Hybrid

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.

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.

A large-flowered and very dark blue selection bred by Scotsman Ian McNaughton. The October trumpets are so dark that a distinct wash of purple plays in the outer throat of the corolla as I look at it on this October 8. This wee bairn of Ian's breeding meets his goals of bigger and more flowers - a bonny Gentian!

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.

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.

Robin White's hybrid which was a gift to us from John Massey at Ashwood Nursery and typical of anything from Robin, this is freaking awesome. Stout of stem, bold of leaf and arresting of flower, all is colored a rich purple in June and July later mellowing somewhat but still freaking awesome. Unavailable in the US. Except here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Here's a lucky dip of mixed colors of the species which we have previously offered as Trillium sulcatum hybrids. We received this years back from our friend and plant fiend Claire Cockroft and botanist Aaron Floden tells us there is a geographic area of sulcatum that has various color forms with flowers that range from white to pink to picotee to red. These will be random selections by us of this workhorse garden species with no choosing as to color by you. Sorry for the Trillium tough love!

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.

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!

One gold leafed seedling among thousands from seed sown of our Blue Poppies. Fortunately fertile, we are at last able to offer a few of this first gold-leafed form of this type of Meconopsis. The leaves are most intense in spring and the flowers are a lovely amethyst. Like most, some are perennial and some are not. Save seed! Needs cool to cold temperatures so best for northern tier states or elevation in mountain states. Our sympathies if you live where this cannot be grown, which is about anywhere it gets hot and/or humid in the summer.

A newer hybrid (Daphne cf. sureil x D. bholua 'Peter Smithers') from breeder nonpareil Robin White, this is perhaps the first introduction to the US. A vigorous selection that is expected to reach 9' tall and perhaps 6' across, this has pink-backed white flowers from January to April that are intensely fragrant - we cannot wait for ours to reach full maturity and the ensuing olfactory slam-dance nostrilizing overload exploding our heads. It is close enough as a teenager! Has been unfazed in our shade garden by three successive winters with 10F that has killed stalwarts and battered Daphne bholua. Evergreen to semi-evergreen and on own roots - not grafted.

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.

Excellent introduction from the breeding work of Keith lever at Aberconwy Nursery in Wales. A compact grower with dark blue upward facing trumpets lined with white in the interior. This requires full sun to do its best and requires a rich, acidic soil that stays moist. Your reward is one heckuva show in late August clear into October on a good established plant.

Why don't we all have a Eucryphia in our gardens? Few trees compare to this narrow evergreen - just 8' wide when 20'+ tall and when in flower it's Swoon City. Impressive 2" white flowers are borne in abandon in early summer. This likes a cool root run but we don't get hot here.

Superbly vigorous 2nd generation hybrid of S. carpatica x S. pusilla from the vaunted Edrom Nursery in Scotland and we may be the first to introduce this to North America. If you are into small ornament of ingenious construction, the maximization of minimalism, a totally improbable flower to foliage ratio - we have you so covered! Soldanella are alpen sophisticates that should be grown more in northern cool climates. This hybrid retains the vigor of the comparatively coarse S. pusilla and brings in superior flowers and foliage of S. carpatica. Evergreen tiny round leaves and 4" salmon pink flower stems with lavender-blue fringed bells in early spring is an impeccable combination. Loose gritty-humusy soil in dappled light or morning sun is great.

These are seed-grown from the impressive yellow hybrid Meadow Rue, Tukker Princess. These will gain some height reaching 6'-8' in flower with a nice display of bee-lovin' scented yellow flowers. Does not flop in our sunny and windy garden which is a plus. Self-sows which is not a plus so cut off seed head before ripe.