China

For those whom bigger is better but biggest is best comes this larger of the two "Bamboo Iris" species. The name refers to its habit of forming tall upright canes which hold the fans of foliage and flowers ever higher aloft. While bamboo might be a slight exaggeration in the case of I. confusa (only reaching 3ft or so) this species can reportedly top out at 6'+. I envy legendary plant breeder and Iridophile Darrell Probst who collected this species for what must have been a truly incredible encounter in the wild. Needs a fairly sheltered/mild spot to reach full potential.

A 2012 Chinese collection of one of our favorite Schefflera species (and Schefflera is a favorite genus!) remarkable for its second layer of leaflets and tendency to be extremely floriferous with globose white flowers aplenty. This was a small multi-trunked tree in the wild and is shaping up to be very similar in our collector's garden where it was knocked back by a particularly cold winter but has excelled since.

A very rare member of this famously lustrous fern genus, this species is found only in two provinces of China. Possessed of delightfully round fronds that never fail to elicit cries of "that's a fern!", and that each with their glossy, pebbled texture look very much like fallen scales of some great dragon or dinosaur. The magic continues when the acrostichoid sporangia emerge, cloaking the entire back surface in what looks like fine black soot. Flora of China describes the rhizomes as long creeping but this hasn't been the case for us thus far as they have plodded along with small clumps with only a few new leaves at a time. We recently planted this out in our tufa wall and it already shows signs of increased vigor though so perhaps it just dislikes the confines of black plastic. Cold hardiness to be determined but we feel good about its chances in the PNW, a rocky substrate is desirable and a touch less moisture than most ferns.

This basket fern was fairly coating the host tree from whence it was collected on the slopes of the ominously named Daheishan or black mountain in Sichuan. This has shown good vigor in  pots and has also proved hardy outside in our tufa wall thus far, shockingly good performance for this usually tropical genus! Desirous of good drainage and a bit of room for its chunky rhizomes. The green fertile fronds will go dormant during winter leaving the skeletal sterile basal fronds to collect food for next year.

A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy

As a plant hunter and explorer, it doesn’t get any better than being part of a team that finds and introduces a species new to science and we were tasked with growing this from very limited seed.  It is even better when that species is not new because it is obscure with minor taxonomic differences from other known Asian species but instead, waves those richly ornamental characteristics like a flag.  The main feature that jumps right out at you on this entire-leafed tree is the tawny amber indumentum on the underside of the leaves which tantalizes spring into fall, the latter time enhanced by the orange-red fruit. This has also been collected by a French nursery from a different area but likely the same mountain range.  This very limited offering is from one clone propagated by cuttings.