Most of the elephant ears we now grow in the garden are the clumping forms, since the fast runners simply outgrow their space too quickly, on the way to their goal of world domination. One running cultivar we can’t part with is Colocasia esculenta ‘Lemonade’. While it does spread, it doesn’t do so anything like
Drinking in the Lemonade Read More »
We love our collection of camellias, but are aware that most people think of them primarily for their flowers. We think the foliage is almost as amazing, when the plants are well grown. There are quite a few with variegated foliage, which give added value to the garden when the plants aren’t in flower. One
For small gardens, we’ve long advocated a design philosophy of planting in drifts of one. Here’s a great portrait from the spring garden that demonstrated our philosophy, by combining Asarum nobilissimum, Impatiens omeiana, Trillium flexipes, Woodsia obtusa, and Aucuba japonica ‘Limbata’ in a way that uses textures, colors, and forms to make a pleasing vignette.
As we prepare for the upcoming NFL season, we thought we’d offer a horticultural football analogy with this native plant combination of two evergreens, Heuchera ‘Grande Amethyst’ and Juniperus horizontalis ‘Copper Harbor’. Here, in this Minnesota Vikings color theme, the coral bell (heuchera) is the quarterback, carrying the color, and first drawing your eye. The
Vikings Quarterback-Receiver Combo Read More »
Early April is peak time at JLBG for Ajuga flowering, commonly known as bugleweed. We think these amazing new cultivars are a great solution to reducing the need for mulch in sun to part sun landscaped areas. Some of the new colored leaf cultivars are even more spectacular when in flower…below are a few.
Trumpeting Bugleweed Read More »
Flowering this week are an array of winter flowering trout lilies of the genus Erythronium, a plant I’ve admired since being a young child, and seeing it grow naturally near our Raleigh, NC home. Erythronium is a genus of only 33 species, spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. While many of the cold climate species won’t
Fishing for Trout Lilies Read More »
I have long been enamored with golden foliage plants, especially pines of the genus, Pinus. We’ve trialed quite a few of species with gold selections, but the only one that has survived in our hot, humid summers is the Japanese Red Pine, Pinus densiflorus ‘Ogon-aka-matsu’, which is commonly sold as ‘Aurea’. Our garden specimen is
Here’s a view in the garden this week. One of our goals is to teach people how to have a garden that looks good all year, where the climate will allow. The gold conifer in the back is Chamaecyparis ‘Lemon Thread’. In the foreground is Agave ovatifolia and Beschorneria ‘Fire Towers’
While Tropical Storm Debby was soaking JLBG with 4.3″ of rain, I was off to Connecticut and Rhode Island for a presentation and some nursery/garden visits. It didn’t look like I was going to make it, after one flight cancellation and four rebookings, but thanks to several unexpected moments of good luck, our plane touched
Brian William’s introduction of Colocasia ‘Pharoah’s Mask‘ is looking particularly lovely now in the garden. A sunny, slight to moist site, with plenty of nutrition are the keys to success.
Mask of the Pharoah Read More »
