Looking lovely in the garden now is the Purple Velvet Bean vine, Mucuna cyclocarpa. This lowland native to Southeastern China makes a superb deciduous vine that flowers non-stop from mid-summer until fall. To us, the bizarre fleshy flower clusters look like those characters from the old Fruit of the Loom commercials. Interestingly, we must not
Purple Velvet Bean Read More »
Flowering well in the late summer at JLBG is the florally magnificent banana, Musa ornata. Native to Myanmar, Northern India, and surrounding regions, it isn’t typically winter hardy in Zone 7b. This is Hayes Jackson’s selection, Musa ornata ‘Anniston’, which sailed through last winters 11 degrees F.
On my very short commute home, we’ve designed beds along the way that help relieve the stresses of the day. One of my favorite beds in summer is this combination of Allium ‘Millenium’, Sinningia tubiflora (white), Verbena bonariensis, and Pervoskia atriplicifolia. Both the sinningia and the verbena can be a bit aggressive in some areas
Lavender and White Read More »
No garden is complete without at least one rudbeckia. Looking good in the garden now is the lovely Rudbeckia umbrosa. Formerly recognized as a a subspecies of the more commonly grown Rudbeckia fulgida, this is a very different plant that’s taller, and with very hairy foliage. For us, this moist woodland native tops out between
Umbrage to Umbrosa Read More »
One of the many hardy sinningias that has really impressed us during the last few years is Sinningia ‘Amethyst Tears’. Here is our garden clump, flowering its head off in the middle of August. You’ve probably never heard of this, since it’s an unintroduced Yucca Do selection from plantsman Wade Roitsch.
Crying Amethyst Tears Read More »
The variegated hardy hibiscus, H. ‘Summer Carnival’ has looked outstanding all summer. This Hans Hansen creation has both variegated leaves and flower buds. We’ve had these in the garden since 2017, and they continue to excel. Moist to wet soils and full sun are ideal, but they handle short term drought just fine. Hardiness is
Over a decade ago I decided to try planting the native Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) in the maritime grassland exhibit at the South Carolina Botanical Garden. To my amazement, this species that I knew of from the fringes of saltmarsh in the Lowcountry thrived in both wet and dry soils of the upper Piedmont of South
Ramble On — A Native Groundcover with Year-round Interest and a Pollinator Smorgasbord Read More »
We’ve tried a number of Caryopteris x clandonensis cultivars over the years, and most fail to survive more than one of our hot, humid summers. One recent exception that surpassed all of our expectations is the amazing Caryopteris ‘Gold Crest’. Below is a mid-July image from the garden. From the incredibly fragrant foliage to the
Gold Crest…A Crowning Achievement Read More »
With what seems to be an endless array of Hydrangea paniculata cultivars entering the market, July has turned the garden into a snow white scene. The Asian Hydrangea paniculata was first published as a new species in 1829, but was not grown in the Americas until Arnold Arboretum director, Charles Sargent brought back seed from
The Season of White Read More »
A few years ago, we propagated and offered what we think is a really cool native perennial, closely related to baptisia, Orbexilum psoralioides. That experiment was a flame out, as sales were some of the worst we’ve ever experienced. We dumped most of the crop, but planted several in the garden, where we continue to
Baptisia’s Little Cousin – Shunned by the Masses Read More »
