Is anyone other than us growing, the Japanese woodland perennial, Ainsliaea cordifolia? This odd member of the aster family has strikingly patterned foliage, but for us, has been painfully slow to grow. The plant below is all we have after 18 years of cultivation of a plant we purchased originally from Barry Yinger’s Asiatica Nursery.
Who Knows Ainsliaea Read More »
Almost jumping out of the ground in early April (NC) is the heat-tolerant Ligularia japonica ‘Chinese Dragon’. This amazing, clumping perennial is one of a small number of the genus that will thrive in our summers. These grow best in regular to slightly moist soils, where they prefer light open shade or a few hours
The Dragon Awakens Read More »
Flowering for the last month is the amazing, winter-flowering Urophysa henryi. Formerly an Isopyrum, this rare Chinese endemic in the Ranunculaceae family, has thrived for over five years in our rock garden. Now that we finally have some spare seedlings, thanks to ours self-pollinating last year, we’ll be trying this around the garden to see
Urophysa…URO Star Read More »
Our oldest patch of Adonis amurensis ‘Fukujukai’ is now 18 years old and looking lovely in the winter garden this week. This a cold climate plant from The Russian Far East, Korea, and into Northern Japan, so it generally doesn’t love the hot, humid south, but this is one of a few clones that have
Astonishing Adonis in the Garden Read More »
We’ve recently written about the running tongue ferns, Pyrrosia lingua, but wanted to delve deeper into those winter hardy Pyrrosia species which, instead, form tight clumps. The two most prevalent clumping species in cultivation are Pyrrosia hastata and Pyrrosia polydactyla. Unfortunately, the two species are thoroughly mixed in the trade, most likely because they came
We love the winter color forms of the fascinating spikemoss, Selaginella tamariscina. This Asian (China, Japan, Korea, Russia, India, Taiwan, Thailand, and Philipines) native naturally has solid green foliage, but through the centuries, Japanese gardeners have made countless selections with colored foliage. I’m particularly fond of Selaginella ‘Golden Sprite’ (below). In growth, these make very
One of the great plants for winter gardens are the sacred lilies of Japan, of the genus Rohdea. Our mass of Rohdea japonica ‘Go Dai Takane’ is looking fabulous in January. Rohdeas do not spread, so these are planted from individual divisions, from a single original clump. Going from a single specimen to a mass
Where we’re going, we need Rohdeas Read More »
Looking great new in the woodland garden now is the evergreen Selaginella braunii. Native to ten provinces in Southern China, this evergreen spikemoss can either grow in the ground (terrestrial), or as an epilith (on rocks), but always as a xerophyte (adapted to the driest of conditions), and always below 5,500′ elevation. The plants slowly
Braun’s Spikemoss Read More »
While many woodland ferns go dormant in fall, there are actually quite a few that remain evergreen through the winter months. One of our favorites is the compact Asian (China, Japan, Korea) native, Dryopteris uniformis ‘Cristata’, with each pinnae ending in a ruffled petticoat. Below is our 20″ tall x 2′ wide clump in early
Winter Petticoats Read More »
When many folks get together for the holidays, their families are so large, finding a place to house and feed them becomes problematic. Such is not the case for Sarcandra glabra, or for that matter, any of the plants in the Chloranthaceae family. Not only is the family itself quite small and quite old…prehistoric, in
Sarcandra – Part of a Small Family Gathering Read More »
