It’s that time of year when our hardy grapefruit and lemon trees begin bombing the house with loud thuds. Although they are missed by most visitors, we have two rather nice size plants of a Dunstan grapefruit and Ichang Lemon. Both hardy citrus aren’t exactly the sweetest fruit you’ve ever eaten, but, hey, they certainly
If Life Gives you Lemons, and Grapefruits…Grow your own Read More »
Here are three of the more unusual mahonias in our collection that are looking good currently. Mahonia oiwakensis hails from Taiwan, and three adjacent mainland Chinese provinces. The foliage is narrower than Mahonia lomarifolia, and the winter hardiness seems better also. We’ve never seen a cultivated plant more than 7′ tall, but in the wild, it
Looking fabulous in the winter garden is one of our favorite firethorns, Pyracantha ‘UNCC Dwarf’. Originally shared with us by the late Dr. Larry Mellichamp, this selection is both dwarf and thornless. Although birds love the berries, they usually don’t consume them until very late winter, which allows the color show to remain long after
Spineless Firethorn Read More »
Most gardeners know the genus, Chamaecyparis (false cypress) only through the Asian members other genus. Chamaecyparis obtusa (Hinoki Cypress), and Chamaecyparis pisifera (Sawara Cypress), both of which are commonly grown landscape staples. All the time, our native Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic White Cedar) remains in horticultural obscurity. Boat enthusiasts, and cedar shingle makers both value these
The Atlantic White Cedar Mystery Read More »
Looking lovely in December are the Japanese Laurels of the genus, Aucuba. If you’ve hung around any southern gardeners, you already know that we often have some peculiar pronunciations. I’m from the south and still remember thinking, whaaat, the first time I heard someone talking about the A Coobers in their garden. Perhaps many folks
You’d need to be a pretty serious plant nerd to grow members of the obscure evergreen genus, Eurya, in your garden. Of the 160 species in the genus, we’ve tried four, which is possibly some sort of record. Eurya‘s family, Pentaphyllaceae, tells us that it has some other better known relatives, such as Ternstroemia and
Here’s a view in the garden this week. One of our goals is to teach people how to have a garden that looks good all year, where the climate will allow. The gold conifer in the back is Chamaecyparis ‘Lemon Thread’. In the foreground is Agave ovatifolia and Beschorneria ‘Fire Towers’
Nature has so many cool things to observe, if we just take time to do so. On a recent trek through the nursery, I was taken by these photogenic chalices of Bird’s Nest Fungus. This natural work of art grows on mulch and compost, and has no detrimental effect on plants or animals. In reality,
You would think with 220 new Aspidistra (cast iron plant) species discovered since 1980 that botanists would have found them all, but that seems to be far from the case. This oddity just flowered in our collection this month, and is obviously yet another new species. This is one of the final collections (2018) made
Cast-ing a Wider Net Read More »
One of the late JC Raulston’s favorite conifers was Keteleeria davidiana. Although we certainly enjoy our garden specimen, it doesn’t have nearly the elegance of many of the firs or spruces. That said, it is odd, and we always like odd. Thanks to JC, I was already familiar with the plant, when it showed up
Eat a Little Keteleeria Read More »
