Our native switch grass, Panicum virgatum is at the height of its popularity, but that’s getting ready to expand with the introduction of two unique new selections. Panicum virgatum ‘Blue Spear’, from plant breeder Hans Hansen of Walters Gardens, created an entirely new type of inflorescence, that he calls, fused panicles. This gives the grass
Switching up Switch Grass Read More »
We are thoroughly enchanted by a little-known Southeast native ornamental grass, Schizachyrium divergens, and in particular, a ZZ-Top like, super hairy version, named Schizachyrium divergens ‘The Fuzz’. We say little-known, because it was formerly dumped into the widespread Schizachyrium scoparium, which seems an unconscionable taxonomic stretch. Some taxonomists now consider it a Texas endemic, while
Looking absolutely dazzling in the garden now, is the star of the genus, Baptisia arachnifera. This superb garden plant from only two counties in Coastal Georgia, is very easy to grow, but sadly very rare in the wild. It’s Federally Endangered status is due to most (95%) of its habitat being crowded out by commercial
Spider Web Baptisia Read More »
A little known conifer that’s one of our garden favorites, is Cupressus (Hesperocyparis) arizonica ‘Raywood’s Weeping’. We’re limited conifer-wise, compared to the Pacific Northwest, so we were thrilled to find such a superb weeping silver-blue foliaged, North American native, that thrives in our hot, humid climate. It can be staked as high as you’d like,
Weeping makes us Jump for Joy Read More »
One of the most popular garden specimen century plants has long been Agave parryi subspecies truncata. Due to their distribution in the Southwest US and Mexico, the hardiness of the various populations varies tremendously. These small (relatively speaking) century plants are mass-market landscape staples in warm temperate and frost-free parts of the desert southwest. Try
Truncating a Hardiness Project Read More »
In 2007, we released an amazing silver blue, winter hardy form of Agave x protamericana, named A. ‘Silver Surfer’. Unfortunately, the tissue culture lab that was producing it for us closed, and supplies over the last decade have been virtually non-existent. We’ve reverted by to our old, less efficient method of using offsets, which are
Silver Surfer Returns Read More »
