C

Katsura Tree. A collection in China by tres hombres, three Henrik's from Sweden's Gothenburg Botanical Garden.  How could they not use HeHeHe as an expedition acronym?  Fantastic ornamental tree species, this has rounded ovate leaves richly colored in spring with reds and purples and color persisting to some degree well into summer.  Elegant habit and high marks for presentation, the insignificant flowers are not required,  Yellow-orange fall color accompanied by a subtle burnt sugar or cotton candy scent from the fallen leaves.  Eventually maturing at 40'-60' in the garden but old growth specimens in the wild are larger.  Can be single or multi-trunked, ours is the latter after some nocturnal critter broke the top out when young and may have done us a favor as it looks stellar.  Cutting-grown from single clone.

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.

This Southeastern native is a very exotic looking Carex - so much so that it was placed in a separate genus Cymophyllus but recent DNA work confirms it is a Carex. The wide green semi-horizontal leaves look far more exotic than a grass and the truly unusual white flowers just adds confirmation. Shade and moist, these are divisions from our plant of many years which is important as this is threatened in the wild by habitat loss and grazing.

Collected by Crûg Farm of Wales under collection number BSWJ2165a on Singalila Ridge in the northern Indian Himalaya. We are excited to introduce this to our side of the pond. Slow spreading perennial with bronze tinted leaves and large showy pink flowers on 2'-3' stems.

Quiet woodlander from east of the Rockies who plays supporting cast to the stars in the shade garden but its absence would cause these same stars to seem to not shine so brightly. Herbaceous Barberry family member, glaucous leaves in spring with meh flowers but lovely, blue fruit in fall just when you need them. Thanks to Charles Kelley for the seed.

You'd be forgiven for not expecting such a fascinating textural plant to spring from the well of one of the most standard hedging plants in the Western world. Yet that is indeed what this old-school cultivar seen far too rarely in gardens offers. Despite it's name it fails to overwhelm in either it's dwarfness or upright form, though it does offer some of both growing only to about 10ft at which it takes on a plump pear shape. Where it thrives however is in it's extreme density with leaves stuffed in so tightly you're unlikely to see even the hint of a branch, a mature specimen is a real eye-catcher from a distance when planted amidst other trees or could provide an even denser hedge than the classic.

Nothing quite like that high gloss look, something about it just seems to scream glitz and glamor. In a genus often called mirrorbushes for their sheen this species is particularly shining. Round waxy evergreen leaves with silver undersides and amenable to chopping, making for a cheerful hedge or backdrop. These were grown for the Washington Arb's stellar New Zealand garden where the Coprosmas seem to have withstood an especially harsh recent winter, so while hardiness info is lacking on this rarely seen species it seems likely to stand a decent chance in Zone 8 and up gardens.

One of the very good blue flowered hybrids combining the best traits of Corydalis flexuosa with those of C. elata. We were in China in 2006 and saw both species in a single day in the Wolong Panda area and these hybrids hold a special appeal to us. In the Poppy family, this requires light to bright shade and moist soil where it will make a nice patch. Z5-8.

These are seed-grown from our plant of 'Hakure' which is often seen as 'Hakuree'. The parent plant was bred and selected by Hiroshi Hayakama in Japan in the early 90's who chose this for its floriferous display of white flowers just touched with fleeting lavender and sporting twisted tepals. Our seed-grown progeny will vary from deep purple to white but all will be good. 18"-30" tall. Don't call this 'Hakure' as each plant is unique individual.

Asian terrestrial orchid shared with us years ago by Adam Black at Peckerwood Botanical Garden with caveats as to species ID. It could be sinense or ensiformis or a hybrid of the two. Does well in the Southeast but protect from extreme cold there. We have not flowered this clone.

This is maybe the best variegated Red-Twig Dogwood selection with green leaves boldly margined in golden yellow and the contrast with the red twigs is pretty darn good. The red twigginess is showy in the winter and great foliage spring and summer - what more do you need?

