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Latest NewsGreat Gifts for Valentines Day!Looking for great gifts for Valentines Day? Here are Perennials that will provide winter color and interest to a container or landscape, and will flourish in a range of zones across the country.
San Francisco Flower and Garden ShowMarch 21st to 25th at the San Mateo Event Center Green living at its best – 20 gorgeous display gardens, container gardens, edible gardens and new products designed to help Planet Earth thrive. Edible gardening workshops, cooking demonstrations, seminars on design and horticulture. 2012 CatalogOrder the 2012 Catalog printed on genuine paper for $4. Free with plant order. Digging Dog Nurserya retail and mail order plant nursery specializing in unusual and hard to find perennials, ornamental grasses, shrubs, trees, and vines.
31101 Middle Ridge Rd. Customer Comment:“I have wanted to write for weeks to thank you for the wonderful plants you sent in April!! .... Have mail ordered for over 20 years, and I had to tell you how impressed I am with your plants. All have moved into my garden with ease and bloomed....My largest order next spring will be with Digging Dog!!” ~Mary Kay in New York view Digging Dog's comments with Dave’s Garden (The Garden Watchdog) |
Perennials at Digging Dog
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Slender blooms in a soft shade of pale yellow are staged well above finely textured foliage. This courtly Kniphofia echoes ornamental grasses such as Panicum and makes a friendly color-mate for Eupatoriums and Geraniums. Blooms July–September. Size: 3' high x 2' wide; hardy to zone 6. Kniphofia ‘Vanilla’ (P-0240) Kniphofia ‘Wayside Flame’ |
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With a big-leaf tropical look that belies its rugged hardiness, this Hawaiian native belongs to the Mint family and masquerades as a Salvia. Stiff, upright and fuzzy, the mauve-infused stems inject architectural pizazz, while hosting large, spade-shaped felted greenery. Smoky magenta-colored, openly arranged flower spires, some 12 in. tall, grace the spice-scented foundation. known to possess antibiotic properties, Lepechinia hastata delivers late season fanfare, fends off deer, acquiesces to dry poor soil and temperatures as low as 0°, asking only for a well drained abode. Blooms August – October. Size: 4'–5' high x 2'–3' wide; hardy to zone 7. Lepechinia hastata (p-1459) LiatrisBlazing StarsAn American native best planted in drifts, Liatris is a free spirit in the border, in the meadow or in the wild garden. With striking vertical lines, these Blazing Stars add lift to the garden. From a tuft of grassy leaves, stiff, bottlebrush-shaped flowers top leafy stems. Uniquely, buds burst to bloom from the top down. Coveted by florists for both fresh and dried blossoms, Liatris endures heat, likes well drained soil, and beckons butterflies and bees. Liatris spicata ‘Floristan Violett’ |
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Blazing Star
‘Kobold’ means “goblin”—and big-headed it is. This compact cultivar has a smaller stature than others of its species, and its erect stems rise solidly from the earth. Grassy foliage plays host to an outstanding bristle of rosy lilac blooms. A vibrant garden guest, contrast ‘Kobold’ against Phlomis fruticosa’s yellow blooms and harmonize with the pinkish panicles of Calamagrostis brachytricha. Blooms July–September. Size: 2' high x 12" wide; hardy to zone 4. Liatris spicata ‘Kobold’ (p-0954) LibertiaNew Zealand IrisLibertia ixioides ‘Taupo Sunset’ |
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Scotch LovageA cosmopolitan, easily grown perennial whose haunts span all the way from New England and our Pacific coast to northern Europe and Asia, the Scotch Lovage gratifies us with charming sprays of tiny, brilliant white flowers. Lustrous, thick scalloped foliage defines a low, dark green compact clump that supports sturdy, branching purple stalks and numerous pearly umbels. Eaten by sailors to help prevent scurvy and added to salads, soups and stews for its celery-like flavor, this hard-to-find carrot relative can be placed in a somewhat moist, more wild garden bed where the mounding form of its filigree blooms echoes Astrantia ‘Roma’s pink pincushions. Blooms July – September. Size: 20" high x 15" wide; hardy to zone 4. Ligusticum scoticum (p-1460) LiliumLilyEmbracing the history of many countries, Liliums are named after a Celtic word that means whiteness, and according to an age-old Christian legend, the first lily “sprang from the tears of Eve as she went from Eden.” The species we offer are easily grown in just about any garden of Eden with well drained soil and a sunny spot. Excellent as cut flowers, Lilies should be picked as soon as they open. In the fall, you can cut the stems back when the foliage turns brown, which allows the bulbs to store up much-needed nourishment. Lilium candidum |
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The lushly tropical color scheme of this somewhat tender Chilean native is alluring. Cloaked in broad and pointed, pale green, felted foliage, each soaring, purple-tinged stem is crowned with a large, tapering raceme of warm, brick-red blossoms. From the swollen base of each flower, a clawlike lower lip curls under and a tuft of gray stamens extends upward. A perennial of nearly monumental stature, associate Lobelia tupa with Melianthus, Muhlenbergia and Morina longifolia for a dynamic melange of color and shape in the border. Blooms July–October. Size: 6'–8' high x 3'–4' wide; hardy to zone 8. AVAILABLE LATE SPRING 2012 Lobelia tupa (P-1119) Lupinus
Lupine or BluebonnetLaden with tightset pealike blossoms, Lupine’s sweetly scented, 10 to 12 in. spikes tower above good-looking foliage. Radiating out, like the fingers of a hand, rich green leaves collect glistening beads of water with their silky hairs. Developed by George Russell, an English plantsman, these stately, June blooming hybrids present one of the longest and most spectacular floral parades at that time. A lover of cool weather and moist, well drained soil, Bluebonnets detest hot, humid conditions, and look their best planted in groups. We cultivated the following Russell hybrids from seed. Lupinus ‘Chandelier’ |
