Little creeping woodlander from the East Coast newly placed in the Colchicaceae which alters our world view.  Socially inept biochemists will soon lump all life into a single family derived from a virus, blue-green algae or a bacteria.  Bah!  Delicate creamy bells in spring.  Quite tough.

Speckled Wood-lily is common name as white flowers are lightly speckled in green and purple.  The flowers are held in an umbel clustered atop stems up to twenty inches tall if the plant is in its happy place,  The flowers are replaced by round black fruit.  The tongue-like green leaves make a dense cover and this is gently rhizomatous creating a small carpet in time.

A nice find in the woods of North Carolina, this variegated Perfoliate Bellwort is a choice addition to the shade garden.  Creamy, feathered markings adorn the margins of the perfoliate leaves which pair nicely with the creamy white flowers.  Perfoliate means the leaf surrounds the stem so it looks like the stem runs through the leaf.  Slow to increase, we don't have many.

A very fine Trillium from west of the Appalachian Mts, this has pedicellate (on a stem) red flowers. This is an easy one and will increase by both offsets and by seeding. It is a good one to grow with other species like erectum as it enjoys casual sex, producing interesting colors in seedlings years hence.

Perfoliate Bellwort.  So named for the perfoliate leaves in which the stem seems to pierce the leaf and bellwort for the pendant pale yellow (in this form) to greenish flowers.  This is a collection from Hamblen County Tennessee shared with us by botanist Aaron Floden.  A delight in the shade garden contrasting well with dark Podophyllums and ferns.

A vigorous selection from Piping Tree Gardens Nursery some years back.  We have not offered this before and finally a few divisions deemed expendable thanks to the Covid-19 loss of retail, lectures, tours and offsite plant sales.  There is a silver, or rather, a snowy lining to this pandemic.  Sizable, white pendulous flowers nod beneath the leaves and this will increase nicely in a few years.

Eastern species with nodding flowers of pure deep red.  These are nice, blooming seedlings from plants Sue brought from her old nursery in Vermont.  Parted with reluctantly and Sue reserves the right to take them back if she deems it appropriate for the welfare of the Trillium.

Blue Cohosh.  Quiet woodlander from east of the Rockies who plays supporting cast to the stars in the shade garden but its absence would cause these same stars to seem to not shine so brightly.  Herbaceous Barberry family member, glaucous leaves in spring with meh flowers but lovely, blue fruit in fall just when you need them.  Thanks to Charles Kelley for the seed.

Heal-All, Stone Root. Tuberous form of this widespread East Coast species which we received from Aaron Floden. Widely used in ethnobotany and homeopathy, this is an interesting shade ornamental in its own right. Broad soft leaves and curious late-season, creamy yellow flowers whose strong Lemon Pledge scent will put a shine on your garden.

Box Huckleberry. This now rare in the wild blueberry relative is a choice little shrub that is notable on multiple counts. Compact habit to a foot or more tall and slowly spreading by rhizomes, this has good glossy evergreen leaves turning bronzy in winter with small whitish urn-shaped flowers giving way to edible blue berries. Berried Treasure is a trademark name.

One of the little gems of the woodland is this scarcely encountered selection which we have planted under our Disporum 'Night Heron' in our shade garden.  A gentle infiltrator wending amongst plants of stouter stature, this carries a joyous light in its white edged leaves and pale bell flowers.

Leadplant.  A native to the upland plains of the Midwest, this leguminous shrub has  excellent textural foliage of small gray-green pea leaflets and quite nice terminal "antlers" of purplish flower spikes.  The flowers are tiny but are clustered in multitudes.  Good drainage, drought tolerant.

Midwestern native Hepatica whose name has been changed to Anemone acutiloba or some prefer Anemone nobilis var. acuta. We cling to Hepatica, kicking and screaming. These are from seed from the unparalleled collection at Ashwood Nurseries and are not wild collected plants.

It is difficult not to like this plant and if you don't,then you may well have to wonder if you are a difficult person.  I mean look at this!  Tubular crimson flowers flaring to a yellow starry smile?  Midwest to Southeastern native enticing hummingbirds and butterflies throughout it's range.

Double Blood Root. One of the great ephemeral spring flowers with double white waterlily flowers and bold gray-green rounded leaves. Beloved woodlander from the Midwest and the double form is especially covetous. These are flowering-sized freshly potted divisions and will settle right in your garden.

