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A very uncommon plant in North America - we have not seen it listed elsewhere - and one we brought across the pond from the lamentably late Michael Wickenden of Cally Gardens in Scotland. This is a much smaller version of this cold hardy species with dense low foliage of nicely deeply lobed leaves. The leaves take on fall color before dormancy and the early spring white flowers are welcome indeed if they escape being frosted.

The first fern offering from our North Vietnam collections, this poor fella has been called as many names as even the most bullied of unfortunates from Lepisorus to Neolepisorus to the sci-fi devilry of Neocheiropteris. Through the torrid taxonomic seas it has clung to its floating board of delightful egg-shaped-ness, keeping its ovate epithet intact and acing that old proto-parenting assignment. The bright green egg shaped fronds with a rough papery texture are wholly unique and make for one of the ultimate pot displays or epiphytic wonders (for milder climes). We recently planted one out in our tufa wall and are eager to see how it performs for us here. Very rarely offered anywhere due to its slowness and I have never seen this pure green form offered anywhere stateside. One for the true botanical connoisseurs. 

One of the very best woodland plants from China. This Ranunculaceae Family memeber has evergreen rounded glossy leaves evoking some exotic wild ginger. The plant forms a tidy dense clump with lots of comparatively tall stems bristling with puffs of white flowers. Moist soil is best.

A selection we received years ago from Piping Tree Nursery in West Virginia which was known for their eponymous native plant selections. This is a big honker of a Lily of the Valley with very large leaves towards the upper limits of the variety. We are near certain of this being variety montana but have not looked at the flower bracts to confirm, hence the cf. qualifier. Familiar white scented flowers in a magnified format that literally puts this head and shoulders above the rest.

This little gem is the result of artificially induced tetraploidy which essentially means a doubling of the chromosome count. Why should we care about something we can't see? Because like athletes abusing steroids, this is extra vigorous with larger flowers as a result. Bright cerise crimson flowers. Yum.

Cutting-grown plants of this evergreen Dogwood from our collection in Asia. Quite a handsome plant in both the wild and our garden which sports soft yellow flowers in June and July. Later, the round red fruit go from being attractive ornament on the tree to tasty snacks on the trail. Which is how we got ours. Our tree in the garden has handled low teens in the winter surprisingly well.

A superb collection of this Strawberry Saxifrage by the Wynn-Jones of Crug Farm who found this in the Hsitou area of Taiwan. Fantastic green leaves variegated in silver-white and while it could be our imagination taking wing after being bowled over by the foliage, the white flowers seem larger than usual on their 18"-24" stems. Moist, shade, zone 6-9.

Sweet little evergreen groundcover from southern Taiwan where it grows at low to mid elevation in littoral thickets. Then there are the virtual thickets.... Small rounded leaves and yes, there are very small figs but it would take a lot to make figgy pudding. Zone 8 hardy and grows at the Zone 7 Raulston Arboretum in a sheltered spot where it is deciduous in cold winters. Tolerant of shade.

Fine South American evergreen shrub to 20" or more when grown richly or half that grown rock garden lean. Wiry red stems bristle with small stiff leaves that pair well to the plentiful small white bells and reddish fruit later. From Simon Bond in England who had some obscure treasures when we visited his Thuja Alpine Nursery.

An unusually deeply colored selection of this Eastern US native dwarf Iris. Despite its Yankee origins this one has taken up with the enemy inheriting the name of noted British botanophile Collingwood 'Cherry' Ingram what can we say the Anglo-saxon can't help but claim credit for what isn't theirs. Grows to just a couple inches high, dark purple flowers as big or bigger than the foliage

An introduction to the US by Asiatica Nursery from Japan, this stands out for the foliage which have broad centers of lime green in shade to yellowish in brighter light. Quite a good thing. We find this hard to distinguish from D. longistylum but are calling it bodinieri based on its shorter height and despite lacking a creeping rhizome. Evergreen in mild climates.

Our collection from an area of extreme resource exploitation in Sichuan. Normally we don't collect much in this group but this was huddled out of harm's way on a cliff face playing the sympathy card which coupled with unusually glossy leaves and showy red fruit, we relented. Multi-stemmed to 8'-10' +. Deciduous. Every time we look at Viburnum in Flora of China to key this out and see the 115 taxa, we get easily distracted.

