Seeds S-Z

Seeds available, by Latin name, starting with 'S-Z'; $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 https://www.facebook.com/cohanseeds/

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!

Saponaria lutea/ Yellow Alpine Soapwort
European sub/alpine of rocky/grassy places; happy so far in my rock garden in fairly average conditions; low spreading plant, bright green leaves, loose clusters of pale yellow flowers; not flashy but a nice textural plant with subtle colour.

Saponaria lutea/ Yellow Alpine Soapwort

Saponaria lutea/ Yellow Alpine Soapwort with Gypsophila

Saponaria lutea, Yellow Alpine Soapwort in seed

Saponaria lutea/ Yellow Alpine Soapwort in seed

Scabiosa ex S. japonica Ritz Blue/Pink
edible (? hmm, need to look into that, seems like one that could produce enough mass to be useful...); Bought as the cultivar Ritz Blue, but there may have been two seedlings together-- one blue, one pink...; about 20-30cm tall in flower, compact, deep green, mostly basal foliage; long flowering season, many heads. Beginning to seed nearby, haven't yet seen what colour the seedlings flower. So far, I have it growing in gravelly clay, bit of humus, a spot that probably doesn't get very dry, but have not tried it elsewhere. I've read it can take some shade.

Scabiosa japonica Ritz Blue, Cohan Seeds

Scabiosa ex S. japonica Ritz Blue/Pink

Scabiosa ex S. japonica Ritz Blue/Pink with frost

Solidago sp small (smaller multiradiata or simplex? AB Rocky Mtns)
Native; My original collection was at a fairly high altitude, but early in my newer garden building (2008?) and I did not keep proper records! This one has stayed very small in the garden, 10-15cm tall with a few erect linear flower stems. It is in a very gravelly spot, shallow soil, so I don't know if it will grow larger in better soil, though recent slight reworking of the area did not change it.

Solidago sp smaller multiradiata or simplex? AB Rocky Mtns

Solidago multiradiata/ Mountain Goldenrod / Northern Goldenrod / Alpine Goldenrod Native; edible/medicinal/dye? (ex AB foothills and higher)
Medium size goldenrod-- 40cm or so tall in the garden; showy; linear leaves, stems green or reddish; from a couple of wild sources in the foothills and higher, these tended to be few stemmed, modest plants in habitat, and are generally taller and more robust in the garden, especially in richer/looser soil, making good sized clumps of many stems. Like any composite, they can spread by seed, not problematically so far, though I collect most of the seed; I have not noticed them spreading rhizomatously beyond the clump, I see no sign after several years of them trying to take over. For a smaller, tougher plant, try for very lean rocky soil and/or hard clay. Much loved by pollinators, esp small brown butterflies here.

Solidago multiradiata, Mountain Goldenrod , Northern Goldenrod, seed, Cohan Seeds

Solidago multiradiata/ Mountain Goldenrod / seed

Solidago multiradiata/ Mountain Goldenrod / Northern Goldenrod / Alpine Goldenrod

Solidago multiradiata, Mountain Goldenrod, Northern Goldenrod, pollinator garden, Cohan Seeds

Solidago multiradiata/ Mountain Goldenrod / Northern Goldenrod / Butterfly

Solidago multiradiata, Mountain Goldenrod, Northern Goldenrod, native bees

Solidago multiradiata/ Mountain Goldenrod / Northern Goldenrod / butterfly

Solidago multiradiata, Mountain Goldenrod, Northern Goldenrod, Corydalis aurea, Potentilla pulcherrima, Cohan Seeds

Solidago multiradiata/ Mountain Goldenrod / Northern Goldenrod / Corydalis/ Potentilla

Solidago multiradiata/ Mountain Goldenrod / Northern Goldenrod / Polemonium

Solidago multiradiata/ Mountain Goldenrod / Northern Goldenrod / pre-seed

Solidago multiradiata/ Mountain Goldenrod / Northern Goldenrod /seed

Symphyotrichum boreale / Aster borealis /Northern Bog Aster / Rush Aster
Native; a sweet delicate species, slender stems, narrow leaves, white to slightly lavender flowers; grows in open to partly wooded grassy wetland areas here; late summer/fall flowering and often good fall colour. I haven't tried it in the garden yet, but I expect it to be adaptable to fairly ordinary conditions, as the moisture in its habitat is quite variable. Single to few stemmed in habitat, likely to be fuller in the garden.

Symphyotrichum boreale, Aster borealis, Northern Bog Aster, Rush Aster, Cohan Seeds

Symphyotrichum boreale / Aster borealis /Northern Bog Aster / seed

Symphyotrichum boreale / Aster borealis /Northern Bog Aster / fall colour

Symphyotrichum boreale / Aster borealis /Northern Bog Aster / Rush Aster

Symphyotrichum ciliolatum/ Aster ciliolatus / Fringed Aster / Lindley's Aster Native; (local, wild, in and out of garden beds)
Our most versatile aster, growing and flowering from full sun to deep shade, moist to dry; Like most things, densest growth and flowering will be in good light, but it flowers well even among large trees here. Some slight variation in colour, but tending to bluey-lavender, smallish/medium flowers generally in large numbers. As a species (not individual plants) has a long flowering season from mid-summer beyond deep frost. Slightly rhizomatous, but places where I've left them in garden beds, they haven't shown much tendency to spread. They are also in many mowed areas here, will flower when cut quite low, and have good fall colour from gold to deep reds.

