Tony Avent

Herniaria ‘Sea Foam’…aka variegated rupturewort is a plant I’ve long adored, but one that hadn’t exactly thrived for me in the ground.  Well, this spring, I tried on a compost rich, evenly moist bed in full sun for a half day and bingo…it has excelled there.  This delightful dwarf groundcover has tiny leaves, each with

The lovely native Aster pilosus is looking great in the garden this weekend.  We grow this for the incredibly fine-textured foliage, the lovely floral show, but most of all for the incredible way the flowers dry on the plant…unlike any other aster we’ve ever seen…truly stunning!

The last few weeks have been spent ripping out a 20-year old hedge of large Nellie Stevens hollies adjacent to the greenhouse shopping area….a great excuse to try out our new (used) Volvo backhoe.  As fast as the hedge is removed, it’s being replaced by a much more diverse rock garden style planting that you’ll

v   Here are a couple of scenes from the fall garden as we head toward our first frost. This is from the Souto garden…a new section that we’ll be opening to the public in 2015. And another scene from the sunken water garden.

Not only do I enjoy the flowers of agapanthus (lily of the nile), but I enjoy their flower stalks long after they finish flowering.  The the old flower heads remain fascinating in the garden for months after the flowers drop.  I just took this photo in our clump of Agapanthus ‘Ellamae’…these would be great for

I’ve been really amazed how well the foliage color has held through the season on the dwarf pineapple lily, Eucomis ‘Dark Star‘.  Here it is in our rock garden today.  I really love this plant!

One of my favorite hardy fall mums is flowering now…Chrysanthemum ‘Matchsticks’….here’s my recent photo.  How cool is that?

Anita just caught this little fellow out for a morning stroll by our front steps.  All the rain we’ve been having recently just brings these critters into the open.