Monarda fistulosa #1 (Wild Bergamot)
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May 23, 2020Pachysandra procumbens 3qt (Allegheny Spurge)
$15.99
-Part Shade, Full Shade
-Moist to Average, Fertile Soil
-Slightly Acidic pH
-6-8″ Tall, Spreading
-Clumping, Colonizing Groundcover
-White, Spike-like Flower Clusters in April, May
-Rabbit, Deer, Drought Tolerant
-Zone 5
-US Native (Southeast)
26 in stock
Allegheny Spurge is a commonly overlooked, classy, and patient woodland groundcover native to the southeastern US. Its large, dark green and lightly mottled foliage creates an excellent clumping groundcover in dappled shade. Spicy, fragrant, white bottlebrush flowers bloom in early spring before the leaves emerge. They are fiercely popular with pollinators. This native version of Pachysandra is less well-known than the non-native, invasive Asian species, and it is tragically under-used in landscapes. William Cullina opines: “For gardeners in the northern states, the word Pachysandra is synonymous with the resilient plasticity of the Japanese Spurge (Pachysandra terminalis), that vinyl siding of groundcovers that carpets great areas of suburbia. Our indigenous species is a completely different animal, metaphorically more similar to cedar shingles than vinyl siding.”
Allegheny Spurge is slow and steady and not aggressive, making it the perfect choice for smaller planting areas and for managed gardens and woodlands. It can double in size annually in favorable conditions, creeping outward in a very attractive clumping habit rather than forming an impenetrable mat of rhizomes as Japanese Spurge does. It prefers to grow in moist, well-drained, organically rich and slightly acidic soils in dappled to full shade. It tolerates drier conditions and is even drought tolerant once it becomes established. It is very rabbit and deer resistant due to toxic compounds in the foliage, allowing for easier establishment in natural areas.
Sources:
Growing and Propagating Wildflowers by William Cullina
Herbaceous Perennial Plants by Allan M. Armitage
Missouri Botanical Garden
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
OSU-Buckeye Yard and Garden
Mt Cuba Center
The Morton Arboretum