Beesia calthifolia Habranthus with cinnamon flower stalks ending

with cinnamon flower stalks ending in pendent flowers

This bizarre aster looks like a clump of arching green pipe cleaners

Liatris pycnostachya is an amazing Central US (Canada south to Texas) prairie native that's one of the most stunning of the blazing star species

for a dazzling new introduction

Beesia calthifolia Habranthus with cinnamon flower stalks endingVery cute, but what's a beesia? Imagine taking an asarum and gluing tiny cimicifuga flowers on top and you've got the idea. This little known evergreen cimicifuga relative hails from moist meadows and woodlands in the southwestern Chinese provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, and Yunnan. The 8" tall x 1' wide rosettes of Beesia calthifolia are composed of dark, glossy green (maroon in winter), heart shaped leaves, each highlighted by