Here are two exceptional fairy wing cultivars that are in peak bloom today. The top is our introduction, Epimedium ‘Rise and Shine’. The floriferous nature of many of the recently introduced epimediums puts many of the older cultivars to shame. Epimedium ‘Woodland Elf’ will be a 2026 introduction of a plant developed by plant breeder,
Floating Fairy Wings Read More »
Carpeting the woodland garden now is the North American native spring ephemeral, Sanguinaria canadensis. This widespread wildflower is native to virtually the entire Eastern US. The common name, bloodroot, comes from the red pigment, Sanguinarine, which can be found in all plant parts, especially the underground rhizomes. The red pigment has long been used for
Red Roots and White Flowers Read More »
Looking good in the winter garden is the dwarf cast iron plant, Aspidistra zongbayi ‘Old Glory’. This cast iron plant never grows taller than 1′, but makes a lovely 3-4′ wide evergreen groundcover. This is our 2002 introduction of a 1996 Darrell Probst collection from Sichuan, China. This has been fine for us for over
While most gardeners are quite familiar with boxwoods of the genus, Buxus, far less are familiar with their close cousins, sweet box of the genus Sarcococca. Sarcococca is a small genus of only 15 species of small woody evergreen shrubs, ranging from the Western Himalayas to Thailand, with one long lost family member that resides
Christmas boxes through the Garden Read More »
Looking lovely in the garden now is the woodland perennial, Actaea pachypoda, commonly known as doll’s eyes. Most of the commercial material available in the trade comes from much colder climates, and will not survive our summers. It has a huge native range from Canada south to Louisiana, so it’s surprising that introductions of heat
Hey Doll, love those Eyes Read More »
Standing out in the garden this month is Aucuba ‘Petite Jade’, a lovely selection of the Asian native evergreen shrub, Aucuba japonica. This release comes from the U.S. National Arboretum, from cuttings originally collected in 1984 at South Korea’s Chollipo Arboretum. This selection is not only slow-growing and dense, but has excellent resistance to foliar
Looking lovely in the mid-January winter garden is the fern, Neolepisorus fortunei ‘Green Ribbons’. This fascinating evergreen fern looks nothing like what most gardeners are familiar with, when they think ferns. Neolepisorus is one of several genera of ferns, known as ribbon ferns. These ferns grow epiphytically (on trees) and lithophytically (on rocks), mostly in
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Coming in second place to the Helleborus niger we posted earlier is Helleborus x ballardiae ‘Mahogany Snow’. This is a cross of the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger and Helleborus lividus. The flowers emerge white, then age to a lovely salmon pink. We find this hellebore hybrid much easier to grow than either parent.
The Christmas Rose Bowl Read More »
We’re preparing for the release of a new cast of characters for 2024, through our current funding arm, Plant Delights Nursery. One of the “cast” that we’ve been trialing for six years is a new cast iron plant hybrid from Japan, Aspidistra ‘Hanado Raku’ PPAF. This is one of those plants that elicits all kind
A New Cast of Characters Read More »
Looking lovely in the garden during the Christmas holiday season is a plant that hails from around the world, most notably Iran, and into the surrounding Caucuses. Despite this disparate climatic origin, Danae racemosa has thrived in much of the country as a pass-along plant for over a century. Danae is one of many plants,
A Laurel and Hardy Garden Addition Read More »
