Maidenhair Spleenwort.  I love common names.  I must dig out our 15th century Herbal and read up on how to properly decoct this sweet little fern for afflicting humors of the spleen.  Or I can just grow it in a gritty well-drained shaded rock garden and enjoy its evergreen delicacy.

Frosted Jade Ajuga.  Hard to believe that this is an Ajuga but it is true.  This choice selection has fantastic foliage and very good dark cobalt flowers.  Not a spreader - this makes a clump with 16" tall stems.  Challenges all of your comfy notions about Ajuga but in a good way.  Great in our shade garden.

Alpine Water Fern. Found at higher elevations in Australia's New South Wales and Tasmania growing in grasslands, moist rock crevices and sphagnum bogs. A stalwart fern and go-to evergreen low groundcover because it looks great despite your prolonged attention lapses from pandemic Netflix binge-watching.

This rugged South African is sun, wind and drought tolerant and absolutely hardy in the PNW.  One of the most admired plants in our border for its profuse display of large yellow to orange daisies on low stems.  Good drainage.

We received this extraordinary selection from and equally extraordinary plantsman, David Mason of the vaunted former Hedgerows Nursery.  Few members of the genus approach this for impact which is only heightened by flowering before other large-flowered forms.   The emerging spring growth is enclosed in soft salmon sheaths and the hot damn lavender-pink flowers stand proud before the leaves develop.

Pretty awesome new hybrid that came up at Suncrest Nurseries in CA thanks to some inspired work by the bees.  This outshines its parents with gray-blue leaves and branched erect stems to 3' holding lots of lavender-blue flowers for many weeks.  This can take drier conditions and the vermin deer don't like it.

This is thought to be an intergeneric hybrid between 2 of New Zealand's shrubby daisies.  This gives a fabulous textural addition to the Mediterranean garden like some happy marriage of heather and rosemary.  Small white flowers cluster at the tops of the stems.  Good drainage, tolerant of some dry.

Got lots of sun and sandy or well-drained soil with average to low fertility in a dryish garden beset by rabbits and deer but still want lots of flowers for the bees and other pollinators? Look no further as this will nicely fill the bill. Mature plant has hundreds of pink papery bracted flowers in midsummer on drooping stems. Best displayed in a raised bed.

Himalayan Maidenhair Fern.  Evergreen to semi-evergreen creeping fern making the the most textural groundcover imaginable.   Salmon pink new growth goes to light olive and finally green leaflets on black wiry stems just 8"-12" high.  Likes a loose moist soil but will tolerate dry when established.

Mint Bush.  Brought to the UK from Australia by Jeffrey Irons and sent to us from a friend in Holland.  A Welsh nuseryman describes it as "a cracking plant tolerant of heavy frost and sells on sight".  We love the genus with the aromatic deer proof evergreen foiage and in this case, white flowers tinged lavender.

One of the best of the Blue Poppies and certainly one of the most reliably perennial.  This large flowers of good medium blue.  This appreciates a partly sunny to bright dappled shaded position with good loose organic soil that drains yet doesn't dry out.  A percentage does die after blooming so save seed to be safe!

We originally received seed of this back in the 90's from a Chris Chadwell collection in Nepal.  An exceptional foliage plant with long silken silvery leaves and tall loosely arrayed yellow flowers in early summer.  This is one of our favorite herbaceous Potentillas which Chris just ID'd for us this summer of 2013.

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.

Fabulous hybrid ornamental Origano (O. rotundifolium x O. scabrum) which is both heat and drought tolerant and a perfect choice for the sunny rock garden or top edge of rockery wall.  This really does need sharp drainage to perform its best.  In the Midwest, it is used as an annual in window boxes.  Light pink flowers all summer long.

A strong-growing form favored among some of the remaining specialty nurseries in Oregon.  Dense evergreen mats of tight foliage erupt in spring and sporadically thereafter, with improbably large and impossibly saturated deep blue trumpets.  This mountain species is no effete alpine, moist rich soil is its cup of tea.

