New Plants!

Far Reaches Farm is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with.  After getting their e-mailed newsletter a few weeks ago stating they had added some new plants to their online store, I spent the next hour going through their new inventory whittling down my wish list to get to an acceptable number of plants to buy.  I spent more on plants than on food in 2013 so this year I'm shooting to go revenue-neutral meaning I'm going to try to sell as many plants as I buy.  Of course the less plants I buy the easier this will be but I'm looking at it the other way around: the more plants I sell, the more I get to buy :)

After a four-day wait, the box of plants finally arrived.  Here is what was inside:

Michelia sp. CDHM 14653

Raukaua laetevirens (syn. Pseudopanax)

Hydrangea angustipetala DJHV 7004

Cardiandra amamioshimensis

Iris henryi - Clone #2

Aciphylla aurea

Contined below....

New Plants! (continued)

Iris foetidissima 'Nant Gwilw'

Veronica thessalica

Schisandra sp. CDHM14525

Melianthus major 'Purple Haze'

Kadsura heteroclita FMWJ 13385

Tropaeolum tuberosum 'Ken Aslet' & Sinopodophyllum hexandrum var. chinense ex MD97150

The Big Garden Show

The Northwest Flower & Garden Show this past weekend was once again a visual feast abounding in imaginative garden design and cutting edge horticultural knowledge.  The first time I attended was in 2005 making this my 10th show.  It has definitely improved over time.  Remember the days having to sneak into seminars because they ran out of tickets?  My favorite part of the show remains the seminars and so this post is really seminar-focused. 

Spiky plants meet Ikea

First off, Kelly & Sue from Far Reaches Farm talked about Plant Crack for Plant Junkies.  They did not have handouts so I tried to make as comprehensive a list as possible.  Most of these plants are unavailable in the trade and a few don't even have pictures on the Internet yet.

Maianthemum (Smilacina) aff. flexuosum - Pink False Solomon Seal
Podophyllum aurantiocaule - You can only but this plant if you live in the UK
Mertensia maritima - Blue bells
Hebe recurva - One of the hardiest hebes - to Zone 7 (0 degrees F/-18C)
Meconopsis baileyi 'Hensol Violet'
Rhododendron kamtschaticum - Deciduous, dwarf alpine/rock garden rhody
Leposaurus - Fern (not sure which species they were discussing)
Mahonia eurybracteata (syn. M. confusa)
Dactylorhiza fuchsii 'Bressingham Bonus'
Gold leaved blue poppy - Beautiful contrast of colors.  Unfortunately not for sale yet.
Lobelia excelsa x lobelia tupa - A cross between the shrubby L. excelsa and perennial L. tupa
Roscoea 'Red Gurkha' - FRF is currently working on hybridizing different Roscoea species
Illicium sp. KCSH# - Star Anise
Disporum cantoniense
Epimedium pseudowushanense
Daphniphyllum sp. (longiracemosa?)
Dendropanax proteusen - Evergreen tree in the aralia family
Evergreen Corylopsis - I think this is an unknown species
Actinoitum purple flowers
Ligularia nilumbifolia - Big leaves
Styrax japonicus - White leaves?
Tripterospermum - Climbing gentian relative
Daphne wolongensis
Disporopsis ginfosinensis
Neolitsea sp. - Broadleaf evergreen (unknown species)
Nothotsuga longibracteata - This is the tree Far Reaches Farm has on their logo
Gaultheria
Native salal with pink flowers
Variegated Mahonia nervosa
Stenanthium angustifolium - purple bell-shaped flowers
Campanula - Native to the Olympic mountains
Paris quadrifolia
Berberis jamesiana
Tropaeolum vine - Perennial, summer-blooming nasturtium
Desfontainia spinosa & Desfontainia fulgens
Lapageria - National flower of Chile
Gentiana "Asiatic Hybrids" - Fall blooming gentian
Gentiana ternifolia
Colchicum agrippinum
Pittosporum 'Tom Thumb' - Red-burgundy evergreen foliage

Hey! I have these!

Dan Hinkley talked about Good Weed (aka Sedges, rushes, grasses and restios and not the other kind that just became legalized).  He admitted he held out using ornamental grass in garden landscapes until well after it became popular but having personally seen his garden at Windcliff, it is clear that he has fully embraced the concept.

