Cortaderia is a genus of 20 species of ornamental grass, only one of which is grown commercially. This is peak flowering month in the garden for a couple of the lesser-known species of pampas grass. The first is Cortaderia araucana, which hails from Central/Southern Chile and Argentina. It’s much smaller than Cortaderia selloana and has
No Pampering Pampas Grass Read More »
The floriferous Cestrum parquii ‘Orange Peel’ is a stunner in the summer garden as you can see by this weeks photo. This amazing South American dieback shrub is a literal flowering machine during the heat of summer. For us, it eventually matures into an 8′ tall x 8′ wide clump. We find hummingbirds and butterflies
Emerging from their winter rest in mid-June are the miniature elephant ears. These little-known plants make fascinating garden specimens (Zone 7b south), and great container specimens further north. All of these mature at around 1-1.5′ tall, when happy. They are slow spreaders via very short rhizomes. By far, the fastest grower of the bunch is
Although our focus is primarily on longer term perennials, we just can’t resist growing and sharing one of the coolest plants we know, moon carrot. Seseli gummiferum hails from Crimea, Turkey, and the Agean Islands. This crazy plant has silver grey foliage that resembles an artemisia, but the spikey carrot-like flowers, just opening this week,
Launching Moon Carrots Read More »
Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by the native orange-flowering (NY south to Mississippi) annual bog plant, Polygala lutea. The brilliance of the orange color nearly glows in the garden, but how in the world did the folks who named it, come up with the idea to use the specific epithet “lutea”,
Color-blind botanists Read More »
Flowering today is the lovely Alophia drummondii, a small southeast/midwest (Mississippi to Oklahoma) native iris relative, that’s virtually unknown to both gardeners and nurseries. The narrow leaves are easy to overlook, but the small, intricate flowers atop 2′ tall stalks, certainly grab your attention when it bursts into flower, starting for us in mid-June. This
Pineywoods Purple Iris Read More »
Here’s a recent view from our home drive. The amazing fern patch, growing in full baking sun, is a selection of the US native Lindheimer’s maiden fern, Thelypteris ovata var. lindheimeri, which we collected a couple of decades ago, near Austin Texas, and subsequently named Thelypteris ‘Austin City Limits’. For the sake of full disclosure,
Austin City Limits Read More »
As gardeners, we have a slightly different take on the words from Neil Diamond’s popular oldie of the same name. As Diamond writes; Where it began, I can’t begin to know whenBut then I know it’s growin’ strongWas in the spring, and spring became the summerWho’d have believe you’d come along? In our case, we
Sweet Carolyn…a Diamond in the Rough Read More »
Rhus typhina ‘Baltiger’ (Tiger Eyes staghorn sumac) is looking glorious this week, staged behind a mass of Hymenocallis ‘Tropical Giant’. The native Rhus typhina typically doesn’t love our hot summers, with a native range that runs primarily from Maine to Minnesota. Although there are a few disjunct southern populations of the species, all of the
Tiger Eyes looking at you Read More »
One of our nursery cats, Kit Kat was kind enough to pose for this textural combo shot with Carex oshimensis ‘Everillo’.
