Adromischus cristatus

Adromischus cristatus is a species of succulents from the Crassulaceae family, endemic to the eastern cape of South Africa. It is a perennial with short erect branches 20-50 mm long covered with fine aerial roots. Leaves are green to gray-green, with undulating margin, and generally measuring 20-40 x 5-13 mm. During the springtime, it sends up long narrow stalks for its flowers, which are tubular in shape and white in color with hints of red. Common names for this plant include "Key Lime Pie" and "Crinkle Leaf Plant."

This plant grows best given bright light and good airflow. Plant in cacti/succulent potting soil for ample drainage and provide water when the soil is dry. Water less frequently during the winter. While hardy down to freezing temperatures (32°F or 0°C), avoid exposure to frost.

The A. cristatus is in USDA hardiness zone 10.

Polygonatum odoratum (angular Solomon's seal or scented Solomon's seal) syn. P. officinale, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Russian Far East, China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan. In the United Kingdom it is one of three native species of the genus, the others being P. multiflorum and P. verticillatum.

Easily grown in moist, humusy, organically rich, well-drained soils in part shade to full shade. Best performance occurs in cool sun-dappled shady areas. Dislikes hot summer conditions. Slowly spreads by thin rhizomes to form colonies in optimum growing conditions.

Polygonatum odoratum, commonly called fragrant Solomon's seal, is a rhizomatous, shade-loving perennial that typically grows to 18-24” tall on low, gracefully arching, angled (as opposed to cylindrical), unbranched stems. It is native to shaded slopes and woodland areas in temperate regions of Europe and Asia. Each stem (to 18” long) rises singly from the rhizome clad with 8-17 alternate, upright, parallel-veined, elliptic to ovate-oblong leaves (to 4” long). Leaves turn an attractive yellow in fall. Greenish-white tubular flowers (to 7/8” long) on short pedicels droop (usually in pairs but sometimes solitarily) from the leaf axils along and beneath the arching stems. Flowers have a sweet, lily-like fragrance. Flowers bloom late spring to early summer (May-June). Flowers are followed by attractive pendulous blue-black berries (each 1/4" diameter) in fall which hang downward from the leaf axils.

Genus name comes from Greek poly meaning many and gonu meaning knee joint in reference to the jointed plant rhizomes.

Specific epithet comes from the Latin word odoratus meaning sweet smelling in reference to the fragrance of plant flowers.

Common name is usually considered to be in reference to the large, circular seals (leaf stalk scars) located on the rhizomes. However, some authorities suggest the common name actually refers to “wound sealing properties” of the plant.
Var. pluriflorum is native to Japan, Korea and China. From Latin, pluriflorum means many flowered.
‘Variegatum’ is a popular cultivar of var. pluriflorum. It features showy light green leaves edged with white. New stems are tinged with maroon red. It is a superior foliage ornamental for shady garden areas. Perennial Plant Association’s 2013 Perennial Plant of the Year. Synonymous with and formerly known as P. odoratum var. thunbergii ‘Variegatum’.

Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. All parts of this plant may cause discomfort if ingested by humans (plants contain small amounts of saponin and convallamarin). Watch for slugs, snails, weevils and sawflies. Leaf spot and rust infrequently appear.

Garden Uses

Best in woodland gardens or shady areas of rock gardens or border fronts. Foliage is attractive in flower arrangements.

Carex appalachica-Appalachian Sedge

Carex appalachica is native to the dry woods of eastern North America. Its fine texture and fountaining habit make it a lovely groundcover in dry shady sites, even in the root zone of trees. Its tidy clumping habit makes it a perfect feature in a container, rock or stump, or in a border planting along a walkway.

Fine-textured Carex appalachica is native to woodlands in the U.S. from Maine to South Carolina and east to Kentucky, where it is considered endangered. Appalachian Sedge is a true clump grower. Its narrow foot-long foliage lies in a sweeping mound six inches from the ground. When planted in masses or on slopes, the weeping foliage appears to curve, swirl and intermingle in a beautiful display of motion. Carex appalachica makes a great low-maintenance lawn substitute as it will grow under many conditions, as long as it is planted in dry to average soil. Appalachian Sedge does best with some shade, particularly in warmer regions.

