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An intricate departure from the coarser Acanthus commonly found in gardens, this far more diminutive with low, finely cut, thistle-like foliage less than a foot tall and short 16" flower spikes with pink flowers backed by gray-green calyces. Like all Acanthus, this will spread by suckering rhizomes. Unlike all Acanthus, this is frustratingly slow (from a nurseryman's standpoint) and very easily managed if indeed you feel compelled to manage this slow and desirable expansion.

Ours has been in the ground for several years and last year we finally were able to divide off a few pieces to pot up. Full sun and good drainage. Hardy here but perhaps mulch in cold zone 7. Might be ok with the same in zone 6 but we have no experience. Thanks to Panayoti Kelaidis for correctly identifying the species.

When is a fern not a fern? When it is in the Poppy family which is where this choice bit of Japanese fern mimicry resides. Perfect fern-like leaves which we could easily mistake for a Blechnum (Deer Fern) until the spikes of purest white flowers appear in late spring. Lovely plant for turning a supposition on its ear as well as classing up the joint. This is an especially good crop freshly potted and even though for the next few weeks the roots will not fill out the pot, we have zero concerns about these successfully transplanting to your garden.

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.