We’ve just finished the flowering season for the amazing, Taiwan native, Lilium formosanum. This amazing lily comes true from seed, and for us, flowers the first year from seed. After three years, it reaches 6′ tall in our climate, Zone 8a, Raleigh, NC. The deliciously sweet flowers make such an amazing show in August, at
Giant Formosa Lily Read More »
Next year, Plant Delights will be introducing a fabulous new, dark pink-flowered selection of the native, Macbridea caroliniana, discovered by our former Plant Records/Taxonomist, Zac Hill. Macbridea ‘Pink Hill’ is a dramatic change from the light pink flowers we’ve seen on the commercial material, as a you can see below, when grown in rich, slightly
It’s Hard to Top the Pink Hill Read More »
A fascinating botanical hook-up took place in Spartanburg, SC. when a lonely Distyllum myricoides took a liking to a nearby Parrotia persica. The babies were discovered near the Distyllum, by garden director and plant breeder, Dr. Kevin Parris, who quickly realized what had taken place, just outside of the horticulture classroom building. After growing out
In Di Still of the Da Night Read More »
Our 2014 tongue fern introduction, Pyrrosia lingua ‘Limon’, was discovered here as a solid gold sport on Pyrrosia lingua ‘Ogon Nishiki’. We took this image last week, of a superbly grown specimen at our sister institution, the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. This is a lovely evergreen fern, hardy from Zone 7b to 10b. It’s
When Life Gives you a Limon Read More »
Looking great in the garden in summer is our new selection of bamboo muhly grass, Muhlenbergia dumosa ‘Patagonia’. Prior to this introduction, this splendid ornamental grass could only be overwintered from Zone 9 south. This Patrick McMillan collection adds at least one additional hardiness zone for gardeners. To achieve maximum winter hardiness, it needs summer
We’ve grown the Asian Sauromatum horsfieldii, and other Sauromatum species, for almost two decades, and the more different accessions we grow, the more we’re convinced that there are more than one species lumped into what’s currently considered Sauromatum horsfieldii. With a purported natural range from India to Sumatra, one can only expect a number of
A Really Muddy Horse Field Read More »
Instead of singing the blues, this Asian praying mantis is hanging out with the blues of Ceratostigma willmottianum, while it stealthily waits, like the invisible man, for Grub Hub to arrive with dinner.
When Bartlett Arboretum plantsman, Adam Black, offered me a pot of Brucea javanica, a few years ago, I quickly turned him down. The last thing we needed was a tender tree from the Indonesia island of Java. Java is located at 6-9 degree latitude, so the idea that anything from Java would have a chance
One of our favorite native perennial groundcovers is the Georgia Pancake Bluestar, discovered by our friend Bob McCartney, retired of Woodlanders Nursery. We purchased our first plant from Woodlanders in 2001, before it even had a name, which we quickly remedied. Twenty five years later, we still think this is one of the finest perennial
Flatter than a Georgia Pancake Read More »
We’ve always loved false plum yews of the Asian genus, Cephalotaxus, which contains only eight species. In garden and nurseries, you’re most likely to see selections of the species, Cephalotaxus harrgintonia (or harringtonii), especially dwarf or columnar forms. Many years ago, I was enchanted by this wonderful form of the straight species, Cephalotaxus harrgintonia ssp.
