Although many folks only know us for our commercial division, Plant Delights Nursery, it is our research division, Juniper Level Botanic Garden that is the most important. Our collections now top 22,000 taxa, making JLBG one of the most significant plant collections in the country. We spent last Friday with Dr. Jenny Xiang of NC State University, her lab manager, and two graduate students taking samples of plants needed for her research into continentally disjunct plant genera. In other words, what happened when the ancient continent of Pangaea split and some members of a genus (i.e. Asarum, Arisaema, Croomia) got caught on each side of the split. How did they evolve after being separated? Plant samples were carefully taken for genetic testing in China, and immediately dipped into liquid Nitrogen for preservation. We are thrilled that we had quite a number of relatively obscure plants that were important to the research. Remember that 10% of all plant purchases at Plant Delights go to fund our research and botanic garden division.  Thank you!
Tony, what is the plant with the big leaves in that first photo?
Magnolia officinalis var. biloba