Red Birds in a Tree.  Sometimes we like common names and this is one of those time.  New Mexico native where it grows in moist canyons.  Small white-lipped red tubular flowers in clustered congeniality throughout the summer to the delight of the nectar feeders.  Likes to lean on other plants.

Redwood ivy.  Vigorous carpeter in optimal conditions with evergreen foliage  which bronzes up in winter.  The tiny white flower motes benefit from profusion and the fact that they are the smallest in the genus is offset by this species having the best foliage which is what you have 95% of the year.  Our collection from California

Interior Live Oak. Broadly distributed throughout California, from the coast to the foothills of the Sierras, this species is highly adapted to dry conditions. Evergreen, with leathery, rich green and shallowly toothed leaves.  Thanks to xeric plant guru Ian Barclay of The Desert Northwest for sharing his acorn collections.

Our seed collection of Martindale's Desert Parsley from our nearby Olympic Mountains. This West Coast native umbellifer is found from sea level to the mountains where it inhabits dry meadows and dry. often rocky, slopes.  Yellow flowers from this population where it grew with 3 species of Allium and Delphinium menziesii.

Small green leaves and light pink flowers combine with the expected good bark color and texture and trunks and branches.  This will be an open broad rounded shrub 6 or 7 feet tall and as wide in ten years depending on the gardener.  Drought tolerant, this requires little summer water in our dry summers and good drainage is key.

Epling's Oak. Hybrid of Quercus douglasii and Q. garryana, known from only a very few locations in California. This forms a deciduous, multi-stemmed large shrub to small tree, 20 or 30ft tall with time. Beautiful blue-green leaves color in fall. Deciduous. Grown from acorns collected by Ian Barclay of The Desert Northwest.

Our native False Hellebore which we see in the Cascades. Fabulous foliage plant with big rounded pleated leaves - these are old plants.  These may flower next year up to 6' with lots of small whitish starry flowers. Best in light shade or no afternoon sun. Loves a rich moist soil and is deer proof.  These started early in our greenhouses and are thinking about summer dormancy.

Leather Oak. Aptly named, with leathery, evergreen, almost holly-like leaves on this is serpentine endemic shrub oak native to chaparral regions of the California Coast Ranges as well as the foothills of the Sierra and San Gabriel Mountains. A FRF shout-out to the collection work of Ian Barclay of The Desert Northwest.

Seed collected in AZ by FRBC botanist Dr. Cody Hinchliff, this is known as Owl's Claws, thanks to the long curved and drooping narrow flower petals.  Great for late summer color provided you like yellow to orange flowers because this ain't fooling around with its pigmentation.  30" give or take in a moderately moist sunny spot.

Blue Oak. Deciduous, shallowly lobed, bluish-green foliage with fall colors of rosy-pink, orange, and yellow.  Iconic California endemic from the foothills of the Central Valley.  In typical oak fashion, very slow to 30ft or more with enough time. Homegrown from acorns collected by Ian Barclay of The Desert Northwest.

A Bay Area species thought to be extinct until a single plant was discovered in 2009 during a botanical survey prior to a freeway expansion. Low growing to 2 feet or so, and spreading with white flowers. Perfect example of ex-situ conservation by botanic gardens and specialist nurseries.

Robust California native that has a very limited distribution in the wild.  This seems like the cabbage of Erythroniums as it puts up very large succulent green leaves with pendulous flowers of a rich yellow intensity.  These increase quite nicely by offsets leading to impressive clumps.  Shade.

Oregon White Oak. This variety of Q. garryana hugs the foothills of the western Sierra Nevada and southern Oregon. In its native poor, rocky soils this becomes a multi-stemmed shrub or small tree to 20 ft. Deciduous and drought tolerant. Another excellent Oak we're able to offer thanks to Ian Barclay of The Desert Northwest.

A selection of this California Fuchsia from El Tigre Peak on Santa Cruz Island.  This used to be Zauschneria but is now in Epilobium.  This thrives in poor, dry soil that drains well and will spread to form a patch 4' across with late summer tubular scarlet flowers that are hummingbird crack.  Hardy to at least 15F and likely lower.

Our plant was gifted to us by Kenton Seth of crevice garden fame who also happens to be a keen plantsman.  This is native to the coastal areas of the West coast where it is found in moist meadows and along streams where it can naturalize in gravel bars.  Blue and white flowers are awesome for pollinators.

