China

A Hinkley collection of this very collectible Trillium relative from China. The 7-12 narrow leaves are arranged like spokes on a wheel and have short deep purple petioles. The flowers are the typical Paris expression of atypical nonconformity with lots of green and spidery filaments. We have not keyed this yet to verify the name but it is quite rhizomatous and is not of the widespread polyphylla clan. Divisions.

What madness possessed us to make this esoteric cross between the usual maroon flowered species and the white flowered form? Consequences of a very liberal drug and alcohol policy is perhaps the best guess. Unflowered seedlings which will be either typical maroon pleianthum, typical white pleianthum f. alba or shades in between. We can definitively say the flowers will not be blue.

Our collection from Asia from a mountain range little explored by westerners. One of the rhizomatous types allied to palmata which we expect will have hardiness down into zone 8 especially if mulched. Flowers are either pink or white - memory has failed but can say definitively they are not blue.

These are second generation plants from our original seed collection in Yunnan in 1997. Beautiful open airy deciduous shrubs with fabulous hanging racemes of lavender pea flowers like a miniature wisteria blossom. Good drainage and let it get dry late summer to promote hardiness.

Our collection from the Gang Ho Ba in Yunnan at around 10000' back in '97 during our first plant hunting trip to China. This was growing in open woodland up against a massive rock the size of a dump truck with Arisaema consanguineum, Paeonia delavayi, Primula forrestii and Dipelta yunnanensis as companions. The big pinnate leaves were impossible not to notice. This has tall stems 36"- 44" with nice layers of white flowers.

A simply stunning sport found in a patch of Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum' by plantsman and all-around good guy Roy Herold. Wide margins of cream and white on the green leaves bring some serious chutzpah to the shade garden and carry the show on long after the white flowers in late spring are but a memory.

Quite an uncommon evergreen species in cultivation from Shaanxi and Sichuan in China possessing an impish charm to which few others in the genus can lay claim. A smaller species with cute rounded leaflets which subtend stems bearing rounded simple flowers which are a soft yellow and quite distinct as they lack the familiar spurs found in many Epimediums. This has an innocence of beauty that taps into that same well of emotion which comes into play when you see a line of newly-hatched ducklings swimming behind their mother. Perhaps the lack of spurs on the flower indicates that this is a more primitive species in the evolutionary development of the genus and as a result, our reptilian "third brain' initiates a deep limbic nurturing response. These are the things we think about at 3 in the morning as we lay awake trying to go back to sleep. Good drought tolerance hardy to zone 5b.

We have just a handful of this choice form of the species in which the pinnae are distinctly undulated adding yet another layer of tasteful complexity to a species already awash in attributes. It really isn't fair to be born with gorgeous 6'-7' fronds but do you have to flaunt undulation too? Well, yes.

A Shayne Chandler collection from China of this most attractive species which has proven hardy in his garden as well as the equally mild garden at Heronswood both which are zone 8b. Lovely deeply lobed leaves liberally spotted in white and the late season pink flowers play well with the foliage. Mulch in winter zones 8a-7b and in colder areas, deeper mulch and using your microclimate siting to the max is advised until the hardiness limits of this species are better understood.

From a Chinese source as Anemone subpinnata, this is likely obtusiloba although there are other similar species. This has proved very floriferous and durable over the years making a good robust clump with lots of white flowers opening from rose-colored buds. These are nice plants from divisions.

Our collection of a good dark violet-pink version of this widespread Asian Allium. A very easy plant in the garden getting up to 20" tall and having the added bonus of being edible should emergency rations be needed. We had originally described this as being light pink based on some pale October flowers lingering in the cold mists clinging to the mountain but fortunately these turned out different in a very positive way.

Curious and uncommon walnut relative from our Asian seed collection where we found this as part of the rich mixture of trees and shrubs on steep mountain flanks. Pinnate leaves harkening to the family Juglandaceae but instead of nuts in a hard shell, this has nutlets in vertical ornamental cones which persist all winter. Too cool for school! The small cones have very small and insignificant yellowish flowers in June and July but the value comes from the long winter interest.

A medium sized tree in the wild, this is from the same remote mountain which yielded the first introductions of Schefflera fengii and Rhododendron sinofalconeri some 25 years ago and has not been revisited since. Vigorous tree with copious white flowers we presume followed by nutlets. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering

Our collection from Asia of this low growing - prostrate actually - creeping Cotoneaster. It is one we admired as it crept over a rock face along the trail and we kept going, not intending to collect seed. Looking back, we saw our friend and great plantsman Peter Cox collecting seed so we scampered back to do the same. Found in the range of C. dammeri but there are 111 species in China alone. White flowers, red fruit and evergreen.

We have seen this species in the wild on multiple occasions and it is variable but all are first-rate foliage plants. This particular collection is derived from the plant voted best broadleaf evergreen of the trip, excluding Rhododendrons. Umbels of small creamy flowers give way to small black fruit. While we can't recall every plant we have seen plant hunting, the memory of this is crystal clear.

Any and all Styrax appeal to us and this was a necessary collection as a result. A vigorous tree of good size widely distributed in southern China and into adjoining countries to the south. This will have a lot of small, white bells in spring followed by pale nutlets clasped by a somewhat swollen green calyx. A very few of these gallon-sized plants. We will have to flower this to ID it for sure as China alone has nearly 40 species. Hardiness unknown but from relatively low elevation. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering.

This is a remarkable species in the Theaceae or Camellia family, Native to Yunnan, Myanmar and Vietnam with this collection hailing from the latter. Evergreen trees rarely reaching 50' or more but doubt if you will have to contend with that eventuality! Large white flowers with yellow anthers occur in late winter and early spring. Suitable only for very mild gardens and worth trying on a wall.

We have not keyed this Chinese species yet but it is on the docket. This was a small tree growing in bamboo and mixed forest at good elevation. The leaves are glossy and attractive but the almost lilac-like heads of white scented flowers are the thing. Small shiny black fruit. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering

A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering. Our collection of what we presume to be this species although given the distribution from Nepal into China and Vietnam, we wouldn't be shocked to see this species broken into varieties or subspecies. If it is this species, give it some room as it can hit 40' tall as a venerable old-growth specimen but expect much less in the garden. Upright evergreen with pale butter-white flowers and blue-black fruit. Young plants of this rarity and hardiness unknown at this point.

One of the tall verticillate species in China, this was growing among the branches of a striking shrubby Symplocos just below the mountain summit. The leaves on this species are arranged in whorls like the spokes of a tire. At the leaf base are clustered white and green flowers which turn into red fruit. We like it. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering.