Some folks of a certain age, remember Columbo as a 1970s television series starring Peter Falk, but long before that, 1788 in fact, there was an Eastern (Michigan south to South Carolina) native perennial, Frasera caroliniensis, commonly known as American Columbo. This odd deciduous gentian relative is a monocarpic perennial that takes between 5-15 years
One of the great groundcovers for small spaces is the Asian (SE China, Korea, and Japan) native, Mazus miquelii. For us, this 1-2″ tall, stunning groundcover bursts forth in flower, starting for us in mid-March. Its soil preference is for average to moist growing conditions. Recent taxonomic work has shown all material known commercially as
Messin’ with Mazus Read More »
Our bank of false yew, Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Brooklyn Gardens’ is ready to release its pollen, aka: conifer sperm. Conifers grew up before flowering plants were invented, so they can’t rely on insects like bees and butterflies to assist them with sex. In the old days, plants depended on wind to assist with sex, so surviving
Yew Sperm, Coming Soon Read More »
We’ve passed the two year mark for our plant of the terrestrial orchid, Pleione ‘Alishan’. Our clump produced 2 flowers last year, but has expanded to 7 flowering stems since last spring. Last year, we planted several others varieties, so are still awaiting their emergence….fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.
It’s back! Pleione returns Read More »
We obviously love flowers, but there’s nothing that gets us more excited than great basal foliage, especially when it emerges in late winter. Such is the case with the little-known Southeast native, Packera x memmingeri. It’s so little known that JLBG images are the only live plant photos you’ll find on-line. In the wild, it
It’s all about that base Read More »
The earliest of the Jack-in-the-pulpit species have begun to flower, starting with the consistently early Arisaema ringens. All of the arisaema shown below are woodland plants that thrive in rich, but well-drained, average to slightly moist (mesic) soils. Explore our full arisaema collection. Next in line this spring was the alluring Japanese, Arisaema mayebarae. A
The earliest of the pasque flowers of the genus, Pulsatilla have begun to flower in the crevice/rock garden. The common name “pasque” is a reference to the flowering period, which typically coincides with Passover/Easter. The genus is native to Europe, Asia, and North America, where they reside primarily in the colder, drier regions of each.
Pass the Pasque Flower Read More »
Throughout the years, we’ve failed with many plants, some, simply by not realizing that some plants have very specific habitat preferences. The vast majority of plants can grow equally as well in the same, well-amended soil, with a pH around 6.0-6.2. The Latin root is used to describe those with a more specific preference or
Plants that had rather Phyte than switch habits and habitats Read More »
We were delighted to welcome You Tube Garden Celebrity Summer Rayne Oakes and her business partner Sander van Dijk to film at JLBG and PDN recently. Below, they are filming a segment with our Head of Production/Propagation, Aaron Selby. Summer says they will have this segment edited and posted in the next few months. Summer
Summer Rayne in Winter Read More »
We’ve long lusted to grow the US West Coast native, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, but our summer rains cause root disease that take them out at a far too young age. Several years ago, I was thrilled to find a West Coast wholesaler who was grafting these on a disease resistant Lawson cypress root stock. Adhering to
Longing for Lawsons Read More »
