Primarily from our own wild seed collections divided into 3 sections:
Herbaceous to tuberous including a few climbers
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Aconitum bulbilliferum HWJK2120
An unusual and distinct member of its genus, Aconitum bulbilliferum HWJK2120 was my second encounter with this dainty climbing species with purple to burgundy hooded flowers. A cool grower which will disappear into thin air if exposed to any degree of heat, can be very rewarding in the cool damp conditions it demands. By bearing not only copious quantities of unusually coloured flowers, but advantageous bulbils in all of its leaf axils.
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For a late display of white rods of bristly flowers, Actaea matsumurae BSWJ11528 fits the bill still continuing into November for us.
For a much earlier display of small dusty blue flowers held in tiered whirls on tall stems Adenophora radiatifolia BSWJ8608 is a more than pleasing solution.
There is only one solution for growing Asarum himalaicum GWJ934, that is not to containerise it, hence this most elusive of species must be kept cool and only sold as bare-rooted plants in the cooler months.
A. petelotii HWJ1043, should hold no such barrier, as it seems to be reasonably accommodating, all be it a bit slow to multiply, we should have a few of these large patterned leafed plants to spare.
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Aspidistra mushaensis
BSWJ1953
We finally made the time to divide some of our Aspidistra collections this last summer hence we can offer A. mushaensis BSWJ1953 a species endemic to a small area of central Taiwan, as well as the naming of a spotted cultivar of the same species (see below).
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Cacalia tebakoensis BSWJ11167 is a collection from the mountains of Shikoku, Japan that is stoloniferous in habit with deeply lobed palmate leaves and panicles of white flowers. I wish they were as easy to cultivate in a container as they are in the woodland garden.
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Diaspananthus uniflorus
BSWJ11336
Diaspananthus uniflorus BSWJ11336 will be new to cultivation from the same stable as the preceding, but far easier to please in a container although originating from a similar woodsy environment. These form more of a basal rosette of palmate leaves with the slenderest of sometimes tall branched inflorescences, bearing red-purple nodding flowers.
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Centropogon ferrugineus
BSWJ10665
Centropogon ferrugineus BSWJ10665 is a close relative of Lobelia, in this unusual species the habit is pendant forming a cascade of ornamentally silver veined delicate foliage on wiry stems, bearing the elongated shocking pink flowers in tactfully small numbers.
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Lobelia sessilifolia
BSWJ8875
No shyness with Lobelia sessilifolia BSWJ8875 a collection from Japan in 2001, the upright tall stems are clothed in the willowy sessile leaves with blue flowers bursting from each and every leaf axil of the upper portion by late summer.
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Clematis psilandra
Finlay and I made a special detour to the dry sunny cliffs where the rare non-climbing Clematis psilandra CWJ12377 inhabits in central Taiwan. My original collections were cosseted because of these desperately hostile origins, just to fail. Bizarrely my second attempt was incredibly successful when my seedlings were unceremoniously planted in a field, they even bore seed while I was gathering fresh collections in Taiwan.
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Disporum tonkinensis
Disporum tonkinensis BSWJ11814 represents our first introduction of an old friend, unique I believe in its habit. From the high altitude mountain forests of Tonkin (an area straddling north Vietnam and the adjoining area of Yunnan, China).
In these forests they can form large swathes, as most of their competition has been grubbed out by the indigenous tribes who are growing cardamom in the shade of the high tree canopy.
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Here we encounter the meter long arching stems clothed with broad almost rounded leaves impressed with parallel veining, bearing a few large terminal bluish fruit, resulting from the showy red tipped white bell-shaped flowers. Maybe its the weight of this fruit that arches the tips of the stems all the way to the ground, where this species is unique in forming terminal plantlets.
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Maianthemum gigas
BSWJ10470
Maianthemum gigas BSWJ10470 is a closely related plant but from, Central American altitudinal forests. As the epithet for this species implies this is a giant, capable of bearing huge panicles of up to 400 white flowers on arching stems to 2.5m long in the southern end of its range.
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Even growing as an epiphyte in moist forests, but this collection was gathered from high altitude on the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica, where they formed substantial congested plants to 2 m tall, in colonies within the cloud forest only occasionally found as epiphytes.
From further north in Guatemala we finally found M. scilloideum BSWJ10407
on our second expedition. Here it can only be found at the very highest
elevations, where this relatively small species to 50 cm tall with a
running root/rhizome can carpet large areas with their more delicate
flexuous stems of narrow leaves topped by spikes of white flowers
resulting in red fruit.
