As gardeners, we seem to often want what we can’t have, and that’s certainly the case for us, and spruces of the genus, Picea. A hot, humid, sandy loam tobacco field in coastal North Carolina isn’t exactly ground zero for growing a lot of spruces well. We’ve learned quite a bit via trial and error
Sprucing up the Winter Garden Read More »
Our patches of the evergreen conifer, Microbiota decussata ‘Prides’ have switched from their summer coats of green to their winter coats of bronze. The same occurs on a number of plants in the genus Thuja, Cryptomeria, and Juniperus. I have a few folks each year ask how to keep conifers from going bronze in winter,
Chromoplasticity – It could be happening in Your Garden Read More »
We love planting garden combinations that cause visitors to have a moment of cognitive dissonance. One of those moments in the garden currently is illustrated in the combination of Picea orientalis with Sabal ‘DeFuniak’. I remember a visitor once commenting that they didn’t like it that we had planted cactus with ferns, since they found
Hot and Cold Detente Read More »
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 walking around the garden recently, we spied a bright gold sport on a patch of Juniperus conferta ‘Sunsplash’, that had sent out several all gold branches. Sports are fairly common on an array of garden plants, but few ever wind up having any garden or commercial value. We like the brightness of the gold,
We’re enjoying the annual fruit drop on our native Ginkgo this month. Word on the streets is to never plant a seed grown ginkgo, since you could get a female tree, which according to articles, smell worse than an aging garbage dump. As is so often the case, there is a lot of exaggeration going
Do you remember Ginkgos Read More »
Our recent intense rains, 7″ in four days, made this garden spider web show up beautifully in front of our coning Keteleeria davidiana. We have some cones most years, but this year there are almost as many cones as their are needles.
Conehead Hair Net Read More »
As a young gardener, the chance of growing the high elevation North American native quaking aspen in NC was always nothing more than a random thought that kept popping in my mind, being quickly dismissed, until we spotted one a few years ago at South Carolina’s Spartanburg Community College Garden. Garden director, Dr. Kevin Parris,
Not Quaking from the Heat – Aspens in NC? Read More »
Our bank of false yew, Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Brooklyn Gardens’ is ready to release its pollen, aka: conifer sperm. Conifers grew up before flowering plants were invented, so they can’t rely on insects like bees and butterflies to assist them with sex. In the old days, plants depended on wind to assist with sex, so surviving
Yew Sperm, Coming Soon Read More »
We’ve long lusted to grow the US West Coast native, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, but our summer rains cause root disease that take them out at a far too young age. Several years ago, I was thrilled to find a West Coast wholesaler who was grafting these on a disease resistant Lawson cypress root stock. Adhering to
Longing for Lawsons Read More »
