This is one of those plants worth the greenhouse space if you can't grow it outside which we can't.  An evergreen vine from Chile where it is the national flower. Big waxy pendant flowers of typically rose red. These normally flower in late summer and fall. and we were entranced by beautiful specimens in bloom when we visited the west of Scotland in the fall of 2013.

Pretty awesome evergreen fern because not only is it cool but it increases fast enough to make a statement in the garden before you are in your dotage and have forgotten why you bought this yet not in that rampaging acreage-eating Borg-assimilating manner that is sometimes described as "a good nursery plant".

One of the hardiest of the Leptospermums which, in time and left alone, will achieve the appearance of a ruggedly handsome small tree. We say this in case you have control issues and mistake shearing for pruning in which case this will be a nice dense ball.  Or square.  Or blob.  Evergreen, nice white flowers, deer-proof, drought tolerant. Thanks to Leptophiliac Ian Barclay for sharing this..

A collection from Mount Imlay in New South Wales of an expected hardier form of the species. Prickly needle-like leaves on a multi-stemmed shrub with white flowers although light pink flowers have been reported in that location. Ours is white so that takes the guesswork out. This should be fine in milder gardens here in the Puget Sound and can take poorly drained situations. Deer do not find this tasty.

Exceptional form of the species we received from the Master Of Leptospermum, Ian Barclay of Desert Northwest. This fast-growing Tea Tree will become a fine large shrub to 15' in mild areas.  Silver-purplish needle-like leaves in summer turn darker purple in fall & winter.  The small white flowers are visual madness.

Riverine Tea Tree.  This uncommon to cultivation Tasmania endemic is often found along stream banks in its native setting so can take moister conditions than some other species.  White flowers on an evergreen shrub with good flaking bark and getting to 8'-10'.  Deer proof as well.

One of the hardiest Leptospermums, this creeping form is from the alpine areas of Tasmania and has grown for many years at the Arboretum in Seattle. Evergreen leaves with small white flowers, this would be a shame not to have it in the rock garden and a greater shame not to have it spilling over a wall.

Lespedeza bicolor can be an invasive pest but this dwarf version from Japan is a non-invasive pixie.  Small blue green leaflets in 3's on a many-stemmed 12" tall deciduous bush to twice as wide or a bit more.  Cute reddish purple pea-like flowers are perfectly in keeping with the tidy presentation.  From a friend on Cape Cod.

NeGolden yellow are its hallmark in spring to mid summer after which they become a light yellow-green but still an element of light brightness in the shade.  Late in Oct/Nov, this defies conventional wisdom by producing  yellow bottlebrush flowers.

Pinecone Thistle.  Pretty cool 6"-12" tall plant from dry pine woods and wastelands in southern Europe and northern Africa.  The spineless gray-green, thistle-like leaves, are felted gray-white underneath and are a perfect accompaniment to the art project flowers.  Tufts of filamentous purplish flowers erupt from hefty cones of overlapping, feathered brown scales.

Yellow Himalayan Honeysuckle.  A species from NE India and northern Myanmar originally introduced by Frank Kingdon-Ward just over 100 years ago, this is from a more recent US National Arboretum collection.  Yellow flowers over bronzed foliage distinguishes this from the more familiar Leycesteria formosa.

A superb compact and very floriferous plant we got from the sadly late Michael Wickenden at Cally Gardens in Scotland.  This is just about the perfect little container plant with low, dense tuffets of deep green narrow blades of leaves and a profusion of small white flowers on short stems which retain interest long after flowering with their seed heads.

Serious business here on the Ligularia front. This makes a dense ground cover of weed-suppressive, overlapping large leaves and tall spikes of yellow flowers. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering.

Deeply incised palmate leaves with long finger-like lobes are visually arresting in themselves while the early to mid summer large yellow daisy flowers just piles on the eye candy.  Structure, beauty, form and function - only the most bitter cabbage would fault this for not being edible!

Extremely rare lily native to just a few sites in the southeastern US and discovered by Mary Henry in 1940, known as the Panhandle or Pot of Gold Lily.  This is found growing along streams and  pitcher plant bogs.  It is unusual in that it is adapted to warm winters and high humidity. It is a Turk's Cap type and will be 3'-6' at maturity. The bulbs will make a nice little colony when happy.

