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Heptapleureum delavayi (formerly Schefflera delavayi)

Delavay’s Schefflera is a now a Heap of Pleureum

One of our favorite fall-flowering trees is the tropical-looking Schefflera delavayi. As a child, I was always enamored with schefflera on our family vacations to Florida, never dreaming it would be possible to grow these “tropicals” in our Raleigh garden. Fast forward 60 years, a number of “hardy” schefflera species in the Arailaceae family have

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Sarracenia leucophylla with Red-spotted Purple butterfly

Sipping from a Dangerous Pitcher

There are more ways to add color to the fall garden other than planting a new crop of mums. Each fall, we enjoy the colors provided when the Red-spotted Purple butterflies, Limenitis arthemis, stop by to feed on the sweet nectar secreted by the white-topped pitcher plant, Sarracenia leucophylla. Depending on the angle of the

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Gulf Coast Fritillary, Dione vanillae

A Checkered Past…from Fritillaria to Fritillarys

We’ve not had the greatest of luck growing many of the super showy fritilarias (bulbs), but we’ve fared far better with fritillarys. The common name for both the plant and insect, derive from the Latin word fritillus, which loosely translates to “checkerboard pattern”, in particular, the stunningly beautiful, Gulf Coast Fritillary, Dione vanillae, which showed up

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