Looking lovely in late August is the variegated turmeric ginger, Curcuma longa ‘Snowdrift’. Thriving in light shade, this amazing garden plant is obviously both ornamental and useful. Discovered as a mutation by plantsman Richard O’Brien, this amazing selection is late to emerge, rarely making a garden appearance before mid-June in NC. Our oldest clumps, planted
Snowdrift in Summer Read More »
Most of the elephant ears we now grow in the garden are the clumping forms, since the fast runners simply outgrow their space too quickly, on the way to their goal of world domination. One running cultivar we can’t part with is Colocasia esculenta ‘Lemonade’. While it does spread, it doesn’t do so anything like
Drinking in the Lemonade Read More »
We love our collection of camellias, but are aware that most people think of them primarily for their flowers. We think the foliage is almost as amazing, when the plants are well grown. There are quite a few with variegated foliage, which give added value to the garden when the plants aren’t in flower. One
Because we ‘ve had an abnormally wet summer, the rain liles of the genus Zephyranthes and Habranthus have been blooming up a storm, and the insects that feed on them, like Tiger Swallowtail butterflies, are everywhere. Within 2-4 days after a rain, during the summer months, the clumps burst forth with an amazing floral show.
When Life Gives you Rain, Grow Rain Lilies Read More »
Happily feeding on our clumps of the native Asclepias perennis this week were Buckeye butterflies (Junonia coenia). The Buckeye butterfly originated in Africa, subsequently diversified in Asia and then spread to North America, where it is now widespread. As our entomologist Bill Reynolds likes to comment, the insects are better botanists than humans. The buckeye butterfly
More than Monarchs Read More »
For those who have followed us for a while, you know we have a fascination for tuberous aroids, particularly those in the genus, Amorphophallus. We’ve spent quite a bit of time making seed selections as well as hybrids, often using the super winter hardy Amorphophallus as a parent. So far, we have 14 species that
Cognac or Konjac – We’ll take the Latter Read More »
We love plants that look great in the woodland garden in the midst of our summer heat. Below is an image of Rohdea japonica ‘Tamagawa Ryu’, looking absolutely fabulous this week. For those who haven’t yet tried rohdeas yet, think evergreen hostas. Rohdeas are one of our specialty collections, and the JLBG collection includes roughly
The Road to a Rohdea Addiction Read More »
One of many incredible plants discovered by our garden staff, is an amazing selection of the native (NC to Arkansas and south to Florida) Hymenocallis occidentalis var. occidentalis, found by Jeremy Schmidt on a 2012 botanizing trip through Alabama. We’ve always loved this August-flowered spider lily, but the extraordinary floriferous nature of this discovery outshines
The Queen of Flowers Read More »
Looking great in the garden now, is the rare, Southeast (NC, SC, GA) US native mint relative, Carolina bogmint. Macbridea caroliniana is a Federal Species of Concern (Global G2 rank), found most often in sphagnum bog edges, open forested bottomlands, and savannas. The first photo below is our newly named, dark pink-flowered clone ‘Pink Hill’,
Pink Hill Carolina Bogmint Read More »
(aka: Costus speciosus) Hellenia speciosa ‘Wizard of Oz’ is an amazingly winter hardy form of the typically warm tropical, southeast Asian native crepe ginger. This gem is a 2013 Ozzie Johnson collection from near Yan Ming, Vietnam at 3,900′ elevation. Emerging in mid-June (NC), the thick, fleshy green stalks, quickly rise to 6′ tall. The
