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From a 2012 collection in China by Goteborg Botanic Garden's three Henrik's including Henrik Zetterlund and his sense of humor is all over the expedition acronym. This is Polemonium chinense var. chinense based on the glabrous stems. Violet flowers, rarely white in late spring and early summer. We keep waiting for a white one.

Our collection from Yunnan in 1997 of this cream of the crop higher elevation Piptanthus. Imagine our excitement seeing just 3 plants growing in a rubble outflow at the base of a steep hill after hours of walking across the valley of the Gang Ho Ba. Great silvery silken trifoliate foliage and large yellow pea flowers. This makes a multistemmed rounded shrub to 6' tall in our border. Most folks mistake it for a shrubby Argyrocytisus (Cytisus) battandieri until it blooms with flowers evocative of Laburnum. We've grown and killed several collections of the green-leafed P. nepalensis but this variety (which we have offered in the past as P. aff. tomentosus and much earlier as P. forrestii) is far hardier having withstood early November 14F with strong winds despite not being hardened off as the previous week had been in the 60's. Thanks to Grahame Ware for sharing recent research in the genus and hopefully nailing down the correct name. With botany however, never say never.

This is a fun species with green bracts napping the greenish-white flowers and these bracts are quite prominent in this selection by Tony Avent from his 2008 collection in Korea. A shorter species getting a foot or so tall and spreading but not scarily so.

What madness possessed us to make this esoteric cross between the usual maroon flowered species and the white flowered form? Consequences of a very liberal drug and alcohol policy is perhaps the best guess. Unflowered seedlings which will be either typical maroon pleianthum, typical white pleianthum f. alba or shades in between. We can definitively say the flowers will not be blue.

AKA 'Silver Stripe', 'Silver Lining'. This Japanese selection is totally Japanese. Presented in exquisite understatement are the elements of design, function and harmony plus all of those other mysterious criteria which our video-deadened occidental minds cannot begin to grasp but can still appreciate the inclusion. Silver stripes on the leaves puts this at another level.

Curious and uncommon walnut relative from our Asian seed collection where we found this as part of the rich mixture of trees and shrubs on steep mountain flanks. Pinnate leaves harkening to the family Juglandaceae but instead of nuts in a hard shell, this has nutlets in vertical ornamental cones which persist all winter. Too cool for school! The small cones have very small and insignificant yellowish flowers in June and July but the value comes from the long winter interest.

One of the tall verticillate species in China, this was growing among the branches of a striking shrubby Symplocos just below the mountain summit. The leaves on this species are arranged in whorls like the spokes of a tire. At the leaf base are clustered white and green flowers which turn into red fruit. We like it. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering.

A Tony Avent collection from Korea's Jeju (Cheju) island of this very floriferous form of this Solomon Seal species. Large green-tipped white bells walk down the aisle underneath the 2' arching stems making this one of the finest expressions of the species. Polygonatums are an integral part of the mix in the shade garden and are a great genus to collect as there are lots of species with new ones still being discovered in the wild.

A fine Chinese species which we have seen on several plant hunting trips to China from Guizhou Province to Hubei. So often we have seen the 24"-30" arching out provocatively from a slope alongside the trail with the yellow fall leaves scarcely sheltering the clusters of black fruit held beneath. Someday we will have to go in the spring to see the green-tipped white flowers. This is a species in some taxonomic flux at the moment so hard to say where this will eventually wind up but this is one of the Polygonatum cyrtoneuma found in cultivation.

Second generation plants from our collection of this Solomon's Seal from the Cangshan in Yunnan. This has narrow leaflets arrayed in tiers with small bell-shaped pale white flowers overlaid in a dusky wash and which are clustered near the leaf bases which later become red-orange fruit bunched like small grapes. Surprisingly sun tolerant given enough water. In our lath house shade garden which is fairly bright, this has become quite impressive in the last few years making a bamboo-like clump of herbaceous stems to 7'-8' which makes us very happy.

A woody species peony we first saw in Yunnan in 1997 growing in the open woodland surrounding the alluvial plain of the Ganghoba valley with Dipelta, Rodgersia and Arisaema. This will get 4'-6' tall with nicely dissected foliage and the small but intense flowers on these young, seed-grown plants will likely be red although orange is possible as we have both and bees will be bees.

This variegated Japanese selection used to be in the genus Cacalia and has been recently placed in Parasenecio by the botanical powers that be. Broad foliage irregularly and finely streaked and spattered in cream like a monochromatic misting by Jackson Pollock on a green canvas. This will get to up to 30" with upright stems clad in this conversational foliage. Flowers are forgettable as is the case with most of these former Cacalians. We've grown this in light shade to good effect and hardy to zone 4.

Grown from seed we collected from plants growing on a sheer rock face in Colorado. This population is known for its color variations from the usual whitish theme and our young plants have yet to flower so we are twitchy with anticipation. We first saw this species growing among the ancient Bristlecone Pines in the White Mts - that day was magic! Grows in rock cracks/crevices or stony open ground in dry situations. Evergreen mat-former.

Daggerpod. Love this plant but honestly, that doesn't narrow the field much. Eastern slope of the Cascades in WA, OR CA, to ID and NV growing in dry shrub-steppe slopes and open pine forests. Softly hairy gray-green to sea green leaves with wallflower-like flowers usually pink but rarely near violet or white. Rock gardens.

This occurs east of the Cascades and in CA and NV at high elevations and in Millet's opinion is the best form of Penstemon procerus. Small tight ground-hugging mats of fleshy succulent green leaves are backing for the short dark blue flowers. Consummate rock garden plant.

A variety of P. fruticosus found only in the Blue Mountains in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. This variety hugs the ground, forming mats up to 3ft wide covered in pale pink to lavender flowers in mid-summer. The toothed leaves separates this from other varieties of fruticosus. Full sun and ideal in well-drained lean rock gardens.

Nice smaller hybrid between Mexican and American species which combines good vigor with sun and low water needs and a floral jewel box of garnet colored flowers in summer. Everyone wants to lay out the banquet table for hummingbirds and this should have them coming back for seconds. Good in the rock garden.

This is an excellent rock or crevice garden Penstemon we picked up at Aberconwy Nursery in Wales. Their selection for lavender flowers of Penstemon rupicola, we suspect it is a hybrid as the species normally has blue-ish foliage and pink flowers. Great introduction regardless and it is thriving in our crevice garden. First introduction to North America for this Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy offering.

A native of dry, rocky slopes in the northern Rockies. Glossy evergreen leaves are complemented by spikes of light blue to violet flowers in mid-summer. Leaves will sometimes take on a nice purple coloration in winter. Appreciates a lean well-drained soil in a sunny location, so rock gardens or dry gravel gardens are great.

A wild collection from 4450' in Eddy County New Mexico. With stems to 3', the tubular red flowers rank one side of the stem looking very refined. An unspoken secret of the very refined is their dense scruff of golden, decidedly pubic hairs just inside the throat. These catch and transfer pollen while keeping the flower's naughty bits hot, steamy and ready.