In 2022, we introduced Ruellia sp. nov. ‘Humility’, a new, still unpublished Southeast US native species, found in 2013, by our taxonomist, Zac Hill, in southern Alabama. Until it’s formally published with an official name, we gave it a cultivar. Not only is it easy to grow, and attractive in flower, but the October foliage
Last weekend included a quick trip to Marietta, Georgia, to celebrate the 80th birthday of our long-time plant friend, Ozzie Johnson. Ozzie is a life long garden designer and consultant in the Atlanta area, as well as a career volunteer at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Ozzie has traveled extensively through China, Vietnam, and Japan, searching
A Visit to OZ to see the Wizard Read More »
We love the evergreen Viburnum ‘Moonlit Lace’, a hybrid between Viburnum davidii and V. tinus, but are disappointed at the growth sizes given by on-line vendors. The largest mature size I found on-line is 4′ tall x 5′ wide. Our 8 year old plant below is now 7′ tall x 10′ wide. This is growing
Moonlit Lace – Supersize Me Read More »
I just snapped this photo of the amazing Ulmus parvifolia ‘Golden Rey’ last week, looking absolutely fabulous. We wish it didn’t seed around so much, as we really love everything else about this 1989 introduction from Oklahoman, Bruce Rey.
While walking around the garden recently, we spied a bright gold sport on a patch of Juniperus conferta ‘Sunsplash’, that had sent out several all gold branches. Sports are fairly common on an array of garden plants, but few ever wind up having any garden or commercial value. We like the brightness of the gold,
With 145 species in the fern genus, Ctenitis (pronounced tinnitus), you’d think everyone with a woodland garden would have at least one, but sadly, that isn’t the case. In fact, we’d bet there are few Ctenitis ferns grown anywhere is cultivation. Our favorite species is the tardily deciduous Ctenitis subglandulosa ‘Hoshizaki’, which hails from Bhutan
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Walmart may have official greeters, but we have check out Jasper. The twelve year-old Jasper Avent serves both as our official greeter, checkout guardian, and official tour guide. We’re sure many of you have had the chance to meet, chat, and walk the gardens with Jasper when you visited.
Standing out in the garden in October is the dramatic North American (Northwestern Mexico) native, Salvia madrensis ‘Red Neck Girl’. This 2002 Plant Delights/JLBG introduction is still one of our most spectacular introductions. The winged red stems are the main feature through the summer months, but once fall arrives, the giant stalks of yellow flowers
In full flower now, is yet another member of the Chinese gesneriad genus, Hemiboea. Hemiboea cavaleriei is a rarely cultivated species and forms a spreading mass to 30″ tall x 7′ wide in only 2.5 years. For us, flowering started in early October, and will continue until frost. In China and neighboring Vietnam, it grows
Boea Unconstricted Read More »
This year, we introduced an amazing new Chinese collection of the shade-loving Mioga ginger, that we named Zingiber mioga ‘Lushan Gold’, from an Atlanta Botanical Garden expedition. It’s amazing, first, in that it clumps, instead or runs like many forms of the species. We grew quite a few from seed, looking for any that might
