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Oyster Leaf. The leaves are edible and taste - and feel - exactly like raw oysters. If raw oysters are your thing, this is an OMG veg alternative. The now closed El Bulli in Catalonia, regarded as one of the greatest restaurants ever, ran with Oyster Leaf innovative ways. Loved to have tried the leaves striped in golden caviar and splashed with Grey Goose. Beautiful glaucous blue-green leaves on sprawling stems tipped in small sky blue flowers. This likes ample nutrition. Perennial and dormant in winter. This is a plant of just above high tide line on cold northern hemisphere beaches from Maine to Greenland and Japan to Alaska so if you have a cool to cold garden, here you go.

A expert grower friend in Scotland gave us seed of "proper" 'Lingholm' after he could no longer bear seeing the dark blue verging tinged purple flowers of the US 'Lingholm'. We told him that gardeners here are near brought to tears by our domestic blue poppy and he said just wait. Large flowers of the most piercing, unsullied sky blue. Cool to cold northern tier gardens, or 7000' in the Colorado Rockies. Cannot be grown anywhere it gets hot and/or humid in the summer. These may not flower this year. Graeme - you da man - thanks for sharing!

Pretty much an awesome plant for the rock garden or hell strip as this relishes good drainage and hot sun. We saw this at Lakewood Gardens in Denver summer of 2014 and had to have! A small subshrub covered in blazing red tubular flowers and allows no other plant to have any attention whatsoever. On the moderate to dryish side and lean. Did we mention deer don't like this? The current (now April 2017) issue of the North American Rock Garden Quarterly has Marian as the covergirl and it is well-deserved notoriety. BTW - if you are not a member of NARGS - that is a mistake fortunately easily corrected by going to their website and joining. Good publication, great plant people, exceptional conferences and tours and then there is the most awesome seed exchange list - some of our best bragging plants have their origins in that seed list.

Perhaps the penultimate perennial in our shade garden. This Asian False Solomon Seal species reaches the pinnacle of expression in this pink-purple flowered form. In time, this will develop thick stems variably black or green and less commonly coated in a subtle pale peach fuzz of small hairs. These impressive shoots arise from the soil in spring as if the imaginings of some wild fever dream about asparagus. At full maturity which will take some years, these will be pushing 6' in height and when in flower will render even the most consummate gardener speechless.

(David Culp, author of 'The Layered Garden', was not without speech when he dropped to his knee upon seeing this blooming but the words were disconnected and for the most part unintelligible. He said almost a year later in conversation "You know, that was was just one of those moments in your life").

The large panicles of small pinkish purple flowers appear usually the first week of June for us and own the shade garden. We have many striking plants in the garden but when Martha Stewart Living wanted to know when to come out and shoot the garden, we said "First week of June - Maianthemum oleraceum will be blooming". It will be a few years before these become contenders for the best thing in your garden but if ever a wait was worth it, this is that wait.

This is a beloved shrub to small tree species notable for flowering young with nodding white flowers which are best viewed when you can look up into them such as ours on a raised bed. Original introductions likely from Japan have red stamens but this collection of ours differs with yellow stamens. We generally get a good rebloom in September following the main late spring-early summer flowering. Second-generation seed-grown young plants from our trees from our original collection with no chance of hybridity. The species honors German plant collector Philipp Franz von Siebold for his botanical work in the mid 1800's. These are best protected first winter.

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.

Seed-grown from the plants we grew from our collection in 2003. This species had been lost to cultivation due to garden hybridization so this reintroduction was quite important in the blue poppy world. These have been better than many at remaining perennial after flowering in all of their inky-blueness. Will not grow in hot climates, warm humid climates, warm humid nights, sun, clay, sand, dry, root competition, warm winters etc. so northern tier states, coastal West Coast or colder mountain areas. While we find them no more difficult than a primrose to grow, folks insist on trying them in Texas, Maryland, Kansas, or worse, indoors.

Himalayan Blue Poppy. Few plants capture the imagination and fire a lust to possess to the extant this fabled perennial does. Our 'Lingholm' strain is one of the best of the Blue Poppies and certainly one of the most reliably perennial. We never tire of seeing this in bloom with its large flowers of a good medium blue or of hearing the exclamations of delighted wonder from gardeners of every skill level. There is something about this that is magic and our sympathies if you live where this cannot be grown which is about anywhere it gets hot and/or humid in the summer.

This Meconopsis is not an Oriental Poppy. Forget we said the word 'Poppy' because everything that makes an Oriental Poppy happy will surely kill this aristocrat. Think cool. moist, part shade, what is going to make my Primrose happy? and you will be on the right track. This is going to be difficult south of northern New England unless you have a cool microclimate. Forget about Kansas although we have heard good reports from higher elevation in Colorado. We've seen the parent species of this hybrid at 12000' in eastern Bhutan and 10000' in Yunnan both in stable moss-covered boulder slopes which never dry. This appreciates a partly sunny to bright dappled shaded position with good loose organic soil that drains yet doesn't dry out. Acid soil and it doesn't like heat and it does need a winter so it can go dormant.

