If this is your thing, be sure to jump on the esoteric bandwagon before they're all gone...they're really cute. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #08105
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Delosperma
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SunZone: 4-7 1" tall Origin: S. Africa
NEW!
From South Africa's Drakensberg Mountains comes the hardiest and cutest of the ice plants, Delosperma basuticum. This charmer makes a tight 1" tall x 8" wide clump of little jellybean-like leaves topped, starting in mid-April (NC) and continuing through May, with 1.5" screaming yellow daisies, each highlighted with a dramatic white center. The flowers appear to float just atop the foliage. Although the foliage is technically evergreen, don't expect much of a winter show. Thanks to Pennsylvania plantsman, John Lonsdale, for sharing after I lusted over this in his garden. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #08744
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SunZone: 6-7, at least 1" tall Origin: S. Africa alternate image
Open House/Web-Only!
For the well-drained rock garden, Delosperma 'Beaufort West' is a real cutie. The slow-spreading, tiny, 1" tall cushion resembles a collection of small, green, rubbery marbles. In April in NC, the plants are topped with tiny, light pink flowers that continue until temperatures settle above 90 degrees F for the summer. Delosperma 'Beaufort West' doesn't appreciate summer rains and high humidity, but in our gravel scree, it does manage to come back year after year. At the Denver Botanic Garden, it continues to flower all summer. Delosperma 'Beaufort West' is an unidentified species that was collected from high alpine elevations near the town of Beaufort West in the Nieuwveld Mountains (South African Karroo). Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #05873
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SunZone: 5-9 3" tall Origin: S. Africa alternate image
Open House/Web-Only!
The succulent, needle-like leaves and fluorescent purple flowers make this semi-evergreen groundcover a sight to behold. Hot, sunny conditions keep the flowers coming most of the summer. This is a great groundcover for the beach, since it takes the salt as well as any margarita. A single plant can spread to 2' wide in one season. Although quite hardy, it cannot stand excessive winter moisture, either in the soil or applied from above. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #00397
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SunZone: 5-7 2" tall Origin: S. Africa
NEW!
This new ice plant hails from the mountains of South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, but has adapted well to drier parts of the US. The 2" tall x 18" wide mats of fleshy green foliage are blanketed from April through August (except in excessive heat) with coral red stars. Delosperma dyeri was a 2007 Plant Select (Colorado State University/Denver Botanic Gardens) winner. As with most delospermas, well drained soils are essential to its survival.
Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #08871
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SunZone: 4-8a 2" tall Origin: S. Africa
This marvelous ice plant appeared in 1998 as a seedling or mutation in a patch of dwarf alpine collections of Delosperma cooperi (probably crossed with D. nubigenum) at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The succulent, jellybean-like leaves are topped with stunning salmon-pink flowers from spring to fall. D. 'Kelaidis' is perfect for the rock garden where a low groundcover for a hot, dry site is needed. Our plants formed a stunning 3' wide patch in 3 years. Well-drained soils are very important for good performance. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #04951
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SunZone: 5-7 3" tall Origin: S. Africa
Open House/Web-Only!
Delosperma 'Osberg' is another in a wonderful line of rock garden succulents from South Africa. D. 'Osberg' forms a tight 2" tall x 18" wide mat of fleshy green foliage, topped with white star-shaped flowers, each with a yellow center, from April through August (NC). Good soil drainage is essential to ice plant prosperity.
Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #08870
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Deparia
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Light ShadeZone: 6-8, at least 10" tall Origin: Japan
Open House/Web-Only!
(aka: Lunathyrium pseudoconilii) Thanks to Dr. John Mickel for sharing this Japanese native he prizes in his New York garden. Deparia conilii creates a deciduous groundcover fern that can form a 3' wide patch of 10" tall fronds in 5 years. It reminds us of a smaller version of one of our favorites, Athyrium japonicum. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #06227
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Light ShadeZone: 4-8 36" tall Origin: China, Japan, Korea
Open House/Web-Only!
(syn: Athyrium pycnosorum) This Asian native to moist rocky cliffs makes a superb deciduous groundcover fern for the woodland garden. Resembling a giant Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern) in habit, the 3' tall pubescent (hairy) fronds form texturally dense patches. Expect a 10-year-old clump to reach 3' in width. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #05771
SOLD OUT
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Dianthus
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SunZone: 4-8, at least 12" tall Origin: S. Europe
This PDN introduction came to us around 1990 from former garden curator James Stevenson. Unlike most biennial sweet williams, our original clump is now over 15 years old. With so many folks asking about it, we finally got busy propagating and officially introduced it in 2001. Dianthus 'Heart Attack' starts flowering in early spring and continues for months with brilliant red-black, carnation-like flowers atop glossy, dark green, strap-like foliage. Unlike other biennial D. barbatus that we have grown, this one keeps returning and getting better each year. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #04368
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SunZone: 5-7 7" tall Origin: Hybrid
(aka: D. 'Siskin Clock') This stunning, new heat-tolerant dianthus comes from English dianthus hybridizer John Whetman. The compact evergreen clumps of grey-green foliage form a 2' wide patch, topped in spring by narrow 8" tall blue spikes of stunning white flowers with a bright red center. To top it off, the edge of each petal is also surrounded by a bright crimson border. We have found this to rebloom well in the early fall...a nice bonus. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #05624
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SunZone: 3-9 8" tall Origin: Hybrid
Open House/Web-Only!
