Plants of an Age

Colonial Williamsburg's
Heirloom Collection


  • Love-in-a-Mist in early light. The dried seed pods are often used in floral design.

  • The Yellow Lupine, an annual, was grown by Lady Jean Skipworth at Prestwould plantation in Virginia.

  • The ripe seeds of the Indian Shot are so hard it is said that they were used as ammunition for primitive weapons.

  • Scarlet Pentapetes, which Jefferson planted at Monticello, grows four to five feet tall.

  • Bloodroot, called puccoon by Native Americans, who extracted a red dye.

  • In 1736, Peter Collinson of London sent tuberose to John Custis IV in Williamsburg.

  • Another Jefferson favorite, the Mexican, or Prickly, Poppy, with its spiky, variegated leaves.

  • A woodland perennial, Rue Anemone is ephemeral. It blooms in spring but disappears in summer’s heat.

  • The Cynthia Tulip. This is a selection of the Clusiana Tulip, a species different from the modern tulip.

  • Yellow Pile Wort (Ranunculus Ficaria)

  • Corn Poppy (Papaver Rhoeas)

  • Common Milkweed, Silkweed (Asclepias Syriaca)

  • Borage (Borago Officinalis)

  • Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella Damascena)

  • Job's Tears (Coix Lachryna-Jobi)

  • Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus Syriacus)

  • Blue Lobelia (Lobelia Siphilitica)

  • Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia Virginica)

  • Cynthia tulip (Tulipa Clussiana)

  • Celestial Rose (Rosa Celestial)

  • Common Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus)

  • Larkspur (Consolida Orientalis)

  • Corn Poppy (Papaver Rhoeas)
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation © 2007