Great foliage on this Wild Ginger from China which keys most closely to the species caudigerellum. A mist of white spray droplets on the leaves is especially vivid on the young foliage making this very desirable.  Small tan to soft red flowers are a welcome addition. We have seen nice clumps of presumably this species in Vietnam looking fabulous on the forest floor among the bright buff trunks of Camellia trees.

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.

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.

Bleeding Heart.  Given the Award of Garden Merit in the UK, this is truly a winner with icy blue ferny foliage subtending the dangling white heart shaped flowers.  A superb form of our western native and deserving of a place in any garden.  Can you tell we like it?

Lily of the Valley.  A good selection of this stalwart species with a yellow margin to the leaves and said leaves are larger than average as well.  Typical scented white flowers.  There are numerous spellings of the cultivar name but since this is an American introduction, we can only assume this is correct.  Sad.

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.

Our collection from our way to Tianchi Lake in Yunnan.  We found this Lily relative (which has been called N. forrestii) growing in a wooded copse with Sorbus reducta.  Likes a good moist soil and can have 7-10 flowers per stem in our experience when it gets some age.  Survived in Wisconsin where the ground 5' deep.

An interesting Asian Lysimachia which we have not yet identified.  These genus is widespread and varied in Asia with over 170 species and varieties in China alone.  It is so much easier to key out monotypic genera where there is but a single species.  This is from lower elevations and we have not trialed it outside yet but looks frost sensitive.

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.

Robust California native that has a very limited distribution in the wild.  This seems like the cabbage of Erythroniums as it puts up very large succulent green leaves with pendulous flowers of a rich yellow intensity.  These increase quite nicely by offsets leading to impressive clumps.  Shade.

Excellent member of the Crassulaceae which means it is a succulent basically but one that eschews the arid sunny spot in favor of lusher environs like our shade garden with dairy manure mulch.  Makes a thick clump of fleshy green leaves with taller stems of pendulous strings of beads yellow flowers.  Very easy to please and a show stealer in bloom.

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 lwarm 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.

Beautiful clumping species that may well be the queen of the genus.  Or are we granting royalty because it is new on the scene?  Maybe, but it is awfully good. This makes a stout small clump of evergreen fern-like leaves from which emerge in spring the peculiarly Coptis greenish-yellow flowers.  From China.

A fine little European woodlander which can tolerate some sun as well.  Spreading by twiggy rhizomes, this will make a good patch in time when happy,  The semi-double white flowers adds extra petals to the mix, giving lie to the "less is more" maxim because don't we all know in our publicly inaccessible heart of hearts that "more is more"?  Hilda, you work it, girl!

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.

Large lavender blue flowers with a darker reverse grants this little slowly creeping Wood Anemone its own small fiefdom in the shade garden while it is in bloom.  Very pretty indeed.  Of course by mid summer the peasants and serfs rise up with scythes and cudgels to reclaim their land but next year the glorious cycle of rule and revolution is repeated.

Our introduction from 2012 of this new to cultivation species.  This was found on a scramble up a shaded and damp ravine which would have a small stream during rainstorms.  Fortunately it was sunny.  A tight groundcover with normally green leaves but this sport has frosty flecks in the leaves.  Green flowers.

A choice woodland creeper for the shade or partly shaded garden where it behaves like Anemone nemorosa - making a mat of ferny foliage but in this case, it has vibrant yellow flowers.  A patch of this is to be coveted.  Very hardy and goes mid to late summer dormant.

Fabulous hybrid Hepatica that in time will form mats of great lobed foliage with loads of light medium blue flowers in early spring.  A durable plant with few if any faults.  Great with Ranunculus ficaria and Hellebores.

This species was only recently described by botanist Julian Shaw in 2012 from a collection in Hoang Lien Son range on the second summit trail of Phansi Pu in Vietnam. These are second-generation seed-grown plants from a 2011 recollection by Floden-Mitchell & Wynn-Jones.

This was a purchase by the Miller Botanic Garden in the late 90's from the RHS store at Wisley and to our knowledge, is not available in this country and very scarce elsewhere.  An early bloomer, in fact, it is flowering now this late December in its pots sitting outside unprotected as we have had a relatively mild winter so far. Huge flowers resembling an elwesii Whittall Group

This is a large white flowered selection of this little creeping European species.  Ours came from the UK via our friends at the former Hedgerows Nursery whose plant offerings set a very high bar for the rest of us.  This was last listed in the UK in 2008, we believe, and may have been deemed insufficiently distinct from other good white selections to carry its own name.

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.

We have long affection for all the forms of the dwarf Iris cristata which is an east coast native and with Powder Blue Giant our affections sometimes manifest themselves in PDA's such as stroking the large medium blue flowers and oohing.  Deciduous carpeter.  A real sweety.

Chinese May Apple. This is an impressive plant - truly one to give the shade garden some visual impact. Big leaves get up to 18" across with bizarre clusters of red flowers held beneath which are followed by bunches of green cherry tomato-like fruit ripening soft yellow.. Rich moist soil in shade to bits of sun.

Choice and uncommon Japanese native making a many stemmed plant with lots of white bottle-brush flowers in spring. The glossy green and nicely textured leaves are pleasant the rest of the season.

A collection by Hinkley from Myanmar at 9000' of this handsome species with nicely patterned leaves.  We have not flowered this yet but are putting a lot of chips on the table for either pink or white.  Hardiness is also unknown but would guess a warm zone 8 with a good winter blanket of mulch in colder zone 8 at least until more is known.

A Toadlily from a UBC collection in Sichuan which is a superior foliage plant with bold black mottlings especially vivid on the new growth.  In bright shade to part sun this has strong vertical stems which have late summer buff to amber-brown flowers.  This is pretty neat.

Very hardy Jack in the Pulpit which is the Asian equivalent of our eastern US Arisaema triphyllum.  This Jack is native to the Russian Far East, northern China and Korea and is a variable species but always has green flowers with stripes that are usually white but can be sort of a chocolate purple.  Good bulb for light shade to morning sun.

Wood Anemone.  This is a good blue form with flowers darker than many of the blue selections and even though the individual flowers are a little smaller than typical, we don't care as this is such a lovely thing.  Found in the Estonian woodlands by Mart Veerus and introduced we think by Janis Ruksans.