Saturday, May 14, 2016
Annual fundraiser to support shoreland restoration efforts in Menominee Park. 100% of all proceeds will directly support the purchase of native plants and seed, erosion control matting, and educational signage. All plants are native to Wisconsin and were grown locally.2016 location: Growing Oshkosh, 36 Broad Street (behind the Leach Amphitheater and United Way Building).
All plants: $3.00 each; 4 plants for $10.00
Below is a sampling of plants that will be available. This list will be updated late April.
This bushy, 1 1/2-2 ft. perennial is prized for its large, flat-topped clusters of bright-orange flowers. The leaves are mostly alternate, 1 1/2–2 1/4 inches long, pointed, and smooth on the edge. The yellow-orange to bright orange flower clusters, 2–5 inches across, are at the top of the flowering stem. The abundance of stiff, lance-shaped foliage provides a dark-green backdrop for the showy flower heads.
This showy plant is frequently grown from seed in home gardens. Its brilliant flowers attract butterflies. Because its tough root was chewed by the Indians as a cure for pleurisy and other pulmonary ailments, Butterfly Weed was given its other common name, Pleurisy Root. Although it is sometimes called Orange Milkweed, this species has no milky sap.
Soft, grasslike leaves and a 1-2 ft., leafless flowering stalk rise from a bulb. The stem bends so that the pink flowers, borne in a cluster at the top, nod toward the ground. An umbel of many pink or white flowers at the tip of a long, erect, leafless stalk, bent like a shepherd’s crook; a basal cluster of several long, narrow leaves. All parts of the perennial have a mild, oniony scent. Attracts hairstreak butterfly.
Sky Blue Aster has blue to blue-violet flowers. It is easy to grow and is drought tolerant. Blooming late summer to fall, like most Asters, it attracts butterflies and other beneficial insects such as small bees and small to medium-sized butterflies.
Sky Blue Aster prefers full or partial sun and can grow in many different types of soil as long as it is well-drained. The leaves are smaller when heading upward along the stem, and are typically heart-shaped at the base. These upright plants can reach 5' in rich soils; in a garden setting you may want to stake the plants. It is an easy target for Monarchs and other butterflies and birds to feed. Blossoms often appear all at once along stems and last for many weeks late summer. Birds find the seeds appealing later in the year.
A clump-forming iris that is native to marshes, swamps, wet meadows, ditches and shorelines from Manitoba to Nova Scotia south to Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota. It is a marginal aquatic plant that forms a clump of narrow, arching-to-erect, sword-shaped, blue-green leaves (to 24” long and 1” wide). Flowering stalks rise from the clump to 30” tall in late spring, with each stalk producing 3-5 bluish-purple flowers (to 4" wide) with bold purple veining. Falls (sepals) have a central yellow blotch surrounded by a white zone. Clumps spread slowly by tough, creeping rhizomes. Northern blue flag thrives in wetland habitats frequented by rushes and sedges (the "flag" part of the common name comes from the middle English wordflagge meaning rush or reed). Rhizome is poisonous.
Cardinal flower is a native perennial which typically grows in moist locations along streams, sloughs, springs, swamps and in low wooded areas. A somewhat short-lived, clump-forming perennial which features erect, terminal spikes (racemes) of large, cardinal red flowers on unbranched, alternate-leafed stalks rising typically to a height of 2-3' (infrequently to 4'). Tubular flowers are 2-lipped, with the three lobes of the lower lip appearing more prominent than the two lobes of the upper lip. Finely-toothed, lance-shaped, dark green leaves (to 4" long). Late summer bloom period. Flowers are very attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds.
Purple prairie clover is a native prairie clover which occurs in glades, rocky open woods and prairies throughout the State except for the far southeastern counties. Typically grows 1-3' tall. Features tiny purple flowers in dense, cone-like heads (to 2" long) atop erect, wiry stems in summer. Compound, odd-pinnate leaves, with 3-5 narrow linear leaflets. A nitrogen-fixing plant that is an important component of Midwestern prairie restorations
This native perennial plant is up to 2' tall and unbranched. The stem is covered with fine white hairs. The opposite leaves are up to 3½" long and ½" across, and sparsely distributed along the stem. They are linear to narrowly lanceolate, sessile, and have smooth, but slightly ciliate margins. Their surface often has a fine pubescence. The lower leaves tend to turn yellow and drop off the stem when the plant becomes stressed out. There is a cluster of flowers at the apex of the plant on short hairy stalks. Each flower is about ½" across, and has 5 lobes that flare abruptly outward from a long narrow tubular corolla. These lobes are rather angular and become considerably more narrow toward the base of the corolla. The calyx has long slender sepals that are green and hairy. The flowers may be white, pink, or lavender, and have a mild pleasant fragrance. The base of the corolla often has lines of deeper color than the lobes. Prairie Phlox typically blooms during late spring or early summer for about 1–1½ months. This plant has a taproot, and occasionally tillers at the base, sending up multiple stems.
Rare and unusual garden-worthy plant with everything one could want in a great perennial: good form, excellent foliage, long bloom time, and resistance to insects and disease. The pure white flowers make a fantastic combination when planted with Prairie Blazingstar. Woolly-looking, white flower heads, each with 5 tiny ray flowers (1/12" long), appear in broad, flat-topped, terminal corymbs from late spring to late summer. Leaves are aromatic, toothed and rough. Long-petioled basal leaves are much larger than stem leaves.
