Plant breeders often get stuck in a rut, copying each other, with only slight variances in each new selection. What makes us stand up and take notice is when a breeder dares to head in a completely different “Pythonian”-like direction. Such is the case with Echinacea ‘Pretty Parasols’, which is in flower now at JLBG.
And Now for Something Completely Different – Pretty Parasols Read More »
The purple-leaf eldeberry, Sambucus ‘Chocolate Marzipan’ is looking quite stunning in the garden. This is the first purple-foliage selection to thrive in our hot, humid climate. Envious of the English garden magazine photos, we have searched for over three decades to find one that would perform for us–Eureka!
Chocolate Marzipan Read More »
Here’s a recent garden vignette with Ajuga ‘Cordial Canary’, living happily with Alstroemeria ‘Princess Fabiana’.
Four years ago, we embarked on an experiment to see how well Fuchsia ‘Sanihanf’ would grow in an unprotected hanging basket, left outdoors to the elements all year. The parent species, Fuchsia magellanica is fine in the ground to Zone 6, but has no tolerance of our summer heat. Fuchsia ‘Sanihanf’ was developed from Fuchsia
The Little Fuchsia that could Read More »
In July 2018, we flowered our first Titan Corpse Flower, Amorphophallus titanum. Our plant was # 594 to flower in its entire history of cultivation. Since that time, another 141 have flowered worldwide, bringing the total number to 735. If you’d like to see who else has flowered these amazing giants, here is our complete
Clash of the Titans Read More »
As we mentioned in a recent blog, we have a ridiculously large collection of Crinum lily cultivars and species. Despite this, we’re always making new crosses in our goal to improve the quality of plants available. Despite their being nearly 1,000 named crinums, there is still dramatic room for improvement. Below is one of our
The Crinum Show Continues Read More »
The Southeast Plant Symposium rare plant auction has begun. More plants will be added every other day until the symposium starts Friday. The auction ends mid-afternoon this Saturday. Many of these plants are simply unavailable anywhere else in the world. All auction proceeds are split between the JLBG Garden Endowment Fund at NC State and
Super Rare Plant Auction Read More »
Most plants are a bit like bell-bottom jeans–one minute they’re the hottest fashion, and the next minute, you can’t give them away. In 2000, when Persicaria microcephala ‘Red Dragon’ hit the market, it was the hottest perennial in the country. You couldn’t visit a garden center or nursery that didn’t carry it. Fast forward 23
The ornamental grass genus Bouteloua gained a huge rise in popularity with the introduction of David Salman’s 2010 introduction, Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition‘. While David’s selection hasn’t thrived in our heat and humidity, one of Patrick’s Texas collections has thrived. Bouteloua chondrosioides hails from West Texas south into Mexico, but surprisingly, doesn’t appear to be in horticultural
Check out this Kickin’ Bouteloua Read More »
For those who regularly attend our Open Nursery and Garden days, you have no doubt watched the evolution of our new dryland rock garden by our welcome tent. I thought it would be fun to look back at its short evolution. Below is Jeremy’s bed outline from late January 2021, when this new bed was
Rockin’, Rollin, and Plantin’ Read More »
