Striking Spring Gold
Looking quite golden this week is this combination of Trillium discolor, surrounded by a patch of Chrysogonum repens…two great perennials, that both happen to be Southeastern US natives.
Striking Spring Gold Read More »
A Fluttering of Fairy Wings
We were late wading into the epimedium craze, and without the assistance of epimedium guru, Darrell Probst, still might not have done so. Up until the mid 2000s, we had avoided epimediums, due to both their confusing taxonomy as well as the lack of many showy garden forms. Early introductions such as Epimedium x rubrum,
A Fluttering of Fairy Wings Read More »
Ginger is ready for sex
Winter is a a great season for wild gingers, since this is the peak flowering season for many species. The heaviest flowering of all species is the Chinese Asarum ichangense. Native plant enthusiasts know these as Hexastylis, even though DNA studies continue to show that this old genus is nothing more than a North American
Ginger is ready for sex Read More »
Loving Winter
Here’s a garden image this week with two Southeast US native spring ephemerals, both of which emerge in the middle of winter and are dormant by summer. The Trillium underwoodii is surrounded by a patch of Cardamine bulbosa ‘Fairy Lights’. Both should be in full flower in another 3-4 weeks. How much is going on
Decorate the Woodland with Green Ribbons
Looking lovely in the mid-January winter garden is the fern, Neolepisorus fortunei ‘Green Ribbons’. This fascinating evergreen fern looks nothing like what most gardeners are familiar with, when they think ferns. Neolepisorus is one of several genera of ferns, known as ribbon ferns. These ferns grow epiphytically (on trees) and lithophytically (on rocks), mostly in
Decorate the Woodland with Green Ribbons Read More »
Is Ginger Cold?
Starting off the new year is our flowering clump of the Taiwanese endemic wild ginger, Asarum hypogynum. The huge, glossy, evergreen patterned foliage is enough reason to grow this gem, but through most of the winter, the incredible floral display silently sits virtually unnoticed by most human visitors. JLBG currently houses one of the largest
Falling for Spikemoss
We were recently admiring the lovely russet fall coloration of a mat of Selaginella uncinata. This lovely woodland groundcover from Central China and south into Vietnam, has a lovely metallic blue hue during the growing season, but we also like this change to the semi-evergreen foliage in fall. This is such a great, well-behaved garden
Falling for Spikemoss Read More »
That Won’t Grow Here
We love it when people tell us that certain plants won’t grow in our climate. As gardening contrarians, we thrive on proving gardening experts wrong. Below is a great example–our combination of Globularia repens (Spain, Italy) and Acantholimon halophilum (Central Turkey) thriving in the dryland crevice garden. Both have sailed through out rainy, humid, hot
That Won’t Grow Here Read More »
Siberian Summer
Looking great in the garden despite our high temperatures is the Siberian native, Microbiota decussata. While the species typically struggles in our climate, the cultivar ‘Prides’ has been outstanding. Microbiota is essentially a groundcover juniper replacement for shade. For us, it matures with a 4′ wide spread, after 10 years. We have found that it
Laurentia Skirt
We love the way Laurentia fluvitalis forms a flowery skirt around the base of Tricyrtis lasiocarpa. This combination has thrived for years in a part sun garden location, where it receives full sun for 3-4 hours daily. The soil moisture is average to dry.