evergreen

Yucca sp. nov. 'Southern Twist'

The Mystery Soapwort

Below is our clump of Yucca ‘Southern Twist’ in the garden this month. This is a plant we discovered in 2011, near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and have also found as far south as the Florida panhandle. The only problem is that this plant doesn’t technically exist, according to the botanical literature. It’s possible that it has

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Century of Sunbeams

Several years ago, one of our agave seedlings from a cross of Agave lophantha x Agave x pseudoferox, germinated with golden foliage. As it grew, it showed a seasonal color change from having green leaves in summer and fall, but brightening to gold in winter. Although, we’ve named this Agave x loferox ‘Sunbeam’, we’re still

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Opuntia messacanta ssp. lata in winter

Sickly Prickly

While summer visitors to JLBG often admire our extensive collection of Opuntia (prickly pear), few folks rave about them during the winter months. That’s because most prickly pears have a less attractive phase during cold weather. For a plant that’s composed of mostly water, opuntias learned to survive winter, by dramatically reducing the water content

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Yucca rostrata 'Sapphire Skies'

The Rising Sapphire Skies

Our specimen of the North American native, Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’ is looking quite lovely in the January garden. This is one of the tallest of the hardy blue-foliage soapworts, thriving well into Zone 6, and south through Zone 9. This clump is sixteen years old this year, so it’s officially entering adulthood, when growth

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Reineckia carnea

Searching for a better PR Agent

Reineckea carnea is a plant in need to better PR firm. Despite offering this several times, sales are always miserable, while its cousins, liriope and ophiopogon are readily accepted into both home and public gardens. I think reineckeas are rather amazing evergreens, looking great as you can see below, as we move toward mid-January. Not

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Chamaerops humilis var. argentea

Hard to top a Chamaerops

We love our Mediterranean blue fan palms! While there are several blue foliaged palms for gardeners in tropical climates, Chamaerops (Kam her hops) humilis var. argentea is the only one we’ve found reliable in our Zone 7b/8a garden. Mediterranean blue fan palm hails from high elevations in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where it eventually

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Sarcocca hookeriana var. humilis 'Sarsid1'

Christmas boxes through the Garden

While most gardeners are quite familiar with boxwoods of the genus, Buxus, far less are familiar with their close cousins, sweet box of the genus Sarcococca. Sarcococca is a small genus of only 15 species of small woody evergreen shrubs, ranging from the Western Himalayas to Thailand, with one long lost family member that resides

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Ruscus aculeatus 'Elizabeth Lawrence'

Festively Fashionable in the Woodland

One of the most festively fashionable plants in the garden during the winter holiday season is undoubtedly, Ruscus aculeatus ‘Elizabeth Lawrence’. This amazing evergreen perennial has a wide native range through Southern Europe and into Asia, but in the wild, most plant are either male or female. They also range naturally in height from 2′

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Chamaecyparis thyoides var. henryae 'Red Velvet'

The Atlantic White Cedar Mystery

Most gardeners know the genus, Chamaecyparis (false cypress) only through the Asian members other genus. Chamaecyparis obtusa (Hinoki Cypress), and Chamaecyparis pisifera (Sawara Cypress), both of which are commonly grown landscape staples. All the time, our native Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic White Cedar) remains in horticultural obscurity. Boat enthusiasts, and cedar shingle makers both value these

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Olea europaea 'Arbequina'

The Color of Olive

For years, I assumed olives would not be winter hardy in our formerly Zone 7b garden, but after killing several clones in our attempts to confirm this, we finally found success in 2006 with the self-fertile, Olea ‘Arbequina’. The name Arbequina, comes from the Spanish village Arbeca, where this hardy olive cultivar originated in the

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