Seeds I-P

Seeds available, by Latin name, starting with 'I-P'; $3.50 per packet; message or email for purchase and shipping information. Shipping is generally the same for one or a half dozen or more packets.

contact: cohanseeds@gmail.com facebook page

Note: Comments on edibility/medicinal use etc are generally taken from internet references, and should be considered only a starting point for further research. Before using any plant, be certain of identification and learn about all potential toxicities: traditionally used plants are not always in favour in modern times, nor suitable for all people!

Inula rhizocephala/ Stemless Inula
Asian, native to forests, meadows, thickets from SW Asia through India, China; Stemless, monocarpic/biennial (apparently some plants can be perennial, I have not seen that here) -- low to flat dense to open rosette, 30cm or so across, of slightly fuzzy medium green strap-like leaves; clusters of bright yellow flowers borne in the centre, second year/on maturity. Plants then set seed and die. Once you've had a plant mature in the garden, it should set seed and find its own spots, but of course you could sow seeds every year, or scatter them where you want them to be. For the rock garden or maybe an open spot in a woodland garden? I don't find it fussy about soil or exposure--plants are in mostly sun or shaded by taller plants; I don't have any in super wet or dry spots, but again, I imagine they are pretty adaptable. The only issue I've had is with some plants having some difficulty maturing seed if there is wet weather in fall.

Inula rhizocephala/ Stemless Inula

Inula rhizocephala/ Stemless Inula- behind Saussurea, Papaver etc

Iris hookeri / I. setosa ssp canadensis/ Beach-head Iris
From Nova Scotia wild seed originally; 30cm or so in my garden in mesic conditions; attractive clumps of narrow leaves, good colour in fall; med violet marked flowers, early to mid June, here.

Iris hookeri / I. setosa ssp canadensis/ Beach-head Iris

Linnaea borealis/ Twinflower

Native; edible?/ medicinal; Iconic flower of the northern forests, early-mid-summer here; from deep shade, moist to dryish through forest edge to more open sites in more northerly/wetter climates. (Many report better flowering with at least some sun; I find here they aren't fussy, but most things will have denser growth and flowering with more light, as long as they are not dry and scorched!). Plants here vary from barely pink to quite good pinks, or pale with darker areas. They often grow in very humusy soils, even directly on rotting wood etc, but again, they are not fussy here, and we have a good sized colony in a mowed area on rather dryish clayey soil with moderate humus, and part day sun. Very limited.

Linnaea borealis/ Twinflower

Linnaea borealis/ Twinflower with Maianthemum

Linnaea borealis/ Twinflower

Linnaea borealis seed, Twinflower seed, Cohan Seeds

Linnaea borealis/ Twinflower Seed

Maianthemum canadense / Canada Mayflower / Wild Lily-of-the-Valley
Native; edible; an abundant and widespread plant here from open woods, edges of clearings (too much sun here and they look a bit scorched-- no doubt the cooler and moister the climate, the more sun they can take) to deep shade; they don't seem too fussy about soil or moisture, growing in dry soils under spruce, under grass and taller plants, semi/damp mixed woods, etc. Often with Cornus canadensis, Linnaea, Pyrola etc. Vigorously rhizomatous, you'd want to be cautious in a small garden or in beds with small delicate woodland plants. They are native all over the acreage and I have had no problems where they've popped up in or near beds. Emerging leaves in spring are very attractive, then flowers, ripening berries and fall colour.

Maianthemum canadense / Canada Mayflower / Wild Lily-of-the-Valley

Maianthemum canadense / Canada Mayflower /unripe berries

Maianthemum canadense / Canada Mayflower / unripe berries

Maianthemum canadense / fall colour, one berry nearly ripe

Maianthemum canadense / fall colour, unripe berries

Osmorhiza depauperata / Blunt-fruited Sweet Cicely / Blunt-fruited Sweet Root Native; edible; An occasional here, from moist-mesic wooded areas, usually in medium to deep shade. Another with beautiful (ferm-like) foliage, inconspicuous flowers, and seed structures which are texturally interesting, also some interesting fall colour; I've never tried eating the root, since I like the plants too much! But it has gradually started moving into a few garden beds and areas adjacent, so maybe one day there will be enough to try! Well worth growing as an airy delicate presence in the woodland garden (quite likely it will also grow in meadows/woodland edge at least, but I have not seen that much yet...).

