A happy combination near the crevice garden includes Sedum ‘Pride and Joy’, Dalea bicolor var. argyraea, a hellebore, and an Iris. The challenge of gardening in drifts of one is to used textures and forms to make aesthetic combinations. The easy-to-grow, southwest native dalea allows for some great combinations in a region where silver leaf
Falling for Fun Combinations Read More »
One of many incredible plants discovered by our garden staff, is an amazing selection of the native (NC to Arkansas and south to Florida) Hymenocallis occidentalis var. occidentalis, found by Jeremy Schmidt on a 2012 botanizing trip through Alabama. We’ve always loved this August-flowered spider lily, but the extraordinary floriferous nature of this discovery outshines
The Queen of Flowers Read More »
For small gardens, we’ve long advocated a design philosophy of planting in drifts of one. Here’s a great portrait from the spring garden that demonstrated our philosophy, by combining Asarum nobilissimum, Impatiens omeiana, Trillium flexipes, Woodsia obtusa, and Aucuba japonica ‘Limbata’ in a way that uses textures, colors, and forms to make a pleasing vignette.
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 »
