Looking lovely in the winter garden is the variegated foliaged Ilex cornuta ‘O. Spring’. We’ve grown this informal-shaped holly for almost 40 years. Although it’s a male, and consequently doesn’t fruit, the foliage is more than enough reason to grow this, where space permits. The holly is named for the late Otto Spring, so the
O. Spring in Winter Read More »
We typically think of dogwoods of being seasonally interesting plants in spring, but the semi-evergreen Cornus wilsoniana changes that narrative. Despite the clusters of small flowers in May, this Chinese species is most prized for its amazing white patterned bark, which is especially noticeable in winter, against the prevailing background of brown. Sadly, this amazing
Wilson’s Winter Dogwood Read More »
We truly love the amazing English boxwood, Buxus sempervirens ‘Elegantissima’ in the winter garden. We’ve never been able to track down it’s origin, but we know that it was grown in Europe around 1860. We’ve grown this in both sun and light shade, and while it thrives in both, the density of the foliage is
Our Favorite Christmas Box Read More »
Emerging in the woodland garden now are the amazing toothworts of the former genus, Dentaria. Dentaria ‘Green Snowflake’ below, is our 2017 introduction of our hybrid between two natives, Dentaria heterophylla and Dentaria dissecta. This foliage sailed through our recent low temperatures of 15 degrees F. In another eight weeks, the clump will be topped
Here come the Green Snowflakes Read More »
Looking quite impressive after our recent night at 15 degrees F, is the Eastern US native Phlox amoena. The common name, hairy phlox’, is given because of the obviouslyr hairy stems. Native from Kentucky south to Florida, it can be found in dry, open woodlands, usually in sandy, well-drained soils. The typical flowering season is
In only its third winter in the garden, Camellia vietnamensis has already surpassed our expectations. The large, single white flowers that start for us in early winter, combined with the beautiful foliage has been exceptional in our trials. So far, our plants have sailed through 14 degrees F. There seems to be quite a bit
From Vietnam, with Love Read More »
It’s always exciting for us when we finally are able to build up enough stock of a new agave we’ve selected, so we can finally publicly share. Since some agaves never offset naturally, they must first spend years confined to our 50 Shades of Gray torture bench, where we perform unthinkable deeds to force them
New Releases from The Tortured Agave Department Read More »
One of the more unusual fairy bells we grow is the Asian (Assam to Central China) Disporum longistylum. Starting in mid-April (NC), the open, upright stalks are adorned with clusters of small ivory flowers that form at the branch tips. In our climate, Disporum longistylum is evergreen down to 20 degrees F, but below that,
Like so many conifers, Cryptomeria really stand out after those pesky perennials go dormant for the winter. Cryptomeria japonica ‘Elegans Nana’ is looking lovely this winter. This 2017 planting is now grown to 3′ tall x 7′ wide. Cryptomerias are quite durable in the garden, and survive in both full to half day sun. Cryptomeria
Winter is the time when all the evergreen ferns shine, and there are few fern genera that look better in winter than the holly ferns. A favorite that’s rarely offered is the spear-leaf holly fern, Cyrtomium lonchitoides, which hails from Japan, China, and Vietnam. This has the smallest pinnae of the hardy holly ferns, which
Spear-leaf Holly Fern Read More »
