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Oh ill-fated queen of legend, doomed by prophecy, but glorious and radiant in life. In this Guinevere is rightly given to a bearer of such lovely white flowers. Detractors of the art will complain of browning, and beauty befuffled by rain but don't all things fade in the end. These are seedlings off the rare British cultivar and could theoretically sport a different color but we have had pretty flawless luck thus far in continuing the blushed pallor of a medieval English queen. 

Chatham island endemic, arborescent, Ericaceae. For those who haven't already slammed the add to cart button, these are found only on one small New Zealand coastal island group and boast extremely unique juvenile foliage comparable only to the supreme Dragon Blood Tree (Dracaena draco) from South Africa, thus the heavy metal dragon-leaf name. These spiky tufty columns of leaves eventually develop into trees with a sprawling wind-blown habit and a plethora of blade-like leaves. These are cutting-grown from wild collections made for the Pacific Connections garden project at the Washington Arb. Grows in rich peat or bog areas in habitat so something acidic, loamy and consistently moist should suit it just fine.

Cute little hardy Aloe we got from our friend Jeff Erickson. This makes a tight clump of rosettes and has a 8"-12" stem of soft orange tubular flowers in summer. This is hardy in milder gardens here especially grown in a sunny bed under the eves where it gets winter rain protection and benefits from some heat from the house.

Cutting-grown from the single seed which germinated from our collection at 13000' in an open alpine meadow in eastern Bhutan. The meadow was dotted with these junipers which made upright shrubs like an elfin forest to 3'-6' tall. We pitched our tent near the woodland edge next to a grove of Rhododendron wallichii upon which we draped with wet clothes hoping they might dry enough to be less wet. With a bit of time on our hands, we wandered among the dozens of these intriguing conifers and found a single dwarfed plant that was a low congested mound with quite blue foliage. This is the plant we collected seed from and unfortunately the seedling is "normal" pingii. It is not all that unfortunate though as this is the true species and quite rare in cultivation according to conifer expert Tom Cox of the Cox Arboretum in Georgia who pretty tickled to see this when he visited. Apparently much of the J. pingii in the trade is something else entirely and to find the real thing is a good thing.

A fine and vigorous form of Galanthus plicatus with inner segments bearing a distinct and delineated green mark. This older selection was found in a garden in the village of Warham and has proved itself as a durable garden plant. Thanks to galanthophile Carole Jennings for sharing her collection with us awhile back.

Despite it's translation this is not to be confused with what is often sold as Aspidistra 'Milky Way' instead the leaves of this supremely variegated cultivar are painted in broad strokes of cream and white, further accented with the more commonly seen white speckling, creating an effect well deserving of the more literal translation 'Heavenly River'. As with other cast iron plants this is highly tolerant of deep shade, plays nice indoors, stands up to roving bands of deer and offers foliage bliss all year long.

Collected by Floden-Mitchell-Wynn-Jones at Lao Cai, Vietnam at 2050 meters. This rare species is best suited for the naturalistic or wild garden as this makes a large shrub with the branchlets tipped in fingers of small and admittedly insignificant pale white flowers which contrast with the reddish stems and textured rich green leaves. From a purely foliage and stem standpoint, this may be the best in the genus and has good fall color to boot but is still a shrub best suited for botanic gardens or dedicated Asian flora plantaholics. Hardy to zone 8b.

Fairly recent introduction from China of this superb evergreen perennial. This makes a tidy rosette of evergreen leaves with very attractive scented white flowers in early spring which adds another layer of interest to the shade garden. Makes a nice clump. We say yip-sil-landra by the way. Doesn't mean it's right but we do it so authoritatively that no one questions us. Related to other little treasures like Helonias and Heloniopsis. We saw this on Dayaoshan fall of 2010 where it was growing on little mossy ledges on a shaded cliff face. It is always so exciting to see a plant in habitat when you have gardened with it especially when it is a fairly recent arrival to cultivation.

Collected in Africa and named by plantsman John Grimshaw, this is likely the first offering in the US of this selection which we brought back from Michael Wickenden's Cally Gardens in Scotland. Muted orange buds open to muffled yellow-apricot flowers that are not strident but mingles well. 

