3-4'H Perennials

Nearly 1/2" wide bright fuchsia flowers are produced on narrow elongating spikes on this medium-sized Porterweed from spring to frost attracting a wide array of pollinators. In a nod to the fierceness of hummingbirds protecting their nectar sources we bring you our latest hybrid selection Fiercely Fuchsia! Porterweeds, members of the genus Stacytarpheta, are shrubby tropicals with exceptional flower power and excellent nectar production and these are the plants that many hummingbirds feed on in their winter resting grounds in Central and South America. We can tell you from personal experience, these tiny aerial acrobats will even try to face down a human over thier prized plants with a series of strong and forceful "Cheeps!". Expect Fiercely Fuchsia Porterweed to grow to about 3-4' high and 2-3' wide by the end of the growing season. Item# 13261

Large rounded clusters composed of a multitude 2" tubular flowers open a deep red, fade through orange, and finally to a coral pink are produced throughout summer and into fall attracting hummingbirds for miles around. The Firecracker Bush, Bouvardia ternifolia, is a naturally small upright to rounded subtropical shrub native to the US desert southwest and Mexico. Its desert roots makes this an easy and forgiving container plant as well as an excellent addition to the garden and landscape. Provide the Firecracker Bush with a well-drained soil in a fertile, average moist soil in part shade to bright shade for optimum vigor and flowering. Under warm frost free conditions it may flower nearly year-round. Item# 13182

Brilliant red tubular flowers are borne in tall branching spikes atop the glossy deep green foliage in fall and winter. An upright yet bushy shrubby perennial that enjoys shady conditions. Firespike is sure to attract hummingbirds and larger butterflies. It also makes an easy indoor plant where its flowers can be enjoyed through much of winter. Item# 420.

2022 Missouri Botanic Garden Plants of Merit selection! 18" long arching spikes composed of numerous dark golden yellow flowers burst onto the scene in late summer and fall creating a much needed feast of nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies including migratory Monarchs, and other garden beneficials. Fireworks is an award winning selection of the native Roughleaf Goldenrod, Solidago rugosa, and it won top marks in the Goldenrod trials at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. This is a hardy, clump-forming slowly spreading (a.k.a. short rhizomatous) herbaceous perennial that is both adaptable and manageable. Fireworks Goldenrod prefers a full to mostly sunny site in an average moist to moist fertile soil although it is tolerant of part shade, part sun conditions. Use this easy to grow native perennial in naturalistic settings and in mixed perennial gardens and landscapes. Item# 12313

The Fragrant White Mistflower produces clusters of fragrant, white, nectar-rich flowers in fall just as the Monarch butterflies are migrating southward. The flowers attract a large variety of pollinators including bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, and other garden beneficials. This shrubby perennial native of the Edwards Plateau is a tough hombre that is moderately drought resistant and can develop into a somewhat woody shrub. Item# 11358

The showy and long-lasting deep red pine-cone like flower heads are produced throughout the growing season and may be produced throughout the year under warm tropical conditions. French Kiss is a selection of the Red Buttons Ginger with a free flowering habit that lends it to use en mass in a partly shaded garden or landscape or as a low maintenance specimen plant for containers. Orange and yellow individual flowers emerge singly or a few at the time from between the showy red bracts that make up the flower heads. Medium green rounded foliage. The flowers of this compact ginger attract hummingbirds and make an easy long-lasting cut flower. We previously offered this item as 'Dwarf French Kiss Red Buttons Ginger' but it appears to grow just as large as the species. Item# 11513

Fuzzy deep fuchsia colored tubular flowers emerge from short dense spikes atop the large deep green foliage beginning in spring and continuing through fall. Fuzzy Bolivian Sage is a vigorous perennial Salvia with large deep green tropical looking foliage on a vigorous plant that can reach 4' high by the end of summer. This species is moderately shade tolerant and may prefer midday shade in hot summer climates. Provide a moderately fertile, moist but well-drained soil. Item# 11201

Vigorous and reliably hardy to zone 6! Large rounded clusters, to 5" across, composed of pure white trumpets are perched atop strong 3-4' sturdy stems on a tight clump forming plant with upright to arching narrow rich green foliage. Galaxy White Agapanthus has been successfully trialed for over 7 years in Zeeland, Michigan by the folks at Walter's Gardens with excellent reliability, vigor and cold hardiness. Our plants are in bud at the time of this writing, 5-25-2020, but will likely flower in summer where winters are coldest. Use Galaxy White Agapanthus anywhere you want to make a statement and the flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item#12137

