Dalea purpurea PURPLE PRAIRIE CLOVER This important prairie legume adds nitrogen naturally to the soil. Grows on most well drained soils preferring dry to medium moisture, in sand, loam or clay. Fine textured leaves and masses of tiny flowers that are dark purple (occasionally crimson or pink)

Darmera peltata (Peltiphyllum peltatum) UMBRELLA PLANT Early spring flowers appear before the foliage, but their attractiveness lasts well after foliage begins to leaf out. Leafless hairy flower stalks of a healthy reddish color arise to 3ft. or more supporting a dome shaped flowerhead. These contain little flower stems with side shoots, all bearing a 1/2 in. white starlike flower quickly shading to pink with age resulting in a dense dome of pink. Later the foliage becomes impressively larger and taller. Dark green leaves 1 or 2 ft. in diameter have 6 to 10 or more sharply cut lobes. Water gathers in little ponds inside the leaf cup and leaves become a bright copper color in autumn. Clumps may reach 4 - 6 ft. wide. Grows best along shady streams, ponds or marshes where soil is cool, moist and fertile. A useful ground cover that holds soil from erosion. Steady moisture is required with increased sun.

Delosperma  ICE PLANT

Delphinium LARKSPUR These plants need rich, evenly moist, loamy humus, alkaline to slightly acid and respond to additional feeding during the growing season. Planting areas should have sharp drainage and protection from wind. Tall types need to be staked. Leaves are green, palmately lobed and large. Traditionally in great demand in perennial gardens for colorful and profusely blooming spikes and considered worth special care.

Dianthus PINKS Charming garden plants for edging borders and walks, or a ground cover for small areas. Adaptive to a wide range of soils as long as it drains well, preferring gritty, limy soils in the pH range of 7.0 - 8.0. Leaves are small or grassy, numerous and vary according to kind in shades of greens, silver and gray. Often fragrant, many cultivars are in circulation. D. 'Frosty Fire' has blue gray foliage in a tuft, hovered-over by double flowers. D. 'Little Bobby' has compact bluish green foliage that holds up well and bicolor single flowers. D. g. 'Bath's Pink' forms a solid carpet of foliage rather quickly that remains in good condition all season. A brilliant flower show covers the foliage. Dead-head spent flowers after blooming, cutting into the foliage a bit. D. g. 'Spotti' has flowers with intricate bicolor designs that just look more and more beautiful the closer you look. D. 'Tiny Rubies' has 1/2 in. double flowers over a short mound of gray green evergreen foliage. D. g. 'Pixie' is a vigorously growing new bicolor with flowers like D. g. 'Spotti' but with an added long bloom season. D. g. 'Sarah' another new one, has carnation type double bicolor flowers over neat mounds of grey green foliage, and a long bloom season. D. g. 'Bewitched' also long blooming, has light pink fragrant flowers with a magenta ring over silvery green foliage. A selected sport of Dianthus 'Firewitch'.

Dicentra spectabilis BLEEDING HEART Grow well in fertile, light but moist woodland soil, in the cooler side of the garden. Excellent companions for ferns and other woodland ornamentals. D. eximia and hybrids EVERBLOOMING BLEEDING HEARTS produce shades of green or blue green leaves, which have a deeply cut, ferny or divided form. D. formosa 'Luxuriant' has a bluish green color for its fernlike foliage, is everblooming, with dark pink, almost cherry red flowers, where D. formosa 'Bacchanal' is even redder. D. 'Aurora' has rather bluish green leaves. D. 'Zestful' seems to be one of the most adaptable and best growers of the everblooming types.

Dictamnus albus GAS PLANT Very long lived plant once established, preferring fertile well drained soil and climates with cool nights to perform well. Two-year-old plants that are planted will need another few years to reach their peak. The finely serrated and slightly glossy leaves have 9 – 11 leaflets and the self- supporting stems have a woody base. Bloom season is short but attractive seed pods follow. Dictamnus is slow and difficult to propagate and the growing plant resents disturbance. The leaves, seed pods and blooms exude an aromatic lemon scent that can be an irritant to some people. These lemon scented volatile oils can be ignited with a match at a particular point in the bloom cycle earning Dictamnus the common name Gas Plant.

Digitalis FOXGLOVE Will grow well in any fertile soil that is not too wet or dry, and appreciate some humus added. D. purpurea and D. p. 'Alba' are biennial, where D. 'Mertonensis' is fairly perennial, and D. grandiflora (D. ambigua) is a sound perennial. The leaf on D. grandiflora is green, large, oval and lance shaped. Others are green, long stalked, large and somewhat downy. All are noted for an incredible display along tall spikes filled with a crowd of flowers.

Disporopsis pernyi ‘Bill Baker Form’ EVERGREEN SOLOMON'S SEAL A genus closely allied to Polygonatum, D. pernyi is a slow spreading evergreen perennial with rich, glossy green, lance shaped leaves.  Hanging white bell shaped flowers are borne in spring.  Disporopsis is a great perennial for the discerning woodland gardener.  Indigenous to moist well drained, humus-rich soils in the upland forests of S.E. China.

Disporum sessile ‘Variegatum’ FAIRY BELLS An eloquent easy to grow perennial well suited to the woodland garden.  Leaves are green and white striped similar in appearance to Polygonatum f. ‘Variegatum’. Pendant creamy white flowers are borne in spring giving rise to berries in summer.  Plants are slow to spread but once established can pop up several feet from the original clump.  Native to cool, moist wooded areas of Japan.

Doronicum orientale 'Magnificum' LEOPARD'S BANE Thrives in any fertile soil. Mulch to keep their shallow roots cool and moist. Leaves are green, hairy and oval elliptic. Magnificent flower, abundant and long lasting, and already in bloom while other perennials are still emerging in the spring.

Draba bruniifolia 'Olympica' MOSS DRABA  Yes, Draba’s are cute and charming and yes they are hard to keep alive here in the northeast, but if you have a rock garden in New York and enjoy alpines then you probably are use to plants dying from time to time.  The Draba’s are adapted to alpine conditions and require garden conditions to be similar for success.  Here in our temperate environment we have constant moisture in summer in the form of rain and humidity, which is the exact opposite conditions that the alpine Draba’s are adapted to.  In mountainous regions the main form of moisture is snowmelt in spring, which is an active growth period for many alpine plants.  In summer, often conditions are arid and consequently many alpine plants go summer dormant.  So, how do you create favorable conditions?  Well, you create rock gardens, which are raised beds usually made from stone that you fill with a very fast draining soil and sometimes, just sand.  A thick mulch of   ½ inch to 1-inch gravel helps divert moisture away from the plants.   Growth habits are usually that of a small tuft or cushion.  Flowers of the more popular forms are usually yellow.

Dracocephalum DRAGON'S HEAD  The Dragonheads are aptly named for the shape of the flowers.  The flowers are usually blue with some alba forms also found.  I planted a specimen of D. argunense ‘Fuji Blue’ in my rock garden a few years ago along with some more delicate alpine Lewisia’s and Draba’s, well as one might expect 3 years later the Lewisia’s and Draba’s are all dead but the Dracocephalum is thriving.  I cut the foliage back to the center tuft in autumn or early spring.  Full sun with drier soil conditions is favorable for most of the Dracocephalum.