New and Restocked Plants

A collection by Dr. Peter Zale of this recently described evergreen species.  A gorgeous plant with attractive new shoots and handsome foliage on arching stems.  Small yellowish flowers adorn the leaf axils and reddish fruit follows.  We haven't trialed this outside because our winters make us chicken out nearly every time.  Let's go frost-free for now and we'll find out more later.  Epiphytic, so a crumbly potting mix.

A very good evergreen fern native to Taiwan, China and Japan which we imported from a specialist in the UK.  Tidy and attractive species reaching 30" wide with fronds to 20" tall, this requires shade to part shade.  And brace yourself - it is tolerant of dry shade!  Happier of course with some water,  Spore-grown by us.

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.

This was one of those "Holy shit - lookit that fern!" moments when we first spotted this species growing at the base of soaring pinnacles of vertical peaks in Guizhou, China where it was not intimidated in the least and perfectly in scale.  Massive 4'-6' wide fronds 6'-8' tall in the wild and clumping.  Likely smaller in cultivation but still BIG!  Zone 7b-9.

Our collection from an end-of-day hunch-driven venture up a nondescript dirt track into forested hills which remains one of the best two hours we have ever spent in the field. A deciduous species with upright fronds 20"-30" tall on plum-colored stems (stipes and rachis).  Texturally, graceful and light.  Spore-grown by us.

Our collection from a previously unbotanized remnant old-growrth forest in China.  It was like walking in a mountain valley in Appalachia with massive Beech, Chestnuts, Hornbeams, Magnolias and Rhododendrons all hundreds of years old.  Just writing this - it is like we're there.  Good evergreen fern - guessing on species.

Speckled Wood-lily is common name as white flowers are lightly speckled in green and purple.  The flowers are held in an umbel clustered atop stems up to twenty inches tall if the plant is in its happy place,  The flowers are replaced by round black fruit.  The tongue-like green leaves make a dense cover and this is gently rhizomatous creating a small carpet in time.

An excellent introduction if you are into the Araliaceae family and fortunately, there are lots of Araliaddicts out there!  This came from the high point in its range with occasional cold exposure and has proven hardy outside here in full sun and wind exposure.  Not ideal but that's what we got!

We briefly offered this as Plectranthus but Cody, our taxonomist fixed that.  From a meadow area at 10,000' in Sichuan with companions of Reineckea, Paris, Roscoea, Aconitum and Salvia. This mysterious beguiler will have small rounded hairy leaves with many stems and myriad motes of lavender-white flowers.

A cool tolerant species from the Himalaya, we keep this in our 40F greenhouse over the winter and it seems to like it. We're not traditional orchid growers as a rule but this has been super-easy, even in pots like everything else here. These are non-flowering divisions in gallon pots and could and should bloom next year. White flowers are of good size.

A dramatic species from Sichuan Province in China with most collections coming from Mount Emei, the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains in China.  Gorgeous dramatic large leaves with leaflets striped in yellow.  A patch of this will temporarily stop conversation.

Our collection from Asia of this evergreen fern we might refer to as Pyrrosia lingua but given that taxonomy is especially fluid these years, we're allowing it might be something different. This formed an impressive colony on the duff overlaying a partly shaded large rock slab where it would endure periods of dry.

A fine variegated selection originating at Cally Gardens in Scotland and given to us by the late Michael Wickenden who named it.  Michael was a plantsman of the keenest sort and he is sorely missed.  Good clean cream margins on the young leaves which turns white as the foliage matures.  The variegation plays well with the red flowers atop the two foot stems.  We reckon this is the first introduction of this choice plant to the US and we have just a few.

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.

A floriferous and perhaps hardier selection with a bit larger flowers than usual by the late Don Jacobs of Eco-Gardens in Georgia.  Don was one of the first nurserymen to get into China in 1983 as the bamboo curtain was lifting.  It is hard not to like the soft lavender-blue flowers with darker spotting around the white band surrounding the yellow thumbprint.  Light shade.

Roof Iris.  These are seed-grown from our plant from an Eric Hammond collection in China.  This species actually does grow on thatched roofs in Japan and China and is quite easily grown in the garden  Large, 5-6 inch lilac-blue flowers are very nice on stems to perhaps 18" tall.  Happy in zones 4-9, this is easy but watch for slugs on the new growth as these might attest.

Fabulous tough evergreen large shrub from a Randall Hitchin collection in Chile.  Copious white flowers late August to October which provides the often underappreciated attribute of sound from the sheer variety and numbers of bees!  Takes dry but fine with more water.

This is the rarest US Magnolia species occurring in just 6 counties in the Florida panhandle. Fantastic species with huge leaves up to 2' or more long and nearly a foot across. On plants young as 3-4 years old, white scented flowers to 10" wide appear in May avoiding frost damage . Dramatic large shrub to small tree.

Staggeringly impressive recent introduction of this Solomon Seal species from - wait for it -  Vietnam. Large red flowers snug the whorled leaves on stems which reached 15' tall this year in the garden, and which remain green for us until temps drop below 20F.

Collected by Floden-Mitchell-Wynn-Jones at Lao Cai, Vietnam at 2050 meters. This rare species is a great plant for the naturalistic or wild garden making a large shrub with branchlets tipped in fingers of small pale flowers which contrast with the reddish stems and textured leaves. Good fall color.

Lily of the Nile. One of the top hybrids bred by Steve Hickman of Hoyland's and is well-regarded among those in the know for its large powder-blue flowers on 30" stems.

A good hardy form of this Sedum-like species from Rick Lupp of Mt Tahoma Alpines who has grown this in his sand beds for over 20 years where it has taken single digits in the winter.  Low, fleshy green leaves are a perfect backdrop for the salmon-red 3"-4" flower stems with nice heads of small white flowers accented by a small salmon-pink eye.  Perfect in our crevice garden.

An eyecatcher as evidenced by our friend Brian, with exquisite taste in all things beautiful, when he made the hopeful inquiry "These probably aren't ready to sell yet"  From a Malaysian botanic garden, this has sumptuous burnished metal leaves on the uppers with rich red undersides.  White/pink flowers are not needed.

This blueberry relative was an exciting find from a small mostly deforested limestone ridge in Vietnam. It was a small compact 12"-18" shrub growing both in the rocks and epiphytically with orchids on the few trees left.  Evergreen with boss white tubular flowers and a red berry sheltered by 3 large red bracts.

Solidly colored mid-purple flowers with each individual flower being of good size. The leaves are unspotted and green. This excellent selection commemorates Scotland's great plantsman who was a notable alpine grower and exhibitor. We have literally just a few divisions to offer of what is likely the first offering in the US. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy offering.

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.

One of the hardiest of the Aloes, this will withstand short drops into the upper teens but will appreciate shelter against a sunny wall under an eave where it will produce orange flowers for months on end. Well worth trying for some succulent exotica or just fine in a container where it can be brought inside for the winter.  Has done well in outside with careful siting in mild PNW gardens.

Sporelings of the Mexican Chain Fern originally introduced from the mountains near Oaxaca.  A rarely seen beautiful species surviving many years in a Seattle garden.  The same garden has a glorious container of this which overwinters frost-free in the sunroom where it not only survives but thrives.  Thanks to Jeanette Kunnen for sharing.

From the cloud forests of Panama and South America where it grows on trees in accumulations of decomposed debris in crotches.  Finally, an upside to crotch debris!  Essentially a neotropical blueberry, this had been placed in Vaccinium a time or two.  Small white to pinkish flowers with similar colored edible fruit.