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There is really nothing else like this plant from the Chilean Andes with its cobwebby silver foliage topped in summer by 8"-12" stems bearing small purple lady slipper flowers. You're not microdosing - it's for real. This is surprisingly hardy to zone 6 especially given snow cover but in our winters, good drainage is key as months of cold soggy soil is anathema. Easy given consistent water in good drainage.

A simply stunning sport found in a patch of Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum' by plantsman and all-around good guy Roy Herold. Wide margins of cream and white on the green leaves bring some serious chutzpah to the shade garden and carry the show on long after the white flowers in late spring are but a memory.

A selection by Tony Avent from his collection in Korea and notable for the reddish 18" stems which adds a dash of panache especially when hung with white flowers tipped in green. These are followed by clusters of round black fruit and so the show continues. Very hardy and easy to please.

Quite an uncommon evergreen species in cultivation from Shaanxi and Sichuan in China possessing an impish charm to which few others in the genus can lay claim. A smaller species with cute rounded leaflets which subtend stems bearing rounded simple flowers which are a soft yellow and quite distinct as they lack the familiar spurs found in many Epimediums. This has an innocence of beauty that taps into that same well of emotion which comes into play when you see a line of newly-hatched ducklings swimming behind their mother. Perhaps the lack of spurs on the flower indicates that this is a more primitive species in the evolutionary development of the genus and as a result, our reptilian "third brain' initiates a deep limbic nurturing response. These are the things we think about at 3 in the morning as we lay awake trying to go back to sleep. Good drought tolerance hardy to zone 5b.

Our Asian collection of yet another Ophiopogon or Mondo Grass. Through the Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy, we are very keen on acquiring documented collections of this complex and taxonomically challenging genus as such collections are needed to get the genus properly sorted. Narrow grassy leaves to 15" and purplish fruit. Flowers unknown. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy.

We have just a handful of this choice form of the species in which the pinnae are distinctly undulated adding yet another layer of tasteful complexity to a species already awash in attributes. It really isn't fair to be born with gorgeous 6'-7' fronds but do you have to flaunt undulation too? Well, yes.

A collection by Daniel Winkler in Tibet of this demure little true ginger relative. We've always liked this species and saw it growing as an epiphyte on Mt Japfu in Nagaland. Late to start growing in spring, this will produce small yellow flowers from reddish sheaths. Hardy here especially with mulch. Moist.

A very fine cultivar with large flowers held appealingly over an especially long period. The wide open mid-orange flowers have a darker orange central stripe running down each petal which tends to grab the eye and hold it. It is always fun to watch folks cruise the Crocosmia at a steady pace only to be brought up short by Zambesi.

Fairy Wand. Small plants of this cool species we grew from seed and it is right up there with Ruscus for unprofitable slowness. Male flowers have an arching plume of white flowers while the females have a smaller, erect spike and we have no idea on gender for these plants. Rich, moist soil in shade to part shade.

European Wild Ginger. Rounded, heart-shaped most excellent evergreen leaves (evergreen in mild winters or our Z8 garden) hug the ground close and dense, hiding the small flowers and their lack of ornament We have a slightly darker leaf clone that is most apparently dark when planted next to this clone. We go the extra mile to ensure that you can have monochromatic integrity if you so desire!

A quietly fun perennial that should be on every green flower afficionado's hit list. Lance-shaped leaves and branched stems bearing dull yellow tiny button flowers arising from green buds and all surrounded by a prominent green collar. Lovely green effect with plenty of structural detail. Archibald collection from the Pyrenees/Cantabrian Mts. Jim and Jenny Archibald were great plant hunters with a fabulous seed business and we have one of greenhouses named for them.

One of the alpine New Zealand Scabweeds and which we think is an accurate if unmarketable description. Reminds me of some of the nicknames my mom had for me growing up. I'm sure they were meant with the most loving intention as I'm equally sure the Kiwis mean the same referring to these wonderful Raoulias. This is a species we have seen growing in the fabulous rock garden at Denver Botanic and one we have long admired. What is not to like when confronted with a flat hard pancake of tiny leaves tightly adpressed to the ground and dotted in midsummer with a dusting of minute creamy flowers? With age or upon meeting rocks, this will hummock up and over making an undulate dome like some internal organ exposed or something previously of the oceans but now of the land. It's better than it sounds and a fine addition to the rock garden or trough.

Perhaps the most architectural of all the Kniphofia, this, with its broad leaves up to 6" wide at the base, makes an impressive statement. This is one of those genus-expansive plants incorporating characteristics of Aloe or Yucca. Pinkish-red buds open to light yellow flowers on this very cold hardy and wet tolerant species.

A native of dry, rocky slopes in the northern Rockies. Glossy evergreen leaves are complemented by spikes of light blue to violet flowers in mid-summer. Leaves will sometimes take on a nice purple coloration in winter. Appreciates a lean well-drained soil in a sunny location, so rock gardens or dry gravel gardens are great.

A Shayne Chandler collection from China of this most attractive species which has proven hardy in his garden as well as the equally mild garden at Heronswood both which are zone 8b. Lovely deeply lobed leaves liberally spotted in white and the late season pink flowers play well with the foliage. Mulch in winter zones 8a-7b and in colder areas, deeper mulch and using your microclimate siting to the max is advised until the hardiness limits of this species are better understood.

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..

From a Chinese source as Anemone subpinnata, this is likely obtusiloba although there are other similar species. This has proved very floriferous and durable over the years making a good robust clump with lots of white flowers opening from rose-colored buds. These are nice plants from divisions.

A bushy hardy Fuchsia with arching branches and largish leaves which is good because they are one of the good things about this selection being richly colored in red if grown in ample sun. The flowers are no slouch either and they have to bring it to keep up with the leaves and that they do with a red exterior and a double purple interior corolla. Winter mulch.

Doll's Eyes Baneberry. Striking woodland plant in fruit - the white puffs of flowers in late spring are ok but the fruit is serious business. An elongated fruiting spike holds with red stems, round white berries each with a small black pupil. The common name is immediately obvious and is either clever or creepy depending on how many "Chucky" movies you have watched. We think it is clever. All parts poisonous which means deer proof.

Bugbane. A dusky, dark-leafed plant that appeared as a seedling in our shade garden a few years ago. We are windy here and which seed from which black-leafed, named form blew in from our sales tables, we cannot say. We let it be where it landed until it got too large and now it is divisions in pots. To 4' with late season wands of whitish fragrant flowers.