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Easy there, steady yourself - remember to breathe……..you are reading this right - this is a double flowered Heloniopsis of the dark flowered persuasion. Dense heads of tightly packed double flowers of dark pink-lavender makes this very collectible for those who love rare aberrations, and isn't that true of most of us?

A superb form of this variable species obtained from the former Quarryhill Botanic Gardens. Green elliptical leaves pair nicely with the large flattened corymbs of white fertile flowers which are sporadically fringed in over-sized pure white sterile florets. This owns a spot in perpetuity on our personal list of faves.

Evergreen Hydrangea vine which superglues itself to the trunks of Douglas Firs like they were made for each other. This will climb skywards to 20' and lighten the forest shade with its lacy 6" wide white flowers. Best if watered in summer and given good rich soil. Beauty.

A Mexican self-clinging evergreen climber or if left unsupported, it develops arboreal stems which will support it as a large shrub. Grown this way it will send out questing branches looking to climb but they are easy to nip off. Great for a north wall or Doug Fir. White lace caps in July.

A Schefflera of smaller stature with a need to please. This flowers when quite young with spherical clusters of creamy-white flowers followed by even showier balls of black fruit. Self-fertile, this handles the reproductive function nicely on its own which is all the rage in this era of the pandemic. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering. Nice gallon size. Of narrow habit, this is a good choice for smaller, mild gardens.

It's difficult to talk eloquently let alone persuasively about a plant newly collected and how it will appear in the various seasons and how well it will perform in the garden. We don't know a lot about this November 2011 collection from a shrub at Lao Cai, Above Silver Waterfall, Vietnam at 2150 meters. We can say it won't grow in Des Moines, Iowa or Black Duck, Minnesota but it will likely be happy as a clam in Seattle. These are young but sturdy seedlings which will really need greenhouse overwintering this first winter.

At this young stage, they bear resemblance to Schefflera alpina and S. chapansis but since they were collected by Aaron Floden, we're smart enough to know that if he doesn't know than we don't know. It's kind of like that Donald Rumsfeld thing where there are known knowns and known unknowns and if we know we don't know than we know more than those who don't know but know they do. Generally I found little palatable about him but I did find myself defending him over this quote as it made perfect sense to me. Somehow seeing it in print makes it seem less defensible and my veracity more questionable.

A handsome clone from the late J.C. Raulston which we have propagated by cuttings. Broad and glossy green leaves 2" wide by nearly 4" long are most attractive in new growth being a fine plum color. This curious genus is notable for the fruit seemingly set on the midrib of the upper leaf surface which won't happen with this clone as it is male. The small insignificant flowers do little more than further damage the fragile male ego but if you are lucky enough to have a female clone nearby, then you can expect purplish black drupes to appear on the leaf blade. Fascinating and attractive evergreen shrub to 6'-8' and hardy to zone 6.

This is one had thought was Hedychium spicatum var. spicatum but are now thinking it is H. yunnanense. This is a much larger plant than any of our spicatum collections getting to over 5' tall and has a much larger and denser inflorescence packed with far more flowers - up to thirty. The flowers resemble spicatum in their shape and white and coral colors and the resultant orange-red fruit is also very similar.

A robust form of the species collected by Dr. Peter Zale. We have long been enamored by this genus and this fine form simply fans the flames of our ardor. Here in March, the exotic pink flowers stand proud over the evergreen rosettes of leaves. We view the recent merging into Helonias with skepticism.

We're smitten by gesneriads - the African Violet family - and especially those with some hardiness, which can be grown outside in our area with some consideration to siting and winter protection. This was shared with us by Peckerwood Gardens in Texas where it is very happy. White flowers red inside in the fall are bit of flora exotica. This Taiwan native can take dips into the teens especially with some mulch.

We love this variety of nobilis - awesome foliage with very good marbling and equally fine pink flowers in early spring. The whole presentation is exquisite and obviously the result of judicious honing of extraneous elements over the course of untold millenia. Tom Hobbs - put this in your Jewelbox Garden!

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.

Heloniopsis is a genus we would be loathe to garden without and we are always ln acquisition mode for new ones. This is a Japanese selection which has flowers of a deeper pink-lavender versus the typical lavender-pink - a distinction apparent when grown side by side. We notice as well in our cool greenhouse, the foliage coloring in red tones in winter. A charming bit of exotica for the shade garden.

From the Tian Shan Mts comes this tough little subshrub that is among the finest expressions of silver foliage to be found. Eversilver aromatic leaves on an 18" rounded plant with yellow button flowers in late summer. I bet the deer find it repugnant. Good drainage, some to little water.