Spring.

SPRING.

 Wisley Glass house;  The tuffa wall filled with plants that do not like it too wet and the rock retaining wall opposite covered in colourful Alpine plants. The two gardeners were weeding and replanting the tuffa wall, while we watched on. What a job.

Tanakaea radicans from the Saxifragaceae family very rare in gardens and in woodlands of Japan of which it is native. The plant is dioecious meaning there are male and female plants, the female plant does not produce runners or stolons while the male plant does. The creamy white flowers are Astilbe like but only getting to approx 10cm high. This was growing with Ramonda and other choice plants in a trough in Ireland. One to look out for, for those who order seed from Japan.

Farrer writes of it "Tanakaea radicans is a most pleasant little Japanese plant for light rich woodland soil in a comfortable cool corner, where, if it is happy, it will soon throw out runners freely from its main tuft of fringed-looking elliptic-pointed toothed leaves, leathery and richly green, from which ascend in summer stems of 6 inches, ending in loose fluffy spires of white blooms like those of a miniature Spiraea."
I notice Edrom Nursery in Scotland sometimes has it for sale and it is also listed in flora of China as Tanakaea omeiensis but the article does not mention about the plant being dioecious.

Rhododendron trichostomum Collingwood Ingram a little dwarf Rhododendron from Otto, one of his cuttings he gave me that is growing into a lovely little bush.

Allium karataviense the Turkestan onion from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and in Aaron's Glass house, the leaves are as lovely as the flower which last for quite some time.

Allium peninsulare is a North American species of wild onion also growing in Aaron's glass house, Raised from North American Rock Garden Soc seed.

Allium siskiyouense a flat leafed Allium also from North America known as the Siskiyou onion. Native to the Klamath Mountains and nearby ranges of Northern California and Oregon. CNPS rated as a rare plant, flowering in Aarons glass house.

Camassia leichtlinii Alba in Aarons garden. 

Leopoldina weissii 2/2010 Kirt Vickery seed.

Paris polyphylla variety Yunnanensis seed collected in China by Terry Smyth on a visit to China. Collection number 96248 in 1996. Luckily I passed a piece on to Aaron and he still grows it. It is a beautiful Paris and not very tall only reaching about 60cm.

Thymus serpyllum Elfin growing along Aarons sunny rock wall, the Thyme is about a meter in length.

Ornithogalum bungei Archibald seed 0738230 5/2003 very different to Otto's form, and flowering much later.

Aethionema pulchellum Grandiflorum flowering in a well drained position in Aarons garden an underrated genus of dwarf shrubs.

Linum ? lost name in Aarons rock garden about 30cm high, it gently seeds around and is a lovely little shrub for the rock garden.

A shrub that eventually gets to about a meter, too tall for the rock garden but I love it, Deutzia x elegantissima Rosealind  from Ken & Lesley Gillanders Nursery when they were selling plants from their Tasmanian Nursery. The flowers are also scented.