Carpeting the woodland garden now is the North American native spring ephemeral, Sanguinaria canadensis. This widespread wildflower is native to virtually the entire Eastern US. The common name, bloodroot, comes from the red pigment, Sanguinarine, which can be found in all plant parts, especially the underground rhizomes. The red pigment has long been used for
Red Roots and White Flowers Read More »
I just snapped this photo of the amazing North American native Muhlenbergia capillaris ‘White Cloud’ in flower here at JLBG. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Muhlenbergia ‘White Cloud’ flowering now Read More »
Two favorites in the Ranunculus family are flowering now in January. The first is the familiar Helleborus niger. Below is our clump of Helleborus niger ‘Sunny Border’ in early January. This Christmas rose prefers a more open shade to even a few hours of morning sun, and very well drained soil that never stays wet.
Looking like it’s covered by a dusting of snow is our garden specimen of Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Kaori Hime’. This amazing plant is adorned, starting in early November, with thousands of sweetly scented, small white flowers. In Japan, the word “hime” literally translates to young lady of nobility, such as a princess. In plant names, however,
Tiny Leaves, Tiny Flowers, and a Big Belly Read More »
One of the little-grown, but fabulous native milkweed species is Asclepias perennis. In the wild, this amazing plant is found from Indiana south into Texas, where it grows in seasonal flood plains, swamps, ditches, and otherwise wet areas. In the garden, however, we have found it very happy in average to moist garden soils, as
White Swamp Milkweed Read More »
On a 2019 botanical expedition to Montgomery County, NC, our staff (Zac and Jeremy) discovered this never before documented natural hybrid between Dentaria dissecta (Cardamine dissecta) and Dentaria laciniata (Cardamine contactenata). We’ve christened two clones from the population, Dentaria x lacinisecta ‘Whitened Teeth’ (top) and Dentaria ‘Angel Hair’ (below). Now, we just need to have
Whitened Teeth and other Dental Work Read More »
In 2017, we blogged about our first white-flowered seedling of the South American oxblood lily, that we christened Rhodophiala bifida ‘White Surprise’. Fast forward seven years later, our original still lives, and we now have babies. Five years ago, we self-pollinated the original plant to see if the white trait would come true from seed.
We’ve been fascinated by mayapples of the genus Podophyllum, ever since first studying them in my NC backyard over 60 years ago. It was always a bit disappointing that they went dormant in late May, and often seem to be afflicted by several foliar diseases. It was not until three decades later (mid-1990s) that I
March flowers bring May Apples, along with a Taxonomic headache Read More »
Looking delightful in the garden today is Iris unguicularis ‘Great White’. The typical flower color is lavender, so this albino flower is one of the rarely seen color forms. This iris, native to Northern Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco), is growing in one of our alpine garden berms near the base of an agave. It
Great White in Winter Read More »
Here are a couple of groundcovers that are looking nice in the garden in early March. The first is the Western US native, Cerastium beeringianum (Western Snow in Summer), which is a close relative of the Italian Cerastium tomentosum. We selected this form from seed we grew, originally purchased from a native plant nursery as
