(Ice Ballet Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed)

Swamp milkweed is native to pond edges and stream banks of the eastern and Midwestern United States. The cultivar ‘Ice Ballet’ bears clear white flowers. Though this perennial is a wetland plant, it is very adaptable and at home in sunny gardens.

Delightful, lightly fragrant flowers are produce summer through fall. They are born atop upright stems that hold narrow, lance-shaped leaves opposite of each other. The flowers are borne in flat clusters; each flower is complex and topped with a “crown.”...

(Common Milkweed)

A host plant for monarch butterfly caterpillars, common milkweed is a tall, upright, vigorously spreading herbaceous perennial from eastern and central North America. In late spring its wandering underground rhizomes send up tough fibrous thigh-high stems with large leathery oval leaves. Cut stems bleed milky sap. Domed heads of sweet-scented, dull purplish-pink flowers appear at the stem tips and leaf axils in early summer. Butterflies flock to the blooms. Large green flask-shaped seedpods follow...

(Garden Asparagus)

Asparagus is one of the few truly perennial vegetables. It is also one of the rare veggies in the lily family. This tough herbaceous plant originates from the coastal regions of Europe, Asia and North Africa. Over time its clumps slowly spread via rhizomes.

Fully unfurled asparagus has a delicate ferny appearance. The much sought after luscious, asparagus spears are immature, unexpanded stems that are plucked from the ground when they first appear spring. Asparagus is dioecious, which means...

(Asparagus, Jersey Knight Asparagus)

Asparagus ‘Jersey Knight’ is a superior variety which produces thick spears. It is disease resistant, cold hardy and an all male cultivar which is very productive.

Asparagus is one of the few truly perennial vegetables. It is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial native to the seacoast of Europe, Asia and North Africa. Over time its clumps spread very slowly via rhizomes (underground stems). Mature asparagus is ferny in appearance; however it is not a true fern. The much sought after luscious,...

(Asparagus, Mary Washington Asparagus)

Asparagus 'Mary Washington' is an older variety which produces thick spears and is rust resistant. It has a long cutting period, is cold tolerant and produces abundant emerald-green spears when mature.

Asparagus is one of the few truly perennial vegetables. It is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial native to the seacoast of Europe, Asia and North Africa. Over time its clumps spread very slowly via rhizomes (underground stems). Mature asparagus is ferny in appearance; however it is not a true...

(Asparagus Fern)

(Asparagus Fern, Lace Veil Asparagus Fern)

(Ebony Spleenwort)

This tough little evergreen fern offers delightful beauty without the need for a specialized environment. Its wide adaptability is proven by its natural range which spans the warmer tropical regions of North America, Africa and the West Indies, and parts of the midwestern U.S.. It asks for porous gritty ground with plenty of humus to keep the roots in an oxygen rich medium. In the wild it’s found on rocky banks and the slopes of river canyons and in woodlands.

Ebony spleenwort was named for an...

(Alpine Aster)

The cultivar 'Goliath' bears large, pale lilac-blue "daisies" early in the season. It is a selection of Aster alpinus, a spring-blooming aster native to slopes, tundra, and coastlines over much of the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

This hardy, short-lived perennial forms a dense hummock of medium-green, spoon-shaped leaves. Daisy-like blossoms with slender ray petals and golden discs are singly borne atop short, sparsely leaved stems in late spring and early summer. Bees...

(White Wood Aster)

This colonizing perennial is a common resident of dry, open wooded areas across much of eastern North America. Delicate in appearance but easy to grow, it is valued for its clouds of small, white daisies produced at summer’s end.

The wiry, branched, upright to lax stems of white wood aster arise from wandering underground rhizomes. The stems are often purple-tinged. Toothed, oval to lance-shaped leaves alternate along the stems, becoming narrower and shorter-stalked toward the stem tips. Loose,...