Looking particularly phallic in the garden is our twelve year old specimen of Carpinus betulus ‘Columnaris Nana’ This slow growing, dwarf selection of European hornbeam eventually matures with great age at 22′ tall, so our 6′ tall plant still has a ways to go. We really like these as a garden feature where a non-pruned
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
We’ve long admired the weeping elm at the JC Raulston Arboretum, and the specimen at JLBG (below) was rooted as a cutting in 2018 from their plant, which has long been labeled Ulmus minor var. minor ‘Pendula’. When we starting digging deeper on its background, we became even more confused. First, the plant is not
Crying over Weeping Elms Read More »
I just snapped this photo of the amazing Ulmus parvifolia ‘Golden Rey’ last week, looking absolutely fabulous. We wish it didn’t seed around so much, as we really love everything else about this 1989 introduction from Oklahoman, Bruce Rey.
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 »
On October 17, JLBG is excited to welcome the International Oak Society as part of their seven-day tour of the Carolinas. If you have an Oak fetish, these are your people. The event follows the International Oak Symposium in Knoxville, Tennessee from October 7-10. You’d hope that Raleigh, as the City of Oaks, would have
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 »
Flowering now at JLBG is the handsome Jack tree, Sinojackia xylocarpa ‘La Grima’. Sinojackia, named after the late Arnold Arboretum staffer with three first names, John George Jack, is a Chinese native that is quite rare in the wild. In cultivation, this styrax relative matures at a compact 20′ tall. The cultivar ‘La Grima’ is
You don’t know Jack Read More »
Jeremy Schmidt’s amazing collection of Aesculus sylvatica, that he named ‘Sylvan Glow’ is looking quite spectacular in the early spring garden. The new growth emerges a screaming coral pink. Now four years old, it’s finally approaching 3′ tall. We’ve taken in few cuttings this spring, in the hopes we can get this to root, so
One of our most spectacular winter-flowering trees is the Chinese sassafras. Sassafras tzumu (pronounced Zoomo). It can eventually reach 100′ tall in the wild, but we rarely see this exceed 35′ in cultivation. The clusters of bright yellow flowers adorn the plant, starting for us in mid-February, providing a welcome feast for honeybees when the
