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440 products
Our collection of this exceptional form of this distinctive vining species of Monkshood from the wooded slopes of Longshou in Sichuan. It was an overcast day on this our first day in the field in the fall of 2012. The summit of Longshou was completely socked in which is frustrating to a plant hunter aside from missing out on spectacular views. As we made our way down the mountain, we got below the clouds and exciting plants started to pop out - Schisandra in full red fruit, 5' tall Arisaema, Vaccinium delavayi and off to the right, a flash of bright color. We hurried over and it was an climbing Monkshood in full bloom with eye catching reddish-purple flowers. The excitement turned to lamentations as it was in bloom which meant there was no seed which was a total downer. The lamenting turned to exultant whoops as we noticed this species had aerial stem bulbils in the leaf axils which are even better than seed. We think this is quite superior to other color forms of this rare species and have given it the name 'Monk Gone Wild' because it is a pretty crazy color for a Monkshood plus this monk managed to remain technically celibate yet still have lots of children via these stem bulbils.
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.
This is indeed the king. One of our most coveted plants, this is an especially fine form from our friend Philip MacDougall. This beauty can reach 12' tall with subtle hooks on the leaf tips to help it hang onto neighboring plants. The best thing is the ORANGE flowers in abundance in the leaf axils. Swoon City.
Chinese Mayapple. One of the great shade plants with just outrageous new growth when the bold and distinctly lobed leafed are colored in ochre velvet with complex dark patterns like something seen during guided psychotropic therapy. Broadly rounded and lobed leaves shield the red flowers beneath. Rich moist soil and avoid direct sun. This a shorter plant and more richly colored overall than the delavayi we offer as a presumptive hybrid. We will soon adopt Dysosma as the genus - maybe in the winter when we can make all the database changes.
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.
Grown from a seed collection in China by the brilliant plantsman Bjornar Olsen, this is an easy and very pleasing lily. Turk's cap style flowers are predominately in shades of pink, varying in intensity. The recurved tepals are pale white on the margins and speckled with deep carmine spots. Spreads fairly fast, making a lovely patch.
Rubus can be scary but with this classy China species, it will be shivers of delight instead of fear. Graham Stuart Thomas "One of the finest of all foliage plants". 4'-8' upright somewhat arching canes. A clumper and not a vine with few small fruits, white flowers and no thorns
This is a beloved shrub to small tree species notable for flowering young with nodding white flowers which are best viewed when you can look up into them such as ours on a raised bed. Original introductions likely from Japan have red stamens but this collection of ours differs with yellow stamens. We generally get a good rebloom in September following the main late spring-early summer flowering. Second-generation seed-grown young plants from our trees from our original collection with no chance of hybridity. The species honors German plant collector Philipp Franz von Siebold for his botanical work in the mid 1800's. These are best protected first winter.
Fun newish selection of the recently moved to Bistorta from Persicaria with softly golden foliage which is a great backdrop for the 24"-36" flower stems bearing spikes of flowers the same color as Dorothy's ruby slippers. Easy, hardy, bright shade and gangbusters in rich moist soil.
An uncommon and variable species, this form can get stoutly immense to over 6' with broad paired leaves and fine white (no surprise there) bell-shaped flowers. This was shared with us as a large bare root division in full bloom with the single stem taller than us which prompted much hilarity. Contrary to intuition, this is the best time to divide Polygonatum. These are not divisions as they wouldn't fit in a shippable pot but younger plants grown from seed. Enjoy!
The correctly named true species as what is generally seen in gardens are forms of Cardiocrinum giganteum. The only deviation from the key of 3-5 flowers are some with up to 9 flowers which we attribute to easy living in our garden and variation within the species. This is most closely allied to C. cordatum from Japan, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands and has similarities in height at 4'-7' tall along with the distinctive grouping of leaves in the middle part of the flowering stem. New growth in spring is a brilliant copper-red and non-flowering bulbs go dormant quite early in June. White tepals are greenish-white at base with interior first touched in soft yellow-green and then deep within, purple. And fragrant late in the day. These are small bulbs perhaps 3 years from flowering. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering,
This is the coveted true species unlike the usual Allium sikkimense which is what you get from most seed exchanges. Ours came from Ian Christie in Scotland and with Ian's name as provenance, there is little doubt. Besides we flowered it and it is correct! Thin grassy leaves in dense tussocks with small headed blue flowers in late summer. A Chinese species that is not one of the bulbous summer dormant types but appreciates moisture during the summer and is quite easy despite its relative scarcity.
