In the hot, humid south, the word Dianthus is jokingly translated as “prepare to die”. As of this spring, we’ve grown 169 different dianthus taxa (different accessions). Of those, most are dead, a few are hanging on, and then a much smaller subset are absolutely thriving. Below are a few images from the spring garden
Looking really lovely in the garden now is Juniperus x pfitzeriana ‘Daub’s Frosted’. This selection of the hybrid between Juniperus sabina and Juniperus chinensis was introduced by Oregon’s Mitsch Nursery in 1987. Our 18″ tall patch has spread to 10′ wide in less than 5 years. All of those trusted on-line sources say it matures
A Little Daub will do you Read More »
The Spanish snapdragon, Antirrhinum glutinosum ‘White Hot’ looks great in the garden this month. For us, this is one of the longest-living snapdragon species, provided the soil is well-drained and remains fairly dry. The more typically sold Antirrhinum majus simply doesn’t thrive through our hot, humid summers.
Here’s a golden moment from JLBG this spring. The gold tree in the back is Salix ‘Golden Sunshine’. In the foreground is Juniperus conferta ‘All Gold’. The small tree in the center is Acer palmatum ‘Koto-no-ito’, and the purple foliage shrub is Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Seward’. Garden scenes can be tied together by repeating colors, even
The Garden is Golden Read More »
A couple of years ago, we were thrilled to acquire seed of Euphorbia ‘Rubicund’ from the Hardy Plant Society seed exchange. That little-known clone is a selection from a cross of Euphorbia myrsinites x E. rigida made by Rhode Island’s Issima Nursery. While the clone doesn’t come true from seed, we love our offspring and
Euphorbia Hanky Panky Read More »
Ajuga ‘Cordial Canary’ is one of the new generations of well-behaved bugleweed selections, this from the work of Chris Hansen. It looks pretty amazing for mid-March at JLBG. We love colorful groundcovers that play nice with their surroundings. Zone 4a-9b.
A Tweet from the Cordial Canary Read More »
Sedum palmeri ‘Mendoza’ is looking superb in the garden in late winter. This northern Mexico native is one of our favorite species, flowering far earlier in the year than any of the other sedum species we grow. We had tried Sedum palmeri prior to to growing this clone, and never succeeded in getting it to
Palmer’s Winter-blooming Sedum Read More »
Looking fabulous in the garden now is Veronica umbrosa ‘Georgia Blue’. We’ve grown this amazing groundcover in the garden since 1990, and find it as great now as it was 33 years ago. This superb introduction was originally collected in the wild in Georgia (the country, not the state) by England’s legendary plantsman, Roy Lancaster
Flowering in the garden this week is the fascinating, but little-known Houstonia procumbens. This Southeastern US coastal native (South Carolina west to eastern Louisiana) is a spreading, winter flowering bluet. We collected cuttings in Clay County, Florida in 2003, and this patch has been thriving in our sunny alpine garden since then, forming a 1.5′
Houstonia…we have a great plant Read More »
Juniperus communis is a common landscape juniper with a wide natural distribution…one of the widest of any woody plant in the entire world. In the North American part of its range, it’s widespread throughout the Western US, and across the northern tier of the country all the way to Maine. East of the Mississippi River,
