Seneca Hill Perennials

Haemanthus humilis coll. Rhodes

Collected near Rhodes, in the Eastern Cape province, in February 2006. A striking bulb with large, somewhat hairy, adpressed leaves. The large pinkish inflorescence, reminiscent of an old-fashioned shaving brush, is followed by a cluster of orange fruits. Our picture shows Cameron McMaster collecting the seeds which became the plants we're selling here.

Haemanthus humilis, deep pink

We have no collection data on this, though we are told the parents are deep pink. The leaves on the seedlings are variable, from smooth to hairy. Our photo is of H. humilis subsp. humilis; we do not know whether what we're selling is that subspecies or not. We offer some particularly nice, fat bulbs.

Haemanthus montanus

Previously-bloomed potted bulbs of this widely-distributed bulb from eastern South Africa. The flower stalks develop with, but somewhat ahead of, the fairly wide, smooth leaves, producing a brush-like terminal inflorescence of pinkish-white flowers. Easy in pots. Photo copyright Cameron McMaster, used with permission.

Helianthus atrorubens

The Purpledisk Sunflower is a handsome native species, widely distributed from Virginia south to Florida and west to Illinois and Louisiana. It displays its golden daisies atop long, wiry deep red stems, well above the relatively sparse, raspy leaves.

Helichrysum marginatum

A handsome high-altitude mat-forming helichrysum with congested rosettes of leathery white-margined green leaves. The solitary white flowerheads are relatively large (to 4cm/1.5in across) and stand above the foliage on perkily upright stems. From seed collected at around 2900m/9425ft in Lesotho.

Helleborus multifidus subsp. hercegovinus

This is a plant for patient people, but the reward for patience is immense. The most "multifid" subspecies, H. multifidus subsp. hercegovinus can attain 100 segments per leaf after several years, and reportedly has been known to develop almost twice that number. It is, however, a slow grower. The small, somewhat starry yellow-green flowers are attractive, but the foliage is the real star here. Needs bright light (full sun is fine) and well-drained soil.

Helleborus niger 'Sunset Group'

Descendants of Will McLewin's collections from northern Slovenia, from colonies where the pristine white flowers typical of the species age to deep pink or reddish tones. The flowers are large and outward facing, on sturdy short stalks, and because the old foliage lies quite flat, the flowers on a mature specimen form an immense snowy bouquet in the center of a dark green ruff of leaves.

Helleborus niger, Thanksgiving bloom

Wonderful Christmas Roses, descended from a plant given us by friend John Filkins.Our parent plants consistently bloom from Thanksgiving to Christmas, weather permitting. The fall flowers don't set seed, but sometimes the plants bloom in spring as well, and then we do get a crop of seed to work with. All the seedlings we've grown out have retained the fall-blooming habit. The flowers on this strain are outward-facing and on sturdy stalks, and the foliage tends to stay low.

Helleborus x hybridus ex Ashwood doubles, white and cream

These are unbloomed seedlings of a group of cream-to-white flowered Ashwood double hellebores. The parents are isolated from our other hellebores, but bees do fly, so we neither guarantee that the flowers will be double nor charge a premium for the possibility that they might be. The parents themselves were grown from seed from a friend, and between 80 and 90% of them were good doubles. WYSIWYG.

Helleborus x hybridus, variegated

Just for fun, we grew out a batch of seed from the most variegated branches on our most variegated H. x hybridus, a plant originally purchased from Pine Knot Farms. We kept the best-variegated seedlings among them, discarding all that were too green or too white. As Pine Knot notes on their website, these variegates can be expected to be somewhat unstable. We will add to that they're something of an acquired taste. If you're a devotee of variegated plants, though, you'll have to give them a try. The parent plants have pinkish flowers.

Hemerocallis minor

An early-blooming species that opens its fragrant yellow flowers, on branched scapes, over a long period of time. Despite the species name, these are not notably small plants. We particularly like this plant's well-formed flowers, with relatively broad petals and open rather than narrowly funnelform shape. These plants are grown from seed wild-collected in Siberia.

Hepatica acutiloba, large plants, mottled leaves (H. nobilis var. acuta)

Several years ago we acquired a group of plants, from Tennessee, that were distinguished by their well-mottled leaves, relatively large stature and leaf size, and vigorous growth habit. From these we selected stock plants with especially good leaves and flowers, and these are the parents of the seedlings we offer. However, despite the long color range in the parent plants, most of the seedlings are blooming pinkish-white.

