Hey Dotty,

My new favorite is lewisia cotyledon. (Sorry, I don't know it's common name) I planted some last spring and they have spread, but very little. They haven't gotten any pampering, but then nothing in my garden does. They made a blinding pink display last May and look like they will again this year. I don't know if deer think they're tasty. Bambie rarely visits my Seattle suburb.

JJ

Protect crowns of those lewisias from damp or they will eventually rot off. Good subject for covered area outdoors.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Easy Garden - Spring 2006

*Lungworts- Pulmonaria sp. They have a wide range of leaf silvering and flower colors from deep cobalt to purple to pink to white. They only bloom in the spring but put on a spectacular show, have great foliage, and self-seed.
*Boxwood- Buxus some stay small, very neat evergreen foliage, variegated forms as well, don't spread tho'
*Hebe buxifolia, glaucophylla, pinguifolia sutherlandii, albicans Red Edge- small evergreen leaves, nice mounds, don't spread
*Lunaria- Money plant- purple or white flowers, biennial so the seeds sprout in fall when the rains come, bloom the next spring (right now) and then die out over the long dry summer, so they are perfectly adapted for our climate, self-sow, and the seed pods rub off to make the lovely silver dollar dried plant material.
*Helleborus orientalis- bloom early spring, wide range of flower colors- burgundy, pink, green, white, double. Self-sow.
*Brunnera macrophylla- perennial Forget-Me-Not, self-sows
*Species Tulips- T. Little Beauty- magenta; T. praestans unicum- variegated leaves, multiple red flowers; T.eichleri- great grey-green foliage; T. vvedenskyi species- red, or red/orange Tangerine Beauty; T. batalinii Bright Gem
*Violet labridorica- dark leaves, purple flowers, self-sows

Hebe buxifolia of gardens is H. odora.

Viola labradorica (V. labradorica 'Purpurea') of gardens is V. riviniana 'Purpurea'.

Thanks for the lists fellow gardeners! I think some of them are deer food though, especially tulips. bboy, you always come up with great links -- I've saved this one. Also, I find that Labrador violet is a nuisance -- it's popping up everywhere, even in the lawn. Maybe I have the wrong cultivar?

* Helianthemum nummularia - sunroses. Great edgers or for use on the top of rockeries or sunny banks. Very drought tolerant.
* Berberis thunbergii - Japanese barberries. Dwarf forms add a lot of color and larger cultivars are great for deterring kids and dogs (and maybe deer) from taking shortcuts through the garden.
* Dicentra eximia cultivars and hybrids. Long lasting color in a dry shady area and nice spreaders.
* Hostas - yes, deer love 'em but they are tough as nails and where deer are not a problem, require virtually no care.
* Dwarf conifers of all varieties.

Deer may eat regular tulips but none of my species tulips have any damage. One year I planted a lot of regular tulips and the squirrels dug up every one. They also dug up one T. praestans unicum but dropped it in the next bed where it proceeded to bloom the next spring on top of the ground! All the other 11 bulbs were untouched by the squirrels. Plus the T. batalinii, etc. T. wilsoniana is the only species tulip I've planted that didn't all seem to come up and also doesn't seem to be repeating a second year.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n282/Zeph3rin3/T.jpg

Deer ate the blooms off a couple of daffodils and also cropped my Muscari foliage in a number of places. I had to resort to one more bamboo fence to protect them this year.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:11632}}

The true Labrador violet is a tiny thing from the far north that may not even be in cultivation. The common purple-leaved form of Viola riviniana sold as Labrador violet or purple Labrador violet has no connection to it (other than being a violet). Another mistake I have seen made more than once in this region specifically is selling weedy green-leaved V. riviniana as the choice, native, deep purple-flowered V. adunca. I pointed this out once to a woman at the Florabundance sale at Sand Point and she replied that "a botanist at the University of Washington" had identified her plants as V. adunca.

The color of the flowers wasn't even the same.

I didn't see these mentioned:

Darwin's barberry
Our native red current, really a gorgeous plant. I have one near my Darwin's Barberry, and it looks like a candy shop all together--makes my inner child happy.
My rosemary does well, as long as it's feet don't get wet,though it doesn't spread either.
Cyclamen hederifolium, my spelling may be off, the ones with the pointy leaves and silverish mottling.
I adore my double primroses, they do better with a scatter of sluggo, but I haven't noticed any deer problems.

I love this info! I'm certainly going to plant the Species Tulip in the fall -- I've always hated not having tulips in the springtime. Jennie, I also love my double primroses, especially "Dawn Ansell" with its little ruff of green. Mine are spreading nicely. I have a little patch of cyclamen growing wild on the property but I've never seen flowers. It's a little distance from the house and I don't check it often. The previous owner of our property was a wonderful gardener -- his house was in a different area to ours, and we keep finding remnants of his old plantings. There are patches of primrose, daffs -- I even found a dwarf daffodil that was probably planted 75 years ago.

How wonderful, legacy plants. I wonder if you might have some varieties that are rare or forgotten now.

My cyclamen seem to bloom in the fall, be sure to check then. Also keep track of them, as they die back for the summer and it would be all too easy to plant on top of them. Tough, lovely things. I plant mine under bushes: rosemary, camellia, and blueberries all have cyclamen pets in my garden. One of the blueberries actually has quite a nice sized patch now, a foot square solid leaves by now.

I also love Dawn Ansell. I wish I could find more with that cute ruff of leaves. I found a particularly lovely one this spring called, I think, Belarina Pink Ice. It has cream and pink flowers on the same plant with shading in between. I think it opens cream and turns pink. I have plans to interplant it with Dawn Ansell and Grannies Bonnet this fall when I divide them all. I can't find it on Dave's Garden; but it was a Proven Winner plant.

Ah, found a picture of her: http://www.ingwersen.co.uk/Primula%20'Belarina%20Pink%20Ice'.htm