Arrowhead Alpines Blog: Asclepias tuberosa -- Perennial Plant of 2017 -- and much more!

10 August 2016

Asclepias tuberosa -- Perennial Plant of 2017 -- and much more!

Asclepias tuberosa -- Perennial Plant of 2017
And many other new picks at Arrowhead!

We've just added a bunch of new plants to the online catalog, including Asclepias tuberosa, voted 'perennial plant of 2017' by the Perennial Plant Association.

You can check out our complete listing over on our shopping cart. There's guaranteed to be something new and interesting you don't have yet! Here's a little picture-tour of some of what's new for this fall:

Asclepias tuberosa will get quite large in the garden

Asclepias Tuberosa (click to view on our store)
Voted perennial plant of 2017 by the PPA

I expect a flood of new coverage on this perennial in gardening and horticulture magazines this year. Place an order soon if you want to ensure you can get one!

A. tuberosa closeup

A. tuberosa is a must have if your tastes run to the bright colors. Tops out at about 18 inches, with masses of warm-colored flowers in late Summer from orange, orange-red to buttery yellow. As we said, one of the favorite food plants of the Monarch butterfly -- if you grow it, the butterflies will come. Like any milkweed, A. tuberosa is not particularly hard to grow. We recommend good drainage and full sun, but a little bit of shade won't kill it either.

A. tuberosa's range of colouring

Asperula sintensii (click to view on our store)

Asperula sintensii

Wonderfully compact rock-garden plant with soft pink flowers. Don't think you can go wrong with this one.

Asperula sintensii closeup

Dracocephalum austriacum: (click to view on our store)

Dracocephalum austriacum in our trial beds

Dracocephalum austriacum is a very rare species growing in rocky habitats. Foot high with scapes whorled in blue violet dragonheads. The general area of distribution includes alpine ranges from central to south-eastern Europe, down to Turkey and Greece where it is considered an endangered species.

Dracocephalum austriacum

Dracocephalum ruyschianum: (click to view on our store)

Also known as Nordic Dragonhead, grows between 16" to 24" tall, and forms neat bushlets of attractive foliage. Strikingly blue flowers and very tidy, easy to take care of. Hardy up to zone 5. Can't go wrong with this one.

closeup of Dracocephalum ruyschianum

Lindera benzoin: (click to view on our store)

Lindera benzoin

Just like the Asclepias, we have another wonderful butterfly plant here in L. benzoin. Commonly called Spicebush, this is the main food plant of the Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly (some pictures are here on the blog). The promethea silkmoth will also flock (literally) to L. benzoin. Wonderfully fragrant yellow flowers that open early in spring to welcome the butterflies, before even having fully leafed out, and in autumn the Spicebush produces eye catching scarlet berries. Easily growable across zones 4 to 9.

Lindera benzoin, autumn

Lindera benzoin closeup

Swallowtail larva, easily attracted by growing Lindera benzoin

More Spicebush Swallowtail larva

The above caterpillars are those of the Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly. These caterpillars absolutely love to eat Lindera benzoin, as if it wasn't a cool enough shrub already!

Origanum sipyleum: (click to view on our store)

Origanum sipyleum

Collected in the Sultan Dagh mountains (Turkey) at 2000m, with cushions of bluish aromatic leaves and sprays of semi-pendant greenish bracts that encase the pale, long-tubed flowers.

Origanum sipyleum

Scutellaria alpina: (click to view on our store)

Scutellaria alpina closeup

Scutellaria altisima: (click to view on our store)

Scutellaria altisima

Scutellaria alpina 'Arco-Baleno': (click to view on our store)

Scutellaria alpina 'Arco-Baleno'

Scutellaria alpina 'Arco-Baleno' closeup

That's just the tip of the iceberg, more new additions this year include:

Click to visit the Arrowhead Alpines online store for all these listings and many more. The weather is beginning to cool and the fall nursery season will be upon us shortly!

Speaking of which, don't forget to check out our BULK woodland wildflowers this upcoming fall. We always have a huge selection of rare trilliums, and many other native wildflowers that are usually hard to buy in large quantities. If you need to cover a wide area with hundreds of wildflowers, we've got you covered. Click the link above for more!.