Superb blue-green leaf selection of this exceptionally ornamental evergreen Himalayan Blueberry. We saw this in western Arunachal Pradesh in 2003 at 10,000' and discovered an eastern range extension of this in Sichuan in 2006. This is a superior form to both populations and likely has its origins with Barry Starling, UK Ericaceae expert. Fruit is edible but very tart, good only for special preserves and you might be better served eating the birds that came to eat the berries. Not that we would. Or do.

A deciduous shrubby Cotoneaster collected in Asia by Arlen Hill who owns one of our favorite nurseries, Keeping It Green. This was a scrambler on a rocky cliff but will be a small shrub in the garden. Such a varied genus from groundcover to small trees with the shared attributes of pollinator-irresistible white flowers and red fruit for fall and early winter interest. Someday in our dotage when discretionary time is abundant and we tire of whittling to fill the hours, we will fire up Flora of China online and puzzle through the key to a proper identity for this species.

This is a collection by Wynn-Jones in 2000 from near Baoxing Sichuan who thought at the time it was an unusual form, but it is well within the gradient for typical Reineckea carnea. This is a must for the shade garden along with every other one Reineckea you can lay your hands on! Good to zone 6 and likely 5.

This was found in an area of ecological devastation where the only survivors were toxic or as in this case, inaccessible by virtue of growing on a vertical cliff face. The Yi minority control this area and sold all timber and mineral rights so there was not a tree or shrub left in the overgrazed stubble and bad mining practices were rampant.

A very fine Trillium from west of the Appalachian Mts, this has pedicellate (on a stem) red flowers. This is an easy one and will increase by both offsets and by seeding. It is a good one to grow with other species like erectum as it enjoys casual sex, producing interesting colors in seedlings years hence.

Robin White's hybrid which was a gift to us from John Massey at Ashwood Nursery and typical of anything from Robin, this is freaking awesome. Stout of stem, bold of leaf and arresting of flower, all is colored a rich purple in June and July later mellowing somewhat but still freaking awesome. Unavailable in the US. Except here.

A large-flowered and very dark blue selection bred by Scotsman Ian McNaughton. The October trumpets are so dark that a distinct wash of purple plays in the outer throat of the corolla as I look at it on this October 8. This wee bairn of Ian's breeding meets his goals of bigger and more flowers - a bonny Gentian!

This is very close to 'Kaleidoscope' and comes from the same Japanese nursery from which a plant was purchased and patented in this country as 'Kaleidoscope'. One has to wonder how a plant already in the trade on an international basis can be patented but that is a discussion that can run long into the night. 'Galaxy' is nearly indistinguishable from 'Kaleidoscope' and may well be a sister seedling or another selection in Japan. Lightly hairy stems hold the pale green leaves with their radially symmetrical chocolate splotches. Red flowers held beneath the foliage but who cares, really? It's all about the leaves. Moist shade and be prepared to be envied.

Crazy fern that takes away the need to fuss of growing this from spore, as it makes a multitudinous panoply of ready-to-go plantlets on the leaves that will soon have you owning the corner in your 'hood dealing in fern babies. Remember, if it's a kid, the first one is free. Warmer gardens or indoors, mulch protect in zone 8 winters.This is often seen as W. orientalis in the trade but the pterido-prophets say the signs point to prolifer. 

This is related to Corydalis temulifolia 'Chocolate Stars' and has a similar, if smaller, above-ground bulbous rhizome and tons of flowers on long, lax stems The flowers go through color phases of white, pink and dusky purple appearing concurrently during a long flowering period of spring through summer. A remarkable plant. Thanks to Magnus Liden for ID help. Our clone of this has not produced seed so these are from division.

This Dog Tooth Violet can really gussy-up the shade. Perfectly formed light rose pink flowers touched with warm caramel in the throat add a lightness and sort of tasteful elegant extravagance to the shade garden. The mottled leaves extend the interest. Imagine this in Barbie's garden...