New & Restocked

Let's be honest if you're growing Podophyllums for the flowers you're probably a misses the forest for the trees type, and don't be fooled the huge multi-pointed star leaves of these are still just as flashy as ever. That being said, we here at Far Reaches tend to be of the more is more, por que no los dos persuasion and the large paler-than-usual flowers of this selection are quite the added bonus. Thanks to Jacques Thompson for sharing this beauty with us!

White Velvet Spiderwort. This gets great cobwebby silver-white foliage with light purple flowers nestled in the leaf axils. Likes it on the drier side thank goodness and is far hardier than we thought. This overwintered in the ground outside at plant maestro Brian McLaughlin's garden just down the road at 10 degrees one winter "although I mulched it" he hastened to add. The biggest issue for us is not so much the cold but adequate winter drainage because we can get some rain. It resents water-logging but is really quite easy and just very eye-catching as it looks more house plant the garden plant.

Indian Rhubarb. California native that is an imposing sight in the garden. This is a superior form with darker flowers and somewhat more textured foliage. Streamside dweller that loves a wet rich soil where the big rounded leaves can really do their thing.

Offering from division of this excellent selection by our friends at Crug Farm who collected this in Nepal while plant-hunting with Dan Hinkley and Jamaica Kincaid. The species is typically very robust and stout and this is no exception with green leaves and a red pseudostem. The white flowers with a light lavender wash are a nice departure from the norm. This does not like warm night-time temps and hot, muggy humidity - it's from the mountains after all.

Awesome rare lily known only from NE India where Frank Kingdon-Ward first collected it in either Manipur or Nagaland and named it after his wife whose maiden name was Macklin. Pale pink flowers in late spring and early summer are a lovely thing indeed on this smaller collector's lily. Frank's wife must have been an exquisite creature.

Snowbell Tree. Very beautiful Styrax from southern China and a nice infusion of new genetics to go along with the forms already in cultivation. Vigorous grower of pleasing habit and not overly large at 20'-25' with profuse white flowers of good size for this species. Small nut-like fruit follow the flowers. A favorite genus of ours.

This is a dynamite cultivar also called 'Florida' but names aside, the flowers totally rock. White and dark red fragrant flowers marry nicely with the rich purple-tinted foliage. We keep ours trimmed to an informal shrub but it can be a vigorous vine. Nice orange fruit.

You simply cannot run awry with any of the Roscoea humeana types and the eponymous 'Long Acre Sunrise' from Nigel Rowland of Long Acre Plants, England, is no exception. Our importation from the UK features the expected large flowers held proud above the nascent leaves. In this selection, a clear, soft yellow that will win over a good share of those who "don't do yellow".

This unusual form of the Welsh polypody is one funky little dude. Pinnate fronds marked by pinnae of irregular length make it look as if it has undergone a friendly nibble from time to time, and each pinna is made yet more bizarre by a midrib that extends past its natural end to form a barb-like appendage akin to the stinger of its less amiable namesake. For the lover of botanical oddities (don't worry you are in good company) this is no doubt an absolute must have!

A perennial (usually anyway) thistle relative from South Africa which makes a multicrowned clump of softly spiny leaves which by themselves merit nothing more than a good hosing of Roundup but the large purplish flowers are the swan emerging from the ugly duckling.

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.

Wide petals of bright fuchsia pink tempered by a pale white eye simply cannot fail to please. Unless of course you don't do pink, but this could be that gateway plant to that wanton world where pink plays such a big role.

Boy oh boy does this one tick the boxes that elicit pavlovian salivation. Endemic to only a few counties in Utah this extremely rare columbine grows in moist rocky crevices in its native habitat, often found hanging like a miniature sun from sheer rock faces, a performance it carries on with aplomb here in our crevice garden. Red and orange starship flowers sure to bring a grin to even the most seasoned plant veterans. 

A rare relative of our local Salal (Gaultheria shallon) collected by Jeanette Kunnen in the mountains above Oaxaca in Mexico. We were given cuttings by the late Ericaceous collector Art Dome who grew this to perfection at his Seward Park garden in Seattle. Scrumptious new growth and lots of pink bells followed by blue-black berries. Art grew his against a terraced wall on a slope where it got morning sun and it was a happy camper.

This is one of those plants you can just feel good about planting, endemic to Idaho and vulnerable in its natural habitat, now is certainly a good time to bolster its ex-situ presence! Plus its a great pollinator plants and pretty cute to boot. Stalks of pretty pale purple flowers and nicely feathered leaves. Great addition to the pollinator meadows that are so rightfully vogue right now. Not commonly cultivated so may be hardy past what we are recommending here

One of those dramatic ferns which cannot help itself from stealing the spotlight. This spreading Chilean relative to our Deer Fern loves a rich, moist spot where it makes a colony displaying its awesome-by-anyone's-definition leaves. Leaves, which in the endless buffet of nutrient-laden compost and with ample water, can reach 4'-5' tall. Evergreen except in hard winters.

They say everything in Australia is out to kill you, and the fern enthusiast may just die without this beast in their collection. Jurassic-looking fronds up to 4' of a lustrous dark green, finely lined and so thick and rough as to almost seem plastic. It's difficult to imagine a fern more tall, dark, and handsome. Which I guess means now is a good time to talk about the fertile fronds, think a taller slimmer version of the gorgeous sterile fronds painted with the dark sori underneath. Perfect for a rich, wet corner of your private fernery, where you spend sweet life-giving time with your precious Pteridophytes.

Northern California endemic representative of the incredible pipevine genus. For those with an interest in evolutionary life history, or who love to bore their friends with biology fun facts there is a lot to love here. The pairing of distinct pipe-shaped flowers and musty odor may be an example of plant life imitating human life, but scientists instead tend to think it has something more to do with attracting fly pollinators through deception, with the confounding curves ensuring enough time spent to ensure a pollen packet pickup. Then there's the fact that this plant provides the sole food source for the pipevine swallowtail butterfly, whose caterpillars use the ingested toxin of the leaves as a defense mechanism. For the less trivia inclined, the elegantly arrowhead shaped leaves and intriguing purple and beige striped flowers are sure to be reward enough.

This is maybe the best variegated Red-Twig Dogwood selection with green leaves boldly margined in golden yellow and the contrast with the red twigs is pretty darn good. The red twigginess is showy in the winter and great foliage spring and summer - what more do you need?

These came to us via the Iris-specialized Joe Pye Weed's Garden, and while the name seems to be one of a kind these plants have not let their murky parentage get in the way of becoming the chantilly cream of the crop with bright white lace-edged flowers like the doilies of old set beneath fine desserts, and just as sweet.