Three years ago, we wrote about a new, winter hardy selection of bushy muhly grass, Muhlenbergia dumosa, collected by Patrick McMillan in the Patagonia mountains of Arizona, that should be much more winter hardy than the Zone 9 genetics that have been in the trade since the 1980s. From our initial planting in 2020, our
From Patagonia with Love Read More »
One of our favorite summer combinations is our planting of Amorphophallus konjac ‘Gordon’s Gold’ in the middle of this patch of the North American native Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’ (aka blue rug juniper). This patch of groundcover juniper looks completely normal until mid-June, when the love lily emerges with it’s stunning gold foliage. What a contrast
From 20 feet away, the bright red fruit on our native coral bean, Erythrina herbacea stands out like a glowing red light district sign. Reportedly, the seed have hallucinogenic properties, but we don’t recommend trying this at home, since in Mexico, the seed are reportedly used to poison animals from rats to fish. We’ll stick
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Years ago, I had the privilege of serving on the NC Rare Plant Scientific Committee for eight years with Dr. Alan Weakley, and I can truely say, each encounter was an incredible learning experience. It’s not often you get to work closely with a true genius in your field. For those who don’t know Alan,
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Hypericum lloydii has looked great in the garden for the last few years. This little-known, imperiled (G4 rank) Southeastern US native, has shown excellent potential as a garden plant. In the wild, it’s found in dry open woodlands and woodland edges in well-drained soils in a narrow band from Virginia south to Alabama. In the
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Flowering now in the garden is the North American native, Echeveria runyonii, a Northern Mexico succulent native to rocky cliffs in the state of Tamaulipas. This gem was discovered in the wild by our friends at Yucca Do Nursery in 1990 and the species was later named in honor of botanist, Robert Runyon. This delightful
Looking absolutely wonderful in the garden this month is our patch of the native Clethra tomentosa ‘Woodlander’s Sarah’. This splendid introduction from SC’s Woodlander’s Nursery is the finest, and most stable variegated form we’ve ever seen. Each leaf is randomly speckled with creamy white speks and sectors. Starting in late July, the clump bursts into
Rhus typhina ‘Baltiger’ (Tiger Eyes staghorn sumac) is looking glorious this week, staged behind a mass of Hymenocallis ‘Tropical Giant’. The native Rhus typhina typically doesn’t love our hot summers, with a native range that runs primarily from Maine to Minnesota. Although there are a few disjunct southern populations of the species, all of the
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Looking quite lovely in the garden is a stunning Southeast US native, Canna glauca ‘Panache’. The natural flower colors of Canna glauca, commonly known as water canna, range from white to pink, but we love this bicolor peachy yellow selection. Although it natively grows in shallow water, it also thrives quite well in average garden
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We’ve grown a number of distinctive forms of the Zone 7 hardy century plant, Agave lophantha, through the years, but one of our favorites is the Yucca Do introduction, Agave lophantha ‘La Bufa Baby’, currently on sale. This was originally discovered in the Sierra Chiquita Mountains of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It’s the only selection we’ve seen
