Sequim Rare Plants

It's been a few years since I ordered seeds from the British seed source, Thompson and Morgan. The last time I did they didn't send a copy of this seed guide with the order. We've photographed the pages of an old copy, and posted them on the website. Here's a link to the page they're on --
http://www.sequimrareplants.com/thompson-and-morgan.html.

One of the joys of winter is sitting in a warm home with your feet up and drinking something hot and soothing -- while paging through several seed catalogs and picking items for next summer's garden. Always fun to try something new !

Best wishes to you and your gardening for the New Year !
-- Roger (& Susan)

In our group of evergreen primroses, some have leaves with a dusting of white meal. This short video shows 10 of them.
https://youtu.be/MTgURLOYous

Silvery Leaves of Primroses A photo album of 10 primroses with silvery leaves.

One of the Parma violets, 'Marie Louise' has blossoms showing now. It has a darker purple/lavender color than 'Duchesse de Parme.'

Rare Plants in Southeast Asia
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/science/cambodia-karsts-plants.html?_r=0

A Race to Document Rare Plants Before These Cliffs Are Ground to Dust The species native to Cambodia’s limestone karsts exist nowhere else. Now these unique environments are being pulverized for cement.

In early February 2017 we've had 5 inches of snow. It's warmed up a bit and the snow is starting to melt. The three plants shown here are evergreen.

Whoever chose the name of this primrose, picked a good name, 'Parakeet,' with its colors of yellow and green. It has evergreen leaves and blooms in March and April.

Farfugium japonicum 'Cristata' (syn. 'Crispatum')
● a foliage plant for USDA zones 7 - 11
● coloring is unusual, velvety gray-green with new growth in spring having rosy-pink highlights
● on a mature plant, leaves grow large, to the size of a dinner plate
● plant height of 2 feet tall
● for partial shade
● evenly moist soil - not needing lots of moisture
This plant takes a couple of years to grow to full size, and isn't difficult to grow. It is long lived, growing into a thick clump. In late summer, clusters of bright yellow daisy-like flowers appear on stems of 18 inches.

These flowers were picked this morning, December 9, 2016 in a cool greenhouse. They are a semi-double form of Viola odorata named 'Mrs. David Lloyd George,' originating in 1915. Like many of the double violas, they tend to not set any seeds and because of this, their flowering season goes on and on, until April.

There's a fungus among us, . .a tiny red one.
Could this toadstool possibly be Flammulina velutipes?
Now that we've had some rainy, fall weather, these are popping up in western Washington state.

Iris foetidissima 'Variegata, in the upper left corner
● green and white, evergreen leaves
● the colorful leaves really "light up" a shady garden
● grows well in shade (actually needs shade)
● grows 18 inches high
● purplish flowers that don't set seeds (it's sterile)
● not often found at nurseries or garden centers
● not a plant for areas colder than USDA zone 7
● an excellent plant for western WA, OR and CA
Sisyrinchium 'Aunt May' - in the center of the photo
● very, very rarely seen in gardens
● leaves of cream and grayish-green, resembling iris leaves
● 12 to 18 inches tall
● taller stems of creamy yellow flowers
● this form of sisyrinchium is sterile - can only be propagated by division
● although this is a perennial, it is monocarpic, meaning that an entire plant won't die after flowering although the parts that do flower will die afterwards (as do some agaves, yuccas and bamboos)

● winter flowering jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum
● needs the support of a fence or trellis to grow tall
● the flowers are unscented, but bloom comes all winter
● on the East Coast, grows as far north as D.C. or Philly
● grows all up and down the West Coast, west of the mountains
● we have offered this in the past, but not at the moment (11/16)