This is the Japanese version of our native False Hellebore. Wonderful broad pleated leaves and when old enough, nice spikes of white starry flowers to 3' or more. This likes a rich moist soil, emerges early in spring and goes dormant by mid to late summer. Deer resistant and very hardy.  Young plants.

We received this as the Pioneer Mountain form of Erythronium revolutum and indeed, there is revolutum in them as well as californicum.  These are obviously natural hybrids which do occur and perusing "Erythroniums in Cultivation" by Ian Young, these fit his description nicely especially with the parallel, narrow filaments.

We collected this in 1997 on the Tibetan Plateau near Zhongdian in an area of Tibetan open range. The early October withered, deciduous leaves and dried seed pods shrieked Iris!  Eventual flowers confirmed the species, first described in 1995.  Thin leaves and basal gorgeous flowers. Young plants.

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.

Spring Vetchling.   One of the stars of the early spring garden, this perennial bush Pea makes a soft-textured clump with scads of lavender-pink Pea flowers.  Combines well with Hellebores and Narcissus and is virtually pest-free.  Low-maintenance - cut back in fall.

A very good evergreen fern native to Taiwan, China and Japan which we imported from a specialist in the UK.  Tidy and attractive species reaching 30" wide with fronds to 20" tall, this requires shade to part shade.  And brace yourself - it is tolerant of dry shade!  Happier of course with some water,  Spore-grown by us.

Kind of a rocking plant in that it really requires nothing from you.  We have it in a drier spot in our shade garden and it just trucks along looking good and putting on nice white flowers for months on end.  Horrible winter weather comes and it doesn't care - just stays evergreen.  We've gotten rather attached to it and you will as well.  One of Beth Chatto's 100 favorites.

From great plant friends in Scotland, this showy cross of two fine Candelabra Primrose species garnered accolades when they used this to great effect in a display show garden.  Colors are widely variable and size can be a bit shorter than the parents but literally, all are good and work well together.  Now if only politicians............

Rare plant found only in limited areas in central Honshu, Japan where it likes the forest fringes in the subalpine areas and is known as hiiragi-sou or holly tree-leafed weed.  Hiiragi-sou sounds better than the translation.  This selection has dark blue flowers and is a deciduous clumper to 16" tall - very nice!

White Asphodel.  From Spain to North Africa and over to the Balkans, this has done very well for us in our garden.  Narrow leaves in small clumps with flower stems 2'-3' tall and perhaps with greater maturity, to 4', and which bear showy starry white flowers.  We also enjoy the darker round seed capsules which extends the interest.  This will go summer dormant

Seed collected at 3200 meters in Sichuan in an open grazed small meadow area adjoining low scrub. Tightly clumping, deciduous and allied to Iris japonica but is something totally new. Small blue flowers are laddered down the stems in the leaf axils.  This has baffled some of the top authorities on Chinese Iris both here in the US and in the UK

Our collection from an end-of-day hunch-driven venture up a nondescript dirt track into forested hills which remains one of the best two hours we have ever spent in the field. A deciduous species with upright fronds 20"-30" tall on plum-colored stems (stipes and rachis).  Texturally, graceful and light.  Spore-grown by us.

Very intriguing perennial with intricate light brown flower buds that appear to be spun glass art depicting the skeletal structure of some microscopic sea creature.  From the center extends the feathered pinkish petals.  While not spectacular compared to a Dahlia, we think it spectacularly interesting but then we are certifiable plant loons.

'Jim's Pride' is the selection of this sedum relative from the Caucasus Mts which is notable for the showy variegation.  This is not as vigorous as the typical green form and the nodding strands of bead-like flowers are creamy rather than yellow as well.  Easy evergreen as seen by the stone basin in our shade garden.

We learned our original offering of this was incorrect as noted by a Primrose Society judge who said what we had was 'Jay Jay'.  Shortly thereafter, we got a letter from Deborah Lutz who said our 'Lois Lutz' was not correct and she should know as Lois was her mother and would we like the correct one?  Thank you and Yes!

