We love it when Baptisia perfoliata ‘Flying Saucers’ emerges in the garden. The purple stems and perfoliate foliage (the stems run through the middle of the leaves) are fascinating as they awaken from their winter slumber. This special clone of the native to Interstate 20 in South Carolina was a 2020 Plant Delights introduction. We
Flying Saucers in the Garden Read More »
We’ve been fascinated with the woody plant genus Loropetalum since the late J.C. Raulston first distributed the pink-flowered forms, which had just come into to cultivation in the US, back in 1989. Since those original plants were propagated and sold, many nurseries have tried to one up each other with a barrage of new introductions.
Loropetalum, Loves and Lies Read More »
Sometimes you see a plant, or a photo of a plant, that raises your horticultural lust to somewhat unhealthy levels. At this point in life, that happens far less than it used to, but one plant that remained on my lust list for over a decade was the aroid, Pinellia ‘Purple Dragon’. For those who
Aroid Passion – Purple Dragon Read More »
If you’re like us, you never have enough purple-foliage plants in your landscape, so we’re always on the lookout for something new. One of our finds a few years back is this purple-leaf plum from our friend Dr. Dave Creech in Texas. Prunus ‘Purple Pride’, which Dave and his staff at Stephen F. Austin State
Here’s a recent garden combo that we’ve been enjoying with purple eucomis (pineapple lily), Agapanthus ‘Navy Blue, backed with Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’ (bronze fennel).
A Shot of Summer to Go Read More »
Here’s a garden shot at JLBG, using a good bit of gold foliage in addition to flowers. Left to right: Viburnum dentatum ‘Golden Arrow’, Sinningia ‘Amethyst Tears’, Baptisia ‘White Gold’, Canna ‘Tama Tulipa’, Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ (groundcover), Hibiscus ‘Holy Grail’ (purple), Spirea thunbergii ‘Ogon’, Trachycarpus fortunei (palms).
We’ve had a longstanding love affair with the genus styrax, thanks to their amazing spring display of fragrant white bell-like flowers. Of the 130 recognized species, we have so far tried 22, of which 9 remain alive. The first featured below is Styrax japonicus ‘Evening Light’. This amazing, black-foliage form of the typical green-leaf Styrax
Around the world with 130 Styrax Read More »
Here’s a recent image from JLBG, giving an idea of what’s possible when being thoughtful of textures and colors when planting. Plants include Iris x hollandica ‘Red Ember’, Heuchera ‘Silver Scrolls’, Carex ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, Thelypteris kunthii, and Juniperus chinensis ‘Parsonii’.
Colors and Textures Read More »
Here are some of our favorite Japanese maples looking quite lovely in the garden this week, starting with Acer palmatum ‘Geisha Gone Wild’. This Buchholz Nursery introduction is a fascinating sport of Acer palmatum ‘Geisha’. The leaf color of Acer palmatum ‘Tsuma Gaki’ has to be seen to be believed. Our favorite of the weeping
So Many Maples, So Little Time Read More »
Iris ‘Gerald Darby’ is one of those iris that doesn’t even need to flower to be garden worthy. Here it is in our garden this week, emerging with its’ purple leggings. This gem is a North American native hybrid of Iris versicolor and Iris virginica, known as Iris x robusta. This introduction of Iris breeder
