Europe

Scarce selection in the US, these seedlings all flowered pink although they can also come in white and blue. But like a good species Rhododendron, foliage rules for most of the year. Lobed leaves whose margins are crenulate - scalloped or notched with small rounded dentition - hence 'Crenatiloba'. This is one of the parents of 'Cremar' and our plants are derived from Ashwood Nursery stock.

Nice rosettes of white-edged leaves on this slightly lime encrusted Saxifrage. A hybrid of S. callosa and S. cotyledon. this will have 12" stems of numerous white flowers flecked in teeny red dots. Full sun in cool sun areas and in hot areas, a little afternoon shade would not go remiss. This could be as simple as planting on the back side of a rock in the rock garden.

A tough perennial from the southern Caucasus which has steadfastly refused to die despite some of our unintentional best efforts. This will, in time, make an impressive small clump of numerous upright stems to 12" or so which are tipped in late July to September with multiple blue flowers with pale whitish throats. This is happy in limestone conditions and is happy here in neutral to moderately acid. It wants to please. Does well in Denver Botanic Gardens as well as gardens in Sweden.

Exceptional double Campanula we received via Bob Brown's Cotswold Garden Flowers in England. This has big medium blue flowers like 2 shallow cups nested together. These are on strong stems which don't blow over and we can testify to that living on the windswept Port Townsend Steppe. This is a good performer and one that has the panache to mingle in the trendy garden as well as carrying a classic look that works in the cottage or Victorian garden. Or in our case it shines in our looking-for-a-genre sunny border.

Try to get past the uncanny steroidal resemblance to the cursed shotweed which infests every bit of cultivated soil in the temperate zones - same genus, but much better manners! Double white flowers like tiny roses from soft pinkish buds. This sets no seed but roots at the leaf tips.

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.

Alternate-leaved Golden Saxifrage. Love it when customers share interesting plants with us which is how we came by this little goody. This is pretty much circumarboreal in the northern hemisphere where it is often found in rock outcrops in moist areas. Nice rounded evergreen leaves and umbels of yellow flowers in spring. This is going to work nicely as a small scale groundcover in a moist lightly shaded spot. It grows in some pretty northern cold areas with a distinctly continental climate so good and hardy.

Twisted Stalk. One of our favorite natives (the list spans several pages of small print) of our woodlands is this Solomon's Seal relative. These are seed-grown from a collection near Easton WA. Branched stems bear dangling white flowers followed by showy red-orange fruit.