Central Asia

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!

Native to the Caucasus and northern Iran where hardline clerics have been known to set aside fiery rhetoric while getting dirty bedding out plants of Eryngium caucasicum at their villas in the Elburz Mts. The Eryngium flowers are a natural cleric mellowing agent making them feel like the Ayatollah of Sea Hollyola. Small blueish flowers in quantity. Hope this isn't our unintentional Salman Rushdie moment.

Grown from seed given to us by xeric, steppe and rock garden guru, Panayoti Kelaidis of Denver Botanic Garden. Brilliant plantsman who, if you gave him an hour lead time, would be conversant in aquatic plants native to Lake Malawi and the nearby Great Rift Valley. This Central Asian species grows natively on rocky, sandy slopes and in the garden, is quite drought tolerant. Thrives in Denver, this will get 3'-4'+ with pink flowers in summer.

Young bulbs of this choice variable species from the Caucasus. Impressive displays of up to 24 scented creamy flowers whose reflexed tepals expose the soft yellow throat and fine maroon stippling in this form. This is a hardy early bloomer which is ideal for those cold northern gardens with short growing seasons.

A pretty cool introduction from Cistus Nursery from a batch of seedlings and this stood out with its silvery filigreed leaves. A surprisingly hardy Fig with intriguing foliage and small figs which we have heard rumors of being edible. Insert disclaimer here. We've seen the species growing quite happily in the Cistus display gardens near Portland which attests to its love of heat (they are hot in so many ways) which we don't get here in maritime Port Townsend but which it does have in its native Iran and Afghanistan. Plant this in a hot spot that gets on the dry side - it should love it.

European Wild Ginger. Rounded, heart-shaped most excellent evergreen leaves (evergreen in mild winters or our Z8 garden) hug the ground close and dense, hiding the small flowers and their lack of ornament We have a slightly darker leaf clone that is most apparently dark when planted next to this clone. We go the extra mile to ensure that you can have monochromatic integrity if you so desire!

This used to be var. kolenatiana from the Caucasus but this widely distributed circumarboreal species has had the species equivalent of a taxonomic black hole occur with numerous varieties, subspecies and genera all ascribed to this one species being sucked into the vast maw of botany never to be seen again. White flowers on 7"-10" stems.