Echinacea ‘Big Kahuna’ has turned into a wonderful beast in the garden. Here is our clump of this super vigorous selection this week as it enters its third year in the gardens at JLBG with no sign of slowing down. The fragrance is also amazing, as are the number of bees it attracts.
In 2009, we first planted the Tom Ranney (NC State) introduction of Hydrangea ‘Spirit’..his creation of a pink-flowered selection of the usually white-flowered NC native Hydrangea arborescens. Here it is today, twelve years later and still looking superb in the gardens at JLBG. Over $1 million dollars from the sale of this plant has been
Keeping up the Spirit Read More »
Spring 2021 marked our first flowering of the monotypic (only one member of the genus) helonias. This threatened US native, occurs in scattered locations from NY south to Georgia, but is rarely offered commercially. We had good seed set, and now fingers are crossed for equally good germination. Helonias requires saturated ground, and ours is
Have you met Helonias? Read More »
We just love the East Coast native Chamaelirium luteum…aka: fairy wands. The male forms have the largest, most showy flowers, as seen here at JLBG this week. A lover of average/moist shade, it is long been used medicinally for female reproductive issues.
Fairy Wands Lighting up the Garden Read More »
The native Camassia leichtlinii ‘Sacajawea’ is looking great at JLBG today. This selection of the US West Coast native thrives also here in the hot, humid, southeast US. This selection was named after Sacajawea, the a member of the Lemhi Shoshone tribe, who helped guide explorers Lewis and Clark in the early 1800s. When food
Here are two of our favorite new redbuds growing at JLBG…both from the NC State breeding program of Dr. Dennis Werner. The first is Cercis canadensis ‘Flame Thrower’, which boasts pumpkin colored leaves that emerge gold. The second is Cercis canadensis ‘Golden Falls’, a fabulous pendulous form, whose leaves remain gold all summer.
Flowering this week is the fascinating Asarum speciosum, native to only three counties in central Alabama. In bloom, it resembles a mass of bloodshot eyes peeking out from beneath the skirt of anise-scented foliage.
Here’s looking at you, kid Read More »
Just snapped this photo of the amazing Amsonia ‘Storm Cloud’ in the garden. This was a 2011 discovery in Central Alabama on a botanizing trip with Hans Hansen.
It was a real thrill last week to visit a population of Cypripedium kentuckiense (Kentucky Ladyslipper Orchid) in Texas with native plant guru, Adam Black. Adam has made numerous trips to this and other nearby sites, carefully pollinating the orchids to ensure seed set and enhance reproduction. While we’ve offered this species as seed-grown plants
Visiting Kentucky in Texas Read More »
Sweeping sedge is in full flower in the garden today. The North American native (Canada south to Florida and west to Texas) Carex bromoides swept us off our feet! This delightful small evergreen sedge forms a 6″ tall x 30″ wide, delicate-textured patch of green hair-like foliage. Although it prefers moist to mucky wet soil,