Hepatica acutiloba, pink (H. nobilis var. acuta)

Seedlings of a group of pink-flowered plants of the US native sharp-lobed hepatica, sent to us by the ever- generous Aaron Floden. The flowers of the parent plants open as rich medium pinks, then fade to pale pinks as they age; the leaves are prettily mottled. These plants are somewhat smaller growers than the preceding selection, and their flowers are consistently pink.

Hepatica nobilis ex 'Czeck'

A seed strain descended from a beautiful plant that came from the (late) American Hepatica Society as 'Czeck'. Whether this is truly a cultivar, or just a seed strain, I do not know, but it has large, very full clear blue flowers with quite rounded petals, and many of its progeny are similarly large- and full-flowered.

Hepatica nobilis, Lithuanian blues

Grown from seed wild-collected in Lithuania, these have beautiful saturated blue flowers (not pale, and not blue-purple). This lovely species is robust and free-blooming, and makes a delightful addition to the woodland garden. When last we offered it, we "met" all our Lithuanian-American customers; it turns out that this plant occupies a cherished cultural niche in Lithuania as an Easter flower and harbinger of spring.

Hepatica nobilis, pink-flowered

The European version of this widely distributed species, producing clusters of exquisite pink flowers in spring. The three-lobed leaves persist into winter and tend to turn an attractive purplish shade as cold weather approaches. Our plants are grown from several different seed parents; flower colors will range from medium pink through deep pink.

Hepatica nobilis var. pyrenaica 'Appleblossom'

From the Pyrenees comes this outstanding compact form of H. nobilis, with delicate pink flowers and leaves marbled in silver. Grown from seed from Ashwood Nurseries.

Hepatica nobilis var. pyrenaica, blue shades

Well...Ashwood Nurseries sold this seed as 'Appleblossom', but lo and behold it produced a good number of blue-flowered plants as well. We notice that this year they're selling seed as "H. pyrenaica mixed". In any case, we've sorted them out as they bloomed, and are here offering the blue-flowered ones separately. Flower colors are mostly in the mid- to pale blue range, and the leaves are beautifully mottled with silver.

Hydrastis canadensis

Goldenseal is an outstanding US woodlander with substantial maple-shaped leaves and red-raspberry-like fruits cupped in the bases of the larger leaves (the starry white flowers that precede these tend to go unnoticed). Well-situated in moist, neutral to slightly acid humusy soil, it will slowly spread to form a handsome colony. A splendid plant for the shade garden.

Hylomecon japonica

A too-infrequently-seen Japanese woodlander that develops into a dense, domed clump of pinnate, coarsely serrate leaves. When it blooms in spring, the whole dome is spangled with large (5cm/2in) solitary golden-yellow flowers. A showy, clean, altogether desirable plant. NOTE: fall-shipped plants will be completely dormant (we will check the roots before shipping).

Hymenoxys grandiflora

Old Man of the Mountain is a Rockies native that you will never forget once you encounter it in the wild. The small basal rostte of deeply cut leaves puts up a short sturdy stem of IMMENSE yellow daisies - well, comparatively immense, given the size of the plant (i.e. 3"-4" across). When you're wandering across the tundra and you stumble across one of these, it just puts a big smile on your face. We have no idea how growable they are in the east, but they take surprisingly well to pot culture, and they're so cute that surely it's worth a try (which is why we grew them: we wanted to try them. We just have a lot of extras.)

Hymenoxys hoopesii

A large perennial daisy, native to cold moist areas in the Rockies and elsewhere in the west, and so, we think, growable in the east. We grew some to try here, and have extras, so we're offering them to you (we haven't tried any in the garden yet). H. hoopesii forms rosettes of upright, strappy grey-green leaves from which rise flowering stems topped by clusters of large (to 3') orange-centered golden yellow daisies.

Hypoxis argentea var. argentea

An attractive species, widespread in the summer-rainfall areas of southern Africa, with narrow upright v-shaped leaves, covered in prominent hairs, and cheery yellow flowers on short stems. Hardiness untested here, but it ranges to very high altitudes in the wild.