I scored big at the 4-Seasons's Plant Exchange

We celebrated Ed Aldrich's 50th birthday at the Plant Exchnge. Ed stands unequaled atop the pyramid of those of us in the DC area that grow hardy tropicals. Or at least unsurpassed. He also stands in the top picture describing one of the many plants he brought to the exchange.I didn't bother to move away from his contributions. We take turns; I had the 19th turn and took Alpinia caerulea from amongst his plants, then Dyckia altissima, and Agave 'Mr. Ripple', Mimosa borealis, Sesbania sp., all from amongst his contributions. Karen got a Russian Pomegranate and an Acer griseum. Someone contributed this huge collection of floral arranging paraphernalia including dozens of frogs. We took a couple of them.

The weather was brisk, the food was wonderful, and the company was congenial. Plus, we all, at least temporarily, satiated our cravings for new and unusual plants. The exchange has been held for years at the home of Jim Dronenberg and Dan Weil. This year they were preoccupied with preparations for another event so Lynn Title generously offered to host. Her garden is both beautiful and interesting; it's a large attractively diverse garden that contained enough unusual selections to stump us all. I now crave her variegated Russian comfrey Symphytum x uplandicum 'Axminster Gold', a striking plant.

I found this Batface cuphea lurking in the planting I deconstructed this morning

I'm reluctantly giving this cool plant away. I can't keep it through the winter and I'm certain it's not hardy, anyway it won't be hardy planted in mid-October. There are a lot of member of the new world genus Cuphea and though there has been recent, scholarship published, not much of that information seems to have worked its way into the mainstream of horticulture. Consequently, this plant comes labeled just Cuphea. Next year I will make an effort to secure the monographs on the genus, but also a handful of different plants for bedding out as summer annuals. Hummingbirds do like them and this one has been covered in flowers since early summer.