One of the first shrubs we planted at JLBG in the late 1980s was the giant snowball bush, Viburnum macrocephalum sterile form. Today, this amazing selection of the Chinese native species, tops out at 25′ tall. In April each year, it puts on a truly indescribable show, as you can see from our new April
Giant Spring Snowballs Read More »
Looking quite dazzling in mid-April is our specimen of the Chinese fringe tree, Chionanthus retusus ‘China Snow’. The incredible masses of white flowers perfume quite an area during the flowering period. This is a particularly heavy-flowering selection from the late nurseryman, Don Shadow. Mature size is 30′ tall x 30′ wide, with a winter hardiness
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 »
We were walking by our specimen of Chinese redbud (Cercis chinensis ‘Avondale’) recently, and couldn’t get over the number of feeding bees, including both honeybees, as well as our native bees. Chinese redbuds have far more flowers than our native redbuds, so can feed more pollinators, although we certainly love both. It’s good that the
Most folks only know daphnes that retain evergreen foliage, but one of our favorite exceptions is the Chinese native, Daphne genkwa, which happens to be in full flower at JLBG this week. This floriferous species needs moist, but well-drained soils, unlike so many of its European counterparts. Unlike the commonly grown, Daphne odora, it has
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A plant that always draws the interest of garden visitors is our ever-expanding collection of non-running bamboos. One that I get to admire daily from my second floor office window is the Chinese (Sichuan) native, Fargesia robusta. Bamboo taxonomy is at best difficult, since most species only flower once every 100 years. Consequently, Fargesia robusta
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 »
Flowering here in mid-to-late February is the demure Coptis omeiensis. This dwarf, evergreen woodland perennial, with fern-like foliage, is from the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Henan, and is in full blazing glory. In the wild, it grows in rock cracks at elevation of 3,000′ to 6,000′ feet, but it’s been quite happy in the
Someone call a Cop-tis Read More »
Looking wonderful in the garden in mid-February is Aspidistra retusa ‘Nanjing Green’. This little-known cast iron plant species was shared with us in 2000, by the late plantsman, Greg Speichert. The specific epithet “retusa” is a Latin word meaning blunt (adj.), and not blunt (noun), despite it also being pretty smoking hot. We like the
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Nothing signals that winter in trending toward spring in our garden more than the seriously cute, Amana anhuiensis. Most folks have probably never heard of this miniature bulb, since it was only published in 2013. The genus itself, was first published in 1867 as an Orithyia, before becoming a tulip a few years later, and