Benefits

• Thrives in partial or full shade
• Its fine texture adds airy movement in the garden
• Tenacious roots help prevent erosion
• Early bloom is a nectar bonus for native insects
• Seed is plentiful and a delicacy for birds
• Easy to grow and tolerant of many soil types

Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff'

Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff' is a branching, tuberous tender perennial cultivar with dark eggplant-colored, almost black, foliage. This produces a stunning contrast with its scarlet flowers. The plant was first bred by Fred Tresedar, a Cardiff nurseryman.

t was selected by and named to honour Pritchard Hughes, Bishop of Llandaff, in 1924 and won the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 1928. The plant is about 1 m tall and flowers from June until September. As with all dahlias, frost blackens its foliage, and its tubers need to be overwintered in a dry, frost-free place.

A seed strain has been produced from this plant called 'Bishops Children', they retain the dark foliage color but produce a mix of flower colors and flower shapes from single to semi-double flowers in different sizes.
Plant Profile:- Height:1.1m (3&1/2 ft) Spread: 45 cm (18 in) site: Full Sun Soil: Fertile, free-draining Hardiness: Half hardy
Also comes in rich reds & purples, yellows & oranges, as well as paler shades.

Pringlea antiscorbutica

Pringlea antiscorbutica, commonly known as Kerguelen cabbage, is a flowering plant and the sole member of the monotypic genus Pringlea in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. Its common name comes from the archipelago of its discovery, the Kerguelens, and its generic name derives from Sir John Pringle, President of the Royal Society at the time of its discovery by Captain James Cook's Surgeon, William Anderson in 1776.

Distribution
The species grows on the Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Crozet, Prince Edward and Kerguelen Islands. These remote islands are at roughly 50° South Latitude, constantly buffeted by strong winds. This climatic feature is unfavorable for wind pollination, excepting on infrequent mild days, and this plus the absence of potential insect pollinators explains why the Kerguelen cabbage is self-pollinating.
At the mature stage, this species exhibits several adaptations linked to cold tolerance such as high polyamine levels.

The plant is edible, containing high levels of potassium. Its leaves contain a Vitamin C-rich oil, a fact which, in the days of sailing ships, made it very attractive to sailors suffering from scurvy, hence the species name, which means "against scurvy" in Latin. It was essential to the diets of the whalers on Kerguelen when pork, beef, or seal meat was used up. In May 1840, botanist J.D. Hooker was the first to make a technical analysis of the plant, and to assign the Latin name. Hooker also reported having eaten some soup that had been made with Kerguelen cabbage, and described the raw leaves as tasting like cress, the boiled leaves as tasting like "stale" (i.e., dried-out) cabbage, and the root as tasting like horseradish.

Lunaria annua

Lunaria annua, called honesty or annual honesty in English, is a species of flowering plant native to the Balkans and south west Asia, and naturalized throughout the temperate world.

It is an annual or biennial growing to 90 cm (35 in) tall by 30 cm (12 in) broad, with large, coarse, pointed oval leaves with marked serrations. In spring and summer it bears terminal racemes of white or violet flowers, followed by showy, light brown, translucent, disc-shaped seedpods (silicles) the skin of which falls off to release the seeds, revealing a central membrane which is white with a silvery sheen, 3–8 cm (1–3 in) in diameter; they persist on the plant through winter. These pods are much used in floral arrangements.

The Latin name lunaria means "moon-shaped" and refers to the shape and appearance of the seedpods.
The common name "honesty" arose in the 16th century, and may also relate to the translucence of the seedpods.

 In South East Asia, it is called the "money plant" and in the United States it is commonly known as "silver dollars", "Chinese money", or "Chinese coins" because its seedpods have the appearance of silvery coins. For the same reason, in French it is known as monnaie du pape ("the Pope's money"). In Denmark it is known as judaspenge and in Dutch-speaking countries as judaspenning (coins of Judas), an allusion to the story of Judas Iscariot and the thirty pieces of silver he was paid for betraying Christ.

This plant is easy to grow from seed. It is usually grown as a biennial, being sown one year to flower the next. It is suitable for cultivation in a shady or dappled area, or in a wildflower garden, and the flowers and dried seedpods are often seen in flower arrangements. Numerous varieties and cultivars are available, of which the white-flowered L. annua var. albiflora has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Aubrieta deltoidea

Aubrieta deltoidea is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family. Common names include lilacbush, purple rock cress and rainbow rock cress. Zone 4a to 9b.

