China

Chinese May Apple. This is an impressive plant - truly one to give the shade garden some visual impact. Big leaves get up to 18" across with bizarre clusters of red flowers held beneath which are followed by bunches of green cherry tomato-like fruit ripening soft yellow.. Rich moist soil in shade to bits of sun.

A regrettably tender species of the Maddenia section which we brought back as a cutting from the Cangshan in the fall of 1997 and these are cutting-grown from that plant. Every terminal bud bursts into large white flowers with a soft yellow throat which are sweetly scented. Sunroom in winter.

Second generation seedlings from a Hinkley collection in Sichuan of this fine Lilac which can be kept as a large shrub or trained up to be a small tree. Pendulous flowers white to pale pink inside with a lavender-pink reverse. Very attractive and trouble free.

Consistent and attractive yellow/cream streaked leaves on this Solomon's Seal adds a splash of color and collectible panache to the shade garden although this will take a bit of sun as well to no detriment. The usual white hanging bells on slightly curved 18"-24" stems. Tough, easy, good increaser, hardy and very cool - looks like all of the key boxes just got checked!

Our collection from Asia of what is likely the first introduction of this exceptional form of this equally exceptionally rare variety. Attractive leaves that are terminally cleft into bilateral lobes. The 12" long hanging panicles of white flowers are the finest in the genus, holding their own among the best of flowering trees. So much better than the straight species. Young cutting-grown plants which will grow fast. Who's your plant daddy!!!!! Photo credit to Steve Hootman. Proceeds from this offering go to support the mission of Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy.

Seldom offered species and one we had the privilege to see in a very remote area in western Arunachal Pradesh in 2003. Well, Sue saw it as Kelly was confined to bed violently ill and missing this remains one of his great regrets. This originated from friend and plant legend Peter Cox of Glendoick. Pink to white flowers.

Seed-grown from the clone 'Soft Caress' which is good parentage to say the least. This will be similar and expressing to varying degrees the qualities of its parent which are good non-spiny foliage with upright yellow candles of flowers on a narrowly vertical evergreen shrub. It will be good and also a unique one of a kind.

Roof Iris. These are seed-grown from our plant from an Eric Hammond collection in China. This species actually does grow on thatched roofs in Japan and China and is quite easily grown in the garden Large, 5-6 inch lilac-blue flowers are very nice on stems to perhaps 18" tall. Happy in zones 4-9, this is easy but watch for slugs on the new growth as these might attest.

A distinct form of this dwarf species collected near the former Tibetan town of Kangding in Sichuan. With a huge Chinese influx, Kangding has grown to well over 20X it's orignial size in the the last 20 years. This petite species is often found in close-cropped alpine grasslands and this pure white form with its small orchid-like flowers is delectable.

This clone of this fabulous Iris introduced by Darrell Probst is one of our favorite plants of all time. Very fine grassy foliage making a large lax dense mound that is festooned with small white jewels of flowers. It won't happen overnight, but give this a few years and you will have some serious bragging rights. Not that we ever concern ourselves with things like that...

Our collection from an area little visited by Westerners and part of our ongoing effort to collect and grow comparative specimens from across its range in Vietnam and China. Same genus as Lipstick Vine, this shrubby gesneriad has proven hardy in mild gardens here in western Washington. Tubular red-orange flowers. Often epiphytic or lithophytic, this requires good drainage. Great container plant which allows for moving inside during serious winter blast. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy offering.

Daphne is a genus with a justifiable reputation for being finicky to downright contrary. This species is not so and is as amenable as they come. Evergreen shrub with narrow leaves and lots of nicely scented white flowers that are purple-pink on the outside. Blooms in spring and sporadically thereafter into fall. The origins of this particular form is that seed from a good reblooming clone in England was sent to the former proprietor of Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery, Baldassare Mineo (quite a rarity himself) who then shared seed from his plants with us. Is it any better than the typical species which tends to rebloom? We have not grown it long enough to compare but you can't go wrong with this sturdy and rewarding species.

Chinese Lily of the Valley is so much easier to say isn't it? But the satisfaction gained of articulation is worth every effort especially when you roll it out in an fluid yet casual offhand manner. Make no mistake that underneath that thin green veneer of gentility, gardening is a blood sport and one or two well-practiced pronunciations can often render your position unassailable. Just sayin'. This is an uncommon shade-loving evergreen relative to the familiar Lily of the Valley from China and doing very well here spreading more slowly than its cousin to create a mat of evergreen foliage. Instead of the familiar white bells, this has stems of small white starburst flowers backed to good effect by the broad green leaves. We had hoped to see this during our 2015 plant hunting trip to Anhui and Zhejiang but it eluded us. Hardy to zone 5b.

Cardiocrinum is exciting enough but variety yunnanense with its burnished copper new growth causes pulses to elevate along with dilated pupils and flaring nostrils. When this is blooming it is almost as good as sex. It takes a few years but purple flushed white flowers on 12' stalks - oh yes!

Chinese Bald Cypress. Another one of those monotypic genera we love! This deciduous conifer is the only species in the genus and highly threatened by habitat loss in the wild. This will get to be a big tree which your yet unborn child's children can sit under. In their boat. Fairly slow - ours is in our bog garden pond.

Tall form of Polygonatum prattii from our collection in Asia. This has pink tinged stems especially when young and nice small rounded leaves with pettily delicate yet tubby pink urn-shaped flowers. We like all the prattii quite a lot and the sweet vanilla scented flowers contribute to the allure.

Jim Fox brought us seeds of this rare Chinese Hypericum from Roy Lancaster's garden in England where it is one of the many stars. A shrub of some refined habit with arching branchlets to perhaps 3 feet or a little more with very nice yellow flowers in mid summer. Roy is pretty much God of Plants as far as we're concerned and we're well pleased to have a bit of his garden in our own.

Our collection of this smaller species from an area little visited by westerners. This is an ideal species for todays urban gardens as it has a narrower and shorter habit than some tree types. Adaptable to sun or light shade. Terminal slightly descending panicles of whitish flowers followed by showy balls of black fruit. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy offering.

From Guizhou Province in China where this mingled with Disporum cantoniense, Tricyrtis, Codonopsis, Enkianthus, Magnolia and Meliosma to name but a few of the amazing floral diversity. Graceful species with dusky new growth expanding to broadly lanceolate leaves with the white bells hanging beneath. Good show of black-purple fruit.

Giant Chinese Mayapple. Seed-grown from an exceptional form of Podophyllum pleianthum called 'The Giant' which is notable for its extra large, tractor seat green leaves. In Podophyllum, size definitely matters! This will be an impressive plant in the moist shade garden reaching up to 40" tall with maroon flowers tucked under the leaves. The basic formula for success is food + water = Big Leaves.