We just snapped this image of our clump of Aucuba japonica var. borealis ‘Sea of Japan’. In parts of the county where typical Aucuba japonica isn’t winter hardy, this tetraploid subspecies may be worth a try. This subspecies hails from one of coldest regions of coastal Japan, in northern Honshu, where it’s subject to an
See the Sea of Japan Read More »
The genus Asarum are primarily late winter flowering woodland perennials in the pipevine (Aristolochiaceae) family, that have long been a focus of our collection efforts. Asarum includes the former genus, Hexastylis, that Southeast US botanists still struggle emotionally to give up. We trim the previous years foliage away as the flowers emerge, so we can
Gingers are Ready and Willing Read More »
Flowering now in the garden is the Japanese wild ginger, Asarum fudsinoi. The glossy foliage on this 15″ wide clumper makes it one of the largest of the Japanese native Asarum species. Because of its tropical roots from the Southern Ryukyu Island, Amami-Oshimi (just south of Okinawa), it’s used to flowering quite early in the
Addition by Subduction Read More »
You’d need to be a pretty serious plant nerd to grow members of the obscure evergreen genus, Eurya, in your garden. Of the 160 species in the genus, we’ve tried four, which is possibly some sort of record. Eurya‘s family, Pentaphyllaceae, tells us that it has some other better known relatives, such as Ternstroemia and
Flowering in November is the lovely evergreen shrub, Fatsia japonica ‘Variegata’. If you look closer at the second image, you’ll find that it’s a feast for a range of native insects. Hardiness zone 7b to 10b.
Finding a Fall Fatsia Feast Read More »
Apologies for writing about this two years in a row, but few plants give us more joy in the fall garden that Allium kiiense. A couple of years ago, nursery sales of this were so poor that we planted about 40 plants to create a green mass on 1′ centers, as one would do with
Making sense with Kiiense Read More »
Salvia glabrescens is a little-known (in gardening circles) woodland perennial sage from the mountains of Japan’s Honshu Island. We have been thrilled with their garden performance since 2005, but equally disappointed at their sales. Customers continually ask for fall-flowering plants for the woodland garden, yet fail to buy them when they are made available. Salvia
The Bald Sages of Fall Read More »
This past weekend, I noticed an unexpected fragrance from the mixed border that surrounds our home. It didn’t take long to realize that it was time for the amazing Autumn tea olives, Osmanthus fragrans to begin their perfumed floral show. The first to open for us this year is the amazing Osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus
Looking spectacular in the garden this week is our specimen of the deciduous Viburnum sieboldii. This lovely plant from Central and Southern Japan, is named in honor of German physician/naturalist Phillip Franz von Siebold (1796-1866). My early attempts at growing this at JLBG were all failures, since this species isn’t known to be very heat
Burnum, Baby Burnum Read More »
There’s a word for people who try the same thing over and over again, but our insanity kept us trying every new cultivar of the heat-intolerant Japanese hakone grass in the hopes we’d find one that would thrive. The gardening gods answered when Hakonechloa macra ‘Sunflare’ first arrived here in 2017. This clumping woodland grass
