A beautiful plant that is hard to find. I also enjoy collecting rare and unusual plants. My current passion is members of the Araliaceae family. I have about ten genera, including Oplopanax horridus our native Devil's Club. I really like the hardy Schefflera with their palmate compounded leaves they give the landscape an exotic look. I have nine species of them. I lusted for them for many years. I would drool over a Welsh nursery called Crug's. It had a long list of these plants but didn't ship to North America. The funny thing is that a nurseryman and plant collector who lives in Western Washington was listed as the collector for many of Crug's species. About 2008 or so that plantsman and several others started release them in a tidal wave of species throughout the PNW and the nation.

Collecting hard to find plants is fun.

johnaberdeen, really interesting plant, had to look it up! lol Why are they also named Ginseng? The hardy Schefflera is one on my list, but have been told it is a bit touchy in the lower temperatures so might not survive in my Shoreline Garden. I will have to try one this spring. Years ago I had a pesky plant that hitch-hiked in a pot of something that I bought at a sale at UC Davis Botany Department in California. It popped up all over and I pulled it out when ever I found it. Years later when we moved back to Seattle it once again appeared in several pots. Was at a lecture at the NHS and there it was in one of the Dan Hinkley slides - an Arisaema taiwanense! Oops! It is now happily growing in my garden had set seeds and we have several that have naturalized.

Oh, I love rare and unusual plants and I have many! My most precious so far is Sinopanax formosana. I got it on silent auction at Heronswood two years ago. It is only now becoming more available though prices are still very steep.

Franklinia is a fabulous tree and I love that it blooms in late summer and early fall in PNW. It is a parent to an intergeneric hybrid tree called xGordlinia (Franklinia x Gordonia) that also blooms later in a season and is definitely worth locating and adding to any garden.

For me Gordlinia survived a winter in Woodinville which makes it a solid 8a zone but got devoured by deer before I noticed they took interest in it. I've read somewhere that the purpose of this cross was to get the heavier blooming of Gordonia and combine with hardiness of Franklinia. I'm not sure if the succeeded. I don't see Gordlinias around as much as Franklinias (WA Arboretum has a few wonderful specimens and so does RSBG in Federal Way).

Actually, the Wynn-Jones did much of their Schefflera collecting with Dan Hinkley (among others), not Kelly Dodson. And Dan's Monrovia collection features 3 of the hardy forms from those collecting trips, while Far Reaches offers a different set of three. And hardy means pretty darn hardy :-) Shirley, they should be fine in your garden!!

Sounds like it's him then.

Thanks Pam, next to try! So many plants and so little time! lol

For me, it is so many plants, so little room! LOL!! I'm not going too much for the rare and unusual (although I do have my sights set on a weird succulent shrub I have been hunting for) but more of a desire to just add to my collection of Japanese maples and dwarf conifers. But I even have to be cautious with those as my garden helper has scolded me about adding any more containers that he needs to schlep around for me. Not sure what the big deal is...........30+ planted glazed ceramic containers ranging in size from 5-30 gallons can't weigh that much!!

My fav weird plant. Pseudopanax crassifolius is growing in a really small pot on the deck. It may get repotted this spring - the 2 gal. (I am being generous) is supporting an eight foot plant - but it is happy!

Great subject for artsy #artsy photos

Just recently I saw this Pseudopanax in the ground at McMenamin's courtyard in downtown Bothell. I have no idea how long it's been there but if it survived any of our winters outside that would be awesome!

The one on my deck is about 7 years old and had done just fine but we do move it into the garage when it gets to freezing temps so I am not sure how much it will tolerate. I will ask if the Dunn Garden moves theirs in for the cold part of the winter.

Shirley, in the ground it should be OK. An article in Horticulture Week reported them hardy to at least -5C (maybe as much as -10C) which is around 15-20F or so. But in a container and a smallish one at that, I would bring it in if we were to receive one of our Arctic blasts :-))

Everything except some obviously older trees and shrubs that were growing there before development of the resort is new to the Bothell site - as in planted within the last few years. East-side locations like this can be expected to hit 0 F during the sharper winters, they've even had that before at Rhody Ridge, just east of Lynnwood (and a Bothell postal address).

ophoenix, I don't think your plant is a Pseudopanax crassifolius, but a P. ferox. The top picture is a P. ferox which has a very serrated leaf edge looking like a saw, while the bottom photo is a P. crassifolius with serrations few and far apart plus the very noticeable yellow midline on the leaf. P. crassifolius is much hardier than P. ferox. It has taken temperature into zone 7 while P. ferox has been damaged or died from zone 8a temperatures that last more than a day or two. I got my plants from Far Reaches Farm when they had a rare moment when both plants were available. I live in a high average zone 8b, the coldest so are has been 17° F which didn't cause any problems for either plant. But the P. ferox is living on barrowed time since my area has gotten much colder in the past. If you live near the water your plant can probably survive for many years.

john, I will take some photos tomorrow. I did check and ours had the sharp parts close like your photo but there is a red vein down the middle of the 'leaf' or 'branch.'

