Flowering this month in our parking lot dryland garden is the true Eragrostis elliottii. Back in 1999, we introduced a plant under that name, which had been identified as that species by a Florida taxonomist. Well, it turned out to be the South African Eragrostis chloromelas that’s now being sold nationwide as Eragrostis ‘Wind Dancer’.
Elliot’s Eragrostis Read More »
Ever since I first saw Lycopodiella prostrata as a young child, I have been fascinated with this alien-looking oddity. Botanically, these belong to a primitive group of plants known as clubmosses. Every trip to the coast, I seem to wind up with a small piece to try in the garden, and every time, I fail.
Likin’ Lycopodiella Read More »
One of my favorite plants when I strolled through the woods as a young child was resurrection fern, Pleopeltis michauxiana. If the Latin name sounds unfamiliar, it was originally published in 1939 as a member of a different fern genus, Polypodium polypodioides var. michauxiana. It’s natural distribution range is quite large, from West Virginia south
Time to bring back Resurrection Ferns Read More »
The native Lophiola aurea put on a lovely show in the garden this spring. Thanks to Patrick McMillan for introducing me to this little-grown, lowland bog endemic that has a bizarrely scattered range in a few coastal sites from Nova Scotia south to Florida. We have ours growing with pitcher plants, where it has thrived.
In flower this week is Fothergilla milleri ‘Redneck Nation’. Most people have probably never heard of Fothergilla milleri, since it was just described as a new species in 2020. When a DNA analysis of the genus was completed, it showed several diploid populations previously thought to be Fothergilla gardenii were actually a new, undescribed species.
We’ve grown the native loblolly bay, Gordonia lasianthus for several decades, but I’d never stumbled on one as large as the one we spotted last week while botanizing in coastal southeastern North Carolina. The specimen we ran across has a 26″ diameter and a height of 70′, which although huge, turned out to be slightly
Chamaecyparis ‘Red Velvet’ is a juvenile-leaved selection of our native white cedar, Chamaecyparis thyoides, discovered and introduced by Florida’s Blue River Nursery. This recent introduction looks similar to the 1960s introduction, Chamaecyparis ‘Rubicon’, except that ‘Rubicon’ dies in the garden on a bad day, and on a good day looks like death would help it.
Red Velvet White Cedar Read More »
We wanted to create a buffet for local butterflies by our patio, and a mass planting of Eupatorium purpureum ‘Little Red’ did just the trick. Not bad for a highway ditch native.
Cooking up a Joe-Pye Read More »
We just love the East Coast native Chamaelirium luteum…aka: fairy wands. The male forms have the largest, most showy flowers, as seen here at JLBG this week. A lover of average/moist shade, it is long been used medicinally for female reproductive issues.
Fairy Wands Lighting up the Garden Read More »