This penstemon is a clump-forming perennial which typically grows 3-5' tall and occurs in prairies, fields, wood margins, open woods and along railroad tracks. Features white, two-lipped, tubular flowers (to 1.25" long) borne in panicles atop erect, rigid stems. Flowers bloom mid-spring to early summer. Basal leaves are elliptic and stem leaves are lance-shaped to oblong. Penstemon in Greek means five stamens (four are fertile and one is sterile). Penstemon is sometimes commonly called beard tongue because the sterile stamen has a tuft of small hairs
The ultimate Monarch butterfly magnet! The beautiful purple blossoms of this Liatris should be your first choice for attracting Monarch and other butterflies to sunny, medium-soil sites in late summer. It's not uncommon to see dozens of Monarchs nectaring on a stand of Meadow Blazing Star.
The preference is full sun and moist to mesic conditions. Established plants can tolerate some drought, but seedlings and transplants are vulnerable. The soil should consist of a rich loam or clay loam, and can contain rocky material. There is a tendency for the lower leaves to turn yellow and wither away if conditions become too dry. During the first year, this plant may develop slowly and prove temperamental, but once established it is easy to maintain. This blazingstar remains reasonably erect, even when spoiled in a flower garden, but may bend around oddly if there is significant obstruction of sunlight.
The bright lavender 'flowers' of the Dotted Mint are actually leafy bracts that surround the true flower. A multitude of butterflies visit Monarda punctata - a top nectar plant for the rare Karner Blue Butterfly. Dotted Mint is biennial and self-sows readily on open sandy soil.
Best grown in dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Tolerates somewhat poor soils and some drought. Plants need good air circulation. Deadhead flowers to prolong summer bloom. Grows 1.5 - 2 feet high. Also called spotted bee balm, the plant is very aromatic and can be used as short cut flowers. Dotted Mint is easily propagated from untreated seed sown in fall or stratified seed sown in spring.
Sleepingplant or partridge-pea is a slender-stemmed, 1-3 ft. annual with pinnately-compound leaves bearing many small, yellow-green leaflets which fold together when touched. Large, showy, yellow flowers arise from leaf axils. Each flower is marked with red and is followed by a narrow pod.
This wildflower provides bright summer color, and the flowers attract bees and butterflies. Seed pods are eaten by gamebirds and songbirds, and the plant provides excellent cover for gamebirds and browse for deer. Leaves collapse when touched, giving rise to the common name Sensitive-plant. Like other members of the pea family, Partridge-pea requires the presense of microorganisms that inhabit nodules on the plants root system and produce nitrogen compounds necessary for the plants survival.
A robust bloomer, Boltonia asteroides provides a bright white presence from late summer to fall, a time when the predominant native flower color is yellow. The aster-like blossoms are an inch across and feature yellow centers surrounded by narrow white ray petals that often are tinged from pink to purple. Narrow gray-green leaves add to the plant's visual appeal.
Boltonia asteroides, commonly called false chamomile or false aster, is a rhizomatous perennial which typically grows to 5-6’ tall on erect, usually branching stems clad with alternate, linear, lance-shaped, stalkless, gray-green leaves (to 5” long). Tiny, daisy-like flowers (to 3/4” diameter) in loose panicles typically cover this aster-like plant with a profuse bloom from late summer to early fall. Flowers typically have white rays with yellow center disks, but sometimes the rays are pink-tinged, violet or purple. Fruits are seed-like achenes. This boltonia is native to wet prairies, wet meadows, marshes, stream banks and pond peripheries in eastern and central North America.
Showy, elongate clusters of purple, pea-like flowers top the 1-2 ft. stems of this perennial lupine. Blue, pea-like flowers are in an upright, elongated, terminal cluster on an erect stem with palmately compound leaves. Its leaves are palmately divided into 7-11 leaflets. Occasionally flowers range from pink to white. The plant and all the family enhances soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen into a useful form.
Host plant for larvae of the endangered butterfly Karner Blue.
Fruit is a hairy pod. Seeds can be collected in late June to early July. If left on the plant, the seed heads explode, scattering seeds.
Growing condition must be well drained. Adding 1/4 sand to your soil mix will help. Grow in full sun to part shade.
15. Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Easily grown in average, dry to medium, well-drained soils in full sun. Drought tolerant. Does well in poor, dryish soils. Will self-seed in the landscape if seed pods are not removed prior to splitting open. Can spread somewhat rapidly by rhizomes. Often forms extensive colonies in the wild.
Common milkweed is a rough, native perennial which commonly occurs in fields, open woods, waste areas, roadsides and along railroad tracks. It typically grows 3-4' tall on stout, upright stems with thick, broad-oblong, reddish-veined, light green leaves (to 8" long). Domed, slightly drooping clusters (umbels) of fragrant, pinkish -purple flowers appear mostly in the upper leaf axils over a long bloom period from late spring well into summer. Stems and leaves exude a milky sap when cut or bruised. Flowers give way to prominent, warty seed pods (2-4" long) which split open when ripe releasing their numerous silky-tailed seeds for dispersal by the wind. Seed pods are valued in dried flower arrangements. Flowers are a nectar source for many butterflies and leaves are a food source for monarch butterfly larvae (caterpillars).
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Supplies of each species will be limited, with an estimated total plant available (all species) of 600.
For additional information, contact Justin at justin_mitchell1@yahoo.com.
