In 2022, Lysimachia lanceolata ‘Burgundy Mist’ hit the native plant market with great fanfare. Here was an ornamentally improved version of the Eastern North America (Wisconsin south to Florida) moist meadow native, Lysimachia lanceolata (aka: Steironema lanceolatum), from the folks at Tennessee’s GroWild Nursery. The linear-leaf foliage of this selection takes on a burgundy cast […]
The Legend of Burgundy Mist Read More »
As the late marketeer of fake entertainment, David Hannum, once said, when referring to a P.T. Barnum knockoff of his own fake “Cardiff Man”, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” That saying is never more true with the countless fake plant images popping up on Internet sales sites. Although they’re not the only site, the
Hey Eye, It’s A-I…the Era of Horticultural Con Artists Read More »
We’re only a couple of weeks away from the 2025 Southeastern Plant Symposium, co-hosted by the JC Raulston Arboretum and Juniper Level Botanic Garden. Our goal each year is to bring in the top horticultural speakers from around the world, to share their knowledge about plants that are growable in the Southeastern US region. We
Southeastern Plant Symposium 2025 Read More »
In late January, I was handed a small stack of mail, and on top was an envelope from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which I assumed to be a journal renewal notice. Upon opening the letter below, I sat stunned, unable to even fall from my chair, which would have been the appropriate response. After
Passion drives everything at NC State — the donors’ passions fuel our students’ passions, and our students’ passions inspire our donors’ passions. NC State University is hosting their annual Day of Giving on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. Please consider donating in support of Juniper Level Botanic Garden to preserve this world-class resource for future generations. You can
Passion Inspired, Donor Fueled Read More »
We wanted to share another thought-provoking column by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume about the myths of the invasive species movement. Clear-cutting is Clear-cutting, No Matter Where the Trees are From: A rant against dogma and eradication As regular readers know, critiquing the “invasive plant” narrative is one of my main themes here. The name of the
Clearing the Muddy Water Read More »
We were recently checking some surprising winter damage on one of our Schefflera delavayi specimens in the garden, and when we sliced open a stem, we found a lovely example of a chambered pith arrangement. Pith is a lightweight polystyrene like material, composed of parenchyma cells, and found in the center of stems of dicot
I’ve recently returned from a speaking tour in the Pacific Northwest, that included talks at the Bellevue Botanical Garden and the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival, both in the Seattle area. This is my second opportunity to speak at the show, which I’d rate as one of the top in the county. I was also
Flowering now in the garden is the Japanese wild ginger, Asarum fudsinoi. The glossy foliage on this 15″ wide clumper makes it one of the largest of the Japanese native Asarum species. Because of its tropical roots from the Southern Ryukyu Island, Amami-Oshimi (just south of Okinawa), it’s used to flowering quite early in the
Addition by Subduction Read More »
We always like to try new techniques, and when it comes to encouraging poorly offsetting century plants to produce offsets, anything is on the table. While we typically drill out the central core as we’ve show before, we thought we’d try a little Henry XIII action on this one. When agaves age, they often produce
Off with it’s Head Read More »
