As a general rule, native plants to California aren’t supposed to thrive in hot, humid NC, but from time to time, we find some fascinating surprises. One in particular is Anemopsis californica (Yerba mansa), which despite its origin has thrived for us, and has made a patch over 10′ wide in the garden. Although it’s
Moving from California Read More »
Hosta ‘Sunshine Floozie’ is looking great in the garden this week. This 2019 Plant Delights/JLBG introduction has a superb floral show in addition to making a great clump of foliage and is a hybrid that resulted from a series of crosses including Hosta ‘Dancing Queen’ and Hosta ‘Branching Out’. Unfortunately, it didn’t sell nearly as
Ctenium aromaticum, or toothache grass, is a native ornamental grass, found naturally in acidic moist flood plains and savannahs from Coastal Virginia south to East Texas. This clump former has thrived in our bog garden here at JLBG, producing a tight evergreen 6″ tall x 1′ wide clump, topped, starting in early June with 3′
Toothaches, anyone? Read More »
One of the joys of trialing so many plants are the unexpected successes. One of those successes, flowering now is the Jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema prazeri ‘Chiang Mai’ (praise yer eye). This Northern Thailand collection from the late Alan Galloway has absolutely no business thriving here in the ground, yet here it is in flower in mid-June,
In 2021, Patrick McMillan brought us seed of a desert prairie grass that he’d seen on an expedition to West Texas at elevations of over 8,000′. Below is the photo Patrick shared of Elionurus barbiculmis in the wild. Although interesting, it’s doesn’t seem overly ornamental. We grew out a number of seedlings and planted them
We have long loved the Southeast US native star grasses (NC to Texas), but until a few years ago, the only one we’d grown was the faster-growing, Rhynchospora colorata. Below is our Charleston, SC collection of the much slower spreading, Rhynchospora latifolia, which also has more showy, wider bracts. In the wild, this grows in
A Star Grass is Born Read More »
We love the south Brazilian native, Abutilion megapotamicum, which as you can see, is looking absolutely fabulous in the garden. This amazing plant makes a towering stack of thin branches, each laden with hundreds of bright red calyces above the yellow bell-shaped flowers. This abutilon dies back to the ground when our winter temperatures drop
Brazilian Bellflower Read More »
We all flock to the Internet to find information about plants, but not all information sources are created equal. Without question, the finest source of information about woody plants for researchers and plant geeks is Trees and Shrubs Online. What started as an effort to digitize one of the worlds best woody plant books, W.J.
Trees and Shrubs On-Line Read More »
Back in 1940, this fascinating naturally-occurring lily hybrid between the native Lilium canadense and Lilium michiganense was discovered in Panola County, Mississippi. Eighty five years later, it’s looking astonishing in the gardens at JLBG. We look forward to having enough to share one day.
We’re loving the amazing Agastache ‘Pink Pearl’ in the garden. This incredible Terra Nova introduction is the most densely flowering agastache clone we’ve ever grown. These are our two year old clumps in the drier part of the garden. As long as you give these a sunny, well-drained spot, they’ll reward you with an incredible
Discovering Pink Pearls in the Garden Read More »
