Last week, our garden curator, Doug Ruhren, asked if it was okay if Tu Bloom came to visit the garden. My response was if Tu Bloom was a what or a when. It turn out to be a who. Tu Bloom, who happened to be in the area visiting a friend, was recognized by local
A small number of times each year, we open our home garden, adjacent to the nursery for fundraising tours, led by Tony, for a limited number of small groups. These gardens are not typically open for visitors, and have a number of plants that don’t exist anywhere else at JLBG. Our home garden received the
There’s No Place like Home Read More »
Next year, Plant Delights will be introducing a fabulous new, dark pink-flowered selection of the native, Macbridea caroliniana, discovered by our former Plant Records/Taxonomist, Zac Hill. Macbridea ‘Pink Hill’ is a dramatic change from the light pink flowers we’ve seen on the commercial material, as a you can see below, when grown in rich, slightly
It’s Hard to Top the Pink Hill Read More »
A fascinating botanical hook-up took place in Spartanburg, SC. when a lonely Distyllum myricoides took a liking to a nearby Parrotia persica. The babies were discovered near the Distyllum, by garden director and plant breeder, Dr. Kevin Parris, who quickly realized what had taken place, just outside of the horticulture classroom building. After growing out
In Di Still of the Da Night Read More »
Our 2014 tongue fern introduction, Pyrrosia lingua ‘Limon’, was discovered here as a solid gold sport on Pyrrosia lingua ‘Ogon Nishiki’. We took this image last week, of a superbly grown specimen at our sister institution, the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. This is a lovely evergreen fern, hardy from Zone 7b to 10b. It’s
When Life Gives you a Limon Read More »
Looking great in the garden in summer is our new selection of bamboo muhly grass, Muhlenbergia dumosa ‘Patagonia’. Prior to this introduction, this splendid ornamental grass could only be overwintered from Zone 9 south. This Patrick McMillan collection adds at least one additional hardiness zone for gardeners. To achieve maximum winter hardiness, it needs summer
For years, Raleigh botanist, and retired NC Museum of Natural Sciences, Education Director, Jesse Perry, has been sharing several of the amazing botanical curiosities, that he’s run across in his 70+ years of traipsing through the natural areas across the state. Just a few of Jesse’s excellent introductions that we’ve had the pleasure of introducing,
Rescuing a Bunch of Ferners Read More »
We’ve grown the Asian Sauromatum horsfieldii, and other Sauromatum species, for almost two decades, and the more different accessions we grow, the more we’re convinced that there are more than one species lumped into what’s currently considered Sauromatum horsfieldii. With a purported natural range from India to Sumatra, one can only expect a number of
A Really Muddy Horse Field Read More »
We’ve grown Hydrangea macrophylla, aka: mophead hydrangea for over 50 years, so I was shocked this week, to find that they had seeded into the cracks of our concrete paver walkway. I’m sure it won’t take long for the native plant zealots to call for an immediate ban on all non-native hydrangeas. Sadly, that’s the
Big Head, Little Seed Read More »
Instead of singing the blues, this Asian praying mantis is hanging out with the blues of Ceratostigma willmottianum, while it stealthily waits, like the invisible man, for Grub Hub to arrive with dinner.