Osmorhiza depauperata, Blunt-fruited Sweet Cicely, Blunt-fruited Sweet Root, Cohan Seeds

Osmorhiza depauperata / Blunt-fruited Sweet Cicely / Blunt-fruited Sweet Root - Seed

Osmorhiza depauperata / Blunt-fruited Sweet Cicely / Blunt-fruited Sweet Root -Seed

Osmorhiza depauperata, Blunt-fruited Sweet Cicely, Fall Foliage, Cohan Seeds

Osmorhiza depauperata / Blunt-fruited Sweet Cicely / Fall Colour -Seed

Osmorhiza depauperata / Blunt-fruited Sweet Cicely / Fall Colour w/Hieracium

Osmorhiza depauperata / Blunt-fruited Sweet Cicely / Spring Foliage

Oxyria digyna/ Mountain Sorrel

edible; Unusual texture for the rock garden, or edge of the perennial vegetable planting.. low mounds of round/kidney shaped leaves, green with red highlights; typical sorrel tasting leaves. Flowers typical sorrel/dock in clusters of more or less erect narrow stems; roughly 30cm tall in flower in my garden, likely quite variable depending on conditions.

Oxyria digyna/ Mountain Sorrel flowering

Oxyria digyna/ Mountain Sorrel fall colour

Oxyria digyna/ Mountain Sorrel in seed

Oxyria digyna/ Mountain Sorrel just beginning to flower

Oxytropis campestris/Field Locoweed
ex B.C. seed-- this has turned out to be good in the garden-- nice mass of bluish foliage, 20-30cm tall, flowering stems taller, creamy flowers, many flowering stems, attractive seed pods. Locoweeds are named for several species in this and related genera which can cause poisoning in livestock which consume significant amounts for an extended period (neural damage can cause 'crazy' behaviour). No risk to gardeners!

Oxytropis campestris/Field Locoweed

Packera paupercula/ Senecio pauperculus / Northern Groundsel
Native; I *might* have collected separately from two forms, ask if interested: A) is the typical rather gracile form with fewer but good sized flowers, B) is likely taller, more branching and more numerous but smaller flowers. Grows naturally in moist spots, usually, but I don't think it would be that fussy in the garden. Sun to shade, but it will be floppy in full shade, as it is in the wild in a couple of spots in the yard.. 30-50cm?

Packera paupercula, Senecio pauperculus, Northern Groundsel, Cohan Seeds

Packera paupercula/ Senecio pauperculus / Northern Groundsel Form A (regular/gracile)

Packera paupercula/ Northern Groundsel Form B (more smaller flowers) seed

Packera paupercula/ Senecio pauperculus / Northern Groundsel Form A (regular/gracile)

Packera paupercula/ Northern Groundsel Form A (regular/gracile) seed

Packera paupercula/ Senecio pauperculus / Northern Groundsel Form A (regular/gracile)

Packera paupercula/ Northern Groundsel Form A (regular/gracile) seed

Papaver alpinum / Alpine Poppy

An alpine, actually from the Alps! original material from big box garden centre; several shades-- white, yellow, a couple of oranges; short lived plants will self sow easily, but not overwhelmingly (weak rooted, easy to pull where unwanted, drifts are delightful among rocks or in meadow type plantings with other not too tall plants); 30cm-ish in flower/seed. Main flowering is in late spring, but they continue to flower all season.

Papaver alpinum / Alpine Poppy

Papaver 'Pacino' /Yellow Dwarf Poppy

there are various species attributed to this cultivar- could be miyabeanum; not sure what its real origin is, but it is a nice smallish -30cm or less- alpine type poppy, low mound of bluish foliage, nice sulphur yellow flowers, different shade than the yellows in the P. alpinum mix I have, and different leaves.

Papaver 'Pacino' /Yellow Dwarf Poppy

Papaver popovii / Siberian Poppy
orange flowers ( a Russian plant site shows photos of plants with yellow flowers, so, is this name correct?), hairy, mostly basal foliage; 30-45cm officially, can be small on really tough sites, with decent soil/moisture it will be easily at the upper range of that, or more, and robust plants will also have multiple growing points; numerous flowers over a long season which open early in the day, mostly finished by afternoon. Showy seed pods; of course there are seedlings, but not so many as I feared from the number of seed pods!

