Erythronium revolutum x californicum
We received this as the Pioneer Mountain form of Erythronium revolutum and indeed, there is revolutum in them as well as californicum. These are obviously natural hybrids which do occur and perusing "Erythroniums in Cultivation" by Ian Young, these fit his description nicely especially with the parallel, narrow filaments.
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Primula aurantiaca x pulverulenta
From great plant friends in Scotland, this showy cross of two fine Candelabra Primrose species garnered accolades when they used this to great effect in a display show garden. Colors are widely variable and size can be a bit shorter than the parents but literally, all are good and work well together. Now if only politicians............
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Dierama Hybrids
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.
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Primula 'Lois Lutz'
We learned our original offering of this was incorrect as noted by a Primrose Society judge who said what we had was 'Jay Jay'. Shortly thereafter, we got a letter from Deborah Lutz who said our 'Lois Lutz' was not correct and she should know as Lois was her mother and would we like the correct one? Thank you and Yes!
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Gentiana 'David Sturrock's Dark Seedling'
Very uncommon selection from the UK which we are pleased to introduce to these shores. An Asiatic Gentian whose parents include such species as Gentiana sino-ornata, G. veitchiorum, G, farreri etc. These revel in cool climates, moist acid soil and reward with late summer-fall bloom. This is a good dark blue with purple tones.
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Gentiana 'Devonhall'
Beautiful sky-blue trumpets with a white throat in September on this Gentiana ornata x farreri hybrid. Granted a Royal Horticultural Society First Class Certificate in 1936, we've righted a wrong by finally making this fine UK selection available in the US. Slow but steady in the Colonies!
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Nerine 'Quentin Seedling'
Plantsman and bulb expert Jim Fox was staying with friends in England and admiring their fine Nerine 'Quentin' in their border which had a few seed which he passed to us. Mere decades later and - Voila! - we have Quentinlettes. Quentin is highly regarded in England and the offspring are good too.
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Aloe 'Johnson's Hybrid'
One of the hardiest of the Aloes, this will withstand short drops into the upper teens but will appreciate shelter against a sunny wall under an eave where it will produce orange flowers for months on end. Well worth trying for some succulent exotica or just fine in a container where it can be brought inside for the winter. Has done well in outside with careful siting in mild PNW gardens.
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Gentiana 'Oban'
Exceptional white-flowered Asiatic Gentian from the Berrybank Hybrids bred by Ian McNaughton in Scotland. We never met Ian but were fortunate to meet his plantswoman wife Beryl which is a lasting fond memory. 'Oban' fulfills Ian's breeding goals of compact habit and upward-facing flowers in clusters. For cool climates.
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Gentiana 'Striped Hybrid'
A classy selection we brought in from the UK as the pure white clone 'Serenity,' but turns out to be a dead-ringer for this Scottish selection with alternate petals dusted in light turquoise. At first we were a wee put off and aye, felt a bit of an eejit, but now we ken this a bonny lass and we not be haverin'.
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Agapanthus 'Margaret'
Lily of the Nile. One of the top hybrids bred by Steve Hickman of Hoyland's and is well-regarded among those in the know for its large powder-blue flowers on 30" stems.
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Dactylorhiza 'Harold Esslemont'
Solidly colored mid-purple flowers with each individual flower being of good size. The leaves are unspotted and green. This excellent selection commemorates Scotland's great plantsman who was a notable alpine grower and exhibitor. We have literally just a few divisions to offer of what is likely the first offering in the US. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy offering.
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Gentiana 'Bellatrix'
This has good, white megaphone-shaped flowers which are liberally, if subtly, spritzed with pale blue spots. Makes a dense small mat of green needle leaves which dies back in winter. Moist, acidic and sunny.
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Begonia 'Black Coffee'
The leaves held on salmon stems are a soft dark olive green and enhanced by purplish-red undersides. A rhizomatous type making a very eye-catching mound and this is before the pink flowers take it up another notch. Underplanted with golden Creeping Jenny - dang! Good houseplant or summer containers. Tender.
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Gentiana 'Blue Silk'
Excellent introduction from the breeding work of Keith lever at Aberconwy Nursery in Wales. A compact grower with dark blue upward facing trumpets lined with white in the interior. This requires full sun to do its best and requires a rich, acidic soil that stays moist. Your reward is one heckuva show in late August clear into October.
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Hosta 'Little Aurora'
This is a gleaming bit of sunshine carried into your shadowed shade garden and released. The cupped leaves to just 5" high bring more light to their bit of turf than their size would suggest. The small light lilac flowers are nice but incidental because with this Hosta it is all about the glow.