Sedges
Acorus gramineus 'Ogon' - Looks great year-round and very foolproof
Muhlenbergia dumosa - Not hardy
Carex elata 'Bowles Golden' - Boggy grass
Carex pendula - I was glad to hear Dan recommend this plant because I've wondered about its potential invasiveness.  It makes a nice 4' tall clump and looks great 365 days a year.
Carex flagellifera - One of several of the bronze-colored sedges.  It only has a lifespan of 3-4 years but reseeds readily.
Carex buchananii - Taller bronze sedge
Carex testacea - Soft and orange

Rushes
Luzula nivea - Snowy wood rush
Luzula sylvatica - Wood rush

Grasses
Stipa gigantea - Evergreen early blooming sparkles in the sun
Stipa tenuissima - Mexican feather grass
Panicum virgatum 'Northwind' - Autumn switchgrass (2014 perennial plant of the year)
Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah' - Red foliage 2-3 ft tall
Panicum Virgatum 'Blood Brothers' - Better color than 'Shenandoah'
Cortaderia selloana 'Pumila' - Dwarf pampas grass
Molinia caerulea 'Skyracer'
Molinia caerulea 'Strahlenquelle'
Molinia caerulea 'Variegata'
Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' - Plantings of this withstood several years of complete neglect at Heronswood and still look great after 30 years
Chionochloa rubra - Annie's Annuals used to sell it before Dan Hinkley mentioned it

Restios
Elegia capensis - Not a horsetail!
Apodasmia simili
Rhodocoma capensis - Large plumes flowing in the wind give the effect of it being underwater

That does it for my coverage of the show.  Next year's show will move to February 11-15th, 2015.  If you live in the Pacific Northwest be sure to check it out!

Winter in the Rhododendron Species Garden, Part 3

Here are the very cool plants I purchased from the garden:

Back row from left:
Galax aphylla - Evergreen groundcover
Rhododendron 'Doris Mossman' - A hybrid vireya with bright orange flowers
Speirantha convallarioides - Yet another evergreen groundcover (I'm a big fan)

Front row from left:
Rhododendron taxifolium - A vireya with white bell-shaped flowers
Rhododendron Section Choniastrum 164sd2010 - Large unknown species
Rhododendron keiskei 'Yaku Fairy' - A super dwarf mounding groundshrubber
Dimorphanthera alpina - A vine with large, blueberry like fruit (semi-tender)
Oreocharis auricula - Cousin of the common Africa violet houseplant

Winter in the Rhododendron Species Garden, Part 2

The Rhododendron genus is incredibly diverse - as evidenced by the numerous specimens growing inside the three year-old conservatory at the Rhododendron Species Garden.  A meticulously controlled high-altitude tropical climate enables the cultivation of dozens of rhododendrons in the vireya subgenus that would not survive our Pacific Northwest winters.  Prayer flags stretch over the entrance making for an nice homage to the place where many of the plants growing inside were originally collected.

Entering the conservatory, I was fully captivated by hundreds of new species I had never seen before.  It also wasn't very warm either with the temperature set at perhaps 50 degrees F (10C).
 

The first thing to catch my eye (no surprise here) was a hardy-looking schefflera growing in a pot off to the right.  This could very well be Schefflera alpina but not entirely sure.

Schefflera alpina?

This next sight really blew me away.  Why do all the really cool plants have to be tropical?

Rhododendron tuba

On the other side of the path grow two very different rhododendrons side-by-side: one with golden metallic new growth (I'm not sure of the name of this one) and Rhododendron stenophyllum with glossy red-orange flowers that have a very appealing fake look.

Rhododendron stenophyllum on the left and a mystery rhododendron on the right

Up a little closer:

Rhododendron stenophyllum

Now this rhododenron is definitely good enough for me.  At least it would be if I could buy it.

Rhododendron goodenoughii

A nameless begonia.

 

I'm just throwing this in.  I have no idea what it is.

Schefflera macrophylla is unfortunately not quite hardy enough to grow outside reliably in the Pacific Northwest, but it is definitely on the borderline and when I eventually get my hands on I will most definitely be experimenting with it.

Schefflera macrophylla

  The conservatory comes complete with a river and a bridge over it.

 Try to guess which genus this plant is from: (hint: it's in the same family as rhododendron)
 

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Answer: If you guessed the blueberry family (Vaccinium), you're right!  Vaccinium kachinense is its name.  I'll save you the effort of scrolling back up and post it one more time:

Vaccinium kachinense

And finally, Rhododendron himantodes really bears little resemblence to any other rhododendron I'm familiar with.  Its flower buds are like minature magnolia seed pods.  I actually wouldn't mind if it didn't bloom and just stayed like that the whole time!

Rhododendron himantodes

I will be doing one more installment on the Rhododendron Species Garden soon showing off a few great plants that got to come home with me.