China

A charming little evergreen Lysimachia with lovely dark rounded ovate leaves on slightly kinky stems.  Probably kinked stems would be more accurate but kinky sells. Small yellow flowers are borne over many weeks and all is in a harmonious scale.  Growing with Disporopsis aspersa, Mahonia, Ligustrum, and Ophiopogon which are all hardy here in zone 8a so we will say the same for this without outside trials.

Our collection of this most impressive vining Monkshood. Sumptuous flowers of a good blue with a white interior This one is a real cracker and these will easily grow 8'-12' or even 15' tall provided they have something to twine onto. An immense treat in August and September. And deer resistant!

This was quite a pleasing sight as we slogged up the muddy trail of an obscure mountain in Guizhou with the rain coming down and the slopes wreathed in thick fog and the contemplation of setting up a very wet camp later was weighing down our normally plant-happy attitudes which are the norm when out in the field and we were just starting to grumble when we came around a corner and saw looming out of the mist and overhanging the trail, branches of this fine Malus laden with small cheery lemon-yellow crab apples each bejeweled in glittering raindrops and it was like gazing upon a constellation of anti-depressants. What rain? What mud? All is forgotten with a good dose of plant hunter's little helpers. Small trees to 15' with broad, irregular crowns and likely white flowers.

Mountain Ash. Our collection from Dragon's Elbow Mt in Sichuan from 4300 meters where this was a graceful small tree to 25' with pendulous clusters of small pink-flushed fruit. The bipinnate leaves are dainty in appearance with each leaflet quite small and taking on good scarlet-red coloration in fall. Clustered small white flowers in late spring.

Fairly recent introduction from China of this superb evergreen perennial. This makes a tidy rosette of evergreen leaves with very attractive scented white flowers in early spring which adds another layer of interest to the shade garden. Makes a nice clump. We say yip-sil-landra by the way. Doesn't mean it's right but we do it so authoritatively that no one questions us. Related to other little treasures like Helonias and Heloniopsis. We saw this on Dayaoshan fall of 2010 where it was growing on little mossy ledges on a shaded cliff face. It is always so exciting to see a plant in habitat when you have gardened with it especially when it is a fairly recent arrival to cultivation.

Our collection at 9000' from the summit of highest peak in the Wuming Shan in SW China. This Allium was prevalent in the grazed grass and scrub summit with tall 12"-20" scapes and nice 2"+ half dome pink flowers. The local minority people harvest the bulbs for food. This was the first Western botanical foray to this mountain.

This Strawberry Saxifrage has rich colored leaves quite maroon underneath and intricately marked in silver on top. This sends out runners like a strawberry which makes new plants at the tips & makes a great groundcover for moist shade. Dandy and delicate white/pink flowers on 18" stems. This has proved itself in our shade garden.

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.

Distinctive Chinese species with this variety being especially so with its narrow evergreen leaves well-measeled in creamy yellow spots. Clustered small red-purple flowers give way to large red fruit in fall which is just another bit of ornament for this tough plant which can tolerant dark shade and neglect. This brings a full helping of textural necessity to the shade garden.

Our first thought after acquiring this and temporarily satisfying the plant lust monkey on our back, was "Why would anyone want a white-flowered pleianthum?" The flowers are surprising good, that's why. Large for the species and well-formed, with the petals fully expanded and not crepe-paper crumpled- which we enjoy - as is often the case. These are young plants.

A pinnate-leafed Mountain Ash with long narrow leaflets. This was a sizeable tree to 30'-40' where it joined the canopy of other trees such as a nearby Gamblea. The tree itself had a muscular grace in its open and clean lines of trunk and branch, large red terminal bud and red and yellow fall color. From an area infrequently visited by western botanists. Few available.

Collected on shaded mossy cliff on Damingshan in Guangxi, China in 2012. This is a totally new introduction to cultivation and no idea as to hardiness but suspect it is not very tolerant of much frost. Vibrant yellow daisy flowers are quite good and the bloom period is very long given ample moisture and nutrition. Let us know how it does!

These are seed-grown bulbs from our original plants which we grew from seed we collected in the Cangshan in 1997. We were midway up the flank of the mountain and the weather cleared just enough to allow a glimpse far down to the plain below where the famed 3 Pagodas of Dali stood as faint pencil strokes fronting the wide expanse of Lake Erhai. A sight we will never forget. This a truly fabulous Lily relative with wide-open flowers dotted in maroon which open pink but age to white. When I go to the great compost pile in the hereafter, it is understood that Nomocharis pardanthina are to be strewn liberally on my casket. Rare and very choice. These are naturally small bulbs but they may well flower this spring. This will appreciate a cool site in light shade to morning sun. We know the related Nomocharis aperta can take a tough zone 5 winter and hopefully these can as well but we tend to be conservative so are sticking to zone 6 until we know different.

Dan Hinkley collection of this incredible member of the Witch Hazel family. Glossy evergreen leaves emerge as flattened paddles and unfold into a shape best described as a rounded duck's foot held on yellow-green petioles all making for an extremely unique silhouette. The Vietnamese collections of this species tend not to be hardy in Zone 8 but this collection of Hubei provenance is growing well at Windcliff, so here's to hoping!

Rhizomatous species from southern China with excellent foliage colored light red on the underside and olive-buff green on top with a ring of silver-white spots just in from the margin. This makes a fine clump to 20" tall in a container, more than holding its own with just foliage but the late season white flowers are welcome frosting on this particular Begonia cake. This has been hardy here in the zone 8 Puget Sound with winter mulch. One of our better collections for sure.

Cannot ship to DE, MA, ME, NH, RI, WV. An uncommon species collected by Steve Hootman, one of the best plant hunters of the modern era. Steve is the Director at the Rhodendron Species Botanic Garden and he found this in the Chinese Himalaya. Smaller and more prostrate than R. laurifolium. Greenish flowers.

From Sichuan where this was growing in an open position in a lightly shaded glade at about 10000' in elevation. This has small leaves shaped much like a pointed canoe paddle with flower stems to 10"-15" tall bearing small round heads of white flowers sometimes with a diffused pink keel to the outer petals as many in this collection do. We always like finding this species as they do vary and finding an Allium that is at home in the shade garden is not a bad thing. This will continue to gain stature with maturity and do a bit of clumping.

A perennial mainstay in Europe and a key player in the Dutch and German Waves of garden design is this nearly perfect Fleece Flower and for darn good reason. This behaves itself and doesn't run or seed, just clumps and blooms all summer until frost. The white flowers provide critical contrast and a cooling point for the hot colors of the summer border - a visual iceberg for your fevered eye to stretch out belly flat like your hiking dog buddy does on that lingering snowbank high in the mountains in late summer. Very hardy, very easy, this works with nearly everything and will make you look like you have realized your potential.

Diminutive member of the true Ginger family, this little tuberous jewel makes up in volume what it lacks in size. Exotic small orchid-like flowers of soft pink. These increase by offsets and self sow making a grand little patch time with loads of the intricate little flowers.

One of the class acts of the winter blooming shrub world. This lemon yellow-flowered selection of the Paper Bush is an affirmation of spring with its late winter flowers on bare stems. The common name comes from the high quality paper once made from its bark. Sun to part sun for best bloom.