Long ago, we gave up our red plastic hummingbird feeders for a more natural way to attract hummers to the garden, and one of the best is the Southwest US native Anisacanthus wrightii. Starting for us in August, it continues to be a blaze of glory through September. Texas firecracker prefers full sun and dry
Natural Hummingbird Feeders Read More »
Rudbeckia truncata is a very rare coneflower (G2G3 rank – high to moderate risk of extinction), restricted to a small region of alkaline bluffs from Kentucky south into the Georgia mountains. Although named in 1898 by the late botanist J.K. Small, subsequent taxonomists, who obviously didn’t bother to grow the plant, incorrectly lumped it into
Rudbeckia truncata – another “Small” Coneflower Read More »
Going bowkers in the garden now is the South African Chlorophytum bowkeri. Named after the late South African botanist J.H. Bowker (1822-1900), this perennial is an African native (Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe), non-running spider plant that can be found in damp grasslands and forest margins to 6,000′ elevation. In the garden, it has
One of the real stars from our woodland garden trials is the new hardy begonia, Begonia ‘Sterling Moon’. This Ozzie Johnson creation has both heat and cold tolerance, something sadly lacking in all of the Pacific Northwest hybrids we’ve trialed. So far, it’s survived single digits F, and weeks over 100 F in summer. We
Looking absolutely beacon-esque in the woodland garden as we head into fall is the evergreen Aucuba japonica ‘Mr. Goldstrike’. We grow well over 100 aucuba cultivars, and this is certainly one of the brightest. This is a male selection, so it produces no fruit, but instead has fascinating terminal clusters of rusty red flowers around
It’s hard to pass our picture perfect clump of Agave nickelsiae without stopping to take a photo. Agave nickelsiae, formerly known as Agave ferdinandi-regis, is a North American native century plant, found in dry, rocky hills in Mexican state of Coahuila. It was named to honor 19th century plant collector, Anna Nickels of Texas, who
Worth more than a Nickel Read More »
Twenty five years ago, my late wife Michelle and I, headed to Bermuda for a botanizing excursion….I mean, vacation. One of the collections I returned home with (legally declared) was a few seed of their native palm, Sabal bermudiana. I didn’t really have high hopes that it would be winter hardy here, but wanted to
Bermuda…with Palms in Mind Read More »
If you’re tired of failing with those short-lived European eryngiums that look so good in gardening magazines, look no further. Looking absolutely dazzling for the last few weeks is the extraordinary Southeast (SC to Florida) native perennial, Eryngium ravenelii. This amazing plant, which is still virtually unknown in gardens, is found naturally in flooded ditches
Our hanging basket of the evergreen Pyrrosia lingua ‘Corymbifera’ is looking lovely as we head toward another fall season. This Japanese selection of the epiphytic tongue fern has excellent vigor, forming a dense clump either in a container or in the ground. This moss-lined basket is now six years old, and lives outdoors year round
Flat-top Cluster Fern Read More »
One of the new butterfly bushes that has impressed us in our trials is Buddleia ‘Cherry Royale’ from breeder Hans Hansen. The habit, flower color, fragrance, and lack of seedlings has made this one worthy of our 2026 Spring Catalog. In our garden, it matures at 6′ tall x 6′ wide.
