See Highlights From the New York Botanical Garden Plant Auction
While the New York Botanical Garden may be closed temporarily, you can still buy some great plants online at the Collectors’ Plant Sale, which is running through Thursday, April 23 at noon.
For outdoor gardeners and city dwellers alike, this year’s auction has something for everyone, and most plants have an interesting provenance or are not available to the trade. You can pick up palms propagated from the Palm Dome specimens of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, award-winning herbaceous peonies from the Garden’s Matelich Anniversary Peony Collection, specimens of giant philodendron, and even a corpse flower.
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Plants are going fast, so you should hop in and place your bids. And no worries about having to make the trip to the Garden—any plants you buy online will be delivered for a fee.
We’ve looked through the offerings and have selected a few of our favorites. Enjoy!
1. Auricula Collection 2, Alpine Auriculas
This is a grouping of three wonderful alpine cultivars of Primula auricula, each of which has gold or pale yellow centered flowers. Great specimens, according to the site, for “the alpine house, or cool conservatory.”
2. ‘Demon’ Dwarf Bearded Iris
Growing to a maximum of a foot in height, the Iris pumila, or “Demon,” impresses with its nearly black blooms and its small dark yellow ‘beards.’ The rhizomes can be lifted and divided in late summer.
3. Herbaceous Peony, Paeonia ‘America’
This vibrant red bloom is known as the ‘America’ for its color, which is said to match the American flag. Bred by Roy Klehm and Nathan Rudolph, it is the winner of both the American Peony Society Gold Medal and the Award of Landscape Merit. It was propagated from NYBG’s own Matelich Anniversary Peony Collection.
4. Japanese Ajuga, Ajuga Incisa ‘Blue Enigma’
The striking royal blue flowers of the ‘Blue Enigma‘ are complemented by its bold, serrated leaves. This Japanese herbaceous perennial is great for shade, and perfect for a woodland border.
5. Lily of the Nile, Agapanthus ‘Twister’
The flower petals of this flashy lily-of-the-Nile cultivar have a dark blue throat that fades at the tips to pure white, giving the plant an appearance reminiscent of Delft pottery.
6. Corn Poppy, Papaver rhoeas ‘Pandora’
From a deep cherry-red to soft pink and silver white, the Pandora, with its unusual color-pattern, is a new variety of the traditional corn poppy. And best of all, if it’s happy, this self-seeding annual will come back year after year.
7. Tea Tree, Leptospermum grandiflorum ‘Eugene Hardy’
A native to Australia, this tea tree cultivar forms a small tree or large shrub and offers white summer flowers in June and July, and aromatic gray-green leaves year-round.