The following information is from our book, "The Plants We Grow." Mike Johnson wrote the first edition in 1977 in response to our customers (garden centers and landscapers) asking for information about the rare and unusual plants we grow. Current information you'll see here is from the third edition published in 1995. Since then we've added over 200 varieties that are not mentioned in this edition. In the next few months we will be adding information about these plants to this site.

As Mike said in the first edition in 1977, "I suppose some would prefer that I had restricted myself to giving height, width, flower color, etc. in a very concise manner when describing each variety. Others would probably prefer even more information than I have given in many cases. To the former, I can only apologize and hope you can glean the information you seek through all my excess words. To the latter, I refer you to my list of reference books."

Please read the Nomenclature page before looking for more information on specific varieties - it will help you understand Mike's terminology.