Parnassia palustris / Grass of Parnassus / Bog Star
Native; slender leafless flower stems, usually in clusters, rise 20-40 cm from small roughly heart shaped basal leaves (when growing in grasses etc, the leaves are often next to invisible), with intricately veined white flowers. Here they flower from late summer into fall, with interesting seed capsules ripening from shiny green to near paprika, opening just at the top, and filled with powdery seed. Typically growing in wet meadows in sun to a fair bit of shade, but extending up road embankments, so I imagine they are adaptable to fairly ordinary garden conditions.

Parnassia palustris / Grass of Parnassus / Bog Star

Pedicularis groenlandica / Elephant's Head / Greenland Lousewort
Native; medicinal; Attractive wetland hemiparasite (grows/best with roots drawing nutrition from other plants) , ferny foliage, mostly basal, purple/pink flowers in spikes, 30-40cm or more, green to purple foliage depending on whether it has a good host. Wet grassy meadows to partly shady spots (they grow between woodies, but too much shade- or the wrong root competition?- and they are pushed out).

Pedicularis groenlandica, Elephant's Head, Greenland Lousewort, Pedicularis seeds, Cohan Seeds

Pedicularis groenlandica / Elephant's Head / Seed Capsules

Pedicularis groenlandica / Elephant's Head / Greenland Lousewort

Penstemon procerus / Slender Penstemon / Littleflower Beardtongue
tea; Native; my plants originally from Gardens North Seed, Red Deer River Valley provenance. Multiple rather weak, ascending stems with numerous small blue-violet flowers in terminal clusters. In tough sites, plants may be very small 10-20cm or less, 30-40cm is probably average; more moisture/nutrients can give much larger plants (when I first planted them in a newly built berm, they grew large and flowered all season); self seeds fairly generously, unwanted plants not super hard to remove, but best to keep it away from small delicate/hard to weed plants! Very drought tolerant, at least in my not very hot summers!

Penstemon procerus / Slender Penstemon / Littleflower Beardtongue

Polemonium pulcherrimum/ Showy Jacob's Ladder
ex B.C. Pale blue/lavender flowers and small leaves on plants 30cm, spreading ascending stems. I think they are probably pretty adaptable to soil, moisture and exposure, like anything will be denser and more compact in leaner spots. Flowers are small and delicate, with more flowering stems over several years.

Polemonium pulcherrimum/ Showy Jacob's Ladder

Potentilla gracilis / Slender Cinquefoil / Graceful Cinquefoil
Native; lots of smallish bright yellow flowers in early summer (earlier flowering, more delicate plants than pulcherrima) held on spreading slender stems 30-50cm tall; attractive palmate, mostly basal leaves, clump forming; mesic to dryish, good in tough soils, these seeds are from plants in a semi wild area between my outer driveway and the entrance to the neighbour's field-- so occasionally driven on or cattle trodden, hard clayey soil! I moved some pieces to the garden a few years ago, in case they'd be lost to road work, but both groups of plants have continued to thrive, the garden plants in clayey soil with a bit of humus and gravel added, drought tolerant.

Potentilla gracilis / Slender Cinquefoil / Graceful Cinquefoil

Potentilla nitida/ Bright Cinquefoil/ Dolomite Cinquefoil
Classic European alpine from limestone areas, mainly, but has been very happy in my rock garden in gravelly clay, not much humus (though I'm sure it is making its own!); low dense mat (under 10cm) of beautiful silver to white (from fine hairs) leaves; can grow relatively quickly, if happy so do not plant near small things that may be overwhelmed (I've had to move some Sempervivums in one bed, in another they have not done well); Pale pink /white with pink flowers; My plants were from wild seed, and variable in silveriness, flatness, number of flowers etc-- so it is worth growing a few seedlings at least.

Potentilla nitida/ Bright Cinquefoil/ Dolomite Cinquefoil

Potentilla pulcherrima ? / Beautiful Cinquefoil / Soft Cinquefoil
Native; original seed from Gardens North as P hippiana-- which it is not, wrong leaflet arrangement; after that is a little less clear-- it has a roughly similar form to P gracilis listed above, of which pulcherrima is sometimes considered a sub-species; it is also known to hybridise with other species such as hippiana; in any case, these plants are appropriately more robust than gracilis-- dense clumps of mostly basal leaves, med-dark green with hairy white back, palmate at base, stem leaves slightly pinnate; many 40 to 60 cm tall flowering stems, quite strongly erect (unlike much of what I see under this name on the internet....) plenty of the usual modest sized bright yellow flowers in mid-summer.