It is native to southeastern Europe, but is grown worldwide as an ornamental plant and it grows wild in some areas as a garden escapee. This is a small herbaceous perennial forming carpets of green spoon-shaped to oval-shaped leaves, some of which are lobed. The showy inflorescence bears small flowers with four lavender to deep pink petals. The fruit is an inflated, hairy silique up to two centimeters long.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Purple_rock_cress.JPG)

Cultivation

A. deltoidea is cultivated as groundcover, in the rock garden, or in crevices in the wall, producing masses of brightly coloured flowers in spring.

Propagate by seed, cuttings, division or separation - Cuttings are usually more successful than division.

Do not prune in fall. Remove damaged foliage in spring.

Short lived if drainage is poor or weather is hot. Divide every 1 to 3 years.

Take softwood or semi-ripe cuttings from early- to mid-summer. Remove the lower leaves and root in sand.

Purchased seed is easy to germinate, but saved seed may not breed true to type.

Cultivated varieties, sometimes listed under the hybrid name A. x cultorum, are available in lavender, rose and lilac, but are often offered as a seed mixture. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-

• ‘Aurea Variegata’ has green leaves with yellow markings and purple-blue blooms.
• ‘Barker’s Double’ has showy double blue-purple blooms.
• 
  
• ‘Bob Sanders’ grows 10 inches tall plants with large double flowers in shades of reddish purple.
• 
  
• ‘Campbellii’ has double pinkish-purple blooms.
• 
  
• ‘Carnival’ flowers prolifically producing purple blooms.
• 
  
• ‘Dr. Mules’ grows 6 inches tall with dark violet flowers.
• 
  
• ‘J. S. Baker’ has striking blue-purple flowers with white “eyes.”
• 
  
• ‘Parkinsii’ has rosy purple flowers with white “eyes.”
• 
  
• ‘Purple Cascade’ grows 4 inches tall with purple flowers.
• 
  
• ‘Red Carpet’ grows 4 inches tall with deep red flowers.
• 
  
• ‘Variegata’ grows 4 inches tall with gold and green leaves and purple-blue flowers.
• 
  
• ‘Whitewall Gem’ grows 8 inches tall reddish-purple flowers.

Cucurbita foetidissima

Cucurbita foetidissima, has numerous common names, including: buffalo gourd, calabazilla, chilicote, coyote gourd, fetid gourd, fetid wild pumpkin, Missouri gourd, prairie gourd, stinking gourd, wild gourd, and wild pumpkin. The plant is tuberous and a true xerophytic plant found in the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. The type specimen was collected from Mexico by Humboldt and Bonpland sometime before 1817.

The feral perennial Buffalo gourd has evolved in the semiarid regions and is well adapted to desert environments. It has abundant yields of oil, protein and carbohydrates. The carbohydrates that are formed in the tap root have led to the idea to grow the plant for biofuel.
The fruit is consumed by humans and animals. When the fruit is mature, a stage marked by increasing desiccation of vine, leaves, fruit-stem, and fruit itself, it begins its final gourd stage.
Geographic location and genetics make it highly likely that Cucurbita scabridifolia is a naturally occurring hybrid of C. foetidissima and Cucurbita pedatifolia.

Cucurbita foetidissima requires little water and grows most rapidly in semiarid and arid environments. Warm weather is required during the vegetation period which is 5 to 8 months. This perennial is well adapted to marginal agricultural lands like sandy loam soils which have to be well drained. Germination temperature range is between 15 °C and 37 °C with an optimum at 25 °C.
The maximum depth for a successful germination is 12 cm. The germination is possible in a pH range from 2.2 (germination rate 15% ) up to pH 8 (germination rate 90%). Asexual propagation is possible from nodal roots.
The leaves of the buffalo gourd are typically entire and heart shaped with a 10–13 cm base and 20–25 cm length. 

The flowers are borne singly at the nodes of the vines after a given amount of annual vegetative growth has taken place.
The fruit has a diameter of 7–10 cm, the fruit weight is 120 g to 150 g and number of seed per fruit of 292 to 315.The seeds weigh about 4 g per 100 seeds and the seeds are 12 mm long and 7 mm wide. The seed coat accounts for about 30% of the seed weight. The seeds often remain viable for months or even years within an undamaged gourd. One hectare of can produce 2.5 tons of seed.
A fleshy tap root is formed by the plant which is used as a storage and overwintering structure. The central tap root can weight up to 72 kg. A four-year-old root grown under cultivation can reach a fresh weight of 45 kg and a length of 2.5 meters.

