This widespread little fern is of Scottish provenance where it is abundant and easily found in rock cracks and sundry centuries-old architectural features such as stone walls, stone bridges, stone follies and stone buildings that combine to make villages and gardens so damned picturesque especially when covered in ferns.

Awesome little plant with fresh winter foliage which gives way to 8"-12" tall dense stems with an improbable number of pure white double flowers. Goes summer dormant so don't panic although we still do. Cool plant native to the UK and Europe and favoring vernally wet areas.

Presumably a selection by rock garden pioneer H. Lincoln Foster. Tight rosettes of silver-encrusted leaves are complemented by tall sprays of deep red flowers in spring. Thrives in the rock garden, containers, or other sunny areas with excellent drainage. Classic choice for tufa planting should you be so lucky.

A Great Plant Pick, and rightly so because this performs in the garden.  Thin spikes of soft pink flowers are held nicely upright, more so than many other cultivars and pair wonderfully with the bold green foliage to create a ethereal pinkish floral haze above the bulwark of green.  Not weedy or aggressive, this is good.

One of the larger flowered varieties of Wood Anemone, this has excellent white flowers which are more than enough to stand alone or perfect in a supporting understory role to larger shrubs and perennials.

Excellent selection of this species in the acaulis group which has large flowers of a particularly good dark blue on long stems well, long for this species anyway.  Evergreen mats in rich moist soil in full sun with main bloom in spring and some rebloom in late summer.  Endangered species in its native Balkan Dinaric Alps.

A free-flowering, lower carpeting form of this choice species that is ideal in the rock garden and one we acquired from our friends at Rumbling Bridge Nursery in Scotland.  This Croatian native has a tidy personna, showy mauve-pink flowers and small leaves coloring well in winter.  When we say carpeting, it's more of a place mat.

Hardy species in the Gesneriaceae or African Violet family from Greece and Bulgaria where it favors shaded rocky outcrops.  Our old mama plants fill a 3 gallon pot with a packed dome of evergreen leafy rosettes that give rise to 4"-5" stems with flowers of pale lavender faces and dark corolla base.

A close relative to Gentiana acaulis and regarded as being in the acaulis group. This is one of the forms found in the nursery trade here in the PNW which means it is a good grower.  Maybe a little mongrel vigor from G. acaulis to pump up the volume on those big blue trumpet flowers above an evergreen spreading mat.

Exceptional selection of the European Butcher's Broom which is an indispensable evergreen deer-proof shrub for shade.  The ornamental feature on this are the large red berries which sit squarely on the middle of the "leaves".  This is a self-fertile form so it will always bear fruit and it will get to 4' in 10 years.

Rarely offered little Wormwood which is troughable, which is a term we should trademark in order to capitalize on the 20 or so people who have both troughs and a penchant for dwarf Artemesia.  We need a new business advisor or maybe we should listen to the current one.  Few inches high and spreading.  Yellowish flowers.

Soldanellas completely bewitch us wih their dual charms of excellent evergreen foliage and incredibly cute flowers.  When these little guys flower, we just smile because this is such a little overachiever with its lavender fringed flowers in April.  Reddish leaf petioles and leaf undersides are subtle allure.

Unnamed or lost name selection of Wood Anemone we received from plantsman non pareil John Flintoff some years back.  This is distinct from others we grow as the white flowers have a reddish pink reverse to the petals which is particularly effective as these nod a bit and you get to enjoy the nice backside.  "Baby got back" - Sir Mix-a-Lot

Saxifraga cochlearis is native to the southeastern Alps and this form 'Major' is speculated to be a hybrid with S. callosa which would account for its extra vigor.  Not a bad thing at all!  This makes clustered rosettes of foliage encrusted in silvery deposits and has white flowers in spring.  Good in a trough or rock garden.

Sea Kale.  A prized vegetable of olden times, this still would be widely eaten if the leaves didn't bruise easily in transport.  However, that is just a gastronomic aside because the ornamental qualities outweigh its tastiness.  A seashore plant of Europe, this has ruffled blue-green leaves and white flowers.

