Just like the Broadway play, we love the plant, Boesenbergia hamiltonii. We acquired this gem from India in 2005 before it actually existed as a species. Back in the day, taxonomists who dealt only with dead, smashed plants, had created a rather large mess assigning the name Boesenbergia longiflora to every reasonably similar-looking ginger from
Hamilton…the flower Read More »
Arachnioides standishii is one of our favorite garden ferns. This particular collection comes from Japan’s Mt. Daisen. The common name is Upside down fern since the leaves appear to be attached inverted. Production is always challenging since spore don’t ripen until after Christmas. The foliage remains evergreen until temps drop below 10 degrees F. Hardiness
Upside down Spider Fern Read More »
The late plantsman Alan Galloway was a prolific plant collector in Southeastern Asia, and one of the plants that has surprised us with its winter hardiness is the giant evergreen Solomon’s Seal, Disporopsis longifolia. In the wild, Alan and I encountered this throughout Thailand and Vietnam, but our tallest clone is one which Alan collected
Alan’s Laosy Giant Read More »
The foliage of Amorphophallus konjac ‘Gordon’s Gold’ is truly superb in the gardens, looking like a forest of small golden palm trees. This is a great discovery from California plantsman, Dave Gordon. This year, one of our plants had a leaf chimera mutation so that half of the leaf mutated to green, while the other
One of the gems from our 2012 botanizing trip to the Balkans, was a growable selection of Paris quadrifolia. For those who haven’t mastered Latin, quadrifolia means 4-leaves. All cultivated forms of this widespread European trillium relative had failed to thrive in our hot humid summers. Our collection from the Croatian town of Rude (I’m
In the plant world, plants that have no chance of selling, except to a tiny few crazed plant collectors, are called BIO plants, which stands for “of botanical interest only”. Coptis japonica var. dissecta fits the bill on all accounts. This fascinating Asian woodland perennial maintains a small evergreen rosette, topped in spring with tiny
The ultimate BIO plant Read More »
Flowering this week is the fascinating Asarum speciosum, native to only three counties in central Alabama. In bloom, it resembles a mass of bloodshot eyes peeking out from beneath the skirt of anise-scented foliage.
Here’s looking at you, kid Read More »
The rare Dryopteris x australis is looking superb in the garden this week. This Southeast native, naturally-occurring hybrid will grow in sun or shade and in wet or average soils. Despite its deep southern roots, it’s fine outdoors in Zone 5a. 4′ tall..pretty amazing!
With Fronds like these, who needs anemones? Read More »
Few flowering plants are older than members of the genus chloranthus, which first originated between 22 and 150 million years ago, during a time that flowering plants were just evolving, and long before nurseries or garden centers came into existance. Chloranthus aren’t just interesting botanically, they also are unique textural plants for the spring woodland
Chloranthus – Respect your horticultural elders Read More »
Variegated plants have part of the normal green portion of the plant leaf being replaced by white, cream, yellow, or occasionally other colors. How cool is that! As a design element, variegated plants are often used as the center of attention or as a focal point in the landscape to lighten up a normally dark
Make Your Shade Garden Cool! Read More »
