Here are a few plants I’ve gotten at the Friends School Plant Sale over the years. We’re always interested in hearing how your plants have done, and seeing pictures if you want to share any. You can email photos to photos@friendsschoolplantsale.com.
Below: We sold this Dwarf Broom (Genista lydia) in 2006, but weren’t sure how it would do here in the Twin Cities. I planted it, and as you can see, it is looking pretty good! It looks like it will do as promised: spread about 6″ a year, up to 48″, cascading down the rocks on my hill.
Below: I don’t really grow herbs, but on a whim last year I bought some African Blue Basil. What a great plant! It got to be about 30″ wide and tall, with beautiful leaves and flowers that add to the look.
Below: Over time, I have planted the native Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) in several different spots in my yard. The ones shown in this photo are from about five years ago, and have since wandered off from this location (they have come up in a number of other places, but never are a problem). They are between 36″ and 48″ tall and the blooms last a long time.
Below: Another Minnesota native, Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea). My single plant has spread to a patch of about 48″ in width, but doesn’t seem to be spreading further. I don’t see this plant in many gardens, and I don’t know why, since I think its mid-summer blooms are pretty attractive en masse, and its foliage is silvery and nice the rest of the time.
Below: Also planted in 2006 was this perennial Bachelor’s Button (Centaurea montana ‘Gold Bullion’). I love the bright yellow/green foliage and interesting blooms. I hear it can be an aggressive reseeder, but I haven’t seen that yet (although it is still young). Perhaps next year? But it would have to be pretty aggressive for me to care, since I think it would be a plus to have some more of these bright plants popping up in my boulevard bed.
Below: My yard has more than its share of Minnesota natives, so here’s another one: Sweet Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia subtomentosa). I like its long-lasting, elegant flowers. It’s a perennial (unlike the biennial Rudbeckia hirta) so it stays where it’s put, aside from the many seedlngs it puts out after it gets established. Keep on top of rooting those out, unless you like a lot of volunteers in your garden.
Below: I am very fond of Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis). It likes a lot of sun, which my garden doesn’t have in abundance, but it seems to make do with four hours or so. It has cute hairy leaves and stems and winsome lavender blossoms. A great informal plant that will reseed–but you want it to!
Below: Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) is one of those plants that is hard for us to get at a good price for the sale, but once you get some in your yard, it’s likely to spread and just show up in other spots. Then you can move it to where you want it. Basically a shade ground cover, it really can’t take much sun. Reddish-brown, pipe-like flowers appear under the leaves in spring, but you have to look for them to find them.
Below: Another great early-to-mid-spring bloomer is Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia). Some plants have pink blooms and some have white, like these. Just like the name would lead you to think, the plant is fairly low to the ground while the blooms shoot up above the plant, arching over as they turn and face downward. They bloom for a long time and always get comments from visitors to my garden.
Below: Finally, my Large-Flowered Yellow Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium pubescens) bloomed this year and is looking pretty happy. Planted six or seven years ago, it was lab propagated, so it was smaller than the plants we have at the sale these days, which are rescued from development under contract with the DNR. It has bloomed several other years, but for the last two springs it hadn’t, so I wasn’t expecting it do anything this year. Surprise!