Thanks for the information - the plot thickens! lol

Shirley, I'm surprised you didn't include the bamboo iris, Iris confusa, in the "rare and unusual" category!! It is certainly is not a plant one sees often....maybe as it is of borderline hardiness here (although mine grown in a container has wintered over just fine for 4 years). And it doesn't look or act much like any other iris except for the flowers :-)

If you can find some, toss in a photo of yours to share.......I never remember to take any of mine when in bloom.

Here are two - can't find the ones of the foliage and I think that is almost as beautiful and interesting as the flowers. We have never taken in any here in the winter because one of the plants is huge and still in a container. All of the new babies will also spend the winter out in the cold. LOL

The flowers only last a couple of days but it keeps throwing new ones over a month or more.

John here is a new pic of the Pseudopanax crassifolius or what we call it - does this look like the other one you mentioned?

I am not sure how many grevillea victoriae are growing in Shoreline or Seattle, but this one is blooming its head off this winter. It is about 8 feet tall and quite wide. It is growing in the sunniest spot in the garden at the edge of one of the terraces so it gets super drainage. Great plant for the PNW where it seems to be happy. The humming birds love it.

Local independent garden centers have been pretty consistent about stocking this in later years. It's actually a summer bloomer in its habitat but seems to have stayed on the southern hemisphere monthly schedule in the northern hemisphere. One year I had a planting bloom from August to May.

Regarding the Pseudopanax here are more pictures.

http://www.nzflora.info/factsheet/Gallery/Pseudopanax-ferox.html

ophoenix, your picture shows a P. ferox. Ron's link shows the saw like edges with various colored mid vein. Pseudopanax crassifolius has a very noticeable yellow mid vein with very few serrated edges. As you can see on my first picture the leaf on the right shows the red mid vein. It isn't noticeable from a distance while the P. crassifolius, bottom picture, is seen clearly from a distance. But the real why to know what you have is the saw like edges to the leaves that P ferox has and P. crassifolius doesn't. P. ferox isn't as hardy.

I also like growing Grevillea victoriae and some of their cultivars to feed the Anna hummingbirds in the winter. I try to have something blooming year around for them and other hummingbirds and pollinators.

John, Thank you for the info. I am going to make a tag for the plant with the new name. The Daphne is gorgeous! Yea, now I have a new treasure to search for. I have a couple little Daphne odoras and they are almost ready to bloom, yours is next on the list! I found it on several websites and all say that it is very slow growing. Have you found that true in our climate? How tall is the one in the photo and how old? Have to plan a perfect spot for it.

Pesky 'weed' story

Pardon me if you read an earlier post but want to share this photo of a seed cluster (or what ever it is called) from a pesky weed that hitch-hiked with a plant that I bought at a UC Davis Botany Dept. plant sale at least 30 years ago. I pulled the 'weeds' for years that kept popping up in my CA garden. Moved and they appeared to traveled in some of the pots of plants that I brought from my old garden. I was at a lecture at the NHS when the slide identified my plant (weed) as an Arisaema taiwanes! oops!! The babies were carefully planted in various spots in the new garden and have been happy ever since. lol This year we have this seed cluster and it is beautiful as well as bursting with life. It is 4 inches long and the stem is 5 inches.

You asked about the Paper Daphne growth. For a bush it grew fairly fast, putting on six to 12 inches a year. I planted it in the spring of 2010. It is now just above the gutter line of the house which is about 10 feet where this bush is located. I am going to cut it back this year to keep leaves out of the gutters. Speaking of leaves, it was sold as a evergreen, but the fall of 2010 we had an overnight freeze where the day temperature was in the sixties, that night it dropped into the high teens. It went deciduous, which is frightening when you think it was an evergreen. But it bloomed without leaves and regrew leaves that spring. It hasn't done that since then, even with one short period later in the winter of 17° F in 2014.

You are blessed with that species of Arisaema reproducing so well for you. Take any of the ones you don't want to a plant swap meet. They are popular.

Once we germinate the seeds, then swapping will be fun - my little bit-coins from the garden. lol If the babies are as tough and determined as the parent - we will have enough to share with many fellow PNW Gardenweb gardeners.

johnaberdeen, good catch! Found the original nursery tag for the Pseudopanax and it is indeed a ferox! Thanks for the info. The tag also says that is is hardy down to 15 degrees - but it is in a really small pot so we might bring it into the basement if it gets any colder. We have promised to put in into a larger pot - but have been saying that for the last 5 years. lol Happy 2018

Not really rare, but very unusual for this part of the country, citrus growing outside in the ground.

Not just any citrus can make it outside here, only certain less common varieties.