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Gooseneck LoosestrifeRacemes arching like shooting stars, bursting into soft white flowers against a deep green galaxy of foliage, make graceful, upright Gooseneck the jewel of the woodland setting. It’s a toss-up between growing it for flowers or foliage, but either way, it’s a winner. Blooms July–September. Size: 3'–4' high & spreading; hardy to zone 4. Lysimachia clethroides (p-0102) Lysimachia ephemerum
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Lofty, narrow spikes of pearly white starlike flowers grace this hard-to-find European species. Non-invasive Lysimachia ephemerum grows in a clump, rather than spreading by runners like its more aggressive cousins. Joined at the base around sturdy, upright stems, the glaucous gray-green leaves are opposite and lanceolate in shape. An intriguing flower for arrangements, this Lysimachia’s soothing colors are a gentle match for Thalictrum flavum ssp. glaucum. Blooms August–September. Size: 4'–5' high x 18" wide; hardy to zone 6. Lysimachia ephemerum (p-0103) Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ |
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Equally at home in a cottage garden or a more formal setting, this commanding perennial manifests soft, easy-to-blend colors and a tall leafy presence. Quickly colonizing from a vigorous rootstock, sturdy upright stems are garbed with large, rounded and lobed foliage, gray-green on top, downy white below and cinnamon-hued come autumn. The two-toned leaves sparkle when the wind blows, while above thousands of tiny, copper-pink fluffy flowers converge on stiff slender branches, shaping light dreamy looking plumes. Relishing well drained soil, the Plume Poppy adds an architectural bent to a mixed planting of Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder’, Euphorbia ‘Excalibur’ and Verbascum ‘Pink Domino’. Blooms August – September. Size: 5' high x 3' wide; hardy to zone 4. Macleaya microcarpa ‘Kelway’s Coral Plume’ (P-1528) MarrubiumMarrubium incanum
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Horehound
A stellar silvery perennial for the moonlit garden, this tough Mediterranean herb spotlights felted, scalloped and toothed gray-green leaves with white woolly undersides, staged beneath snowy whorled flowers. Dry, well-drained niches make Horehound prosper, while other drought tolerant plants such as Oregano, Thyme and Lavender make ideal companions. Acquiescent to intense heat and otherwise unflappable, it also has medicinal uses, yielding an essential oil that exhibits strong antimicrobial properties Blooms June – July. Size: 16" high x 18"–20" wide; hardy to zone 6. Marrubium incanum (P-1660) MatteucciaMatteuccia struthiopteris |
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Big, bold, blue and architectural pretty much sums up the fantastic posture of this Melianthus selection named after Seattle plantsman Steve Antonow. Deeply divided in an exotic featherlike fashion, the glaucous, nearly iridescent, blue leaflets are prominently toothed, while gracefully curving downward. Erect and thick, gray-green stems infused with rosy purple hues host the highly textured foliage that can grow up to 18 in. long, making an enduring addition to arrangements. Elevated above the tropical-style foundation, intriguing one ft. long terminal spikes showcase deep brick-red bracts with green stamens, later followed by ornamental papery seed pods. Evergreen in warmer climates and choice for a container in colder areas, the Honey Bush grows into a spreading subshrub, sculpting a dramatic, quick growing specimen if given room to move, average moisture, well drained soil and a heavy winter mulch. Zone 7/8. Blooms June–August. Size: 6' high x 6' wide; hardy to zone 8. Melianthus major ‘Antonow’s Blue’ (p-1390) MonardaWild Bergamot/BeebalmThis genus was named after Dr. Nicolas Monardes, a Spanish physician whose Joyfull Newes Out of the New Founde Worlde was the first book to be published about the flora of the Americas. A summer blooming member of the Mint family, everything about this plant is intriguing. Excellent in arrangements, its jaunty whorls of Sage-like blossoms and decorative bracts attract butterflies and hummingbirds while holding our interest even in winter. Lining erect and robust stems, its opposite leaves are deliciously scented. An engaging addition to the border or a meadow setting, Bergamot offers a pleasing contrast to the more undefined forms of the garden, as well as to the linear aspect of grasses. Happiest in moist, fertile soil, Monarda’s dense clump needs to be divided every 2 to 3 years. The following cultivars exhibit excellent resistance to powdery mildew. Zone 3/4. Monarda x ‘Coral Reef’ |
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Deemed by many gardeners to be “the best red,” this showy Monarda was discovered way down south growing along Georgia’s Blue Ridge Parkway. Cloaked in rich dark green leaves, its tall sturdy stems stage a blazon display of large, red, tufted flowers poised on dark maroon leafy bracts. Blooms late June–September. Size: 4'–5' high x 15" wide; hardy to zone 4. Monarda didyma ‘Jacob Cline’ (P-1126) Monarda ‘Raspberry Wine’ |
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Himalayan WhorlflowerThis Himalayan native is full of delicacy and strength. Its prickly, aromatic foliage appears beneath pagodalike towers of jade green buds and white tubular florets. Eventually, the flowers turn rose-colored and then crimson. When the blossoms are spent, the standing green stems are perfect for dried arrangements. Blooms June–August. Size: 2-1/2' high x 18" wide; hardy to zone 6. Morina longifolia (p-0497) MukdeniaMukdenia rossii ‘Karasuba’ |
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