Hybrid

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.

Sweet Mother of God. It's hard enough to get either one of the species let alone crosses. Flowering size plants we grew from seed collected from a couple of our favorites from the breeding work of Charles Price who deliberately meddled in the private affairs of the West Coast Trilliums in hopes of getting fragrance. These will vary somewhat in color and to the degree they resemble their parents - some approaching chloropetalum, some looking much like kurabayashii - but all well within the parameters of very good.

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.

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.

This accidental bee cross between Phyllodoce breweri and Kalmiopsis leachiana arose in Mike and Polly Stone's Scottish garden, Askival. Evergreen small leaves on a low rounded shrublet to 16" and a bit wider. Copious bright mauve-pink flowers can cover the foliage in early summer making this a star in our rock garden.

An uncommon double form of the Asiatic Gentian found and introduced by German plantsman Eugen Schleipfer and introduced to this country by Urs Baltensperger. These fully double dark blue flowers last for weeks in late August into Fall and will cause visitors to perform a potentially dangerous pivot in midstep as they are strolling by when they realize they are seeing double so have your waivers all signed. Sun and moist acidic soil.

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.

Alex Duguid was the original owner, we believe, of Edrom Nursery in Scotland who grew this particular plant as a strain of Gentiana farreri. This proved quite excellent, combining the compact nature of farreri with the pale sky blue flowers attributed to G. ternifolia. At least this is the speculation of Jim Jermyn, who later owned Edrom Nursery. The outstanding qualities of this plant were recognized and it was named for the original grower. Alex did good. As with all of these Asiatic Gentians, lots of sun and water - they flag if too dry and decline if too shady. Excellent plant and increases readily.

An Asiatic hybrid Gentian which we brought in from the UK. Dark blue, upward-facing flowers are................really nice. Sorry - memory of this in flower last year caused the gray matter to assume the consistency of molten chocolate cake and briefly lost all the pretty words. A particularly floriferous selection as well.

It is not enough to just collect the Wulfenia species but one must have the hybrid as well. And this natural progression of the collector disorder is a very good thing indeed as this is both intriguing and lovely. In part to light shade, this will tweak expectations of spring bloom with 10'' spikes of blue flowers that carry the graceful effect of a Penstemon gone astray in the best possible way in the woodland.

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.

One of the good ones raised by Keith Lever at Aberconwy Nursery in Wales and granted an Award of Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1991. Large trumpets of dark royal blue tempered with violet and lit by white exterior stripes and throat. This is a compact grower which makes for a concentrated display of these flowers and would be a suitable subject for a pot. Full sun in moist soil for best results.

A fragrant free-flowering and good perennial blue Corydalis. That blue is displayed in a quantity of such a pure intensity that it can leave one in a state of unintelligible, ecstatic glossolalia. It is best to dress accordingly as you want to be looking fine if that happens. To 12"+ and wider, rich and moist.

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.

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.

This is a rather luscious selection that arose in Peter Korn's Swedish garden and has soft purple full heads of tubular flowers accented by white throats. Hard to say for sure on parentage - I'm only 100% of my mom - but the thought is that Corydalis capitata is heavily in the mix.

This is perhaps the first of the hybrids to be introduced between Corydalis flexuosa and Corydalis elata and remains one of the best. The derivation of the name 'Spinners' can be traced to this being a chance seedling in Kevin Hughes garden who then brought it to work which was the renowned Spinners Nursery in England. Researching this, we discovered the rather more interesting Urban Dictionary definition could also possibly apply given its dainty appearance and enthusiastic performance in the garden. Scented blue flowers aging to purplish from mid spring to early summer in moist shade to part sun down to zone 6. Hopefully plantsman par excellence Ed Bowen who shared this with us doesn't mind that we are doing what nurserymen do - propagate and sell! We had better check with him PDQ. (Until he gets back to us - it is open season on Corydalis!)

These are seed-grown plants from a fantastic rich purple form of the Blue Poppy shared with us by Merrill Jensen of the Jensen-Olson Arboretum in Alaska where these magical plants grow like Matanuska cabbages. This is a very choice offering. We've not seen this before and the pedigree remains a grandis mystery, so to speak! These could vary from seed but we hope not and be sure to save seed after flowering as you will want a drift of these! Only for cool to cold climates, with no warm humid evenings.

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.