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Ok, this is delightful! A small evergreen subshrub which has these shiny little leaves on mahogany stems with sprays of lavender-blue with a distinctive magenta ring enclosing a white eye. This happily flowers from June until frost and shearing off the spent flowers encourages continued bloom. This makes a 10"x24" billow of foliage and flower in sun to part sun.

This is the Japanese version of our native False Hellebore. Wonderful broad pleated leaves and when old enough, nice spikes of white starry flowers to 3' or more. This likes a rich moist soil, emerges early in spring and goes dormant by mid to late summer. Deer resistant and very hardy. Young plants.

A rare species from shaded moist areas in coastal Mendocino and Sonoma Counties in CA. Pleated leaves and branched flower stems to nearly 2 feet bear beautifully fringed snowy white flowers. Regarded as tender, Veratrum expert Christoph Ruby of Hof Botanic Garden in Germany tells us zone 5 hardy!

We love seeing this False Hellebore when we are hiking up to Marmot Pass or Mt Townsend in the Olympics. Usually growing in dappled light or partly sunny spots where there is ample moisture and rich soil, the big wide pleated leaves are perfect with the drooping plume-like green flowers. Fertilize them well when in growth to shorten the time to maturity. Too deep of shade inhibits bloom but you still get the great leaves. Deer proof. At least here.

Our native False Hellebore which we see in the Cascades. Fabulous foliage plant with big rounded pleated leaves - these are old plants. These may flower next year up to 6' with lots of small whitish starry flowers. Best in light shade or no afternoon sun. Loves a rich moist soil and is deer proof. These started early in our greenhouses and are thinking about summer dormancy.

One of the good rock garden plants that is actually pretty easy to grow. Related closely to our Douglasia of the Olympics, this little jewel from the Pyrennees and Dolomites has yellow flowers nearly covering the foliage in late spring. Good drainage and not terribly dry.

This is the form most often available here in the Northwest and which may well be a hybrid with Vancouveria planipetala. The flowers are much paler and a smidge smaller than typical Vancouveria chrysantha from our observations. Regardless, a first rate evergreen ground cover which is drought tolerant.

F2 plants from the original wild collection of this rare species. This is a very handsome thing with superb glossy textured leaves and showy displays of red fruit. Just looking at it, we thought - bummer, can't possibly be hardy but heard from one of the collectors that it handled zero Fahrenheit so woohoo! We later saw for ourselves the reason why as we climbed on Mt Fansipan, "The Roof of Indochina' and saw this growing near the summit. A portion of the proceeds goes to support the mission of Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy.

Young plants derived from Tom Mitchell, likely via Crug Farm, and came to us from Aaron Floden - now there is a chain of custody! We first listed this as V. schindleri but now have learned differently with the thought that these might be a hybrid with V. formosanum due to the variation in color, size and tendency to flower young which is a hallmark of the species.

V. schindleri is a very attractive species that is highly variable in flower color in the wild which makes a definitive call on hybridity difficult, especially as we have not observed schindleri in the wild except in the fall as dormant plants with withered foliage which is little help. We can say for sure these young plants will show variation - send us pics when yours flowers - and pictured is one of our older plants in flower. This is quite interesting with the pale petals and darker eye pattern to the center which turns reddish as the seed capsule begins to develop. This will have the familiar albeit fairly narrow pleated leaves and aforementioned flowers in an open and airy arrangement on the 3' flowering stem. A rich moist soil in part shade will be just the ticket and this should be quite hardy.

Pure class. A perennial of the first rank and a true aristocrat which is seldom available. Expensive? You bet and worth it. One of the true pains to produce commercially. This has broad pleated leaves and a tall flower stalk with lots of chocolate maroon flowers. Deer proof. Small but sturdy plants that will need some time before they hit blooming size. As a side note, finding blooming-sized plants of this species is pretty much impossible so don't think we're trying to pull one over on you!

A comparatively graceful species of Veratrum with broadly narrow leaves, if that makes any sense and sadly, it does to us. The 4'-5' flower stem has numerous lateral branchlets clad in lots of red-maroon flowers. To compare to the better-known V. nigrum, narrower leaves, flower stems much more open with flowers more red than purple-black. Excellent long-lived plant of outstanding hardiness best suited for the cool to cold zones. Deer resistant as well.

