Emerging from their winter rest in mid-June are the miniature elephant ears. These little-known plants make fascinating garden specimens (Zone 7b south), and great container specimens further north. All of these mature at around 1-1.5′ tall, when happy. They are slow spreaders via very short rhizomes. By far, the fastest grower of the bunch is
Although our focus is primarily on longer term perennials, we just can’t resist growing and sharing one of the coolest plants we know, moon carrot. Seseli gummiferum hails from Crimea, Turkey, and the Agean Islands. This crazy plant has silver grey foliage that resembles an artemisia, but the spikey carrot-like flowers, just opening this week,
Launching Moon Carrots Read More »
Perhaps you will read this post and decide you have not learned anything, so forgive me in advance. But some occurrences in the garden are just so charming they require nothing more of us than to just enjoy. This photo of a happy family of five voodoo lily flowers caught my attention. They appear to
Eavesdropping on Amorphophallus Read More »
North Carolina’s official state butterfly, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly has been photographed nectaring non-native plants (otherwise known as exotic-plants). It’s not clear if there will be an uprising to renege its status as NC’s state butterfly, replacing it with another species of butterfly which only visits native plants. Gardeners on the other hand can
NC’s State Butterfly Nectaring Exotic Plants; Photos Show! Read More »
Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by the native orange-flowering (NY south to Mississippi) annual bog plant, Polygala lutea. The brilliance of the orange color nearly glows in the garden, but how in the world did the folks who named it, come up with the idea to use the specific epithet “lutea”,
Color-blind botanists Read More »
Flowering today is the lovely Alophia drummondii, a small southeast/midwest (Mississippi to Oklahoma) native iris relative, that’s virtually unknown to both gardeners and nurseries. The narrow leaves are easy to overlook, but the small, intricate flowers atop 2′ tall stalks, certainly grab your attention when it bursts into flower, starting for us in mid-June. This
Pineywoods Purple Iris Read More »
Here’s a recent view from our home drive. The amazing fern patch, growing in full baking sun, is a selection of the US native Lindheimer’s maiden fern, Thelypteris ovata var. lindheimeri, which we collected a couple of decades ago, near Austin Texas, and subsequently named Thelypteris ‘Austin City Limits’. For the sake of full disclosure,
Austin City Limits Read More »
As gardeners, we have a slightly different take on the words from Neil Diamond’s popular oldie of the same name. As Diamond writes; Where it began, I can’t begin to know whenBut then I know it’s growin’ strongWas in the spring, and spring became the summerWho’d have believe you’d come along? In our case, we
Sweet Carolyn…a Diamond in the Rough Read More »
Rhus typhina ‘Baltiger’ (Tiger Eyes staghorn sumac) is looking glorious this week, staged behind a mass of Hymenocallis ‘Tropical Giant’. The native Rhus typhina typically doesn’t love our hot summers, with a native range that runs primarily from Maine to Minnesota. Although there are a few disjunct southern populations of the species, all of the
Tiger Eyes looking at you Read More »
The gloriosa lily was named, Gloriosa superba. It is a scientific name that should scare no one. The generic name, Gloriosa, means “glorious’. As if this wasn’t praise enough, this species of Gloriosa was given the species name Gloriosa superba, the superb and glorious lily. Clearly someone was dazzled by this flower. I know I
Glorious Gloriosa Lily Read More »
