The flowers on this Japanese selection are very richly spotted in purple and the translation to English of the name 'Sky Full of Stars' is both poetic and perfect. Strong stems to 2 feet or more makes this a perfect candidate for cutting if you can bring yourself to do so. We can't but we don't want to hold you back. Rich, moist, part sun & zone 5-8b.
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.
SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS MAY APPLYWe were completely blown away by the plant we saw in full fruit in the exceptional garden at Dancing Oaks and sad to say, we did doth covet our neighbors plant with lust in our hearts. Leonard and Fred thought it prudent to sell us one. To 6'-8' with soft yellow flowers and dripping with clusters of salmon fruit.
Chilean Box Thorn. Pretty nifty plant in the Solanaceae from Chile with pungent leaves - think deer proof - and rather choice yellow tubular flowers displayed pretty much all summer. Glossy evergreen leaves and reveling in sun, this is hardy here in mild gardens and would be ideal against a sunny wall.
Chilean Fire Tree. Our classic all-time Desert Island plant where if we were stranded and could only choose one plant etc. we would be sitting beneath an Embothrium munching a Tyler Street Pesto Savory Scone and drinking a Townsend Bay Pinot Gris. A 4 alarm inferno of flame red flowers.
Great little Scroph (Scrophulariaceae) from the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. This is rated to zone 6 and grows in rocky areas. A cushion-forming perennial with loads of beautifully detailed scented flowers which open at dusk or on cloudy days. Good drainage.
Copper Monkeyflower. A hybrid raised by Dr. Burnett of Aberdeen, Scotland around 1901 whose parents are the South American Mimulus cupreus and the North American M. guttatus. All fascinating information but what the heck does this look like? A low-growing, easy and very hardy perennial with lots of coppery orange flowers.
Young plants grown from seed we received from one of England's preeminent collectors of woody plants. The best form selected from a collection near Dali in Yunnan. We are told that it has larger flowers and better leaves than Illicium simonsii grown in the same garden. White flowers with a great scent. They will thrive in zone 9 and hopefully into zone 8b.
Mint Bush. Brought to the UK from Australia by Jeffrey Irons and sent to us from a friend in Holland. A Welsh nuseryman describes it as "a cracking plant tolerant of heavy frost and sells on sight". We love the genus with the aromatic deer proof evergreen foiage and in this case, white flowers tinged lavender.
Fantastic Roscoea only discovered in the 1980's in Nepal and still scarce as hen's teeth in the nursery trade and always commanding very high prices. Why is this so good? It represents a color break in Roscoea with large red flowers which resemble some exotic orchid except this is easier to grow! It's a show-off plant for sure.
These are seedlings from a superb collection by Darrell Probst from China which is notable for having over 20 small maroon-mahogany flowers clustered just under the leaf blade. If you have a choice, more flowers makes it easy! This species we offered first as P. mairiei per Shaw's revision but that might not hold up to scrutiny.
Nepal Lily. One of our favorite Lilies and one we saw in Arunachal Pradesh near Bhutan growing in low scrub on a sunny hillside. This is a particularly good form with very large pendant yellow-green flowers with a chocolate maroon throat. Really pretty amazing. Creeps about underground.
BARE ROOT UNTIL 3/1Very garden worthy little Lily descended from a Crug Farm collection in Taiwan. This is a fairly compact species with grassy foliage and carnival hat flowers - big white trumpets with maroon stripes on the outside. Increases well from offsets and blooms when young. It's all good.
This Reineckea hails from Japan and has low, grassy evergreen foliage with small candles of pink-backed white flowers in June followed by little red fruits. A nice little easy slow carpeter and very good under larger Rhododendrons or as a small-scale groundcover.
Our introduction from 2012 of this new to cultivation species. This was found on a scramble up a shaded and damp ravine which would have a small stream during rainstorms. Fortunately it was sunny. A tight groundcover with normally green leaves but this sport has frosty flecks in the leaves. Green flowers.
