Hybrid

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.

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.

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.

Solidly colored mid-purple flowers with each individual flower being of good size. The leaves are unspotted and green. This excellent selection commemorates Scotland's great plantsman who was a notable alpine grower and exhibitor. Nice sized rhizomes but may not flower the first year. This is a rare offering in the US. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy offering.

Fabulous hybrid ornamental Oregano (O. rotundifolium x O. scabrum) which is both heat and drought tolerant and with its small compact size is a perfect choice for the sunny rock garden or top edge of rockery wall. This really does need sharp drainage to perform its best. In the Midwest, it is used as an annual in window boxes. Light pink flowers all summer long and perennial in zone 7 and above.

Lily of the Nile. One of the top hybrids bred by Steve Hickman of Hoyland's and is well-regarded among those in the know for its large powder-blue flowers on 30" stems. We have just a few of these and owe thanks to plantsman Jim Fox's courier efforts from the UK and for sharing with us. Jim knows good plants. And tools. And garden supplies. In fact, he wrote a book about just these things which was published by Timber Press in 2013. 'Margaret' is so good that a book plug is the least we can do.

A fine and vigorous form of Galanthus plicatus with inner segments bearing a distinct and delineated green mark. This older selection was found in a garden in the village of Warham and has proved itself as a durable garden plant. Thanks to galanthophile Carole Jennings for sharing her collection with us awhile back.

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.

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.

Our own hybrid introduction which we have trialed for 10 years before releasing a few. A very long bloom period from mid summer into fall. Narrow foliage supports 3'+ stems of rich burnt orange with the individual flowers glistening as if lacquered. Attribution to everyone's favorite 1978 Captain Beefheart album Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller). A Far Reaches exclusive which we think is damned good.

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.

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!

A fine hardy hybrid from Deb and Ron Monnier whose nursery, Monnier's Country Gardens in Woodburn, OR closed in 2009. This knockout will keep the memory alive for years to come. Maroon tube and sepals embrace a corolla that is black velvet eggplant in color with an optical texture that is almost 3D. To 3' and hardy in the PNW. Mulch in winter.

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.

Part of the Vesuvius series of hybrids by Ian Butterfield, this bulbocodioides crossed with x confusa has it all working. Rich deep pink flowers are a perfect frame for the psychedelic rabbit hole of a fringed floral lip whose base color of yellow-orange is heavily overlaid by carmine conjoined spots. And it's legal.

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 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 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!

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.

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.