We wanted to remind you of a couple of immenent deadlines. The first is our on-site class this Saturday at PDN/JLBG, about Understanding Soils in the Garden, from 10-noon. This annual class for the last 30 years, is chance to take a deep dive into understanding the importance of garden soils, and how to manage
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We’ve previously mentioned that we are re-starting or renowned One More Block Tours, that we paused in the mid-1990s, due to starting the nursery. Our initial idea was to provide unique botanical/horticultural travel opportunities to visit exceptional nurseries, gardens, and natural areas. This new version of the OMB tours, which will also serve as a
One More Block Tours returns…Let the Travel Begin Read More »
If you’re tired of failing with those short-lived European eryngiums that look so good in gardening magazines, look no further. Looking absolutely dazzling for the last few weeks is the extraordinary Southeast (SC to Florida) native perennial, Eryngium ravenelii. This amazing plant, which is still virtually unknown in gardens, is found naturally in flooded ditches
I have long enjoyed botanizing in the wire grass/pine, fire habitats, found throughout the Southeastern US coastal plain. One of the namesake plants in these eco regions is wire grass, belonging to the genus, Aristida, of which there are 37 native species in the genus. Those in the Southeast US coastal plain were previously considered
Wised up about Wire Grass 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,
Ablaze now in our well-drained, gravel-infused, dryland garden is the amazing Calylophus berlandieri ssp. pinifolius ‘Fugitive’. This Patrick’s McMillan superb collection of the US native (Missouri west to New Mexico) sundrop from Kimble County, Texas. The 1′ tall x 2.5′ wide patches are clothed with short and extremely narrow, fleshy green leaves, and topped with
Consider Housing a Fugitive in Your Garden Read More »
I’ve always loved the North American native Indian grass, Sorghastrun nutans, but found the commercially available clones and seed strains to be poor performers in our heat and humidity. For years, I kept my eyes open for a better selection, and finally on a 2018 visit to the SC Botanic Garden, I spotted an amazing,
In 2021, Patrick McMillan brought us seed of a desert prairie grass that he’d seen on an expedition to West Texas at elevations of over 8,000′. Below is the photo Patrick shared of Elionurus barbiculmis in the wild. Although interesting, it’s doesn’t seem overly ornamental. We grew out a number of seedlings and planted them
In full flower now is Patrick’s selection of the native Helianthus angustifolius from Berkeley County, SC. This widespread wetland, often shaded species can be found from New Jersey to Texas. As is the case for most species, each population varies in one or more traits. Most Helianthus angustifolius usually reaches 5′ in height, but this