Symphyotrichum ciliolatum/ Aster ciliolatus / Fringed Aster / Lindley's Aster /wild bees

Symphyotrichum ciliolatum/ Aster ciliolatus / Fringed Aster / Lindley's Aster

Symphyotrichum ciliolatum/ Aster ciliolatus / Fringed Aster / Lindley's Aster / Fall

Taraxacum pseudoroseum / Pink Dandelion
edible/medicinal; Pale pink outer ray flowers (they are not petals ) yellow centres; foliage more or less like common dandelions, small if kept starved, they can get to nearly a couple of feet tall in flower in good conditions. Transplant carefully- I've had no problem with seedlings, but moving adult plants is not so easy as for the weeds!

Taraxacum pseudoroseum / Pink Dandelion

Taraxacum rubifolium / Taraxacum faeroense / Red Leaf Dandelion / Faeroe Islands Dandelion edible/medicinal; from boggy places (wet, rocky?) in the North Atlantic region (British and Faeroe Islands); a beautiful small dandelion (regardless of soil, I have not seen this get larger as many other spp will do) with dark green to red-black leaves(varying a bit through the year and with sun exposure), red flower stem, deep yellow flowers; seems to prefer regular moisture-- mine are at the base of rock beds, where they cosy into the clay among the rocks and never dry out; they probably would be fine with average moisture as long as the taproot can reach down. Full sun in cool places-- they don't mind some shade, but will have better colour in more light; hot summer places might need some shade, or at least rocks to cool the roots..

Taraxacum rubifolium / Taraxacum faeroense / Red Leaf Dandelion / Faeroe Islands Dandelion

Taraxacum rubifolium / Taraxacum faeroense / Faeroe Islands Dandelion in seed

Taraxacum rubifolium / Taraxacum faeroense /Faeroe Islands Dandelion in seed

Townsendia leptotes / Slender Townsend Daisy
low growing perennial, tiny greyish green leaves, stemless daisy flowers, slightly pinkish white; small rosettes gradually spreading into a nice patch-- by seed, and maybe root? but gently and locally only. Shots of this in full flower get some of the biggest wows of any of my garden photos. For rock gardens or troughs.

Townsendia leptotes / Slender Townsend Daisy

Tulipa dasystemon / Tulipa neustreuvae earliest yellow
Haven't been able to pin a definitive name on this one from commercial bulbs (I know nothing about Tulipa, but have asked advice from those who do-- the problem with some of these plants that have been in cultivation a long time is that they may be long separated from any knowledge of where the original plants came from, and could have formed garden hybrids along the way; the names used in the trade are often incorrectly applied or totally invalid). It could be what is called dasystemon (in horticulture) or a hybrid of neustreuvae, or something else! In any case, a favourite, as it is very early, around the same time as Crocus here, and well ahead of tarda (hort); flowers are solid yellow, with dark markings on the outside, smaller than tarda (hort) with longer stems, which elongate more in seed.

Tulipa dasystemon, Tulipa neustreuvae, early yellow tulip, Cohan Seeds

Tulipa dasystemon / Tulipa neustreuvae earliest yellow, with Draba

Tulipa dasystemon / Tulipa neustreuvae earliest yellow with Draba

Tulipa dasystemon / Tulipa neustreuvae earliest yellow

Tulipa tarda (hort) / Tulipa urumiensis
what typically is called tarda in gardens (likely wrong name in general use, the truth is not clear); early small tulip, yellow with white tips and violet on outside of flowers; flowers are larger than the above, and short stemmed; red border on leaves. Can spread by seed to form a nice patch-- maybe too much in some climates, not here.

Tulipa tarda (hort) / Tulipa urumiensis

Tulipa turkestanica / Turkestan Tulip
This botanical tulip *may* have a less controversial name than the others. White flowers with yellow in the centre, multiple flowers per stem-- this one has been getting better each year.

Tulipa turkestanica / Turkestan Tulip

Xanthisma coloradoense /Aster coloradoensis /Colorado Tansyaster
very limited; Small plant with reclining stems, light/medium pink flowers; My plant is young, so I can't comment on ultimate form (I'm assuming it will form a loose mat; my understanding is that this is a leafier/longer stemmed variant of the species), but it is a nice colour to have in the garden with most of the fleabanes and asters I have being either white or lavender/blue.

Xanthisma coloradoense /Aster coloradoensis /Colorado Tansyaster

Zigadenus elegans / Anticlea elegans / Mountain Death Camas
Grdn ex B.C.? many years ago-- very limited
attractive clusters of glaucous leaves increase over time, as do the number of flowering stems, 40-60 cm in flower, fairly dense (compared to some other species) spikes of creamy flowers with green centre markings. Effect is like a small yucca; Moist-mesic in the wild here, but I think they are not too particular about moisture.