Flowering this week in our part shade rock garden, is the amazing, fall-flowered gesneriad, Titanotrichium oldhamii. This is simply an amazing plant that we grown for more than two decades. Several years ago, we were lucky enough to see in the wilds of Taiwan, where it grew from vertical rock walls. Light, but open shade,
Falling for False Gloxinia Read More »
One of our favorite toad lilies, is the dazzling Tricyrtis ohsumiensis ‘Nakatsugawa’, which is looking splendid, now, in the summer garden. This specimen is rarely offered, primarily because it produces so few cuttings. Unlike most toad lilies, that need to flower to be noticed be gardeners, such is not the case with Tricyrtis ‘Nakatsugawa’. When
Toad Lily With a Twist Read More »
If you like botanical oddities, then the cute Camellia parvilimba is just what you’ve been looking for. This miniature species, is tiny, in terms of flowers, leaves, and overall stature. Camellia parvilimba is the victim of a taxonomic tug of war, with many taxonomists classifying it as simply a tiny form of Camellia euryoides, while
Honey, Who Shrunk the Camellia? Read More »
Looking like it’s covered by a dusting of snow is our garden specimen of Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Kaori Hime’. This amazing plant is adorned, starting in early November, with thousands of sweetly scented, small white flowers. In Japan, the word “hime” literally translates to young lady of nobility, such as a princess. In plant names, however,
Tiny Leaves, Tiny Flowers, and a Big Belly Read More »
While fall is the season for garden mums, most folks grow only the fancy hybrids. While we love these which make good perennials, we hope you won’t forget about some of the amazing wild species, especially Chrysanthemum zawadzki. This Eurasian species is a dwarf, reaching only 1′ in height. It was described in 1829 from
One of our favorite fall-flowering trees is the tropical-looking Schefflera delavayi. As a child, I was always enamored with schefflera on our family vacations to Florida, never dreaming it would be possible to grow these “tropicals” in our Raleigh garden. Fast forward 60 years, a number of “hardy” schefflera species in the Arailaceae family have
Delavay’s Schefflera is a now a Heap of Pleureum Read More »
We first posted an image of Hemiboea cavaleriei last year, but wanted to share an update image, now that our clump is more established. What an amazing show for the October and November woodland garden, until a frost arrives. Our plant gets a couple of hours or morning sun, then shade in the afternoon, where
One of the more spectacular genera of fall-flowering plants is the tobacco relative, Brugmansia, in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The genus, Brugmansia, was named in 1805 to honor Sebald Brugmans (1763–1819), a natural history professor at Leiden University, Netherlands. These fragrant flowers are designed to attract pollinators that include large, nocturnal hawkmoths. Below is our clump of
Brugman’s Angel Trumpets Read More »
The wonderful ginger lily, Hedychium ‘Anne Bishop’ is making a stunning show in the mid-October garden with it’s incredible display of huge heads of fragrant orange flowers. We’ve never been able to track down the origin of this cultivar, or the identity of this particular Anne S. Bishop. Not only does this put on a
Anne Bishop is a Late Bloomer Read More »
We’ve been in love with the fall-flowering, woodland Salvia glabrescens for over a decade, but wanted to share photos of a new clone we’ve been trialing from our friends at Issima Nursery. In three years, Salvia glabrescens ‘Dark Heart’ has formed a 2′ tall x 7′ wide clump, that’s in full flower this week (mid-October).
Dark Hearts – a Sage you’d be Wise to Grow Read More »
