Give a Gift Certificate to Far Reaches Farm. Let your friends and loved ones select pick out the plants they've been craving.
Nifty groundcover introduced from Taiwan by Crug Farm in Wales. This is a good spreader though easy to keep in bounds and prefers a loose organic rich soil that doesn't get too dry. Great under shrubs and perennials and forms a feathery dense mat with white starry flowers. Evergreen unless very cold.
Nice little clumper for the rock garden or special niche from plant guru Steve Doonan. Airy sprays of small red flowers are most becoming. Likes a well-drained soil that gets some water now and then. Not as drought tolerant as Hens and Chicks but then what is? Very nice form of this Saxifrage.
These are such good little quasi-bulbous plants from South Africa. Likes a full sun rock gardens with good drainage. Nice summer bloomers and good increasers making dense clumps. Probably deer resistant.
Little bulby plant from the Drakensberg Mts in South Africa. This is a good rock garden subject in that it likes good drainage in the winter. When growing, keep it watered reasonably and it will bloom its tail off with loads of small reddish flowers. Mulch if bitter cold in winter.
Small scale evergreen Hebe and one of the hardier ones for the PNW. This is attractive in flower or out as it has very tidy foliage and a pleasing mounding habit. The flowers are small and white and sometimes with a bit of a mauve tinge but anyone would say white.
A fun Primrose that when settled in and enjoying a rich crumbly soil can really make a nice patch. This spreads by underground rhizomes and is a good colonizer. Some plants when you say colonizer it rightly sounds an alarm much like a submarine klaxon on an emergency dive. Not so this. Rich tomato pink flowers above season interest-extending felty foliage.
Great little frothy mound of silver foliage that deserves a place in the plant petting zoo. The yellow button-like flowers dance on wiry stems in late spring and early summer. Too cute. On the dry side. Thanks to David Mason and Susie Grimm of Hedgerows Nursery for sharing it with us.
Rhodohypoxis is a genus of small bulbs with dense grassy foliage and fairly large flowers for the size of the plant which are produced with exhuberance. This one of the legion of pink-tinged white selections and is a good grower given well-drained yet moist soil. Choice little rock garden subject.
Love the Rhodohypoxis and this is one that is not that easy to find. A tidy densely clumping bulb which loves good drainage when it is dormant in the winter and ample moisture when growing. Great for the sunny rock garden with some water. Medium pink flowers aging to white.
Small but rapidly clumping bulb from South Africa with dense grassy leaves and small white flowers produced with some say reckless abandon during summer. Named for Ruth McConnell who was one of the main growers and hybridizers of the genus in the UK. This has been easy in the garden here.
Large lavender blue flowers with a darker reverse grants this little slowly creeping Wood Anemone its own small fiefdom in the shade garden while it is in bloom. Very pretty indeed. Of course by mid summer the peasants and serfs rise up with scythes and cudgels to reclaim their land but next year the glorious cycle of rule and revolution is repeated.
We don't have a real name for this one but continue the informal designation given to it by friend and mentor Steve Doonan. Original Blue just means that it was the first blue one in his collection. Smaller a bit than 'Robinsiana' but pretty close with dusky blue flowers. This adds much to the shade garden.
Free-blooming groundcover that is evergreen with yellow button flowers on 8" stems from spring until fall. Very few demands from this plant and as such, we expect few complaints from you. This will grow and perform ably given minimal attention. Indicator plant for a new hobby.
Lily Jean is a demure little thing with small double flowers randomly flecked with bits of red, pink and white. Quickly increrasing to form a dense little tussock with scads of flowers. This like ample moisture when growing and very good drainage in winter when dormant. Rock garden plant. Mulch if real cold.
A decidedly unBaby's Breath Baby's Breath. This is a delightful deciduous creeper that absolutely covers itself in lavender tinged white flowers with darker pencilings. Very nice in the rock garden or rockery. Appreciates good drainage but some moisture in the soil.
Asiatic Gentian with big deep blue trumpets on this mat forming beauty. Rich moist acidic soil is best for this late summer-fall bloomer. Outrageous in bloom.
This is likely a hybrid and we guessed with longifolia but who knows? Hybridity just means extra vigor and a better garden plant with fabulous big silver-crusted long leaves in showy rosettes supporting tall sprays of white flowers. Bright shade to morning sun is ideal. Easy.
A choice woodland creeper for the shade or partly shaded garden where it behaves like Anemone nemorosa - making a mat of ferny foliage but in this case, it has vibrant yellow flowers. A patch of this is to be coveted. Very hardy and goes mid to late summer dormant.
A great rock garden plant for our area where it thrives on the sun and good drainage and rewards the neglectful gardener with unearned but copious amounts of showy white flowers. If we get bitter cold in the winter, this South African wouldn't mind a wee blanky of mulch.
A little densely clumping bulb with grassy leaves and a plethora of flowers of white blushing with pink shades which when it is full on can completely obscure the leaves. This likes that illusive moist but well-drained soil and is a classic little goody for the rock garden. Mulch if a severe winter.
Big pink flowers of substance on this densely clumping South African bulb. Hardy outside here given good drainage in winter (and mulch if a bad winter) and a choice candidate for the rock garden provided it gets ample water when in growth. Easy to grow in pots and overwinter in the garage.
Choice little bulb for the rock garden, this increases quickly to make a dense grassy tuffet of leaves with lots of pink flowers in summer. Likes moisture when it is growing and good drainage in the winter when it is dormant. You would make some points with it by mulching if quite cold.
Easy and hardy little bulbous plant from South Africa and a good pink in this selection. This makes dense tuffets of grassy foliage in spring and summer and covers itself in May/June with pink flowers. Increases well but never a problem making an easy to divide clump when dormant.
A floriferous hybrid Rhodohypoxis from South Africa which white flowers nicely flushed in pink. This will easily cover itself in flowers in June-July increasing quickly making a dense clump which can be divided. Your friends will expect you to be gracious unless you come up with a plausible excuse.
Scabweed. Don't you love common names? Unless of course you are trying to sell them. This alpine New Zealander is a very easy and very cool plant for a trough or rock garden. We saw this beautifully grownin the rock garden at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Hard flat white-silver mats with tiny cream dots of flowers in July.
A fine little tight mat-forming alpine from the Wallowas in Oregon that appeals only to the most nerdacious of plant nerds in the elevated stratosphere of alpine plant and rock garden geekdom because this is essentially a small swatch of closely clipped putting green astroturf. It flowers but you will likely miss it.
Classic spring epehemeral of the eastern woodlands with ferny foliage in early spring and white flowers in March. This will go dormant by late spring and is an excellent little plant to grow on top of later growing shade loving lily species or Arisaemas so that you get double duty out of the same planting spot.
Unnamed or lost name selection of Wood Anemone we received from plantsman non pareil John Flintoff some years back. This is distinct from others we grow as the white flowers have a reddish pink reverse to the petals which is particularly effective as these nod a bit and you get to enjoy the nice backside. "Baby got back" - Sir Mix-a-Lot
Zone 5 hardy Ice Plant which arose as a spontaneous hybrid seedling in Denver and was named for our friend Panayoti Kelaidis, Senior Curator at Denver Botanic Garden and great guy at a party. Key here is great drainage for our winter wet. Lean, sandy soil and a gravel mulch is a good idea. Flowers the color of thin-sliced backlit salmon Lox.
