We’ve written before about our plant collection rescue efforts, and last week, we were fortunate to conduct yet another of those important missions. This was the rescue of the Flory/Flagg/Smith rain lily collection. Walter Flory and Ray Flagg are two of the biggest names in the rain lily world over the last 70 years, while
You would think with 220 new Aspidistra (cast iron plant) species discovered since 1980 that botanists would have found them all, but that seems to be far from the case. This oddity just flowered in our collection this month, and is obviously yet another new species. This is one of the final collections (2018) made
Cast-ing a Wider Net Read More »
One of the program features of the Perennial Plant Association’s annual meetings are a series of industry awards. One of those is the highly competitive Landscape Design Awards, where the countries top landscape architects and designers whose work prominently featured perennials, learn if their designs won. There are several design categories: 1) residential designs under
We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of our plant friend, fern guru, Dr. John Mickel, at age 90. John had been dealing with significant memory issue over the last few years. We first met John almost 30 years ago, when he was Pteridophyte (ferns) Curator at the NY Botanical Garden. John, and
The Fronds are Weeping Read More »
The nursery world is mourning the loss of legendary plantsman, Don Shadow, 83, of Winchester, Tennessee. Don recently passed away in mid-November, after a long series of health challenges. Don was regarded as one of the most voracious plant collectors in the annals of US Nursery history. A fourth generation nurseryman, Don was born into
The Shadowy World of The Don Read More »
Last weekend included a quick trip to Marietta, Georgia, to celebrate the 80th birthday of our long-time plant friend, Ozzie Johnson. Ozzie is a life long garden designer and consultant in the Atlanta area, as well as a career volunteer at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Ozzie has traveled extensively through China, Vietnam, and Japan, searching
A Visit to OZ to see the Wizard Read More »
For those of us in the mail order nursery, the closure of any of our compatriots seems like a death in the family. As I’ve mentioned earlier this year, the decline in retail sales across many sectors has devastated the mail order garden industry. So many of the nurseries we value so highly are those
Just over three years ago, we blogged about our new laser engraver that we purchased for labeling plants in the garden at JLBG. Since we were completely new to the experience at the time, and now have three years in our rear view mirror, we thought it was time for an update. We had no
Labeling with a Laser Focus Read More »
Four score and seven years ago….make that actually three years and six months ago, the NC Department of Transportation commandeered almost an acre of JLBG for the construction of the new Raleigh outer loop, Interstate 540. Below is an image from 2021 as land clearing had just begun. Here’s the same view this week, as
Last week, Zac and I made our first visit to the Dutch enclave in the Terra Ceia region of coastal NC. This region was founded in the 1930s and 1940s, when several Dutch families arrived in America, after fleeing problems back in the homeland, looking for inexpensive land on which to farm. Back in the
