It’s always cool to have really fun plants in the garden, and few can match this selection of our North American native, Manfreda undulata. Manfreda ‘Cherry Chocolate Chip’ is the work of our friend Hans Hansen, who has created some of the finest perennials on the market today. For us, Manfreda ‘Cherry Chocolate Chip’ stays evergreen to
Cherry Chocolate Chip fun in the garden Read More »
This spring, we introduced a new seed strain of century plant, named Agave ‘Durango Fandango’. These arose from a cross made by one of our volunteer agave curators, Mike Papay. Agave flexispina pollen was applied to a hardy selection of Agave schidigera. As with all agave crosses, it takes a while to full evaluate the
New – Agave ‘Durango Fandango Read More »
We had an interesting end of the day Friday, when a microburst/funnel cloud, complete with an abundance of 2.25″ hail, passed over the nursery and gardens. Colocasias were immediately transformed into Monstera deliciosa…aka Swiss Cheese plants. Eighteen irrigation pipes in the nursery were shattered along with the roof of our potting barn. On the bright
Our friend Hans Hansen had told us about a redbud he was growing from the former Wavecrest Nursery, that was a cross of Cercis canadensis and Cercis chinensis…a cross considered difficult, if not almost impossible. I visited last week to get cuttings (yes, it roots), and found a stunningly beautiful small tree with glossy dark
Redbud love – Cercis ‘Wavecrest’ Read More »
In 1998, Massacheusetts allium breeder, Mark McDonough share a plant of his newly named Allium ‘Millenium’ with us to introduce in 2000 to celebrate the new century. After 17 years on the market, Allium ‘Millenium’ became an overnight success when it was just selected as the 2018 Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial
Allium ‘Milleniunm’ – Perennial Plant of the Year Read More »
We’ll never get tired of growing plants from seed and the anticipation of seeing what unique traits might arise. This week, we were thrilled to “discover” our first white oxblood lily, Rhodophiala bifida in our research trials. We deflowered it this week with its own pollen in the hopes of producing more white clones. Fingers
Rhodophiala bifida ‘White Surprise’…and more Read More »
Flowering a new plant for the first time is always exciting, and this week we enjoyed our first Habranthus ruber. This Brazillian rain lily is quite rare, and probably only a few exist in the US. We’ve already selfed this to get seed, and we also spread its pollen far and wide to other rain
New rain lily – Habranthus ruber Read More »
Over the last few years, we’ve made quite a few intergeneric hybrids within the Amaryllid family…one known for rather odd mating habits. Our crosses involved 2,3, and occasionally four genera together. Today, one of our bi-generic (2 genera) crosses flowered for the first time, confirming its hybrid origin. In this case the parents were Habranthus
Odd Rain Lily Breeding Read More »
Please join us in sending get well wishes to plantsman Noel Weston, a friend of 35 years, who owns Lakeview Daylily Farm just around the corner from PDN/JLBG. Noel was found unresponsive at his nursery last weekend after suffering a major stroke, and is currently in ICU (visitors are not yet permitted). Noel was the
Get Well Soon Wishes Read More »
Have you ever stopped to look at fern spore patterns? If not, take time to turn over your fern fronds. My favorite spore pattern comes from the fern genus, Coniogramme. These produce what is known as anastamosing veins…your new word for today. Anastamosing is the connection of separate branching patterns…in this case, veins of spores.
