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Extremely rare lily native to just a few sites in the southeastern US and discovered by Mary Henry in 1940. She found this growing in the Florida panhandle and it is known as the Panhandle Lily or as Mary described it, Pot of Gold Lily. This is virtually unobtainable, and we were lucky to receive ours from a botanist friend who is doing work on the genus. This is found growing along streams and particularly in association with pitcher plant bogs, so its habitat is threatened by human mismanagement. It is not all that common to find a lily species adapted to warm winters and high humidity but perhaps the moist conditions cools the bulbs.

This striking Turk's cap lily will be 3'-6' at maturity and have from 1-4 flowers in late July through August. The bulbs are very rhizomatous and will make a nice little colony when happy. Speaking of happy, these have a reputation for being finicky but we wonder if this was not a fault of tissue culture as most experience with this species were with tissue-cultured bulbs, a process which has since been discontinued. These are not from TC and obviously our friend grew these quite well in containers, in a mix of 50-50 peat moss and sand, as he sent us nice blooming size divisions. Mary Henry grew and flowered this from seed in a pot on her porch in Philadelphia and then to further douse this notion of being a persnickety bulb, our friend reports these being grown in an Ann Arbor Michigan garden quite successfully for several years. These are allied to Lilium superbum and apparently no more difficult to grow. The bulbs are naturally very small but increase well. An absolute must for the lily collector.

Codonopsis are usually twining members of the Bellflower or Campanula family and the range of color and shapes in the flowers of the various species keeps our interest in this genus at a sharp edge. We are very keen on this one as it not only has intriguing flowers but a non-vining growth habit. This makes a low clump of leaves from which long, stiff flower stems emerge to 18" tall. The flowers are held several per stem and while not large, overcome this size deficiency with exceptional detail. The small ivory bells are heavily netted in vivid maroon veins inside and out. These stems are surely adapted to growing through grass or other low plants in Yunnan and Sichuan. Hardy to zone 6 and likely lower.

This collection is from what we regard as the southern form of this populous Asian species. What makes this special is that this was from the 10000' summit of this virtually unknown mountain and surely must be the highest elevation that this form grows. That, plus being one of the toughest days we have had in the field. This makes a good show with likely white flowers followed by heads of red fruit that matures to blue-black and the evergreen leaves are more attractive than the northern populations. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering

A good dark flowered form of Allium wallichii from China. Although the individual florets are fewer in number in the flower heads, the rich dark purple color more than compensates. This species is eaten by the local indigenous peoples although that wild crafting is becoming less frequent as grocery stores are awfully convenient. An easy species for the garden.

A tough perennial from the southern Caucasus which has steadfastly refused to die despite some of our unintentional best efforts. This will, in time, make an impressive small clump of numerous upright stems to 12" or so which are tipped in late July to September with multiple blue flowers with pale whitish throats. This is happy in limestone conditions and is happy here in neutral to moderately acid. It wants to please. Does well in Denver Botanic Gardens as well as gardens in Sweden.

An evergreen shrub we collected in 1997 on the slopes of the Cangshan Range above the town of Dali in Yunnan. Very attractive species whose glossy leaves are more than adequate ornament but when combined with the clustered small curved creamy flowers, it verges on the sublime. Best for milder gardens. Even though it was 20 years ago, the memory of finding this is like a snapshot. This was growing along the dirt single track road that wound up the mountain where it was mingling in a thicket of Myrica, Rhododendron edgeworthii and R. sulphureum, Hypericum, Tripterygium and Nomocharis pardanthina. The view down to the far plain below revealed the city of Dali to the right of gleaming Lake Erhai and just to the left, the famed Three Pagodas of Dali were scarcely visible as tiny pale scratches set in a triangle within the landscape. Writing this, we are transported back and can feel the breeze on our cheeks as it blows uphill carrying the faint "Pink-Pink-Pink" of hammer on chisel from a stone mason shaping a large marble boulder he had found among the scrub and rocky jumble of the lower slope.

Let's talk drought tolerance. This is one step up from cactus. We always marvel at this growing out of cracks in sheer basalt cliffs on the dry Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge and looking oh so good despite the most rigorous of conditions. Great for the rock garden. Good drainage. Purple-pink flowers on this evergreen subshrub.

From a Crug Farm collection comes this rare woodlander. We are smitten by all the members of this genus as well as it's kith and kin in other genera. This has the pendulous greenish white flowers so familiar yet so intriguing. A shade garden bereft Convallariaceae quietly weeps.

Adorable dwarf Chinese Solomon's Seal to just 4 or 5 inches tall. This has lovely light purple flowers which often causes Polygonatophiles to swoon leaving them prone in the garden where they awaken to smell the delightful vanilla fragrance emanating from these small jewel-like flowers which induces further swooning. This is simply a clever pollination mechanism involving repetitive nose transferal of pollen but be prepared and don't wear your best clothes. These are divisions originally from a Diana Reeck 1996 collection in China.

Monkshood. This is a fine wildflower from Japan making attractive clumps with cowled dusky lavender flowers. This has been an easy doer increasing easily and the clumps are a snap to divide if you want more. And we always do. This not one for the sunny garden but best in morning sun or light shade. This doesn't get tall staying under 3' and isn't anything to worry about staking. Just a quietly lovely plant except for the unfortunate derisive comments it hurls at passing deer as it is completely unpalatable. Fortunately this commentary lies outside the range of human hearing so there is little chance of offending invited guests.

A rich reddish purple foliage form of our native Western Stream Orchid found by Roger Raiche in California and the best foliage of any selection. Totally hardy outside and loves a wet spot but is perfectly happy in a garden bed that doesn't dry out. This makes a colony of vibrant colored leafy stems bearing numerous orange-brown-yellow flowers. Divisions from our patch potted this spring. This can be found throughout the entire western half of the US.

A multi-stemmed large shrub having a small tree appearance as it is quite upright from our Asian collection in an area of extreme ecological devastation. This had fallen from a cliff edge making seed capsules accessible. Narrow flower heads of whitish flowers have a graceful quality that is found in the wild species. Proceeds from this offering go to support the mission of Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy. Previously offered as Syringa aff. yunnanensis.

A wunderbar find by plantsman Darrell Probst. This delicate woodlander creeps about sporting a hanging creamy bell-shaped flower in spring. The glory of this selection is the yellow margined foliage putting this way high up on the plant collector's "gotta have" list.

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.

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.