Fabulous wine-colored (red - not white) vining Monkshood that cannot fail to please with late summer into fall flowers.  Perfect for sun to light shade, this will make annual growth of 10'-15' if it has something to twine onto.  Best part, it's poisonous - take that, deer!

Our collection of this most impressive vining Monkshood.  Sumptuous flowers of a good blue with a white interior  This one is a real cracker and these will easily grow 8'-12' or even 15' tall provided they have something to twine onto.  An immense treat in August and September.

An interesting Monkshood species from a Philip MacDougall collection in Taiwan.  This has large dusky blue-purple flowers on 2'-3' stems in mid summer and is not so tall so as to require support.  This does well for us in full sun but might be even better in half sun. It has been a reliable performer and a nice change from the typical Dutch and Euro selections.

Doll's Eyes Baneberry.  Striking woodland plant in fruit - the white puffs of flowers in late spring are ok but the fruit is serious business.  An elongated fruiting spike holds with red stems, round white berries each with a small black pupil.  The common name is immediately obvious and is either clever or creepy depending on how many "Chucky" movies you have watched.  We think it is clever.  All parts poisonous which means deer proof.

Named by plant guru John Flintoff who found this as an interesting seedling growing in plantswoman Loie Benedict's garden. Light green leaves with a spreading habit and flowers of a soft muted lavender which happily goes with most everything. As long as the soil is reasonably moist, this will be good in sun to light shade and is resistant to deer and rabbits.

From Sichuan where this was growing in an open position in a lightly shaded glade at about 10000' in elevation.  This has small leaves shaped much like a pointed canoe paddle with flower stems to 10"-15" tall bearing small round heads of white flowers sometimes with a diffused pink keel to the outer petals as many in this collection do.

Here is a little Japanese bulbous plant that will add some late summer glitz to the rock garden or special foreground planting niche.  Not shy about blooming, this will strut its stuff with round purplish flowerheads on 10" stems which sends our friends the Butterflies and Bees into quiet delirium.

A Dan Hinkley collection from Japan of this fine mid to late summer blooming Allium species.  Good richly colored purple flowers are freely produced on this densely clumping little dude.  Good in containers and great in the rock garden or special little niche.

Excellent little Asian Allium that is very nice with small heads of white flowers. Perfect for the rock garden or does great in regular garden beds as it does appreciate some moisture during the summer. Sun and decent drainage and thrives in one customers garden in Michigan. Tidy and of good disposition and certainly not a garden thug.

Saskatoon Berry.  Selected for flavorful fruit, Smokey doubles as both an edible and an ornamental plus it is a native.  A fine small tree to just 12' or so with spring white flowers, dark raisiny fruit and good fall color.  Sure the deer eat it and of course the birds like the fruit so enjoy the wildlife and go buy a mango.

Threadleaf Bluestar. Native to the Midwest, this tough perennial must seem like a transplant from California with its liberal threadlike foliage which becomes a cloud of flamboyant rich gold and bronzes in the fall echoing the tans of celebrity. Light blue flowers in clusters at the tips in early summer.

Bog Rosemary.  A lower growing form with bronzy-green leaves but with rose-pink flowers which is a pleasant surprise.  Got an acidic moist spot with a lot of organic matter in soil?  If you do, here you go.  Basically thrives in blueberry culture.  This should be deer proof as it has some nice toxins that will discourage them.

Bog Rosemary. This is a compact selection to just 6" tall and spreading with the gray-green needle-like leaves often taking on a red edge.  The short stems are hung with small pink bells in late spring which are enjoyed by bees.  Related to Rhododendrons and Heather, this likes a moist acidic spot in part sun.  Very hardy to zone 3.

A necessary part of the woodland garden are the small European Anemones and this is one of the good ones.  Fine foliage and nice white flowers in spring on a slowly spreading rhizomatous little bulbous plant.  As you may have surmised, this is at home in the Apennines in Italy and into Croatia.

Nice little Anemone for the rock garden - the var. lithophila is a giveaway - with white to blue-tinged lowers on 4"-10" stems. This grows in the Rockies from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming up though Canada into Alaska where it favors open rocky ridges from 6500' to 10,000' so hardiness is not in question. These are from seed and we have not flowered it yet but the internet has some lovely photos!

