Staggeringly impressive recent introduction of this Solomon Seal species from - wait for it -  Vietnam.  This is similar to our favorite Polygonatum huanum (formerly as kingianum) but is just more of everything that is good.  Large red flowers snug the whorled leaves on stems which this year in the garden reached 15' tall and which remain green for us until temps drop below 20F.

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.

Small winter-flowering species collected by Kettle and Wynn-Jones on Mt Fansipan in northern Vietnam. This is nice little ginger given varietal status due to its larger flowers and much larger sagittate anthers. Sagittate anther envy - it happens even in the plant world. Stems to 28" with very nice spidery white lightly scented flowers

From Vietnam by Floden-Mitchell-Wynn-Jones of this surely lovely Ginger family member.  We say surely because most Alpinia are lovely and we've grown this for ten years with nary a flower.  No fault of the plant but of our cool climate with no summer heat.  Dense clumps to 30" tall.  Let us know when it blooms.

From the Yunnan-Vietnam borderlands, this small-leafed evergreen dogwood makes an attractive tree.  Flowers not seen but if anything like the red fruit when ripe, then boom-shaka-laka!  Even if the flowers are not as hoped, what a gift to focus on its many attributes and the modern plague of unrealistic expectation. Gallon pots.

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?

Chinese Bald Cypress. Another one of those monotypic genera we love! This deciduous conifer is the only species in the genus and highly threatened by habitat loss in the wild. This will get to be a big tree which your yet unborn child's children can sit under. In their boat. Fairly slow - ours is in our bog garden pond.

A lovely shrubby epiphytic Indochina gesneriad in the same genus as lipstick vine.  That comparison made, this should be an excellent houseplant although we speculate that it ought to take a brief light frost.  A lot of the exposed limestone ridges radiate heat away at night making them colder.  Red tubular flowers.

A collection of this rare and usually epiphytic evergreen Solomon Seal from Vietnam by Aaron Floden.   A small species less than a foot tall with small rounded white bells under the arching stem as the new shoot elongates and matures. These are flowering size and hardiness is unknown but would think zone 8 for sure especially with mulch during frigid spells.

A collection from northern Vietnam of this evergreen epiphytic species which is hardier than supposed as the similar subspecies tonkinensis has been fine in our garden.  Chubby white bells cluster like piglets in the leaf axils and are followed by reddish fruit.  Very, very rare and adds a bit of cocky plantsmanship to the garden.

Distinctive Asian conifer forming impressively large trees up to 100' and we've been very fortunate to see large specimens in Guangxi Province. The dense branchlets are flattened much like a Thuja and extremely handsome. Ours is thriving in full sun/wind exposure. Recently moved to Chamaecyparis and then back.

This clone came from a knowledgeable plantsman in Vietnam and no data as to whether it was from a wild collection or a cultivated plant originating from China. Evergreen Solomon Seal relative with white bells under upright and slightly arching stems clad in alternate green leaves.  Hardy in Kansas.

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.

Staggeringly good foliage Begonia collected by Ozzie Johnson at Bai Dat Sun in northern Vietnam that we previously offered as cf. villifolia.  Large tan-green leaves with a later than 5 o'clock shadow of red hairs. Pink flowers play peekaboo in the foliage. A species not fully trialed for hardiness but zone 8b with protection

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 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. It was a long day's climb which ended in the dark with rain and wind on a bare ridge hoping the tent didn't blow away with us in it. Fortunately, after 20+ miles and 5800' feet elevation gain, sleep came easy! Broad leaves with up to 14 leaflets held on petioles touched in red. Cream flowers and black fruit on dendritic panicles. Proceeds from this goes to the FRBC.

A collection by Shayne Chandler from the Five Fingers mountain range in Vietnam.  This zone 8 hardy shrubby gesneriad was first introduced by Steve Hootman over 20 years ago from China and it is good to have another collection from a new area.  Tubular red-orange flowers and boxwood-like leaves.

Collected in northern Vietnam at Lao Cai, Y Ty at 2340 meters. This, like most Clethra, will make a nice deciduous shrub that is open in habit when young and like a small tree when mature. Scented mid to late summer white flowers that individually are larger than usual for Clethra. This has done well in a colder garden in Sequim and certainly good in Zone 8 if not colder. This has become a favorite here at the nursery.

This smaller Schefflera is a very ornamental species from our collection northern Vietnam from a mountain previously unexplored by westerners.  Loose panicles of presumed creamy flowers and black fruit.  Similar but different to Schefflera sp. NV 023.  Pretty cool!

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.

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.

Awesome tree Witch Hazel family from north Vietnam where this Josh McCullough collection hails from.  We saw this broadly vase-shaped 50' tree in the Dayaoshan in China.  Large evergreen leaves unfurl with bronze tones from large flattened stipules.  Small filamentous reddish flowers which we have yet to see.  Zone 9 and hoping for warmer parts of zone 8.

This choice evergreen Tongue Fern is notable for the yellowish variegation on its evergreen 12" long leaves and is likely conspecific with the clone sold as 'Variegata',  Pyrrosia are easy but require great drainage and unless you are planting it in a stumpery, rockery or slope, you will need to seriously amend with gravel, bark or assorted detritus of life.

Tongue Ferns are widespread in China and Japan where they can be epiphytic as well as lithophytic on rocks.  Fantastic variants are being selected by the cult followers of Pyrrosia in Japan and "Tachiba Koryu' is one with evergreen blade-like leaves sporting rounded lobes along the margins.  Does fantastic at Peckerwood Gardens near Houston.

A Hinkley collection from Vietnam of this stunning foliage species whose bullate rumpled leaves are covered in imposing bristle-like hairs.  A gorgeous container plant or if you live where the frost is light and infrequent - and you know who you are and just so you know, we hate you - then this is fine out in the garden.  Flowers white if memory serves.

Our selection of an exceptional seedling from a Vietnam collection. Typically green-leafed, this one has lustrous red new growth looking pretty amazing spring through fall and darned good in winter too since it is evergreen. We haven't flowered it yet but expect creamy yellow flowers in summer.  Young plants, cutting propagated.

Species recently introduced from Vietnam and hardiness not known but warmer zone 8 and above is safe.  Well worth taking a chance on as the lacecap flowers have that little sumpin' sumpin' that made this the staff favorite here.  White sterile flowers surround fertile florets of pink to indigo depending on pH and clonal differences.

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.

2011 collection of this very attractive species from Dragon's Tooth in Lao Cai, Vietnam at 1700 meters. This rare Mondo Grass makes good evergreen clumps with narrow arching leaves up to 20" long with showy lavender flowers with darker flecks. Any plant from a place called Dragon's Tooth should be pretty tough as well as bringing a bit of magic to your garden.

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.