Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Campanula rigidipila

Family: (Campanulaceae)

(P) to 12″.  This rare plant is the world’s most southerly occurring Campanula from Ethiopia and the Kenyan highlands.  From a clump of thick, triangular, hairy, grey-green leaves, arise strong, erect stems carrying pale buds that open to lovely, clear blue bells with flared tips edged with white hairs.  Summer-blooming.  Sun.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Yucca smalliana

Family: (Asparagaceae)

(P) to 4′.  Bear Grass Yucca. Southern North America.  This Yucca is similar in many ways to the more popular Adam’s Needle (Yucca filamentosa), however smaller in stature.  Also, the leaves are finer, flatter, and narrower with smoother leaf margins, except for the occasional thread-like fibres.  The flowers are opalescent white and may at times have a light pink-tinge.  Yuccas will form a small colony over time from basal offsets.  Well-drained soil.  Sun.  3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Syneilesis intermedia coll. DJHT 99104

Family: Asteraceae

(P) to 2′.  Japan.  Purchased from Heronswood Nursery in 2001.  Wonderful foliage plant very reminiscent of Aconitum, with woolly, peltate, filigreed leaves.  Clusters of small, fluffy pink flowerheads atop stiff, dark stems.  Intriguing.  Partial shade.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Salvia forsskaolii

Family: (Lamiaceae)

(P) to 3+’. Indigo Woodland Sage. Balkan peninsula, Bulgaria to Turkey. This plant was named after Finnish explorer Peter Forsskål, a student of Carl Linnaeus.  Large basal clumps of textural green foliage give rise to long, branched flowering stems with whorls of showy, bi-lipped, violet-blue flowers with white streaks on the lower lip.  A great Salvia for open woodland plantings.  Blooms summer into early autumn.  Full sun to part shade.  Moist, well-drained soil. 4 & T3

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Callicarpa dichotoma var. albifructa

Family: Lamiaceae

Hardy shrub to 6′.  China and Korea.  White Fruited Beauty Berry.  Callicarpa dichotoma is, according to Dirr, the “most graceful and refined of the species.”  It is also the most cold-hardy.  This variety has white berries instead of typical purple and may get a bit taller than the typical form.  Sun to partial shade.  PC- 4 weeks, 3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Euonymus americanus

Family: Celastraceae

Hardy shrub to 6′.  Hearts-a-Burstin.  North America.  A small native shrub with many inconspicuous, greenish-purple flowers in summer.  By October however, the scarlet fruit capsules have popped open to reveal the bright pinkish orange seeds inside, hence its common name.  Excellent red autumn colour.  Truly spectacular.  Sun/partial shade.  3 & 6

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Haberlea rhodopensis 'Alba'

Family: Gesneriaceae

(P) to 6″.  Bulgaria and Greece.  Rosettes of wide, rugose, softly hirsute leaves with toothed margins.  Showy, drooping, tubular, soft white flowers with two upper petals and three lower petals marked with yellow and orange spots in the throat are held on 6-inch scapes.  A choice treasure for a cool, north-facing crevice.  4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Rostrinucula sinensis

Family: (Lamiaceae)

Tender Shrub to 7′.  China.  Collected by the Sino British Expedition to Guizho Province.  This curious Buddleja relative has grown well for us in pots.  Lovely, soft-green, pointed foliage and large terminal, arching spikes formed of chalky-white, tomentose bracts and buds.  The flower spike opens gradually to reveal fragrant, purple-lavender flowers with many extruding white stamens.  Summer.  Well-drained soil.  Sun.  4 & 7 for 4 weeks, then T3

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Dianthus turkestanicus

Family: (Caryophyllaceae)

(P) to 12″.  China and Kazakhstan.  This gem forms mats of blue-green, fine foliage.  Fringed, pale pink, scented flowers cover the plant in mid-May.  Sun and well-drained soil.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Sinningia sellovii

Family: (Gesneriaceae)

(TP) to 2′.  Brazil. Long terminal panicles of pendant, swollen tubular flowers from bright red to dark salmon-pink.  Several long, arching upright stems arise from a woody, tuberous base.  Pairs of soft textured elliptical, minutely toothed leaves occur along the stems.  An unusual Gloxinia that would make an attractive houseplant for a sunny window.  Blooms late summer to fall.  Sun.  4 & T1