Echinacea purpurea PURPLE CONEFLOWER Likes rich well drained soil with compost added and drying out before watering. Drought tolerant and a butterfly magnet. Exceptionally handsome wide rayed daisy flowers with dark green, coarse and broadly lance shaped leaf character. Fine for border and for naturalized areas. Excellent for cutting, flowers are unique among others, having petals that gracefully droop. Echinacea purpurea Bravado' has perhaps more saturated flower color. Echinacea p. 'Magnus' has horizontal flower petals. E. p. 'Rubinstern' horizontal and exceptionaly large flowers with deep color. E. p. 'White Swan' white blooming form of E. purpurea.

Echinops ritro GLOBE THISTLE Will thrive in poor as well as good soils with average moisture, tolerating dry soil. Easy, undemanding plants. Flowers provide good color and interest long before they open, extending the season. Shows off green, jagged, felty leaves that are thistle-like with spiny tips and gray underneath. E. b. 'Blue Glow' has deeper blue flowers than the species. E. bannaticus leaves are more deeply divided and hairier. E. b.'Veitch's Blue' has darker steel blue flowers than E. b. 'Taplow Blue'.

Epimedium BARRENWORT Flowers are like small columbines in airy sprays. Makes a good ground cover once established. They have very attractive and persistent foliage. Cut old foliage by early spring before the early blooms and new growth appears. Rather woody perennials with pleasingly heart shaped leaves that nod laterally in the wind. Prefers rich, moist soil but compete well with roots in dry, shaded conditions. Hints of red accent the leaves of E. versicolor (x) 'Sulphureum' in early spring, whereas plants of E. rubrum (x) hold this red outline somewhat longer. Choice ground cover plants.

Equisetum hyemale SCOURING RUSH, HORSETAIL An ancient plant, once used as a scouring material and to polish tin and wood. The erect hollow evergreen stems are conspicuously jointed, with leaves reduced to scales at the nodes. The flowering structure is the sporophyll at the stem tip. Be forewarned that the vigorous spreading rhizomes can colonize quickly. This unique curiosity needs to be confined. Moist to wet soil. Great for pond edges and water gardens and also makes a fine container plant.

Erigeron 'Prosperity' FLEABANE  This variety seems to stand up to our heat and humidity better then some of the other varieties we have grown.  Lavender-blue aster like flowers are formed on the top of the 18-inch stems.  E. ‘Prosperity’ grows with an upright habit and prefers full sun and well-drained soils.  Also makes a good cut flower.

Eryngium SEA HOLLY Sea Hollies are mostly native to costal areas although E. yuccifolium, Rattlesnake Master, is a native prairie plant. They are tolerant of hot dry sites and poor as well as salty soils. Steely blue tinged teasel-like flowerheads provide a distinctive accent in the garden. Long lasting cut or dried flower.

Eupatorium maculatum 'Gateway' JOE PYE WEED The straight species E. maculatum one finds growing in the wild and along roadways in wet soils. The selection Eupatorium m. 'Gateway' is shorter than the wild one. The very large flowerheads are really groups of flowerheads that can contain 9 to 30 very small purplish flowers each. It is easy to grow in moist or wet, moderately fertile soil. A garden worthy choice, providing late summer bloom and structural value for beauty in design. Attracts butterflies too! Eupatorium colestinum 'Cory' HARDY AGERATUM Erect, branching red brown stems that are slightly hairy. Light green leaves are triangularly oval, wide at the base and have coarsely toothed edges. The flowers are a glowing blue to violet, turning purplish, blooming in dense clusters late in the year. Similar in flower to the annual Ageratum, but a taller plant. A must for end-of-the year fresh cut flowers.

Euphorbia SPURGE Happy in any reasonably drained, poor to moderate soil. Narrow leaves crowd the stems where the flowers begin. Stems contain a milky sap that may cause a skin irritation. Long-lived plants, have persistent foliage and the green yellow colored bracts are long lasting. Clump forming E. polychroma produces a rounded dome of stems with dark green leaves that turn red in the fall. E. myrsinites produces glaucous gray leaves on trailing stems. These flowering stems should be cut after they fade to encourage a handsome new crop of stems and leaves. Evergreen especially when grown in a protected spot. E. a. 'Purpurea' is noted for marroon red leaves and deep red to purple stems in winter that remains and constrasts well with the greenish yellow bracts of spring.