(syn: Dianthus 'Firewitch') Not only is this German hybrid (Kayser & Seibert Nursery 1957) one of the bluest-foliaged dianthus, it is also one of the most heat-tolerant and certainly the longest-flowering. I was amazed to find this being sold and used regularly in northern and central Florida. The low-growing mat of narrow, silver-blue foliage is topped in early spring by bright magenta single flowers. For us, Dianthus 'Feuerhexe' flowers sporadically all summer and heavily from October into December. Even after flowering, the intensely colored foliage makes a great color foil in the garden. For best results, plant dianthus in bright light with well-drained soils. It was selected as the 2006 Perennial Plant of the Year by the PPA. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #02786
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SunZone: 3-9 15" tall Origin: Hybrid
Open House/Web-Only!
If you love pinks and you haven't grown Dianthus 'First Love', what are you waiting for? This amazing plant from Takii Seed Co. is hardy within a barbed wire strand of the North Pole, has fragrant flowers from spring to frost, and is incredibly easy to grow in a wide range of conditions. The 15" tall spikes of flowers emerge white, change to light pink, then to dark pink, which means you will have all three colors at the same time...like when I wash my clothes when my wife is out of town. I forgot to mention the foliage looks great in the winter...assuming you're not under snow. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #06460
SOLD OUT
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SunZone: 3-9 9" tall Origin: Hybrid
Open House/Web-Only!
We are pleased to offer a great white-flowered counterpart to the well-known Dianthus 'Bath's Pink' from the garden of NC plantsman Norman Beal. We have trialed this for several years and are convinced that it performs as well as its parent. The steel-grey foliage makes a tight mound to 4' wide. In early spring, the clumps are topped with very fragrant, heavily-fringed, single white flowers. If the temperatures are very cool, the flowers may carry the slightest tint of pink. We had been waiting for the white counterpart to Dianthus 'Bath's Pink'...we think this is it. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #03795
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SunZone: 4-8 12" tall Origin: Hybrid
Open House/Web-Only!
We were given this plant many years ago by Linda Askey, longtime garden editor for Southern Living Magazine, who got it from the late Catherine Sims of the Southern Garden History Society. While this may be an old passalong cultivar like Dianthus 'Mrs. Sinkins', we haven't finished the paternity tests, hence the new moniker. Dianthus 'Birmingham' makes a 2' wide patch of steely blue foliage, topped in late April and early May with masses of 1' tall stalks of double white fragrant carnations. This heat and humidity loving selection is always the talk of our Spring Open House, so we felt it was time to share...enjoy. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #02638
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SunZone: 3-9 8" tall Origin: Hybrid
Open House/Web-Only!
(aka: originally introduced as Dianthus 'Red Devil') This new PDN introduction was discovered here as a flower mutation on our patch of Dianthus 'Feuerhexe' (Firewitch). Our trials have shown it to be identical to the PPA Plant of the Year, Dianthus 'Feuerhexe', except in flower color, which is a lovely cherry red instead of the typical pink. The tight mats of powder blue foliage are topped in late April with 8" tall spikes of clove-like fragrant cherry red (RHS 66A) flowers that nearly obscure the foliage. As with the parent, we see sporadic rebloom through summer and into fall. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #05426
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SunZone: 4-8 6" tall Origin: Hybrid
Open House/Web-Only!
We have been quite impressed with the performance of this Dianthus x allwoodii (Dianthus plumarius x caryophyllus) in our summer tolerance trials, which usually make short work of exterminating most dianthus. Dianthus 'Frosty Fire' makes a tight 15" wide mound of very silvery blue foliage, topped in spring with 6" tall, bright cherry red, fragrant flowers. If the plants are deadheaded, we have even seen some summer and fall reblooming. Dianthus 'Frosty Fire' is totally unfazed by our brutal heat and humidity...one of the best rock garden dianthus that we have ever grown! Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #07305
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Dicentra
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Part Sun to Light ShadeZone: 7b-10 120" tall Origin: Himalayas
This Allan Armitage selection (cutting propagated) of the rare, climbing, yellow-flowered bleeding heart was made for its incredibly floriferous nature. Our plant is a virtual flowering machine, producing thousands of yellow, heart-shaped flowers from April through November. The fast-growing, corydalis-like, grey-green foliage climbs loosely up a trellis, fence, or sleeping neighbor...but unlike neighbors, it's never invasive. D. 'Athens Yellow' ranks high on the "can't live without it" list! Even in northern climates, D. scandens makes a superb deer-resistant tender perennial. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #01635
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Part Sun to ShadeZone: 2-8 24" tall Origin: Japan
Open House/Web-Only!
