Lilium rosthornii is an uncommonly interesting lily from China.Three foot stems carry large, vivid orange flowers whose narrow petals are recurved into an impossible backbend. The exposed faces of the petals fairly bristle with polyp-like papillose projections while the revealed open throat displays a small dark green star.

A Steve Hootman collection from China of this quite unique creeping Honeysuckle.  This is a Kinnikinnik or Arctostaphylos uva-ursi alternative making a mat of small rounded green leaves turning rich purple/red/bronze tones in winter.  Small light yellow Honeysuckle flowers are sprinkled throughout.  Very cool.

These are seed-grown from the impressive yellow hybrid Meadow Rue, Tukker Princess. These will gain some height reaching 6'-8' in flower with a nice display of bee-lovin' scented yellow flowers. These will vary somewhat but all squarely in the very nice range.  For all  who've been to the nursery trying to pick up this from the tables only to find it was poking through from the ground beneath, this is what you wanted.

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 has consistently been a head-turner here when it is in flower. Rich pink flowers of good size and a large fringed lip or slipper pouch which is decked out in orange-pink spots with the interior all orange ruffles and flourishes. A good increaser and best suited for pot culture where it can be brought in, unless you garden in a mild area. Pleione orchids require excellent drainage.

A purported G. papilio hybrid, our mama plant when in bloom with its 5 foot stems of red-mauve flowers sporting dark eye patches, frequently caused plant geeks to start speaking in tongues and offer creative enticements in exchange for a wee bit.  We have had to say "No." until now.

Choice and uncommon Japanese native making a many stemmed plant with lots of white bottle-brush flowers in spring. The glossy green and nicely textured leaves are pleasant the rest of the season.

Choice selection with ruffled heavily marbled leaves and light pink flowers.  You normally grow Hepatica for the early spring flowers and any foliar enhancement is pure gravy but with Cremar, flowers bow their heads to the majesty of the leaves. Quite a choice plant and does well in light shade with decent drainage.

At garden cocktail parties where the design elite and the grass cognoscenti compare notes over a cool Negroni perfectly mixed with Punt e Mes vermouth, this is often alluded to as their favorite grass. Thin green supple leaves are imbued with a simple timeless grace and the delicate seed-like white flowers are the perfect contrast.

A collection by our friend Steve Hootman, the Indiana Jones of plant hunting, of this quite beautiful Asian species from a fairly cold area so this should have good hardiness. Attractive foliage on 10"-15" stems with showy white parasols of flowers in mid spring which brings light to the dark of the shade garden. Gently spreading to just the right extent and rare in cultivation.

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.

A no-fuss restrained yet refined evergreen Cardamine which is nearly faultless.  We haven't found a fault yet but most overachievers are hiding something deep under that charm and industry.  Rest assured, this will never go postal in your garden.  Dark green dense leaves set off  flowers of of purest white in early summer.

Extraordinary yellow-flowered evergreen species from northern Vietnam on this collection. The trees in the wild were all small second-growth trees with mature examples nowhere in evidence. That night we slept in a nearby farmer's house with our sleeping bags on wide flooring planks of magnolia wood - mystery solved where the big trees went. Best in a sheltered spot from freezing winds.

This rugged South African is sun, wind and drought tolerant and absolutely hardy in the PNW.  One of the most admired plants in our border for its profuse display of large yellow to orange daisies on low stems.  Good drainage.

Did we mean to infer that this is a PINK Gillenia????  Why yes, we did.  And it is.  Pink, definitely pink.  An exciting offering of a dandy variant on a choice eastern native.  Pink Bowman's Root will get 24"-30" tall with multiple stems sporting an airy array of pink flowers.  Great fall color as well.

Uncommon species which has proven durable in containers and in the garden where it handled the 12F nasty winter of 2016-17 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.

Our cross between the "typical" Lilium mackliniae and the Saramati form which will be recognized as a distinct variety of the species.  The former has larger flowers and is more campanulate while the latter is a high elevation variant with smaller flowers and blooms earlier.  This hybrid is very uniform from seed, short, stout, earlier than typical

New offering from us of this underappreciated genus. We grow 7 taxa which must be some sort of record even for a nursery specializing in the obscure and unprofitable. This cool little groundcover is from Kyushu in Japan where it grows in shaded moist places.  The yellow/green flowers have an ineffable je ne sais quoi we quite enjoy.  Have not trialed for hardiness but the Ontario Rock Garden Society has tips for seed germination.

Evergreen Solomon Seal relative from Taiwan via plantsman Ozzie Johnson. Loves moist shade in zones 7-9 where the rounded leaves on stems up to a foot shelter the hanging white bell flowers.  Combines well with all of those shade garden plants that any self respecting plant collector loves so rest assured that garden harmony will remain intact.

To find fault with this bit of botanical jewelry would be to put on display character defects so profound that your friends would desert you in droves while making plans for your involuntary institutional incarceration.  Perfect marbled leaves subtend appleblossom pink-white flowers of larger size than typical.  Shade garden pizzazz.

Fairly recent introduction from China of this superb evergreen shade perennial differing from the more widely grown SEH (Steve Hootman) collection.  This has denser flower heads and is perhaps more vigorous - we're quite fond of it.  This makes a tidy rosette of evergreen leaves with very attractive white flowers in spring.  We say yip-sih-landra by the way.

A fine selection of this deciduous Japanese species which was introduced by We-Du Nursery. Sizable flowers of rich purple are the hallmark of this plant and it more than holds it own against more recent hybrids. All Epimediums can't be painted with the same drought tolerant brush and this one appreciates more water than the real drought tolerant species.

Solomon's Seal.  Mighty fine selection and surely one of the very best variegated perennials for shade.  Good clean white variegation that illuminates where it is planted.  Stunning enough to stand alone with a simple groundcover at its feet or schmoozes easily  with other garden glitteratti.

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.

False Solomon Seal. This Chinese species is one of our favorites in the shade garden and we delight in its ribbed leaves with elegantly understated small violet daubing at the base of each leaflet followed by the precise detail in the small greenish flowers. In the late summer into fall, it has strut-your-stuff full heads of bright orange fruit.

Soldanellas completely bewitch us wih their dual charms of excellent evergreen foliage and incredibly cute flowers.  When these little guys flower, we just smile because this is such a little overachiever with its lavender fringed flowers in April.  Reddish leaf petioles and leaf undersides are subtle allure.

A shrub very rare in this country (we might be the first to introduce this) and one we are pretty excited about. This has some pretty good cold tolerance and will be an evergreen shrub to 2' high and wider. White flowers like a Leptospermum but long anthers so looks like a small bottlebrush. Good drainage, Zone 8-9 and might be worth trying in warmer parts of zone 7.

Collected by Hinkley from Emeishan as the species cavalieri, this Borage family member has riveting evergreen foliage washed in a gleaming silvery metallic overlay that is more than reason enough to grow this but OMG it has lovely flowers too which are white but touched in the palest blue.  Gentle runners that makes a quiet patch.  Ultra choice & rare,

A small cloud of pink flowers on this otherwise white flowered species. One of the easiest species in the section Irregulares to which the more familiar Saxifraga fortunei belongs.  This has the redeeming quality of being able to handle a bit more dry and sun than some of the others but why make it work if you don’t have to?

If Thomas Hardy had written a book based on this plant, he would have tiltled it "Fusca the Obscure".  Or Poe "Descent into the Plant Maelstrom".  BIO -Botanical Interest Only.  If you buy this we're doing an intervention on you and get you into the Plant 12-Step Program.  You need help.