A small percentage will bloom and die - that is just the roll of the Blue Poppy dice and part of the mystique. This strain is much less prone to that plus you have viable seed with which you can start new ones if that does happen. That said, the 'Lingholm' selection in general cultivation has been so diluted by generations of seed-sowing that the Royal Horticultural Society is calling this strain Meconopsis Fertile Blue Group to denote that it is a tall blue flower producing fertile seeds. But what really matters is that these have no peers as there is truly nothing to compare. Young, sturdy plants which will establish very nicely in the garden.

A favorite from the Himalaya, this thistle mimic is pretty outrageous in the garden. Robust clumps of gently spiny leaves and taller stems bejeweled in rank upon rank of long-tubed, white flowers which turn pink when pollinated. Nice to see we aren't the only ones who get a sexual flush during pollination.

At garden cocktail parties where the design elite and the grass cognoscenti compare notes over a cool Negroni perfectly mixed with Punt e Mes vermouth, this is often alluded to as their favorite grass. Thin green supple leaves are imbued with a simple timeless grace and the delicate seed-like white flowers are the perfect contrast. Our thanks to that proper English gentleman David Mason for sharing this gem with us. This was beautifully grown at the old Hedgerows Nursery where it edged each side of the arbor path going effortlessly from full west sun to a good deal of shade. Cut back in early spring for a fresh start.

This is the rarest US Magnolia species occurring in just 6 counties in the Florida panhandle. Fantastic species with huge leaves up to 2' or more long and nearly a foot across. On plants young as 3-4 years old, white scented flowers to 10" wide appear in May avoiding frost damage . Dramatic large shrub to small tree. Best protected from too much wind and protected in zone 6 winters until well established. Ours are seed-grown from private property in Walton County.

Pretty cool False Solomon's Seal whose terminal display of small, narrow-tubed yellowish to green flowers carries more interest than might be implied. This is genetically distinct from the white flowered M. henryi from Yunnan and has a pure, sweeter fragrance than the more cloying white form. We love them both. Sometimes seen as the invalid species ginfushanica.

A rare Myrtle relative from Tierra del Fuego which is quite hardy here and is just the sweetest thing. Evergreen, aromatic leaves and small white flowers in summer which are followed by pink/white, pearly, edible berries that taste like some some exotic perfume. A perfect little plant. Good moist soil in some light shade although it will probably take sun nicely but we just happen to grow ours in shade where it has been a flawless performer.

One of the fabled Blue Poppies whose sky blue flowers in late spring hold people in thrall. This was known for years as the species betonicifolia but was reclassified in 2009. This perennial species is one of the easiest to grow, A good fertile moist soil that drains in bright to dappled to part shade is perfect while avoiding hot sun and dry. Likes acidic soils, cool summers and coldish winters. Cannot be grown anywhere it gets hot and/or humid in the summer. Maybe the best choice among the blue poppies if you are a little warmer and drier than optimum for these divas.

False Solomon Seal. This Chinese species is one of our favorites in the shade garden and we delight in its ribbed leaves with elegantly understated small violet daubing at the base of each leaflet followed by the precise detail in the small greenish flowers. In the late summer into fall, it has strut-your-stuff full heads of bright orange fruit that just makes us shake our heads in amazement. We've paired this with our collection of Hedychium densiflorum from the eastern Himalaya which has late season spikes of similar orange flowers but at 60" rather than the 30" of the Maianthemum. It's nice when a speculative pairing actually works.

A real stunner, this rare member of the bellflower family holds aloft its glorious flowers atop 3-5' stems. Those flowers? Quite unlike anything you've seen before, unless of course you're hiding the world's first Passiflora x Campanula hybrid (our phone lines are open!). Reflexed white petals forming a sun-like halo around a showily protruding pistil make for a guaranteed garden conversation starter. Potentially a great fit for the sunny rock garden or other well drained sunny spot.

Legendarily beautiful, tricky, and hard to get. So reads my tinder profile and so too reads the story of the fabled blue poppies. Luckily this one makes it ever so slightly easier on the latter two while retaining the first. Baileyi has sometimes been relegated to variety status under M. betonicifolia but either way you name it this Meconopsis is a bit more tolerant of less than optimal conditions, plus once it gets going this particular batch likes to form small clumps or even spread along its apostolic stolons until you are left with a veritable blue sky in amidst your bed of garden treasures. Likes acidic soils, cool summers and coldish winters. Cannot be grown anywhere it gets hot and/or humid in the summer.

Formerly in the genus Cheilanthes, this dryland fern is found in Mexico, Central America and Argentina and just recently, one site in Brazil. Evergraygreen fronds of fine texture are densely vertical on this smaller fern. Perfect candidate for the rock garden or container for milder gardens - doing well at Berkeley Botanic Garden for example. Thanks to the Fern Madam Judith Jones of Fancy Fronds Nursery for sharing spore.

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One of the great Mahonia species or Berberis as they are now sometimes known. We saw this growing on Wawushan in Sichuan where it exhibited it's characteristic waxy white underleaf. Loose sprays of pinky-orange flowers in late summer and early fall are followed by nice fruit. Easy and a connoisseurs foliage plant. These are very nice plants needing to get bumped up into gallons shortly and when they do, they will cost a bit more so now is the time!

Staggeringly good False Solomon Seal from China which owns its corner of our shade garden when it is in bloom. The very gratifying terminal white flowers are a reward unto themselves but on a big clump like we have, the fragrance from these makes this a multi-sensory experience of the very best sort. Small red fruit if you are lucky.