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Nifty little species we salvaged out of plant collector Marian Raitz's garden when she moved. Low toothed leaves and nice mid-sized white flowers hazed lavender-pink. This will make a nice lower-than-most-Epimediums patch which works perfectly under low shrubs.

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.

A seriously good Buckwheat native to just three of the Channel Islands where it grows mainly on dry cliffs. It does great in cultivation however and probably finds it a relief to be able to relax a bit. Evergreen domes to a foot or more tall with flower stems up to a foot long bearing long lasting blooms of red to white.

Truly a Sea Holly as this Eryngium is a dune plant throughout a good part of Europe. Hard to beat texturama for the dry garden, Mediterranean style or really, an ol' garden as long as you aren't too nice to it. Good drainage in lean soil and you can bask in the splendor of the gray, lightly spiny foliage and the small light purple flower buttons.

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.

A robust Eriogonum from shrub steppe habitat east of the Cascades from WA to CA and east to ID. An awesome plant for a larger spot in the rock garden, mounding to 18"x30". Arrow-shaped leaves are felty-green on top and wooly-white beneath while white to pale-yellow umbels of flowers appear late May to July. Like many other Eriogonum, this is an important pollinator plant for butterflies. Lean and good drainage.

A rich reddish purple foliage form of our native Western Stream Orchid found by Roger Raiche in California and the best foliage of any selection. Totally hardy outside and loves a wet spot but is perfectly happy in a garden bed that doesn't dry out. This makes a colony of vibrant colored leafy stems bearing numerous orange-brown-yellow flowers. Divisions from our patch potted this spring. This can be found throughout the entire western half of the US.

Miniature Joint Fir. Choice species from the bleak areas of the "stans" - Afghan, Uzbek, Kazak, Krygh, Paki and Tajikistan. This primitive Conifer relative likes it rough - just good drainage and a hot, sunny dry spot are it's simple wants although it does enjoy the good life and wouldn't turn down a wee drink and a bit to eat. It has been quite adaptable to our regular irrigation in the nursery. In the garden this will slowly creep with more leafless thin green stems which look like a miniature Equisetum until they become bejeweled with red fruits in mid to late summer. Probably tolerant of more alkaline conditions as well. This does great in the Denver Botanic Garden.

Second generation 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.