In 2014, we spotted a unique holly fern sporeling in the garden, which appeared to be a hybrid of Cyrtomium falcatum ‘Butterfieldii’, and the typical species. After watching it for several years, we christened it Cyrtomium ‘One Off’, and introduced it in 2023. In form, it’s much more compact than both parents, and has continued
One of the first plants we ever put in the ground, when we purchased the first piece of land that would become JLBG, was the red-twigged Japanese maple, Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’. It didn’t take long before the red no longer showed on the branches, and while we were quite disappointed, we allowed the specimen
Redneck Maple, All Grown Up Read More »
This spring, we posted photos of the obscure Japanese native woodlander, Ainsliaea cordifolia, but we wanted to follow up with the same plant in riotous bloom, as we move into late October. There are actually 57 species of this Aster family genus, all from Southeastern Asia. Growing Ainsliaea in your home garden is certainly a
Ainsliaea in Riotous Bloom Read More »
The deciduous Korean spindle tree has been looking quite sharp for the last month. Native to Japan and Korea, Euonymus oxyphyllus is a small tree, usually to only 8′ tall in cultivation, that brightens the fall garden with its showy fruit. Reportedly, it can reach 25′ with great age, but that certainly wouldn’t be in
A Sharp Heart’s a Bustin Read More »
We have long adored plants in the Melastomataceae, which are primarily represented in commercial horticulture by the genus, Tibouchina, and our native Rhexia. We have long searched our other members of the family that might have good winter hardiness, but with a less aggressive running habit than our native rhexias. In 2020, we obtained seed
One of our favorite textural plants in the woodland garden is the amazing Alpinia japonica ‘Green Waves’. This ginger rarely flowers here, unless we have a particularly mild winter, but who cares when you have great foliage like this. The ruffled foliage of this form, from the late specialty nurseryman, Don Jacobs garden, is not
Riding the Green Waves Read More »
The September fragrance of tea olives are unmistakable in the garden, when the flower season gets started here at JLBG. Open house visitors are always shocked at the incredible sweet aroma from these amazing Asian (China, Japan, Korea, and Thailand) native evergreens. Below is our 23 year old plant of Osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus. I
Sweet Tea Olive Season Read More »
After peak hydrangea season is long in the rear view mirror, the Japanese/Taiwanese Hydrangea involucrata erupts in flower. For us, that means August and September in NC. The main clone on the market (pictured below) is Hydrangea involucrata ‘Wim Rutten’, from Dutch plant breeder, Catherine Rutten. Our garden specimen is now just over six years
High on Late-summer Hydrangeas Read More »
Flowering this week in the garden is the little-known, Hydrangea hypoglauca. Hydrangea taxonomy has been in a bit of flux, especially within the group of species that comprise the Hydrangea heteromalla complex. One of the taxonomic segregates from that group is Hydrangea hypoglauca, which hails from forested mountains between 600 and 12,000′ elevation in the
We’ve been trialing two very exciting new groundcovers, a spreading, gold-foliaged mondo grass (Ophiopogon), and a gold-foliage monkey grass (Liriope). Both are currently scheduled to be 2026 Plant Delights releases. While both plants will tolerate light shade, they are much more vigorous, and maintain their foliage color better in half day sun. Liriope minor ‘Gotemba
Monkeying Around with Gold Read More »
