Fragrant Flowers

Hymenocallis durangoensis

Durango Kid

The North American (Durango, Mexico) native, Hymenocallis durangoensis, has been absolutely spectacular this month in the garden, where we grow it in full sun, in average to moist soils. Sadly, this spider lily never sells very well, so we keep having to dump our surplus nursery stock at years end. We’re just stubborn enough to

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Magnolia crassipes 'Purple Queen'

A Purple Queen in the Garden

Putting on an incredible show now is one of my favorite evergreen magnolias, Magnolia crassipes ‘Purple Queen’. This amazing selection comes from legendary Japanese nurseryman, Akari Shibimichi. Our four year-old plant is now 7′ tall x 7′ wide. Both the floral show and delicious fragrance are outstanding. Magnolia crassipes is the purple-flowering counterpart to the

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Narcissus 'New Charm'

New Charm

Looking great in the early March garden is the miniature Narcissus ‘New Charm’. This Narcissus cantabricus hybrid was bred by Oregon’s Walter Blom, and released in 2005. We love the miniature daffodils that don’t require us to deal with the masses of unsightly foliage that persists long after flowering.

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Cleyera japonica 'Sweet Dreams'

Clearing up Cleyera

We’ve grown shrubs in the genus, Cleyera for well over three decades, and still find them virtually underknown, underappreciated…and usually misnamed. 99% of the plants in the trade as Cleyera, are actually an allied genus, Ternstroemia. If that wasn’t confusing enough, Cleyera was long considered a Camellia relative, in the same family, Theaceae. Having grown

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Mahonia 'Marvel'

A Mahonia on which to Marvel

Our specimen of Mahonia ‘Marvel’ is in full flower today. This curious plant from Georgia’s Ozzie Johnson is reportedly a seedling of Mahonia x media ‘Charity’, and while it shares the flower characteristics of the parent, I’m not sure what odd mutation occurred to remove all of the leaf spines. We think this is a

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