Hosta rectifolia ‘Mito-no-Hana’ is quite striking in the garden this week. This eye-popping selection of the Japanese Hosta rectifolia comes from Japan’s Tenjin Yama Bunen Nursery in Mito City. The leaf coloration is best in open shade or with a couple of hours of morning sun. The leaf vein coloration fades in the intense heat
It’s been a few years since we posted photos of one of our favorite conifers, Thujopsis dolobrata ‘Jurassic Park’. This little-known selection with dense, thick, plastic-like foliage, is most likely a tetraploid form of the wild species. We planted our first typical Thujopsis in 1999, but the cultivar Thujopsis ‘Jurrasic Park’ didn’t go into the
Even unclothed, Styrax japonica ‘Fragrant Fountain’ still provides great winter interest with it’s weeping branches, like a fountain frozen in time. This gem from Oregon nurseryman, Crispin Silva, is slow growing and should mature around 8′ tall x 8′ wide. Our garden specimen has been in the ground since 2008. Zone 5a-8b.
Looking rather nice in the garden in mid-winter is the yellow-fruited, Rohdea japonica ‘Golden Eggs’. We’re now on our third generation, and have been please to find that all of our offspring that have fruited so far, come true to color from seed. We picked up our original plant a Japanese auction over a decade
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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
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Like so many conifers, Cryptomeria really stand out after those pesky perennials go dormant for the winter. Cryptomeria japonica ‘Elegans Nana’ is looking lovely this winter. This 2017 planting is now grown to 3′ tall x 7′ wide. Cryptomerias are quite durable in the garden, and survive in both full to half day sun. Cryptomeria
Looking like it’s covered by a dusting of snow is our garden specimen of Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Kaori Hime’. This amazing plant is adorned, starting in early November, with thousands of sweetly scented, small white flowers. In Japan, the word “hime” literally translates to young lady of nobility, such as a princess. In plant names, however,
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This spring, we posted photos of the obscure Japanese native woodlander, Ainsliaea cordifolia, but we wanted to follow up with the same plant in riotous bloom, as we move into late October. There are actually 57 species of this Aster family genus, all from Southeastern Asia. Growing Ainsliaea in your home garden is certainly a
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We see quite a few television adds for an alcoholic drink known as “twisted tea”, so we thought we’d share the OG twisted tea, Camellia sinensis ‘Unryu’, in flower this week at JLBG. Camellia sinensis is the source of tea, and the Japanese cultivar, ‘Unryu’ means contorted or twisted, which refers to the branch structure.
One of our favorite textural plants in the woodland garden is the amazing Alpinia japonica ‘Green Waves’. This ginger rarely flowers here, unless we have a particularly mild winter, but who cares when you have great foliage like this. The ruffled foliage of this form, from the late specialty nurseryman, Don Jacobs garden, is not
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