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94 products
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 collection of this striking Baja endemic mint relative by FRBC board member Cody Hinchliff. A tower of felty, silver-green, arrowhead shaped leaves erupts into a spire of hot pink tubular flowers in autumn provided great late-season pollinator food. Foliage stays evergreen in very mild climates but for us dies back, leaving its well root hardy nether regions to rest until spring. Both leaves and flowers smell of a fruity cleanser, with the flowers being thankfully heavier on the former, darn I was hoping for a whiff of Baja Blast. Extremely drought tolerant and happy in a sunny well-drained spot.
Endemic to a small region of central Chile, and vulnerable in the wild, this is like the rare collectible variant of Lobelia tupa, with much the same habit and cultural requirements, meaning full sun and decent drainage, especially in the face of winter wet. The flowers present as a flurry of frilly pink corollas that conjure images of the fabulous tails of tropical birds, honed for years by evolution to attract flirtatious females. The flirtation here is with hummingbirds, endowed with the perfectly adapted slender beaks; or with coastal climate gardeners endowed with the perfect mild winters. Likely slightly less hardy than L. tupa and will be reset to the ground each winter. These are from wild seed collected by FRBC board member and botanist Cody Hinchliff.
Gonads and Phlegm, all I can think of when I see the vomitous new Latin name. I swear sometimes it feels like the taxonomists really have it out for us poor laborers. Luckily the associations stop there (other than the phlegmatic coloration perhaps). This neat little epiphytic fern picked up on a brief stint in Taiwan resembles the more commonly grown Polypodium formosanum (so much so that we originally collected it as such) in its thick vivid green rhizomes that provide a wholly unexpected dimension of appeal. The fronds however differ with the pinnules in unbelievably precise rows undiminished in length until nearly the tip, reminds me of those brain-becalming social media videos of things so perfectly arranged it just triggers something primal in the mind. Likely happy with similar treatment to more common Polypodiums just with an extra dose of warmth and humidity preferred, as of yet untrialed outdoors here but we are guessing not very hardy. We're thinkin' first intro to cultivation in the U.S.
A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering
This exquisite Pyrrosia was shared with us by the ever-travelling plantsman Adam Black from his own collection in Taiwan. Imagine our suprise when on a stroll through the nursery with Adam we discovered we were now the sole keeper of this and its twin collection, that is until we got the great pleasure of returning it to Adam's keeping. Conservation at work baby! Now you can join us in that great effort and hopefully if we ever suffer tragic losses you can be our backup! The species matsudae is a bit infuriating taxonomically, in appearance it is VERY similar to Pyrrosia polydactylos, though it can be distinguished by the lack of uniformity in frond lobing. Adding to the confusion some sources have inexplicably lumped it with P. davidii which having many collections of that species is very much different.
All of this probably means very little to you and you are simply drooling over the felty multi-fingered deliciousness presented outwardly, us too. This has proved hardy for us thus far in our collectors garden and wants the usual well-drained but moist, shady, preferably epiphytic situation as its brethren.
A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering
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)
This proved hardy in the beastly 2021-2022 winter with a bit of bark mulch in the Lehman-Russell garden in Seattle. Members of Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy we might add. When we saw new growth appearing there the following spring, we were briefly but enthusiastically afflicted with Steve Martin Happy Feet. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering.
Our collection from the lower slopes of Mt Japfu in Nagaland at around 7000'. (NAPE= Nagaland/Arunachal Pradesh Expedition 2203) This is an epiphyte growing below the frost zone with showy red flowers and narrow petals. Best cool in loose, airy, mossy soil, treated like an indoor fern. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering
