Looking great in the garden in summer is our new selection of bamboo muhly grass, Muhlenbergia dumosa ‘Patagonia’. Prior to this introduction, this splendid ornamental grass could only be overwintered from Zone 9 south. This Patrick McMillan collection adds at least one additional hardiness zone for gardeners. To achieve maximum winter hardiness, it needs summer
Big hair comes and goes in fashion, but Panicum virgatum ‘Ledbetter Blues’ takes big hair to a whole new level. This exceptional form is a Wade Roitsch (Yucca Do) selection from Lee County, Texas. This cultivar defies the current trend toward narrow selections, by being yuuuge. Although the size of our 3.5 year old clump
Really big, Texas-sized Hair Read More »
We are thoroughly enchanted by a little-known Southeast native ornamental grass, Schizachyrium divergens, and in particular, a ZZ-Top like, super hairy version, named Schizachyrium divergens ‘The Fuzz’. We say little-known, because it was formerly dumped into the widespread Schizachyrium scoparium, which seems an unconscionable taxonomic stretch. Some taxonomists now consider it a Texas endemic, while
When the new Downtown Cary Park opened in Fall 2023, visiting plant people were shocked at the poor plant choices, many of which simply won’t survive the summer in the Raleigh, NC area. Sadly, this is an all to common occurrence, when landscape architects, instead of knowledgeable horticulturists make the plant selections. In looking through
Smokin’ Hot Grass in NC Read More »
Here’s a new one for most gardeners, Carex metallica ‘Fade to Green’, in full flower in our woodland garden this week. We’re not aware of anyone who has grown this evergreen sedge ornamentally. This is our 2008 collection from Taiwan’s Alishan Mountain. We haven’t offered it yet, since we don’t expect the demand would be
In 2023, we listed a new selection of the North American native buffalo grass, Tridens strictus ‘Buffalo Feathers’. It went over as well as a tax hike, selling a pitiful 42 plants over a two year span. Well, after a winter of snow and ice, the plumes are still upright, and looking great. Credit to
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Posing for a photo this week behind Colocasia ‘Redemption’ is a patch of Sorghastrum nutans ‘Slim Pickens’. This amazing form of the US native Indian Grass, named both for it’s form, and nativity to Pickens County, SC, has surpassed all other clones in the trade, in our trials at JLBG. The blue foliage, narrow form,
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Here’s a shot from the garden this week with a textural triumvirate of three North American natives, Muhlenbergia sericea ‘White Cloud’, Opuntia aciculata, and Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’. This drought tolerant combination illustrates what’s possible when you design with plant textures in mind.
Textural Triumvirate Read More »
From 2009-2014, we offered, what I think is one of the finest ornamental grasses we’ve ever grown, Sporobolus wrightii. Sadly, sales were miserable. Well, a decade later, we are still just as passionate about this amazing plant, and are trying to figure out how to get folks to try it. Over the years, we’ve tried
We’ve long enjoyed the fall-flowering, hybrid muhly grass, Muhlenbergia ‘Pink Flamingos’ in the garden. As an ornamental, it only has one fault, the plumes are so heavy, that they spend most of their life kissing up to the mulch. I was noticing last week that once winter arrived and the plumes lost moisture, they are
