Only a couple of weeks remain, before we kick off the 2026 Southeastern Plant Symposium in Raleigh, NC. For our 8th year, we celebrate two milestone birthdays, the 50th anniversary of the JC Raulston Arboretum, along with the 40th anniversary of Juniper Level Botanic Garden. Both Mark Weathington and I will be giving presentations on […]
Southeastern Plant Symposium 2026…Coming Soon Read More »
I was saddened to learn of the recent passing (April 4) of one of the most amazing horticulture figures, I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, the incomparable Pearl Fryar. It was 30 years ago this month, when I was speaking at South Carolina’s Brookgreen Garden, that we first met. Pearl was speaking ahead of
Early last year, we noticed a new seedling, growing in our crevice seep. We realized it was nothing we had planted, and concluded that it belonged to the genus of pocketbook flowers, Calceolaria. We had actually tried three of the mostly South American native calceolaria species years earlier, but the genus is known for its
Trying to Identify a Pick Pocket Read More »
Agave x victosa ‘Starfish’ is one of our prize agaves, a very rare hybrid between Agave victoriae-reginae and Agave bracteosa, which we planted in 2004. Knowing that it was approaching flowering size, at which point, it would die, and since it has never offset, we chose to drill out the central core, to force it
Where there’s a Will, There is a Way Read More »
Flowering now in the garden is one of the more fascinating woody plants we grow, Daphne pseudomezereum. This odd Daphne, hailing from Japan and Korea, is the only known Northern temperate plant that loses its leaves in summer, but regrows them in fall, for a wintergreen appearance in the garden. I should add that Daphne
Flowering now in the garden is one of the rarest of the lenten rose hybrids, Helleborus x belcheri ‘Pink Ice’. This cross of the European Helleborus niger and the Chinese Helleborus thibetanus, was developed by Kevin Belcher at the UK’s Ashwood Nurseries. Since Helleborus thibetanus has been a miserable failure in our hot summer climates,
Belching in the Winter Garden Read More »
While riding my golf cart back from lunch this week, from our home on the nursery property, I was startled to see a furry creature, right out of Caddyshack, running straight toward me at what seemed to be an Olympic pace. Suddenly, it stopped about 15 feet away, stood up, while giving me the evil
On a recent speaking engagement in Illinois, I was very fortunate to reconnect with one of my early and most important horticultural mentors, plantsman Roy Klehm. Roy, 83, came from a well-known nursery family, and for most of his life, operated Klehm Nursery, Song Sparrow Farms, and later Beaver Creek Nursery in Illinois and Wisconsin.
An Evening with Roy Read More »
On Tuesday this week, our staff entomologist, Bill Reynolds, will present an on-line presentation exploring the amazing world of Butterflies and Moths. Bill, who in his previously life, worked as an entomologist for the NC Museum of Natural Science, has spent a lifetime traveling the world to study butterflies. Bill not only has an encyclopedic
Everything you wanted to know about Butterflies, but didn’t know who to ask. Read More »
The speaking circuit is cranking up for the year, and I hope I’ll see you either in person or virtually at the programs listed below. This Saturday, February 14, I’ll be speaking to the Piedmont Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society at 10am. The program will be held in the McSwain Center at
On the Road and Zooming Again Read More »