Pretty amazing mum that makes an extremely dense mound of its own accord and then smothers itself in small white flowers with a yellow button in the fall. The green leaves are made all the more attractive by the silvery undersides. We showed this to a couple of visiting Aussies who have the premier rare perennial nursery Down Under "Do you have to pinch this to have it look like this? No? Well, that's a Criahkuh (Cracker) of a plant!". Convict bloodlines aside, these boys knew a good a plant when they saw it.

This is one of the stars in the understory of the towering coastal redwoods, Sequioa sempervirens. Wide fleshy green leaves would not look out of place in the subtropics and that impression is only enhanced by the umbels of red flowers which become visually luscious blue-purple fruit. Much like the trees under which it grows, this too is supersized at least in comparison to its kin in the genus. This are not flowering size but they are nice plants.

A dense hard light green patty of minute needle-like foliage on this good alpine from the Wallowa Mts in NE Oregon which is a regional Mecca for serious rock gardeners and growers of alpines. Our plants have come from two of the most extraordinary growers of rock garden plants, Kathy Allen in Oregon and Rick Lupp of Washington. The fact that these two grew this in their nurseries says plenty as to merit as well as growability. A gritty soil in a rock garden or container in full sun and can be stingy with its white flowers but awesome even if it never bloomed.

A Philip MacDougall collection from central Taiwan of this dainty in appearance species. Small leaves which are reddish when young pair nicely with the small white flowers in spring which are fortunate to have a red spot on the back of each petal which makes them just that much nicer. Upright habit and likes part shade. Although this has been recorded as 25' small trees in Taiwan, you and I won't live long enough to see that so 6'-10' tall is a reasonable height to expect.

Here is one of the results of the North Caucasus Expedition in September of 2011. This was a joint venture involving the botanical gardens of St. Petersburg, Stavropol, Hamburg, Shanghai and Gothenburg. We were fortunate to obtain seed from one of the participating botanic gardens and quickly raised this to flowering size. This Campanula was collected in Russia at Karachayevo-Cherkessiya, Terbeda, Gonachkir Valley at 1800 meters so next time you are there, keep an eye peeled for it. But in case you are not planning to travel there soon, here is a chance to get a wild collection of a workhorse garden species.

We've noticed some of these have a faint lavender shading to the white flowers especially in bud and just open. Typical C. lactiflora can reach 3'-5' with big showy heads of flowers in late summer. The fact that these are flowering in small band pots at 10" tall might speak to a more compact form as they do come from some elevation. Time in the garden will tell the final tale but one thing is for sure - these should be winter hardy enough for anyone we're ever going to ship to!

This tasteful perennial from Japan bides its time in the shade garden as the floral hoi polloi scrabble for attention during spring and summer. Once the fracas has died down, this takes center stage in September and October with its intricately constructed buds like little pieces of sculpture which open to fuzzy light lavender flowers. 

One of the truly elegant cultivars and one that will be the toast of the garden. This is one of 5 surviving C. xcrocosmoides bred by Max Leichtlin of Baden-Baden Germany before 1895 that is still in cultivation. A true heirloom cultivar. Tall stems with fingers of flowers held out like a ladies hand extended to be kissed. Refined orange tepals nicely spaced reflects its obvious confident sense of self and of place which speaks to its heritage of Teutonic thoroughness and simmering superiority.

A deciduous shrubby Cotoneaster collected in Asia by Arlen Hill who owns one of our favorite nurseries, Keeping It Green. This was a scrambler on a rocky cliff but will be a small shrub in the garden. Such a varied genus from groundcover to small trees with the shared attributes of pollinator-irresistible white flowers and red fruit for fall and early winter interest. Someday in our dotage when discretionary time is abundant and we tire of whittling to fill the hours, we will fire up Flora of China online and puzzle through the key to a proper identity for this species.

Our introduction from 2012 of this new to cultivation species. This was found on a scramble up a shaded and damp ravine which would have been a small stream during rainstorms. Fortunately it was sunny. A tight groundcover with normally green leaves but this sport has frosty white flecks in the leaves most prominent in the spring. Small green flowers.in branched heads up to 6" above the leaves. We were hoping for yellow but this will make the green flower contingent happy. You would be surprised just how many of them are out there! This overwintered nicely in our garden winter of 2014 enduring two separate events of 3 nights of 15F each time.