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Himalayan Maidenhair Fern. Evergreen to semi-evergreen creeping fern making the the most textural groundcover imaginable. Salmon pink new growth goes to light olive and finally green leaflets on black wiry stems just 8"-12" high. Likes a loose moist soil but will tolerate dry when established.

This is a gleaming bit of sunshine carried into your shadowed shade garden and released. The cupped leaves to just 5" high bring more light to their bit of turf than their size would suggest. The small light lilac flowers are nice but incidental because with this Hosta it is all about the glow.

A fern with a murky past, originating from a hybrid between the Southern Maidenhair and a rapscallion, vagrant, absentee, no-good, layabout jackanape second parent thought to be one of the tropical species. Fear not however, as this has all the makings of a classic bildungroman where the unsuspecting background of our title hero is overcome to great effect, with greater hardiness and vigor than it's parent(s) making it a excellent standby for that classic Adiantum look. Sterile though so it's lineage will die with it, setting up for an excellent sequel where it can play the role of aged wealthy benefactor of a talented orphan street urchin.

This is a surprisingly hardy terrestrial Orchid that is quite easy to grow given a couple of rules. Loose crumbly organic/gritty well-drained soil and fairly dry in the winter. Oh yeah, real cold is not the best either. We have friends who grow these easily in nearby Port Ludlow in rotting logs, stumps and deep moss on rocks with a tarp thrown over in winter to shed rain but that is in a mild maritime garden. Traditionally this is grown in containers and overwintered in a cool sunroom or coldframe. Were making this sound harder than it is and we don't mean to as it is worth the minimal fuss. Pink and white Cattleya-type flowers on such a little plant. This increases freely by small bulblets which is how we have come to offer these to you.

Our native False Hellebore which we see in the Cascades. Fabulous foliage plant with big rounded pleated leaves - these are old plants. These may flower next year 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. These started early in our greenhouses and are thinking about summer dormancy.

Pretty awesome new hybrid that came up at Suncrest Nurseries in CA thanks to some inspired work by the bees. This outshines its parents with gray-blue leaves and branched erect stems to 3' holding lots of lavender-blue flowers for many weeks. This can take drier conditions and the vermin deer don't like it.

Grown from seed given us by the originator, Dr. Keith Ferguson and named for his wife, Lorna. They have grown this spectacular, heavy flowering selection for over 40 years in their garden in the Cotswolds. From the Maritime Alps, this resembles our native Veratrum viride with similar bold pleated leaves and green pendulous flowers but this elevates that look to a ridiculous level with its sheer volume of flowers on stems that can reach 8 feet! We have been also gifted seed from the late Michael Wickenden of Cally Gardens and our friend, the redoubtable German plantsman Christoph Ruby. The fact that this trio holds this in valued esteem, should be ample endorsement. Long-lived, hardy as the bejabbers (been wanting to use that for years) and deer resistant. These are young plants not of flowering size but give them a rich moist soil and a bit of amply rewarded patience.

An ornamental Society Garlic that made its way here to the Far Reaches from England lo those many years ago.  Rather than continue to admire what had developed into a most attractive clump, we succumbed to the baser instincts of the merchant and divided away!  Fine grassy chive-ish leaves with stems bearing charming white/pink flowers, and while you might think this an onion or garlic relative, it is actually in the Amaryllis family.  Flowers and leaves are edible, should be deer/rabbit resistant and tolerant of some dry if need be but better with moderate water levels.

Originally introduced by Cistus Nursery from a seed collection at 8000' in La Siberica, Mexico, this very desirable plant has become hard to find of late but our two plants finally flowered with impressive spikes that was one male and one predominately female so we had seed! These have been undamaged in brief nighttime drops to 10F and have formed new crowns after flowering so the show will continue. It is mandatory to have a series of parties when these bloom, btw.

