Arizona Sun Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata 'Arizona Sun') is an improved variety with an intense covering of red and yellow flowers in the summer. Blooming usually starts during the heat of summer and continues until frost. Foliage is mint green and attractive. Blanket flower is native to dry sandy areas of the lower great plains including Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Because of its desert heritage, it resents cold wet winters and needs well drained sandy, silty, or rocky soil. Short periods of extra water is tolerated in the heat of summer especially after blooming has started. It will typically grow in any soil and bloom like crazy during the summer making it very useful even as an annual if planted in the wrong soil type. In Kansas landscapes, it is commonly used as an annual or short-lived perennial where lots of color is needed in full sun. Self-seeding is possible in areas that are not mulched. Gaillardia combines nicely with any blue or purple flower including catmint, false indigo, plumbago.
These succulents are usually spineless and grown for their beautiful shapes, color and texture. Gasteria / Haworthia / Aloe are usually grown as small patio or house plants in Kansas. In the wild, some species are hardy to below 20 degrees F. Grow in part sun to full shade with little extra watering except that which comes from rainfall. Repotting may or may not be needed depending on how large you want the plant to grow; plants can continue to grow and tolerate extremely root-bound pots but will eventually need thinned or repotted. If repotting, make sure to use a sharp draining low organic cactus mix with plenty of sand and perlite. To play is safe, potted plants are best moved in before night temperatures get below 45 degrees F. It is important to avoid the combination of wet and cold. Move to a bright interior window over the winter with no watering and keep above freezing. As a winter house plant, it will look presentable all winter long with just a few waterings. As a permanent house plant, provide bright light and allow the soil to dry between waterings for many years of carefree enjoyment. Generally if moving outside for the summer, keep in part to full shade. Some species will acclimate and thrive in full sun but be careful not to rush it or sunburning will occur; move into sun gradually over a few weeks. Potted plants are very low maintenance but avoid too much water or plants will rot.
***Description for this perennial available with future update!***
***Description for this plant available with future update!***
Geranium macrorrhizum, commonly called Bigroot Geranium is native to the Southeast Alps and the Balkans. It features highly aromatic fuzzy leaves that leave you wanting another sniff after crushing a leaf in your hand. Early summer pink, rose, or white flowers form depending on the cultivar. It forms a weed-suppressing mat of rhizomatous semi-evergreen perennial that typically grows to 12" tall but spreads to 24" wide. Root rot can be a problem in poor drainage areas. Bigroot Geranium is the most drought tolerant of the hardy geraniums earning a spot in the dry shade garden; it cannot handle extreme drought or extremely rootbound soils though. It prefers average to dry garden conditions with dappled or morning sun. Sun burning is possible with temperatures over 100° so avoid full afternoon sun. Plantings can thrive for decades if in the right spot as there is no such thing as overcrowding for Big Root Geranium. When planted in mass, growth is slow at first but eventually a cake-like rhizome system will form and completely smother out any weeds and compete well with trees for water and nutrients. The growth rate is slow at first so space new plants relatively close together is desiring this effect.
***Description for this perennial available with future update!***
***Description for this perennial available with future update!***
>>>Ginkgo, is also known as Ginkgo biloba. Ginkgo is not tolerant of late-spring frosts, because there are no reserve vegetative buds€â€they leaf out all at once. When such a frost destroys these buds and leaves, it can take until midsummer before the tree has had enough time to produce new ones.
***Tree descriptions available with future update!***
***Shrub descriptions available with future update!*** AVAILABLE 2024!!!
>>>>>Troll Ginkgo Shrub, is also known as Ginkgo biloba 'Troll'. 'Troll' is a dwarf shrubby cultivar that matures over time to only 3' tall and as wide. It typically grows in a bushy mound, although it can be trained to grow as a small pyramidal tree. As with species plants, the fan-shaped leaves (biloba means two-lobed) are rich green to blue green during the growing season, but change to bright yellow in fall.
Raintree Hardy Gladiolus (Gladiolus 'Raintree') are typically grown for their mid-summer flowers and vertical iris-leaf foliage. The plants are temperate and subtropical herbaceous perennial bulbs native to areas with a summer wet season and dry winter. Gladiolus are hardy outside as a perennial when established and with minimal effort at least up to zone 6a. During the growing season, fertilize, water regularly, and plant in full sun. Plant these bulbs in the ground at least 6-8" deep with 3-4" of mulch to enjoy a wonderful tropical flowering effect! Foliage may look bedwraggled by fall so it is ok to cut back foliage at that time. They can also be grown as a flowering summer patio plant. If growing as a potted plant and trying to overwinter, allowing the foliage to frost is ok, it will not kill the root system. However, do not allow the pot with rootball to freeze solid or go below 20 degrees for more than a few hours; move into a cold garage or basement over the winter with no watering. Cut back and allow to go dormant and place entire pot back out in April or May with a time-release fertilizer. Another more labor intensive way to overwinter gladiolus is to remove them from the dirt, dust with fungicide, place in box with sawdust, and keep in the refrigerator. We consider this method old-fashioned and too much work but ok if you only want to save a few bulbs. If digging from the ground in colder zones, just save a big chunk with the dirt intact and place into a large pot in the garage. In a customer's garden in Lawrence, KS (zone 6a), four established specimens planted over 4-6" deep and mulched 2-3" with wood mulch survived -17 degrees F. During the arctic blast of February, 2021, lows down to -17 degrees F on Feb 16th, 2021 were recorded. The longevity of this cold blast was also impressive: 10 days on a row with highs of 10-15 degrees F or lower, 8 nights of lows in the single digits and negatives, and 36 straight hours of 0 degrees F and mostly lower. We plan to propagate these 'Raintree' clones in 2022-2023.
Kentucky Coffeetree, is also known as Gymnocladus dioicus