Discovered by Frank Kingdon-Ward in NE India during the 1930's. This is quite beautiful with a graceful carriage and Frank thought enough of this species to name it after his wife whose maiden name was Macklin. Lovely pink flowers on stems 28"-36" tall. Despite being introduced many decades ago, this remains quite uncommon.
A False Solomon Seal collected by the good folks at Crug Farm Nursery during a plant hunting trip to Central America. They found this once common species in Guatemala relegated to remnant populations at higher altitudes above 9000 feet where it found it spread rhizomatously to form small colonies. White flowers and mulch well in winter.
Staggeringly good foliage Begonia collected by Ozzie Johnson at Bai Dat Sun in northern Vietnam and originally had the name "aff. edulis" appended to it for the species. . 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 we are speculating zone 8b or less with judicious applications of mulch for winter freezing. One of the rhizomatous types.
From Hubei Province in China where this was growing on a steep slope in the moderate shade of a mixed deciduous canopy. A lacecap species with a dense dome of whitish fertile flowers accompanied by a spare fringe of sterile white florets. This variety is differentiated from the others by its ovate-obovate leaves and sparse hairs on the underside. Inquiring minds want to know.
Seed-grown plants of a rare form of a rare lily rarely available from one rare plant grower in the UK. We are eschewing subliminal suggestions and going right to the heavy hammer of repetitive rarity. This form came about in cultivation from seed-raised plants in the UK and when mature is twice as tall as the typical species. Nice soft pink flowers.
Our collection of this admittedly plain green-leafed hosta which might be easily be passed over without access to the full story but we feel the lack of variegation and absence of an inspired marketing name is more than offset by the considerable panache attached to a documented collection of wild provenance. Nerd up, yo. Violet flowers.
Partridge Berry. An introduction from Piping Tree Gardens Nursery in Virginia who made numerous selections from the rich local woodland flora. We can't attest to comparative sizes - too much like junior high locker rooms - but can say that this small-scale evergreen groundcover with small white fragrant flowers does have lovely red fruit.
There ain't nuthin' like this. Early spring yellow stars followed by leathery lobed green leaves in a dense low mound. It is the early yellow flowers that steal the show in part because they have so little competition and in part because they are so unique.
One of those captivating Chinese species. This has a neat stoloniferous habit sending out runners and making new bulbs so you soon have a grove of Lilies. Flowers white with dark spots with recurved petals in the classic "Turk's Cap" style. We love it.
One of the little gems of the woodland is this scarcely encountered selection which we have planted under our Disporum 'Night Heron' in our shade garden. A gentle infiltrator wending amongst plants of stouter stature, this carries a joyous light in its white edged leaves and pale bell flowers.
Excellent member of the Crassulaceae which means it is a succulent basically but one that eschews the arid sunny spot in favor of lusher environs like our shade garden with dairy manure mulch. Makes a thick clump of fleshy green leaves with taller stems of pendulous strings of beads yellow flowers. Very easy to please and a show stealer in bloom.
Choice selection with loose sprays of fine ice blue flowers in spring. This is a good little spreader for shade to dappled shade in moist soil that drains. Plenty hardy for our area and makes a lovely understory for larger plants as this only gets a few inches high.
Fine evergreen fern from China, Korea and Japan which in this form is larger than typical for the species at least as far as this species is represented in cultivation. We previously offered this as P. mayabarae - fern taxonomy can make you lose sleep. A very nice and clean evergreen fern which has been tolerant of dry shade.
A vigorous cross between our native stream orchid Epipactis gigantea and the European marsh orchid, E. palustris. This will make lots of stems to 18" with small flowers whose various parts are colored in orange-red, brownish and yellow and white. Easy given a rich moist soil and hardy to Z5.
One of the new cultivars that has proven good in the garden. This has blackish red flower buds which open to scarlet flowers arranged in thin vertical spikes on 3 foot stems from July into October. People get scared of Persicaria because some are aggressive like pitbulls. This species is more like a Golden Retriever.
