Hybrid

Pretty awesome new hybrid that came up at Suncrest Nurseries in CA thanks to some inspired work by the bees. This outshines its parents with gray-blue leaves and branched erect stems to 3' holding lots of lavender-blue flowers for many weeks. This can take drier conditions and the vermin deer don't like it.

From manic hybridizer Darrell Probst comes this herbaceous Asian Hydrangea relative. Softer blue than D. caerulea but with leaves showing a distinct Camel Toe cleft attesting to D. bifida affinity. (Had a friend who was Wardrobe Mistress for PNW Ballet and Camel Toes were her bane) The fertile flowers on this are a study in intricacy and worth bending over for. I meant that the plant is short and not because it is 16 bucks! Sheesh. Can't believe you were thinking that. This likes some light shade a good soil that doesn't dry but drains.

From great plant friends in Scotland, this showy cross of two fine Candelabra Primrose species garnered accolades when they used this to great effect in a display show garden. Colors are widely variable and size can be a bit shorter than the parents but literally, all are good and work well together. Now if only politicians............

The bees have done some fine work in the garden, shuttling between a Roy Lancaster collection of the purple/white Epimedium x omeiense and our collection of the rare yellow Epimedium flavum, found only in a small area of the Erlang Shan in Sichuan.  These are unselected seedlings which all have garden merit and are deserving of a good garden trial but our ADPS (Attention Deficit Plant Syndrome) is getting in the way of doing that so we are jobbing it out to you.  Various colors and evergreen foliage.

We are pleased to be the first to introduce this excellent Sibirica Iris to North America. We were visiting John Grimshaw, plantsman extraordinaire and Director of the Yorkshire Arboretum, and walking about his home garden when he asked if we would like a bit of an Iris he had named with lovely scrambled egg flowers of yellow and cream. We said yes, of course because while we might be comparatively brutish colonists, we ain't without a certain native wit. Very floriferous on a shorter plant with flowers well-displayed. When Cotswold Garden Plants first introduced this in the UK in 2011, John mused on his blog about how nice it would be to receive a voluntary royalty which he could use to help fund the educational needs of a Maasai child he is sponsoring. School doesn't get less expensive as you get older so we are going to give $5 from each plant sold back to John.

Tiny-leafed hybrid of Soldanella carpatica and S. pusilla . This very small scale little creeper with tiny evergreen leaves surprises in spring with over-achieving light lavender fringed bells. Similar to 'Spring Symphony' but flowering a bit earlier. One of the easiest Soldanella to grow. This is one we picked up in the UK a few years back.

This hybrid of I. wattii and I. japonica originates from California plantsman Jimmy Giridlian and comes to us via Russell Graham Purveyor of Plants. Forms a slowly spreading clump of 2' arching evergreen leaves that lift aloft the pale flowers that perhaps provided inspiration for the name, white banners with golden throats and pale purple central petaloids give an air of royalty and purity that suggest a monthly income far above nada. A highly choice Iris that we are glad to have more than nada of, and are happy that you too will be able to remedy any nada quantities of 'Nada' currently listed in your surely well curated garden inventory.

We received this as the Pioneer Mountain form of Erythronium revolutum and indeed, there is revolutum in them as well as californicum. These are obviously natural hybrids which do occur and perusing "Erythroniums in Cultivation" by Ian Young, these fit his description nicely especially with the parallel, narrow filaments.

The one-spotted form of the classic Giant snowdrop. Maintains the broad grey-green leaves and buoyantly rounded flowers of the species but does away with the upper green band generally seen on the inner segments in favor of just the apical wishbone green marking giving a distinctly snowier and elegantly clean appearance.

Another gorgeous introduction from Hugh Nunn whose nursery is in the village of Harvington. This has obvious Roscoea humeana in its parentage which contributes large flowers well-displayed on a stout plant. A light cream is the flower color and ours were initially but these same plants have become more yellow. Which is not a bad thing but curious. Even though this in the Ginger Family, it is not suitable for the Southeast as it likes cool nights.

