Named by plant guru John Flintoff who found this as an interesting seedling growing in plantswoman Loie Benedict's garden. Light green leaves with a spreading habit and flowers of a soft muted lavender which happily goes with most everything. As long as the soil is reasonably moist, this will be good in sun to light shade and is resistant to deer and rabbits.

A white flowered variant of this familiar Geranium whose flowers are backed by a green calyx rather than pink which adds to its overall indispensable lightness of being. The paler than normal green leaves accentuate this and makes this valuable for brightening a somber corner or tempering hotter colors.  Takes dry shade - very tough.

One gold leafed seedling among thousands from seed sown of our Blue Poppies. The leaves are most intense in spring and the flowers are a lovely amethyst. Like most, some are perennial and some are not.  Save seed! Cannot be grown anywhere it gets hot and/or humid in the summer.

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. Excellent long-lived plant of outstanding hardiness best suited for the cool to cold zones.

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.

Blue Cohosh.  Quiet woodlander from east of the Rockies who plays supporting cast to the stars in the shade garden but its absence would cause these same stars to seem to not shine so brightly.  Herbaceous Barberry family member, glaucous leaves in spring with meh flowers but lovely, blue fruit in fall just when you need them.  Thanks to Charles Kelley for the seed.

Hardy as heck variegated currant, which has yellow foliage turning more lime-chartreuse as the season moves along.  This is a pretty compact little deciduous shrub making a tangle of twigs to eventually 3 feet tall and as wide.  We've seen references to it being hardy to zone 2 so assume it is as unaffected by cold as a chunk of basalt.  Little reddish fruit.

A fine and vigorous form of Galanthus plicatus with inner segments bearing a distinct and delineated green mark.  This older selection was found in a garden in the village of Warham and has proved itself as a durable garden plant.  Thanks to galanthophile Carole Jennings for sharing her collection with us awhile back.

This Campanula was collected in Russia at Karachayevo-Cherkessiya, Terbeda, Gonachkir Valley at 1800 meters so next time you are there, keep an eye peeled for it.  This potentially can reach 3'-5' tall in flower with nice heads of pale lavender to white flowers in midsummer.  Is it hardy, you ask?  Da!

Giant Pincushion Flower.  We saw this used to great effect in numerous cottage gardens in northern England during our coast to coast walk in June-July 2012.  Impressive zone 3 perennial whose open, branched stems can exceed 6' tall and bear creamy yellow flowers.  Perfect for mixing with lower bushy plants.

Classic spring epehemeral of the eastern woodlands with ferny foliage in early spring and white flowers in March.  This will go dormant by late spring and is an excellent little plant to grow on top of later growing shade loving lily species or Arisaemas so that you get double duty out of the same planting spot.

Red flowers.  Lots of red flowers. Bringing the heat.  A two foot bonfire of visually searing heat.  A heaping pile of glowing coals in the garden.  A smoldering intensity that can wear thin in a husband or wife but is perfect in this plant.  A virtual hotness matched only by the forges of the Orcs in Lord of the Rings but with positive intent.

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.

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.

A fine selection with seasonally variable light blue trumpet flowers. Most folks instantly gravitate towards the impossibly dark blue selections and while these are critical to have, consider how much darker they will look with this growing alongside.  Just sayin'.  Evergreen mats in rich soil.

As the descriptive implies, this auricula came to us with double flowers that are a creamy white.  Many of the Primula in our area can be traced back to the late Herb Dickson at Chehalis Rare Plants and this likely carries the genetic memory of this specialty plant nursery from the 60's and 70's.  This has been a survivor for us.

Lily of the Valley.  A good selection of this stalwart species with a yellow margin to the leaves and said leaves are larger than average as well.  Typical scented white flowers.  There are numerous spellings of the cultivar name but since this is an American introduction, we can only assume this is correct.  Sad.

Partridge Berry.  An introduction from Piping Tree Gardens Nursery in Virginia who made numerous selections from the rich local woodland flora.  We can't attest to comparative sizes - too much like junior high locker rooms - but can say that this small-scale evergreen groundcover with small white fragrant flowers does have lovely red fruit.

Selection out of Germany of this darned fine species.  Evergreen tight mats of small green leaves with impossible azure blue trumpets standing at attention looking very superior and perfect.  Well, it is a German selection after all and this shows a certain adherance to standards which the lesser gentians can only dream about attaining.

Perfoliate Bellwort.  So named for the perfoliate leaves in which the stem seems to pierce the leaf and bellwort for the pendant pale yellow (in this form) to greenish flowers.  This is a collection from Hamblen County Tennessee shared with us by botanist Aaron Floden.  A delight in the shade garden contrasting well with dark Podophyllums and ferns.

A lovely gold leafed sport of 'Cream da Mint' that Rick Sawyer found in his Fernwood Nursery in Maine. This truly glows particularly in spring when the gold coloration is at its best. The larger than usual white scented flowers are a fine accompaniment. Slower spreading than many selections.

Lovely species in the group formerly placed in the genus Dentaria referring to their crinkled molar-like rhizomes.  We do enjoy the the color of the purple-pink flowers in early spring but there is a quality of texture and sheen to the leaves that makes us consistently murmur  'I like that plant" whenever we pass by it.

This used to be var. kolenatiana from the Caucasus but this widely distributed circumarboreal species has had the species equivalent of a taxonomic black hole occur with numerous varieties, subspecies and genera all ascribed to this one species being sucked into the vast maw of botany never to be seen again.

Doll's Eyes Baneberry.  Striking woodland plant in fruit - the white puffs of flowers in late spring are ok but the fruit is serious business.  An elongated fruiting spike holds with red stems, round white berries each with a small black pupil.  The common name is immediately obvious and is either clever or creepy depending on how many "Chucky" movies you have watched.  We think it is clever.  All parts poisonous which means deer proof.

Mountain Avens.  Rare Washington State native, this is circumpolar in tundra areas including alpine areas in the Cascades and Rockies.  Good evergreen groundcover with tough textured leaves hugging the ground.  8 petaled white flowers showing it belongs in the rose family are followed by festive plumed seed heads.

Maybe the best of the variegated Lily of the Valley selections. This has prominent stripes that are quite even and show minimal reversion to green compared to other clones. Like all of the Lily of the Valley, this is tough as all get out and can take dry when established.

Hamilton Dwarf Cranberry. This is one of our desert island dwarf shrublets. Granted, we would be bundled up on the beach as this would be a cool northern island for this to be happy but that is a small concession for 12 months of beauty.   Perfection in a small package with very slow growth, evergreen leaves turning burgundy in winter, tiny pink flowers and red fruit - yea, verily!

Dwarf False Lily of the Valley.  This wee woodlander as a species is native to western Europe and Japan with this tiny-leafed form likely from Japan.  This is sometimes offered under any number of names and we got this one from Michael Wickenden of Cally Gardens.  Small white flowers.

Not one you will easily find, this tough rarity hails from China's Xinjiang Province and neighboring Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan. High moist meadows are home sweet home for this blue-lavender drumstick Primula dusted in farina.  Sue brought this west from  VT over 20 years ago. Said it was tough!

Meadow Blazing Star.  One of the many garden stars at Denver Botanic Garden's Chatfield gardens, this is especially favored by Monarch butterflies.  Fluffy rose-purple flowers to an an inch or more wide appear on the vertical 12"-36" stems midsummer to September.  Native from Alberta to New Mexico, this likes sandy or rocky soils on the dry side.  Rich loamy easy-livin' soils pushes too much growth leading to the dreaded flop.