A Rare Plant Specialty Nurseryin Port Townsend Washington
Sue Milliken & Kelly Dodson, proprietors
Welcome to our online store and hope you
find many of the rare plants offered as fun as we do. We’ve been collecting, growing and learning
about plants all our lives and the excitement has simply grown with time and we
look forward to sharing our phytomaniacal obsession with you. There are worse things to be afflicted with
than gardening.
We have many more plants available here at the nursery that are not listed on our online store. Many are too large or don't ship easily or are in small quantities or we just haven't managed to get them up on the website. If we just didn't need to sleep, we could get more done. The nursery is not open all the time so check our hours and open days.
We propagate and grow most of our plants ourselves which allows us to grow many more impractical species than we should. Many times people shy away from a rare plant thinking it is hard to grow, but more often, it is difficulty of propagation or simply not fitting into a standard nursery routine that makes a plant rare in commerce. Of course, not all of our plants are uncommon - that would be leaving out way too many good ones!
You can start shopping now using the categories on the left, or read our Ordering Instructions first.
We will be adding new plants frequently so do check back. Please note that some of these will be newly potted divisions from this fall and winter and will not be showing much or any root development for early spring shipping but they will grow roots and be good plants.
This is a new online storefront for us and we are going to be updating and improving it right along. You can help us out by letting us know if you run into problems using it or have suggestions on how to improve it. There are some improvements in the works but honestly, we all are good at finding any excuse to be out in the garden rather than in front of the computer!
We sent out a few orders earlier this month of February because of the mild weather and to get some shipping practice. We were really nervous about how we would stack up against other mail order nurseries. Here's a sampling of feedback:
"I unpacked my order yesterday and I'm extremely impressed not only with the size and quality of the plants, but also the care and detail you devote to packaging. I order from dozens of mail-order sources and your performance rates right there at the top. Well done and good luck with mail-order. You are well on your way to great success." - J. L. - New York
"I did receive my order
Wednesday in excellent shape! I was very impressed with how my order has
been handled from start to finish. The packaging was incredible. When
unwrapped, all the plants looked like they had never left the nursery. I also
enjoyed the flyer, which came with my plants, very cute. And thank you for the
Primula.
This is the first time I have dealt
with your nursery, but you now definitely have a new customer for life”.
- S.C. - Washington
"Got my order this week, and everything looks fanatic,,,, I mean FANTASTIC! I'm crazy about the Mahoberberis. Love it!" - R.K. - Washington
Our friend Ian Barclay sent us this link to this blog we hadn't seen and there was a picture of an order we had just sent! We then checked out the posting there for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show Day 1 in case there was some mention of our seminar. There was and it left us a bit speechless - talk about setting the bar high!
Quart Pot Everything good about this yellow hybrid from David Tristan in the UK. Densely clumping and quite respectful of its allotted space in the garden. Flowers are a rich clear yellow with a good open flared aspect and rounded petals of distinct substance. There is a lot of flower for a compact 24" plant!
4" Pot Collected in Taiwan by gifted plantsman Steve Doonan, this amazing Fern is hardy to at least single digits. This is a locally famous fern frustratingly slow to propagate and always red-lining the Plant Lust meter. We're happy to have some to share. Hard to imagine this is a fern with these big leathery evergreen leaves up to 18" long and with that glorious underleaf when mature. Likes good drainage and not too wet but gently moist. The Pyrossias we've seen in Arunachal Pradesh and China love to grow in moss on top of rocks and really love a good stone wall. Easy in morning sun or light shade. Mulch in winter first year or two.
4" Pot This has grown in Portland Oregon for 7 years where it has handled the winters. Small creamy yellow flowers clothe the heather-like branches in late spring. A most unusual evergreen shrub and the hardiest of the Melaleucas. Full sun and good drainage. Portland gets more summer heat than we do which ripens the wood making it more hardy. We're lucky to crack 75F here.
Quart Pot Choice woodland species from Japan where the small bowl-shaped white flowers are much admired and combines harmoniously with the simple rounded leaflets. An easy herbaceous species and one of the few Peonies that thrives in the shade. Looks great with Ferns, Hellebores and Hostas. This species has been submerged into Paeonia obovata by Hong De-Yuan in his extraordinary monograph 'Peonies of the World, Taxonomy and Phytogeography'. This book, along with the newly published second volume (2011) 'Peonies of the World, Polymorphism and Diversity', will remain the undisputed last answer for the foreseeable future. That said, we will retain the epithet japonica to differentiate it from obovata as this blooms much earlier than our pink P. obovata from Japan and has an entirely different horticultural gestalt in the garden. We can hear Hong De-Yuan now "I pour my life into this unrivaled and exhaustive treatment of the genus Paeonia and this what you take from it - horticultural gestalt? AARRRGGGHHH!"
Tubers Vigorous vine with tubular orange flowers flaring yellow in late fall. If you frost early then plant against a wall or just grow it to eat but it blooms well in Seattle. Tasty flowers and edible tubers which are eaten like potatoes by folks in the Andes and increasingly here. This differs from the other tuberosum we offer by having flowers with more of a flared shape and the tuber color is different. Mulch inwinter if very cold. We came by this variety by purchasing it as 'Ken Aslet'. "Ken Aslet' flowers in midsummer while the rest of the tuberosum types bloom in late fall. If you buy a 'Ken Aslet' around here anyway, this is what you'll get most likely. Fortunately we have the true one finally thanks to rare plant geek Bob Barca so that will be available in the future.
Quart Pot This Japanese woodlander is among the very elite of all plants for shade. Slow to propagate and uncommonly beautiful, a well-grown mature plant is a prized trophy which marks you as a gardener to be reckoned with - in fact a microchip ID implant in the crown wouldn't be the worst idea. We have dogs so none of our plants are chipped. Yet. This is a coveted plant. I'm sure your friends are all completely fine but people talk and word gets out - just saying. This is a plant that can catapult a gardener to the next level and as a result formerly rigid moral parameters become a bit more plastic. Broad maple-like leaves are the foil for the large 3" light lavender crepe Poppy-esque flowers. Cool shade and a woodsy soil that doesn't dry out is ideal for this piece of art.
4" Pot Foetid Adders Tongue. How can you not love a plant with a name like this? Trillium relative native to the coastal Redwoods of California, this ranks as one of our most favorite plants. Sure the intricate early spring flowers smell of gym locker wet dog but how cool! And what foliage!
Quart Pot A true collector's gem from the Himalayan foothills is this Trillium relative. Winner of the Most Complex Green Flower Award, this has interesting and quietly lovely flowers followed in summer by riotous orange-red fruit. Very cool. These are nice big bulbs. Basic Trillium culture.
ourselves which allows us to grow many more impractical species than we should. Many times people shy away from a rare plant thinking it is hard to grow, but more often, it is difficulty of propagation or simply not fitting into a standard nursery routine that makes a plant rare in commerce. Of course, not all of our plants are uncommon - that would be leaving out way too many good ones!
