Looking fabulous in the winter garden is one of our favorite firethorns, Pyracantha ‘UNCC Dwarf’. Originally shared with us by the late Dr. Larry Mellichamp, this selection is both dwarf and thornless. Although birds love the berries, they usually don’t consume them until very late winter, which allows the color show to remain long after
Spineless Firethorn Read More »
Most gardeners know the genus, Chamaecyparis (false cypress) only through the Asian members other genus. Chamaecyparis obtusa (Hinoki Cypress), and Chamaecyparis pisifera (Sawara Cypress), both of which are commonly grown landscape staples. All the time, our native Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic White Cedar) remains in horticultural obscurity. Boat enthusiasts, and cedar shingle makers both value these
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Looking lovely in December are the Japanese Laurels of the genus, Aucuba. If you’ve hung around any southern gardeners, you already know that we often have some peculiar pronunciations. I’m from the south and still remember thinking, whaaat, the first time I heard someone talking about the A Coobers in their garden. Perhaps many folks
You’d need to be a pretty serious plant nerd to grow members of the obscure evergreen genus, Eurya, in your garden. Of the 160 species in the genus, we’ve tried four, which is possibly some sort of record. Eurya‘s family, Pentaphyllaceae, tells us that it has some other better known relatives, such as Ternstroemia and
Here’s a view in the garden this week. One of our goals is to teach people how to have a garden that looks good all year, where the climate will allow. The gold conifer in the back is Chamaecyparis ‘Lemon Thread’. In the foreground is Agave ovatifolia and Beschorneria ‘Fire Towers’
One of the late JC Raulston’s favorite conifers was Keteleeria davidiana. Although we certainly enjoy our garden specimen, it doesn’t have nearly the elegance of many of the firs or spruces. That said, it is odd, and we always like odd. Thanks to JC, I was already familiar with the plant, when it showed up
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Flowering in November is the lovely evergreen shrub, Fatsia japonica ‘Variegata’. If you look closer at the second image, you’ll find that it’s a feast for a range of native insects. Hardiness zone 7b to 10b.
Finding a Fall Fatsia Feast Read More »
When many folks get together for the holidays, their families are so large, finding a place to house and feed them becomes problematic. Such is not the case for Sarcandra glabra, or for that matter, any of the plants in the Chloranthaceae family. Not only is the family itself quite small and quite old…prehistoric, in
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Last weekend, we planted our first Androcymbium rechingeri in the garden. In Latin, the genus name roughly translates to masculine cup like. This little known Colchicum cousin hails from a very tiny region on the Eastern sea coast of Crete. This highly endangered species, first described in 1967, grows from an underground corm, which flowers
Masculine Cup Flower Read More »
One of the plants widely promoted by the late JC Raulston was the old cultivar, Nandina domestica ‘Filamentosa’. Although it will never been widely grown, since it doesn’t bear the bright red fruit, what it adds texturally to a garden is truly irreplaceable. Below is our patch in mid November, as the foliage takes on
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