Russia

Maidenhair Spleenwort. We love common names. We must dig out our 15th century Herbal and read up on how to properly decoct this sweet little fern for afflicting humors of the spleen. Or we can just grow it in a gritty well-drained shaded rock garden and enjoy its evergreen delicate appearance which belies its rugged constitution. This little fern grows throughout the northern part of the northern hemisphere and just has a small foothold in our North Cascades. One of our favorite sights of this fern was when we did the Coast to Coast walk in northern England in the epic rainy summer of 2012 and we walked close to 200 miles through the Lakes District and Yorkshire Dales and Moors. We saw this growing everywhere naturalized on old stone walls, stone bridges and stone buildings. Very attractive and a clue to its drainage preferences.

Lily of the Valley. A good selection of this stalwart species with a yellow margin to the leaves and said leaves are larger than average as well. Typical scented white flowers. There are numerous spellings of the cultivar name but since this is an American introduction, we can only assume this is correct.

Pure class. A perennial of the first rank and a true aristocrat which is seldom available. Expensive? You bet and worth it. One of the true pains to produce commercially. This has broad pleated leaves and a tall flower stalk with lots of chocolate maroon flowers. Deer proof. Small but sturdy plants that will need some time before they hit blooming size. As a side note, finding blooming-sized plants of this species is pretty much impossible so don't think we're trying to pull one over on you!

Rare little offering from Siberia with very thin creeping rhizomes making a small ferny colony in light shade. One of the last to bloom of the tuberous species, this usually shows its mauve-pink small tubular flowers in May. Loves a woodsy soil which would make a Primrose happy. Very hardy. Don't be dismayed by the lack of roots that should be filling the pot as this is just not what they do. If dormant, you can separate the thin yellowish rhizomes and spread them out slightly pointing them in different directions for a bit speedier cover.

Interesting genus in the Bellflower or Campanula family and we try to grow as many different ones as possible. Just how long can we last growing unprofitable plants is a question we ponder. This is one of the better ones for the garden making perennial carrot roots and annual vines to 4' with tubby cream flowers with purple corolla lips. Z5 at least.

Very hardy Jack in the Pulpit which is the Asian equivalent of our eastern US Arisaema triphyllum. This Jack is native to the Russian Far East, northern China and Korea and is a variable species but always has green flowers with stripes that are usually white but can be sort of a chocolate purple. Good bulb for light shade to morning sun. We sold this for some years as triphyllum ssp. pusillum before being enlightened that it is the closely related Arisaema amurense. Similar but different. An easy Jack in the Pulpit increasing nicely my offsets. Good moist soil.

Choice and uncommon Japanese native making a many stemmed plant with lots of white bottle-brush flowers in spring. The glossy green and nicely textured leaves are pleasant the rest of the season.

A European Trillium relative that forms small colonies in time by creeping rhizomes. Four-parted leaves and greenish flowers that look like an artistic, sculptural rendition influenced by recreational doses of psilocybin. These later give way to a black knob of seeds which are attractive in their own right. Our patch in our shade garden has increased to about 4' across and once it hits 10', we will feel like we have enough.

One of our most favored small trees is this princeling of a cornel. Late winter flowers of yellow filamentous buttons followed by perfectly clean white variegation in the leaves and all further accented when the flowers turn into edible reddish fruits in late summer. Extremely hardy species and these are on their own roots and not grafted.

One of the most distinctly "What is that plant?" deciduous shrubs around is this tough little mutant redstem dogwood. Intensely columnar and slow with curled leaves held close to the vertical stems. These turn a most satisfying purple in the fall. As far as flowers go, forget about it. Slow growing, our 6 footer in the garden is pushing 40 years of age.

From wild-collected seed in the Russian Far East which was distributed 20+ years ago by Dr. Berkutenko. This is a lovely form of a widespread species with fairly compact habit and attractive leaves and has long been a favorite of ours. Very good bloomer with lots of white flowers held beneath the leaves and followed by a good display of blue-black round fruit. Hardy nearly anywhere as you might guess from its origins.

This purple-flowered groundcover Skullcap is from our friends at Free Spirit Nursery in British Columbia where they only grow hardy plants - zone 5 or lower. We've come to regard them as brilliant. Low growing to 8" tall and spreading by rhizomes. Looked great in the Free Spirit garden.

We are mad about Dactylorhiza which are the coolest hardy terrestrial (grows in the ground) orchids and very easy to grow. These are rare mondo big seed-grown plants from Dactylorhiza fuchsii 'Bressingham Bonus' grown for us by plantswoman extraordinaire Claire Cockroft. Pink.

This used to be var. kolenatiana from the Caucasus but this widely distributed circumarboreal species has had the species equivalent of a taxonomic black hole occur with numerous varieties, subspecies and genera all ascribed to this one species being sucked into the vast maw of botany never to be seen again. White flowers on 7"-10" stems.

Twisted Stalk. One of our favorite natives (the list spans several pages of small print) of our woodlands is this Solomon's Seal relative. These are seed-grown from a collection near Easton WA. Branched stems bear dangling white flowers followed by showy red-orange fruit.