C

Fairy Wand. Small plants of this cool species we grew from seed and it is right up there with Ruscus for unprofitable slowness. Male flowers have an arching plume of white flowers while the females have a smaller, erect spike and we have no idea on gender for these plants. Rich, moist soil in shade to part shade.

This choice terrestrial orchid is a hybrid between Calanthe discolor and the rare C. izu-insularis resulting from breeding work in Japan. The flowers are nicely displayed above the pleated leaves with muted maroon sepals and petals which contrasts beautifully with the light pink labellum that is edged in white. Divisions from our plants - not laboratory imports.

Japanese Turtlehead. This light shade loving perennial has late season pink flowers shaped like a foxglove but for us, it is most evocative of an erect Nothochelone nemerosa which is a familiar native wildflower if you are a hiker in the Olympic or Cascade Mts. This makes a nice clump giving a valuable late show.

A gem of shrub if you happen to have that very mild garden which we do not. This New Zealander is known as the Scented Broom as the white to pink-lilac pea-like flowers are very fragrant. Flattened green stems share the chlorophyll load with the small leaves. In colder zone 8b gardens, best against a wall.

Exceptional double Campanula we received via Bob Brown's Cotswold Garden Flowers in England. This has big medium blue flowers like 2 shallow cups nested together. These are on strong stems which don't blow over and we can testify to that living on the windswept Port Townsend Steppe. This is a good performer and one that has the panache to mingle in the trendy garden as well as carrying a classic look that works in the cottage or Victorian garden. Or in our case it shines in our looking-for-a-genre sunny border.

Bottlebrush. Perhaps the hardiest clone enduring single digits with scarcely a whimper. (It may be whimpering but my own wails of despair drown all else out). Evergreen picking up russet tones in winter. Summer fuzzy red flowers on the stems. Deer Proof/drought tolerant.

Try to get past the uncanny steroidal resemblance to the cursed shotweed which infests every bit of cultivated soil in the temperate zones - same genus, but much better manners! Double white flowers like tiny roses from soft pinkish buds. This sets no seed but roots at the leaf tips.

A very hardy Ceanothus granted the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit. If you are going to name something the Glory of Versailles then it had better be good! A deciduous shrub to 6' or 7' high or more and 5' or so wide with soft powder blue panicles of scented flowers mid summer into fall. C. americanus and the Mexican C. coeruleus are its parents.

This is an attention-getter and a performer. A surprisingly hardy true Ginger relative from northern India, this has survived our winters here in western Washington for the last 20 years with no problem. We simply mulch if we get worried. The leaves are tinted maroon underneath and the torch of dark yellow flowers coming out of red bracts in late July and August is an exceptional bit of the tropics. The 'Robusta' form is a bit taller than the typical run of the species and can reach 3' tall. A rich, moist soil that drains in a little sun to bright shade is best. We see this grown in some of the most notable gardens here in the NW which never surprises us. .

A collection by Sweden's Goteborg Botanical Garden's 3 Henriks in China's Shaanxi Province at Nan Gong Shan 1250 meters. This is a small tree to 20'-30' with purplish new growth expanding to broadly cordate leaves and early summer pouchy flowers of pale red with yellow striations and purple spotting. Fast growing hardy tropical look. Cutting grown.