A fascinating botanical hook-up took place in Spartanburg, SC. when a lonely Distyllum myricoides took a liking to a nearby Parrotia persica. The babies were discovered near the Distyllum, by garden director and plant breeder, Dr. Kevin Parris, who quickly realized what had taken place, just outside of the horticulture classroom building. After growing out
In Di Still of the Da Night Read More »
A splendid new selection, of the little-known, native (Virginia to Texas) Hydrangea barbara, is the gold-foliaged Hydrangea barbara ‘Chattahoochie Sunrise’. If you don’t recognize the name, it was formerly known as Decumaria barbara, before members of the genus hydrangea had an unexpected family reunion. We have grown this amazing discovery from Georgia plantsman, Cliff Brock,
This Woodvamp is Simply Golden Read More »
We typically think of dogwoods of being seasonally interesting plants in spring, but the semi-evergreen Cornus wilsoniana changes that narrative. Despite the clusters of small flowers in May, this Chinese species is most prized for its amazing white patterned bark, which is especially noticeable in winter, against the prevailing background of brown. Sadly, this amazing
Wilson’s Winter Dogwood Read More »
It’s just hard to walk by our amazing specimen of Forestiera ‘Woodlanders Weeping’ without snapping a photo, but since it’s been several years since we mentioned it on-line, it’s time to share our most recent shot from this week. Forestiera angustifolia, better known as desert olive, is a Texas native from the Southern part of
Can’t see the Forest for the Forestiera Read More »
One of our all time favorite ornamental grasses graces us with its stunning display of plumes each year, starting in mid-October. Lindheimer’s Muhly (pronounced mulee) grass hails from central Texas (Edwards Plateau) south to northern Mexico, where it’s found growing on alkaline oak savannahs. Its specific epithet commemorates the Father of Texas Botany, German immigrant,
Lindheimer’s Muhly Read More »
Unless you’re from a more tropical climate, you probably aren’t used to growing table ferns (Pteris) outdoors in the garden. About 30 years ago, I began a mission to collect and evaluate winter hardy forms of a number of species in a genus that’s almost exclusively tropical. Below is our patch of Pteris cretica ‘Ping
Table Fern in the Garden Read More »
We were recently admiring the lovely russet fall coloration of a mat of Selaginella uncinata. This lovely woodland groundcover from Central China and south into Vietnam, has a lovely metallic blue hue during the growing season, but we also like this change to the semi-evergreen foliage in fall. This is such a great, well-behaved garden
Falling for Spikemoss Read More »
Flowering in the garden now is the wonderful US native Pachysandra procumbens (Allegheny spurge). Native from Indiana south to the gulf coast, our selection, Pachysandra ‘Angola’ comes from the woods near that well-know Louisiana prison. This stunning evergreen, variegated, slow-spreading, woodland groundcover, is quite different from its better known and much faster spreading Asian cousin,
Splurge with Allegheny Spurge Read More »
If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you’ll remember we wrote about this amazing native shrub/small tree last summer. Well, it’s cyrilla time again in the gardens at JLBG, when every branch of this amazing semi-evergreen erupts with racemes of small white flowers, inviting all insects in the neighborhood to stop by for
The Thrilla of Cyrilla Read More »
Here is a clump of Calanthe ‘Takane’ in our garden in early April. This amazing and easy-to-grow terrestrial ground orchid forms a dazzling clump with age. This mass started as a single division in a 4″ pot, 17 years ago. Not only do they thrive in the ground, but in Japan, they are prized as