(Full size image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Cucurbita_foetidissima_fruit%2C_leaves%2C_and_vine.JPG )
Distribution

Cucurbita foetidissima is native to North America in the U.S. (Arizona; Arkansas; southern California; Colorado; Kansas; Missouri; southern Nebraska; Southern Nevada, New Mexico; Oklahoma; Texas; and southern Utah) and Mexico (Aguascalientes; Chihuahua; Coahuila; Guanajuato; Guerrero; Hidalgo; northern Jalisco; Mexico; Nuevo León; Querétaro; San Luis Potosí; Sonora; Tamaulipas; and Zacatecas)

Ripe fruit:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Cucurbita_foetidissima_fruit_2003-02-04.jpg)


Ripe fruit on a hand
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Cucurbita_foetidissima_fruit_Rest_of_the_plant_looked_long_dead.jpeg

Jacobaea vulgaris

Jacobaea vulgaris, syn. Senecio jacobaea is a very common wild flower in the family Asteraceae that is native to northern Eurasia, usually in dry, open places, and has also been widely distributed as a weed elsewhere.

Common names include ragwort, benweed, tansy ragwort, St. James-wort, ragweed, Stinking Nanny/Ninny/Willy, staggerwort, Dog Standard, cankerwort, stammerwort, mare's fart and cushag. In the western US it is generally known as Tansy Ragwort, or "Tansy", though its resemblance to the true tansy is superficial.

The plant is generally considered to be biennial but it has the tendency to exhibit perennial properties under certain cultural conditions (such as when subjected to repeated grazing or mowing). The stems are erect, straight, have no or few hairs, and reach a height of 0.3–2.0 metres (1 ft 0 in–6 ft 7 in). The leaves are pinnately lobed and the end lobe is blunt. The many names that include the word "stinking" (and Mare's Fart) arise because of the unpleasant smell of the leaves. The hermaphrodite flower heads are 1.5–2.5 centimetres (0.59–0.98 in) diameter, and are borne in dense, flat-topped clusters; the florets are bright yellow. It has a long flowering period lasting from June to November (in the Northern Hemisphere).

Tansy

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant of the aster family, native to temperate Europe and Asia. It has been introduced to other parts of the world and in some areas has become invasive. It is also known as Common Tansy, Bitter Buttons, Cow Bitter, Mugwort, or Golden Buttons.

Tansy is a flowering herbaceous plant with finely divided compound leaves and yellow, button-like flowers. It has a stout, somewhat reddish, erect stem, usually smooth, 50–150 cm tall, and branching near the top. 

The leaves are alternate, 10–15 cm long and are pinnately lobed, divided almost to the center into about seven pairs of segments, or lobes, which are again divided into smaller lobes having saw-toothed edges, giving the leaf a somewhat fernlike appearance. The roundish, flat-topped, button-like, yellow flower heads are produced in terminal clusters from mid-to-late summer. The scent is similar to that of camphor with hints of rosemary. The leaves and flowers are toxic if consumed in large quantities; the volatile oil contains toxic compounds including thujone, which can cause convulsions and liver and brain damage. Some insects, notably the tansy beetle Chrysolina graminis, have resistance to the toxins and subsist almost exclusively on the plant.

Tansy is native to Eurasia; it is found in almost all parts of mainland Europe. It is absent from Siberia and some of the Mediterranean islands.

Camellia japonica

Camellia japonica (the Japanese camellia) is one of the best known species of the genus Camellia. Sometimes called the Rose of winter, it belongs to the Theaceae family. It is the official state flower of Alabama. There are thousands of cultivars of C. japonica in cultivation, with many different colors and forms of flowers.
In the wild, it is found in mainland China (Shandong, east Zhejiang), Taiwan, southern Korea and southern Japan. It grows in forests, at altitudes of around 300–1,100 metres (980–3,610 ft).

In the wild, it is found in mainland China (Shandong, east Zhejiang), Taiwan, southern Korea and southern Japan.
It grows in forests, at altitudes of around 300–1,100 metres (980–3,610 ft).

