I first met Juniperus chinensis ‘Aurea’ at the JC Raulston Arboretum in 2018, grown from cuttings taken at Richmond, Virginia’s Maymont Garden. We struggled to find a cultivar name, toying first with naming it Juniperus ‘Maymont Gold’. It wasn’t until horticultural cultivar historian, Larry Hatch, of Cultivar.org, told us that this is the true Juniperus
This combination recently caught our eye, where we planted the variegated tiger lily, Lilium lancifolium ‘Fukurin Fu’ in the midst of Clematis ‘Rain Dance’.
Guilding the Lily Read More »
As we prepare for the upcoming NFL season, we thought we’d offer a horticultural football analogy with this native plant combination of two evergreens, Heuchera ‘Grande Amethyst’ and Juniperus horizontalis ‘Copper Harbor’. Here, in this Minnesota Vikings color theme, the coral bell (heuchera) is the quarterback, carrying the color, and first drawing your eye. The
Vikings Quarterback-Receiver Combo Read More »
We love planting garden combinations that cause visitors to have a moment of cognitive dissonance. One of those moments in the garden currently is illustrated in the combination of Picea orientalis with Sabal ‘DeFuniak’. I remember a visitor once commenting that they didn’t like it that we had planted cactus with ferns, since they found
Hot and Cold Detente Read More »
Here’s a view in the garden this week. One of our goals is to teach people how to have a garden that looks good all year, where the climate will allow. The gold conifer in the back is Chamaecyparis ‘Lemon Thread’. In the foreground is Agave ovatifolia and Beschorneria ‘Fire Towers’
One of the program features of the Perennial Plant Association’s annual meetings are a series of industry awards. One of those is the highly competitive Landscape Design Awards, where the countries top landscape architects and designers whose work prominently featured perennials, learn if their designs won. There are several design categories: 1) residential designs under
Last weekend included a quick trip to Marietta, Georgia, to celebrate the 80th birthday of our long-time plant friend, Ozzie Johnson. Ozzie is a life long garden designer and consultant in the Atlanta area, as well as a career volunteer at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Ozzie has traveled extensively through China, Vietnam, and Japan, searching
A Visit to OZ to see the Wizard Read More »
While Tropical Storm Debby was soaking JLBG with 4.3″ of rain, I was off to Connecticut and Rhode Island for a presentation and some nursery/garden visits. It didn’t look like I was going to make it, after one flight cancellation and four rebookings, but thanks to several unexpected moments of good luck, our plane touched
Here’s a shot from JLBG this morning of the gardens in front of our Botanical Gardens and Nursery staff building…so many plants (Cercis, Phlomis, Agave, Yucca, Abies bornmuelleriana, Daphne, Chamaerops humilis var. argentea), so little time.
As the garden awakens Read More »
We were recently blessed to welcome some of the regions’ top designers to visit JLBG. Starting from left to right is Phil Szostak, modernist architect and designer of the Durham Performing Arts Center. Second is retired modernist architect, Frank Harmon, who designed our home, among many of his extensive projects. Next are Sue Nelson and
The Gifts of Design Read More »
