We’ve been in love with the fall-flowering, woodland Salvia glabrescens for over a decade, but wanted to share photos of a new clone we’ve been trialing from our friends at Issima Nursery. In three years, Salvia glabrescens ‘Dark Heart’ has formed a 2′ tall x 7′ wide clump, that’s in full flower this week (mid-October).
Dark Hearts – a Sage you’d be Wise to Grow Read More »
While the peak season for crinum lilies is May-July, there’s always quite a few blooms in late summer and even into early fall, before our first frost turns the foliage and remaining flowers into green slime. Here are a couple of clones that stood out in the garden this week. The first is Crinum ‘Bright
It’s just hard to walk by our amazing specimen of Forestiera ‘Woodlanders Weeping’ without snapping a photo, but since it’s been several years since we mentioned it on-line, it’s time to share our most recent shot from this week. Forestiera angustifolia, better known as desert olive, is a Texas native from the Southern part of
Can’t see the Forest for the Forestiera Read More »
We see quite a few television adds for an alcoholic drink known as “twisted tea”, so we thought we’d share the OG twisted tea, Camellia sinensis ‘Unryu’, in flower this week at JLBG. Camellia sinensis is the source of tea, and the Japanese cultivar, ‘Unryu’ means contorted or twisted, which refers to the branch structure.
There are more ways to add color to the fall garden other than planting a new crop of mums. Each fall, we enjoy the colors provided when the Red-spotted Purple butterflies, Limenitis arthemis, stop by to feed on the sweet nectar secreted by the white-topped pitcher plant, Sarracenia leucophylla. Depending on the angle of the
Sipping from a Dangerous Pitcher Read More »
The deciduous Korean spindle tree has been looking quite sharp for the last month. Native to Japan and Korea, Euonymus oxyphyllus is a small tree, usually to only 8′ tall in cultivation, that brightens the fall garden with its showy fruit. Reportedly, it can reach 25′ with great age, but that certainly wouldn’t be in
A Sharp Heart’s a Bustin Read More »
Despite a summer with a month of incessant rains, our patch of Acantholimoni halophilum continues to thrive. This native to very dry regions of Central Turkey should not have a chance in our hot, rainy summer climate. This shows how habitat creation can can often serve to mitigate the effects of weather on plants from
If Life gives you Climatic Lemons, try Acantholimon Read More »
While we don’t use the plastic types, with metal ground stakes, we do have one Pink Flamingo that we allow in our garden. That would be Muhlenbergia ‘Pink Flamingos’, the hybrid of two native grasses, Muhlenbergia sericea and Muhlenbergia lindheimeri. It’s hard to argue with the dazzling effect of the plumes of this Yucca Do
Fashionable Pink Flamingos Read More »
We have long adored plants in the Melastomataceae, which are primarily represented in commercial horticulture by the genus, Tibouchina, and our native Rhexia. We have long searched our other members of the family that might have good winter hardiness, but with a less aggressive running habit than our native rhexias. In 2020, we obtained seed
The final surprise lily to flower in our collection is Lycoris x lajolla (pronounced La Hoya). This Sam Caldwell cross of Lycoris aurea x Lycoris traubii was first published by the late Hamilton Traub in 1958, but sadly has never made it into cultivation. We are fortunate to have acquired several clones, of which we
