Every year, we post photos from our years long experiment growing the African native lithops (living stones) in the garden. Our success underscore our contention that so much of the information you find on-line and in books, is simply incorrect. As we’ve discussed in the past, lithops are much more winter hardy than is generally
Mythops – The Art of Living Stoned Read More »
Cortaderia is a genus of 20 species of ornamental grass, only one of which is grown commercially. This is peak flowering month in the garden for a couple of the lesser-known species of pampas grass. The first is Cortaderia araucana, which hails from Central/Southern Chile and Argentina. It’s much smaller than Cortaderia selloana and has
No Pampering Pampas Grass Read More »
It’s shocking the number of articles, both in print and on-line that demean plant cultivars, as though they are the scourge of the natural world. These articles repeatedly proclaim that cultivars are not native, not environmentally desirable, and not of use to pollinators. Sadly, this is an indictment of our educational system, since it shows
Cultivars – Evil or Misunderstood? Read More »
As a high schooler, and through college, I ran a small backyard greenhouse selling tropical plants from my parents home. One of the groups that I specialized in were bromeliads, so I’ve long had a fascination with group. Later in life, when I switched to outdoor winter hardy plants, I continued to look for hardy
Putting on a show this week in the garden are the Living Stones. No, not Mick, Keith, and Ronnie, but the horticultural Living Stones, Lithops aucampiae. Our oldest patch starts flowering in early to mid November each year, growing beautifully under an overhanging rock. For all the articles about how difficult they are to grow,
Don’t Miss the Stones latest show Read More »
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 »
Looking lovely at JLBG now is the purportedly tropical vine, Combretum indicum. Native from a wide range of Southeast Asia, Rangoon creeper is a woody vine that’s shockingly winter hardy, as our plants sailed through last years 11 degrees F–despite it usually being listed as a Zone 10/11 plant. The flowers usually open white, age
Does your Rangoon Creep? Read More »
The North American native Thuja plicata ‘4Ever’ is looking particularly stunning in the garden this summer. Of all the forms of Thuja plicata we’ve trialed, this is undoubtedly the brightest. Reportedly maturing at 12′ tall x 3.5′ tall, I’m left to wonder what they used the measure the size. Our 4 year old specimen is
4Ever and Ever, Amen Read More »
Juniperus x pfitzeriana ‘MonSan’ is looking quite exceptional in the garden. Since we live in the community of Juniper, NC, we thought we should have a significant collection of the our namesake genera. This Monrovia Nursery introduction, which is a hybrid between the Asian Juniperus chinensis and the Eurasian Juniperus sabina, is truly stunning. Although
Mon San in More Sun Read More »
With what seems to be an endless array of Hydrangea paniculata cultivars entering the market, July has turned the garden into a snow white scene. The Asian Hydrangea paniculata was first published as a new species in 1829, but was not grown in the Americas until Arnold Arboretum director, Charles Sargent brought back seed from
The Season of White Read More »
