China

This is an unusual Allium from a seed collection in China. We say unusual because the small drumstick heads of flowers are yellow which was not expected. This is a smaller species with thin grassy leaves and flower stems 5"-9" tall and requires summer water as it is not one of the bulbous types. This shows no sign of being a "damned weedy onion" and merits a special spot.

Cool little gesneriad which recently was transferred from the now defunct genus Briggsia Glabrella. We only call this molecular meddling when we are updating our various database entries and pot tags. Shaded moist areas in Guangxi and SE Yunnan and can take light frosts. White/pale pink flowers.

Our collection from a plant with particularly good red-purple new growth where it was growing in rich soil moist soil in open woodland with a few plants of the rare Primula ovalifolia as neighbors. This is groundcover with strawberry-like stolons terminating in a plantlet which will root where it touches. Lovely thing with pale flowers above the bold foliage in early spring. The species handles the east coast as well growing in the Dronenburg-Weil garden in Maryland.

Best form of the species with good green leaves and clustered ok but unremarkable pale pink flowers which transmogrifies into totally remarkably awesome bunches of impossible blue fruit which seems crazy out of place in the woodland but now you can't imagine gardening in shade without it. This comes from a University of British Columbia collection in Guizhou and is regarded as the best of the various forms which have subsequently been collected. This is best suited for mild gardens as cold winters will cut it to the ground which happens here regularly. It regrows fro the base but needs an another year to bloom and fruit. This does beautifully just a mile or two from us in a friends woodland garden which points out the difficulty of definitive hardiness zones and ratings.

A Dan Hinkley collection from Mt Emei in China's Sichuan Province and touted as being hardy to Z7 but only by those in serious zonal denial. That said, a customer told us that he mulches his deeply and it has survived our worst winters so there is a clue - mulch!. An attractive plant with late season pink flowers and well worth trying in a sheltered spot.

Our collection of this interesting Solomon's Seal from the Cangshan in Yunnan way back in 1997 when we were with Kunming Botanic Garden. This has bamboo-like new growth which is quite striking and tiers of verticillate lanceolate leaves on stems to 6' gives great texture. The leaf axils are crowded with small pale flowers followed by orange-red fruit in the Fall. Tolerant of our cool full sun and part sun is ideal.

A woody species peony we first saw in Yunnan in 1997 growing in the open woodland surrounding the alluvial plain of the Ganghoba valley with Dipelta, Rodgersia and Arisaema. This will get 4'-6' tall with nicely dissected foliage and the small but intense flowers on these young, seed-grown plants will likely be red although orange is possible as we have both and bees will be bees.

A collection from China of this surpirisingly hardy gesneriad whose identity remains a mystery. This was growing on a mountain summit in a shaded area with hard limestone outcrops coated in thick moss which proved ideal conditions for this little gem. Tubular yellow flowers are a delight and has handled 10F in our garden growing in a stump.

A Chinese rhizomatous type flowering with fresh green foliage when flowering rather than the Great Withering as with bulbous species. Small heads of yellow flowers on 10"-15" stems set in a comparatively statuesque frame (comparing to Allium moly here) sets this apart from its yellow compatriots. Introduced by Diana Reeck from Kunming Botanic Garden.

Excellent Chinese species which has grown and multiplied in our garden for 15 years. Broad trifoliate leaves with flowers sporting a swollen yellow spadix held below the foliage. Once pollinated, the stem bearing the fruiting head elongates until the red fruit is held well above the leaves. In Sichuan, we saw this flowering amidst carpets of Corydalis flexuosa in bloom - no wonder their spadices were dilated! Nice 1" or so seed-grown bulbs that are not flowering size but will get you started. This will also increase by offsets.

A bold species which we have seen and collected in China, this has a single impressive entire leaf until it hits flowering size and then it is impressively trifoliate. Lovely purple spathe with white stripes and best of all, an easy grower. Thanks to Jacques and Andrea Thompson for sharing seed which led to these bulbs. Hardy in Michigan!

A very vigorous form from a Quarryhill collection that is much taller and has larger green leaves than any of the others we grow. The usual early spring white flowers in March and April here. We have a just a few of these from division here in late winter and these may not be fully rooted out on early orders.

Our Asian collection from a high elevation meadow where this grew with Paris, Primula, Roscoea, Reineckea, Delphineum, Gentiana and Rhododendron - just typing this makes us want to go back there right now! This durable little Salvia has very nice flowers of yellow and purple well-displayed above the foliage.

This is a clone from a wild collection in China which came to us from a friend and we have finally a few to offer. Evergreen leaves in our climate looking a lot like a Solomon Seal with similar white bells in spring. In all respects, this is quite similar to the clone we have from Washfield Nursery but if you are at all like us then you are obsessed with genetic diversity so bring on the clones! It is not a bad idea anyway as it usually helps with pollination to have more than one clone and the lavender fruits offer a subtle attraction in the shade garden later in the season. We clip the old stems off in spring as the new starts to grow and this likes a moist rich soil but will tolerate drier conditions with an occasional deep drink.

Award of Merit form of Korean apricot with flowers of the luscious rich pink that subconsciously appeals at a limbic level, adorning bare branches in February and March. A customer brought us a bottle of homemade Umeshu made from mume fruit and this helped us get through the first months of the pandemic. Young plants.

Our collection of this hardy evergreen, Asian Witch Hazel relative. This will become a small tree in time to 20'-30' and can be very useful as screening or a dark backdrop. Here, the Feb-March flowers forego any petal modesty and celebrate their sexual parts on full display. That brings back sadly distant memories. Undamaged by our winters in full exposure. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering

Cute little evergreen small-scale groundcover from moist shaded habitats in China. We saw this growing in very moist shade in deep moss over rocks which carried seepage from the summit of Wumeng Shan. Interesting clusters of yellow flowers and has proven perfectly hardy for us.

This variegated Japanese selection used to be in the genus Cacalia and has been recently placed in Parasenecio by the botanical powers that be. Broad foliage irregularly and finely streaked and spattered in cream like a monochromatic misting by Jackson Pollock on a green canvas. This will get to up to 30" with upright stems clad in this conversational foliage. Flowers are forgettable as is the case with most of these former Cacalians. We've grown this in light shade to good effect and hardy to zone 4.

An unusual Asian hydrangea relative that has quietly won us over by growing larger each year and consistently flowering under a regime which could only be generously described as one of benign neglect. This makes a small broadly rounded twiggy deciduous shrub to 2'-3' in the garden although older specimens in the wild are said to get to 5'. Narrow willow-like green leaves with small teeth along the margins combine well with the late summer-fall small white flowers. The 4-petaled fertile flowers have a prominent yellow button of stamens which the infertile flowers lack. We have seen accounts of this growing well in North Carolina and southern Indiana. This will be happiest in light shade or part eastern sun. Platycrater hails from southeastern China in provinces near to Shanghai and also from Shikoku in Japan. These two geographical populations are separated by some authorities based on hairs on the leaf underside and we are making a note to self to take the hand lens to a leaf as soon as we can. Why not now you ask? How can you leave us hanging in such suspense? It is winter as we type this and there are no leaves but we will get to it asap!

Fairy Wings Epimedium or Bishop's Cap. This is one of the most elegant of the numerous species and cultivars of Epimedium with long blade-like leaflets nicely colored when young and white flowers like drifting parachutes in a Lilliputian fantasy. Hails from China and a necessary addition to the shade garden.