Himalayas

Collected in northern India by the intrepid plant hunting duo of Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones, this species offers some midsummer exotica with yellow flowers emerging from soft red calyces on 2' stems. Yet another hardy-for-us species in the Zingiberaceae that we are enamored with.

A rare grand foliage plant from lower elevation in the eastern Sino-Himalaya. Allied to Schefflera, this differs in its armor of spiny prickles and whose terminal inflorescense produces black fruit. We offer this with some trepidation in fear of sparking a feeding frenzy among the Araliaceae collectors who are a particular subset of plant nerds that walk the knife edge of obsession that separates reason from Poe's " A Descent into a Maelstrom". Before you knee-jerk and click add to cart, take your meds and wait an hour. Of course this may well be sold out by then.......... A portion of the proceeds goes to support the mission of Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy.

A very distinct form of this species which was collected in Nepal by Tony Schilling and shared with us by David Mason of Hedgerows Nursery. A good spreader rather than a clumper, the rounded ping-pong paddle leaves offer much as a small-scale groundcover. White to tinged pink flowers in early summer. Deciduous to semi-deciduous, we are inordinately fond of this collection and have it planted at the entrance to our shade garden. This particular collection is quite rare in the trade. Tony used to be the director at Wakehurst and David was deputy director so the chain of provenance custody is just how we like it.

Helmeted Cobra Lily or Jack in the Pulpit. Young bulbs of this rare species from the Indian Himalayan foothills. Tall stems to 4'+ carry big 3-parted leaves and strongly cowled or helmeted flowers varying from green with white stripes to purplish. Choice plant and one to brag about. These are seed-grown from our plants in our shade garden which have persisted and done well for 7 years now.

These are robust plants from seed collected by Chris Chadwell in northern India in 2012. Chris is extremely knowledgeable on the flora of Nepal, Kashmir and northwest India having done nearly 30 extensive botanical expeditions to those areas. This species is particularly interesting to us, as not only is it perfectly hardy for us in our gardens but it extends the geography in our accessions: it joins our shorter-stature 2003 collection from near eastern Bhutan, along with our 2006 collection from Sichuan. We like geeking out on a species and when we can observe the various expressions of morphology as influenced by the diversity of its range, it really doesn't get much better for us. Safe to say we get a "botanical flush". Anyway, this hardy true ginger relative is good down to zone 7b with enough mulch for short durations to single digits and happy in bright shade to mostly sun. This species blooms reliably for us every year outside and makes us very happy in October with its open spires of white crane fly flowers highlighted by salmon-pink working parts. Moist with drainage.

We've seen this wee gem in both Bhutan and Sichuan at high elevations at 12000' where it mingles in alpine meadows. Open-faced lavender pink flowers at ground level followed closely by foliage just a few inches high. Easy in the garden. Who would suspect it's a Solomon's Seal?

A hardy Ginger relative from our seed collection just a long days drive from the Tibetan border. Narrow petals of white and peach are floral whimsy and always manage to coax a smile out of us. The unscented flowers compensate for that lack by having one of the showiest seed displays in the genus. This collection seems to be distinctly shorter than other forms of spicatum we grow. Mulch in winter.

Pretty awesome evergreen fern because not only is it cool, but it increases fast enough to make a statement in the garden before you are in your dotage and have forgotten why you bought this, yet not in that rampaging acreage-eating Borg-assimilating manner that is sometimes described as "a good nursery plant".

One of the few plants the damn yaks don't eat up in the Tibetan Plateau which explains why we were able to collect seed of this herbaceous honeysuckle relative. Bold leaves with absolutely nothing flowers in June which yield smashing clusters of marble-sized red fruit.

Named for the stringently impeccable plantswoman and designer, this large-leafed deciduous Bergenia with pink-white flowers is a worthy namesake. She had a deserved reputation of not brooking fools gladly but strangely was always pleased to see us - perhaps a case of the exception proving the rule. Light green leaves with crenulate dentation on the scalloped leaves.

