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145 products
145 products
Spring Vetchling. One of the stars of the early spring garden, this perennial bush Pea makes a soft-textured clump with scads of lavender-pink Pea flowers. Combines well with Hellebores and Narcissus and is virtually pest-free. Low-maintenance - just cut back in fall.
One of the best little plants you will ever have. An evergreen member of the Primrose family from high grassy meadows in Europe, this has multiple stems to 10" bearing sweet fringed lavender bells. This forms a nice clump in time and has no discernible faults and remains attractive even out of flower. A key component to the elfin garden.
A dark colored selection of Allium senescens ssp. montanum by Mark McDonough that puts on a serious flower display of ruddy pink flowers in mid to late summer to the unending delight of those little orange Skipper butterflies. Clump forming and not invasive, this is muy bueno.
Maidenhair Spleenwort. We love common names. We must dig out our 15th century Herbal and read up on how to properly decoct this sweet little fern for afflicting humors of the spleen. Or we can just grow it in a gritty well-drained shaded rock garden and enjoy its evergreen delicate appearance which belies its rugged constitution. This little fern grows throughout the northern part of the northern hemisphere and just has a small foothold in our North Cascades. One of our favorite sights of this fern was when we did the Coast to Coast walk in northern England in the epic rainy summer of 2012 and we walked close to 200 miles through the Lakes District and Yorkshire Dales and Moors. We saw this growing everywhere naturalized on old stone walls, stone bridges and stone buildings. Very attractive and a clue to its drainage preferences.
A no-fuss restrained yet refined evergreen Cardamine which is nearly faultless. We haven't found a fault yet but most overachievers are hiding something deep under that charm and industry. Rest assured, this will never go postal in your garden. Dark green dense leaves set off flowers of of purest white in early summer.
A free-flowering, lower carpeting form of this choice species that is ideal in the rock garden and one we acquired from our friends at Rumbling Bridge Nursery in Scotland. This Croatian native has a tidy personna, showy mauve-pink flowers and small leaves coloring well in winter. When we say carpeting, it's more of a place mat.
Pure class. A perennial of the first rank and a true aristocrat which is seldom available. Expensive? You bet and worth it. One of the true pains to produce commercially. This has broad pleated leaves and a tall flower stalk with lots of chocolate maroon flowers. Deer proof. Small but sturdy plants that will need some time before they hit blooming size. As a side note, finding blooming-sized plants of this species is pretty much impossible so don't think we're trying to pull one over on you!
This sterile hybrid Galega is a showstopper. Named for Lady Wilson of Rievaulx who is known both as a poet and as the wife of former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, if this plant reflects the persona of Milady then Harold was one lucky guy. This is a robust perennial making stout clumps with lots of tall sturdy stems supporting a myriad of showy blue and white pea flowers blooming its tail off the second half of summer. Great staying power and very reluctant to leave the party that is the summer border.
A fine selection with seasonally variable light blue trumpet flowers which we received from our friend Urs Baltensperger. Most folks instantly gravitate towards the impossibly dark blue selections and while these are critical to have, consider how much darker they will look with this growing alongside. Just sayin'. Evergreen mats in rich soil.
Willow Gentian. One of the truly excellent late summer/early fall blooming plants which jazzes up the shade garden with lots of stems in a circular arching vase shape with ranks of blue to lavender blue to sky blue flowers ranked along the stems. Just what you need when you are sick of Hostas. *These are seedlings and flower color will vary*
Hardy species in the Gesneriaceae or African Violet family from Greece and Bulgaria where it favors shaded rocky outcrops. Our old mama plants fill a 3 gallon pot with a packed dome of evergreen leafy rosettes that give rise to 4"-5" stems with flowers of pale lavender faces and dark corolla base. Great starter plant for newbies to hardy gesneriads and it is so rewarding that even the long-time collectors have to confess to feeling that familiar thrill when it flowers. Good drainage, excellent in north-facing crevice of rock wall.
Pink flowered version of the typically blue-flowered European species. Thanks to our friend and Hepatica guru John Massey of Ashwood Nurseries for sharing seed. We have flowered these plants and they are indeed pink! Perfect in the woodland garden, very hardy and with impeccable provenance.
Awesome Sweet William selected by John Grimshaw from seedlings at Monksilver Nursery and is notable for the foliage which turns maroon-black providing the perfect foil for the velvety maroon clustered flowers which smells of chocolate in warm weather - damn! Cut back after flowering for another go around. John personally gave us a piece from his garden so we have a fond attachment. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering. Proceeds from this offering go to support the mission of Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy.
This little European Woods Anemone is aptly named as an established patch of this in full flower is indeed purity and chastity personified although I have enough miles on me that experiences with either purity or chastity have been relegated to the dustbin of uncertain memory. The white flowers with a central button of doubleness makes this selection the most oft requested Anemone nemorosa in our shade garden. Carol Klein once described this as "the bell of the ball" when comparing it to other Anemone nemorosa cultivars and we find nothing in that statement to dispute.
There really isn't anything like this - a plant with no comparables. Early spring yellow stars followed by leathery lobed green leaves in a dense low mound. It is the early yellow flowers that steal the show in part because they have so little competition and in part because they are so unique. As the season progresses, the yellow bracts turn to green and look like perfect green flowers well into summer. We did a little plant profile on this for Fine Gardening spring of 2011.
Awesome little plant with fresh winter foliage which gives way to 8"-12" tall dense stems with an improbable number of pure white double flowers. Goes summer dormant so don't panic although we still do. Cool plant native to the UK and Europe and favoring vernally wet areas.
Lovely species in the group formerly placed in the genus Dentaria referring to their crinkled molar-like rhizomes. We do enjoy the the color of the purple-pink flowers in early spring but there is a quality of texture and sheen to the leaves that makes us consistently murmur 'I like that plant" whenever we pass by it.
One of the good rock garden plants that is actually pretty easy to grow. Related closely to our Douglasia of the Olympics, this little jewel from the Pyrennees and Dolomites has yellow flowers nearly covering the foliage in late spring. Good drainage and not terribly dry.
No shipping to Maryland. Highly regarded in the Uk and Europe but not well known on this side of the pond but we are trying to correct that. Beautifully grown in Linda McDonald's garden which should be reason enough for anyone to grow it. Coarse and hirsute foliage to 2' with reddish flowers on 4; stems.
One of the quiet stars of our shade garden is this cross between rich yellow Anemone ranunculoides and white Anemone nemorosa. The result is a vigorous small scale shade loving groundcover with profuse primrose yellow flowers. Perfect as a planting under larger plants. Moist.