New & Restocked

A fern with a murky past, originating from a hybrid between the Southern Maidenhair and a rapscallion, vagrant, absentee, no-good, layabout jackanape second parent thought to be one of the tropical species. Fear not however, as this has all the makings of a classic bildungroman where the unsuspecting background of our title hero is overcome to great effect, with greater hardiness and vigor than it's parent(s) making it a excellent standby for that classic Adiantum look. Sterile though so it's lineage will die with it, setting up for an excellent sequel where it can play the role of aged wealthy benefactor of a talented orphan street urchin.

Willow Gentian. One of the truly excellent late summer/early fall blooming plants which jazzes up the shade garden with lots of stems in a circular arching vase shape with ranks of blue to lavender blue to sky blue flowers ranked along the stems. Just what you need when you are sick of Hostas. *These are seedlings and flower color will vary*

A superior red seedling that arose here and one that is a bit larger than the other large red selections we grow. It was fun to lay out a table of flowers of all the cultivars and our seedlings for comparative evaluation. It was quickly apparent that it is hard not to love red and might as well go big. Just add water, food and sun. The name refers to Anna Massena, Princess d'Esseling and Duchess of Rivoli of France. Her husband was a serious amateur ornithologist with 12,500 bird specimens including an unidentified hummingbird which he had collected along the west coast of North America. This was later named Calypte anna - Anna's Hummingbird. This is a favorite resident here all year and loves the winter flowers in our greenhouses during spates of freezing weather. The males are little emerald green Jack Russell's, flashing a conspicuous Rivoli Red throat patch.

A deciduous shrub that can be treated as a perennial or a woody perennial with the form and firepower of a flowering shrub depending on your clime. Each year the pithy arching stems rocket up to human heights and explode into a cascade of pink pea flowers. A worthy addition to a perennial border or to add a floral punch in a space where evergreens are the winter showpiece. Plus, I must say its a pleasure at cut-back time with its neat arrangement and satisfying woody crack. Can be a bit aggressive in the warmer climes of the Southeast.

Sometimes simple is best, shocking coming from this bastion of maximalism and specialization we know, but its hard not to love an approachable friendly face in an intimidating crowd. This species is that friendly face for the at-times daunting world of alpine and rock gardening, adaptable and charismatic with it's primula-like flowers. This little Euro delicacy comes from the legendary Aberconwy nursery, one of two selections bred to combine the compact habit of the white-flowered 'Doksa' with the usual bright pink form. This one favors saturation of color over extreme dwarfness but is still quite compact. A little specialist and a lot cute, a welcome addition for the beginner and the erudite expert.

The first fern offering from our North Vietnam collections, this poor fella has been called as many names as even the most bullied of unfortunates from Lepisorus to Neolepisorus to the sci-fi devilry of Neocheiropteris. Through the torrid taxonomic seas it has clung to its floating board of delightful egg-shaped-ness, keeping its ovate epithet intact and acing that old proto-parenting assignment. The bright green egg shaped fronds with a rough papery texture are wholly unique and make for one of the ultimate pot displays or epiphytic wonders (for milder climes). We recently planted one out in our tufa wall and are eager to see how it performs for us here. Very rarely offered anywhere due to its slowness and I have never seen this pure green form offered anywhere stateside. One for the true botanical connoisseurs. 

These is one of those elfin whimsies that always elevates my mood whenever I see it blooming. A South African bulb once known as Laperousia this is just a delight, usually red flowered but this selection flowers white with a central red blotch providing a lovely pop of contrast. This survived for years at C. Leo Hitchcocks' garden in Seattle with no care. Will seed a bit if happy and fine with dry soils. 

Why do the PNW natives always get named for Oregon? We need the vitamin D more than they do so let’s just pretend this is Washington sunshine rather than Oregon, no matter the Oregonian origins of this Cistus nursery selection. A happy little trailside favorite for many that we are happy to have in a take-home-able option. Adaptable to variable conditions including drought (though not amiable to wet feet) as well as a pal to pollinators this definitely falls into the category of “plants for the future”, and if moral victories aren’t your cuppa the well textured silvery foliage and happy yellow flowers make sure the senses don’t go unsatisfied.

More is more says Feather Boa, give into your sinful excesses species purists be damned we will flaunt our genetic freaks! Just like the fashion item for which its named this Solomon's Seal cares not for demure two-leafed-ness, nor does it desire orderly whorls instead it produces a flurry of leaves splayed across the top of the stems that look like the rippling feathers of a fantastical bird. Very rare and very choice selection of this common species. 

The pure white flowering form of this hardy gateway drug gesner. Has everything the die-hards love about the genus with the leathery evergreen rosettes and amiably nodding open faced flowers. Happy on rock or in a sharply drained situation.

As Cousin Itt is to the Addams family Agapetes malipoensis is to the Agapetes genus, a freak even among freaks. In a genus full of mind boggling fruits and flowers the slender yellow-white tubes covered in white fuzz put out by these fellas is sure to delight those that find charisma in cretinous things with inexplicably devoted fanbases. Our collection from mountainous North Vietnam as yet untrialled for hardiness though the species has been grown outside at the Rhody garden.

While only given its proper species status relatively recently we can all be thankful that the original collector circa 1935 got his credit in the end lending us his zippy name, Oosting, and giving us this excellent and avant-garde Trillium found only in a few South Carolina locations. It’s not just the rarity that makes this haute-couture on the Trillium red carpet, though it has that well-covered too. Eschewing the standard Trillium garb of plain reds and whites this bold beauty pairs a bright acid green with a darkly alluring maroon base while the well-dappled leaves prove it knows how to accessorize.

There is some debate over the hybridity of this cultivar (or cultivar group potentially) and we are pulled in differing directions by the prevalence of hybrid suspicions normally winning out and the relative rarity of true hybridization in most ferns. Regardless of whether it is a mutt or a purebred it is a fine variation on an already classic theme. Finely cut fronds with such regularity in shape that one could easily be forgiven for assuming it to be an unfamiliar species. Cultivar ferns can be a bit marmite but I think even the purists would find this acceptable if not outright agreeable.