Potentilla pulcherrima ? / Beautiful Cinquefoil / Soft Cinquefoil

Potentilla pulvinaris / Couch Cinquefoil / Hairy Cinquefoil
Turkish species; low dense clusters of dark green leaves heavily coated with silvery hairs; First flowers appear near the leaves in spring, then flower stems elongate to 30cm or so. I have it in a couple of rock garden spots, clayey soil with a bit of humus and gravel.. doesn't seem particular, in one extra lean spot, the plants are noticeably smaller (not a bad thing for the rock garden, though also fewer flowers). Attractive subtle fall colour.

Potentilla pulvinaris / Couch Cinquefoil / Hairy Cinquefoil

Potentilla pulvinaris / Hairy Cinquefoil / frost

Potentilla pulvinaris / Hairy Cinquefoil / spring

Potentilla pulvinaris / Couch Cinquefoil / Hairy Cinquefoil

Potentilla pulvinaris / Hairy Cinquefoil / fall

Potentilla pulvinaris / Couch Cinquefoil / Hairy Cinquefoil

Potentilla valderia/ Valdieri's Potentilla
This rather uncommon species from alpine France and Italy is underwhelming in flower, but well worth growing for the fuzzy white leaves (variable from seed, I have some that are greener) that are always nice in a lowish mound, to 15-20cm or so; flowering stems somewhat decumbent or weak, ascending, 30-40cm +/- Native bees seem unbothered by the inconspicuous flowers, and visit them enthusiastically.

Potentilla valderia, Valdieri's Potentilla, Cohan Seeds

Potentilla valderia/ Valdieri's Potentilla with bee

Potentilla valderia/ Valdieri's Potentilla rain spotted

Potentilla valderia/ Valdieri's Potentilla

Potentilla valderia/ Valdieri's Potentilla with Saussurea

Prenanthes purpurea /Purple Lettuce / Rattlesnake Root
(medicinal? edible? lettuce cousin; some plants in the genus are used as greens, I haven't tested it); 40-60cm? likely more in a more encouraging spot; open woodland/edge plant-- shows some inclination to scorch? although the bed it is in can be fairly dry, in part day sun it is fine, it seems to me it may not be fond of full sun, or it may be a water issue; rhizomatous-- apparently can spread too well in some (milder? wetter?) places-- here it has very gently been forming a nice little patch over a number of years; subtle plant with medium green leaves, pretty but tiny dangling deep pink flowers, with upturned petals; interesting fall colour in the gold/brown/black shades.

Prenanthes purpurea /Purple Lettuce / Rattlesnake Root

Prunus tomentosa / Nanking Cherry
from garden plants, presumably cultivars; I notice no clear difference in the seed grown plants, but their could be minor differences in the fruit; small, textured, ribbed and velvety leaves, almost pink flowers, loads of delicious tart fruit. Small tree/bush, can be pruned heavily (the moose do it here, over winter) for compact shape. Plus: fruits do not detach as easily this year I saw crows on the bush for the first time!), giving more of a chance to harvest.

Prunus tomentosa / Nanking Cherry

Pulsatilla patens/ Anemone patens/ Prairie Pasqueflower
(don't call it Crocus ;) )
Native; Lots of common names, and debate about placement in Anemone or Pulsatilla, etc; Early spring sees the exquisite golden hair covered buds emerge first, opening to lovely lavender blooms, near white inside with darker outsides; finely dissected leaves emerge later.

Pulsatilla patens/ Anemone patens/ Prairie Pasqueflower

Pulsatilla vulgaris etc- mixed/Pasqueflower
Indispensable in the spring garden-- fuzzy leaves and buds emerge early and develop together, flowering begins while plants are still low; after flowering, seed heads develop into shiny, then fuzzy mop heads on lengthening stems. Seed is from plants grown from garden seed-- Pulsatillas are notorious hybridisers; variations in size, leaf shape and flower colour and shape from blue-lavender through violet and red-violet. early flowers, substantial mounds of divided leaves later on the larger plants.