Many folks don’t realize how the entrance to their garden sets their mood, as you drive in and out. Even apartment complexes now spend money on a somewhat higher quality of landscaping, understanding that it helps people feel better about where they live. Here is a recent shot of our home drive as we enter
Ten months ago, we wrote about our purchase of a special, one of a kind, variegated form of Agave utahensis, that we named Agave ‘Liberty’. Because of its size, we knew it would be flowering soon, and as such, permanently lost. Before it initiated flower buds, we beheaded it, which in theory, should cause it
An update on our Liberty Read More »
One of the oddest, and consequenty, coolest ferns we grow in the garden is Lepisorus palmatopedatus, which translates in to palm-foot, scaly-sori fern. We’ve grown this Chinese (Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou) oddity for over three years, and it justs gets better each year, spreading slowly, via an underground rhizome. For us, it’s been mostly evergreen
It’s been four years that we’ve been trialing the dwarf princess lily, Alstroemeria ‘Zoe’. We were hesitant about it’s winter hardiness, especially after everyone got burned by the tender Alstroemeria ‘Rock and Roll’. After an extensive trial period, it has proven to be an outstanding, albeit slow-growing, gem for the garden. Below is a photo
Here is one of several clumps of the hardy Sinningia ‘Bananas Foster’ we planted along our patio retaining wall, where we can sit at night and watch the hummingbirds dine. This amazing plant flowers from May through the summer, so there’s no need to refill the red plastic feeders with high fructose water. These are
A Hummingbird Dessert – Bananas Foster Read More »
We are infatuated with the dwarf Greek daphne, Daphne jasminea, that lights up our dryland rock garden with small, white, star-shaped flowers in May and June. For us, flowering also continues sporadically throughout the summer. Our five year old specimen has reached 8″ tall x 20″ wide.
Look down at the White Stars Read More »
We’ve just wrapped up another successful Southeastern Plant Symposium with nearly 250 attendees in-person and online. With a dozen amazing speakers, spanning the globe, everyone left with a greatly expanded knowledge, new friendships, and hopefully, something from the rare plant auction that featured over 590 amazing plants. Proceeds from the auction are split between the
We are just wrapping up the early spring lily season in the garden, and here are few we captured images of this year. Lilium formosanum var. pricei ‘Hehuan’ is a dwarf form of the Taiwan lily, from our 2008 expedition, collected at 9,300′. It blooms two months before the much taller, lowland form Lilium formosanum
Our oldest clumps of Heuchera ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ are still looking great after nine years in the garden. Most modern coral bells have a garden life expectancy about as long as an unwatered and unplanted cell pack of annuals. We’re thrilled to have such amazing clones, such as this Walters Gardens introduction, to share.
Looking great in the garden is month is Hosta ‘Tears in Heaven’, a unique-looking favorite, from the breeding work of plantsman Hans Hansen, of Walters Gardens. While hostas with long, pointed leaves never sell nearly as well as those with round leaves, we find them much more interesting to use in the garden, from a