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Eryngium gracile
Still in Guatemala Eryngium gracile BSWJ10441 with its profusion of small blue flowers backed by contrasting large silvery-white ruffles, was found growing in a wet meadow on the high Sierra Los Cuchumatanes.
This has grown well for us, possibly short lived but self-seeding for us in what we consider to be a cold wet border in winter.
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From even wetter conditions back on the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica another blue flowering species E. humile BSWJ10464 was growing in standing water albeit on virtually solid rock. We were practically washed off yet another mountain, as were large sections of the road.
Moving even further north from the high mountain forests of Ixtalan, in Oaxaca, Mexico, Geranium clarum BSWJ10246 should be an easily cultivated species with palest pink flowers overlaid by purple venation, on a plant with a similar habit to G. sanguineum.
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Hedychium urophyllum
HWJ604
We have been offering the newly identified Hedychium urophyllum HWJ604 through last season, but it is worthy of mention as we used to offer this collection as H. maximum. Which this species differs from with its darker yellow flowers on shorter deep red stems.
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Roscoea aff. praecox
BWJ7848
Another member of the ginger family is gaining popularity amongst the more discerning gardeners, to which we are adding my Chinese collection Roscoea aff. praecox BWJ7848 as a valuable addition.
Difficult to pin down definitively this wonderful medium sized species bares its violet-pink white striped flowers for most of the summer and through October, above its broad clasping foliage.
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Heloniopsis tubiflora
Heloniopsis tubiflora has only recently been described as a valid species from Korea, with blue flowers. A really tough customer to handle those severe temperatures of their mountain forests in winter. See the New Cultivar section for a cultivar name on our best form.
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We are also introducing Dan Hinkley’s collection Impatiens omeiana DJHC98492 as we consider it to be sufficiently different from the form in general circulation in the UK, as it bears narrower similarly coloured leaves.
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Isopyrum dicarpon
BSWJ11555
Isopyrum dicarpon BSWJ11555 will appreciate a cool root, as we collected this from the high forest of Ehime Japan in 2006.
A tougher plant than its delicate appearance would suggest, I just cannot get enough of these woodland gems.
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Altogether a more robust woodlander Mitella inamii BSWJ11122 was from only a slightly lower forest in Fukuoka. Where this clump-forming Saxifraga relative thrived in dark shade forming neat clumps of silvery patterned dark green glossy foliage.
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Rodgersia podophylla
Rodgersia may not be its most obvious relative especially R. podophylla BSWJ10818 as we saw it growing in the extreme north of Honshu, where these architectural plants regularly bore leaves to a meter across. Keep a sharp eye on the emerging foliage as some of ours are retaining the bright red colouration for some considerable time.
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R. nepalensis HWJK2140 was also a surprise when I first encountered this species in a moist valley where I had to look up to see the tall arching stems of pinnate glossy leaves as they were above my head height (I’m only 3’6’’ tall).
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Pleurospermum aff. album
KWJ12281
Pleurospermum aff. album KWJ12281 was from a contrasting environment, its filigree foliage was tucked amongst wizen shrubs blasted on the open ridge leading to Vietnam’s second highest peak.
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Meanwhile the Japanese woodland lilac-pink flowering Salvia glabrescens BSWJ1152 and its pink flowering variety robustum BSWJ11147 prefer something more sheltered. Our collection of Trautvetteria caroliniensis v. japonica BSWJ10861 surprised me on discovering it in such a cold environment, all be it in the shade of a frozen mountain forest in the very north of Honshu.
Trillium taiwanensis BSWJ3411 is plenty cold hardy for this country, it has taken us a lot longer to offer than we would have liked. Luckily we harvested some seed from our original clumping plant growing happily in our garden, before some kind soul stole it all.
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Tripterospermum hirticalyx
BSWJ11725
Tripterospermum, ‘the climbing gentians’, are hardly known, yet we offer a wide array of them. T. distylum BSWJ11491 is a diminutive species endemic to Yakushima.
While T. hirticalyx BSWJ11725 is one of several larger flowered species we find in the Vietnamese alpine forests, with pale blue white striped flowers in this species.
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One of the very highest collections we gathered in Guatemala was Zigadenus volcanicus growing close to the summit of Volcán Zunil. Appearing to all the world like a robust Veratrum, its closest relative, in its final stages of holding ripe seed.