It’s hard to talk about bald cypress, without a brief mention of Taxodium taxonomy. We adopt the concept of three separate species, although some taxonomists prefer to lump them all in a single species with three varieties. They are Taxodium acendens (aka: T. distichum var. imbricatum), Taxodium distichum (aka: T. distichum var. distichum), and Taxodium
LaNana – No Hair and No Knees Read More »
Below is a current photo of our oldest plant of Sabal ‘Blackburniana’, planted in 2008. This plant is one of several elusive mysteries in the hardy palm world. Some references say it’s the same as Sabal palmetto, but our plants look nothing like that species, and our plant is dramatically more winter hardy than Sabal
Blackburn’s Mystery Palm Read More »
One of the very first plants we planted when we started JLBG, 40 years ago, was the deciduous Viburnum setigerum, commonly known as Tea Viburnum. Today, it’s difficult to find this amazing 10′ tall species for sale. Cynically, I feel it’s probably because it can’t easily be clipped into a meatball, like many of the
Drink in a Tea Viburnum Read More »
Since we last posted about our rock garden wall project, we’ve wrapped up the rock placement, led by rock garden design savant, Jeremy Schmidt of Hortco. All that remains is to finish the planting and re-work some of the nearby walkways, some, which have been disrupted by some significant tree root issues. Below is Jeremy
The Wall and New Plantings Really Rock Read More »
One of the most interesting plants in the October garden, is the native Drosera tracyi. This giant sundew is endemic to the US gulf coast and has made a fascinating specimen in our bog garden, with a medusa-like mass of sticky tentacles. These super hairy tentacles are coated in a sweet-scented syrup, to which small
Tracy’s Sticky Hair Read More »
One of the garden ferns that we have admired since its 2011 planting is the Australian/New Zealand native, Diplazium australe. This incredible, fine-textured fern, forms a 3′ tall deciduous clump. In the wild, it can be found streamside and in moist forests, but it’s thrived for us in average to dry soils. It’s virtually unknown
Ferner from Down Under Read More »
Just when you think you’ve seen it all… Walking through the garden this week, I noticed that one of our Amorphophallus konjac seedlings had decided to flower at the completely wrong time of year, and to make matters worse, in doing so, it suffered from a crotch blowout. You’ve gotta love Mother Natures’ sense of
Reminiscent of the television graphics when the Starship Enterprise shifts into hyper warp drive, Aspidistra sichuanensis ‘Warp Drive’ gives the same effect in the woodland garden. Unlike Aspidistra elatior cultivars, which have upright foliage, the leaves on Aspidistra sichuanensis arch at a 90% angle, creating a very different visual effect in the woodland garden, as
We’ve long enjoyed the tropical-looking Arailia family genus, Tetrapanax…in spite of it’s root suckering tendancies. You would think that plants that root suckered would be easy to propagate, but that’s interestingly not always the case. The common form of rice paper plant, which dies to the ground each winter in our climate, isn’t a problem,
Looking absolutely ravishing in the October garden is the Texas/Mexico native Lindheimer’s Muhly, Muhlenbergia lindheimeri. Named after the Father of Texas Botany, German immigrant, Ferdinand Lindheimer (1801-1879), this amazing ornamental grass does its namesake proud. The 3′ tall x 5′ wide semi-evergreen clump of thin, glaucous-green foliage is topped with rigid plumes to 6′ tall
Lindheimer’s Legacy Read More »
