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The late Helen Ballard of England was one of the early pioneers in developing what we know today as hybrid hellebores. It was only fitting, when one of the breakthrough crosses, a hybrid between the Balkan native Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger, and  the Majorca endemic, Helleborus lividus, that was formerly known as Helleborus x nigerliv,

It won’t belong before spring woodlanders begin to pop, and one of the first out of the ground for us is the amazing Disporum flavens.  This Asian Solomon’s Seal emerges already, with yellow, skyward-facing bells.  As the stalk expands upward, the flower orientation changes from upright to horizontal, before becoming pendant.  By mid-April for us,

While we’re on a theme of little-known North American natives, how about a shout out to Psoralea psoralioides…aka Sampson’s snakeroot. This delightful legume has prospered in our sunny garden for years, where it thrives, flowering over a month after it’s better known cousin, baptisia has finished.  Psoralea is native from Illinois to the Gulf Coast,

So, you think all native plants look drab and dull.  If so, you’ve not tried Argemone albiflora, which can be found from Virginia south to Texas. This easy-to-grow, self-seeding native flowers non-stop all summer long…simply incredible. In the garden, young seedlings were unfazed through our horrific cold January. Well drained, sunny sites are all that’s

We continue to offer more special selections from our extensive collection of asarum (wild gingers).  These amazing woodland natives from North America, Asia, and Europe are fascinating both for their foliage as well as their unique flowers. Asarum asperum ‘Silver Streak’ is a plant we obtained in the early 1990s, so it’s taken us 25

So, how do your evergreen perennials including hellebores look after the early winter blast?  Most likely, they look a bit rough if your ground froze like it did here at the garden.  Most likely, they’ll be fine once they thaw and we edge closer to spring. Many plants can’t uptake water in the winter because

We’ve been thrilled at the entire group of new non-running, mildew-resistant bee balms from the Walters Gardens breeding program.  Now fluorescent flowers have been added by including previously unused, little-known orange-flowered genetics. It’s hard to capture the degree of fluorescence in photos, but you’ll agree when you see them in person that these are a

Our 2018 introduction of Sinningia ‘Cherries Jubilee’ was designed for one purpose…to do away with the need for hummingbird feeders. When mature, this amazing hardy gesneriad selection produces over 200 stalks at once, each with 75+ flowers each….that’s 15,000 flowers at once. The long flowering season of Sinningia ‘Cherries Jubilee’ runs from mid May through