Thanks for the pun to the late American poet, Ed Dorn, who lived on the Olympic Peninsula for several years and wrote a fine book of stories with the same title.Thanks for the inspiration to poet, composer and garden designer Douglas Macdonald, who can be found occasionally lecturing at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Searching the world for rare plants taxes the body, soul and pocketbook, which is why so few succeed at it. I remember asking a dear friend in India to help me find a rare Nasturtium cultivar. How he suffered: Mohan and several of his friends trekked, by bus as well as by foot, several thousand miles to find a single double-flowered variety that had sported from a Victorian strain over a hundred years earlier, and caught the eye of yet another friend on holiday there. Whew!

I purchased Heronswood to save money, as well as to push the envelope of plant exploration. This means that, to me, the nursery in Kingston was every bit as exotic and otherworldly as the furthest reaches of Nepal or Sikkim. It is amusing to consider searching the world for a handful of plants, while under your nose grow 14,000 on less than five acres, a few steps from the back door.

Having not hunted personally for about 10 years, I’ve relied on many others much better trained than I. However, the key to our future is to fully develop and realize the potential of the Kingston garden for you, our valued customer.

For those already “by the sound”, we offer the following plants ideally suited to a warm, wet and predominately shady zone 8.

Perennials
Arisaema tortuosum
Arisaema ciliatum var. liubaense
Cardiocrinum giganteum var. giganteum
Corydalis curviflora var. rosthornii ‘Blue Heron’
Corydalis ‘Rainier Blue’ DJHC 0615
Cyclamen hederifolium silver-leaved
Dichroa febrifuga GUIZ 48
Disporum cantoniense ‘Night Heron’
Disporum bodinieri
Disporum sessile ‘Variegatum’-broad leaf form
Epimedium davidii DJHC 680
Fuchsia brevilobis
Fuchsia glazioviana
Fuchsia ‘Genii’
Fuchsia ‘Isis’
Gunnera tinctoria
Podophyllum delavayi
Polygonatum x hybridum
Polygonatum kingianum
Roscoea humeana
Thalictrum ichangense

Shrub
Daphne x houtteana

Vines
Holboellia angustifolia DJHS 4246

Grass
Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’
Ophiopogon clarkei DJHC 57

Fern
Cyrtomium falcatum

Tree
Podocarpus lawrencii ‘Purple King’

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