While all of the pitcher plants in the genus, Sarracenia produce pitchers in spring, some also produce new sets of pitchers in fall. The star of the fall show, with the best autumn pitcher production is the white-topped pitcher, Sarracenia leucophylla, a native to bogs from Georgia west to Mississipppi. Below are a few plants
The Tall Pitchers of Fall Read More »
One of the great surprises in our bog garden is the survival of the North American native, bog bean, aka: Menyanthes trifoliata. This odd monotypic genus (only a single species), hails from cool parts of North America and Europe, and we assumed had little chance of survival in our hot, humid Southeastern climate. That was
We’re enjoying the mid-summer show of grass-leaf Barbara’s buttons, Marshallia graminifolia ‘Georgetown’. We grew this from a Patrick McMillan/Zac Hill seed collection near Georgetown, SC. Marshallia graminifolia is a coastal plain endemic, found from NC to Georgia, where it forms a short basal rosette of narrow, linear foliage, that’s topped with 20″ tall flowers stalks,
Barbara’s Buttons Read More »
I doubt that even most native plant enthusiasts have grown the amazing spring-run spider lily. Hymenocallis rotata hails from only a few counties in north to central Florida, yet has thrived in our garden. The narrow leaves emerge alongside the 18″ tall flower stalk in mid July, which terminates in 2-4, pure white, large, nocturnally
Spring-run Spider Lily Read More »
One of the truly fabulous Southeast natives, that is completely unknown to gardeners, is the amazing Trautvetteria nervata. The genus, Trautvetteria, a member of the Ranunculus family, is already poorly known. Even the comprehensive Kew Gardens database makes a mess of the species list. Trautvetteria nervata, a coastal plain denizen of only a few counties
Trautvetteria – Queen of the Swamp Read More »
Putting on quite a show this week is the native bog orchid, Calopogon tuberosus…aka: grass pink. In the wild, these have a huge native range, from Canada south to Florida. Loving the same growing conditions as sarracenia (pitcher plants), they thrive here in full sun, in a bed of 50% peat/sand. If you have time
Grass Pink Swamp Orchid Read More »
Flowering this week in the garden is one of our more unusual hardy native aroids, Symplocarpus foetidus, aka: skunk cabbage. Although the floral aroma is barely detectable by humans, it does work well enough to draw in flies for pollination. Since skunk cabbage evolved to flower in the winter, often under snow, it learned to
That Cabbage Smells like Skunk Read More »
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 »
Ctenium aromaticum, or toothache grass, is a native ornamental grass, found naturally in acidic moist flood plains and savannahs from Coastal Virginia south to East Texas. This clump former has thrived in our bog garden here at JLBG, producing a tight evergreen 6″ tall x 1′ wide clump, topped, starting in early June with 3′
Toothaches, anyone? Read More »
