2025 sets a record as we welcomed 22 different century plants into flower. We’ve set up our ladders for the pollination ritual, where we hike to the top with pollen we forcefully extracted from potential suitors and do our best to impregnate the moms. Then, we wait and hope for viable seed. This is Agave
The End of the Century is Approaching Read More »
Just finishing up its flowering show in the garden is the baptisia cousin, Pediomelum piedmontanum ‘Columbia’, commonly known as Dixie breadroot. Commonly, probably isn’t exactly the right word, since this southeast native is anything but common. In fact, it’s only known from three counties, one in Georgia, and two in South Carollina, hence a G1
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Agastache ‘Crazy Fortune’ is putting on an incredible show in our garden during summer, bringing in an array of both native bees and butterflies. This Eastern Yellow Swallowtail was enjoying it’s visit so much, it didn’t mind posing for a quick photo op. This pollinator magnet is one of the easiest agastaches to grow in
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Few people grow the amazing Southeast native Macbridea caroliniana, so we wanted to share our clump that’s in full flower now. This is primarily a coastal plain species that ranges from NC south to Georgia, and provides quite a feast for native bees. This is a two year old clump, growing in average to slightly
Here Comes the Bride…the MacBride Read More »
One of the top pollinator plants in the garden this month is this clump of adult ivy. All ivies clump, instead of run, once they gone through horticultural puberty, which usually happens around age 15. English ivy, Hedera helix makes a similar, but larger shrub, that flowers in July. The clump below is our selection
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The lovely Mexican woody lily, Dasylirion berlandieri, is just finishing a bout of flowering. The flowers are magnets for both native bees as well as honeybees. Unlike their cousin, Agave, Dasylirion don’t die after flowering.
As fall temperatures drop, it’s not unusual to find our native bees asleep in some of the most interesting places. We caught this carpenter bee fast asleep on the job this week, clinging tightly to the spines of an Agave parryi.
Looking fabulous in the garden now is the perennial Salvia ‘Big Blue’. This amazing sage has been in flower since spring, and has yet to slow down. It’s also a favorite of the native bumblebees.
If you get your gardening information on-line, where everything written is a fact, you’ll know for sure that acacias aren’t growable in Zone 7b, Raleigh, NC. If that includes you, don’t look at the photo below of Acacia greggii ‘Mule Mountain’ in flower at JLBG. Acacia greggii is a native from Texas west to California.
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