Nursery News

It is with a heavy heart that we share news of the passing of our friend Richard Dufresne (pronounced Doofrane), 75, who passed away this month at his home in Candor, North Carolina.  Rich was truly a one of a kind…a 1972 graduate of Carnegie Melon with a PhD in chemistry. After graduation, Rich did

Thank goodness Florence is finally heading away from our area. Thankfully, we dodged the worst of the storm, since the prediction models were dreadfully off target as late as 24-48 hours prior to landfall, when they showed the eye of the hurricane headed directly toward PDN/JLBG. Thankfully for us, Florence headed three hours south, passing

It’s the calm before the storm here at PDN/JLBG…or to quote the late philosopher Yogi Bera, “Deja vous all over again.” In September 1996, a wild woman named Fran visited our Fall Open Nursery and Garden Friday, and now it’s another F’er…Florence. Florence currently sits in the Atlantic Ocean, with a strong desire to stop

I had a blast last week speaking on horticultural diversity at Raleigh’s Nerd Night…held at the Big Boss Brewery. I’ll admit to being skeptical when committing to speak in an un-air conditioned beer warehouse in late June…an obviously non-horticultural venue. The group of about 125 people…mostly Gen X – millenials was incredibly entheusiatic with great

Just back from a speaking gig in the UK and wanted to share some images from the trip. While there, we were able to visit the Chelsea Garden Show for the first time, and here are some of the amazing displays of horticultural perfection. Alliums Chrysanthemums Fuchsias Lupines Rebutias Sarracenias Lillies Gladiolus Narcissus   Agapanthus

Another great weekend in the garden, highlighted by a visit from several of our extended plant family…Carl Schoenfeld and Wade Roitsch of the former Yucca Do, Hans Hansen of Walters Gardens (back), and yours truly on the right. It’s been about seven years since we were able able to get together.  Carl is raising cattle

I’m heading up to Richmond Virginia in a couple of weeks for a Wednesday March 28 presentation on Shade Gardening for the Garden Club of Virginia’s Daffodil Day.  The entire event will take place at the Garden of Virginia’s Kent-Valentine House on East Franklin Street. There are a few available spaces remaining, so please share this

For our open nursery and garden days, we’ve lined up several of our favorite food trucks, so we don’t have folks falling out in the garden from hunger pains. Being an ice cream junkie, I think the all natural local ice cream from Fresh is probably the best I’ve had anywhere in the world. We