Plant images from the garden and nursery

The lovely Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’ is looking mighty fine in the garden now…couldn’t imagine gardening without this beacon of light.  Part sun to light shade is best.

Here’s a photo from the garden yesterday, the hardy garden orchid, Bletilla x yokohama ‘Sweet Lips’.  We tried this with average success in light shade, but once we moved it out into full sun, it exploded.  Bletillas are tolerant of pretty much everything from boggy soils to just shy of desert conditions.  All of the

I’m sensing a color theme starting, so let’s continue with Iris virginica ‘Contraband Girl’, whose flirting her stuff in the garden today.  This gem can grow in standing water or in typical garden soil.  Of course, it will grow much taller with more moisture, often topping out around 6′ tall…another great American native iris.

I’ll bet most folks haven’t heard of Ammocharis coranica…your loss.  We grew this amazing crinum lily relative for years before we saw it in the wilds of South Africa, where it grew in roadside ditches along a small section of our route.  Here’s a photo from the gardens today…it thrived though our brutal NC winter. 

How could you not love such an inviting plant as the Mediterranean native aroid Dracunculus vulgaris, flowering now at Juniper Level Botanic Gardens.  Anyone who thinks mother nature doesn’t have a sense of humor has never grown dracunculus.  Dracunculus often emerge in February, flower now, and go dormant by early June.  Amazingly, they are winter

Here’s another plant that thrilled us with how well it went through the winter here at Juniper Level Botanic Gardens…Verbena ‘Lavender Frappe’.  This Brazilian native makes a short 1″ tall groundcover that just flowers non-stop for months, and as you can see, is the earliest verbena to begin flowering for us.  I just can’t say