Oyster Leaf.  The leaves are edible and taste - and feel - exactly like raw oysters.  If raw oysters are your thing, this is an OMG veg alternative.  The now closed El Bulli in Catalonia, regarded as one of the greatest restaurants ever, ran with Oyster Leaf innovative ways.  Loved to have tried the leaves striped in golden caviar and splashed with Grey Goose.

These hardy orchids seed around the nursery which is a very good thing as we have never got one to come up from seed we have intentionally planted. This will be pink to purple but sometimes a white one sneaks in. This is basically a bulb that goes summer dormant but appreciates ample moisture when growing.  Likely some species like fuchsii may also be an option here in this Lucky Dip.

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.

Originally introduced by Cistus Nursery from a seed collection at 8000' in La Siberica, Mexico, this very desirable plant has become hard to find of late but our two plants finally flowered with impressive spikes that was one male and one predominately female so we had seed! These have been undamaged in brief nighttime drops to 10F and have formed new crowns after flowering so the show will continue. It is mandatory to have a series of parties when these bloom, btw.

These are seed-grown from the impressive yellow hybrid Meadow Rue, Tukker Princess. These will gain some height reaching 6'-8' in flower with a nice display of bee-lovin' scented yellow flowers. These will vary somewhat but all squarely in the very nice range.  For all  who've been to the nursery trying to pick up this from the tables only to find it was poking through from the ground beneath, this is what you wanted.

We presume this is simply a good form of Dactylorhiza maculata as the leaves are broader and the purple-pink flowers held in fatter heads than many of the forms we see around.  A good plant and one we have slowly increased by division and now have a scant few to offer.  Leaves are nicely spotted.

These are seed-grown from our plant of 'Hakure' which is often seen as 'Hakuree'.  The parent plant was bred and selected by Hiroshi Hayakama in Japan in the early 90's who chose this for its floriferous display of white flowers just touched with fleeting lavender and sporting twisted tepals.  Our seed-grown progeny will vary from deep purple to white but all will be good. 18"-30" tall.

Himalayan Bush Mint.  Surprisingly hardy species - the gestalt at first glance is gotta be tender - that will be valuable late summer-fall color.  Soft felty leaves on a plant that can hit ten feet tall, you grow this not for the aromatic and pettable foliage but for the tubular orange-red flowers in September-October mainly.  Cut to the ground by hard frost but will regrow and would totally groove on a wall in its colder zones.  Pronounced ko-hoo-nia.

We were completely blown away by the plant we saw in full fruit in the exceptional garden at Dancing Oaks and sad to say, we did doth covet our neighbors plant with lust in our hearts.  Leonard and Fred thought it prudent to sell us one.  To 6'-8' with soft yellow flowers and dripping with clusters of salmon fruit.

Moon Carrot.  Freakishly good plant with gray-blue leaves with an impressive mid to late summer branched inflorescence sporting compound umbels touched in pink then maturing white.  Plant nerdishness meets high-end design with this one.  This is biennial but reseeds so do not fear.  Good drainage.

Whipple's Penstemon.  Broadly distributed on both sides of the Rockies down the US, this should be more widely available.  Most commonly with clustered down-turned trumpets of a rich burgundy to purple, different population can also be white or lavender.  Very pleasing in all of its forms, this is a good garden plant taking more moisture than a lot of the rock garden Penstemons.

Rock Soapwort.  This is a lovely and tough rock garden or crevice plant from the Pyrenees where it grows in exposed sheer rock faces.  Dense cushions of close-packed rosettes with narrow short green leaves.  Pink-purple flowers are held on short 2" stems in groups of one to three.  One becomes a group when hanging with the Threes.  Full sun, good drainage, zones 3-8.

F2 plants from the original wild collection of this rare species. This is a very handsome thing with superb glossy textured leaves and showy displays of red fruit. Just looking at it, we thought - bummer, can't possibly be hardy but heard from one of the collectors that it handled zero Fahrenheit so woohoo!  We later saw for ourselves the reason why as we climbed on Mt Fansipan, "The Roof of Indochina' and saw this growing near the summit.  A portion of the proceeds goes to support the mission of Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy.

As perennials go, this Mexican Pea Tribe member is staggeringly impressive.  From a woody base, there appears in spring stout stems reaching 8 feet..  On a mature plant, these stems are numerous and it becomes a dominant seasonal shrub. Pinnate leaves with 4 leaflets, large discoidal purple- veined stipules and big yellow flowers in fall.

A good dark violet- pink version of this widespread Allium from our collection in southern Sichuan.  A very easy plant in the garden getting up to 20" tall and having the added bonus of being edible which might become increasingly critical the longer Trump is in office.

