Looking absolutely elegant in a crevice garden seep is the native Carex echinata. Although star sedge is quite common from Maine to Minnesota, it’s quite rare in NC. This is seed grown from a population in the mountainous Alleghany County, NC, although it’s thriving in our coastal plain garden. In the wild, this clump former
A Star Sedge is Born Read More »
In flower now in our crevice garden is the amazing Puya alpestris, a plant better known by its common name of sapphire tower. This native bromeliad to the Chilean Andes south of Santiago, is a plant we really shouldn’t be able to grow, yet here it is in flower. This is growing at the south
Puya – The Magic of Amethyst Read More »
After a winter where our temperatures drop below 15 degrees F, all the foliage on our cycad fry. We wait until 1 month before last frost (around March 15) to remove the old foliage, which you can see in the photo below. One month later, on April 15, the new fronds are emerging. A month
It’s Aliiive! Cycas Rebirth Read More »
I failed for decades to keep the European gas plant, Dictamnus albus alive in our heat and humidity. Despite these mounting failures, I keep trying new genetics as they become available. Finally, this month, we have met with our first success with our first gas plant flowering. Although gas plant looks superficially nothing like its
Gaslighting in the Garden Read More »
Several years ago, we grew seed of Dianthus anatolicus, native from Tibet to Turkey, and while all were interesting and deliciously fragrant, one, which we named Dianthus ‘Lunatic Fringe’ stood out from the rest for its exceptional floral show, and heat/humidity tolerance. Our original plant, pictured below, is now almost five years old and still
I’m just back from a day trip to the coastal Wilmington region of NC, with camellia guru, Mike Chelednik (aka Mike See), and Garden Treasures plant breeder, Jason Burris. We made several stops, but the highlight was a return to the New Hanover County Arboretum, where the County Extension Office is headquartered. I’ve visited here
We had so many century plants flower last year, we didn’t bother gathering all of the seed. In our parking lot plantings, one particular form of Agave x loferox (lophantha x pseudoferox) dropped seed throughout the bed. By fall, we noticed small agaves coming up where the seed had fallen. In 39 years of growing
Naturalizing Agaves Read More »
I have long been enamored with golden foliage plants, especially pines of the genus, Pinus. We’ve trialed quite a few of species with gold selections, but the only one that has survived in our hot, humid summers is the Japanese Red Pine, Pinus densiflorus ‘Ogon-aka-matsu’, which is commonly sold as ‘Aurea’. Our garden specimen is
Our 25 year old Magnolia platypetala has been spectacular over the last few weeks, until our recent lows in the teens. Not to worry, as the unopened flower buds should be fine. The fuzzy brown buds, which are beautiful in their own right, open to large, fragrant white flowers. Taxonomically, it’s often listed as a
Our patches of Lithops (Living Stones) seem to enjoyed their first snow in years. This is something they never see in their native haunts, the deserts of South Africa. The experience and the accompanying 14 degree F temperatures have left them nonplussed.
Rockin’ in the Snow Read More »
