In flower this week is one of the most amazing fall-flowering sages we grow, Salvia ‘Phyllis Fancy’. This Salvia leucantha hybrid is far more winter hardy than it’s parent. Below is our two decade old clump, that looks amazing in October. The mature height and spread are 7′ tall, so be sure to allow enough
Is Phyllis Fancy? Read More »
Flowering now in a shaded part of the crevice garden is the lovely Cunila origanoides (American Dittany). Of the 20 species in the genus of shrub mints, all from the Americas, this is the only one with a US distribution, being found from in a wide band from New York west to Texas. These are
Eurybia hemispherica ‘Baby Blues’ (southern prairie aster), formerly known as Aster hemispherica, is a little-grown South Central US (Kansas south to Florida) native aster that’s thrived in our full sun garden since 2011. This Van der Giessen Nursery collection of this little-known mesic (moderately moist) to dryland species hails from the Black Belt region of
The Aster hemisphere Read More »
We just love plants that flower in a true shade of blue, and there aren’t many, especially during the summer months. There are plenty of plants that flower horticulturally blue, which to those who aren’t color blind or prone to exaggeration, are actually purple. Ceratostigma willmottianum is one of those perennials we simply wouldn’t garden
I’ll admit that we enjoy busting horticultural myths, and one of our latest busts is that alpine gentians can’t be grown in the hot, humid south. Over the last few years, we’ve grown and planted several forms of the alpine native Gentiana angustifolia and Gentiana acaulis. We’ll, below is a recent photo from the garden,
Where Gentian’s fear to tread Read More »
In flower this week at JLBG is the little-known, Iris speculatrix, known as Hong Kong Iris. Iris are one our specialty collections and this small, evergreen species from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, tops out at a mere 1′ tall. The specific epithet (second part of the Latin name) means “to observe”. It is related
Speculation about Iris Read More »
Trillium maculatum makes a lovely contrast in the midst of this clump of Polemonium reptans ‘Blount Blues’ this spring…two wonderful Southeastern natives.
Splatter in a Jacob’s Ladder Read More »
We’ve played around with the mostly tender, African Iris relative of the genus Babiana for years. So far, we’ve tried 9 of the 93 species of Baboon flower with little success. The one that has survived in the crevice garden for five years is Babiana rubrocyanea, of which Doug caught this beautiful image last week.
Monkeying around with Baboon Flower Read More »
One of the great groundcovers for small spaces is the Asian (SE China, Korea, and Japan) native, Mazus miquelii. For us, this 1-2″ tall, stunning groundcover bursts forth in flower, starting for us in mid-March. Its soil preference is for average to moist growing conditions. Recent taxonomic work has shown all material known commercially as
Messin’ with Mazus Read More »
Our plant of Arp rosemary is looking quite spectacular this time of year. This seven year-old plant is now 7′ tall x 11′ wide. This is a lovely plant, but not one for a small location. It was discovered by the late Texas plantswoman and herb specialist, Madeline Hill, in the town of Arp, Texas.
