podophyllum

John Gwynne Garden

Dodging Debby

While Tropical Storm Debby was soaking JLBG with 4.3″ of rain, I was off to Connecticut and Rhode Island for a presentation and some nursery/garden visits. It didn’t look like I was going to make it, after one flight cancellation and four rebookings, but thanks to several unexpected moments of good luck, our plane touched

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Podophyllum peltatum 'Maid Marion'

March flowers bring May Apples, along with a Taxonomic headache

We’ve been fascinated by mayapples of the genus Podophyllum, ever since first studying them in my NC backyard over 60 years ago. It was always a bit disappointing that they went dormant in late May, and often seem to be afflicted by several foliar diseases. It was not until three decades later (mid-1990s) that I

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Outstanding in their field

We were delighted to have the amazing UK botanists, John and Soejatmi Dransfield drop by this week for a visit. Both are retired scientists from Kew Garden, where Dr. Soejatmi Dransfield specialized in paleotropical bamboos, and Dr. John Dransfield specialized in palms. It turns out that John also works with podophyllum in his retirement, so

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When is a May Apple no longer a May Apple?

Back in 2009, the since deceased Delaware Valley plantsman, Jim McClements, shared a may apple hybrid he’d created by crossing the US native Podophyllum peltatum with the Chinese native Podophyllum pleianthum. The offspring was named Podophyllum x inexpectum ‘Ruby Ruth’ (after his second wife). Our plant spent years in a much too dry a garden

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