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.

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.

This is one of those plants worth the greenhouse space if you can't grow it outside which we can't.  An evergreen vine from Chile where it is the national flower. Big waxy pendant flowers of typically rose red. These normally flower in late summer and fall. and we were entranced by beautiful specimens in bloom when we visited the west of Scotland in the fall of 2013.

Superb little performer from China that is like some sort of impish Thalictrum with short stems to 6" and open umbels of blue and white flowers.  The main show is in late spring but the flowers keep coming all summer.  Just a sweet bit of conversational perfection along the edge of a path.

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.

A proven species for the garden, this Primula from China is in the Cortusoides section of the genus as evidenced by the broad, soft hairy leaves reminiscent of Primula kisoana but without the groundcover proclivities.  A good display of pink to rose-pink flowers on 12"-16" stems in late spring with sumptuous leaves in attendance if given light shade and a moist, organic-rich soil.

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.

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 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.

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.

We love seeing this False Hellebore when we are hiking up to Marmot Pass or Mt Townsend in the Olympics.  Always growing in dappled light or partly sunny spts where there is ample moisture, the big wide pleated leaves are perfect with the drooping plume-like green flowers.  Deer proof.

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.

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.

A rare offering of this impressive species which will merit pride of place in your garden.  This will make a fine rosette of hairy, divided evergreen leaves for the first 2-3 years after which a stout flowering stem will arise decked out with plenty of crepe-paper purplish flowers.  After this exuberance, the plant expires but leaves you with plenty of seed.

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.

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.

Mertens' Saxifrage.  From California up to Alaska, this little Western native favors moist areas in the subalpine and alpine areas. Rounded and toothed leaves with flower stems from 6"-15" that have short branches bearing small starry white flowers.  Sometimes these flowers can be replaced by aerial stem bulbils which makes propagating a snap as witnessed by these from botanist Alex Wright's collection.

Dainty yet durable species collected by Sue on Mt Saramati which straddles the border of Myanmar and Nagaland.  The only lily capsule found on the trip and it proved to be a distinct variant likely to merit subspecific status. Small white flowers.  Sue is now a footnote in botanical history.

An extremely dwarf Ivy found in 2005 by Dutch nurseryman Cees van Ostaayen who noticed a miniature sport on Hedera helix 'Needle Point'. This one came to our attention in John Massey's private garden at Ashwood Nursery where it called to us from among the abundance of rarities and perfection.  Should this little gem throw a shoot that is unnecessarily more vigorous in an attempt to revert, just nip it off.

Three year old bulbs of this grand show-stealer.  From near the eastern edge of this species described range, this was growing above a stream in the bright dappled light that filtered through the leaves of a panoply of deciduous and broadleaf evergreen trees and large shrubs.  This collection has very rounded leaves.  A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering  

This is the form most often available here in the Northwest and which may well be a hybrid with Vancouveria planipetala.  The flowers are much paler and a smidge smaller than typical Vancouveria chrysantha from our observations.  Regardless, a first rate evergreen ground cover which is drought tolerant.

This evergreen Solomon Seal lookalike represents a rare introduction from Taiwan by our friends at Crug Farm.  Originally described as the new species, taiwanensis in 1989, this was sunk into the Chinese species pernyi by Govaerts in 2000.  We could live with that if it was pernyi var. taiwanensis to indicate its unique geographical provenance.  Pretty cool either way.

A jolly plant indeed introduced by Heronswood from Sichuan.  This has evergreen foliage springing from new growth that looks to be a bamboo until it leafs out.  Small creamy white flowers in early summer and blue-black fruit held well into winter.  Cut back old stems in spring.  Feed me.  Water me.

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.

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.

Solomon's Seal.  Mighty fine selection and surely one of the very best variegated perennials for shade.  Good clean white variegation that illuminates where it is planted.  Stunning enough to stand alone with a simple groundcover at its feet or schmoozes easily  with other garden glitteratti.

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.

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.