New & Restocked

This tasteful perennial from Japan bides its time in the shade garden as the floral hoi polloi scrabble for attention during spring and summer. Once the fracas has died down, this takes center stage in September and October with its intricately constructed buds like little pieces of sculpture which open to fuzzy light lavender flowers. 

Perhaps polite society really is dead, or at least polite society garlic. This poor little fella is quite possibly extinct in the wild, or at the very least critically endangered and restricted to a tiny area of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. If that's not enough to elicit your sympathy then the sweetly fragrant soft pink flowers are sure to win over your heart, and make you forget for a blissful moment the comparatively uncouth smell of the foliage (though that provides it with deer resistance. Drought tolerant and desirous of fair drainage but otherwise easy going for a South African bulb.

Bomareas make our head spin, in good and bad ways. I was pleased to find out recently that we aren't the only ones, apparently the non-twiners sometimes twine, and the number of flowers vary widely, as do the color patterns. So basically don't worry too much about keying this one out, instead sit back and enjoy the twirling petioles and tropical colored flowers at face value. This is another in a series of mystery Bomareas we received from friend Chen Hao, it's hard to pick a favorite! With the mystery comes mystery hardiness so please trial it for us, what we can say is full sun and a bit of moisture are welcome companions.

An Arizona collection by FRBC board member Cody Hinchliff of this excellent and underutilized perennial. In exchange for a hot sunny spot and top-notch drainage you will receive plentiful returns in the form of deer-resistant drought-tolerant finely textured foliage with a crown of fiery red corollas. This collection is particularly late-flowering extending the season for both you and your local hummingbirds to a time not particularly known for such saturated blooms.  Not for those with wet summers.

Big fan of these underrated little herbaceous doers, was an even big fan when they were under the phonetically delicious Zauschneria. Mounds of silvery foliage topped for an impressively long period in the late summer and fall with salmon pink tubular flowers very similar in appearance to a salvia. That long flowering and flower form also mean they are a delight for hummers. California native and the Sierra should give you some hint to cultural requirements, does well in well-drained and even rocky soils, drought tolerant but not averse to some moisture, at the same time it doesn't want wet feet. Provides a lot that we will be in need of with changing climates, especially in the rain shadow (deer resistant to boot) so we're hoping to see more of it out and about!

An Arizona collection of this cheery columbine from FRBC board member Cody Hinchliff. These have proved unexpectedly easy and rewarding for a Southwestern native in Cody's high rainfall rain garden growing to a lanky 30" and producing masses of up to 20 bright yellow long-spurred flowers well-loved by pollinators in the Spring and Summer.  

Fairy Wand Flower.  Angel's Fishing Rod.  By whatever name, you can rest assured that this is one damn fine evergreen bulbous member of the Iridaceae.  Tough South African with 2'-3' basal clump of leaves and wiry tall stems with many pendant bell flowers of a particularly rich hot pink to magenta in this seed strain of ours.

Received as seeds from the self-proclaimed (and rightly so) "Veratrum Guru" Christoph Ruby, these plants originate from a now long devastated patch of habitat in the Balkans. Luckily careful stewardship by the esteemed gardeners of Hof Botanic has ensured the preservation and indeed proliferation of their genetics. The var. flavum has been the victim of taxonomic erasure but is kept here to denote the vibrant yellow-green flowers in this strain. The usual lush pleated foliage, deer resistance, and imposing size combined with provenance you can't help but feel good about make these a winner in a moist spot with a bit of shade. 

Potentially the first offering of this plant in the US we brought this back from Far Reaches sister city Pan-Global Plants, the stellar nursery of plantsman Nick Macer who wild collected these in Guizhou. Very unique look with dark green rosettes of leaves centered by a cluster of yellow flowers, will slowly spread to form a truly special groundcover Broader and fewer leaflets than the more often seen var. stenophylla.