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93 products
Thank gods for Steve Hootman of the Rhododendron Species Botanic Garden who is a champion of the lesser Ericads otherwise we would be blissfully unaware that so many necessary plants such as this existed and this rare epiphytic Vaccinium is just such a plant. Fortunately Steve did not assess a leech surcharge appended to each sale of this plant otherwise we would be in serious trouble as they were legion in the Salween and his stories of his boots squishing as if filled with water from the monsoon rains only to find that upon removal of the boots that the sloshing was not so much water as it was blood which poured red from the weeping leech bites. Eighteen bucks starts to sound pretty reasonable don't you think? Very cute little epiphyte with small rounded cupped leaves and wee white flowers. This is going to be a source of no small pleasure in zone 8 where it will be happy growing in a container creeping in a rotting log or mossy rock in part shade. We grow ours in a cool greenhouse kept just at or above freezing and has been easy as pie. Not the showiest in the genus but isn't high maintenance or prone to drama. This has an unassuming beauty that only generations of attention to understated detail can achieve and there is not a thing we would change about this except perhaps that occasional nightmare concerning leeches.
A selection by the late plantsman and plant hunter Michael Wickenden of Cally Gardens from his collection in the Mishmi Hills of India. Aptly named for the late summer display of small deep red-pink flowers, these are nicely displayed over the broadly rounded leaves, which when given enough sun, take on purple coloring.
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.
This species is one of the easiest to grow and in the wilds of the Himalaya would be found as an epiphyte hanging out on the mossy trunks and branch crotches in essentially cloud forest conditions. In its typical expression, this sports red flowers but in this unusual variant, the flowers are creamy white followed by edible pale lavender fruit and its alliance with Vaccinium (blueberries) is easy to see. Eventually this will form a rounded woody caudex above ground called a lignotuber which is a food and water storage adaptation to coping with the vagaries of life in the canopy. Very easy to grow and will tolerate short exposure to light frost, but best no colder than zone 9.
Rare species of Jack in the Pulpit and even rarer in this brown form. The typical folded in green spathe is washed in purplish brown in this form. Unique in this genus in having no spadix or just a nubbin so perhaps Jackless in the Pulpit is a better name. Excellent increaser, nice new growth.
One of the showiest in this genus of vining Bellflowers. Large purple-blue flowers with a dark ring - sometimes pure white - quickens our pulses in either expression. Recently reduced from species status, grey-wilsonii has been retained as a geographic race of the species convolvulacea based on larger leaves and flowers.
This flamboyant Blueberry relative is almost hardy in our area but is an easy and dramatic attention-getter in a pot. We keep ours in the cool greenhouse over winter or if you are annoyingly mild like West Seattle, just bring in during the rare hard freeze. The 1" red tubular flowers marked in distinctive pale chevrons are favored by our resident hummingbirds and we all snack on the lightly sweet pale lavender fruit. This is an epiphytic species from the foothills of the Himalaya with arching pendulous stems clad in small evergreen leaves. We sold our nearly 30 year old stock plant as there are offers that you can't refuse but we still pine and wonder how our priorities became so skewed. But we took cuttings and so on it goes.
Hardy dwarf Jasmine from Himachal Pradesh in India. This is an ideal little rock garden candidate or if you are looking for a small shrub for that special nook, look no further. Small yellow flowers lightly scented are scattered among the evergreen leaves all summer. Tolerant of dry, deer aren't interested, no maintenance needed.
One of the largest blueberry species in the wild and easily in the upper echelons for evergreen foliage as well with its silvery veins and glossy long tipped leaves. Fruits are a dark reddish-black and we can't say how palatable. Likely to need a relatively mild or sheltered spot, and normal blueberry culture.
A collection from Nepal deemed distinct by Crug Farm Plants in Wales. From terminal bud cones in mid to late summer, yellow-orange flowers spout from prominent red bracts. The foliage is red-tinged underneath and is held on dark stems. Clumps nicely and the species as a whole is of elegant presentation. Moist, rich and mulch if winter is cold.
Rare in cultivation, this form from NW India of this Solomon's Seal is mainly an epiphytic species growing in mossy trees and on mossy, humus covered rocks. The speckled pale pink flowers hang as small bells as the new growth elongates and as the season progresses, the flowers turn into attractive red fruits. In frost-free areas, the fruit-bearing stems overwinter and overlap the flowering of the next year's growth which is very charming. This is an evergreen species in mild areas and is some years for us but of late has been deciduous due to cold winters with no ill effects. It has done very well in our raised shade beds and this is another plant we mulch in the fall as a winter precaution. Good drainage.
We love this plant. One of the first of the hardy Zingiberaceae to bloom and the contrast of reddish bracts and orange-yellow flowers plus the underside of the leaves blushed in red.....mmmmm. We're guessing on cathcartii 'cause it isn't spicata or gracilis. Moist organic soil.
A Hinkley collection of this rhizomatous Begonia from 9500' in the far eastern Himalaya. Attractive foliage with red hues and veins underleaf and we presume, pink flowers. Hardiness is unknown but we would mulch it well in zone 8 gardens. Ideally, overwinter frost-free until large enough to divide off a piece for trial outside in your garden. This would be a trial lamb.
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.
Superb blue-green leaf selection of this exceptionally ornamental evergreen Himalayan Blueberry. We saw this in western Arunachal Pradesh in 2003 at 10,000' and discovered an eastern range extension of this in Sichuan in 2006. This is a superior form to both populations and likely has its origins with Barry Starling, UK Ericaceae expert. Fruit is edible but very tart, good only for special preserves and you might be better served eating the birds that came to eat the berries. Not that we would. Or do.
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.
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.
Our own F2 hand-pollinated seedlings from this superb big leaf species which has shown more hardiness than the Kingdon-Ward collections from 70 years ago. This collection has handled 10F here in our garden with aplomb. Early spring trusses of big yellow flowers although interestingly, one of the original wild seedlings flowered white. Best in a sheltered position out of the wind and sun where the foliage can hit its max potential. These are sturdy youngsters. An amazing experience to see this species in the wild.
Yellow Himalayan Honeysuckle. A species from NE India and northern Myanmar originally introduced by Frank Kingdon-Ward just over 100 years ago, this is from a more recent US Natiional Arboretum collection. Yellow flowers over bronzed foliage distinguishes this from the more familiar Leycesteria formosa.
Annointed as the "Queen of the Umbels", this is what Queen Anne's Lace would look like after a top design team makeover. The refined supreme lacery of foliage and polished presentation of 8" white platters of flowers belies a certain innocent muscularity. The epitome of texture.