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.

One of the better selections of Aucuba and very rare in the nursery trade (actually can't find anyone offering this via Google). This was brought to the US by the now defunct Asiatica Nursery and shared with us by Lance Reiners. Narrow leaves consistently freckled in gold presents as major pizzazz with unmistakable elegance.  A tough evergreen tolerant of dry shade once established.  Zones 7-9.

One can collect hundreds of named cultivars of this Japanese primrose and not have two that are identical. This is an ideal plant for the OCD plant collector who wants to take a long deep dive - just make sure when trying to have them all that money remains to buy groceries and keep the lights on. White flowers flushed fuchsia with a reverse that is solidly soft fuchsia.  This will bring felicity to your garden.

Gorgeous little gem out of Japan with a rich yellow center to the leaf  surrounded by green with some nice feathering details.  This will increase quickly but not aggressively and adds a nice splash of color in the shade garden.  The white flowers go well with the whole package.

Crazy fern that takes away the need to fuss with growing this from spore as it makes a multitudinous panoply of ready-to-go plantlets on the leaves that will soon have you owning the corner in your 'hood dealing in fern babies.  Remember, if it's a kid, the first one is free.  Warmer gardens or indoors, mulch protect in zone 8 winters.

This is easily the best disappointing plant we have.  This is one we imported from Japan - at some significant coast - as a Gold Leaf cultivar.  The first year was magic with leaves like pure sunlight but never again.  The best part is that it is an exceptionally good, vigorous clone with big flower heads and superb foliage.

Another excellent selection shared with us by Jan and Marty, this has flowers with a reverse of rich purplish-pink and faces of lavender pink that are washed in white.  Each petal is gently heart-shaped which is very fortunate when one considers the possibilities offered by other organs. And we will stop right there.

Excellent little Asian Allium that is very nice with small heads of white flowers. Perfect for the rock garden or does great in regular garden beds as it does appreciate some moisture during the summer. Sun and decent drainage and thrives in one customers garden in Michigan. Tidy and of good disposition and certainly not a garden thug.

Star light star bright, first primrose I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, Have this primrose I wish tonight.  Nothing subliminal here.  The five petals are shaped like a heart and are love-pink on the reverse while the face of the flower is white feathering to pink on the edges.  Good, big flowers in quantity on each stem puts on a show.

Three-year old bulbs of this exquisitely choice red-flowered variant of this shorter species.  Saturated red interior with a white and red exterior - dang! This normally flowers 5-6 years from seed and these are a good age to get established for maximum oomph when flowering.  You will be forgiven for any horticultural braggadocio!

Good full heads of large white flowers whose petals align flatly in a single plane.  An excellent selection of this Japanese species.

Our own flowering divisions from a plant bequeathed us from the former garden of plant-obsessed Marian Raitz.   This Japanese selection is a fully pink double and double means the flowers last longer than the typical single fertile flowers.  Ideal for cool greenhouse pot culture or mild gardens.

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.

Luscious variegated selection out of Japan of this small evergreen shrub.  The leaves are heavily frothed and patterned in creamy whites which can take on some pink depending on the season and exposure.  No two leaves are alike on this new wave plant canvas.  Small white flowers under the branches.

Blackberry Lily. Our collection of this extremely widespread Asian species which not only has attractive deep orange flowers that are overlaid in a plethora of red spots but also the seed is curiously attractive looking for all the world like a large blackberry. This has wide application in traditional Chinese medicine and our collection is likely an escapee from the local mountain village.

Broad petals with an intricate dendritic margin that provides a bit of wonderment.  The backs of the petals are a gentle amethyst which bleeds through to the white face of the petals infusing them with the color of sun-tinted old glass.  This is easy to accommodate in the garden as it is not coldly distant with a petulant haughtiness but it does like to be admired which will come easily.

We're looking at a houseplant here for everyone except those with that San Francisco microclimate and if you are lucky enough to have such a thing, just for the record - we pretty much hate you.  But we'll set aside the envy and sell you one of these astoundingly lovely ferns with long white ghostly fingered fronds.

The pure white flowers are shaped like Amazon took its frightening AI algorithm capabilities and looked into everyone's hearts and minds to find the universal constant of snowflake conceptualization and then went to its secret biological modification lab and 3-D printed the snowflake gene and went all CRISPR gene splicing happy to make the perfect primrose for the snowflake market. Putting on my tinfoil hat now.

Lespedeza bicolor can be an invasive pest but this dwarf version from Japan is a non-invasive pixie.  Small blue green leaflets in 3's on a many-stemmed 12" tall deciduous bush to twice as wide or a bit more.  Cute reddish purple pea-like flowers are perfectly in keeping with the tidy presentation.  From a friend on Cape Cod.

Pink flowers with a hint of violet that elevates this on the societal color palette preventing it from slipping down to the campy plastic flamingo. The broad petals have a small, white distant star for an eye and are nearly imperceptibly dusted with what could be airborne suspended particles of confectioners sugar lightly settling to rest. In our house, it would be a delicate white tracery as if from floating dog hair.

Interesting and showy Japanese species that makes tidy little evergreen clumps.  Our original plant came from the Portland iconic Bovees Nursery.  Unusual lavender-pink flowers held well above the foliage.  Makes nice patches by rooting at leaf tips.  Good moist soil.

A very good evergreen fern native to Taiwan, China and Japan which we imported from a specialist in the UK.  Tidy and attractive species reaching 30" wide with fronds to 20" tall, this requires shade to part shade.  And brace yourself - it is tolerant of dry shade!  Happier of course with some water,  Spore-grown by us.

This is very close to 'Kaleidoscope' and comes from the same Japanese nursery.  Lightly hairy stems hold the pale green leaves with their radially symmetrical chocolate splotches.  Red flowers held beneath the foliage but who cares, really?  It's all about the leaves.  Moist shade and be prepared to be envied.

This coveted form has white flowers with a fully visible striking pink reverse to the backs of the petals. The leaves which follow bloom are impressive in their own right being quite large with rounded lobes and rich purple-maroon undersides. A plant of this in your garden will forever mark you as a discerning plant nerd.

An outstanding selection from Mt Kiyosumi in Japan, this is distinguished by russet and burgundy tones to the new foliage and the lacecap flowers are the perfect complement to that foliage with the sterile florets being white in the center of the flower and bushing to a distinct pink rim.

Light pink starry flowers grace this covetous form of this wee Japanese species.  A gentle peregrinator spreading by short stolons and making a fine little clump which manages to evoke a warm fuzzy feeling in both the jaded collector as well as your average "dirt" gardener.  We live in both worlds and we like it.  A lot.

A comparatively graceful species of Veratrum with broadly narrow leaves, if that makes any sense and sadly, it does to us. The 4'-5' flower stem has numerous lateral branchlets clad in lots of red-maroon flowers. Excellent long-lived plant of outstanding hardiness best suited for the cool to cold zones.

This is one of our favorite little dwarf shrubs that totally rocks the rock garden.  Slow, slow growth, densely twiggy, small heavily textured leaves and small clusters of deep pink flowers in mid summer makes this a great choice for containers or that small special place.

A fine little dwarf Astilbe native to Japan and one that has proved to be very enduring as well as endearing. Low mounds of dense and finely cut foliage with short spikes of soft pink fluff in early summer. We grow this out in the full sun with ample water.

NeGolden yellow are its hallmark in spring to mid summer after which they become a light yellow-green but still an element of light brightness in the shade.  Late in Oct/Nov, this defies conventional wisdom by producing  yellow bottlebrush flowers.