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A pretty spiff hybrid from the Los Angeles County Arboretum. This hardy Lily of the Nile has deep and dark violet flowers which are held on stems up to 3' and are quite the show. Had a girlfriend years ago who was deep and dark and would frequently put on quite a show but that grew tiresome. This plant is different and you won't weary of it or require therapy.

A hybrid out of New Zealand that is widely regarded as one of the best. A hardier deciduous species with big heads of purple-violet flowers with each petal boasting a darker central stripe. This is a performer which will not disappoint. This can be grown in zone 7 if deeply mulched for the winter. We typically mulch all of our Agapanthus just to be on the safe side as we can get cold here.

Eschew any traditional 25th anniversary gift in favor of this Agapanthus introduction of UK national collection holder Hoyland Plants. Elegant white flowers with a tinge of blue that lend it the argent look and a relatively compact form make for a classier present than excessive jewelry or dishes anyway. 

A cracking bicolored Lily of the Nile out of a breeding program in South Africa where this one seedling out of hundreds exhibited excellent white flowers with a blue base. These are held in 6"-8" umbels on stems to nearly 4' tall! Maybe the best thing is that is deciduous and hardy going to zone 7b with a good mulch.

A not often encountered deciduous Agapanthus which we have from the UK.  Flowers are a good mid-blue in bud, opening to a softer blue and impossible to overlook on stems 3'-4' tall.  Once this comes into flower, you know summer is well underway and time to get the garden parties started!  In colder zones, a good mulch over the crown to keep frost from reaching the crown is a good idea.

The small heads of supremely tasteful, mid-blue pendulous flowers have legs that seem to go on forever as these are held aloft on stems that can reach 6' in height. While one might assume an inherent hauteur as a inescapable part of this package, it simply isn't so. At eye-level in flower, this loves a good nuzzle from any and all admirers. Can take a couple years to flower but totally worth the wait.

A cracking plant originally collected in the Lydenburg District of Mpumalanga of South Africa and grown for years in the treasure house of Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden. This comes naturally from a fairly cold location and these plants have decent hardiness for an Agapanthus. Upright gray-green leaves lead the eye up and up to over 40" where the pale sky blue flower heads with large drooping individual florets are captivating. Not an easy plant to obtain here in the States.

We love this selection of Agapanthus which grows wild near Graskop, South Africa and is a grand departure from the rounded aerial starbursts usually associated with Agapanthus. Still fireworks but with falling streamers of inky violet-black long pendulous florets which speak to us at a limbic level. Mulch in winter. Deciduous.

Agapetes is an epiphytic Blueberry relative which lives in trees and develops a woody bulbous base called a lignotuber. This is a cross between A. serpens and A. rugosa which has beautiful pendant light pink flowers with darker pink chevrons. Tender here, easy inside over winter.

Attractive cousin to blueberries growing in the trees of Thailands northern mountains. Sometimes seen offered as a hybrid clone 'Red Elf', this is typical hosseana which is a small evergreen shrub with dark red flowers that can take light frost. The fruit is edible and would be nice sprinkled on Thai Beef Salad, Phla Nuea.

Stunning introduction by the equally stunning Steve Hootman from the rich forests of the Myanmar border area. This epiphytic blueberry cousin has luscious pink, tubular, ribbed flowers accented by red squiggly chevrons with provocatively inviting, recurved yellow tips ringing the corolla mouth. Likely tolerates light brief frosts.

This blueberry relative was an exciting find from a small mostly deforested limestone ridge in Vietnam. It was a small compact 12"-18" shrub growing both in the rocks and epiphytically with orchids on the few trees left. Evergreen with boss white tubular flowers and a red berry sheltered by 3 large red bracts. Edible. This will get larger with longer stems when growing in cushy cultivation.

This flamboyant Blueberry relative is almost hardy in our area but is an easy and dramatic attention-getter in a pot. We keep ours in the cool greenhouse over winter or if you are annoyingly mild like West Seattle, just bring in during the rare hard freeze. The 1" red tubular flowers marked in distinctive pale chevrons are favored by our resident hummingbirds and we all snack on the lightly sweet pale lavender fruit. This is an epiphytic species from the foothills of the Himalaya with arching pendulous stems clad in small evergreen leaves. We sold our nearly 30 year old stock plant as there are offers that you can't refuse but we still pine and wonder how our priorities became so skewed. But we took cuttings and so on it goes.

Epiphytic blueberry relative with some of the coolest flowers you will ever see, dark red checkered tubes that are a favorite of hummingbirds. The flowers are a rich blood red and especially voluminous and open in this Steve Hootman selection. Does well in hanging baskets as it produces many arching stems of small evergreen leaves that prefer winter warmth in most temperate areas.

This species is one of the easiest to grow and in the wilds of the Himalaya would be found as an epiphyte hanging out on the mossy trunks and branch crotches in essentially cloud forest conditions. In its typical expression, this sports red flowers but in this unusual variant, the flowers are creamy white followed by edible pale lavender fruit and its alliance with Vaccinium (blueberries) is easy to see. Eventually this will form a rounded woody caudex above ground called a lignotuber which is a food and water storage adaptation to coping with the vagaries of life in the canopy. Very easy to grow and will tolerate short exposure to light frost, but best no colder than zone 9.

This epiphytic Vaccinium relative - indeed some have merged the two genera - is a stunner. Growing on trees in the cloud forests of the Himalaya, this forms woody lignotubers from which arise the branches clad in evergreen leaves which hold the narrow pendant yellow flowers in late winter and spring. This is an especially good form with red calyces. Tolerant of light frost and needs very good drainage. Our overwintering hummingbirds love this in our greenhouse.

Named by plant guru John Flintoff who found this as an interesting seedling growing in plantswoman Loie Benedict's garden. John has an almost incomprehensible breadth of knowledge about plants and can well judge when a plant is distinct and worth naming. Two examples of introductions from him are Pulmonaria 'Roy Davidson' and Pulmonaria 'Benediction' which have yet to be supplanted by a couple of decades of new introductions so this Ajuga comes with some plant cred. 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. We have both and we accept your sympathies.

Frosted Jade Ajuga. A rare Ajuga the likes of which you may have never seen. We all are familiar with the utilitarian carpeting-with-abandon slug magnet ubiquitous in gardens everywhere. This is a different critter altogether and resembles Bugleweed about as much as a Bichon Frise does a Junkyard Dawg. Stays put in a clump with erect stems to 16" with showy leaves of white, green and cream and intense violet blue flowers. This has been one of the most asked about plants in our shade garden and when we say what it is, the answer usually is "That's an Ajuga? Do you have it?" It is completely deciduous as well which is another mind boggler. And for slugs - they do like this one too, but really it is mainly the new shoots in early spring. We just keep an eye on the growth and if they are getting nibbled then we go out one or two evenings and inflict bodily harm and don't worry much about the plant afterwards.

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!

Mountain Lady's Mantle. This is a smaller version of the more familiar variety with what we think are more attractive leaves. Glossy dark green with an alluring sliver edge to the margin, the attractiveness is further enhanced by the small creamy yellow flowers in late spring.  Tough as nails and very hardy to the point of seeding around freely in our retail area gravel, not that we mind!