Pinecone Thistle.  Pretty cool 6"-12" tall plant from dry pine woods and wastelands in southern Europe and northern Africa.  The spineless gray-green, thistle-like leaves, are felted gray-white underneath and are a perfect accompaniment to the art project flowers.  Tufts of filamentous purplish flowers erupt from hefty cones of overlapping, feathered brown scales.

We love the Asiatic Gentians and want them all as they are easy, hardy and put on such a show in late summer/early fall.  We were thrilled toget this one from our friend Urs of Edelweiss Nursery who brought this in from a German gentian specialist.  Not your typical blue, this has white flowers with pale yellowish stripes.  Moist and sun.

Grass Trigger Plant. Gorgeous and fascinating perennial found in Tasmania and Australia.  Tidy perfection of evergreen grassy foliage speaks to a refined distillation of Aloe and Agave and the unexpected flamboyant spike of multitudinous pink flowers is over the top. There are sticky hairs under the flowers which can trap gnats and absorb those tasty insect nutrients. The pollination mechanism is fiendish.

So notoriously promiscuous as to make a rabbit blush, these evergreen bulbous Iris family members are all about the summer of love. Embracing any bee that taps on its window bringing pollen from any nearby floozy flower, this exhibits a Bacchanalian moral turpitude that is either damned or extolled.  These are young seed-grown plants from one of our darkest Dierama so at worst, this will still be pretty good.

From a Chinese source as Anemone subpinnata, this is likely obtusiloba although there are other similar species.  This has proved very floriferous and durable over the years making a good robust clump with lots of white flowers opening from rose-colored buds.  These are nice plants from divisions.

A favorite of ours from South Africa.  We have this growing in front of our greenhouse and the first winter I mulched it and covered with a a tarp.  No damage. 2nd winter just tarped it - no damage.  Last winter I didn't protect at all and no damage at 17F.  Yellow daisy flowers - good drainage.

This is a collection from Lao Cai, Above Silver Waterfall, Vietnam 2150 meters just in case you are in the neighborhood and want to check out the original plant.  This is a reasonably narrow shrub which flowers very young with small pale pom-poms of clustered tiny flowers which are followed by black fruit.

A perennial (usually anyway) thistle relative from South Africa which makes a multicrowned clump of softly spiny leaves which by themselves merit nothing more than a good hosing of Roundup but the large purplish flowers are the swan emerging from the ugly duckling.

Originally from Maurice Foster who is one of the UK's great plantsmen who would not gladly brook an inferior form.   This can hit 10' in height with a narrow aspect and generally deciduous willowish or bamboo-like leaves.  Small purplish flowers and outrageous jester's cap fruit with dangling orange arils.

Milk Chocolate Foxglove.  This is a fine perennial species from Spain and Portugal that serves double duty as a sculptural piece of garden art.  The deep green leaves are a perfect complement to the short 30" spires of small but densely packed, tubular orange-brown flowers that crowd the stems.  A group of these is a fairly arresting sight.  Low maintenance and deer resistant.

This former Anemone is one we first became acquainted with in John Massey's impeccable garden at Ashwood Nursery.  We didn't know what it was but it grabbed our attention which is saying something in that candy store of a garden.  A small plant that would be well-suited for a moist rock garden setting, it has simple, soft yellow flowers and distinctive green leaves.

Rock garden species originally from seed we collected in the Siskiyous many years ago as Arabis fendleri.  Fortunately, we were wrong as we like the pink flowers on breweri much better!  Native to the mountains of southern Oregon and northern California, this quite nice in flower and and has both heat and drought tolerance although we wouldn't subject it to hot and humid.

Very rare Libertia - which is a genus in the Iris family - from New Zealand which was thought to be extinct until a population of 30 individuals was discovered in 2006.  Closely allied to Libertia ixioides, this species is critically endangered in the wild but gardeners are helping with ex situ conservation through cultivation.  Evergreen olive-green leaves to 15"-18" on a clump forming plant with white flowers and persistent orange-ish seed pods.

Fabulous Award of Garden Merit shrub that has lovely pinnate Pea-like foliage and scads of luscious pink Pea flowers for several weeks from early to mid-summer.  Quite pest free and wanting only good sun and drainage.  A little light pruning for shape once a year and you are set to enjoy.

A very nice South African Buddleja whose beauty lies in its evergreen heavily textured foliage.  The narrow leaves are silver clad when young maturing to a dull green but very pale benath and all held on fuzzy white stems.  Small white flowers but at least they are scented.  Hardy.