Sequim Rare Plants

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.

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.

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)