Large rounded clusters of lightly fragrant deep fuchsia flowers are produced over an extended period beginning in midsummer and lasting into fall attracting a host of pollinators including butterflies, hummingbirds, and larger bees. GARDEN GIRLS® Material Girl Garden Phlox, a selection of our native Phlox paniculata, is a tall upright to spreading, clump forming perennial selected for both its brilliant color, long season of flowering, and disease resistance. Provide Garden Phlox with a full to mostly sunny site in an acidic, average moist, fertile soil with average or better drainage for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 13280

The large 1-1/2" long tubular color-changing flowers are produced in spike-like clusters from the leaf axils and start out yellow and fade through orange into red tones and are held on 3-4'H sturdy stems. The flowers are produced during the spring, where plants are not frozen to the ground, and/or in fall just in time for migrating hummingbirds. The Giant Cigar Plant, Cuphea micropetala, is a herbaceous, slowly spreading, upright to branching perennial cloaked in dark green glossy foliage. Considered by many to be the most reliably cold hardy Cuphea species surviving into zone 7B if provided a breathable winter mulch. It typically spreads stoloniferously and via rhizomes but is not considered invasive or aggressive. As with basically all Cupheas, the Giant Cigar is heat and sunloving and will benefit from average moisture, in fertile soils with average or better drainage. Where not hardy it can easily be maintained as a medium to medium-large container plant. Item# 429

The most floriferous Esperanza that we grow! Gold Star Esperanza produces an endless display of large clusters of large golden yellow, lightly fragrant trumpets from late spring to frost. This Greg Grant selection is the standard by which all other Esperanza's are judged. Hardy, heat and sun loving, and with a nicely branched habit Gold Star Esperanza is great for tropical settings in containers and in the garden. Attracts pollinators including butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees. Item # 9902

10" golden yellow flowers that resemble a lotus when first opening, sit atop nearly leafless thick sturdy stems and last for months on mature plants. When young the plants look just like dwarf bananas with long rounded medium-green tropical foliage. This is tough, hardy, and easily grown, tightly clump forming rhizomatous tropical. After flowering is finished the mature plant produces a multitude of pups and then dies making way for the young plants which should flower in their 2nd or 3rd year. Item# 9578.

Few plants can consistently attract as many butterflies as this Lantana making the plant appear alive with these fluttering wonders, especially in summer and fall. Grandpa's Pumpkin Patch Lantana produces yellow centered clusters of brilliant pumpkin orange flowers from late spring to frost on this vigorous Lantana that can certainly keep up with New Gold for flowering ability. Item# 9605

The tall dusky flower spikes are adorned with grape juice purple buds that open to display the deep magenta, pea-like flowers with a starkly contrasting creamy to yellow keel and are produced in summer held above the dense mounds of lush green foliage. The flowers attract a variety of bee species. Grape Escape Baptisia or False Indigo, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), replaces the older Grape Taffy and boasts deeper richer colors, heavier flowering and vigor. Grape Escape grows to about 4' high and nearly as wide with a neat vase shaped habit. Baptisia or False Indigo are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year with some plants producing over a 100 spikes on mature plants. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 13145

Steel blue spring and summer foliage is topped by nicely contrasting tan colored airy panicles in late summer and fall. In fall the foliage changes to yellow and finally beige creating winter interest and providing food, habitat, and nesting material for a variety of birds and other fauna. Gunsmoke is a selection of our native Switchgrass, Panicum virgatum, with an initially upright to vase shaped habit becoming rounded once flowering begins. This is a naturally clump-forming herbaceous perennial that is found throughout much of the US and into Canada, except for the westernmost states, and is a major component of the Tall Grass Prairies. Switchgrass was also used by native Americans to build long-lasting, rain resistant shelters. The foliage is a larval host to the Delaware Skipper, Arogos Skipper, Tawny Edged Skipper, Northern Pearly Eye, and Dotted Skippers. Adaptable to a wide variety of soil types and moisture regimes. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12305

Dense clusters of dainty white to lavender tubular flowers top the hairy blue-green to green fragrant foliage in summer. The small nectar rich flowers of Hairy Mountain Mint attract a wide variety of pollinators, and are especially important to native bees. This is a rhizomatous native perennial that will readily spread especially in moist soils. Hairy Mountainmint, Pycnanthemum verticillatum var. pilosum, is native to the northcentral US, mainly Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas, eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky and as far south as northern Mississippi. It is typically found in moist, calcareous soils but can tolerate drier sites where it is less likely to spread aggressively. Item# 11763

