China

A collection from Sichuan by Riz Reyes which is quite exceptional. Our resident didact in Polygonatum and associates, Aaron Floden, has found this to be closely related to Disporopsis undulata but larger in all aspects earning the use of a placeholder "pseudoundulata" name. We can't settle the taxonomic nomenclature but "Rizing Star" wouldn't be half bad as a clonal name acknowledging both one of the Northwest's fine young plantsmen but also the superior flowers which is a good thing in a Disporopsis! For purposes of garden design, this is essentially an evergreen Solomon Seal that will get 18"-28" tall with off-white flowers touched in very light yellow in the interior and heavily speckled in dark amber. 

A species not often encountered for sale, the 2019 RHS Plant Finder lists but two sources in the UK and they won't have many. Neither do we but we want someone else besides us here in the colonies to enjoy this plus this will give that collector's itch a good scratching. A stout, smaller species with yellow flowers that is related to R. humeana. This was described as a species in 1982 from a George Forrest collection near Dali in Yunnan.

Cutting-grown plants of this evergreen Dogwood from our collection in Asia. Quite a handsome plant in both the wild and our garden which sports soft yellow flowers in June and July. Later, the round red fruit go from being attractive ornament on the tree to tasty snacks on the trail. Which is how we got ours. Our tree in the garden has handled low teens in the winter surprisingly well.

Despite sounding like sneeze, a great Epimedium with large evergreen foliage beautifully salmon colored in spring. This pairs incredibly well with the large, long-spurred soft yellow flowers. This is quite cold tolerant with the foliage holding up quite well into the single digits in winter.

Hearkening back to our 1997 collection in Yunnan, this persistent little onion is testament to what keeping calm and carrying on can do for you. Thin, grassy clumps of leaves with small heads of pink flowers held above makes this daintily appealing. This likes a reasonably moist, rich soil. Often seen with the name "amabile" appended to it, which is an invalid synonym.

An Asian Sour Gum or Tupelo related to our own eastern Nyssa sylvatica. This deciduous tree does flower, not that you would notice, but it does produce small bluish fruits in Fall. Fast-growing with largish leaves often carrying bronzy-purple tones when young. A moist acidic soil and sheltered from hot or freezing winds. Loves a woodland edge for example. From the borderlands of SE Yunnan and Vietnam and could easily be a species other than sinensis. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering

This is a choice little dwarf species from China of which we never have enough. Perfect lavender-blue flowers just a few inches high over densly clumping short foliage. This is one tough baby Iris as Sue brought this out from her garden in northern Vermont. Deciduous.

A jolly plant indeed introduced by Heronswood from Sichuan. This has evergreen foliage springing from new growth that looks to be a bamboo until it leafs out. Small creamy white flowers in early summer and blue-black fruit held well into winter if the cold doesn't knock back the 6' + stems. Cut back old stems in spring if you were lucky enough to have a mild winter and it remained evergreen.

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.

If you are into variegation, like woodland plants, want to make a statement, are a botanical Sinophile, a discerning or even indiscriminate plant collector or just plain driven by beauty in the garden then this is a must have. White variegated leaves on stems to 4' with whitish flowers followed by black fruit. Evergreen if mild you are lucky to have mild winters. We mulch the spears of new shoots to keep spring frosts from damaging them and if so lucky to have had a mellow winter, remove the previous years stems as the new ones elongate but usually winter has already done that for us.

An excellent clone of ours we have ssslloooowwwlllyyy increased so that we finally have a few to share. This form as well as our 'Primo' seem to differ from the various Scottish selections of humenana we grow by having MUCH larger flowers. Totally a must-have and if we weren't obliged to make payroll, we would keep all of them.

A fine conifer showing an enviable muscularity growing from the slopes of a rugged limestone mountain. Eschewing an unimaginative verticality, these old trees favored a more imaginative approach to what constitutes being a tree without sacrificing but rather enhancing, beauty. The evergreen needles are more blunt than similar populations in Vietnam and on female plants, the green, small olive-like seed is borne at the end of larger fleshy aril that as it ripens, turns from red to an evening purple. This dispersal mechanism is well-adapted to animals and especially birds, as they can travel great distances, efficient flocks of Johnny Podocarpusseeds. This appreciates some shade to prevent yellowing and has been hardy here at Far Reaches to 10F.

