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Mioga Ginger. A treasured food crop in Japan where the new shoots are prized as a vegetable and the flower buds are considered a delicacy when diced and added to soup. This is a true ginger although it lacks the big rhizome of the culinary variety. What it does have over the gingerbread ginger is hardiness. This is the hardiest of the Zingibers and our friend Aaron Floden tells us he grew this in Kansas without any special protection and temperatures regularly got to -15F and it did not suffer. This clumps up quickly in rich moist soil in shade with 3' green leafy stems and produces exotic small orchid-like creamy yellow flowers at ground level in late summer and fall. It's a no-brainer for fall cleanup because the leaf stalks turn yellow and fall over breaking off cleanly from the crown so all you have to do is pick them up. Or not if you are into self-mulching plants.

Miniature Joint Fir. Choice species from the bleak areas of the "stans" - Afghan, Uzbek, Kazak, Krygh, Paki and Tajikistan. This primitive Conifer relative likes it rough - just good drainage and a hot, sunny dry spot are it's simple wants although it does enjoy the good life and wouldn't turn down a wee drink and a bit to eat. It has been quite adaptable to our regular irrigation in the nursery. In the garden this will slowly creep with more leafless thin green stems which look like a miniature Equisetum until they become bejeweled with red fruits in mid to late summer. Probably tolerant of more alkaline conditions as well. This does great in the Denver Botanic Garden.

Dense congested foliage especially beautiful in spring as the new growth is a reddish bronze. Stout full flower spikes of a good pink stay under a foot tall. This received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticulural Society so you know its good!

One of the best of the hybrids, this Silk Tassle bush is a cross between Garrya elliptica and G. fremontii. It has nice rounded evergreen leaves with catkins 8"-10" long in shades of green and purple in the winter. Just when SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder - ratchets up, Carl talks us down from the ledge. Tough plant and tolerant of some dry.

Guatemalan False Solomon Seal. A collection from Guatemala at 8000'-9000' on Volcan Azul by Josh McCullough where he found this growing both epiphytically on Oak trees and terrestrially. Cool New World False Solomon's Seal that is best brought in during the winter unless you are Zone 9. This makes an interesting lignotuber of sorts at the soil surface which is a big swollen storage organ that is often found in epiphytes (tree dwellers) to help them weather periods of dry as well as uncommon cold snaps. Ahh, the adaptations of plants! We haven't flowered it but this has long 10" pedicels according to Josh's notes.

Great little Scroph (Scrophulariaceae) from the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. This is rated to zone 6 and grows in rocky areas. A cushion-forming perennial with loads of beautifully detailed scented flowers which open at dusk or on cloudy days. Good drainage.

One of the good Meadow Rues (there are bad ones, several of which are playing key roles in our compost pile) with nice small rounded leaflets and attractive pinky lavender flowers in cumulonimbus heads. Great midsummer textural color along with the often undervalued design elements of narrow, vertical and airy.

Our selection from the California Redwoods of a large-leafed and vigorous clone of Wild Ginger. This sports large glossy green leaves which mask the sizable brown starfish flowers hidden underneath. We always like surprises. A dense big groundcover in shaded rich moist soil.

A subtly appealing Frit for the bulb enthusiast and one which does well in the garden (as opposed to fussing in containers or growing in bulb frames) This has up to 3 bell shaped flowers of a blend of olive-green and purplish-brown. Sun to half sun and decent drainage and increases quite well. Flowering size.

Exceptional double Campanula we received via Bob Brown's Cotswold Garden Flowers in England. This has big medium blue flowers like 2 shallow cups nested together. These are on strong stems which don't blow over and we can testify to that living on the windswept Port Townsend Steppe. This is a good performer and one that has the panache to mingle in the trendy garden as well as carrying a classic look that works in the cottage or Victorian garden. Or in our case it shines in our looking-for-a-genre sunny border.

A very dwarf selection of our evergreen native red huckleberry found in the garden at St. Andrews in Scotland. This is extremely dwarf to just a few inches high but spreading to 3' across in time. How long to reach 3' across? A good long time. Brilliant red and orange new growth. Perfect little rock garden shrub which we received from John Weagle in Nova Scotia.

Mountain dweller in the Cascades BC to CA, popping over to Colorado and up into the northern arctic regions. Good rock garden plant down here where the livin' is easy. Succulent blue-green leaves clad the many stems while the terminal clustered red flowers glitter like a garnet hatpin.

Bottlebrush. Perhaps the hardiest clone enduring single digits with scarcely a whimper. (It may be whimpering but my own wails of despair drown all else out). Evergreen picking up russet tones in winter. Summer fuzzy red flowers on the stems. Deer Proof/drought tolerant.

Try to get past the uncanny steroidal resemblance to the cursed shotweed which infests every bit of cultivated soil in the temperate zones - same genus, but much better manners! Double white flowers like tiny roses from soft pinkish buds. This sets no seed but roots at the leaf tips.

Seed-grown from a collection by Daniel Winkler near Chonye on the Tibetan Plateau. Widely distributed in Asia and throughout the various 'stans, this remains oddly rare in commerce and is not often cultivated. Thanks to Fran Hawk for flowering and identifying this collection before ours bloomed! Narrow pale lavender tinted falls with soft blue-ish standards.

Ok - 10 times real fast and win a free plant of our choice! What a moniker! And what a Buttercup of Distinction. Slow clumper with sumptuous big vibrant seriously double rich golden yellow flowers that causes our endocrine system to release something really good. Rare and choice.

Double Blood Root. One of the great ephemeral spring flowers with double white waterlily flowers and bold gray-green rounded leaves. Beloved woodlander from the Midwest and the double form is especially covetous. These are flowering-sized freshly potted divisions and will settle right in your garden.

We've always regarded this herbaceous Hydrangea relative from Asia as one of the preeminent collector's plants for the shade garden. From a woody rootstock each spring arises multiple stems holding textured rounded leaves tinged in soft purple edges with midsummer terminal clusters of lavender flowers possessing the most exquisite detail.

Tender perennial from Brazil but easy to overwinter inside and worth every effort. This late bloomer has 6"-10" spikes of rusty red flowers jutting above dark green heavily textured foliage. Give those Asters something to idolize. Thanks to Beverley Merrifield for sharing unintentionally.

A cute little cousin to the hardy Gingers, this Zingiberaceae member has tuberous roots from which low wide short strap leaves appear and in the center are nested small pink orchid-like flowers. This one has its origin in a Roy Lancaster collection in China.