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1745 products
1745 products
This has grown into one of our favorite small deciduous shrubs which we grow near our bog garden. Collected in China on the Sino-British Expedition to Cangshan in 1981 which was one of the first western botanic expeditions to China in modern times. Copious pink-white flowers on a 4'-6' tall shrub. Zone 6 at least.
Guatemalan False Solomon Seal. A collection by Port Townsend's own Josh McCullough from Volcan Azul in Guatemala at around 10,000'. This grows both in the trees as an epiphyte and on the forest floor as a geophyte. Fab narrow pleated leaves with terminal drooping panicles of flowers backed in lavender-pink with pale faces followed by shiny red berries. The flowers pictured is the first small bloom on these plants and we expect a better effort once they gain more maturity and practice. I know Sue expects a better effort from me at times but I'm straying into too much information again. A very rare plant in cultivation and regrettably likely best in Zone 9 but it is completely untrialed. This is a genus we are passionate about.
We were gifted this little green "roller" from John Grimshaw, Director of the Yorkshire Arboretum at Castle Howard. As he handed us a nondescript pup, we wondered what magical thing attended this to earn a place in his exquisite collection. "This is from the garden of Carl Linnaeus" STFU! The Father of Binomial Nomenclature!?! Linnaeus & Grimshaw - now that's provenance! Plant geek manna from botanical heaven. This is possibly Jovibarba globifera subsp. allionii.
Extremely handsome big evergreen shrub to 10'x10' or more. Classic mahogany bark peeling to reveal that much loved Hi-Gloss finish on the trunk and branches. Pink buds in spring open to white urn-shaped flowers, followed by clusters of russet not messy-at-all fruit which has some avian appeal. Leaves are held perpendicular to the sun to conserve water which is an adaptation to summer heat and low or no rainfall. So no mollycoddling whatsoever with this one. Well-drained soil of low fertility and don't water once established. As much as we love mulching with manure, don't on this one or any other shrubby Arctostaphylos. There really are plants whose main requirement is that you do nothing except admire.
Our collection of this as yet unidentified Gentian from an isolated peak with difficult access. This was growing on steep open banks overhung with Schefflera fengii and Rhododendron sinofalconeri where it made rounded small shrublets with semi-woody stems covered in clusters of shades of blue flowers.
Choice little silver encrusted saxifrage which is a likely hybrid between S. paniculata and S. cochlearis. One of the delightful subtleties of this bit of botanical jewelry is the reddish coloring on the basal third of the leaves. The white flowers are nice but unnecessary as it is fine sculpture on its own. No hot sun.
Choice and rare (key elements for us!) succulent from the Steenkampsberg in Mpumalanga in South Africa where it grows a in gritty humus among granitic outcrops and experiences occasional snowfall. Good drainage is going to be key in winter rain areas and a nice gravel mulch is going to help a lot.
This is one of the hardier of the larger Grevilleas handling temps down to 10F and being quite drought tolerant. A good drying off in late summer and fall and grown in lean soil will add to its hardiness. Flowers for months in the yellow to salmon range. This was grown at Heronswood as miqueliana but Ian Barclay sleuthed the subspecies. As with all Protea family members, don't fertilize with any fertilizer except low phosphorous but you don't need to really fertilize this anyway unless it is looking hungry which is unlikely.
Yellow Himalayan Honeysuckle. A species from NE India and northern Myanmar originally introduced by Frank Kingdon-Ward just over 100 years ago, this is from a more recent US Natiional Arboretum collection. Yellow flowers over bronzed foliage distinguishes this from the more familiar Leycesteria formosa.
Not one you will easily find, this tough rarity hails from China's Xinjiang Province and neighboring Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan. High moist meadows are home sweet home for this blue-lavender drumstick Primula dusted in farina. Sue brought this west from VT over 20 years ago. Said it was tough!
A dense hard light green patty of minute needle-like foliage on this good alpine from the Wallowa Mts in NE Oregon which is a regional Mecca for serious rock gardeners and growers of alpines. Our plants have come from two of the most extraordinary growers of rock garden plants, Kathy Allen in Oregon and Rick Lupp of Washington. The fact that these two grew this in their nurseries says plenty as to merit as well as growability. A gritty soil in a rock garden or container in full sun and can be stingy with its white flowers but awesome even if it never bloomed.
A deciduous shrubby Cotoneaster collected in Asia by Arlen Hill who owns one of our favorite nurseries, Keeping It Green. This was a scrambler on a rocky cliff but will be a small shrub in the garden. Such a varied genus from groundcover to small trees with the shared attributes of pollinator-irresistible white flowers and red fruit for fall and early winter interest. Someday in our dotage when discretionary time is abundant and we tire of whittling to fill the hours, we will fire up Flora of China online and puzzle through the key to a proper identity for this species.
Young plants of this extremely rare species which we speculate will have only light frost tolerance so perhaps good for zones 9-10. Evergreen bold leaves bringing to mind an unholy union between a laurel and a rhododendron. Insignificant flowers at a relatively young age. A number of novel alkaloids have been isolated from this species if this makes up in any way for the lack of showy flowers. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering
Easy and hardy little bulbous plant from South Africa and a good pink in this selection. This makes dense tuffets of grassy foliage in spring and summer and covers itself in May/June with pink flowers. Increases well but never a problem making an easy to divide clump when dormant.
Choice species making narrow thin clumps of evergreen grassy foliage and long wiry stems with many small pendant dark pink-purple bell-shaped flowers. A plant of open grassland in South Africa, this likes a sunny position in a soil that drains but retains moisture.
A must-have if you're Wulfenia obsessed. Endemic to the Carnic Alps, this has a limited range in the wild. Dense clusters of tubular, violet-blue flowers appear in mid-summer above glossy evergreen rosettes with scalloped-edged leaves. Needs a fertile, well-drained moisture-retentive soil but really, don't we all?
Here is one of the results of the North Caucasus Expedition in September of 2011. This was a joint venture involving the botanical gardens of St. Petersburg, Stavropol, Hamburg, Shanghai and Gothenburg. We were fortunate to obtain seed from one of the participating botanic gardens and quickly raised this to flowering size. This Campanula was collected in Russia at Karachayevo-Cherkessiya, Terbeda, Gonachkir Valley at 1800 meters so next time you are there, keep an eye peeled for it. But in case you are not planning to travel there soon, here is a chance to get a wild collection of a workhorse garden species.
We've noticed some of these have a faint lavender shading to the white flowers especially in bud and just open. Typical C. lactiflora can reach 3'-5' with big showy heads of flowers in late summer. The fact that these are flowering in small band pots at 10" tall might speak to a more compact form as they do come from some elevation. Time in the garden will tell the final tale but one thing is for sure - these should be winter hardy enough for anyone we're ever going to ship to!
Very rare collectible and delectable Iris from China introduced by Darrell Probst. This Iris is seldom available and is one of the stars in our shade garden. This particular clone has slightly larger flowers that are white without any blue shading. Makes an evergreen fine grassy mound. Best in light shade or part sun. Slow growing and totally rules when mature.
A nice bright silver-foliaged selection of the California Fuchsia. This loves a well-drained soil in a hot sunny spot where it has lots of tubular scarlet hummingbird magnet flowers on a plant 12-18 inches tall in late summer. Disappears in winter but comes up from the spreading underground rhizomes. Cut back in spring. This can take a good amount of dry once established and not liked by deer.
A seldom encountered Buttercup from the Pyrenees. This is so well mannered that one has a tendency to think of it as a Trollius rather than a Ranunculus. Thick short rhizomes create a dense crown with rich green leaves and deep yellow flowers of good substance. Nice.