Sweet little groundcover whose double white flowers resemble fluffy bits of white popcorn strewn on the leaves. Perfect underplanting for other shade plants to pop up through and great between stepping stones. Gently spreading and not hard to keep in bounds. Darn near perfect.

We love seeing this False Hellebore when we are hiking up to Marmot Pass or Mt Townsend in the Olympics. Usually growing in dappled light or partly sunny spots where there is ample moisture and rich soil, the big wide pleated leaves are perfect with the drooping plume-like green flowers. Fertilize them well when in growth to shorten the time to maturity. Too deep of shade inhibits bloom but you still get the great leaves. Deer proof. At least here.

From great plant friends in Scotland, this showy cross of two fine Candelabra Primrose species garnered accolades when they used this to great effect in a display show garden. Colors are widely variable and size can be a bit shorter than the parents but literally, all are good and work well together. Now if only politicians............

White Asphodel. From Spain to North Africa and over to the Balkans, this has done very well for us in our garden. Narrow leaves in small clumps with flower stems 2'-3' tall and perhaps with greater maturity, to 4', and which bear showy starry white flowers. We also enjoy the darker round seed capsules which extends the interest. This will go summer dormant and isn't for the humid Southeast.

A fine little European woodlander which can tolerate some sun as well. Spreading by twiggy rhizomes, this will make a good patch in time when happy, The semi-double white flowers adds extra petals to the mix, giving lie to the "less is more" maxim because don't we all know in our publicly inaccessible heart of hearts that "more is more"? Hilda, you work it, girl!

This is a fine plant and another of the Bressingham Gardens introductions. Good ripe tomato red flowers arrayed nicely on the stem and held out to maximize viewing. Very accommodating those Brits. The flowers are nicely ranked with some overlap on each side which creates a showy floral synergistic effect. This is a compact grower to just a couple feet tall and very useful where you need a shorter plant that can still pack a punch. No doubt a sister seedling to 'Bressingham Blaze' from the same cross of C. masoniorum x C. paniculata as both were introduced in 1970.

This variety of the charming European wood anemone graciously comes with slightly larger flowers reducing the need to reach for those reading glasses or get down on aching knees to appreciate their idyllic fairytale beauty. Or for those of a younger generation, your instagram photo will be in focus without the help of that $10 bootleg iphone macro lens -  $10 more to put towards more anemones perhaps...

Small but rapidly clumping bulb from South Africa with dense grassy leaves and small white flowers, produced with some say reckless abandon during summer. Named after Ruth McConnell who was one of the foremost growers and hybridizers of the genus in the UK. These have been easy in the garden here.

Previously identified as Iris henryi, our friend the great plantsman Darrell Probst, gave us two clones of his introduction of this fantastic species.  They thrived in our shade garden making dense mounds of very thin leaves with copious flowers.  One April in our shade garden, we found ourselves enjoying the two clones in flowers and realized that we were getting that familiar urge to procreate.  What was most unusual was that we actually had time to do something about it (April in the nursery business is work-eat-sleep-repeat) so we went all carpe stamen and plucked the anthers and crossed the two clones.  Here is the result and these plants along with the memories of that wanton, aberrant April, sustains us each spring.

If you have the spot for this plant then there is no reason to not to grow this unless you simply don't do red because this is a smoldering fountain of saturated pigmentation celebrating the red spectrum. Red foliage and bright red flowers on 3'-4' stems in late summer. Moist and rich.

A lesser-known cousin to the better-known Iris unguicularis. This is a Turkish species and while it blooms a bit later than it's famed cousin, is still early enough to be immensely gratifying plus it has hands down far more attractive evergreen foliage than I. unguicularis. We had a flower or two this past December but expect it to really kick in when March roll around. The flowers are held down in the foliage and often this foliage is cut pack prior to flowering so the blooms can be enjoyed unencumbered. We've never gotten around to do that and our enjoyment has not been diminished one whit Easy with drainage and will take some summer dry. We've found the foliage looks better in part shade and actually grow this in our shade garden.