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We acquired this incredibly tough, tuberous, summer dormant Geranium in the 80's from East Lambrook in southern England which was home to Margery Fish and the original English Cottage Garden. Provenance alone is merit enough but good lavender blue flowers and drought tolerance carries the day.

Heart-leafed Globe Daisy. This is a pleasing little alpine from the mountains of southern Europe and over to Turkey. Low and slowly spreading domes like a small overturned pie with evergreen leaves and lavender-blue pom-pom flowers on short stems. Easy and tough enough for a beginner, sweet enough for the rock gardener who has grown it all. Give this a sunny spot in the rock garden or trough. Takes dry or a good bit of water if given really good drainage.

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.

Did we mean to infer that this is a PINK Gillenia???? Why yes, we did. And it is. Pink, definitely pink. An exciting offering of a dandy variant on a choice eastern native. Pink Bowman's Root will get 24"-30" tall with multiple stems sporting an airy array of pink flowers. The leaf color will be improved and intensified with some sun and great fall color to boot. This can take full sun in our cool-sun maritime Northwest but part sun to shade in hotter areas.These are hefty plants field-grown for two years from the plug size one sees generally offered and are a cut above. Bringing the action on this one.

Our collection from Yunnan of this intriguing hardy Geranium. Nice foliage faintly mottled in spring and copious sprays of small pink flowers infused with lavender. The petals are reflexed strongly back like the flowers of a Dodecatheon and the nose of the flower is whiskered in white..

Evergreen mat-former with very large cobalt blue trumpets spring to early summer. This might ruin your other blue flowers for you as they will look embarrassingly insipid in comparison. A rich moist soil in full to mostly sun is best. Despite popular opinion, these are pigs and thrive on a good manure mulch! Thanks to our friend Urs for sharing.

Selection out of Germany of this darned fine species. Evergreen tight mats of small green leaves with impossible azure blue trumpets standing at attention looking very superior and perfect. Well, it is a German selection after all and this shows a certain adherance to standards which the lesser gentians can only dream about attaining.

A few think is a hybrid or perhaps the closely related G. angustifolia but it makes no difference in the garden however as this is riveting with freely produced large trumpets that scream BLUE!!!! Really quite impossible to assess this taxon objectively when you are totally gobsmacked by the flowers. A selection we brought home from Scotland.

Winged Broom. Superb shrublet from the Balkans down in to Greece that has distinctive flanged leaves and stems. This is a low growing very dense small scale groundcover and takes full sun and poor soil while being tolerant of drier conditions. In late spring, smothered in yellow flowers. We have a dandy one under our palms by the gate.

One of the best of the hybrids, this Silk Tassle bush is a cross between Garrya elliptica and G. fremontii. It has nice rounded evergreen leaves with catkins 8"-10" long in shades of green and purple in the winter. Just when SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder - ratchets up, Carl talks us down from the ledge. Tough plant and tolerant of some dry.