This oldie but goodie is still one of the finest deer-resistant perennials for the woodland garden. Emerging in very early spring, the upright stalks, clothed with dusty green leaves, are topped with dangling pink heart-shaped flowers as they emerge from the ground, and don't stop until early summer. The stems top out at 2', then gracefully arch outwards. In midsummer, Dicentra spectabilis goes summer dormant, and disappears to make room for late emerging perennials in the border. Each clump will eventually have a spread of 3'. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #00692
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Part Sun to ShadeZone: 3-9 24" tall Origin: Japan
Open House/Web-Only!
This is the lovely, pure white flowered form of the old fashioned bleeding heart complete with the pocket book flowers. The 3' wide, deer-resistant clump breaks ground in late winter and is adorned with 2' tall stalks of drooping floral panicles, composed of small white heart-shaped flowers from late March through May. When flowering ends, it's ready to go to sleep for the summer, when everyone else wakes up. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #01134
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Part Sun to Light ShadeZone: 2-7 36" tall Origin: Japan
Open House/Web-Only!
This most shocking of woodland garden plants is a selection from Nori Pope, former owner of England's Hadspen House, that was first offered in the US by our friend Dan Hinkley in 1997. The foliage on this vigorous bleeding heart is truly a screaming yellow, and in early April, the 2' tall stalks of foliage are topped with 1' arching spires of pink pocketbook like flowers...truly a combination that would even make shock master Howard Stern blush! Dicentra 'Goldheart' goes dormant in mid summer...slightly moist soils are essential for good performance in the south.. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #03210
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Dichromena
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SunZone: 7-10, at least 15" tall Origin: USA alternate image
Open House/Web-Only!
(syn: Rhynchospora latifolia) From the savannah and marsh regions of coastal Virginia through Florida comes this truly bizarre member of the sedge family. The slowly spreading clumps (3' in 2 years) of green foliage blend with the other green reed-like sedges until summer, when the 15" stalks are topped with spectacular white bracts (modified leaves) that surround the tiny flowers. While dichromena will prosper in all but the driest of garden soils, it prefers a moist boggy site, right beside the leaking water garden pool! If you've got a horticultural know-it-all nearby, I bet a white-top sedge will fool them! Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #04757
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Dicliptera
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SunZone: 7-10, at least 20" tall Origin: Uruguay
(aka: Jacobinia suberecta, Justicia suberecta) We have had so many requests from garden visitors for this plant, so here it is again. This is one of the few ornamentals from Uruguay that we grow...makes you wonder what else might be there. The felty grey leaves adorn this 20" tall x 3' wide, heat- and drought-loving clump, topped from late spring until fall with terminal clusters of tubular orange flowers...a hummingbird's dream come true...ours also. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #01285
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Digitalis
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SunZone: 4-7 18" tall Origin: Hybrid
Open House/Web-Only!
(aka: Digitalis 'Goldcrest') Digitalis 'Waldigone' is the latest introduction from England plant breeder David Tristam. This cross of the perennial Digitalis grandiflora and the woody Digitalis obscura produced a nice clump-former, adorned with small, glossy, evergreen foliage, topped throughout the summer with 18" branched spikes of large apricot flowers, each highlighted by interior brown specks. Unfortunately, the plant was christened 'Waldigone', but is sold under the invalid name, 'Goldcrest'...I'll be glad to loan my copy of The International Code of Nomenclature if that would help breeders understand how to properly name plants. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #08385
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Dionaea
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SunZone: 5-9 4" tall Origin: USA
Green fly traps are from Venus. Red fly traps are from Mars! This spectacular and vigorous 1997 introduction from the Atlanta Botanical Garden is the result from years of line-breeding by carnivorous plant guru Ron Gagliardo. Dionaea 'Akai Ryu', which means "red dragon", has bright red stems ending in carmine-red traps. This is truly a stunning conversation piece when grown either in a container garden or a bog garden. Royalties from each sale go to the endangered species conservation program at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Pot size: 24 fl. oz (709.77 ml) #04107
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| <Dahlia - Dasylirion] | [Disporopsis - Echeveria> |
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