In this April combination, we have used the heat-tolerant coral bells, Heuchera ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, and for a contrasting textural border, we used the ornamental onion, Allium kiiense. I wish more people realize how great this onion is, when used as a liriope/carex-like border. It looks great all during the growing season, and when it
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Looking so good in the garden is the North American native, Ilex x attenuata ‘Sunny Foster’. This amazing hybrid between two native hollies, Ilex opaca and Ilex cassine, was first discovered in the wild in the 1920s and named Ilex x attenuata ‘Foster #2’. ‘Sunny Foster’ originated in 1964, as a yellow branch sport on
Here are a few photos from the front garden, around Anita and I’s home this week. There’s nothing quite like waking up and watching the garden wake up as well. Below is a photo of the same spot, ten years earlier, when it was a horse farm. The Cryptomeria japonica ‘Yoshino’ is the only plant
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Looking dazzling at JLBG for the last couple of weeks is the amazing Davidia involucrata ‘Sonoma’. As you can see, the common name is quite apt since when in flower, it resembles a tree laden with handkerchiefs. This coveted Chinese native is related to our native black gum, in the family, Nyssaceae. This mystical tree
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Emerging beautifully from its winter slumber is the elegant native fern, Dryopteris x australis. The 4′ tall clumps look superb all through the heat of summer. Despite the “down under” sounding specific epithet, “australis” actually means “from the south”, referring to its’ natural range from from Virginia to Arkansas, where it is found in moist
In our almost 40 years of gardening here at JLBG, I have yet to find any other vine that’s better to cover a fence than our native (West Virginia south to Florida and west to Texas) Bignonia capreolata. In full flower now, this amazing evergreen vine covers a fence quickly, but without trying to take
The amazing Clematis ‘Purple Gumdrops’ is looking rather fabulous in the crevice garden this month. This amazing 2023 Plant Delights/JLBG introduction is a Hans Hansen creation, using the native Clematis addisonii. It is a tight clump former in the garden, starting to flower for us in early April. It’s hard to imagine a better clematis
Looking great in the woodland garden now is the amazing Asian (China, Korea, Manchuria) native Solomon’s Seal, Disporum flavens. This species is probably the showiest of the genus, putting on a tremendous show in spring garden. While there are both running and clumping species in the genus, Disporum, this gem remains in a nice clump.
One of the first shrubs we planted at JLBG in the late 1980s was the giant snowball bush, Viburnum macrocephalum sterile form. Today, this amazing selection of the Chinese native species, tops out at 25′ tall. In April each year, it puts on a truly indescribable show, as you can see from our new April
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Several years ago, we grew seed of Dianthus anatolicus, native from Tibet to Turkey, and while all were interesting and deliciously fragrant, one, which we named Dianthus ‘Lunatic Fringe’ stood out from the rest for its exceptional floral show, and heat/humidity tolerance. Our original plant, pictured below, is now almost five years old and still