One of those spring ephemerals we totally groove on.  This tuberous Toothwort is native to the woodlands of the former Yugoslavia so current geography is from Bosnia through Croatia and into stable Austria.  This will form a little colony but is not annoying in the least and is so delightful with its sizable white flowers in March.

We assume ithis is a synonym of 'Punctata'  which we received as 'Freckles' as both refer to the heavy sprinkling of red dot on the petals of the white flowers. Excellent trough or rock garden plant and wouldn't mind a little shade during the hottest blaze of the day although we grow ours in full sun but never let them dry out.

This is a very good silver encrusted Saxifrage from the Maritime Alps with full 12" panicles of white flowers and was granted an Award of Garden Merit.  Rock gardens and troughs, this would beautifully fill a 3-4 inch crevice between rocks.

Nice rosettes of white-edged leaves on this slightly lime encrusted Saxifrage.  A hybrid of S. callosa and S. cotyledon. this will have 12" stems of numerous white flowers flecked in teeny red dots.  Full sun in cool sun areas and in hot areas, a little afternoon shade would not go remiss.  This could be as simple as planting on the back side of a rock in the rock garden.

Tough as all get out circumpolar herbaceous species of the subarctic which is found in Alaska and the Yukon and skips along the mountain tops as far south as Wyoming. This is a tap-rooted species and will not run but settles for making a nice low clump of soft as a mouse-ear silver haired leaves which are great with the sizable yellow flowers. Our plants are descended from our dear departed friend Steve Doonan of Grande Ridge Nursery.

A selection of this outstanding European alpine species notable for having large flowers and being quite a good bloomer. Not all acaulis flower freely but 'Krebs' brings it with large upward-facing trumpets of impossible blue in mid spring.  Now you don't have to be embarrased you have Krebs.  Rich moist soil in sun.  Hardy to zone 5.

Heart-leafed Globe Daisy. Pleasing little alpine from the mountains of southern Europe and Turkey. Low and slowly spreading domes like a small overturned pie with evergreen leaves and lavender-blue pom-pom flowers on short stems. Easy and tough enough for a beginner, sweet enough for the rock gardener who has grown it all.

To our knowledge, not available in this country and very scarce elsewhere.  An early bloomer, in fact, it is flowering now this late December in its pots sitting outside unprotected as we have had a relatively mild winter so far. Huge flowers, increases well and a good performer in the garden.

Choice selection of the Wood Anemone with flowers densely packed with numerous small white petals which appear all white at first but as the flowers mature or awaken, a central blue eye is revealed which is quite delightful.  I go through a similar slow process every morning and tell myself that it is the same delightful end result.

Wood Anemone.  This is a good blue form with flowers darker than many of the blue selections and even though the individual flowers are a little smaller than typical, we don't care as this is such a lovely thing.  Found in the Estonian woodlands by Mart Veerus and introduced we think by Janis Ruksans.

Carpathian Snowbell. One of the daintiest of the Soldanella species, this is native to the Carpathian Mts in Central and Eastern Europe where it grows in low turf, rock outcrops and crevices. This is the less common white form which we simply adore. Hardy to zone 5 and perfectly suited to moist peaty-gritty trough.

A dwarf Foxglove from Spain and North Africa and a Plant Select introduction for those hot and cold Rocky Moutain gardeners.  Bewitching spires of dark Baltic amber flowers in early summer, this perennial will form nice clumps with multiple flower stems.  Evergreen narrow leaves in less harsh winters, this is hardy to zone 4b.  Not too wet, don't overfeed.

Winged Broom.  Superb shrublet from the Balkans down in to Greece that has distinctive flanged leaves and stems.  This is a low growing very dense small scale groundcover and takes full sun and poor soil while being tolerant of drier conditions.  In late spring, smothered in yellow flowers.  We have a dandy one under our palms by the gate.

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.  Archibal collection from the Pyrenees/Cantabrian Mts.

A nice small flowered light pink form of this necessary Anemone species which followed us home from the UK a few years back.  What is a necessary Anemone, you ask?  One which is indispensable in your shade or woodland garden and whose absence would not only be noted but commented upon and repeated, a gardening gaffe going viral.