Pretty awesome evergreen fern because not only is it cool, but it increases fast enough to make a statement in the garden before you are in your dotage and have forgotten why you bought this, yet not in that rampaging acreage-eating Borg-assimilating manner that is sometimes described as "a good nursery plant".

A seldom-seen species of Sweet Pepperbush from our seed collection in the wild where it was leafless branches and a multiplicity of small finger-like panicles bedecked with small seed capsules. This has proven itself in the garden here with a profusion of summer white flowers literally alive with pollinators. This species can become a tree but this collection is currently a large shrub.

Fern fans we are, fern experts we are not, but we continue to chip away at the imposing taxonomic massif of Pteridophyta in hopes of becoming somewhat conversational in Fern. Currently, we can ask the equivalent of where the restroom is and order beer when talking Asian ferns. This is a creeping fern with long, thin rhizomes ideally suited for weaving through shallow moss on shaded rock faces with small orbicular-ovate evergreen leaves. This should be reasonably hardy as Acer griseum was growing a short distance away.

Our China collection of this most remarkable species. Favoring rich, moist areas which is required to pump up the nearly 6' in length frond volume. These fronds extend out laxly horizontally which assists in their asexual reproduction from plantlets developing from the little furry balls - careful! - at frond's end. Mulch crown in cold winters.

Stunning thin-leafed variant on the typical form of the species which usually sports leathery leaves perhaps 4X wider than this rare selection from the Witch Hazel Family. This does not seem as determinedly upright as the typical species so expect a multi-stemmed textural delight. Small yellowish flowers with reddish anthers in late winter won't stop traffic but are still darned welcome.

Cannot ship to DE, MA, ME, NH, RI, WV. This was collected by Dan Hinkley on the summit of Emeishan in Sichuan in 1996. In his 2000 catalog he says with some embarrassment that he collected it as a scandent Hydrangea but that that it is Ribes henryi. Delving into Flora of China, everything about Ribes henryi is bristly and glandular so it is definitely not that species. (This muddle of plant identification is all too familiar. Pity the poor nurseryman trying to find time and focus to properly research a plant for what appears to be a seemingly orderly and bucolic nursery is really an out of control daycare on the verge of a cacophonous rebellion.) What it does key to is Ribes davidii var. davidii. This will be a low - 18"-30" tall - spreading evergreen shrub with greenish yellow flowers and favoring a moist, lightly shaded position. We've seen this species often in China and it favors growing on mossy rocks or outcrops in higher rainfall areas. Cannot ship to DE, MA, ME, NH, RI, WV.

Seedlings from our collection in Sichuan in 2006. We were thrilled to find this Epimedium - just 5 plants with a few ripe seed - growing on a shallow layer of moss and humus on a damp rock face along a narrow dirt road. Interestingly, two of the plants had black seed capsules and the other three were green. Yellow flowers from April to mid summer and then again in fall in our fertile and moist shade garden. We had this listed last year as Epimedium davidii which it closely resembles and thought this but a variation in flower until the keen eyes of Ben Stormes noticed that this was indeed the rare Epimedium flavum found only on the Erlang Shan which is exactly where this was found. This area, like many once remote areas in China, showed indications of being poised to be developed for tourism and there is little doubt that the plants we found are no longer.

Second generation plants from our collection from a grassy bank above a stream in Tibetan Yunnan where it was growing in moist rich topsoil at around 10000'. This is a choice herbaceous member of the Barberry Family with rich darkly mottled new growth and broad sharply lobed palmate leaves up to a foot across with a crystalline pink chalice of a flower giving way to large red fruits in fall. Gorgeous moist shade plant to 3' tall although we've seen this same collection at a friend's garden pushing 4' tall. Hardy to Zone 5 and best of all - it's easy. These are very large flowering size plants of a size that is seldom if ever available. Beautiful as a single specimen plant or especially effective in drifts of 50.