Flowering this week at JLBG is the little known, woody, vining Hydrangea ampla. Originally discovered in Sichuan, China, it has recently been discovered and collected in Northern Vietnam, often under the name Hydrangea megalocarpa, which is almost certainly the same plant. Our specimen, from an Ozzie Johnson/Scott McMahon collection, has thrived with no damage since
One of the most exciting rock garden plants we’ve met in the last several years is the Pine Mountain shrub mint. This recently discovered, but still un-named new species, hails from Pine Mountain, Georgia. In lieu of a formal name, we’re going with Clinopodium sp. nov. ‘Pine Mountain Pink’ for the clone we grow. Once
Pine Mountain Shrub Mint Read More »
A few years ago, we purchased seed of Iberis gibralterica, an African perennial candytuft. What we got instead was a lavender flowered form of the annual candytuft, most likely, Iberis umbellata. Imagine, a mail order nursery sending out a mis-identified plant. In our crevice garden, it puts on an early spring, show, before going dormancy
Cedrus deodara ‘Gold Cascade’ provides a lovely backdrop to the brighter gold foliage of Tanacetum vulgare ‘Isla Gold’…a golden color echo with a contrast in forms.
Gold is at an all-time high Read More »
The clump of Iris ensata ‘Silverband’ outside our kitchen window has just outdone itself this week. This striped leaf Japanese iris is naturally an aquatic plant, growing in shallow water, but as long as the garden soil isn’t drought stricken long term, it makes a suberb, easy-to-grow garden specimen. Although it grows in a tight
Ravishing Silverband Read More »
Looking lovely in the dryland garden is the fascinating Wooly Lip Fern, Myriopteris tomentosa. This evergreen North American native, which can be found naturally growing with cactus, has an odd native distribution from Arizona east to Virginia. The foliage emerges a silvery green, that becomes more silver as the new fronds mature. It grows best
On a 2020 trip to the UK, I purchased a plant labeled Acanthus spinosus ‘Ferguson’s Form’ from our friends at Cotswold Garden Flowers. In the six years since, it’s turned out to be one of the most stunning clones of bears breech we’ve ever seen. Below is a garden photo taken this week. We don’t
If you’ve studied plant migrations, you no doubt realize that many North American species, also have nearly identical Asian counterparts. One such plant is our native sensitive fern, Onoclea sensibilis. In the US, it can be found throughout most of the Eastern US, but we wanted to compare it to its’ Asian sibling, Onoclea sensibilis
Reunited, and it Feels so Good Read More »
Only a couple of weeks remain, before we kick off the 2026 Southeastern Plant Symposium in Raleigh, NC. For our 8th year, we celebrate two milestone birthdays, the 50th anniversary of the JC Raulston Arboretum, along with the 40th anniversary of Juniper Level Botanic Garden. Both Mark Weathington and I will be giving presentations on
Southeastern Plant Symposium 2026…Coming Soon Read More »
One of our treasured maidenhair ferns in the garden is our spore-grown selection, Adiantum aethiopicum ‘Barrington Queen’. This, and our previous introduction, Adiantum ‘Barrington Belle’, were grown from a 2017 David Denton spore collection in New South Wales, Australia. Adiantum ‘Barrington Queen’ has the slightly larger pinnae of the two selections. Adiantum aethiopicum, similar to
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