China

This indispensable species was exciting to see even though it was well into fall. Numerous plants with up to 30" stems and clusters of black fruit. Even though the leaves were turning brown in anticipation of winter, we imagined the scene in spring with the overstory of Magnolia sieboldii and the Disporum with its pendant red-purple bells in small bunches of 3-7 or more. Ear to ear grins! This is the same population as the CDHM 14604 collection two years later.

One of the very best woodland plants from China. This Ranunculaceae Family memeber has evergreen rounded glossy leaves evoking some exotic wild ginger. The plant forms a tidy dense clump with lots of comparatively tall stems bristling with puffs of white flowers. Moist soil is best.

Excellent little Asian Allium that is very nice with small heads of white flowers. Perfect for the rock garden or does great in regular garden beds as it does appreciate some moisture during the summer. Sun and decent drainage and thrives in one customers garden in Michigan. Tidy and of good disposition and certainly not a garden thug.

An extraordinary variant from Linda Cochran's (of course) old garden which she allowed us to salvage when moving. Distinctly mocha foliage in early spring, with various plant parts retaining dark tones. Notably, the flower stem is very dark as are the bracts enclosing the flower bud. The flowers are lovely, white and richly colored in dark maroon. These are bulbs from isolated, hand-pollinated seed. It will be 3-4 years before these flower but lengthy establishment will result in maximum size.

A Steve Hootman collection from the Sino Himalaya of this quite unique creeping Honeysuckle. This is a Kinnikinnik (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) alternative, making a mat of small rounded green leaves turning rich purple/red/bronze tones in winter. Small light yellow Honeysuckle flowers are sprinkled throughout. Very cool.

Seed collected at 3200 meters in Sichuan in an open grazed small meadow area adjoining low scrub. Tightly clumping, deciduous and allied to Iris japonica but is something totally new. Small blue flowers are laddered down the stems in the leaf axils. This has baffled some of the top authorities on Chinese Iris both here in the US and in the UK which quite honestly makes us very happy. Nothing like introducing a species nova to quicken the pulse! We expect this to be hardier than the zone 6 we are giving it but are being our usual conservative selves until we learn differently from those of you who will try this in colder zones.

Pretty fantastic selection originating in China but now out of Japan at considerable cost. This Mayapple will develop quite irregularly lobed leaves that are like a psychotropic rectilinear parallelogram awash in pale patterns and dark mottled patterns flashing you back to your youthful experimental phase. Divisions from our plants - not fresh imports. Legal in all 50 states for recreational use with no side effects other than recurrent euphoria.

We collected this in 1997 on the Tibetan Plateau near Zhongdian in an area of Tibetan open range. The early October withered, deciduous leaves and dried seed pods shrieked Iris! Eventual flowers confirmed the species, first described in 1995. Thin leaves and basal gorgeous flowers. Young plants.

From one of the richest botanical late afternoon spur-of-the-moments "let's see what this dirt road offers" we have ever had. From trees, to shrubs to perennials to monocots, we made very little progress up the road in the time available. This indispensable perennial Merry Bells was 2' tall with tempting blue fruit in light shade and part sun.  Upon flowering, this deviated from the typical purple-pink bells of cantoniense with greenish flowers whose midsection is infused with a pale chocolate. The species is wide-ranging and it would not be surprising to see color variation in the flowers. Certainly a rarity whether it is this species or proves to be something else entirely.

Beautiful clumping species that may well be the queen of the genus. Or are we granting royalty because it is new on the scene? Maybe, but it is awfully good. This makes a stout small clump of evergreen, fern-like leaves from which emerge in spring the peculiarly Coptis greenish-yellow flowers. From China.

A collection from Tibet by Daniel Winkler of this ornamental onion. This is one of the Asian rhizomatous types making a nice clump of broadly grassy foliage in this case with leaves some 12"-15" long. The flowers are in shades of pink and are open rounded umbels whose drooping florets look a bit like some of the fireworks seen in a Fourth of July evening sky. Altogether an attractive species whose flowers usually coincide with the 4th so perhaps this year we will compare flowers to pyrotechnics. Hardy to at least zone 6 and likely lower.

This naturally occuring hybrid Deparia comes to us via plantsman Lance Reiners. Forms a clump of glossy dark green single fronds, each of which is marked by an extremely crenate margin, think scrapbooking scissors. The overall effect is rather eel-like and somewhere between a small blechnum and a tongue fern. Very unusual and quite attractive, wants a wet but well drained spot. Should be hardy down to Zone 7 given its parentage but will possibly go slightly lower.

A jolly plant indeed introduced by Heronswood from Sichuan. This has evergreen foliage springing from new growth that looks to be a bamboo until it leafs out. Small creamy white flowers in early summer and blue-black fruit held well into winter if the cold doesn't knock back the 6' + stems. Cut back old stems in spring if you were lucky enough to have a mild winter and it remained evergreen.

A new offering for us here at Far Reaches, and a solid addition to any Pleione collection. This has a handsome deep magenta flower with a fringed lip and dark red spotting in the throat. As with all Pleiones, this increases freely by small bulblets, and needs excellent drainage.

One of the great evergreen hardy fern species from our collection in Hubei in this wondrous narrow valley cleaved by a stream. Wondrous because of the flora which included Acer griseum among a host of choice species. Tough fern which looks good pretty much all the time with very few exceptions.

A rare wild collection by Bjornar Olsen of this small species from Hailuogou, Luding, Sichuan at 2750 meters. A creeper to low climber in the wild, this collection comes from a cold and wet area so hardiness should be better than usual. This has pendulous hanging yellow flowers that would look great in a hanging basket, raised planter or in a rotted stump for moist bright shade. In the right setting, pretty much an awesome bit of clematical botanical wonderment. I've never been one to let the lack of a recogiized word impede dialogue!

Excellent selection from the former Heronswood nursery of this robust woodlander noted for the dark hued stems especially in the new growth. This is an exuberant grower sending up big dark chocolate asparagus spears of new growth in late spring which branch out as they get taller bearing small creamy-green bells followed by glistening small black fruit. The young leaves carry some of coloring of the new growth and the whole plant retains this color better if grown in sun in our mild sun climate. In our shade garden, the foliage matures to a very pleasing dark olive-green and seems like some impressive cousin to bamboo as it can each 5'-6' tall. We always mulch ours in winter as we don't want to freeze out the crown and the new growth can start early here in the PNW so this mulch protects it from getting frosted. An easy and stunning plant. This was and still is offered as a selection of Disporum cantoniense but we thank Bleddyn Wynn-Jones for correctly identifying this as to species.

Lucky dip offering of open-pollinated seed-grown plants from a very vigorous and bold foliage mama plant. There were adjacent good Epimediums so these variable children should all be attractive and evergreen. Colors are going to surprise us all.

Lily of the Valley. A good selection of this stalwart species with a yellow margin to the leaves and said leaves are larger than average as well. Typical scented white flowers. There are numerous spellings of the cultivar name but since this is an American introduction, we can only assume this is correct.

Second generation plants from our collection from a grassy bank above a stream in Tibetan Yunnan where it was growing in moist rich topsoil at around 10000'. This is a choice herbaceous member of the Barberry Family with rich darkly mottled new growth and broad sharply lobed palmate leaves up to a foot across with a crystalline pink chalice of a flower giving way to large red fruits in fall. Gorgeous moist shade plant to 3' tall although we've seen this same collection at a friend's garden pushing 4' tall. Hardy to Zone 5 and best of all - it's easy. These are very large flowering size plants of a size that is seldom if ever available. Beautiful as a single specimen plant or especially effective in drifts of 50.