Meta Panics!
Well, I guess you could count this as horticultural click-bait, but we’re actually talking about one of our favorite small trees. Flowering today at JLBG is the amazing schefflera relative, Metapanax delavayi ‘Hei Shui’.
Craving Calanthes
Early to mid-April has been peak for the amazing calanthe orchid show in the garden. These easy-to-grow, semi-evergreen terrestrial orchids, are a woodland perennial we wouldn’t garden without. Calanthe discolor ‘Eco White’ is a selection from the late nurseryman, Don Jacobs. This species range includes China, Korea, and Japan. Calanthe ‘Golden Treasure’ is our selection
Golden Eggs in the Garden
Looking rather nice in the garden in mid-winter is the yellow-fruited, Rohdea japonica ‘Golden Eggs’. We’re now on our third generation, and have been please to find that all of our offspring that have fruited so far, come true to color from seed. We picked up our original plant a Japanese auction over a decade
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Screaming Gardenia
It’s odd that one of the most talked about gardenias in our garden is one that never flowers, but such is the case for Gardenia jasminoides ‘Screech Owl’. This previously un-named gem was passed around by plant collectors for years, before we put on our hound dog gear and traced it’s origin back to Texas
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Narrow-leaved Solomon’s Seal
We have a ridiculously large collection of Solomon’s Seal species and cultivars from around the world, and flowering now is one of our many favorites, Polygonatum stenophyllum, whose epithet means narrow leaves and hails from Korea into the Russian Far East. This belongs to the group of whorled-leaf species, where the leaves are attached all
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Rattlesnake Ferns in flower
Putting on its version of a flowering show now, is our native rattlesnake fern, Botrypus virginianus. This widespread fern is native to all continental states except New Mexico. Not to be confined to a single country, it’s also native throughout South American, Central Europe, and throughout Asia. The rattlesnake fern has has dimorphic fronds, where
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Just Golden
Looking great in the woodland garden now is the amazing Asian (China, Korea, Manchuria) native Solomon’s Seal, Disporum flavens. This species is probably the showiest of the genus, putting on a tremendous show in spring garden. While there are both running and clumping species in the genus, Disporum, this gem remains in a nice clump.
Floating Fairy Wings
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,
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Red Roots and White Flowers
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
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Zing Zong
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