Second generation plants from our collection from along our way up the mountain to Tianchi Lake in Yunnan. We found this Lily relative (which has been called N. forrestii) growing in a wooded copse with Sorbus reducta. Likes a good moist soil and can have 7-10 flowers per stem in our experience when it gets some age. Pretty much awesome. These are nice, blooming size bulbs and a must-have for cool northern woodland gardens. If you garden in Kansas, Texas or most of the Southeast for example, it is probably better to just enjoy the photo. These survived the brutal 2013-14 winter in Wisconsin at a customer's garden as newly planted bulbs in the fall which is impressive considering the ground froze 5' deep. Hardy to zone 5 if not zone 4.
This is very close to 'Kaleidoscope' and comes from the same Japanese nursery from which a plant was purchased and patented in this country as 'Kaleidoscope'. One has to wonder how a plant already in the trade on an international basis can be patented but that is a discussion that can run long into the night. 'Galaxy' is nearly indistinguishable from 'Kaleidoscope' and may well be a sister seedling or another selection in Japan. Lightly hairy stems hold the pale green leaves with their radially symmetrical chocolate splotches. Red flowers held beneath the foliage but who cares, really? It's all about the leaves. Moist shade and be prepared to be envied.
This was one of those "Holy shit - lookit that fern!" moments when we first spotted this species growing in a moist stable and vegetated scree at the base of a soaring vertical cliff face fronting this mountainous outcrop of improbable pinnacles in Guizhou, China, The fern was perfect in scale and not intimidated in the slightest with 5'-6' wide leaves on a clumping plant 6'-8' tall. We were dismayed not to collect spore but happy to get a small plant of this species from fernologist Sue Olsen a few years back. This grows to be a pretty hefty clump but does not run. Hardy to zone 8 and mulch crown if it gets serious in winter.
Extreme rarity from the summit of Jinfoshan where this was found growing in moss and leaf litter atop a narrow shoulder of hard limestone napped in snow from the night before. A diminutive species to just 3" tall with small evergreen thumbnail leaves and small white flowers touched in rose on the interior. Light lavender fruit follows. We expect this to be among the hardiest of the Disporopsis and are pleased to be the first to introduce and offer the true species. As a side note of irony, the collection site has subsequently been destroyed by development for eco-tourism.
Superb form collected in NE Yunnan at 1900 metes by perhaps the preeminent modern plant hunter, Jens Nilsen. The list of 'firsts' in Jens' history of collections is astounding. This collection is not a first but is notable for being an exceptional form. Larger in all parts than previous introductions with gold flowers in midsummer.
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 has been extremely hardy for us for years in our shade garden, and should fare well in lower zones as well given that Acer griseum was growing nearby.
(Apologies for the second change in species, the limits of species in this group of Lepisorus aren't fully clear, and L. pyriformis having been only recently published is not included in the Flora of China though it fits better than the previously used L. rostratus)
Pretty cool and needless to say, rare rhizomatous evergreen perennial taxonomically wandering among genera from Tupistra to Campylandra to currently Rohdea which we have written in pencil. This has proven nicely hardy here in the PNW making a statement with elegant narrow green leaves with a muted amber central stripe. Flowers curiously interesting. Sure, this could be damning by faint praise using classic nursery merchandising deflection and obfuscation but the flowers are curious. And interesting. This is from a Quarry Hill Botanic Garden collection which they shared with us. We saw this species growing among bamboo and mixed shrubs on the slopes of Luoji Shan in Sichuan and it was like unexpectedly running into a friend, a brohdea, so to speak.
Excellent selection from the former Heronswood nursery of this robust woodlander noted for the dark hued stems especially in the new growth. This is an exuberant grower sending up big dark chocolate asparagus spears of new growth in late spring which branch out as they get taller bearing small creamy-green bells followed by glistening small black fruit. The young leaves carry some of coloring of the new growth and the whole plant retains this color better if grown in sun in our mild sun climate. In our shade garden, the foliage matures to a very pleasing dark olive-green and seems like some impressive cousin to bamboo as it can each 5'-6' tall. We always mulch ours in winter as we don't want to freeze out the crown and the new growth can start early here in the PNW so this mulch protects it from getting frosted. An easy and stunning plant. This was and still is offered as a selection of Disporum cantoniense but we thank Bleddyn Wynn-Jones for correctly identifying this as to species.