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Silver Wings Evening Primrose. Narrow grayish leaves in a low branched rosette of leaves are perfect with the large 4" yellow flowers that open as the sun sets. Plant these where you can enjoy them during the evening wine stroll through the garden and then follow up with your morning coffee mosey. Good drainage, lean soil and sun. Well-suited for the rock garden, this Kansas and Nebraska native can take some dry.

This is an attention-getter and a performer. A surprisingly hardy true Ginger relative from northern India, this has survived our winters here in western Washington for the last 20 years with no problem. We simply mulch if we get worried. The leaves are tinted maroon underneath and the torch of dark yellow flowers coming out of red bracts in late July and August is an exceptional bit of the tropics. The 'Robusta' form is a bit taller than the typical run of the species and can reach 3' tall. A rich, moist soil that drains in a little sun to bright shade is best. We see this grown in some of the most notable gardens here in the NW which never surprises us. .

A collection by Sweden's Goteborg Botanical Garden's 3 Henriks in China's Shaanxi Province at Nan Gong Shan 1250 meters. This is a small tree to 20'-30' with purplish new growth expanding to broadly cordate leaves and early summer pouchy flowers of pale red with yellow striations and purple spotting. Fast growing hardy tropical look. Cutting grown.

One of those perennial Lobelia that shouldn't be as hardy as it is but mountainous areas of southern Arizona and northern Mexico have plants with surprising hardiness. A graceful clump of thin willowy leaves on stems 15"-24" tall with a profusion of midsummer tubular red flowers with a bright yellow throat. Deciduous in winter, ours handles our brief drops to 10F with mulch. Good drainage aids in winter survival.

This is a treasure among Pokers. A small statured species with big time bloom from South Africa introduced to the NW by one of the finest small nurseries in the country, Hedgerows Nursery in OR who have now retired and we are diminished as a result. David and Susie grew exceptional plants nearly perfectly and their level of excellence is what we gauge ourselves against. Of course David cheated with that damned English accent. Back to the plant under discussion -this Kniphofia doesn't know the word quit and after a main heavy spring bloom keeps throwing up flowers spikes sporadically throughout the season given ample water and food. This was a rare plant in just a few localities near Durban in South Africa and is now thought to be extirpated in the wild. Not as hardy as some, this benefits from a good mulch if temps drop into the teens in which case it is happy as a clam.

This a bigger version of the little B. penna-marina ssp. alpina commonly found in nurseries. We never see this offered which is just a shame since it is a great fern. Well, not such a shame since a little exclusivity never hurts. This makes a dense groundcover of evergreen foliage.

This choice Chinese perennial is related to our native Ginger or Asarum and Saruma being an anagram of Asarum shows that even taxonomists are not above the occasional botanical hijink.. Felty heart shaped foliage bronze when young and half inch yellow flowers right away in spring continues to bloom through the summer. These succeeds nicely in Chicago which seems like Siberia to us softies here in the PNW. This is easy..