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Looking to enhance your ornamental grass selection? Native to the American prairie, Sorghastrum makes itself at home in any sunny border.Sorghastrum n. Golden Sunset™ is an early flowering, warm season grass that forms neat clumps of wide, olive-green blades. Shapely and graceful, it has an upright/arching habit. Full, rich golden plumes rise to an impressive, but not overwhelming, height. Sorghastrum nutans Golden Sunset™ in our Lancaster, PA trial gardens.Golden Sunset™ was selected

The “aster disaster” rocked the perennial world over 20 years ago when that venerable genus was torn asunder.Those darned taxonomists shipped all “New World” asters off to tongue-twisting new genera like Eurybia, Doellingeria and, in the case of our two favorites, Symphiotrichum.Many professionals snubbed the neologisms and kept right on calling them “asters.” That’s where you’ll find them in our catalog, with Symphiotrichum second. Because that’s where our customers look for them. By any name,

Flights of Fancy in the Backyard Zoo!Don’t look now, but critters have taken root in your garden. Relax, they’re friendly – and they’re animals in name only. Let’s meet one... heck, make it two – in one plant! Aquilegia: Bird of prey, or bird of peace? The genus name comes from the Latin for eagle (aquila), because the long petal spurs reminded Linnaeus of an eagle’s talons. But the common name, columbine, is from the Latin for dove (columba), because someone else thought the flower resembled d

In perennials, true blue and true red can be hard to find. Some of the best examples of each are found in the same genus: Salvia. Salvia nemorosa Blue Hill (‘Blauhugel’) boasts one of the truest blue flowers you can grow. At maturity, it lives up to its name, forming neat, uniform mounds of sturdy blue spikes. Blue Hill’s size makes it a natural for the middle of the border. At retail, it makes good-looking gallons with minimal fuss. It’s not as well known as some other hardy Salvia varieti

The word “Low” does not describe the height of this lovely, fragrant perennial. It stands 2½ – 3’, which makes it a good fit mid-border, or even back-of-the-border in smaller settings. It brings a cheerful, informal look to plantings of any size. Rather, the name honors the owner of the Irish garden where ‘Walker’s Low’ originated – where its soft mounds of gray-green foliage and loose spikes of lavender-blue flowers, from late spring well into summer, were first appreciated. ‘Walker’s