We propagate and grow a lot of great plants here at the nursery, which gives us (and you!) an advantage when the wholesale suppliers run short in mid and late summer. We’re very pleased to have beautiful stock of some highly desirable and hard-to-find shrubs and perennials right now, including some choice native plants, Plant Select® winners, and customer favorites.
Here are some brief profiles of some of our best current offerings. And this week, Harlequin’s Members can buy them for 20% off!
CARYOPTERIS ‘DARK KNIGHT’ (Dark Knight compact Blue-mist Spirea)
This excellent compact selection has been very hard to find this summer, but we’ve got ‘em! Our plants are 3-4’ tall, with vivid deep blue blooms for a month or more in late summer, a fantastic nectar source attracting honeybees, many species of native bees, and butterflies. Dark Knight stays a bit smaller than the standard Blue Mist spirea, growing to 3-4’ tall and 3-4’wide. It will tolerate light shade, and requires only occasional watering once established. Hardy to Zone 5.
ARTEMISIA ‘LEPRECHAUN’ (Dwarf Green Southernwood Sagebrush) Plant Select® 2020
An endlessly useful compact selection (24-30” tall and wide) of the ancient garden herb that forms a dense, symmetrical mound of deliciously aromatic, fine-textured silver-green foliage. Plant as a specimen, in mass to provide a background for colorful perennials, or create a low garden hedge suggestive of boxwood, but heat-loving! Cut back to a few inches in January to early spring when fully dormant. Thrives in shady conditions as well as full sun, with low to moderate water, in loamy or sandy soils, and is pest-free and not bothered by deer and rabbits. ‘Leprechaun’ was discovered in Wyoming by plantsman Kelly Grummons. It’s incredibly tolerant of our mountainous terrain, growing happily up to 8500’ elevation (Zone 4)!
RUBUS DELICIOSUS (Boulder Raspberry)
This lovely compact Rocky Mt. and local native shrub is grown for its large, showy white flowers that look like wild roses in late spring and early summer (May and June). It has an arching, vase-shaped growth habit with thornless branches. Later, small raspberry-like fruit appear grainy and unpalatable to humans, but popular with birds and other wildlife. The stems have attractive cinnamon-colored exfoliating bark. The mature size is usually 3 to 4’ tall and wide. Prune out one-third of older stems in late winter to encourage more flowers. The shrub is pollinated by many species of bees and other insects, thrives in sun or part shade with low water (but appreciates planting next to a boulder or amongst large rocks that condense H2O in the root zone). It is very cold hardy, to Zone 4 or 9,000’.
BUDDLEIA ‘ROYAL RED’ (Royal Red Butterfly Bush)
A spectacular splash of mid-late summer color! Very fragrant flowers attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.
PHYSOCARPUS ‘COPPER’ (Copper Ninebark)
Featuring coppery-orange foliage all spring and summer long, pink buds and white flowers in early summer followed by bright red seed capsules, and attractive exfoliating bark, this North American native, arching, deciduous shrub is easy to grow, tough and adaptable, shade tolerant and bursts into brilliant purple and red fall color. It grows to 5-8’ tall and wide, blooms on old wood and should be pruned immediately after blooming. It is best planted in open areas with good air circulation. Benefits from a good hard pruning as a young plant.
FORESTIERA NEOMEXICANA (New Mexico Privet)
Erect, arching, and finely-twigged stems with attractive white to tawny bark create a dense shrub with small, narrowly oval fresh light green foliage that turns golden yellow in fall. Tiny yellow flowers in spring yield attractive clusters of small glaucus blue berries. New Mexico Privet makes an excellent xeric, deer-resistant specimen plant, screen, or hedge for a sunny location, and can reach 9 to 12’ in height and 6-9’ wide or be pruned to smaller dimensions.
Photo Credit, D. Winger & Plant Select®
PRUNUS BESSEYI ‘PAWNEE BUTTES’ (Prostrate Sandcherry) Plant Select®
This prostrate form of our native Sand Cherry was discovered growing at Pawnee Buttes in N.E. Colorado. Instead of being upright, it stays under 2’ tall and spreads 4 to 6’ wide. In early spring, fragrant white blossoms festoon the branches, and later in the summer, large round berries ripen from red to black and attract fruit-eating birds. The shrub is drought-tolerant once established (but not xeric), and very cold-hardy, to 9,000’.
Photo Credit, Plant Select®
STACHYS LAVANDULIFOLIA (Pink Cotton Lamb’s Ear)
This slowly-spreading ground-cover is a wonderful xeric wildflower with uniquely beautiful fuzzy, airy, bright purple-pink flower spikes (much brighter than this image shows). It is highly adaptable, performing well in a variety of soil conditions. Deadhead after bloom to maintain plant vitality. And it sometimes reblooms! Grows 8-10” high and 12-15” wide.
ANEMONE HYBRIDA ‘WHIRLWIND’ (Whirlwind Japanese Anemone)
An autumn essential for the shady garden, with semi-double flowers on graceful 2-3′ tall stems! Honeybees and bumblebees adore it.
RUDBECKIA SUBTOMENTOSA (Sweet Coneflower)
A truly perennial prairie native Black-Eyed Susan! Hardy to Zone 4.
Heuchera ‘Plum Crazy’ & ‘Carnival Peach’
HEUCHERA ‘Black Taffeta’, ‘Midnight Rose’, Plum Crazy’, and ‘Carnival Peach’
Many colors and forms of Coral Bells grown for their stunning foliage. These are great in light shade or filtered sun, or morning sun/afternoon shade, and will grow into handsome mounds 10-12” tall and 12-15” wide. Hardy to Zone 4, deer-resistant, and supports butterflies and bees.