Rudbeckia truncata is a very rare coneflower (G2G3 rank – high to moderate risk of extinction), restricted to a small region of alkaline bluffs from Kentucky south into the Georgia mountains. Although named in 1898 by the late botanist J.K. Small, subsequent taxonomists, who obviously didn’t bother to grow the plant, incorrectly lumped it into
Rudbeckia truncata – another “Small” Coneflower Read More »
Looking great in the garden now, is the rare, Southeast (NC, SC, GA) US native mint relative, Carolina bogmint. Macbridea caroliniana is a Federal Species of Concern (Global G2 rank), found most often in sphagnum bog edges, open forested bottomlands, and savannas. The first photo below is our newly named, dark pink-flowered clone ‘Pink Hill’,
Pink Hill Carolina Bogmint Read More »
When we built our retirement home a few years ago, we surrounded the patio with pollinator plants, one of which was a mass of the native Eupatorium purpureum ‘Little Red’. For the last few weeks, we can sit in our screen porch and watch a steady parade of butterflies. This amazing perennial, which forms an
Little Red is Butterfly Bait Read More »
We’re enjoying the mid-summer show of grass-leaf Barbara’s buttons, Marshallia graminifolia ‘Georgetown’. We grew this from a Patrick McMillan/Zac Hill seed collection near Georgetown, SC. Marshallia graminifolia is a coastal plain endemic, found from NC to Georgia, where it forms a short basal rosette of narrow, linear foliage, that’s topped with 20″ tall flowers stalks,
Barbara’s Buttons Read More »
I was shocked and saddened to learn of the recent passing of my college classmate, Kim Hawks, 72. Kim and I shared a lot in common, starting with attending the same high school, horticulture classmates at NC State, both of us would start mail order nurseries, travel together in China for a month, and both
Looking great in the garden now is our clump of Physostegia virginiana ‘Pink Manners’. This offspring to the shorter, white-flowered, Physostegia ‘Miss Manners’, is one of the finest summer-flowering North American (Canada to Florida) native perennials we grow, yet when we offered it for sale, sales were miserable, which leaves us perplexed. The 4′ tall
Mind Your Manners Read More »
Looking great in the garden now is Stokesia laevis ‘Peachie’s Pick’. This incredible selection of our native Stokes aster was discovered as a seedling in the Mississippi garden of gardener/floral designer, Sara “Peachie” Saxon, and in 2001, it was introduced to the commercial trade by the former Niche Gardens of North Carolina. Stokes aster is
The Season for Peachie Read More »
One plant that I’ve tried to grow for decades are the cotton grasses of the genus, Eriophorum. Actually, fourteen of the sixteen recognized species of bog denizens are North American natives. but all but Eriophorum virginicum are native so far north, they have little heat tolerance, as our trials have shown. Some species are tight
Cotton Grass…Fluffy, not Stuffy Read More »
It’s odd when one of the rarer members of a plant genus is actually one of the best garden subjects. Such is the case with the rare (G3 rank) wine cup, Callirhoe bushii. Although there are only 50 populations in the wild, scattered from Arkansas to Kansas, it is certainly one of the most amazing
We were recently visited by a well-known landscape designer, who specializes in Southeastern US native plants. As we walked through the crevice garden, and I pointed out a clump of Polygonella americana, he was shocked at how nice it looked. His comment was that American jointweed always looked scraggly in the wild, so he hadn’t
American Jointweed – Smoke this Over Read More »
