No ignoring this Primrose in flower! Some Primula are wee subtle things with no greater effect than the sound of a distant flute teasing the edge of hearing. This Primula is a full triumphant symphony with you sitting in the orchestra pit. Big heads of many nodding orange/yellow fragrant flowers. Rich and moist.

Maidenhair Spleenwort.  I love common names.  I must dig out our 15th century Herbal and read up on how to properly decoct this sweet little fern for afflicting humors of the spleen.  Or I can just grow it in a gritty well-drained shaded rock garden and enjoy its evergreen delicacy.

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.

This really would benefit from the heraldry of trumpets when it blooms since royalty does enjoy the pomp of lavish circumstance.  But the flowers are such a nice fuchsia purplish pink with a red throat that the trumpets and all the trappings are implied.  And with the same good mottled leaves.

Beautiful clumping species that may well be the queen of the genus.  Or are we granting royalty because it is new on the scene?  Maybe, but it is awfully good. This makes a stout small clump of evergreen fern-like leaves from which emerge in spring the peculiarly Coptis greenish-yellow flowers.  From China.

Pretty awesome new hybrid that came up at Suncrest Nurseries in CA thanks to some inspired work by the bees.  This outshines its parents with gray-blue leaves and branched erect stems to 3' holding lots of lavender-blue flowers for many weeks.  This can take drier conditions and the vermin deer don't like it.

In the Solanaceae Family, this deciduous perennial gets many stems that start blooming almost upon emergence in early spring with thimble-shaped chocolate flowers that are yellowish on the inside.  Very cool.  This likes part sun and is broader than tall at 2' x 3'.

Long my favorite Bergenia with large upright broad paddles of leaves which turn the  best maroon in the winter of any in the genus.  Oh sure, the dark pink flowers are good in spring but this plant is one of the few reasons I look forward to winter.  Galanthus for contrast - oh my.

This has grown into one of our favorite small deciduous shrubs which we grow near our bog garden.  Collected in China on the Sino-British Expedition to Cangshan in 1981 which was one of the first western botanic expeditions to China in modern times.  Copious rosy-pink flowers on a 4'-6' tall shrub.  Zone 6 at least.

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.

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.

Fantastic hybrid garden mum with small green leaves backed in silver and the whole plant forming a very dense mound just 16" tall and  2' across.  Foliage alone is worth growing this plant but when it covers itself in fall with small white flowers with a prominent yellow central button, you can pat yourself on the back for a choice well made.

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.

Our collection from our way to Tianchi Lake in Yunnan.  We found this Lily relative (which has been called N. forrestii) growing in a wooded copse with Sorbus reducta.  Likes a good moist soil and can have 7-10 flowers per stem in our experience when it gets some age.  Survived in Wisconsin where the ground 5' deep.

I love white flowers in the shade garden.  The juxtaposition against the dark earth and the interplay and mediation with other colors makes white an excellent choice.  (Don't get me wrong, I'm voting for Obama)  These have pure white flowers with a light chartreuse throat touched faintly in red.

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.

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.

We originally received seed of this back in the 90's from a Chris Chadwell collection in Nepal.  An exceptional foliage plant with long silken silvery leaves and tall loosely arrayed yellow flowers in early summer.  This is one of our favorite herbaceous Potentillas which Chris just ID'd for us this summer of 2013.

Very hardy winter blooming shrub from Tasmania which Ciscoe proclaims as his favorite plant of all time or at least until he talks about the next plant.  We agree though - this plant totally rules.  No problems whatsoever but little or no fertilizer. Buff orange flowers.  Shorter selection.

We saw this grown to perfection at the Charlton-Sale garden in North Vancouver BC, and left us stricken dumb in the wilderness.  This Chilean and Argentinian gesneriad demands a cool, humid, acidic, moist, somewhat shaded and relatively mild situation to thrive.  A small-leafed evergreen groundcover which will climb tightly appressed over or up boulders or logs. Given time, to 10'

Giant Pincushion Flower.  We saw this used to great effect in numerous cottage gardens in northern England during our coast to coast walk in June-July 2012.  Impressive zone 3 perennial whose open, branched stems can exceed 6' tall and bear creamy yellow flowers.  Perfect for mixing with lower bushy plants.

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.

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!

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.

We got this from Maggie at Western Hills some years ago as an Alstroemeria x Bomarea hybrid called 'Fred Meyer'.   Thanks to Martin Grantham at UC Davis, we finally have the correct name.   This is a rare and surprisingly hardy species from Brazil which does great outside for us.  Pink corolla tube with green petals and yellow throat.  Not aggressive.

From Wendy Perry of Bosvigo Plants in S. England comes this unfortunately scarce and choice Campanula.  Gently and very controllably spreading to make an impressive clump with spires of pure white flowers.  Pairs impeccably with Hosta 'Patriot'.

Hamilton Dwarf Cranberry. This is one of our desert island dwarf shrublets. Granted, we would be bundled up on the beach as this would be a cool northern island for this to be happy but that is a small concession for 12 months of beauty.   Perfection in a small package with very slow growth, evergreen leaves turning burgundy in winter, tiny pink flowers and red fruit - yea, verily!

A collection by Hinkley from Myanmar at 9000' of this handsome species with nicely patterned leaves.  We have not flowered this yet but are putting a lot of chips on the table for either pink or white.  Hardiness is also unknown but would guess a warm zone 8 with a good winter blanket of mulch in colder zone 8 at least until more is known.

Dog Tooth Violet.  The European representative of the genus which contains our native Avalanche Lily.  These have great mottled foliage and lovely flowers of an even violet purple highlighted by a throat touched in maroon and yellow.  Frans must have been a bit of a dandy.

Our collection from the the summit of Guizhou Province's highest mountain in the southern Wumengshan.  This was an area of severe deforestation and grazing but we secured 5 seeds of this very tare pink flowered species and can now offer this.  Rounded plant to 2'-3' and lots of good-sized pink flowers.