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A lovely form we brought home from Scotland a few years back. This varies from the norm of mid-blue flowers by embracing the blending nature of Impressionist pastels with its goes-with-anything non-confrontational light lavender-blue flowers in April and May. Not surprisingly, this form is a Libra.

Named for British plantsman E.A. Bowles, this variety of wood anemone sports attractive lavender to purple flowers. For the true purple lovers, the foliage is an added bonus emerging with a purple tinge or margin that nicely delineates the prettily dissected leaves and provides a purple haze that would make Jimi proud.

Solomon's Seal. Mighty fine selection and surely one of the very best variegated perennials for shade. Good clean white variegation that illuminates wherever it is planted. Stunning enough to stand alone with a simple groundcover at its feet or schmoozes easily with other garden glitteratti. This doesn't increase overly quickly by any means and a large clump is very prized. Not to be confused with the old standby variegated Solomon's Seal which while nice, doesn't have nearly the degree of variegation as this selection.

Steve Hootman, Curator and Director of the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, often pats himself on the back for collecting this exceptional species in China and each spring as our plants flower, we murmur attaboys and give him virtual high fives while virtually raising our glass in salute. Loves some shade, great foliage and spring pink flowers. Steve has bagged a host of amazing Rhodos on his collecting trips and this Peony is just as exceptional. Narrow leaflets with a distinct sheen provide backing for the fat dark pink flower buds which often emerge in the early to mid spring before the leaves. This gives an extended period of tantalization before the impressive pink flowers open. An added bonus are the lovely shiny black seeds arrayed in the starfish-shaped seed pods. All in all, a very choice introduction. Huzzah, Hootman and well done Laddie! Just cover the 'noses' an inch or two as too deep is worse than too shallow when planting peonies. This species is best in light shade although part sun such as morning sun is perfectly ok. These are seedlings that are a couple years from blooming size.

Staggeringly impressive recent introduction of this Solomon Seal species from - wait for it - Vietnam. This is similar to our favorite Polygonatum huanum (formerly as kingianum) but is just more of everything that is good. Large red flowers snug the whorled leaves on stems which reached 15' tall this year in the garden, and which remain green for us until temps drop below 20F. These are young plants but worth the wait!

A superb compact and very floriferous plant we got from the sadly late Michael Wickenden at Cally Gardens in Scotland. This is just about the perfect little container plant with low, dense tuffets of deep green narrow blades of leaves and a profusion of small white flowers on short stems which retain interest long after flowering with their seed heads. This would be an ideal plant for some plant factory to pick up for tissue culture to flood Lowe's and Home Depot with millions of these but we would ask that if there is any inclination to do so, know that Michael was vehemently opposed to this and that his wishes be respected. Because this is the new America, when conscience fails, please consider a gentleman's royalty on each plant to be sent to Cally Gardens.

A collection by Dr. Cody Hinchliff from the highest reaches of the Sierra de Laguna in Baja, Mexico.  This Bear Grass Tree makes impressive trunked specimens in time with equally impressive displays of many creamy white flowers.  We can say that these plants have memories of colder times as one of these young plants we planted out in November of 2023 survived handily the beastly arctic blast of several days with temps down to 11F.  A rare offering and this will be ideal in sunny dry spots with good drainage with occasional deep watering.

An eyecatcher as evidenced by our friend Brian, with exquisite taste in all things beautiful, when he made the hopeful inquiry "These probably aren't ready to sell yet" From a Malaysian botanic garden, this has sumptuous burnished metal leaves on the uppers with rich red undersides. White/pink flowers are not needed.

A Dan Hinkley collection from Japan of this fine mid to late summer blooming Allium species. Good richly colored purple flowers are freely produced on this densely clumping little dude. Good in containers and great in the rock garden or special little niche. This was originally misidentified as Allium thunbergii.

We collected this in 1997 on the Tibetan Plateau near Zhongdian in an area of Tibetan open range. The early October withered, deciduous leaves and dried seed pods shrieked Iris! Eventual flowers confirmed the species, first described in 1995. Thin leaves and basal gorgeous flowers. Young plants.

Our native False Hellebore which we see in the Cascades. Fabulous foliage plant with big rounded pleated leaves. These will flower up to 6' with lots of small whitish starry flowers. Best in light shade or no afternoon sun. Loves a rich moist soil and is deer proof. 

One of the better of the clear yellow hybrids with nicely presented flowers that while of good size are not so overly large that they bow down the stems. We've come to like the clean yellows as they bring something refreshingly uncomplicated to the garden bed and the fewer issues in bed, the better.

A bright flare of rich red flowers makes this is an excellent garden plant which puts on a good show and was named for a woman of no small means and substance. To bestow such a namesake upon a plant of anything less than the first rank would be folly in more ways than a simple flatlander such as myself could conjure so that alone should speak to its merits. The spawn of breeding Crocosmia xcrocsmiiflora x 'Lucifer' in the late 1980's by A.J. Hogan in Cornwall resulted in some excellent seedlings. This was the cream of that crop and was named in 1993 and bears little resemblance to 'Lucifer'. A robust plant to 3' tall or so.

We received this from plantsman Lance Reiners via Barry Yinger who brought this in from Japan some years back and looks to be the same plant as Aspidistra zongbayi 'Yunnan Sunshine' which Barry named. 2ft evergreen lanceolate leaves with a light yellow to white central stripe. Tolerant of deep shade and a variety of soils, also happy containerized or as a houseplant.

Collected in northern India by the intrepid plant hunting duo of Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones, this species offers some midsummer exotica with yellow flowers emerging from soft red calyces on 2' stems. Yet another hardy-for-us species in the Zingiberaceae that we are enamored with.

Beautiful clumping species that may well be the queen of the genus. Or are we granting royalty because it is new on the scene? Maybe, but it is awfully good. This makes a stout small clump of evergreen, fern-like leaves from which emerge in spring the peculiarly Coptis greenish-yellow flowers. From China.

This lacks the variable purple streaking in the flowers commonly associated with typical x beesiana. Held well above the leaves, exotic flowers are a clear pale yellow the color of moonlight caressing the languid limbs of your beloved as you lament the bright moon dimming the Perseid meteor shower. Best in cooler climates but succeeds in Maryland.

This is a cultivar being exported from Holland. The flower color is a shade darker than typical so that is good. What isn't good is that this is an imposter. One reference we found says the flowers should face upwards, this doesn't but if it did, it would merit clonal naming. "Shi-ran" is simply the Japanese name for Bletilla which would suggest that this was a generic import by the Dutch from Japan. aarrgghh. Every source we have seen that lists this selection has this same plant. All of this said, it is a slightly darker form and not unlike one we grew years ago as 'Rosea' also from Holland.

From one of the richest botanical late afternoon spur-of-the-moments "let's see what this dirt road offers" we have ever had. From trees, to shrubs to perennials to monocots, we made very little progress up the road in the time available. This indispensable perennial Merry Bells was 2' tall with tempting blue fruit in light shade and part sun.  Upon flowering, this deviated from the typical purple-pink bells of cantoniense with greenish flowers whose midsection is infused with a pale chocolate. The species is wide-ranging and it would not be surprising to see color variation in the flowers. Certainly a rarity whether it is this species or proves to be something else entirely.

A Darrell Probst collection of this classic Chinese evergreen groundcover which sends Kelly into defensive throes of passionate oration when ne'er do well gardeners question its place. Little candles of pink and white flowers held by the arched creeping candelabra stems which are then followed by glossy red baubles that would be fabulous as miniature ornaments. Let the Christmas reign of holly end and the new dawn of Reineckea begin.