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Crocosmia 'Cally Sword'
An imposing selection fitting perfectly in the garden style of Big, Bold and Beautiful. it is not often one extols the merits of Crocosmia leaves but these wide blades with pleated ridges stand en garde against other substantive companions such as Canna or dark-leafed Ligularia. To 5' tall with narrow tubular orange-red flowers.
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Gentiana 'Shot Silk'
One of the good ones raised by Keith Lever at Aberconwy Nursery in Wales. Large trumpets of dark royal blue tempered with violet and lit by white exterior stripes and throat. This is a compact grower which makes for a concentrated display of these flowers and would be a suitable subject for a pot. Full sun and moist.
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Meconopsis - Golden Group
One gold leafed seedling among thousands from seed sown of our Blue Poppies. The leaves are most intense in spring and the flowers are a lovely amethyst. Like most, some are perennial and some are not. Save seed! Cannot be grown anywhere it gets hot and/or humid in the summer.
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Gentiana 'Gewahn'
A Far Reaches introduction to the US from the UK. This uncommon selection is a worthy addition to the gentian collection. Fairly vigorous, this has ample mid-blue trumpets emblazoned with slim white arrows in the interior. As with all the Asiatic Gentians, rich, moist & acidic.
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Origanum 'Kent Beauty'
Fabulous hybrid ornamental Oregano (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.
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Eucryphia x nymansensis 'Mt Usher'
A hybrid seedling selection between Eucryphia glutinosa and E. cordifolia that showed up at Mount Usher Gardens in Ireland thanks to some discerning work done by the local pollinators. The deciduous E. glutinosa brings good hardiness and the E. cordifolia adds excellent flower and evergreen foliage. Uncommon in the trade. Tall narrow habit.
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Thalictrum - Yellow Hybrids
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. Does not flop in our sunny and windy garden which is a plus. Self-sows which is not a plus so cut off seed head before ripe.
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Erythronium 'Kondo'
A robust hybrid of E. tuolumense showing broad lightly mottled leaves and 12" flower stems bearing multiple sulphur yellow flowers with a light brown ring in the throat. A vigorous increaser by offsets - not seed. In just a few years you will have a truly impressive clump.
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Gentiana 'Alex Duguid'
Alex Duguid was the original owner we believe, of Edrom Nursery in Scotland who grew this plant as a strain of Gentiana farreri. This proved quite excellent combining the compact nature of farreri with possibly the pale sky blue flowers attributed to G. ternifolia. At least this is the speculation of Jim Jermyn who later owned Edrom Nursery.
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Iris 'Scramble'
We are pleased to be the first to introduce this excellent Sibirica Iris to North America. We were visiting John Grimshaw, plantsman extraordinaire and Director of the Yorkshire Arboretum, and walking about his home garden when he asked if we would like a bit of an Iris he had named with lovely scrambled egg flowers of yellow and cream. We said yes, of course because while we might be comparatively brutish colonists, we ain't without a certain native wit. Very floriferous on a shorter plant with flowers well-displayed.
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Dierama hybrid ex "Tomato Red"
Seedlings from a floriferous red-flowered selection from Russell Graham. The parent plant is a short, dense clumper with small red flowers that rule by their majority. This has pride of place in our garden, widely separated from our other Dierama, so hope is for similarity on these children.
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Begonia 'Red Fred'
Large burnished red to maroon to olive-maroon leaves depending on leaf maturity and light intensity. The small pinkish red flowers are nice but not required for universal admiration. Our big plant has the gravitational pull of a black hole upon visitors who walk by a plethora of amazing rarities to pay homage to Fred. Frost-free.
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x Brigandra calliantha
A hybrid Gesneriad between Briggsia (now Oreocharis) aurantiaca and Opithandra primuloides which we succumbed to at Aberconwy Nursery in Wales. White bilaterally symmetric flowers touched in faint pink with throats patterned in pink lines. Easy in cool greenhouse but can tolerate some frost so mild gardens maybe ok.
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x Phylliopsis hillieri 'Sugar Plum'
This accidental bee cross between Phyllodoce breweri and Kalmiopsis leachiana arose in Mike and Polly Stone's Scottish garden, Askival. Evergreen small leaves on a low rounded shrublet to 16" and a bit wider. Copious bright mauve-pink flowers can cover the foliage in early summer making this a star in our rock garden.
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