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Miniature Joint Fir. Choice species from the bleak areas of the "stans" - Afghan, Uzbek, Kazak, Krygh, Paki and Tajikistan. This primitive Conifer relative likes it rough - just good drainage and a hot, sunny dry spot are it's simple wants although it does enjoy the good life and wouldn't turn down a wee drink and a bit to eat. It has been quite adaptable to our regular irrigation in the nursery. In the garden this will slowly creep with more leafless thin green stems which look like a miniature Equisetum until they become bejeweled with red fruit-like cones in mid to late summer. Probably tolerant of more alkaline conditions as well. This does great in the Denver Botanic Garden.

An Arizona collection by FRBC board member Cody Hinchliff of this excellent and underutilized perennial. In exchange for a hot sunny spot and top-notch drainage you will receive plentiful returns in the form of deer-resistant drought-tolerant finely textured foliage with a crown of fiery red corollas. This collection is particularly late-flowering extending the season for both you and your local hummingbirds to a time not particularly known for such saturated blooms.  Not for those with wet summers.

Big fan of these underrated little herbaceous doers, was an even big fan when they were under the phonetically delicious Zauschneria. Mounds of silvery foliage topped for an impressively long period in the late summer and fall with salmon pink tubular flowers very similar in appearance to a salvia. That long flowering and flower form also mean they are a delight for hummers. California native and the Sierra should give you some hint to cultural requirements, does well in well-drained and even rocky soils, drought tolerant but not averse to some moisture, at the same time it doesn't want wet feet. Provides a lot that we will be in need of with changing climates, especially in the rain shadow (deer resistant to boot) so we're hoping to see more of it out and about!

One of the best of the new high-quality barrenwort hybrids that have been taking the market by storm as of late. It's no secret why these are being produced so broadly, deer resistant semi-evergreen that can take dry shade and cold temps is not a common set of attributes. Add to that the golden orange flowers profusely produced in this cultivar and you have a plant intro with some serious staying power.

Seedlings from our collection in Sichuan in 2006. We were thrilled to find this Epimedium - just 5 plants with a few ripe seed - growing on a shallow layer of moss and humus on a damp rock face along a narrow dirt road. Interestingly, two of the plants had black seed capsules and the other three were green. Yellow flowers from April to mid summer and then again in fall in our fertile and moist shade garden. We had this listed last year as Epimedium davidii which it closely resembles and thought this but a variation in flower until the keen eyes of Ben Stormes noticed that this was indeed the rare Epimedium flavum found only on the Erlang Shan which is exactly where this was found. This area, like many once remote areas in China, showed indications of being poised to be developed for tourism and there is little doubt that the plants we found are no longer.