Earned 4 out of 4 stars in trials at Chicago Botanic Gardens! Dome shaped clusters, up to 5" wide, are composed of deep blue pointed buds that open to pale blue starry flowers and are produced in mid to late spring attracting butterflies, larger bees, hummingbirds, and hummingbird moths. Halfway to Arkansas Blue Star, an Intrinsic Perennials selection, is a clump forming, taprooted, herbaceous, native perennial with a dense bushy, almost neatly formal habit once mature and is cloaked in deep green, fine textured, narrow foliage that changes to gold tinged with purple in autumn. Amsonias or Blue Stars are tough, easy, heat and humidity loving, deer and rabbit resistant, and tolerate low fertility soils. Grow Halfway to Arkansas Blue Star in a full sun to partly shaded site and the plants will generally need more moisture or a quality organic mulch in hotter sunnier sites and can tolerate slightly drier conditions where they receive some shade during the heat of the day, while sunnier sites tend to offer the sturdiest growth and best flowering. Images courtesy of Intrinsic Perennials, all rights reserved. Item# 13332

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Steely blue-gray spring and summer foliage is topped by nicely contrasting tan colored airy panicles in late summer and fall. In fall the foliage changes to yellow and finally beige creating winter interest and providing food, habitat, and nesting material for a variety of birds and other fauna. Heavy Metal Switchgrass, a selection of the native Panicum virgatum, with an with a strongly upright, columnar, dense habit that remains upright even through heavy rains. This is a naturally clump-forming herbaceous perennial that is found throughout much of the US and into Canada, except for the westernmost states, and is a major component of the Tall Grass Prairies. Switchgrass was also used by native Americans to build long-lasting, rain resistant shelters. The foliage is a larval host to the Delaware Skipper, Arogos Skipper, Tawny Edged Skipper, Northern Pearly Eye, and Dotted Skippers. Adaptable to a wide variety of soil types and moisture regimes. Item# 12854

The dense spikes of bicolor mahogany and yellow pea-like flowers lighten into yellow as they age creating an orangish overall effect from a distance and are produced in mid to late spring to early summer depending on your zone. The flowers attract mainly bees. Honey Roasted Baptisia or False Indigo, a hybrid cultivar of US native species (a.k.a. nativar), is a vigorous, heavy and early flowering selection of this clump forming perennial growing to about 36-42"H x 42-48"W. Baptisias are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year with some plants producing over a 100 spikes on mature plants. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide them with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12898

In late spring to early summer, loads of 12-15" high flower spikes that are adorned with deep blue to deep violet pea-like, nectar rich flowers and are accented by a narrow yellow keel and are held well above the neat mounds of foliage. The main flower show is extended by an encore of secondary flower spikes and the flowers attract mainly bees as pollinators. Indigo Spires Baptisia or False Indigo, a hybrid of our native species, is an easy and low maintenance, deer resistant, large, long-lived clump forming, herbaceous, taprooted perennial maturing to about 3-4'H and wide. As the palnts mature they produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year with some plants producing over a 100 spikes on mature plants. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 13300

Long spikes of deep indigo, tubular flowers are borne continuously from spring to frost on this vigorous perennial Salvia. Indigo Spires has long been one of our favorites and is a reliable performer in the landscape producing a 3-4' high plant with medium green foliage. The nectar rich flowers provide fodder for a variety of pollinators including hummingbirds, butterflies, and a variety of bees but especially bumblebees in our gardens. The flower color may appear more purple or more blue to different people, in this case it is all in the eye of the beholder. Item# 13131

We fell in love instantly with this gorgeous Hibiscus! The summerlong display of large, 8"+ wide, ruffled and textured, deep rose pink flowers have an inner halo of lavender purple and are set against a backdrop of dark olive green foliage all on a heavy flowering well-branched plant. Inner Glow Perennial or Hardy Hibiscus is a vigorous clump-forming perennial that develops into a full, but compact well-branched plant with exceptional flower power. Like most other Walter's Gardens introductions, Inner Glow is an indeterminate plant producing flowers from the top to the bottom of the plants creating an amazing summer into fall display in the garden and landscape. Provide a full to mostly sunny location in moist to average moist to wet, moderately fertile soils. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Caterpillar host: Gray hairstreak. Item# 12843