Fenway Park Golden Ivy is a fabulous, deciduous, Asian native vine for covering buildings, fences, or the belongings of sloppy neighbors. On the way to a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park in 1988, now-retired Arnold Arboretum Research Scientist, Peter Del Tredici, spotted a golden mutation on a Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata), growing on
Fenway Park is a Hit Read More »
Flowering this week in the garden are two stunning buckeyes, Aesculus pavia ‘Splendens’ (native from Ohio through Texas) on the right, and its offspring, Aesculus x carnea on the left. Aesculus x carnea is a cross of Aesculus pavia and the European Aesculus hippocastanum. It’s hard to imagine two more showy trees for the spring
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In this April combination, we have used the heat-tolerant coral bells, Heuchera ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, and for a contrasting textural border, we used the ornamental onion, Allium kiiense. I wish more people realize how great this onion is, when used as a liriope/carex-like border. It looks great all during the growing season, and when it
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Looking so good in the garden is the North American native, Ilex x attenuata ‘Sunny Foster’. This amazing hybrid between two native hollies, Ilex opaca and Ilex cassine, was first discovered in the wild in the 1920s and named Ilex x attenuata ‘Foster #2’. ‘Sunny Foster’ originated in 1964, as a yellow branch sport on
Here are a few photos from the front garden, around Anita and I’s home this week. There’s nothing quite like waking up and watching the garden wake up as well. Below is a photo of the same spot, ten years earlier, when it was a horse farm. The Cryptomeria japonica ‘Yoshino’ is the only plant
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Looking dazzling at JLBG for the last couple of weeks is the amazing Davidia involucrata ‘Sonoma’. As you can see, the common name is quite apt since when in flower, it resembles a tree laden with handkerchiefs. This coveted Chinese native is related to our native black gum, in the family, Nyssaceae. This mystical tree
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Emerging beautifully from its winter slumber is the elegant native fern, Dryopteris x australis. The 4′ tall clumps look superb all through the heat of summer. Despite the “down under” sounding specific epithet, “australis” actually means “from the south”, referring to its’ natural range from from Virginia to Arkansas, where it is found in moist
In our almost 40 years of gardening here at JLBG, I have yet to find any other vine that’s better to cover a fence than our native (West Virginia south to Florida and west to Texas) Bignonia capreolata. In full flower now, this amazing evergreen vine covers a fence quickly, but without trying to take
The amazing Clematis ‘Purple Gumdrops’ is looking rather fabulous in the crevice garden this month. This amazing 2023 Plant Delights/JLBG introduction is a Hans Hansen creation, using the native Clematis addisonii. It is a tight clump former in the garden, starting to flower for us in early April. It’s hard to imagine a better clematis
Looking great in the woodland garden now is the amazing Asian (China, Korea, Manchuria) native Solomon’s Seal, Disporum flavens. This species is probably the showiest of the genus, putting on a tremendous show in spring garden. While there are both running and clumping species in the genus, Disporum, this gem remains in a nice clump.