This natural hybrid of one of the classic South African bulb genera is endemic to Cape Province, and you'd be hard pressed to find it much further than that native range even in cultivation, luckily we have excellent connections like Michael Wickenden who generously shared it with us. Bladelike foliage, while nice, is unlikely to wow. The flowers however can grow in great spikes of up to 6 1/2 ft tall! Individual florets can come in red or pink and look rather similar to a more trumpeted Hesperantha, corollas flaring out to a star shaped opening. Prefers a Mediterranean climate and very well draining soil, can be pot-grown in a similarly draining mixture for those not living the riviera lifestyle.

Vigorous plants and our hybrids with mainly delavayi as the parent showing more vigor and variation in shape and color than what we associate with known delavayi of wild origin. Whatever the parentage, (I sometimes wonder about my own) these are arresting shade plants for rich moist soil. Red flowers are amazing surprises under the leaves. Persistence of patterned markings are variable and expect fading to varying degrees as the leaves mature. These are all unique individuals which we would be happy to have in our garden. We have offered these earlier as presumptive hybrids and we presume no longer. We will jump on the Dysosma instead of Podophyllum wagon soon.

A super hybrid out of the UK from crossing the two related genera, Hypoxis and Rhodohypoxis. These genera occur in South Africa and are small bulbous members of the Iris family. While just a few inches tall, these are showy beyond the implied limits of their size and can cover themselves for weeks in large red flowers. Easy to grow and a fast increaser, this will become a favorite. Cold climates can be overwintered inside where cool.

A classy selection we brought in from the UK as the pure white clone 'Serenity,' but turns out to be a dead-ringer for this Scottish selection with alternate petals dusted in light turquoise. At first we were a wee put off and aye, felt a bit of an eejit, but now we ken this a bonny lass and we not be haverin'. Full sun in cool sun areas, or part sun in hot sun. Moist acidic soil please.

One of the hardiest of the Aloes, this will withstand short drops into the upper teens but will appreciate shelter against a sunny wall under an eave where it will produce orange flowers for months on end. Well worth trying for some succulent exotica or just fine in a container where it can be brought inside for the winter. Has done well in outside with careful siting in mild PNW gardens.

A robust hybrid of E. tuolumense showing broad lightly mottled leaves and 12" flower stems bearing multiple sulphur yellow flowers with a light brown ring in the throat. A vigorous increaser by offsets - not seed. In just a few years you will have a truly impressive clump.

Very uncommon selection from the UK which we are pleased to introduce to these shores. An Asiatic Gentian whose parents include such species as Gentiana sino-ornata, G. veitchiorum, G, farreri etc. These revel in cool climates, moist acid soil and reward with late summer-fall bloom. This is a good dark blue with purple tones.

Plantsman and bulb expert Jim Fox was staying with friends in England and admiring their fine Nerine 'Quentin' in their border which had a few seed which he passed to us. Mere decades later and - Voila! - we have Quentinlettes. Quentin is highly regarded in England and the offspring are good too. Has overwintered outside in a pot, freezing solid with no ill effects. These single bulbs are not flowering-sized offsets - probably 2 years to bloom - and just potted this August so not yet rooted out, if you're shipping this fall.

Our cross between the "typical" Lilium mackliniae and the Saramati form which will be recognized as a distinct variety of the species. The former has larger flowers and is more campanulate while the latter is a high elevation variant with smaller flowers and blooms earlier. This hybrid is very uniform from seed, short, stout, earlier than typical while having flowers nicely intermediate. Pretty cool.

An Ian Butterfield cross between P. pleionoides and P. humilis, this easy orchid has large flowers of pink-lavender with a fringed lip and interior well-spotted in red with a beckoning bee runway of yellow. Typical Pleione culture - the internet is full of great advice for growing in containers and also fantastic in mild gardens where it will thrive in mossy logs and stumps. Great drainage first and foremost.