Unique Viburnum with cute rounded evergreen leaves which are unmatched elsewhere in the genus. Clusters of small white flowers are in keeping as is the resultant black fruit. There is something universally appealing about this plant which must be the cute factor and somehow it manages to retain this even as a larger shrub to 8' tall. This was formerly Viburnum harryanum.

Redwood Ivy. This is a premier groundcover which is nothing like ivy. You will never find this choice species on a noxious weed list. Evergreen leaves forming a slow carpet with delicate white "inside-out" flowers suspended above like celestial motes of light. Drought tolerant!

Redwood ivy. Vigorous carpeter in optimal conditions with evergreen foliage which bronzes up in winter. The tiny white flower motes benefit from profusion and the fact that they are the smallest in the genus is offset by this species having the best foliage which is what you have 95% of the year. Our collection from California near Orleans where it was growing with Asarum marmoratum.

Grown from seed given us by the originator, Dr. Keith Ferguson and named for his wife, Lorna. They have grown this spectacular, heavy flowering selection for over 40 years in their garden in the Cotswolds. From the Maritime Alps, this resembles our native Veratrum viride with similar bold pleated leaves and green pendulous flowers but this elevates that look to a ridiculous level with its sheer volume of flowers on stems that can reach 8 feet! We have been also gifted seed from the late Michael Wickenden of Cally Gardens and our friend, the redoubtable German plantsman Christoph Ruby. The fact that this trio holds this in valued esteem, should be ample endorsement. Long-lived, hardy as the bejabbers (been wanting to use that for years) and deer resistant. These are young plants not of flowering size but give them a rich moist soil and a bit of amply rewarded patience.

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Our collection as cuttings from the Cangshan in Yunnan of an especially small leafed form of this evergreen species. Steve Hootman of the Rhododendron Species Botanical garden now and again mutters about giving it a clonal name. Probably best in a mild garden.

A hybrid between V.myrtillus and V. vitis-idaea making a dense little shrub 2' high. Why stiff yourself with a boring beyond belief Boxwood when you could have this splendid little gem with pinky-white flower bells in late spring and small blueberries in late summer? Good organic soil.

Our collection from an area of extreme resource exploitation in Sichuan. Normally we don't collect much in this group but this was huddled out of harm's way on a cliff face playing the sympathy card which coupled with unusually glossy leaves and showy red fruit, we relented. Multi-stemmed to 8'-10' +. Deciduous. Every time we look at Viburnum in Flora of China to key this out and see the 115 taxa, we get easily distracted.

Rare ghostly white flowered variant of the typically dark-flowered Veratrum formosanum . We lusted after this plant since the 90's after seeing it recorded in the Flora of Taiwan and finally secured it from the legendary Jim Sutherland at Scotland's Ardfearn Nursery just a few years ago. So excited we tossed our caber. Is it better than the typical formosanum? No. More collectible? Oh, hell yeah! Deer resistant. We conservatively list this hardy to zone 6 but it is likely hardy to 5 or even 4.

Thank gods for Steve Hootman of the Rhododendron Species Botanic Garden who is a champion of the lesser Ericads otherwise we would be blissfully unaware that so many necessary plants such as this existed and this rare epiphytic Vaccinium is just such a plant. Fortunately Steve did not assess a leech surcharge appended to each sale of this plant otherwise we would be in serious trouble as they were legion in the Salween and his stories of his boots squishing as if filled with water from the monsoon rains only to find that upon removal of the boots that the sloshing was not so much water as it was blood which poured red from the weeping leech bites. Eighteen bucks starts to sound pretty reasonable don't you think? Very cute little epiphyte with small rounded cupped leaves and wee white flowers. This is going to be a source of no small pleasure in zone 9 where it will be happy growing in a container creeping in a rotting log or mossy rock in part shade. We grow ours in a cool greenhouse kept just at or above freezing and has been easy as pie. Not the showiest in the genus but isn't high maintenance or prone to drama. This has an unassuming beauty that only generations of attention to understated detail can achieve and there is not a thing we would change about this except perhaps that occasional nightmare concerning leeches.