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.

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.

A Steve Hootman collection from China of this quite unique creeping Honeysuckle.  This is a Kinnikinnik or Arctostaphylos uva-ursi alternative making a mat of small rounded green leaves turning rich purple/red/bronze tones in winter.  Small light yellow Honeysuckle flowers are sprinkled throughout.  Very cool.

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.

This collection is from what we regard as the southern form of this populous Asian species. What makes this special is that this was from the 10000' summit of this virtually unknown mountain and surely must be the highest elevation that this form grows.  That, plus being one of the toughest days we have had in the field. This makes a good show

This is a hardier and somewhat smaller-leaved form of the Chilean Guava that was recently introduced by Paul Barney from Pucon, Chile and which Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy brought into the US from the UK.  An excellent evergreen ornamental small shrub to 5' or 6' with scented white flowers and deep burnished red fruit in the fall which were said to be Queen Victoria's favorite fruit.  We expect this to handle at least a half zone colder.

Leave it to Sean Hogan to make selections of a species that hardly anyone grows or knows.  Thanks to him, we grow it and are on a steep learning curve.  This has silvery leaves nicely lobed and revels in heat and will take dry conditions perfectly which only increases its hardiness.  Thriving in Portland.  This can produce small edible fruit.  Deciduous by the way.

Blackberries can be scary but with this China doll it will be shivers of delight instead of fear.  Fantastic foliage plant.  Great leaves on 6'-8' somewhat arching and branched canes.  This is a vigorous clumper and not a vine so is easy to keep in bounds.  No thorns.  White flowers.

Devil's Elder. This is a hardy large evergreen shrub to 15'-20' tree from Chile and Argentina where it grows in shaded situations along streams or bogs. It does well in our shade garden without being a tippler where it has handled nicely brief dips to 10F. The flowers are loose panicles of interesting wee green things which give way to purplish brown fruit.

Broadleaf evergreen from Japan and China that is pretty unigue in having the tiny specks of flowers appear on the midrib of the leaf followed by a black fruit on the female plants.  The flower are formed on a modified bit of stem tissue which is part of the leaf midrib.  You won't get fruit s this is a guy but great foliage & bronze new growth.

A Hinkley collection of this species often parading about as the similar D. longilobata.  These are second-generation seed-grown plants of this very amenable, easy in the garden species.  Small white flowers with a light purplish calyx and showy fruit that is always produced in abundance. Sort of semi-deciduous most winters here.

Our collection from Leipingshan at 1800 meters in Guizhou in the fall of 2012.  We always get a kick out of this species with its long tropical pinnate leaves. insignificant pale flowers and extraordinarily significant clustered large blue bean pod fruit looking otherwordly.  Narrow small tree and very easy.

Dwarf, slow growing and ever so compact version of this late winter to early spring light pink flowering shrub. Pink flowers on bare twigs hold up well even when frozen at 20F and the sight of these valiant harbingers of spring sends the black dog of winter back to its kennel.  Our 28 year old plant is a 4' twiggy triumph of intentional foliar density especially in fall when it turns reddish-purple.

In the Himalayas Agapetes would be found as an epiphyte on the mossy trunks and branch crotches.  In this unusual variant, the flowers are creamy white followed by edible pale lavender fruit and its alliance with Vaccinium (blueberries) is easy to see. . Very easy to grow and will tolerate short exposure to light frost but best no colder than zone 9. The hummingbirds loved it.

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.

This is likely the first introduction of this curious Tea family member from our collection in Guangxi Province. An evergreen shrub to 10' in the wild with long slightly drooping olive-green leaves prominently hirsute especially along the margins. Flowers are small and white and give way to small black fruit. We are thinking hardy to zone 8.

Rocky Mountain Elderberry. A black-fruited variant of our native red-fruited Elderberry. This is found in Canada down to Utah and this collection is from seed collected by botanist Alex Wright in Idaho.  We find that variants, deviants, the odd miscreant adds considerable not only but the garden as well and this does just that.  A necessary addition to your native plant palette.

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.

Fantastic Barberry from extraordinary plantsman Michael Wickenden of Cally Gardens in Scotland.  Elegant in habit and presentation whose narrow leaves and thin stems lend this a poise seldom associated with the genus.  Truly pink flowers with whitish inner parts puts this over the top.  A Far Reaches North America introduction.  Zone 7, likely lower.

We have just a scant few of this dwarf form of the Tasman Mountain Pepper which we presume to be from an exposed high elevation site on Mt Wellington. This is ideally suited to rock gardens where it will make a slow and low ball of reddish stems bejeweled with white flowers and oh so peppery black fruit. We were given this plant by the late Michael Wickenden of Cally Gardens in Scotland. Possibly the first introduction to the US.  Small plants of this small rarity.

First US offering of this mind-melting mega must-have plant zombie drenched sheets fever lying about the price without a second thought to husband-wife-partner-mother forget to feed the dog dream Araliad.  BIG leaves and sprays of snowball flowers.  Go ahead, google it but don't say we didn't warn you. Young plants but will grow quickly.  Tender but when has that stopped you?

Perfect fine texture with a silver sheen all year long.  This is a gorgeous evergreen that further delights in the summer with small white flowers.  Pinch it if you want it bushy and don't treat it too nice - it prefers a leaner soil that drains well.  Tolerant of dry when established and likes full sun.

A beautiful selection that we grow in a container as unfortunately we have to go to a friend's much more mild garden if we want to admire it planted out. Narrow habit with thin twigs and evergreen leaves edged in cream and variously tinted in pink. Nice white flowers in late summer makes this a stunner.

This clone of an already hardy bottlebrush species has been hardier than
the typical offering by a few degrees and personally, our most grievous
losses have been by a few degrees.  This is likely from a higher and
more exposed location in Tasmania as it is also more compact than
typical and has handled one winter where it went into single digits.

Ok, this is delightful!  A small evergreen subshrub which has these shiny little leaves on mahogany stems with sprays of lavender-blue with a distinctive magenta ring enclosing a white eye.  This happily flowers from June until frost and shearing off the spent flowers encourages continued bloom. This makes a 10"x24" billow of foliage and flower in sun to part sun.

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.

A precocious species which can flower the first year from seed with spherical clusters of dusky cream florets. The flowers, while quietly attractive, are eclipsed by the showy fruit congregated in impressive large black balls which are very attractive. This was found growing epiphytically on a large fallen log

A deciduous shrubby Cotoneaster collected in Asia by Arlen Hill who owns one of our favorite nurseries, Keeping It Green. This was a scrambler on a rocky cliff but will be a small shrub in the garden. Such a varied genus from groundcover to small trees with the shared attributes of pollinator-irresistible white flowers and red fruit for fall and early winter interest. Someday in our dotage when discretionary time is abundant and we tire of whittling to fill the hours, we will fire up Flora of China online and puzzle through the key to a proper identity for this species.

Our own F2 hand-pollinated seedlings from this superb big leaf species which has shown more hardiness than the Kingdon-Ward collections from 70 years ago.  This collection has handled 10F here in our garden with aplomb.  Early spring trusses of big yellow flowers although interestingly, one of the original wild seedlings flowered white.  Best in a sheltered position out of the wind and sun where the foliage can hit its max potential.

California native conifer from seed collected from the Pygmy Forest in Humboldt County. This unique population is naturally dwarfed from growing on nutrient deficient podosol soil with a high aluminum content that overlays a high iron hardpan. This will grow normally for you becoming a lovely drought tolerant tree.