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1758 products
1758 products
Gawen Bellflower. A fine choice for cottage gardens or your basic flower bed, this very hardy perennal will provide a refreshing and cooling display of large cup and saucer double white flowers in early to mid summer. This is a mat-forming plant so in a few years you will have an enviable stand of flower stems you can cut for dinner parties.
Rarely does a first glance at a plant so completely peel off the veneer of civility with such an instantaneous upwelling of lust, greed, larceny and deceit as this one: "OMG! I gotta have this - I need at least three - damn - only 2 left - I'll pinch one out of that person's box - who, me?" Black purple leaves and ruby pink flowers in August-October.
The Wynn-Jones of Crug Farm collected this woodlander from Japan's Shikoku Island and represents a link to the shared flora we have here in the Northwest as there are native Mitella in our nearby woods. This is a low and evergreen species with foliage patterned in chocolate markings. The flowers are small pinkish-brown affairs with strongly recurved corolla lobes and held on stems 8"-15" above the leaves. This won't stop anyone in their tracks on its own but as part of the intricate plant tapestry that is required for an exquisite shade garden, this is an essential element. Plus if you are a tiny bit competitive, you can't disregard the fact that you will have something that is very unlikely anyone visiting your garden will have in their own garden. Zone 6 at least, likely lower and best in shade to part shade.
Named for the stringently impeccable plantswoman and designer, this large-leafed deciduous Bergenia with pink-white flowers is a worthy namesake. She had a deserved reputation of not brooking fools gladly but strangely was always pleased to see us - perhaps a case of the exception proving the rule. Light green leaves with crenulate dentation on the scalloped leaves.
Here is the answer for those who want to grow a classy groundcover Manzanita that isn't Kinnikinnick. We planted a 1 gallon plant 5 years ago in our dry garden and it is 1 foot tall and making a 6 foot circle. Small glossy leaves on reddish stems and white bells in spring. Good things come in small packages. Lean soil, no organic mulch we use washed sand.
A strong-growing form favored among some of the remaining specialty nurseries in Oregon. Dense evergreen mats of tight foliage erupt in spring and sporadically thereafter, with improbably large and impossibly saturated deep blue trumpets. This mountain species is no effete alpine, moist rich soil is its cup of tea.
Lilium rosthornii is an uncommonly interesting lily from China whose flowers reflect a design concept taken to its ultimate expression by an inveterate tinkerer. Three foot stems carry large, vivid orange flowers whose narrow petals are recurved into an
impossible backbend with a twist thrown in for good measure. The exposed faces of the petals fairly bristle with polyp-like papillose projections while the revealed open throat displays a dark green star from which unashamedly project the very long stamens and pistils. Having traveled in India, the outlandish floral corollary that popped into our minds was of a sadhu performing in Cirque du Soleil. Google images for sadhu and all will be clear. Lilium rosthornii is similar to L. henryi but flowers a bit later with peak bloom in September for us and has narrow vertical seed capsules as opposed to more globose and pendant in L. henryi.
Our rarely offered native west of the Cascades from the Fort Lewis/Spanaway area just south of Tacoma down into northern Oregon. These are darn nice plants we grew from seed. Small sessile white flowers atop mottled foliage.
Butcher's Broom. Stiff branches of these were gathered into brooms for the serious sweeping required in European shops. This is the choice form not needing a partner to set red marble fruit right on the "leaf" surface. Slow growing, evergreen, drought tolerant. Medicinal.
Mountain Lady's Mantle. This is a smaller version of the more familiar variety with what we think are more attractive leaves. Glossy dark green with an alluring sliver edge to the margin, the attractiveness is further enhanced by the small creamy yellow flowers in late spring. Tough as nails and very hardy to the point of seeding around freely in our retail area gravel, not that we mind!
Seedlings from our collection in Sichuan in 2006. We were thrilled to find this Epimedium - just 5 plants with a few ripe seed - growing on a shallow layer of moss and humus on a damp rock face along a narrow dirt road. Interestingly, two of the plants had black seed capsules and the other three were green. Yellow flowers from April to mid summer and then again in fall in our fertile and moist shade garden. We had this listed last year as Epimedium davidii which it closely resembles and thought this but a variation in flower until the keen eyes of Ben Stormes noticed that this was indeed the rare Epimedium flavum found only on the Erlang Shan which is exactly where this was found. This area, like many once remote areas in China, showed indications of being poised to be developed for tourism and there is little doubt that the plants we found are no longer.
