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.

A Vietnam species which has been hardy to 15F.  Great container plant with tubular red flowers which can easily be moved inside for the winter where it can serve as a houseplant  until it is time to go back outside.  Or keep it outside until there is danger of frost and then hustle it in and bring it back out when safe.

Agapetes is an epiphytic Blueberry relative which lives in trees and develops a woody bulbous base called a lignotuber.  This is a cross between A. serpens and A. rugosa which has beautiful pendant light pink flowers with darker pink chevrons.  Tender here, easy inside over winter.

Attractive cousin to blueberries growing in the trees of Thailands northern mountains.  Sometimes seen offered as a hybrid clone 'Red Elf', this is typical hosseana which is a small evergreen shrub with dark red flowers that can take light frost.  The fruit is edible and would be nice sprinkled on Thai Beef Salad, Phla Nuea.

Sadly, this flamboyant Blueberry relative is only hardy in Zone 9 but is an easy and dramatic attention-getter in a pot,  We keep ours in the cool greenhouse over winter but will do fine inside or just bring in during hard freezes.  1" red tubular flowers.

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.

This epiphytic Vaccinium relative - indeed some have merged the two genera - is a stunner. Growing on trees in the cloud forests of the Himalaya, this forms woody lignotubers from which arise the branches clad in evergreen leaves which hold the narrow pendant yellow flowers in late winter and spring. This is an especially good form with red calyces. Tolerant of light frost and needs very good drainage.  Our overwintering hummingbirds love this in our greenhouse.

As perennials go, this Mexican Pea Tribe member is staggeringly impressive.  From a woody base, there appears in spring stout stems reaching 8 feet..  On a mature plant, these stems are numerous and it becomes a dominant seasonal shrub. Pinnate leaves with 4 leaflets, large discoidal purple- veined stipules and big yellow flowers in fall.

Leadplant.  A native to the upland plains of the Midwest, this leguminous shrub has  excellent textural foliage of small gray-green pea leaflets and quite nice terminal "antlers" of purplish flower spikes.  The flowers are tiny but are clustered in multitudes.  Good drainage, drought tolerant.

Fragrant Dwarf False Indigo.  An excellent plant for the xeric garden although not the best in sandy soils since it hails from good prairie soil in  the midwest from central Canada down to Texas.  Nice small woody shrub with erect small spikes of clustered small tubular flowes of violet blue petals and red stamens - whoa!

Rarely offered little Wormwood which is troughable which is a term we should trademark in order to capitalize on the 20 or so people who have both troughs and a penchant for dwarf Artemesia.  We need a new business advisor or maybe we should listen to the current one.  Few inches high and spreading.  Yellowish flowers.

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.

Very uncommon Japanese selection that came out of Asiatica Nursery at the end of its run.  This is a pretty stellar foliage plant whose new growth is richly colored in yellow which greens up as the leaves mature.  It is an unexpected and exciting eruption of color when growth commences and the muted colors of winter are in keeping with the season. Tough evergreen tolerant of dry shade but with water, it will grow faster.

A collection by Hinkley from Emeishan in Sichuan which some have placed in Aucuba chinensis var. chinensis but generally omeiensis is accepted.  Very distinctive with broad pale green leaves on a vigorous tree-like shrub which can hit 20'-30' at which point one can debate whether this is a tree or a shrub.  This is cutting-grown from a male clone and appreciates a shaded setting.  If you have been needing a conversation piece Aucuba............

This is pretty much our default tree whenever anyone asks about a good small tree. This has zero bad habits that we know about it and is a rapid grower with small evergreen leaves and minute yellow flowers that smell heavenly of marzipan or something similarly decadent.

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.

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.

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?

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.

This Beauty Berry is from the extensive Callicarpa collection at Stephen F. Austin Arboretum in Texas which they graciously shared with us.  Softly hairy leaves somewhat dark tinged and the usual flamboyant display of purplish fruit in late summer and fall.  Good heat tolerant species.

Bottlebrush.  Perhaps the hardiest clone enduring single digits with scarcely a whimper.  (It may be whimpering but my own wails of despair drown all else out).  Evergreen picking up russet tones in winter.  Summer fuzzy red flowers on the stems.  Deer Proof/drought tolerant.

Fun and very hardy selection that has willowy and twisting branchlets sporting 2" light yellow flower brushes on the branch tips all pointing willy-nilly for wild Medusal effect with a long bloom period on older plants.  Happy in nearly any soil and happiest with regular water.  Not deer fodder.

One of the hardiest Bottlebrushes to 10F with the added benefit of having red flowers. In growth, this this tends to have graceful arching branches which softens what can sometimes be a rigid look to Callistemon.  Not that that is a bad thing but this looks a bit more cuddly.  This grows on stream banks in Australia and can take quite wet spots but is also tolerant of dry.  Deer proof!

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.

Hybrid seedling arising in Mike and Polly Stone's garden at Askival in Scotland with C. wardii as a parent and likely C. fastigiata as well.  This is a very free flowering and upright plant and much easier to grow than either parent.  Good drainage with moisture retention in a cool site with good air circulation.  Easy-peasy.

between the Mexican evergreen C. pringlei and the east coast C. alnifolia.  The result is great evergreen foliage becoming semi-evergreen in colder parts with copious candles of palest pink fragrant flowers in the latter half of summer.  This was shared with us by Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens in Texas which was ravaged by hurricane Harvey.

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.

Funky evergreen alpine groundcover from New Zealand we call the 'Slug Egg Plant'  but for purposes of marketing with an eye to sales, let's call it 'Strewn Pearls'.  Unheralded but stealing the show with translucent round pale white fruit scattered on it's surface.  Needs a male plant to make it happen.

One of our most favored small trees is this princeling of a cornel.  Late winter flowers of yellow filamentous buttons followed by perfectly clean white variegation in the leaves and are further accented when the flowers turn into edible reddish fruits in late summer.

One of the most distinctly "What is that plant?" deciduous shrubs around is this tough little mutant redstem dogwood.  Intensely columnar and slow with curled leaves held close to the vertical stems. These turn a most satisfying purple in the fall.  As far as flowers go, forget about it.  Slow growing, our 6 footer in the garden is pushing 40 years of age.