Lovely, lovely species with classic Turk's cap shaped flowers of gentle pink with a lavender nuance further enhanced by a sprinkle of darker beauty spots on the downturned face which exhales a light fragrance that takes but the slightest stirring of the air to swirl about in fleeting notes taking this to yet a higher plane of pleasure.  Seed grown

Grown from a seed collection in China by the brilliant plantsman Bjornar Olsen, this is an easy and very pleasing lily.  Turk's cap style flowers are predominately in shades of pink, varying in intensity.  The recurved tepals are pale white on the margins and speckled with deep carmine spots.  Spreads fairly fast, making a lovely patch.

Awesome rare lily known only from NE India where Frank Kingdon-Ward first collected it in either Manipur or Nagaland and named it after his wife whose maiden name was Macklin.  Pale pink flowers in late spring and early summer are a lovely thing indeed on this smaller collector's lily.  Frank's wife must have been an exquisite creature.

This selection of this collector's species merits a very good spot in the garden.  Any selection of the species certainly could lay claim to the best real estate but this strain out of the UK which is a shade or two pinker than typical takes an impossible task of improving upon perfection and makes it possible.

Seed-grown plants of a rare form of a rare lily rarely available from one rare plant grower in the UK.  We are eschewing subliminal suggestions and going right to the heavy hammer of repetitive rarity.  This form came about in cultivation from seed-raised plants in the UK and when mature is twice as tall as the typical species.  Nice soft pink flowers.

Our cross between the "typical" Lilium mackliniae and the Saramati form which will be recognized as a distinct variety of the species.  The former has larger flowers and is more campanulate while the latter is a high elevation variant with smaller flowers and blooms earlier.  This hybrid is very uniform from seed, short, stout, earlier than typical

Young bulbs of this choice variable species from the Caucasus.  Impressive displays of up to 24 scented creamy flowers whose reflexed tepals expose the soft yellow throat and fine maroon stippling in this form.  This is a hardy early bloomer which is ideal for those cold northern gardens with short growing seasons.

Our collection from the Siskiyou Mts in southern Oregon of this moisture-loving lily. Reddish-orange Turk's cap flowers with the red more pronounced toward the ends of the tepals or petals. This is a good garden species with rhizomatous bulbs making for a good clump in time.

A Ron Ratko collection from 6500' in the San Gabriel Mts of Los Angeles County where it grew along shaded drainages under white alders in a mixed conifer forest.  This variety has broader leaves than var. parryi but has the same large lemon-yellow trumpets that are strongly fragrant and held at eye level on mature bulbs.  Everyone will have pollen on their noses!

Excellent lily species from Vietnam collected in 2011 and original seed sent to us by expedition member Aaron Floden.  This has sizeable flowers on 2'-3' stems with strongly recurved tepals that vary from white to yellow overlaid on the face with ruby from light speckles to nearly solid.  This has proved quite easy in cultivation.

An extremely difficult day on one of the highest (9,793') mountains in Vietnam.  A 9 mile hike with a 2 mile motorcycle ride to the trailhead and then all-day steepness climbing up red clay landslides then rocky scrub in rain arriving at dark to collapse in collapsing tent on wind-blasted ridge.  These should be a thousand dollars each.

Lilium rosthornii is an uncommonly interesting lily from China.Three foot stems carry large, vivid orange flowers whose narrow petals are recurved into an impossible backbend. The exposed faces of the petals fairly bristle with polyp-like papillose projections while the revealed open throat displays a small dark green star.

Beautiful species from one of our collections in the mountains of Asia.  Stately and refined on strong upright 4'-6' stems topped in creamy flowers whose recurved tepals are suffused in freshly churned butter yellow.  These vary by clone and can be liberally speckled in fine maroon spots or these can be nearly absent.  Kelly is a Libra and can't decide which he likes more while Sue is a Taurus and said we are going to sell a few while that Libra brain makes up its mind.

This has evergreen broadly grassy leaves and nice spikes of lavender flowers held above the foliage. A lovely rarity.

Progeny from a San Francisco Botanical Garden introduction from high elevation in Guatemala.  High there still means frost sensitive but what a showoff in zones 9&10!  Mass red flowers summer into winter with the lower three petals contrasting apricot.  Evergreen shrub to 5-'6'+ tall and as wide.  Ours in pots feed the overwintering greenhouse hummers.