Forrest Keeling Plants

Native Butternut, or White Walnut, is a slow-growing tree. The butternut is a prized wildlife food.

Black Walnut, is a fast-growing Midwest native tree of bottomlands and open fields. Its beautiful, fine-grained wood is prized for woodworking and quality veneer. Nutmeats enjoyed by humans and wildlife.

Emma K is known for its large oval nut.  Very productive in annual cropping of walnuts.  Emma K has a high percentage of meat while being one of the thinnest shelled black walnuts.

Improved seedling varieties such as Purdue #1, Quick Crop, and Sauber.  Named seedlings are grown from collected seed of clonal grafted varietes in isolated orchards.  These half siblings are a result of cross pollination

'Purdue #1' is a rapidly-growing walnut cultivar with good nut production.

'Quick Crop' is a rapidly-growing walnut cultivar with early nut production.

'Sauber' is a rapidly-growing walnut cultivar with good nut production.

Sauber Grafted Black Walnut is excellent in nut quality.  With thirty percent kernel averaging eighteen nuts per pounds.

'Thomas Black' is a rapidly-growing walnut cultivar with good nut production.

'Carpathian' is a rapidly-growing walnut cultivar with good nut production. 'Carpathian' is a cultivar with seed origin in Michigan. It has tolerated winter temperatures as low as -34 degrees.

Soft Rush is a common wetland species with unique, side stem inflorescence. Blooms from May through September. Soft Rush plants will naturalize forming large clumps when left undisturbed.

Eastern Red Cedar is an upright evergreen. Densely pyramidal when young, pendulous with age. Aromatic. Birds enjoy its blue, berry-like summer cones.

Knautia is one of the finest perennials for the border we have seen. It has a very long season of flowering lasting well into the autumn and early winter. Knautia's dense, double, pin cushion scabious like flowers are a brilliantly strong cherry red,

Golden Raintree is a dense tree with rounded crown. Medium to fast growth. New leaves are purple, turn green, then gold in fall. Yellow flowers cover the entire crown in spring.

Slender Bush Clover is a common native species throughout the Midwest. The plant and its seeds are eaten by a variety of wildlife and livestock. It can be identified by its leaves, which are slender and hairy on both surfaces.

Rough Blazing Star is an upright, clump-forming, native perennial. This wildflower occurs on dry prairies and rights-of-way. Flower spikes are composed of rounded, fluffy, deep rose-purple flower heads (each 3/4" across) which are crowded into long,

Fluffy thistle like flower heads, form in an upright clump of rose purple flowers.  Butterflies, hummingbirds, and songbirds love this plant. 

Cusp Blazing Star is a vital plant during fall migration of butterflies and hummingbirds.  A strong rooted perennial, roots can develop and grow as deep as 16 feet.  Cusp clings to poor, infertile, well drained soil.

In July and August, unbranched stalks of Prairie Blazing Star bear dense spikes of fuschia flowers on strong stems creating dramatic landscape statement. Nectar-rich flowers of Prairie Blazing Star attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Golden Vicary Privet makes an excellent hedge. Good growth rate with dense, semi-evergreen foliage. Newer growth is vibrant gold, maturing to bright green.

Spicebush is a broad, rounded multi-stemmed shrub covered with fragrant, yellow-green flowers in March and April. In fall, the aromatic light green leaves of Spicebush turn a deep yellow-gold while birds feed on the small, brilliant red fruits produc

The deep green, glossy, star-shaped leaves of Sweetgum turn a wonderful medley of colors in fall ranging from orange to purple to red on a single Sweetgum tree. In the fall, golf-ball size brown fruit with sharp points form.

Tulip Poplar is a stately tree. Pyramidal when young, rounded when mature. Leaves turn golden yellow in fall. Tulip-shaped summer flowers followed by interesting fruit.

Dozens of brilliant red flowers bloom on Cardinal Flower's strong, upright stems in late summer. Hummingbirds enjoy the nectar of Cardinal Flower.

Stout spikes of two-lipped flowers bloom on Blue Lobelia in fall. In optimum growing conditions Blue Lobelia may self-seed forming attractive colonies.