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Extraordinary southern hemisphere heather relative and one we observed in all of its alpine glory in the mountains of Patagonia (see photo) while on the Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy plant tour January 2024.  Growing clear south to Cape Horn, this forms a low mat with insignificant flowers but very significant red fruit if you have a female plant as this is a dioecious species with plants being either male or female but both are needed for fruit. The plants we offer are cutting-grown from a single clone whose sex it has not yet shared with us  Once it does, we will work on getting the opposite sex going!  Fruit is gorgeous and edible.  This is plant for cooler climates and not for warm humidity.

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 fruits in mid to late summer. Probably tolerant of more alkaline conditions as well. This does great in the Denver Botanic Garden.

Humboldt County CA selection of Epilobium septentrionalis (Zauschneria). This has vermillion-orange flowers and amazing silver foliage with a capacity to take the hottest sun and crappiest soil and still put on an unexpected floral display with no water from you once established.

A selection of this California Fuchsia from El Tigre Peak on Santa Cruz Island. This is low growing form to just 8" tall but can spread to 4' across or more when happy. And making this happy is really pretty easy - pretty much just ignore it in a dry, hot sunny spot with good drainage and your reward will be lots of tubular orange-red flowers in late summer-fall with further decoration provided by appreciative hummingbirds.

A nice bright silver-foliaged selection of the California Fuchsia. This loves a well-drained soil in a hot sunny spot where it has lots of tubular scarlet hummingbird magnet flowers on a plant 12-18 inches tall in late summer. Disappears in winter but comes up from the spreading underground rhizomes. Cut back in spring. This can take a good amount of dry once established and not liked by deer.

Seed collected by FRBC botanist Dr. Cody Hinchliff in Arizona from a summer rainfall area. Don't panic - this will still be tolerant of dry but will be more amenable to summer water than others. Wider than tall as it spreads by underground stems, the narrowly tubular scarlet flowers are a late summer to fall delight. Formerly Zauschneria. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Collection

This was named for the near black foliage color which occurs with the onset of colder winter temperatures. Spring and summer foliage is typically green and about 10" tall. The flowers are held above the leaves in spring and are small stars of yellow with orange veins. Choice.

Our 2014 introduction from a cross between Epimedium grandiflorum 'Queen Esta' and E. acuminatum L575 with fine mauve-red flowers and fantastic new foliage vividly splashed in splatters of red. It is apparent we have watched too much CSI, Criminal Minds, True Blood and the occasional disquietingly graphic Nature.

Our own hybrid introduction, this is a tasteful presentation of refined restraint. Small leaves well-speckled and clouded in quiet maroon when young are gently echoed in the sepals of the flowers which back the soft yellow spurs and cup. A tight grower making mannerly small clumps, this gets 8"-10" tall.

A mouthful we'll grant you, for this Epimedium from Guizhou, China. Vigorous evergreen species with long leaves in 3's in stems to 18" tall. This can get to 4' or more wide and will provide a mass of inspired texture. The mist of up to 150 tiny white and yellow flower motes per stem are curious contrast to the substantial foliage. Does well at Chicago Botanic Garden.

Fairy Wings Epimedium or Bishop's Cap. This is one of the most elegant of the numerous species and cultivars of Epimedium with long blade-like leaflets nicely colored when young and white flowers like drifting parachutes in a Lilliputian fantasy. Hails from China and a necessary addition to the shade garden.

Second generation 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.

The bees have done some fine work in the garden, shuttling between a Roy Lancaster collection of the purple/white Epimedium x omeiense and our collection of the rare yellow Epimedium flavum, found only in a small area of the Erlang Shan in Sichuan.  These are unselected seedlings which all have garden merit and are deserving of a good garden trial but our ADPS (Attention Deficit Plant Syndrome) is getting in the way of doing that so we are jobbing it out to you.  Various colors and evergreen foliage.

An evergreen Chinese species notable for the large evergreen leaves on long stems and for the numerous yellow flowers with their curved spurs which are held above the leaves. This will steadily increase in size bringing even more oomph to the garden. Coldest portions of its zonal range might see this be deciduous.

From our friend and plantsman guru John Flintoff comes this selection of Epimedium grandiflorum. Attractive bronze patterned new growth mingles with the copiously produced white flowers for a fine display. John named this for his mom which gives some clue as to its worth. He got along great with his mom, 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.

Marvelous selection by Harold Epstein and named for his wife, this has some of the most opulently colored new growth which marries perfectly to the large purplish flowers. A deciduous species from Japan and an excellent garden plant that has no faults as far as we can tell.

Lucky dip offering of open-pollinated seed-grown plants from a very vigorous and bold foliage mama plant. There were adjacent good Epimediums so these variable children should all be attractive and evergreen. Colors are going to surprise us all.

A very good, not scary, evergreen groundcover. 'Mariko' is a selection from a collection by Mikinori Ogisui, incredible plantsman and plant explorer, who named it for his wife. Judging by the graceful spidery flowers with showy pink sepals and white spurs and petals plus bronzy new growth, Mariko herself has it all going on.

Despite sounding like sneeze, a great Epimedium with large evergreen foliage beautifully salmon colored in spring. This pairs incredibly well with the large, long-spurred soft yellow flowers. This is quite cold tolerant with the foliage holding up quite well into the single digits in winter.