Flowering in the garden today is the little-known Southeast US native, Rudbeckia mohrii. This odd coneflower can only be found naturally from nine counties on the border of Florida and Georgia, where it thrives with pitcher plants in flooded ditches. The plant is named for German born pharmacist, turned Alabama botanist, Charles Theodore Mohr. Mohr
Mohr, Mohr, Mohr…How do you like this Coneflower Read More »
How could you not love a plant that can put on a show like this for months on end during the heat of the summer? So, why is is that so few people grow the amazing Euphorbia corollata? This amazing perennial is native to most every county east of the Mississippi River, even extending it
The Little Euphorbia that Could Read More »
Few people grow the amazing Southeast native Macbridea caroliniana, so we wanted to share our clump that’s in full flower now. This is primarily a coastal plain species that ranges from NC south to Georgia, and provides quite a feast for native bees. This is a two year old clump, growing in average to slightly
Here Comes the Bride…the MacBride Read More »
Echinacea, commonly called coneflowers, are easy-to-grow, drought-tolerant, summer-flowering perennials that attract both butterflies and hummingbirds. We love echinacea as an addition to a butterfly garden or when used in a mixed-perennial border. Looking lovely in the garden this week is the dazzling coneflower, Echinacea ‘Sombrero Tres Amigos’. You’ll almost need some infrared glasses for these
One of our personal favorite genera is the Southeast US native swamp gentian, Sabatia. Blooming in the garden now is Sabatia kennedeyana….no relation to the current Presidential candidate. Swamp gentian is quite vulnerable with a rarity rank of G3. It has a very limited range, naturally occurring only in sandy/peaty coastal plain habitats in an odd,
Unwanted and Unloved Read More »
Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by the native orange-flowering (NY south to Mississippi) annual bog plant, Polygala lutea. The brilliance of the orange color nearly glows in the garden, but how in the world did the folks who named it, come up with the idea to use the specific epithet “lutea”,
Color-blind botanists Read More »
Flowering today is the lovely Alophia drummondii, a small southeast/midwest (Mississippi to Oklahoma) native iris relative, that’s virtually unknown to both gardeners and nurseries. The narrow leaves are easy to overlook, but the small, intricate flowers atop 2′ tall stalks, certainly grab your attention when it bursts into flower, starting for us in mid-June. This
Pineywoods Purple Iris Read More »
Rhus typhina ‘Baltiger’ (Tiger Eyes staghorn sumac) is looking glorious this week, staged behind a mass of Hymenocallis ‘Tropical Giant’. The native Rhus typhina typically doesn’t love our hot summers, with a native range that runs primarily from Maine to Minnesota. Although there are a few disjunct southern populations of the species, all of the
Tiger Eyes looking at you Read More »
We have long loved the Southeast US native star grasses (NC to Texas), but until a few years ago, the only one we’d grown was the faster-growing, Rhynchospora colorata. Below is our Charleston, SC collection of the much slower spreading, Rhynchospora latifolia, which also has more showy, wider bracts. In the wild, this grows in
A Star Grass is Born Read More »
One of the finest, and most floriferous perennials we grow is the amazing Berlandiera pumila ‘Chocoholic’. The flowering season is just beginning as you can see in the recent image below. For us, it flowers pretty much non-stop until frost. In early morning, and later in the afternoon, the flowers smell exactly like milk chocolate
