Fantastic little gem from the high mountains of Taiwan collected by our friend Philip MacDougall.  Our mama plant is several years old and is a compact dome just 9" high and maybe 12" across.  Early summer has this adorned in small dense heads of dark pink flowers edged in pale pink to white.

This is a beloved shrub to small tree species notable for flowering young with nodding white flowers which are best viewed when you can look up into them such as ours on a raised bed. Original introductions likely from Japan have red stamens but this collection of ours differs with yellow stamens.

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 unique evergreen member of the Myrtaceae family native to moist, rocky areas within alpine and subalpine regions of Australia. This forms a dense mound with arching branches, 3ft by 4ft with early summer small white flowers en masse. Diminutive leaves become coppery in winter, smelling lovely when crushed.

An excellent introduction if you are into the Araliaceae family and fortunately, there are lots of Araliaddicts out there!  This came from the high point in its range with occasional cold exposure and has proven hardy outside here in full sun and wind exposure.  Not ideal but that's what we got!

Glossy green evergreen leaves on a small 4'-5' shrub in the wild, growing on a bright, mostly shaded slope in close company with its understory compatriots Mahonia, Metapanax, Lilium, Disporum, Lysionotus, and a host of ferns.  Single red fruit resting 1/3 of the way up on the leaf midrib.  Flowers small but curious.

Unique Viburnum with cute rounded evergreen leaves which are unmatched elsewhere in the genus.  Clusters of small white flowers are in keeping as is the resultant black fruit.  There is something universally appealing about this plant which must be the cute factor and somehow it manages to retain this even as a larger shrub to 8' tall.

This Central American epiphytic blueberry relative calls the cloud forests home and enjoys cool conditions with no frost. Brilliant red new growth, tubular soft red flowers with red calyces followed by darkly intriguing fruit. Will develop a caudiform lignotuber in time. This is a visual feast for months on end.

Riverine Tea Tree.  This uncommon to cultivation Tasmania endemic is often found along stream banks in its native setting so can take moister conditions than some other species.  White flowers on an evergreen shrub with good flaking bark and getting to 8'-10'.  Deer proof as well.

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.

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.

A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering. A bold plant of 12' forming part of the species-dense broad-leaf forest margins on the incredibly steep slopes of a mountain previously not visited by westerners to our knowledge. Broad leaves with up to 14 leaflets held on petioles touched in red. Cream flowers and black fruit on dendritic panicles.

Alas, most Schefflera you have known and loved have been moved to other genera with just a scant handful remaining in Schefflera.  Perfectly sensible for a very large genus spread over several continents.  These are seed-grown from our plants from the recent first North American introduction.

A very welcome addition to our rock garden thanks to our generous taxonomist, Cody Hinchliff.  This native to the mountains of South Africa forms an architectural mound to 3' or so with many stems clad in short, stiff and persistent green leaves.  Terminal clusters of small cheery and sweetly scented yellow flowers.

A low 20" x30" evergreen shrub with narrow gray-blue leaves and lots of small white flowers for at least 2 months June-August.  Ours looks great planted with Mertensia maritima and it is perfectly ok to steal this planting combination.

A seldom-seen species of Sweet Pepperbush from our seed collection in the wild where it was leafless branches and a multiplicity of small finger-like panicles bedecked with small seed capsules.  This has proven itself in the garden here with a profusion of summer white flowers literally alive with pollinators.

One of the hardiest of the Leptospermums which, in time and left alone, will achieve the appearance of a ruggedly handsome small tree. We say this in case you have control issues and mistake shearing for pruning in which case this will be a nice dense ball.  Or square.  Or blob.  Evergreen, nice white flowers, deer-proof, drought tolerant. Thanks to Leptophiliac Ian Barclay for sharing this..

Very attractive selection with gray-centered evergreen foliage.  This used to be in the Camellia family Theaceae but has been reclassified into the Pentaphylacaceae and we are resting much easier for the knowing.  Sad we missed the big party.  Better in milder gardens but so worth trying.  Small white flowers on the underside of the branchlets.

Second generation plants from our collection from the Cangshan, Yunnan in 1997. This was midway down the mountain sprawling among and on top of a tapestry of 4'-8' shrubs. The red fruits with brilliant pinnate scarlet foliage was pure eye candy. Expect multiple trunks with a liberal interpretation of vertical.

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.

Young plants of a rare offering of this graceful woodland species from the borderlands of China and Vietnam. Upright plants to 10' that rarely branch with expected Schefflera - we mean Heptapleurum - green leaves. Umbels of black fruit in a raceme. Hardiness unknown but let's start with not very. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering

This is thought to be an intergeneric hybrid between 2 of New Zealand's shrubby daisies.  This gives a fabulous textural addition to the Mediterranean garden like some happy marriage of heather and rosemary.  Small white flowers cluster at the tops of the stems.  Good drainage, tolerant of some dry.

One of the hardiest Leptospermums, this creeping form is from the alpine areas of Tasmania and has grown for many years at the Arboretum in Seattle. Evergreen leaves with small white flowers, this would be a shame not to have it in the rock garden and a greater shame not to have it spilling over a wall.

A very good hardy hybrid Hebe from the UK which handles our winters here with no problem.  This is a low sprawler getting only about 6"-8" high and 20" wide or so.  Leaves of a nice gray olive green (or something like that) and nice flowers of blue-mauve.  A cross between H. allanii and H. pimeleoides.

Uncommon species which has proven durable in containers and in the garden where it handled a nasty 12F winter with equanimity. Pink-backed white flowers followed by red fruit on stiffly upright stems.  From Erlangshan in Sichuan growing with the rare Epimedium flavum on a slope with Cardiocrinum in the wet thicket behind.

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 Bay Area species thought to be extinct until a single plant was discovered in 2009 during a botanical survey prior to a freeway expansion. Low growing to 2 feet or so, and spreading with white flowers. Perfect example of ex-situ conservation by botanic gardens and specialist nurseries.

This is the rarest US Magnolia species occurring in just 6 counties in the Florida panhandle. Fantastic species with huge leaves up to 2' or more long and nearly a foot across. On plants young as 3-4 years old, white scented flowers to 10" wide appear in May avoiding frost damage . Dramatic large shrub to small tree.

Mint Bush. We love the genus with the aromatic, deer-proof evergreen foliage and in this case, white flowers tinged lavender. A Welsh nuseryman describes it as "a cracking plant tolerant of heavy frost and sells on sight".

Seed-grown from the clone 'Soft Caress' which is good parentage to say the least.  This will be similar and expressing to varying degrees the qualities of its parent which are good non-spiny foliage with upright yellow candles of flowers on a narrowly vertical evergreen shrub.  It will be good and also a unique one of a kind.