This one is Yuzu. It's much more cold hardy and could probably survive outside without any protection but I decided to cover it because it was so young.

Even if not for the fruits, citrus is still very ornamental and fragrant because of the blossoms. Plus people walking by will take a double look wondering if that's really citrus they see growing outside.

Why Not Cover Plants with Plastic for a Frost?

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/not-cover-plants-plastic-frost-67563.html

Thanks for the great article. Very helpful and I found this one:

Covering Frost-Sensitive Plants With Cardboard Boxes, to also be helpful.

Parker Turtle had to go on line and find the yuzu. Looks very interesting and wonder if it would grow out side in my garden, 8b with some frost and some short lived snow. I don't want anything that needs - diaper changing - as my son calls it. Must have learned it in Hort school. When we moved to N California, true Mediterranean, Meyer lemons were considered non edible! Many years later when we rented a house in an old part of town, they could be picked up in the street when they fell off the trees. They were considered garbage by the old timers - lol Then we moved north where they are considered delicacies and very expensive. Actually we always used them for cooking and eating out of hand and still do if we can find them at a decent price.

I might also mention Golden Lotus Banana (Musella lasiocarpa) though I'm not sure how well the blooms will do in the short PNW summers where the heat doesn't last that long. In form it's basically like the equivalent of Bird of Paradise, I'd say, but with cold hardiness down to zone 7, or possibly even 6.

Looks beautiful and if someone has experience with Musella Lasiocarpa in 8a or b, please share!

I have a variegated Tsuga mertensiana I found growing on the edge of a logging road when it was just a few inches tall.

While on the one hand the Musa lasiocarpa acts here at my place like it wants a longer and warmer summer on the other hand it has been given the Award of Garden Merit by the R.H.S. in Britain. Of course, they do award tender plants and other kinds not generally adapted.

The 2014 edition of The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs (Royal Horticultural Society) says of it

"Will survive outdoors, ideally with protection, in the mildest parts* of the British Isles but in most places best overwintered in frost-free conditions"

*Thanks to the Gulf Stream winter temperatures in these areas are equivalent to those of coastal California, with the most southwestern islands and vicinity having been mapped as falling within USDA 11

Embothrium, does it bloom in your garden? Situation? Do you think it will bloom with great drainage but slightly (either early am or pm shady spot?

Hasn't been coming up early enough, getting far enough in summer to bloom. South exposure with fence behind, chosen for presumably being a warm nook. Entire top collapses during winter, to start over from the crown the following summer (I haven't been covering it).

Spontaneous kale plant that popped up near it got pretty big.

Thanks for the info - looks like I will pass on this beauty. It would not be happy in the garden and we have enough stuff that has to be messed with in the winter.

The Petasites frigidus var palmatus is my favorite unusual plant (although my husband isn't as much of a fan). I inherited it with my garden. A local plant expert on these boards told me it's native but she'd never actually seen any growing in the wild. I have a nice patch in my woodlands garden.

Seems to like damp roadsides, where I have seen it repeatedly. Arthur Lee Jacobson's Wild Plants of Greater Seattle - Second Edition (2006) says to

"Find it especially common on sliding bluffs above Puget Sound"

where I have seen it forming patches also.

53 matching records found.
Label Query: Genus = "petasites", Species = "frigidus", Infraspecies = "palmatus"
Sorted By: Year

http://www.burkemuseum.org/research-and-collections/botany-and-herbarium/collections/database/results.php?SourcePage=search.php&Lat=47.04&Lng=-120.8&Zoom=6&Polygons=&submit=+Search+&TaxonomicGroup=&Family=&Genus=petasites&Species=frigidus&Infraspecies=palmatus&Collector=&CollNum=&Day=&Month=&Year=&Accession=&Barcode=&Cultivated=&Origin=&Phenology=&TypeDesignation=&Country=&State=&County=&Locality=&MinElev=&MaxElev=&ElevUnit=ft.&SortBy=Year&SortOrder=DESC

I have a fondness for species rhododendrons with interesting leaves. I have quite a few. I don't care if they ever bloom! I also have Stewartia sinensis and Corylopsis sinensis rather than the common species

We have several Begenias one is BERGENIA EMEIENSISSaxifragaceae. I am not sure of the red one below, but the leaves are almost 8 inches. The third one is smaller than the larger red one. When I looked them up on line, the names are different for what looks like the same plant. Even the emeinensis is described as having white, pink, magenta and/or combinations of all! lol The one in our garden is white.

We were given a clump of Viburnum Eskimo babies two years ago. I hope they bloom this year because they look quite lovely in the photos that I could find and supposedly stay around 5 ft. max.

Bergenias

Eskimo photos from internet

Eskimo photos did not copy.

The cultivar of the red leafed Bergenia is Eric Smith.

Here is another unusual one - this one is blue and we also have a white one but I do not have photos of that one.