Tatting Fern.  Perfect for you all lace-makers out there as the very narrow fronds resemble tatted lace.  I have to say I don't know anyone who tats lace anymore.  Tattoos yes but lace, no.  Delicate and intricate texture with 12"-18" long fronds.  Deciduous,  moist & bright shade.

Fragrant Dwarf False Indigo.  An excellent plant for the xeric garden although not the best in sandy soils since it hails from good prairie soil in  the midwest from central Canada down to Texas.  Nice small woody shrub with erect small spikes of clustered small tubular flowes of violet blue petals and red stamens - whoa!

A subtle woodlander for most of spring and summer until late summer and fall when it suddenly busts a move and starts strutting its stuff.  Fern-like foliage backs small white puffs of flowers in May which become showy clusters of bright white fruit in late summer & fall.  The white version of our red fruited native.

A Bee Balm native to the Ocoee River in Tennessee and formally described as a new species in 2015 thanks to the work being done by botanist Aaron Floden. Nice white flowers on what for us has been a shorter plant of 18" or so but we expect it to be a bit taller in the garden.  First introduced in the US as Monarda sp. nova by Far Reaches in 2014.

Did we mean to infer that this is a PINK Gillenia????  Why yes, we did.  And it is.  Pink, definitely pink.  An exciting offering of a dandy variant on a choice eastern native.  Pink Bowman's Root will get 24"-30" tall with multiple stems sporting an airy array of pink flowers.  Great fall color as well.

Extremely rare lily native to just a few sites in the southeastern US and discovered by Mary Henry in 1940, known as the Panhandle or Pot of Gold Lily.  This is found growing along streams and  pitcher plant bogs.  It is unusual in that it is adapted to warm winters and high humidity. It is a Turk's Cap type and will be 3'-6' at maturity. The bulbs will make a nice little colony when happy.

A newly described (2013) species found in..............wait for it.............Tennessee in just three locations.  Incredibly rare and a very exciting find.  These are newly-potted divisions from our plants of the type specimens used to describe the species and do not impact the wild population.  Small yellow flowers with a maroon base.  A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering.

One of the darkest of the cristata selections, the violet-blue petals are made to appear even darker by the little thumbprint of yellow and white at their bases.  A small but mighty little woodland creeper which would revel in bright shade or morning sun.  The thin rhizomes trundle along on the surface and are plenty hardy so don't bury them in mulch!

Very thrilled to be finally able to offer this Veratrum which was formerly in the genus Melanthium.  Native from the Midwest to East Coast, this thrives in marshy, boggy settings or damp woods.  Perfect in rich moisture retentive soil in the garden.  White plumes of flowers to 5'+ in June and July.  Deer proof - thank goodness for toxic alkaloids!

Partridge Berry.  An introduction from Piping Tree Gardens Nursery in Virginia who made numerous selections from the rich local woodland flora.  We can't attest to comparative sizes - too much like junior high locker rooms - but can say that this small-scale evergreen groundcover with small white fragrant flowers does have lovely red fruit.

This is from a collection of ours from North Dakota where its glaucous-green leaves looked most appealing.  Small starry white flowers in May and June and the subsequent fruit is most appealing - to us anyway - when immature as the round green "peas" are decked out in dark stripes.  This will spread a foot or so a year and you can eat the new shoots to keep it in check.

A selection by Piping Tree Gardens Nursery of this dwarf species from Alabama where spring starts early and so does this phenotype of the species. The March flowers are delightful little imps and why not get the party started a little early, we always say. Ultra-cute rhizomatous clumping species to just a few inches high with irrepressible perky upward-facing scented white flowers.

Sweet Wakerobin. One of the best Trilliums you can grow, this has some of the largest flowers in the genus and the news just gets better because these flowers are not only big but deep red. Stunning, hanging ornaments.  We seldom offer these which we have grown from seed but every so often we have to let a few go as proof of progress for our therapist that we are managing our plant hoarding dysfunction.

A graceful Trillium native from Minnesota to Alabama and which has been a very good plant in our garden.   White flowers in April above three broad green leaves and can be quite robust getting up to 2 feet tall and making multiple stems per bulb. And the darned thing is seeding itself around in the garden - lucky us!

This used to be var. kolenatiana from the Caucasus but this widely distributed circumarboreal species has had the species equivalent of a taxonomic black hole occur with numerous varieties, subspecies and genera all ascribed to this one species being sucked into the vast maw of botany never to be seen again.