The "Giant Form" we got in the UK and it is rather large. Quite. Ours are in full sun in lean infertile mineral soil and watered just three times since our last dab of rain on June 14.  It is now August 28.  Given this tough love, leaves up to 40" long and flower stems to 5' tall.  Likely bigger with kindness and bees love it.

A very attractive introduction by us from Yunnan if we do say so.  Broad lightly hairy leaves in a dense clump with lots of large soft lavender daisy flowers fringed heavily in very fine petals surround a prominent dark "cone".  Doesn't rebloom - just does it right the first time.

This Lamiaceae species comes from woodlands in Japan such as Fukushima Prefecture.  All summer you get to enjoy the subtly interesting leaf shape and texture, pondering what possessed you to grant this space in your overplanted garden.  Once the riot of summer color is gone, the lavender spikes of this uncommon species brings clarity.

A choice Primula from the Italian Alps that is seldom offered for sale.  I know we hate to part with any.  These make bold clumps of distinctive foliage with short-stemmed clusters of dark lavender flowers.  This likes a moisture retentive well drained soil.

Rare plant found only in limited areas in central Honshu, Japan where it likes the forest fringes in the subalpine areas and is known as hiiragi-sou or holly tree-leafed weed.  Hiiragi-sou sounds better than the translation.  This selection has dark blue flowers and is a deciduous clumper to 16" tall - very nice!

We are smitten with Veratrum and this is an exciting addition to the mix.   This one has pale petals and darker eye pattern to the center, and narrow pleated leaves in an open and airy arrangement on the 3' flowering stem.  A rich moist soil in part shade will be just the ticket.  Our thanks to Aaron Floden for sharing this plant with us.

We briefly offered this as Plectranthus but Cody, our taxonomist fixed that.  From a meadow area at 10,000' in Sichuan with companions of Reineckea, Paris, Roscoea, Aconitum and Salvia. This mysterious beguiler will have small rounded hairy leaves with many stems and myriad motes of lavender-white flowers.

Robust seed strain from our breeding work with each possessing its own unique varying degrees of dark foliage and flowers from red to red-pink to red-purple.  Normally, we select one or two to keep - which we did - and throw the rest out - which we didn't - as these are all worthy of pride of place in the garden.

This is the Japanese version of our native False Hellebore. Wonderful broad pleated leaves and when old enough, nice spikes of white starry flowers to 3' or more. This likes a rich moist soil, emerges early in spring and goes dormant by mid to late summer. Deer resistant and very hardy.  Young plants.

A Dan Hinkley collection from Japan of this fine mid to late summer blooming Allium species. Good richly colored purple flowers are freely produced on this densely clumping little dude. Good in containers and great in the rock garden or special little niche.  This was originally misidentified as Allium thunbergii.

Lily of the Valley.  A good selection of this stalwart species with a yellow margin to the leaves and said leaves are larger than average as well.  Typical scented white flowers.  There are numerous spellings of the cultivar name but since this is an American introduction, we can only assume this is correct.  Sad.

Rich deep blue trumpets with exterior pale striping on this collection from a 10,000' alpine moist meadow where it mingled with too many Primula, dwarf Rhododendron and a Bistorta that unexpectedly threatened to steal the show. This requires rich, moist acid soil with afternoon shade in hot sun areas.

Perfect fine texture with a silver sheen all year long.  This is a gorgeous evergreen that further delights in the summer with small white flowers.  Pinch it if you want it bushy and don't treat it too nice - it prefers a leaner soil that drains well.  Tolerant of dry when established and likes full sun.

Crazy species which we coveted at Windcliff and Duane West dug us up a nice chunk - with permission from Dan of course.  Weird brown flowers are scented. Differs from the related K. typhoides by having strongly keeled leaves in a non-distichous arrangement.  Cool in a nerdy way.

Officially Xeric Awesome Perennial. Seeds we got from Panayoti Kelaidis' home garden in Denver. This has rosettes of foliage which erupt in early summer to 2'-3' branched displays of orange to yellow poppy flowers. Nifty seed pods too. This really wants good drainage and hot sun and you will be smitten by the Horned Poppy.