Australia

Availability fluctuates on this one so feel free to inquire even if it says sold out. Cuttings received from our friend Maurits in Holland who is obsessed with cold hardy Mediterranean style plantings. He is of that elite genre of indefatigable plant sleuths that source and share good plants and to whom we all owe heaps of gratitude for the dissemination. This is essentially a low evergreen groundcover - to 8" tall - in the Myrtaceae known from the Australian alpine area of Kosciuszko National Park but this clone hails from Mount Buffalo National Park in Victoria with Mount Buffalo being snow-covered in the winter. Better yet, this was collected from a frost pocket area. And to think this has profuse creamy flowers with an exuberance of stamens - it is nearly too much in one little package. Zone 8 for sure, likely zone 7. Please do comparative pricing on this one - we suspect it will be hard to do!

A graceful thin-leaved evergreen shrub from Australia which has not been even slightly damaged by our occasional winter lows to 10F. Great texture and the profuse white clove-scented flowers in midsummer sends our various bee species into a frenzy of nectar and pollen gathering! Phosphorous sensitive so skip the fertilizer. This can tolerate shade as it is a forest understory plant but the flowering is better with more sun.

A shrub very rare in this country (we might be the first to introduce this) and one we are pretty excited about. This has some pretty good cold tolerance and will be an evergreen shrub to 2' high and wider. White flowers like a Leptospermum but long anthers so looks like a small bottlebrush. Good drainage, Zone 8-9 and might be worth trying in warmer parts of zone 7.

From the venerable plant at the UW Arboretum comes this promising bottle brush. The plant at the UW has weathered every fluke weather event in the last 20 years and emerged unscathed. Narrowly yet densely upright with pale yellow-white bottle brush flowers and evergreen needley leaves.

Tasmanian Cherry Berry Vine. This is the uncommon red fruited form of an uncommon species. Less vigorous and more suited for a smaller vining situation but with ample sized deep red fruits persisting from summer well into winter. Evergreen and totally cool. Tubular pale chartreuse flowers.

One of the hardiest Bottlebrushes to 10F with the added benefit of having red flowers. In growth, this tends to have graceful arching branches which softens what can sometimes be a rigid look to Callistemon. Not that that is a bad thing but this looks a bit more cuddly. This grows on stream banks in Australia and can take quite wet spots but is also tolerant of dry. Deer proof!

A collection from Mount Imlay in New South Wales of an expected hardier form of the species. Prickly needle-like leaves on a multi-stemmed shrub with white flowers although light pink flowers have been reported in that location. Ours is white so that takes the guesswork out. This should be fine in milder gardens here in the Puget Sound and can take poorly drained situations. Deer do not find this tasty.

Mint Bush. Brought to the UK from Australia by Jeffrey Irons and sent to us from a friend in Holland. A Welsh nurseryman describes it as "a cracking plant tolerant of heavy frost and sells on sight". We love the genus with the aromatic deer proof evergreen foliage and in this case, white flowers tinged with lavender in late spring and early summer. This will get 3'-4' tall and tolerates some dry once established but does best in the usual well-drained moisture retentive soil.

Evergreen alpine Aussie growing in the same habitat as Snow Gums. This has billowy gray-green foliage and 1" white flowers borne on last year's wood. With age, the bark exfoliates and reveals a very shiny trunk which adds to the allure. Sun, good drainage, dryish and phooey to the deer. Just a superb plant.

They say everything in Australia is out to kill you, and the fern enthusiast may just die without this beast in their collection. Jurassic-looking fronds up to 4' of a lustrous dark green, finely lined and so thick and rough as to almost seem plastic. It's difficult to imagine a fern more tall, dark, and handsome. Which I guess means now is a good time to talk about the fertile fronds, think a taller slimmer version of the gorgeous sterile fronds painted with the dark sori underneath. Perfect for a rich, wet corner of your private fernery, where you spend sweet life-giving time with your precious Pteridophytes.

One of the hardiest of the Leptospermums which, in time and left alone, will achieve the appearance of a ruggedly handsome small tree. We say this in case you have control issues and mistake shearing for pruning in which case this will be a nice dense ball. Or square. Or blob. Evergreen, nice white flowers, deer-proof, drought tolerant. Thanks to Leptophiliac Ian Barclay for sharing this.

Alpine Bush Mint. This high elevation Aussie handled our 2010-11 Winter of Horror with scarcely a whimper. Dense shrublet with rounded packed leaves minty when crushed and white flowers with red-yellow-purple in the throat from spring and sporadically until fall. Excellent plant.

A unique evergreen member of the Myrtaceae family native to moist, rocky areas within alpine and subalpine regions of Australia. This forms a dense mound with arching branches, 3ft by 4ft with early summer small white flowers en masse. Diminutive leaves become coppery in winter, smelling lovely when crushed. Appreciates some summer water during dry spells.

Grass Trigger Plant. Gorgeous and fascinating perennial found in Tasmania and Australia. Tidy perfection of evergreen grassy foliage speaks to a refined distillation of Aloe and Agave and the unexpected flamboyant spike of multitudinous pink flowers is over the top. There are sticky hairs under the flowers which can trap gnats and absorb those tasty insect nutrients. The pollination mechanism is fiendish. The stamens are cocked behind the flower and when an insect attempts to feed on the nectar, it trips the trigger, whipping the stamens forward resulting in the pollen-loaded anthers delivering a sucker punch to the insect, showering it with pollen. Can tolerate dry conditions and happiest in good drainage.

Endemic to the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, this dons prickly, Acanthus type leaves (hence the species name) and pinkish purple toothbrush type flowers. Evergreen and tough, this can tolerate more shade than other Grevilleas. The flowers are known for their sweet nectar and the birds will thank you for this one!

We saw this at the O'Byrne's in Eugene and Plant Lust caused our pollen to shed and our stigma's got a bit sticky. It is so embarassing but Ernie and Marietta are used to it. Completely hardy here and clothed in small white crinkled fragrant flowers in Apr-May. Yes. Yes. Yes! Yes! Yes!
(photo thanks peganum Wikipedia Commons)

We have just a scant few of this dwarf form of the Tasman Mountain Pepper which we presume to be from an exposed high elevation site on Mt Wellington. This is ideally suited to rock gardens where it will make a slow and low ball of reddish stems bejeweled with white flowers and oh so peppery black fruit. We were given this plant by the late Michael Wickenden of Cally Gardens in Scotland. Possibly the first introduction to the US. Small plants of this small rarity.

Nomenclature. Kew retains the genus Blechnum while others accept the newer Austroblechnum and at this point, we're not changing it back to Blechnum! This small form of the subspecies was shared with us by the Fern Madam, Judith Jones of Fancy Fronds Nursery. Excellent dense groundcover fern for moist spots. Can take full sun in cool sun areas if moist.

Exceptional form of the species we received from the Master Of Leptospermum, Ian Barclay of Desert Northwest. This fast-growing Tea Tree will become a fine large shrub to 15' in mild areas. Silver-purplish needle-like leaves in summer turn darker purple in fall & winter. The small white flowers are visual madness. Ours has handled 10F in our dry garden. Deer proof.

Carrington Falls Grevillea. Of limited distribution in New South Wales Australia where it is found along streambanks, this was not formally described until 1960. To 6' tall and spreading, this has great foliage coupled with light pink flowers with long stamens. Mr. Grevillea, Ian Barclay, rates this as good to 10F but grow it lean and low to no phosphorous for best results when it gets to the mid to low teens.