Our collection of this small Roscoea species where it grew in alpine turf. This sports wider leaves than R. scillifolia and with flowers of similar size. I realize this only helps if you are familiar with that species but the muse has disabled the backspace button. A 2020 study by Chinese researchers proposed that this be split from R. tibetica into a new species, R. lingbaoshanensis but we have not seen any formal description and this name has not been currently accepted. A hardy tuberous Asian genus in Ginger Family, Zingiberaceae, this will self-sow if allowed, to create a small turf itself.

As neither of us were lucky enough to be debutantes ourselves, growing this 'Debutante' is ample solace. The flowers are small but tend to face upwards opening orange but fading rapidly to a soft pink in the interior which is accented by a yellow eye while the exterior retains a deeper orange-red coloring. To 30" of tidy habit with conservative values until it blooms with a rate of increase that might be best described as restrained with the weight of past generations measuring the suppression of potential impropriety.

A fine foliage plant in the family Urticaceae and it is easy to see the family resemblance in it's cousin the nettle. But no worries, this is a venomless pussycat making a clump of tall stems with dangling panicles of tan flowers. Great texture for the moist shade garden. From China/Korea.

Thank gods for Steve Hootman of the Rhododendron Species Botanic Garden who is a champion of the lesser Ericads otherwise we would be blissfully unaware that so many necessary plants such as this existed and this rare epiphytic Vaccinium is just such a plant. Fortunately Steve did not assess a leech surcharge appended to each sale of this plant otherwise we would be in serious trouble as they were legion in the Salween and his stories of his boots squishing as if filled with water from the monsoon rains only to find that upon removal of the boots that the sloshing was not so much water as it was blood which poured red from the weeping leech bites. Eighteen bucks starts to sound pretty reasonable don't you think? Very cute little epiphyte with small rounded cupped leaves and wee white flowers. This is going to be a source of no small pleasure in zone 9 where it will be happy growing in a container creeping in a rotting log or mossy rock in part shade. We grow ours in a cool greenhouse kept just at or above freezing and has been easy as pie. Not the showiest in the genus but isn't high maintenance or prone to drama. This has an unassuming beauty that only generations of attention to understated detail can achieve and there is not a thing we would change about this except perhaps that occasional nightmare concerning leeches.

These are cutting-grown from a plant Steve Hootman found growing in a garden in Philadelphia where it was defying conventional wisdom as to its hardiness. Being a savvy sort of fellow, he snagged a few cuttings thinking this might prove to be very useful. We think so too although we have not yet trialed it out in our garden. So many plants, so little space. This does seem promising and if your are looking for a small-leafed evergreen creeper that will cling to rocks or a wall, then this might be just the ticket.

Variegated version of the Broadleaf Griselinia. This New Zealander is an evergreen shrub with laurel-like green apple leaves whose margins are painted in cream as if from a palsied brush. Insignificant flowers bear little mention which is saying something coming from us, Champions of the Botanically Interesting. The foliage is of first-class stand-alone merit and why chance the potential clashing distraction which flowers might bring to a broad-leaf evergreen of this caliber? Excellent shrub responding well to pruning or hedging and suited for mild gardens such as near the water or in urban heat sinks here in the Puget Sound metro area. Try it as a south or west wall plant in areas frustratingly on the periphery of its hardiness range. The straight green-leafed species has been a stalwart at Washington Park Arboretum for decades in Seattle and this version will be no different.

A jolly plant indeed introduced by Heronswood from Sichuan. This has evergreen foliage springing from new growth that looks to be a bamboo until it leafs out. Small creamy white flowers in early summer and blue-black fruit held well into winter if the cold doesn't knock back the 6' + stems. Cut back old stems in spring if you were lucky enough to have a mild winter and it remained evergreen.

A charming little evergreen Lysimachia with lovely dark rounded ovate leaves on slightly kinky stems.  Probably kinked stems would be more accurate but kinky sells. Small yellow flowers are borne over many weeks and all is in a harmonious scale.  Growing with Disporopsis aspersa, Mahonia, Ligustrum, and Ophiopogon which are all hardy here in zone 8a so we will say the same for this without outside trials.