One of my favorite Alliums from Mark McDonough with cool gray green foliage and sugar pink 2" balls of flowers in midsummer.  This is a rhizomatous type making nice clumps without being invasive.  The foliage looks good during bloom and the bees & butterflies have a rugby scrum over the nectar.

Red Birds in a Tree.  Sometimes we like common names and this is one of those time.  New Mexico native where it grows in moist canyons.  Small white-lipped red tubular flowers in clustered congeniality throughout the summer to the delight of the nectar feeders.  Likes to lean on other plants.

One can collect hundreds of named cultivars of this Japanese primrose and not have two that are identical. This is an ideal plant for the OCD plant collector who wants to take a long deep dive - just make sure when trying to have them all that money remains to buy groceries and keep the lights on. White flowers flushed fuchsia with a reverse that is solidly soft fuchsia.  This will bring felicity to your garden.

Very uncommon selection from the UK which we are pleased to introduce to these shores.  An Asiatic Gentian whose parents include such species as Gentiana sino-ornata, G. veitchiorum, G, farreri etc.  These revel in cool climates, moist acid soil and reward with late summer-fall bloom.  This is a good dark blue with purple tones.

One of the great evergreen hardy fern species from our collection in Hubei in this wondrous narrow valley cleaved by a stream.  Wondrous because of the flora which included Acer griseum among a host of choice species.  Tough fern which looks good pretty much all the time with very few exceptions.

The first all-gold foliage form of our native Prosartes hookeri.  These are seed-grown from our fantastic variegated Prosartes hookeri 'Lemonworth' which we found near Leavenworth WA.  Seedlings come up either green or gold and we look forward to planting seed of this gold form.

If you are into variegation, like woodland plants, want to make a statement, are a botanical Sinophile, a discerning or even indiscriminate plant collector or just plain driven by beauty in the garden then this is a must have.  White variegated leaves on stems to 4' with whitish flowers followed by black fruit.  Evergreen if mild.

Beautiful sky-blue trumpets with a white throat in September on this Gentiana ornata x farreri hybrid.  Granted a Royal Horticultural Society First Class Certificate in 1936, we've righted a wrong by finally making this fine UK selection available in the US.  Slow but steady in the Colonies!

Dwarf Scandanavian selection of Chives which is way more ornamental than usefully edible.  Lots of pinkish lavender flowers on a very compact plant.  Quite useful in the rock garden or detailed planting site such as edge of a stepping stone or against a rock.

Quite an uncommon species with all cultivated material coming from the Chin Mts in west-central Burma, thanks to Frank Kingdon-Ward for that collection. A sturdy plant with a stout stem and bold leaves and small mauve orchid-like flowers nestled in the apex of the leafy stem.

This collection is from nearly 6000' in San Miguel Co., New Mexico and hardy down to Zone 5.  This yucca relative makes dense clumps of thin grassy leaves to 3' tall and holds the dense plumes of creamy flowers nestled in the uppermost leaves.  The brown seed heads evoke fat cigars.

This is one sweet Pea.  Native to the Caucasus Mts, this takes a backseat to its more floriferous and showy cousins for it has simple pairs of pink flowers borne with restraint.  Don't be misled - it is the backseat of a Bentley.  Perfection of leaf and flower in exquisite refinement.

Got lots of sun and sandy or well-drained soil with average to low fertility in a dryish garden beset by rabbits and deer but still want lots of flowers for the bees and other pollinators? Look no further as this will nicely fill the bill. Mature plant has hundreds of pink papery bracted flowers in midsummer on drooping stems. Best displayed in a raised bed.

Exceptional white-flowered Asiatic Gentian from the Berrybank Hybrids bred by Ian McNaughton in Scotland.  We never met Ian but were fortunate to meet his plantswoman wife Beryl which is a lasting fond memory.  'Oban' fulfills Ian's breeding goals of compact habit and upward-facing flowers in clusters.  For cool climates.

Good full heads of large white flowers whose petals align flatly in a single plane.  An excellent selection of this Japanese species.