Salvia guarnatica ‘Black and Blue’

Most flowers that hummingbirds like are red or orange, but this one is deep blue. It is not hardy here, but it will flower like this from late summer through the fall.

36-48″ sun

Pseudofumaria lutea (AKA Yellow Corydalis)

A nice little shade plants that blooms from spring to even after frosts. The blue-green foliage always looks fresh and the cheery yellow flowers never need deadheading. If happy with its location it will form a large clump and also seed itself in an un-obnoxious way. Very hardy despite its delicate looks. What more could you ask?

12″ part shade

Kansas Sea Holly, Eryngium leavenworthii

Hmmm, a “Sea Holly” from land-locked Kansas. Begins to give you some idea of the quirky nature of this annual flower. Each of the many small flowers look like a metallic purple pineapple with a wild, jagged haircut and wearing an equally wild and jagged tutu. Then, the stamens that emerge from all over the “pineapple” are long and bright blue. The stems and leaves also turn purplish in late summer.

This sun-loving, spectacularly spiky-looking plant is sought after as a unique accent in the garden and appreciated as a long lasting, contemporary-looking bouquet flower. It is also valued as easy, drought-tolerant addition to a xeriscape, gravel garden, or prairie garden, complemented by any goldenrod or “big yellow daisy.” Last summer, visiting gardens in England, I saw this and many other species and cultivars of Eryngium used in the best English gardens, often in purple-themed borders and mingling with swirly grasses. 36″ sun

(If you are wondering about the leaves with the orange thorns, that’s Firethorn, Solanum pyracanthum.)

Just for fun, here is the recent plant introduction Duckalicious Nasturtium (Tropaeolum ‘Duckalicious’) with Coleus ‘Quack’ and some Duckfoot Ivy.

A brand new flower form for an old favorite, each bloom is like a bouquet of tiny yellow duckies’ feet.  Even the leaves are lobed rather than the usual round shape. Trailing.

6-12”      sun

Gloriosa Lily (Gloriosa superba ‘Rothschildiana’)

The unusual, almost bizarre, 3–5” blooms of this vine begin as pale green hanging petals that gradually lengthen, become wavy, and arch backward, changing color to yellow and then scarlet in summer.

You can lift the roots in fall and overwinter in a dry basement. The roots are delicate, so handle them carefully.

Available in our Bulbs & Bareroots section.

As of February 1, our online sign-up system is live and ready for volunteers to sign up. To give it a try, go to volunteer.friendsschoolplantsale.com. You’ll be asked for your name, email, phone and address, and then you’ll be able to pick a shift, after reading the brief job description to make sure it’s what you were expecting.

If you’ve volunteered before, just give it your name and phone number, and assuming it matches the way you typed it in the past, the system will know who you are. Be sure to update your address if needed!

Volunteers are welcome to shop early, at our Thursday evening pre-sale (May 6 from 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.).

New this year: If you volunteer before the pre-sale, you’ll be getting your postcard for pre-sale admission after you’ve volunteered. Only volunteers who work after the pre-sale will receive their postcards by mail.

We would love your feedback on the system. Please send it (or any questions about volunteering) to signup@friendsschoolplantsale.com

Do you have tips for your fellow shoppers (especially first or second-time shoppers) about how you do the sale? Let us know, and we will post it to the website.

Do you have a great cart you bring to the sale with special compartments or a built-in stool so you can take a break? Maybe with a jet engine attached to help you get back to your car? Send us a picture!

Send your tips to: info@friendsschoolplantsale.com.

Send your photos to: photos@friendsschoolplantsale.com.

Did you know we’ve long had gift certificates for the Friends School Plant Sale? But we didn’t have an easy way to sell them… you had to send a check to the school.

Now you can buy certificates through the school’s secure website in the following amounts: $25, $40, $50, $75 and $100.

The school office will receive your request and send a certificate to your address or directly to the address of anyone you want to honor with a gift.

We all love it when the school bus arrives on Wednesday and the student volunteers run, uh, speed-walk at maximum speed into the Grandstand to start working on the plant sale.

Their main jobs are to unload the trucks, figure out where each plant goes and put it there, water the plants, help shoppers, and clean up when the sale is over. These are real jobs, not busy work! These jobs require skill, strength, speed, common sense, perseverance, focus, teamwork, tact, and sometimes a little arithmetic. Thanks, kids, you were all great!

Pink Mulla Mulla Ptilotus ‘Joey’

There are many dozens of this plant still available at half-price on Sunday: if it had been blooming during the sale, it would have sold out the first day!

A completely new genus for U.S. gardens straight from central Australia, Ptilotus is pronounced “ty-LOH-tus” (from the Greek “ptilon” for feather.) Other common names are Lamb’s Tail, Pussy Tails, and Showy Foxtail.

Many chubby 4″ fuzzy bottlebrush flower spikes glisten silver and neon pink. The silver-green leaves are paddle-shaped and succulent-looking. You could guess from its Aussie origin that ‘Joey’ is heat and drought tolerant, and that it wants excellent drainage, such as a loose potting soil.

Last summer, Henry planted ‘Joey’ in our State Fair garden next to Aeonium ‘Zwartkop,’ Helenium ‘Dakota Gold, and Alternanthera ‘Red Threads’ and reports that Fairgoers could not resist petting the feathery flowers.

We hope to see more Ptilotus varieties become available in the future: there is one now on the internet called ‘Platinum Wallaby.’

12-15″ sun (A454, page 41)