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A collection from our friends at Keeping it Green and Chimacum Woods of this thin bladed Iris named for the great plant collector George Forrest from whose collections it was originally described. From the same group as Iris sibirica which in my opinion contains some of the nicest garden Irises to be found with their medium size and plentiful flowers that toe the line of elegant and flouncy. This is the yellow form of the species which also comes in a near-black color, you could plant them together to warn off garden predators hungry for your valued plants.

In an effort to make remediances for the recent geographical name flux spurred by one who shall not be named we are gonna call this "Vancouver Sunshine" rather than "Oregon Sunshine". Particularly so because this was discovered by our friend and vaunted Vancouver Island rock gardener Janice Currie from Sooke Hills near Victoria. A particularly low growing form of this variable species which forms a dense flat mat in stony substrate that would make an excellent blanket to keep you warm and safe in these tumultuous times. This is one Canadian import that comes tariff and animosity free, and there are certainly lessons to be learned from its humble but cheery yellow daisy flowers.

This curious plant was bestowed personally (in the form of cuttings) upon Kelly and Sue by the great Rhododendron master of Glendoick in Scotland, Peter Cox who had it growing out of a stump. The flowers are very much like petrocharis, though richly pink as opposed to the white or blush. The obvious similarities end there however as this is not a small dwarf like petrocharis but instead gets a few feet high with longer and larger leaves, of a texture and color very similar to petrocharis. We aren't sure who the other parent was but Peter chose wisely as this is a first rate Rhody. 

Begonias like the world of high fashion can boggle your mind when it comes to the myriad expressions of color, form, and pattern. Yet at the end of the day you can still feel reasonably safe in the knowledge that a dress is a dress and a Begonia is a Begonia, confident in your ability to recognize them as such. Then comes a paradigm-shifting renegade that rewires your brain and flips up with down, Lady Gaga strutting in the meat dress, Bjork encircled by a swan, or a Begonia that looks like an Elatostemma crossed with a Fuchsia. Love em or hate em they are sure to strike up a conversation. This arching red-stemmed Begonia with its small leaves and pendulous flowers is one of the most talked about and coveted plants in our warm greenhouse, and the shock that accompanies the revelation of its taxonomic nature always satisfies. Won't tolerate frost but makes a great conservatory or houseplant and does well in mobile containers too.

This was an incidental find as we botanized along a small stream in a rich deciduous forest sprinkled with a remarkable variety of broadleaf evergreen shrubs.  We had a hard time looking above the ground as it was a scatter garden of Ophiopogon, Asarum, Reineckea, ferns and more Hepatica henryi than we ever imagined seeing.  There was a small Sanicula out of flower but we hoped it would be the blue-flowered Sanicula coerulescens which we have grown for many years, although the leaves on this looked a bit different.  Once we flowered the seedlings, we were delighted with the blue flowers and said "Another form of Sanicula coerulescens"!  But then it kept growing and eventually was not unlike a foliar basketball in the garden which is so not coerulescens! Far Reaches plant locksmith, Silas, worked the Sanicula key and with ample caveats that there are few good comparative images online, pronounced it may be Sanicula orthacantha.  Rare or absent in cultivation despite it ranging from India through China into Vietnam and Cambodia.  Shade and moist.  Zone 6 or lower.

This species is known as the "Silky Camellia" and while not a camellia it is as valuable and coveted as silk and in many ways as finicky to produce. A fine trader indeed is the one willing to travel the route by which seed can be procured, and our botanical Marco Polo in this case is the Stewartia king of Georgia, Jack Johnston. You'll need a bit of woodland shade in your Xanadu and careful handling as these don't like root disturbance but when the large white blossoms embossed with a center of deep purple blue-anthered stamens gets going your garden will become stately pleasure dome the envy of which will spread across continents.

Thanks to Will Johnson for sharing pictures from the parent plants in Jack's garden!

This is the plant that was once sold under the now disavowed name Schefflera chapana in the UK and is now being sold by Nick Macer of Pan-Global as aff. alpina. That name itself is problematic as well often being used as a dumping ground for difficult or unknown Scheffs (or Heps if you're hip). Regardless of what its called this is a real beauty that has been thriving in the Comox, BC garden of our friends Kailey and Nathalie (Wild Oasis Plants!) who shared the seed with us. Rusty fuzzed stems and petioles that are blushed purple-pink closer to the leaves which are an attractively dusty matte-textured dark green. Many of these seedlings show a nice red flush to the emerging foliage as well. 

A Mexican collection of this tropical begonia by FRBC board member Cody Hinchliff from the exceptionally biodiverse mountains of Oaxaca Mexico. This Begonia will not be hardy to hard freezes but will make a great pot plant for a shadier, more humid area. Found growing in the jungle understory along the roadside, nice big plants up to about 3 feet tall with mature leaves the size of appetizer plates and inflorescences of many small white flowers rising above them.

