Hybrid

A pretty spiff hybrid from the Los Angeles County Arboretum. This hardy Lily of the Nile has deep and dark violet flowers which are held on stems up to 3' and are quite the show. Had a girlfriend years ago who was deep and dark and would frequently put on quite a show but that grew tiresome. This plant is different and you won't weary of it or require therapy.

One of the most intensely colored Juliana type Primroses out there. This puts on a no-holds barred display of shrieking magenta flowers that is a celebration of pigment with no apologies. The rich color sets it apart from all others. Tolerates full sun if given enough water but looks better given some relief from afternoon sun. Very tough and a good clumper. Our plant came from Rice Creek Garden in Minneapolis years ago so that gives some clue as to hardiness. It also came under the name of 'Lois Lutz' which we have sold it as for a number of years including this year on our online store here. Thanks to the American Primrose Society show people down in Portland for pointing out the error of our ways.

So notoriously promiscuous as to make a rabbit blush, these evergreen bulbous Iris family members are all about the summer of love. Embracing any bee that taps on its window bringing pollen from any nearby floozy flower, this exhibits a Bacchanalian moral turpitude that is either damned or extolled. These are young seed-grown plants from one of our darkest Dierama so at worst, this will still be pretty good.

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.

Striking hybrid with yellow flowers, nicely fringed lip and interior heavily spotted in red. We have seen one reference to this as being a hybrid between P. albiflora and the lovely yellow P. forrestii. We have seen forrestii in the Cangshan and despite it being fall and thus no leaves or flowers - just dormant pseudobulbs packed into a rock crevice, we still did a botanical St. Vitus dance. This has filled that void magnificently.

A pretty little thing from the alpine world. The genus name comes from the Italian for 'Little Coins' which fairly represents the diminutive rosettes of perfectly circular evergreen foliage. For the less money-motivated the bright purple-pink flowers held a few inches above the flowers call to mind an egregious fringed lampshade from the lava lamp days. Closely related to primulas and happy with much the same treatment.

A Primula allionii hybrid which we received from the plant duo of Mason & Grimm at Hedgerows Nursery. The allionii hybrids are a tough lot and excellent for troughs, rock gardens and container culture. Small cushions of foliage on well-grown plants can get totally obscured by white flowers with a tiny cream eye. This is a good gateway hybrid to the many allionii crosses out there.

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.

A seedling found in the gardens at Pan Global Plants in England and named by the proprietor Nick Macer. This is a hybrid between two of the blue flowered Chinese species, C. flexuosa and C. elata that combines excellent vigor with blue scented flowers for moist shade to zone 6 at least. This was named by Nick for the conservative members of Parliament or "true blues". Nick is a heckuva plant hunter as well who could probably retire early if he moved to the States and had his own TV gardening show. Not only does he know plants but he has that damned charming accent and is way too good looking. Thanks to Ed Bowen for sharing this selection with us and who rivals Nick in everything but the accent.

Lucky dip offering of open-pollinated seed-grown plants from a very vigorous and bold foliage mama plant. There were adjacent good Epimediums so these variable children should all be attractive and evergreen. Colors are going to surprise us all.

One of the largest flowered selections of Gentiana acaulis, this is truly a showstopper with its big, deep blue trumpets in spring and lighter reblooms after. It may owe its vigor to hybridity but whatever the reason, we are down with it! Moist, rich soil in sun and stand back and enjoy. Gentiana acaulis 'Maxima Enzian' is likely the same as Enzian is German for Gentian.

Our friend Ian Barclay's introduction from Desert Northwest Nursery (awesome plants!) of this seedling of 'Leanne' and an improvement of that selection. Darker green foliage and lighter yellow flowers in mid to late winter and a small rebloom in fall. Grows fast and leave it some room like all Grevillea but very amenable to pruning. Prefers mineral soil, no fertilizer.

As neither of us were lucky enough to be debutantes ourselves, growing this 'Debutante' is ample solace. The flowers are small but tend to face upwards opening orange but fading rapidly to a soft pink in the interior which is accented by a yellow eye while the exterior retains a deeper orange-red coloring. To 30" of tidy habit with conservative values until it blooms with a rate of increase that might be best described as restrained with the weight of past generations measuring the suppression of potential impropriety.

Coveted hybrid Mayapple nearly impossible to find. 'Red Panda' is a seed strain from the O'Byrne's with some variability but this form from Nita Jo Rountree is the best that we have seen. Large copper leaves in spring which become infused with green as the summer wears on and very good red flowers in spring. Moist shade in rich soil = Pandamonium.

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.

This was selected at Bressingham Gardens by the legendary Alan Bloom and is derivative from the garden-proven Headsbourne hybrids that are noted for hardiness and excellent flowers. This pick of the litter has 2-1/2' stems with baseball-sized flower-heads of a good dark blue. This will be good down to zone 7 with a nice deep mulch.

Large burnished red to maroon to olive-maroon leaves depending on leaf maturity and light intensity. The small pinkish red flowers are nice but not required for universal admiration. Our big plant has the gravitational pull of a black hole upon visitors who walk by a plethora of amazing rarities to pay homage to Fred. Frost-free.

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.

This is a fine selection quite comparable to "Back in Black" but a bit more compact in stature aspiring to attain 3' in height. This makes it much more workable for the front of the bed or as a container element. Dark stems holding dark blue-purple flowers in late summer. Mulch if very cold but has been fine here in the Puget Sound area.

We learned our original offering of this was incorrect as noted by a Primrose Society judge who said what we had was 'Jay Jay'. Shortly thereafter, we got a letter from Deborah Lutz who said our 'Lois Lutz' was not correct and she should know as Lois was her mother and would we like the correct one? Thank you and Yes! We can now offer the correct 'Lois Lutz' with a provenance that would delight any appraiser at the Antiques Road Show. This is vigorous and floriferous with masses of short-stemmed vividly vibrant flowers that hide the foliage. And it is correctly named!