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1758 products
1758 products
Blessed be the zone-pushers who find the members of groups generally thought to be unavailable to those not in the tropics which can manage in our temperate world. Drynaria, or basket ferns are a fascinating group that produces dry, skeletal basal fronds which are designed to collect detritus. This offers them enhanced nutrition usually provided by soil contact, which they often don't have as they grow on tree trunks or rock faces. Unfortunately this can usually only be observed in glasshouses leaving many plant-lovers and even fern fanatics unaware of its wonder. No longer we say! This Chinese species is surely among the hardiest of the genus, with proven survival in the UK and North Carolina. The closest thing you will get to a hardy staghorn, and certainly something you won't find in a friend's garden.
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.
Holly-leafed Sweetspire. Awesome evergreen shrub not unlike an effete Garrya in habit and flower but that is perhaps an unfair portrayal. This has grown for decades in the Arboretum in Seattle as a fine free-standing shrub. It really shines as a wall plant with a natural lax habit and the 10"-12" green-white scented flower tapers are fantastic in summer.
One of the better grasses you will find as this has impeccable manners coupled with tasteful presentation. A dense and self-contained spiky green mound of thin green blades gives rise to dark-stemmed flower spikes which can reach 30" tall and are at their best in late summer to autumn. Came to us via Marchant's in the UK.
Katsura Tree. A collection in China by tres hombres, three Henrik's from Sweden's Gothenburg Botanical Garden. How could they not use HeHeHe as an expedition acronym? Fantastic ornamental tree species, this has rounded ovate leaves richly colored in spring with reds and purples and color persisting to some degree well into summer. Elegant habit and high marks for presentation, the insignificant flowers are not required, Yellow-orange fall color accompanied by a subtle burnt sugar or cotton candy scent from the fallen leaves. Eventually maturing at 40'-60' in the garden but old growth specimens in the wild are larger. Can be single or multi-trunked, ours is the latter after some nocturnal critter broke the top out when young and may have done us a favor as it looks stellar. Cutting-grown from single clone.
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.
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.
The Tree Lomatia from Australia. As the name implies, this can get large - up to 20' or so. Here in the PNW, this will likely be a large shrub, getting taller as you move down the west coast. Bewildering array of leaf shapes within the species, this is but one form. White, scented flowers in summer.
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Willow Gentian. One of the truly excellent late summer/early fall blooming plants which jazzes up the shade garden with lots of stems in a circular arching vase shape with ranks of blue to lavender blue to sky blue flowers ranked along the stems. Just what you need when you are sick of Hostas. *These are seedlings and flower color will vary*
This hybrid Oregano works what it got to da max. This is made to order for heat waves, drought conditions, and hungry bees. Lean soil with great drainage? Check. Dry summers? Check. Ravening hoards of deer and rabbit? Check. Loads of amethyst-pink flowers from light green bracts in summer.
An extraordinary variant from Linda Cochran's (of course) old garden which she allowed us to salvage when moving. Distinctly mocha foliage in early spring, with various plant parts retaining dark tones. Notably, the flower stem is very dark as are the bracts enclosing the flower bud. The flowers are lovely, white and richly colored in dark maroon. These are bulbs from isolated, hand-pollinated seed. It will be 3-4 years before these flower but lengthy establishment will result in maximum size.
Oyster Leaf. The leaves are edible and taste - and feel - exactly like raw oysters. If raw oysters are your thing, this is an OMG veg alternative. The now closed El Bulli in Catalonia, regarded as one of the greatest restaurants ever, ran with Oyster Leaf innovative ways. Loved to have tried the leaves striped in golden caviar and splashed with Grey Goose. Beautiful glaucous blue-green leaves on sprawling stems tipped in small sky blue flowers. This likes ample nutrition. Perennial and dormant in winter. This is a plant of just above high tide line on cold northern hemisphere beaches from Maine to Greenland and Japan to Alaska so if you have a cool to cold garden, here you go.
A expert grower friend in Scotland gave us seed of "proper" 'Lingholm' after he could no longer bear seeing the dark blue verging tinged purple flowers of the US 'Lingholm'. We told him that gardeners here are near brought to tears by our domestic blue poppy and he said just wait. Large flowers of the most piercing, unsullied sky blue. Cool to cold northern tier gardens, or 7000' in the Colorado Rockies. Cannot be grown anywhere it gets hot and/or humid in the summer. These may not flower this year. Graeme - you da man - thanks for sharing!
Pretty much an awesome plant for the rock garden or hell strip as this relishes good drainage and hot sun. We saw this at Lakewood Gardens in Denver summer of 2014 and had to have! A small subshrub covered in blazing red tubular flowers and allows no other plant to have any attention whatsoever. On the moderate to dryish side and lean. Did we mention deer don't like this? The current (now April 2017) issue of the North American Rock Garden Quarterly has Marian as the covergirl and it is well-deserved notoriety. BTW - if you are not a member of NARGS - that is a mistake fortunately easily corrected by going to their website and joining. Good publication, great plant people, exceptional conferences and tours and then there is the most awesome seed exchange list - some of our best bragging plants have their origins in that seed list.
Foetid Adders Tongue. How can you not love a plant with a name like this? Trillium relative native to the coastal Redwoods of California, this ranks as one of our most favorite plants. Sure the intricate early spring flowers smell of gym locker wet dog but how cool! And what foliage!
Hardy species in the Gesneriaceae or African Violet family from Greece and Bulgaria where it favors shaded rocky outcrops. Our old mama plants fill a 3 gallon pot with a packed dome of evergreen leafy rosettes that give rise to 4"-5" stems with flowers of pale lavender faces and dark corolla base. Great starter plant for newbies to hardy gesneriads and it is so rewarding that even the long-time collectors have to confess to feeling that familiar thrill when it flowers. Good drainage, excellent in north-facing crevice of rock wall.
Vigorous plants and our hybrids with mainly delavayi as the parent showing more vigor and variation in shape and color than what we associate with known delavayi of wild origin. Whatever the parentage, (I sometimes wonder about my own) these are arresting shade plants for rich moist soil. Red flowers are amazing surprises under the leaves. Persistence of patterned markings are variable and expect fading to varying degrees as the leaves mature. These are all unique individuals which we would be happy to have in our garden. We have offered these earlier as presumptive hybrids and we presume no longer. We will jump on the Dysosma instead of Podophyllum wagon soon.
Rare and elusive in commerce, this is a denizen of the New Jersey Pine Barrens and moist areas along the Eastern Seaboard. When in flower, it always strikes us as looking more extra-terrestrial than a product of our own earthly evolution. Bizarre pink cones of small packed flowers studded with blue anthers are just a giggle. Rich moist soil in some shade. This is Federally listed as endangered and threatened. Our plant was received many years ago from the Rhododendron Species Botanic Garden who grew it from seed and we have propagated it like mad here at the nursery so our conscience is clear.