Last Thursday, our sunken garden rock wall construction project began, with the goal of converting a rather boring 130′, dry stacked rock wall, built in 2003, into a more imaginative, botanically diverse rock garden space. As mentioned in an earlier blog, we hired former JLBG staffer, Jerermy Schmidt, now of Hortco, to design and manage […]
Rockin’ Around the Redwood Trees Read More »
Over a period of years, we’ve tried three different clones of the Eastern Himalayan (India to Myanmar) native banana, Musa ornata, with no luck getting them to survive. We finally gave up, concluding that it simply wasn’t winter hardy here, living up to its on-line reputation of being a Zone 9-11 plant. That was before
On a 2015 visit to Judith Jones’, Washington-based Fancy Fronds Nursery, we left with many ferns, including a very lacy plant with a tag of Arachniodes sp. Chile. Back in NC, the fern thrived in the garden, and as we studied the tag closer, it turned out to actually say Arachniodes sp. China. This turned
Hemlock-leaf Bristle Fern Read More »
Flowering now is the amazing Coreopsis palustris ‘Summer Sunshine’, an award-winning 2000 Plant Delights/JLBG introduction. Although it’s native to swampy forests, from NC south to Florida. We have found that Coreopsis palustris makes an even better specimen in full sun, and in regular garden soil…as long as the soil doesn’t get bone dry. For us,
Summer Sunshine Swamp Tickseed Read More »
Early fall is Hemiboea time in the garden, and the the first to flower this year, is the little-known Hemiboea gracilis. The specific epithet, “gracile” means graceful. This hardy gesneriad (African violet family) naturally grows in mountain valleys and streamside among rocks, from 1,000 – 4,000′ elevation in South Central China. As you can see,
Most folks think of Zinnias, as an annual bedding plant, but the genus actually includes so much more, including some little-known, North American native perennials. One that has thrived for us, since 2018 is Rocky Mountain zinnia, Zinnia grandiflora, which naturally resides from Kansas to Arizona. We’re growing a particularly vigorous selection, Zinnia grandiflora ‘Gold
Not Your Grandmothers Zinnia Read More »
I can’t say that I’d ever thought about using cast iron plants as hedging, but we might need to rethink that with one of new hybrids. Aspidistra x sichlatior ‘Screen Gem’ is our hybrid of Aspidistra sichuanensis x Aspidistra elatior. This selection from our 2021 seedlings has already reached 4.5′ in height. Other than acubua,
While we can grow an incredible assortment of lycoris species and cultivars in our climate, the same is not true for their amaryllid cousins in the genus, Nerine. The only Nerine that we have found so far, that truly thrives here is Nerine angustifolia. This African endemic hails from Lesotho, Swaziland, and the South Africa
Where Nerines Fear to Tread Read More »
One of the truly great WHATZAT plants of the fall garden, that results in more questions than anything else is the weeping fall shrub mint, Rostrinucula dependens. Little known outside its native haunts in Shaanxi, China and south to Yunnan, this deciduous shrub to 4′ tall is adorned with flaking brown bark and acts as
Weeping Fall Shrub Mint Read More »
For the first time in six year, we will once again have enough Fatsia japonica ‘Murakumo Nishiki’ to share, in our January 2027 catalog. Our 8 year old garden specimen of this amazing evergreen shrub, pictured below, is one of the most asked about plant in the garden, so we’re thrilled to be able to
