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We got tired of folks asking for Jenny after seeing her in our border so being savvy entrepeneurs we potted some up. This is a dandy Crocosmia of smaller habit with tasty flowers of butterscotch infused yellow. Not a piercing yellow but of a gentle hue. Jenny has class after all.

Demure little native of the Coast and Cascade Ranges in Oregon, this obscure Trillium relative was grown from seed collected by National Living Treasure Ron Ratko. Well, he should be anyway. Grow this like you would Primroses or Trilliums in moist but draining soil in shade.

A super hybrid out of the UK from crossing the two related genera, Hypoxis and Rhodohypoxis. These genera occur in South Africa and are small bulbous members of the Iris family. While just a few inches tall, these are showy beyond the implied limits of their size and can cover themselves for weeks in large red flowers. Easy to grow and a fast increaser, this will become a favorite. Cold climates can be overwintered inside where cool.

This is from seed collected in 2010 at 3500' from cliffs on the lower slopes of Fanjingshan in Guizhou. What fun it was to see this gesneriad in the wild! Purplish flowers are held on short 4" stems and this is a must-have if you fancy Afican Violets and Streptocarpus. Frost-free and good drainage.

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.

A hybrid out of New Zealand that is widely regarded as one of the best. A hardier deciduous species with big heads of purple-violet flowers with each petal boasting a darker central stripe. This is a performer which will not disappoint. This can be grown in zone 7 if deeply mulched for the winter. We typically mulch all of our Agapanthus just to be on the safe side as we can get cold here.

A collection from Japan by the Wynn-Jones from the higher elevations in the mountains of the Kinki Peninsula in central Honshu. This is very similar to the clone 'Maroon Beauty' which is no diminishment. Good purplish leaves with paler highlights and impressive flowers for a Sax with tall stems bearing flocks of white blooms. Moist and shade.

We first encountered this species in the fall of 1997 when we were on the mid to lower slopes of the Cangshan Mountains looking down to the barely discernible 3 Pagodas of Dali fronting the broad expanse of Lake Erhai. This groundcover species formed broad carpets of evergreen foliage covering the large rocks on the boulder-strewn slope so as to give the impression of a tumultuous green sea frozen in place. The day sounds much better than it was, for back in 97 there was but a rough single track road to the higher elevations and on that day our jeeps were blocked by a massively overloaded lorry whose driveline had failed under the weight of massive marble blocks quarried from the higher reaches. The truck was gradually sinking into the mud with just a few inches of clearance and a young skinny boy had been fetched from downslope to slither underneath and effect repairs, which was going to take many hours at best. This meant we were stranded at low elevation with a bunch of botanically fascinating, marginally hardy plants which was not our goal. We made the best of it and one of our new acquaintances was this Ficus.

We were pleased as punch when our friend Jim Fox gifted us with cuttings he took from Roy Lancaster's garden where it is growing as a foundation plant against his home. It was not a stretch to think that this plant was from the same population we had seen as Roy had traveled this same road years earlier as part of the Sino-British Expedition to Cangshan. Sadly we can't grow this outside here in our gardens but if you are lucky enough to have only very light frosts or none at all, then this would be a fine groundcover. This does have small reddish figs but stick to the ones you get at the store.

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.

A mouthful we'll grant you, for this Epimedium from Guizhou, China. Vigorous evergreen species with long leaves in 3's in stems to 18" tall. This can get to 4' or more wide and will provide a mass of inspired texture. The mist of up to 150 tiny white and yellow flower motes per stem are curious contrast to the substantial foliage. Does well at Chicago Botanic Garden.

No shipping to the State of: OR A nice dwarf evergreen Blueberry from Yunnan and Sichuan where it is found growing epiphytically in large trees of evergreen oak and hemlock. This is a very good garden plant needing an airy organic soil. The foliage has salmon to red colors depending on the season. Fall small fruit.

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.

This is the first introduction in the US of this selection. We got cuttings from a friend in The Netherlands who is a rabid collector and he was very excited to send us cuttings. This is a hardy Tasmanian species that has a hint of pink in the flowers and dark pink new growth.

One of two similar but subtly different chance seedlings in our garden thanks to the tireless hybridization efforts of our various bee species. Apparently they visited the nursery and purloined pollen from 'Dixter Pink' or 'Cottage Apricot' and placed it on our Chrysanthemum yezoense - awesome! Why didn't we think of that? Softly pale pink flowers with petals flat to slightly reflexed.

Named by plant guru John Flintoff who found this as an interesting seedling growing in plantswoman Loie Benedict's garden. John has an almost incomprehensible breadth of knowledge about plants and can well judge when a plant is distinct and worth naming. Two examples of introductions from him are Pulmonaria 'Roy Davidson' and Pulmonaria 'Benediction' which have yet to be supplanted by a couple of decades of new introductions so this Ajuga comes with some plant cred. Light green leaves with a spreading habit and flowers of a soft muted lavender which happily goes with most everything. As long as the soil is reasonably moist, this will be good in sun to light shade and is resistant to deer and rabbits. We have both and we accept your sympathies.

Hearkening back to our 1997 collection in Yunnan, this persistent little onion is testament to what keeping calm and carrying on can do for you. Thin, grassy clumps of leaves with small heads of pink flowers held above makes this daintily appealing. This likes a reasonably moist, rich soil. Often seen with the name "amabile" appended to it, which is an invalid synonym.

Second-generation plants from our original collection of this large shrub to small tree in southern China. Glossy evergreen leaves and large fried egg flowers - white petals with a yolk of yellow stamens - in October-November. A gorgeous plant for mild gardens where frost won't turn the white blooms Camellia brown.

Superb selection of this autumn sedum from Graham Gough at Marchant's Hardy Plants in England which we can offer thanks to our friend and plantsman, the ever-generous Jim Fox. Check out Jim's book "How to Buy the Right Plants, Tools, and Garden Supplies" although if there are warnings about mail order nurseries in there, please ignore that section at least when it comes to us! This sedum can develop excellent red-burgundy foliage in full sun which complements the red flowers and all with an excellent habit which is what you would expect from one of the UK's most celebrated nurseryman..

Iris maven Carla Lankow shared this nice form with us which is smaller in stature than most of its counterparts and has very prominent violet staining to the base of the leaves which is a most attractive feature and more pronounced than other clones we grow. Small blue flowers with a yellow thumbprint on the falls that are quite charming and have an orchid-like quality to them. This is evergreen and prefers a partly shaded to shaded position in moist soil that doesn't waterlog. Hardy through zone 7 and has been grown with coddling and judicious use of microclimates in zone 6 and even zone 5 although in the latter, it is a grudging survival.

We haven't yet flowered this twining Campanula relative which we received as seed labeled Codonopisis - Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh form. RBGE is Mecca for plantspeople with one of the finest collections of plants in the world. This is a herbaceous vine to 6' with likely blue flowers. Zone 6 at least.

Ok, update as of this summer 2016. This has pale yellow-green flowers netted heavily with purple veins and variable leaves ranging from ovate to ovate-lanceolate with leaf margins all over the map running from serrate to crenulate, entire to lobed. Historically this has been regarded as Codonopsis rotundifolia var. angustifolia but Hong in his recent taxonomic revision of the genus now places this in the new species, C. bomiensis. Fits perfectly with his description and photos in the monograph and our thanks to Bob Armstrong for assisting us with identification. Native to China and Tibet, zone 6 for sure and very likely lower.