While the genus Oxalis has a few species that are known “bad actors”, it has many others that are amazing garden gems. One of our favorites has always been Oxalis palmifrons. Hailing from South Africa’s Southwest Cape Province, this gem forms texturally-fascinating, ground-hugging rosettes, that are right at home in the rock garden. We grow
Palm-leaf Wood Sorrel Read More »
Flowering for the last month is the amazing, winter-flowering Urophysa henryi. Formerly an Isopyrum, this rare Chinese endemic in the Ranunculaceae family, has thrived for over five years in our rock garden. Now that we finally have some spare seedlings, thanks to ours self-pollinating last year, we’ll be trying this around the garden to see
Urophysa…URO Star Read More »
Flowering in late February in the rock garden is the tiny bulb, Ornithogalum chionophyllum. This genus of onion relative has both some garden treasures and horrific weeds. This gem is a narrow endemic to the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus between 2,000′ and 6,000′ elevation. If the Troodos Mountain don’t sound familiar, perhaps you’ve heard of
Nothing signals that winter in trending toward spring in our garden more than the seriously cute, Amana anhuiensis. Most folks have probably never heard of this miniature bulb, since it was only published in 2013. The genus itself, was first published in 1867 as an Orithyia, before becoming a tulip a few years later, and
Looking good in the garden as we end January is the Himalayan native ground orchid, Goodyera biflora. In the wild, it can be found in Nepal, Bhutan, China, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, up to 6,500′ elevation. This is a first cousin look-alike to our Southeast native, Goodyera pubescens. Goodyera biflora is a lithophyte, growing
We love the winter color forms of the fascinating spikemoss, Selaginella tamariscina. This Asian (China, Japan, Korea, Russia, India, Taiwan, Thailand, and Philipines) native naturally has solid green foliage, but through the centuries, Japanese gardeners have made countless selections with colored foliage. I’m particularly fond of Selaginella ‘Golden Sprite’ (below). In growth, these make very
It’s always a great day when our NARGS seed order arrives, as it did yesterday. So, what is a NARGS, you ask? NARGS is the North American Rock Garden Society, a group of rather intense gardeners from across North America, with some members scattered worldwide. NARGS has what I’m pretty sure, is the worlds largest
We’ve tried many times to grow the common rock garden perennial, Cerastium tomentosum, commonly known as Snow in Summer. Its origin in the European Alps, has not exactly been a climate match for our hot, humid summers. A few years ago, we were excited to obtain seed from a Balkan native cerastium from Greek plantsman,
Snow in a Real Summer Read More »
Last weekend, we planted our first Androcymbium rechingeri in the garden. In Latin, the genus name roughly translates to masculine cup like. This little known Colchicum cousin hails from a very tiny region on the Eastern sea coast of Crete. This highly endangered species, first described in 1967, grows from an underground corm, which flowers
Masculine Cup Flower Read More »
Looking amazing this month is the evergreen, southeast US native groundcover, Houstonia procumbens. Our selection of roundleaf bluets, Houstonia ‘White Clay’, is our 2003 cutting collection from Clay County, Florida. Originally discovered in 1902 in Charleston, South Carolina, and hailing from the southeastern US, (southeastern South Carolina west to eastern Louisiana), roundleaf bluets live their
Florida’s Houston-ia Read More »