Fabulous Award of Garden Merit shrub that has lovely pinnate Pea-like foliage and scads of luscious pink Pea flowers for several weeks from early to mid-summer. Quite pest free and wanting only good sun and drainage. A little light pruning for shape once a year and you are set to enjoy.

Offering from division of this excellent selection by our friends at Crug Farm who collected this in Nepal while plant-hunting with Dan Hinkley and Jamaica Kincaid. The species is typically very robust and stout and this is no exception with green leaves and a red pseudostem. The white flowers with a light lavender wash are a nice departure from the norm. This does not like warm night-time temps and hot, muggy humidity - it's from the mountains after all.

This deciduous and broadly distributed Asian fern boasts alternately pinnate fronds up to nearly 2' long that gives it a certain je ne sais quoi while not straying too far from the archetypical fern appearance. Pair that with its ease, tolerance for deep shade, reliability and you get a surprisingly well-rounded do-er considering its uncommon availability on the market.

Nice hairy-leafed species from the Himalaya ranging from Nepal to Pakistan. This is semi-deciduous in our area and will go totally deciduous in colder zones. Like most Bergenia, this can take full sun, but late spring frosts can ding the new leaves and pink flowers. Rounded hairy mid-green leaves with reddish petioles. This clone a gift from a serious collector's garden.

Also found as Potentilla lineata. We originally received seed of this back in the 90's from a Chris Chadwell collection in Nepal. An exceptional foliage plant with long silken silvery leaves and tall loosely arrayed yellow flowers in early summer, which we have offered in the past simply as Potentilla sp. This was misidentified by another nursery in the area as P. gelida and as a result, is in the trade here as P. gelida which is unfortunate as it bears little similarity to this ornamentally uninteresting species. Then to make matters more complicated P. lineata recently became Argentina lineata nonetheless it is one of our favorite herbaceous Potentilla-like plants which Chris ID'd for us here in the summer of 2013.

An undescribed species from a recent Hinkley collection in eastern Arunachal Pradesh. A staggeringly good foliage plant fully clad in large deeply divided leaves and sporting yellow flowers - such a nice departure from pink! These admittedly mingle within the foliage and teasingly tantalize in their allure. Hardy in mild Z8b gardens with a deep airy mulch. With many herbaceous "hardy" begonias, hardy as long as the rhizomes and crown don't freeze!

This is a pretty interesting selection of climbing hydrangea we received from the intrepid plant hunting duo of Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones of Crug Farm Nursery in Wales. They collected this on a plant hunting trip to Sikkim and found this in the forest near the town of Yuksom. This has the typical small coral-green lacecap flowers and will self-adhere to a wall or tree-trunk as do the others but what sets this selection apart is the generally evergreen leaves which turn purple in the winter. Admittedly, Crug is in a mild portion of Wales which helps with the evergreen nature but what a nice bit of unexpected ornament. This was not collected at a particularly high elevation and we have no idea how hardy this will prove to be but for that sheltered spot in need of winter interest, gotta try it! Especially if grown on a wall, hardiness should be greatly improved and we expect this to be good to zone 7 anyway.

Neat species widely distributed from Thailand to China and into the Himalaya to Bhutan. This has stout stems that can reach 4' on old large bulbs with many leaflets arrayed like the spokes of an umbrella. Large green flowers often tinged with purple followed by red fruit. With such a broad range, there is variation in the species but a constant seems to be consistently good growers in the garden. Ours often don't appear above ground until early June so be patient! These are medium-sized bulbs and yes, we agree with you that we should have these sized by centimeters.

If Thomas Hardy had written a book based on this plant, he would have tiltled it "Fusca the Obscure". Or Poe "Descent into the Plant Maelstrom". BIO -Botanical Interest Only. If you buy this we're doing an intervention on you and get you into the Plant 12-Step Program. You need help.

The rarest species in cultivation having only first been collected by Tony Schilling in 1966 from a small colony found in the Dudh Kosi Valley in Nepal. This has handsome pinnate leaves and impressive light white flowers on stems to 3' or more. This species just has a subtle different feeling about it than the other Asian species. Very collectable.