One of my favorite plants when I strolled through the woods as a young child was resurrection fern, Pleopeltis michauxiana. If the Latin name sounds unfamiliar, it was originally published in 1939 as a member of a different fern genus, Polypodium polypodioides var. michauxiana. It’s natural distribution range is quite large, from West Virginia south
Time to bring back Resurrection Ferns Read More »
Raise your hand if you’ve grown the Southeast native perennial, piriqueta. Piriqueta caroliniana is a little-known Southeast US native that hails from NC, south to Florida. Botanically, it’s a member of the Turneraceae family, after being unceremoniously booted from its previous home in the passiflora family, Passifloraceae. We had never heard of the genus before
Piqued by Piriqueta Read More »
Looking great in the garden now is Andropogon gerardii ‘Blackhawks’. This Brent Horvath selection of the native (Canada south to Mexico) Andropogon gerardii, has beautiful, almost black foliage, compared to the typical glaucous green. Hardiness Zone 4a-8b
We grow quite a few sarracenia (pitcher plants) from seed, with only the very best (most unique and most vigorous) getting planted in the ground for further trials. Through the decades, we’ve only had a few that we eventually found worthy of a name. Below is a photo taken this week of a newly selected
Pouring over another Pitcher Read More »
The variegated hardy hibiscus, H. ‘Summer Carnival’ has looked outstanding all summer. This Hans Hansen creation has both variegated leaves and flower buds. We’ve had these in the garden since 2017, and they continue to excel. Moist to wet soils and full sun are ideal, but they handle short term drought just fine. Hardiness is
I can’t remember when I first met Cylindropuntia kleiniae, but it was somewhere back in my early years, during a family cross country drive, designed to expose us kids to the entirety of the US. I fell in love with cactus, despite being repeatedly stabbed as I tried to rescue a pad to take home.
Klein’s Cylinder Pencil Cactus Read More »
Most of us plant geeks marvel at the genetic diversity of plants as we drive, and one of my passions is studying the incredible diversity our our native red cedar, Juniperus virginiana. Below is an exceptional been pole-like form, Juniperus virginiana ‘Taylor’, selected from a population in Taylor, Nebraska, and released in 1992 by the
Over a decade ago I decided to try planting the native Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) in the maritime grassland exhibit at the South Carolina Botanical Garden. To my amazement, this species that I knew of from the fringes of saltmarsh in the Lowcountry thrived in both wet and dry soils of the upper Piedmont of South
Ramble On — A Native Groundcover with Year-round Interest and a Pollinator Smorgasbord Read More »
Looking lovely in the garden this week is the amazing native small tree, Aesculus parviflora var. serotina ‘Rogers’. Despite this amazing plant being native only in Alabama, it thrives in gardens well north of Chicago. This named selection was discovered in the early 1960s in the yard of University of Illinois professor Donald Rogers, and
Summer Buckeye Time 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 »
