Our patch of the Texas native pipevine, Aristolochia watsonii is home this week to some very happy, and very voracious pipevine swallowtail caterpillars. Although the plant will soon be defoliated, it’s designed as such, and will quickly reflush with new foliage once the caterpillars have molted. We love the color combination of the bronze leaves
My Dear Watson, You make a Good Snack Read More »
Over a 45 year career of botanizing, one odd type of plant I’ve found repeatedly throughout the Southeast US are gold foliage sweetgums. A few were seedlings, while others were mutations that occur when roadside tree saplings are mowed down, causing bud mutations. Some discoveries, we’ve been able to propagate, while we just weren’t there
The Man with the Golden Gum Read More »
Flowering now at JLBG is the dwarf, highly threatened pineapple lily, Eucomis montana. In botanical terms, the word “montana” indicates from the mountains. This stunningly elegant pineapple lily species hails from the northern end of South Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains (Mpumalanga, Free State, and Swaziland), where it can be found growing in grasslands on rocky hillsides.
The amazing glade fern, Diplaziopsis pycnocarpa has long been one of our favorite native ferns, but it’s a bit of a loner. This fern, whose native range is from Maine to Louisiana, also has a bit of an identity crisis, formerly being known as Homolasorus pycnocarpus, Diplazium pycnocarpon, Athyrium pycnocarpon, and before that, several other
From the Glade to your Shade Read More »
For small gardens, we’ve long advocated a design philosophy of planting in drifts of one. Here’s a great portrait from the spring garden that demonstrated our philosophy, by combining Asarum nobilissimum, Impatiens omeiana, Trillium flexipes, Woodsia obtusa, and Aucuba japonica ‘Limbata’ in a way that uses textures, colors, and forms to make a pleasing vignette.
The Incredible Hulk of the plant world has returned, once again, to seek a mate. It’s been just over two years since our Amorphophallus titanum ‘Homo Erectus’ gifted us with a giant inflorescence, so we’re thrilled to welcome another flowering event. Below is a photo of our plant on July 3, so, based on past
It’s Back…Homo erectus returns! Read More »
One of the dazzling conifers at JLBG that always leaves visitors guessing and admiring is the monotypic genus, Taiwaniana cryptomeroides. While there are many specific epithet names that commemorate countries, this Taiwan endemic is one of the only plant genera named after a country. Taiwaniana ‘Independence’ is a superb, glaucous leaf clone that hails from
Taiwania, from, wait…you guessed it, Taiwan Read More »
Looking great in the garden today is the miniature elephant ear, Colocasia bicolor ‘La La La’. This is our 2005 collection from 2,200′ elevation in Vietnam’s Son La province. This isn’t a fast grower, which is why it’s taken us 20 years to grow a patch this large. Since seemingly every province in the region
Ever since I had my first greenhouse at age 7, I’ve grown the tropical Green Cliff Break fern, Pellaea viridis. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d find a winter hardy form. It was not until 2005, when I visited South Africa, that we found it growing at a range of elevations from
Green Cliff Brake…another amazing Ferner Read More »
Recently flowering in the woodland garden at JLBG is another hardy gesneriad, the Chinese Lysionotus wilsonii. This gems hails from 2,000-6,000′ elevation in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan province, where it’s found in woodland valleys. That’s near the minimum elevational range at which we’d expect winter hardiness in Zone 7b/8a, so we are thrilled that it