An evergreen Lily-of-the-Valley relative, this is our collection from Yunnan, China from our 1997 trip. This is distinctly different than the Reineckia carnea of Japan as well as other collections from China yet DNA by Aaron Floden puts it right in the species. Scented pink flowers at the base of the leaves.
This is from a collection of ours from North Dakota where its glaucous-green leaves looked most appealing. Small starry white flowers in May and June and the subsequent fruit is most appealing - to us anyway - when immature as the round green "peas" are decked out in dark stripes. This will spread a foot or so a year and you can eat the new shoots to keep it in check.
This native Afghani is unrivalled among Thalictrum for textural achievement and presentation of foliage. A diaphanous haze of small gray-green leaflets makes this well worth growing despite the insignificant flowers. Normally we insist on nice flowers but this foliage woos one and all, lasting long after any bloom.
Quiet woodlander from east of the Rockies who plays supporting cast to the stars in the shade garden but its absence would cause these same stars to seem to not shine so brightly. Herbaceous Barberry family member, glaucous leaves in spring with meh flowers but lovely, blue fruit in fall just when you need them. Thanks to Charles Kelley for the seed.
This is a fine winter-blooming deciduous Viburnum named after Charles Lamont of Edinburgh Botanic Gardens who made the first cross using the parents Viburnum grandiflorum and V. farreri. Charles didn't cherish the seedlings and chucked them which may be where we got the verb "chuck." I love fanciful etymologies. Bodnant Gardens soon duplicated the cross and named some seedlings including the extremely popular pink flowered 'Dawn' and one white flowered selection which was named in honor of Charles Lamont. It is light pink in bud and then ages white and the scented flowers can be seen in November through to March or April depending on your climate.
There are a lot of bogus Charles Lamont being offered by very reputable nurseries which are pink. These are wrong. Charles Lamont is white, pinkish in bud. Ours came from a very uppity and serious English nursery in the mid 80's with the grave pronouncement that this was the genuine Charles Lamont. Being younger and a simple Yank, I'm sure I replied with an enthusiatic "Dude! This is righteous!" I remember not being shown any other special plants that resided behind the rope. These are small but very sturdy plants which will take off for you.
There are a lot of bogus Charles Lamont being offered by very reputable nurseries which are pink. These are wrong. Charles Lamont is white, pinkish in bud. Ours came from a very uppity and serious English nursery in the mid 80's with the grave pronouncement that this was the genuine Charles Lamont. Being younger and a simple Yank, I'm sure I replied with an enthusiatic "Dude! This is righteous!" I remember not being shown any other special plants that resided behind the rope. These are small but very sturdy plants which will take off for you.
A Wynn-Jones collection of this fantastic climbing hydrangea relative from Northern Taiwan. A plethora of glossy evergreen sickle-shaped leaves hanging down like so many executioner's blades make for a truly stunning wall cover, add to that the airy foam of white flowers in summer and you've got an elegantly understated taste-maker that deserves a pairing of fine brick or stonework. It could also use the radiant heat of said masonry as it is slightly adverse to cold winds, likes its shady and wet but a bit more sun may provide a bit more flower.
Dwarf Solomon's Seal to just 6" but spreading with very nice lavender-pink flowers which go well with the gray-green whorled leaves. This rare Yunnan Diana Reeck collection differs from the Nepal form which is typically cultivated. Floden thinks this is closer to pumilum, Wynn-Jones says it's graminifolium.
OMG! What a Vine!! I have no idea how to text, but people younger than me says this means Oh My God and omg, this perennial, dying-to-the-ground-each year vine with white flowers in late summer eats Golden Hops for lunch. Expect 20' of blazing color.
Quite the distinctive Grevillea being a true groundcover growing very flat to the ground. The oak-like leaves are bronze when young and mature to a dark green both colors providing a fine backdrop for the large feathery combs of red flowers. This is likely not hardy below the low 20's but is grown successfully at the Barca garden on Whidbey Island in a raised bed against a south facing wall and also is luxuriant at the Miller Botanic Garden in Seattle where it flows down a slope and where curator Richie Steffen gave us our cuttings. Sun and good drainage and low phosphorous if you do fertilize. At least this is easy to cover being flat in the event of a severe cold snap!