Seed-grown plants of this relatively newly introduced Rhododendron species originally collected by Jens Nilsen. Everything we get indirectly from Jens is exquisite and this is no exception. Large glossy leaves covered in thick hair set it apart from its brethren, and the large white flowers in mid-spring want nothing to do with averages either. Growing beautifully in a local Poulsbo garden, and likely to form a 6-10ft plant in time. 

A collection by FRBC board member Cody Hinchliff of this very rarely seen species of Azara, notable for its broad leaves which at maturity are usually entire-margined rather than toothed like most other Chilean species. Will in time form a luscious large evergreen shrub whose supreme gloss is garden-worthy enough. In summer though is when it truly flourishes blossoming into a riot of green and gold when its flowers that are actually composed of primarily large clusters of bright yellow stamens break out along the stems. Given its rather rounded form we like to think that the common name of "goldspire" has more to do with it being inspirational than towering.

For once the embarrassingly long succession of names appended to this plant before arriving on what we now believe to be the correct one happened before we broadcast them online. Unfortunately that means you all have been kept waiting for far too long! All the time we were haunted by Flora of China keys for Lysimachia, Pseudolysimachion, and Veronicastrum these were gracefully waving their long tails of lavender-blue flowers out in the garden tantalizing. Very similar in appearance to our North American Veronicastrums but with longer and slightly larger flowers in the aforementioned blue-to-purple tones. Seemingly new to cultivation outside of China!

Add some spice to your food with this Japanese allium! Oh wait that would be Allium togarashi....

I guess that makes sense this is way more sweet than spicy. Ultra kawaii miniature allium with starry pink pom-pom flowers in late summer and early fall, only found on one small island off the coast of Shikoku (one of Japan's major islands) its rarity is only rivalled by its desirability. Likes a sandy soil.

Our wild collection of this Chilean endemic equivalent of the more commonly cultivated New Zealand Kowhai (Sophora microphylla). Possessed of the same elegant double rows of rounded leaves and lush yellow bell flowers held in clusters. Sophoras are very common street trees in Chilean towns which is a habit I would love to see copied here, and suggests that they are quite tough in regards to soil. Cautiously optimistic about the hardiness of these in WA.

More like Agapetes viridobracteata, this is the green bracted form of this species we also grow from a Vietnamese collection that possesses the namesake red bracts. While not as flashy this has a charm of its own, the varying shades and textures of light green have a cool, refreshing quality like a chilled glass of mint tea on a hot day taken while lounging on an exotic veranda. These would prefer to be draped over their own veranda, preferably one made of rock or stump-age, given their epiphytic past. This grows outside at the Rhododendron Species Garden so definitely on the hardier side of the genus.

A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering

You know that friend who despite their nice but nothing-out-of-the-ordinary looks seems to inspire an inexplicable frenzy of devoted suitors? You know the one with the flirty charismatic air that you just can't place because you seem to be the only one not susceptible to their romantic magnetism? Well this is probably that friend to those of you on the other half of the country. Which is fine by us cause we don't need the competition in the DMs that are already chock full of a large diversity of nectar-hungry pollinators. What can we say, the tall elegance and up-for-anything attitude that sees V in both woodland edges and prairie meadows just has us hooked. Wild provenance plants from the Western edges (Iowa) of this Eastern U.S. native's range, these particular plants are hairy leaved and have flowers that start as bright pink buds that open to white. our friend Aaron made a mistake in introducing us to this one.

For me this tree always resides in a particular memory from my time at Yew Dell Gardens in Kentucky. In the middle of the workday, executive director Paul Cappiello came screaming by in one of the golf carts and said "hop in we're gonna go look at a tree". So I did and off we went, ripping through the arboretum at top speed until WHAM we were smacked in the face by a thick, heavenly floral scent. The source of which revealed itself when we turned the corner and entered a sun-flooded clearing where white petals danced in the air as they fell from a majestic beast of this species drenched in flowers. "I think this is the best snowbell species", Paul said and it was certainly hard to disagree in that moment, its hard to disagree now for that matter. You need this.

Perseus had to best a sea monster to get his Andromeda, and Sue had to cart hers all the way from Vermont for us to offer them. Meanwhile all you have to do is shell out a few measly shekels to get yours, modern-folk and their convenience economy I guess... Anyway it's easy to see why Sue was so attached and why this sole member of the genus was bestowed the name of a legendary Greek beauty. Slender glaucous leaves that lend it the more mundane name of bog rosemary form an elegant evergreen mound worthy of a spot even without flowers. Flushed pink lantern flowers which mark the plant as Ericaceae (and at their best can almost entirely cover the plant) are deserving of a detour on your winged flight aboard Pegasus. Likes moist to wet feet and needs a cool summer climate to thrive but will tough out even the coldest winters.