Camellia japonica is a flowering tree or shrub, usually 1.5–6 metres (4.9–19.7 ft) tall, but occasionally up to 11 metres (36 ft) tall. Some cultivated varieties achieve a size of 72m² or more. The youngest branches are purplish-brown, becoming grayish-brown as they age. The alternately arranged leathery leaves are dark green on the top side, paler on the underside, usually 5–11 centimetres (2.0–4.3 in) long by 2.5–6 centimetres (1.0–2.4 in) wide with a stalk (petiole) about 5–10 millimetres (0.2–0.4 in) long. The base of the leaf is pointed (cuneate), the margins are very finely toothed (serrulate) and the tip somewhat pointed.
In the wild, flowering is between January and March. The flowers appear along the branches, particularly towards the ends, and have very short stems. 

They occur either alone or in pairs, and are 6–10 centimetres (2.4–3.9 in) across. There are about nine greenish bracteoles and sepals. Flowers of the wild species have six or seven rose or white petals, each 3–4.5 centimetres (1.2–1.8 in) long by 1.5–2.5 centimetres (0.6–1.0 in) wide; the innermost petals are joined at the base for up to a third of their length. (Cultivated forms often have more petals.) The numerous stamens are 2.5–3.5 centimetres (1.0–1.4 in) long, the outer whorl being joined at the base for up to 2.5 centimetres (1.0 in). The three-lobed style is about 3 centimetres (1.2 in) long.

The fruit consists of a globe-shaped capsule with three compartments (locules), each with one or two large brown seeds with a diameter of 1–2 centimetres (0.4–0.8 in). Fruiting occurs in September to October in the wild.

C. japonica leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera, such as The Engrailed (Ectropis crepuscularia). The Japanese white eye bird (Zosterops japonica) pollinates Camellia japonica.

Camellia oleifera

Camellia oleifera, which originated in China, is notable as an important source of edible oil (known as tea oil or camellia oil) obtained from its seeds. It is commonly known as the Oil-seed Camellia or Tea Oil Camellia, though to a lesser extent other species of Camellia are used in oil production too.
It is widely distributed in China and is cultivated extensively there. It is found in forests, thickets, banks of streams and foothills at elevations of 500 to 1,300 metres.

This species looks much similar to Camellia sasanqua except the dark green, evergreen leaves are a bit larger, three to five inches long and two to three inches wide. Single, white, fragrant flowers are produced in late winter, and this large shrub or small tree will reach a height of 20 feet with thin, upright, multiple trunks and branches. The crown forms a rounded or oval vase with lower branches removed.

The seeds of Camellia oleifera can be pressed to yield tea oil, a sweetish seasoning and cooking oil that should not be confused with tea tree oil, an essential oil that is used for medical and cosmetical purposes and originates from the leaves of a different plant. Tea-oil Camellia is commonly over 80% monounsaturated fat. As such, it reduces LDL ('bad cholesterol'). Tea Oil is also known as "Tea Seed Oil" when sold as cooking oil in supermarkets throughout Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Camellia sasanqua

Camellia sasanqua (the Christmas or Yuletide camellia) is a species of Camellia native to China and Japan. It is usually found growing up to an altitude of 900 metres.
It is an evergreen shrub growing to 5 m tall. The leaves are broad elliptic, 3–7 cm long and 1.2–3 cm broad, with a finely serrated margin. The flowers are 5–7 cm diameter, with 5–8 white to dark pink petals.

At the beginning of the Edo period, cultivars of Camellia sasanqua began appearing; the first record of the cultivars of this plant was made by Ihei Ito (1695–1733). In Japan, it is not considered to be a true Camellia as the Japanese call it Sazanka (サザンカ, 山茶花).
C. sasanqua was not known in western societies until 1869 when Dutch traders imported some specimens into Europe. It is now also introduced to Australia and the United States.
It has a long history of cultivation in Japan for practical rather than decorative reasons. The leaves are used to make tea while the seeds or nuts are used to make tea seed oil,which is used for lighting, lubrication, cooking and cosmetic purposes. Tea oil has a higher calorific content than any other edible oil available naturally in Japan.


C. sasanqua is valued in gardens for its handsome glossy green foliage, and fragrant single white flowers produced extremely early in the season - often as early as Christmas. Various cultivars have been selected, of which 'Crimson King', 'Hugh Evans' and 'Jean May' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.