A surprisingly hardy tuberous little wildflower from the mountains of the Southwest.  This has BLUE flowers of some enviable intensity.  The flower buds are held clasped in a pouch like a heart folded in half and one flower emerges each day.  Sun, dry to moist and decent drainage.

A very hardy Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit Ceanothus.  If you are going to name something the Glory of Versailles then it had better be good!  A deciduous shrub to 6' or 7' high or more and 5' or so wide with soft powder blue panicles of scented flowers mid summer into fall.   C. americanus and the Mexican C. coeruleus are it's parents.

Surely one of the finest Trillium species and perhaps the most fervently desired plant in our shade garden.  This is an uncommon species growing in southern Oregon and Northern California.  Dark red sessile flowers with a slight twist of the petals stand at attention above maculated leaves.

Arctostaphylos afficionados Paul and Greg at Xera Plants say this is their favorite Manzanita which made it a must-have for us.  Fits in the home garden and tolerant of garden conditions, this get just 2' high by 4' across in time.  Rocking reddish new growth turns to blue-green.  Pink flowers late winter.  Drought tolerant.

Extremely handsome big evergreen shrub with classic mahogany bark peeling to reveal that much loved Hi-Gloss finish.  Pink urn-shaped flowers in spring age white followed by russet berries liked by birds.  Leaves are held perpendicular to the sun to conserve water.  Good drainage, no fertilizer.

Choice small tree-like shrub to 10' with large clusters of pearl pink flowers in winter.  Lightly furry blue-gray leaves combined with twisted smooth bark of a rich chestnut brown makes this one of the finest cultivars.  Full sun and good drainage and happy with no summer water when established.

This plant smells so good in flower that it should be illegal or barring that, taxable.  This could help with budget shortfalls because it is frankly addictive.  One sniff and the response is "Ooh!  Do you have this for sale?"  Southwest native remarkable hardy with grape koolaid fragrant white  flowers in masses.

Our selection from the California Redwoods of a large-leafed and vigorous clone of Wild Ginger. This sports large glossy green leaves which mask the sizable brown starfish flowers hidden underneath.  We always like surprises.  A dense big groundcover in shaded rich moist soil.

Very choice species native to CA and growing on old stablized sand dunes where it can reach 3' high and twice as wide.  This could make a nice specimen plant, low hedge or large informal groundcover.  Drought and salt tolerant with early season white flowers and birds will eat the fruit.

More art than flower and more flower than one's soul can bear.  Almost anyway, as each spring we gasp back to awareness from the horticultural fugue state that these flowers send us to and while we don't know where we've been or what we've done, we do know that it was amazing.  Narrow black-red petals evoke a dark and sinuous eroticism that tests your limits.

Rock Fleabane.  A mighty mite in the Asteraceae family, this rock crevice dweller was not discovered until 1978 in the Chiricahua Mts in Arizona and later was found 200 miles east in the Black Range of New Mexico.  It has been very easy and rock hardy for us and although drought tolerant, adapts to frequent irrigation.  Small white flowers.

A nice silver-foliaged selection of the California Fuchsia.  This loves a well-drained soil in a hot sunny spot where it has lots of tubular bright orange hummingbird magnet flowers in late summer.  Disappears in winter but comes up from the spreading underground rhizomes.  Cut back in spring.

A seedling strain from an especially robust population of this Southwestern US native Columbine. Big soft yellow flowers with characteristic extra-long spurs somehow manages to meld flash and whimsy. Easy and very nice in the garden.  A Plant Select introduction out of Denver.

Shipping restrictions may applyA selection from the mountains of Orange County CA notable for its rose colored flowers.  This species has somewhat viscid green leaves that tend to drop in late summer but reappear with the rains of autumn and have handled temps to 15F here.  Late winter-early spring flowers in our area, these delight the overwintering Anna's hummingbirds.

Pretty much an awesome plant for the rock garden or hell strip as this relishes good drainage and hot sun.  We saw this at Lakewood Gardens in Denver summer of 2014 and had to have!  A small subshrub covered in blazing red tubular flowers and allows no other plant to have any attention whatsoever.  On the moderate to dryish side and lean.