What's in Bloom
Bloom Highlights
Aesculus parviflora var. serotina ‘Rogers’
Roger’s Bottlebrush Buckeye
Aesculus parviflora var. serotina is native to Alabama, Georgia, northern Florida, and South Carolina, where it is found in moist woodlands and ravines, and on wooded bluffs and streambanks. This multistemmed shrub has an open, spreading, mounding habit. Bright green shoots mature to brown and produce a fissured silvery bark with raised white lenticels. The arcing green leaves are oppositely arranged on the stem and are palmately compound with five to seven leaflets. The leaflets are oblong to obovate with serrate margins. Leaf axils produce long raceme inflorescences densely packed with tubular, white flowers. Each flower has a tubular calyx of fused sepals, four white petals, and seven stamens with orange-pink anthers that extend far out from the flower. This cultivar is noted for its floriferous racemes that drupe. The genus name was originally used to describe an oak with edible acorns by those who spoke Latin, though much of this plant and its fruit are poisonous to animals. The specific epithet is Latin for “with small flowers” and the variety name is Latin for “blooms late in season.”
Iris domestica
Blackberry Lily
This plant is found in the mountainous grasslands, woodlands, and meadows of Eastern Asia from the Himalayas in the west eastward to the Philippines and northward to historic Manchuria and Japan. This herbaceous perennial has an erect growth habit and forms small colonies though rhizomatous roots. At first, the plant produces a stout, wiry stem from which long, erect, blade-shaped leaves are produced in a fan-like manner sheathing the stem. The stem continues to grow through the leaves and terminates in a cyme inflorescence. Easch flower has six orange-yellow tepals that are distinctively spotted with red around three yellow stamens and pistils. After the flower fades, a capsule fruit develops, dries, and falls off, exposing a cluster of shiny black seeds that resemble a blackberry. The genus name is the name of the ancient Greek goddess of rainbows, as Iris flowers can come in a full range of colors. The specific epithet means “domesticated” in Latin, as it is commonly used as an ornamental plant in gardens.
Physostegia virginiana
Obedient Plant
This plant is native to southern Quebec through Florida in the east, westward through southern Canada to Minnesota and eastern South Dakota in the north, to Texas and northern Mexico in the south, where it is found in swamps, wet prairies, riverbanks, and moist thickets. This herbaceous perennial has an erect, multistemmed, clumping habit. The bright green stems are highly branched and have a square cross-section. The green leaves are simple, lanceolate with doubly serrate margins, and occur in opposite pairs on the stem. Shoot termini produce showy spike inflorescences. The tubular calyx is subtended by a bract. The pale purple, translucent petals are fused into an inflated, labiate tube with a white interior interrupted by lines of dark purple spotted nectar guides. After the flowers fade, the calyces persist as the fruit develops. The genus name comes from the Greek words physa meaning “bladder” and stege meaning “covered,” referring to the persistent calyces that inflate as the nutlet fruits develop. The specific epithet means “of Virginia.”
Salvia uliginosa
Bog Salvia
This plant is native to southeastern Brazil, Uruguay, and northern Argentina, where it is found in bogs, marshes, and swamps. This herbaceous plant has a dense, erect growth habit and is marginally hardy in Chicago. The slender, green stems have a square cross-section and are highly branched. The glossy, fragrant leaves are simple, lanceolate to oblong with serrate margins, and occur in opposite pairs. Spike inflorescences of flowers in distinct whorls are produced from the terminus of each shoot. The tubular blue flowers are labiate with slight inflation near the base of the corolla tube. The broad lower lips are marked with white guides. The genus name derives from the Latin word salvus meaning “healthy or safe,” as plants of this genus have a long history of medicinal use. The specific epithet is Latin for “of swampy or wet areas.”
Silphium perfoliatum ‘The Holy Grail’
The Holy Grail Cup Plant
Silphium perfoliatum is native to southern Ontario to North Carolina in the east, westward to the eastern Great Plains, where it is found in moist soils of woodlands and prairies. This herbaceous perennial has an erect growth habit due to its thick, unbranching stems. The stems are smooth and bear leaves in opposite pairs. The leaves are dark green, coarse, and lanceolate with serrate margins. The basal rosettes are petiolate and are deeply toothed and coarser. Upper leaves are not toothed, sessile, and fused at their bases, forming cups the stem passes through. Capitula inflorescences are produced solitarily from upper leaf axils, while the shoot termini produce a compound corymb of capitula. The daisy-like capitula comprise more than 20 bright yellow ray florets around a dense button of star-like, tubular, golden-yellow disc florets. This cultivar is noted for its chartreuse leaves that transition to dark green with maturity. The genus name is a Latin derivation of sílphion, an ancient Greek name for a now-extinct plant believed to be in the unrelated genus Ferula. The specific epithet means “through the leaf” in Latin, as the stem appears to go though the middle of the leaf pairs.
Vernonia noveboracensis
New York Ironweed
This plant is native to the eastern United States from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts in the north, to Alabama and northern Florida in the south, where it is found in the moist soils of pastures, streambanks, fens, floodplains, and thickets. This herbaceous perennial has an erect growth habit with stiff, bronzy-green stems that bear many dark green leaves. The lanceolate leaves have finely serrate margins and downy undersides. The terminus of each shoot produces a cyme of thistle-like capitula inflorescences. The capitula are comprised of many small, fluffy, bright purple disc florets subtended by a dark purply-green involucre. Each floret has a ring of fine hairs around the five, tubularly fused petals, with stamens and pistils that extend beyond the petals, enhancing the floret clusters’ fluffy appearance. This plant is a repeat bloomer, producing clusters until late September. The genus name honors English botanist William Vernon, who collected Vernonia sp. plants in 1698. The specific epithet means “of New York.”