Our collection from the summit of a remote and isolated peak near the western Myanmar border where we were the second westerners to climb this peak and the first purely botanical foray.  The first expedition was in 1958 - those birders are tougher than you might think!   This was only 10" tall in seed in the alpine meadow at over 12000' but gets nearly 3 times that here. Broad leaves and multi-flowered heads of white flowers. Rare collection from this very isolated population.

A lovely form we brought home from Scotland a few years back.  This varies from the norm of mid-blue flowers by embracing the blending nature.of Impressionist pastels with its goes-with-anything non-confrontational light lavender-blue flowers in April and May.  Not surprisingly, this form is a Libra.

Choice selection of the Wood Anemone with flowers densely packed with numerous small white petals which appear all white at first but as the flowers mature or awaken, a central blue eye is revealed which is quite delightful.  I go through a similar slow process every morning and tell myself that it is the same delightful end result.

Wood Anemone.  This selection has funny heads of flowers where the petals have become dense clusters dissected white leafy bracts or did the bracts become dense bunches of filigreed snowflake petals?  Either way, quite a piece of floral artwork that garners ample attention.  Great for shade.

Wood Anemone.  This is a good blue form with flowers darker than many of the blue selections and even though the individual flowers are a little smaller than typical, we don't care as this is such a lovely thing.  Found in the Estonian woodlands by Mart Veerus and introduced we think by Janis Ruksans.

A nice small flowered light pink form of this necessary Anemone species which followed us home from the UK a few years back.  What is a necessary Anemone, you ask?  One which is indispensable in your shade or woodland garden and whose absence would not only be noted but commented upon and repeated, a gardening gaffe going viral.

An intriguing curiosity that combines beauty with novelty.  In this selection, the flower petals have become lacy green petaloid structures that are perfectly arranged to create amusing and intricate green flowers.  A fun addition to the shade garden.

One of the larger flowered varieties of Wood Anemone, this has excellent white flowers which are more than enough to stand alone or perfect in a supporting understory role to larger shrubs and perennials.

A tough little creeper with twiggy rhizomes and habit like Anemone nemorosa, this sets itself apart from that clan with double yellow flowers which lights the spring shade garden with a spill of sunshine.  This has fresh green ferny leaves on 3"-6" stems which makes a small carpet increasing over time and can make a fine underplanting for larger ferns,Hostas, Polygonatum or woody plants.

A European species distinguished in part from Anemone nemorosa by its simple, unlobed leaves and white flowers bearing white or pale blue anthers,  This clone is white on white with a small green central button of the Divine Feminine business parts - altogether a pleasing pairing in the shade garden.  Thanks to plantsman Reuben Hatch for sharing this with us.

A fully double green form found in Michigan by Betty Blake and named for her which only seems right.  This has quite perfect flowers which are more art than botany and whose function lies strictly in the aesthetics rather than in the somewhat banal business of procreation.  Not that the latter isn't fun........................

A new Japanese selection of a favorite eastern US wildflower. This has double white flowers which are quite large and are not the domed buttons of say 'Oscar Shoaf' but more of a flattened button with a thick frill of petals. This will bloom for many weeks on an established clump. These are divisions from our plants and very choice.

One of the truly choice plants coveted by the rock gardeners who love everything wee and precious.  This is tougher than its size suggests handling the open garden or doing well in troughs or containers.  Goes summer dormant and increases from year to year.  Half sun or dappled shade.

Very new selection out of Japan that is like a slightly less tight and paler 'Cameo'. These are surprisingly tough tuberous perennials native to the eastern US and will go summer dormant but before that happens, you will enjoy many weeks of long-lasting double flowers on an eventual impressive-for-its size clump.

A refined shade plant that would grace any plant connoisseur's garden yet is perfectly happy to hang with us average Joes. Leaves evoking Anemone and pendant flowers combining pastels and lavenders in an understated parasol of exquisite design and dimension. A plant that is not on the radar of a lot of gardeners so let's keep it to ourselves.