Through the years, we made a couple of selections of the giant Chinese Solomon’s Seal, Polygonatum martinii, including the one below, Polygonatum ‘Bellissimo’. These amazing plants often top 6′ tall, so are truly giants in the woodland garden. We’ll start chopping on this soon, so we can one day have enough to share.
One of the oddest, and consequenty, coolest ferns we grow in the garden is Lepisorus palmatopedatus, which translates in to palm-foot, scaly-sori fern. We’ve grown this Chinese (Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou) oddity for over three years, and it justs gets better each year, spreading slowly, via an underground rhizome. For us, it’s been mostly evergreen
Looking quite stunning is the garden, is the Eastern Chinese (Anhui, Zhejiang provinces) native, Acer pubipalmatum. Our 13 year old specimen is now 15′ tall. Related to the more common Japanese maple, Acer palmatum, the main difference is the pubescent (hairy) leaf backs. If that isn’t complicated enough, taxonomists then lumped Acer pubipalmatum with Acer
Hairy Backside Maple Read More »
Flowering this week at JLBG is the little known, woody, vining Hydrangea ampla. Originally discovered in Sichuan, China, it has recently been discovered and collected in Northern Vietnam, often under the name Hydrangea megalocarpa, which is almost certainly the same plant. Our specimen, from an Ozzie Johnson/Scott McMahon collection, has thrived with no damage since
If you’ve studied plant migrations, you no doubt realize that many North American species, also have nearly identical Asian counterparts. One such plant is our native sensitive fern, Onoclea sensibilis. In the US, it can be found throughout most of the Eastern US, but we wanted to compare it to its’ Asian sibling, Onoclea sensibilis
Reunited, and it Feels so Good Read More »
We obtained this amazing variegated Japanese Solomon’s seal selection in 2015, and in the years since, Polygonatum odoratum ‘Ki Chou’ has formed an amazing specimen in the garden. We’ve started dividing our clump, and hopefully, will have enough to share within the next couple of years. Hardiness is Zone 4a-9b. JLBG currently holds one of
Ki Chou, Bless You Read More »
I’ve always loved the genus Mukdenia, since first spying it cliffside on a 1997 botanical expedition through South Korea. This monotypic genus currently belongs is the Saxifragaceae family…think Tiarella, Heuchera, and Astilbe. Although, it’s typically grown as a woodland plant, we tried one clump of Mukdenia rossii ‘Karasuba’ in our full sun crevice garden, planted
With a Name like Mukers, It’s Gotta Be Good Read More »
One of my personal favorites in the very early spring garden is the amazing Chloranthus japonicus. This delightful Asian (China, Japan, Korea, and Russia) native is naturally found in moist woodlands, growing streamside, up to 6,000′ elevation. In the garden, it forms a 15″ tall x 20″ wide clump. We have found it very easy
Essentially Essoteric Read More »
Here are more wild gingers flowering this week in our garden collection. This fascinating genus is a member of the pipewort family, Aristolochiaceae. All of the images below are clump forming species. Asarum asaroides ‘Dohmu’ is a yellow-flowerd form of a typically purple-flowered Japanese species. Asarum campaniflorum ‘Ginormous’ is our selection of the beautiful Chinese
Wild Ginger Flowers – Part 2 Read More »
Flowering now in the garden is one of the more fascinating woody plants we grow, Daphne pseudomezereum. This odd Daphne, hailing from Japan and Korea, is the only known Northern temperate plant that loses its leaves in summer, but regrows them in fall, for a wintergreen appearance in the garden. I should add that Daphne
