Below are a few of our favorite ornamental onions for the early spring season…all flowering now. There’s something about alliums in the garden that elicit smiles when they are in flower, compared to tears when we chop up their kin. Most early spring alliums are more bulbous, while many of the later, summer-flowering alliums grow
The word “primrose” is from the medieval Latin prima rosa, literally the “first rose”. Perhaps it was a time when “rose” was used in a more general way. We all know that a primrose is not a rose not even by any other name, but we certainly think of it as an early spring flower.
The first rose from Japan Read More »
This spring marked our first flowering of a spectacular form of Helicodiceros muscivorus (pig butt arum) from the Spanish island of Majorca. This was one of the last collections from plantsman Alan Galloway before he passed. This species typically has flesh-colored flowers, but we love this new red-spathe clone that we’ve named Helicodiceros ‘Razorback’.
Looking quite golden this week is this combination of Trillium discolor, surrounded by a patch of Chrysogonum repens…two great perennials, that both happen to be Southeastern US natives.
Striking Spring Gold Read More »
The ladyslipper orchid, Cypripedium ‘Rascal’ has been looking absolutely stunning in the spring woodland garden. This is a hybrid of two North American native species, Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum and Cypripedium kentuckiense.
Flowering now at JLBG is the handsome Jack tree, Sinojackia xylocarpa ‘La Grima’. Sinojackia, named after the late Arnold Arboretum staffer with three first names, John George Jack, is a Chinese native that is quite rare in the wild. In cultivation, this styrax relative matures at a compact 20′ tall. The cultivar ‘La Grima’ is
You don’t know Jack Read More »
We just can’t say enough good things about the amazing Heliotropium ‘Augusta Lavender’. Heliotropes were confined to an old fashioned pass along plant until modern plant breeders got a hold of them and created plants of which we can only dream. This amazing perennial, that’s often sold as an annual, flowers non-stop for us from
There’s Hope for Heliotrope Read More »
Trillium maculatum makes a lovely contrast in the midst of this clump of Polemonium reptans ‘Blount Blues’ this spring…two wonderful Southeastern natives.
Splatter in a Jacob’s Ladder Read More »
We just love the Japanese Gymnaster savatieri ‘Edo Murasaki’, and they have truly been exceptional this spring. As constantly happens, recent taxonomic work has kicked this out of the gym…or more accurately, kicked the gym out of the aster. After years of being a Gymnaster, new DNA tests move it back into the genus, Aster.
Well, Kiss my Gymnaster Read More »
We’ve been fascinated by mayapples of the genus Podophyllum, ever since first studying them in my NC backyard over 60 years ago. It was always a bit disappointing that they went dormant in late May, and often seem to be afflicted by several foliar diseases. It was not until three decades later (mid-1990s) that I
March flowers bring May Apples, along with a Taxonomic headache Read More »
