We were late wading into the epimedium craze, and without the assistance of epimedium guru, Darrell Probst, still might not have done so. Up until the mid 2000s, we had avoided epimediums, due to both their confusing taxonomy as well as the lack of many showy garden forms. Early introductions such as Epimedium x rubrum,
A Fluttering of Fairy Wings Read More »
Our extensive collection of loropetalums are looking great this spring. Loropetalum ‘GrifCRL‘, marketed as Little Rose Dawn, is especially stunning this week. The main problem with loropetalums is that when people plant them, either they don’t pay attention to the mature sizes, or they believe the lies that persist on far too many nursery plant
Lots of petals on the Loropetalums Read More »
Looking lovely in the garden this week is Daphne sericea (aka, D. collina). Unlike the more commonly grown Chinese native, Daphne odora, this gem hails from the Mediterranean region of Italy, Crete, and a disjunct population in southern Asia Minor. While Daphne odora prefers woodland conditions with only a small amount of sun, this gem
A Different Daphne Read More »
Flowering this week at JLBG is the lovely Taiwanese lady slipper, Cypripedium formosanum. This is the earliest flowering of all the lady slipper orchids that we’ve grown, with most others not making an appearance for another month. Our plants are happy in rich, compost amended native soil with a pH near neutral. A couple of
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Two of the earliest flowering arum species are currently in flower. Arum orientale (Central Europe to the Western Caucuses), and Arum palaestinum (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan), are both in flower this week. These are both native to hot, dry summer climates, but adapt well to cultivation in both colder and wetter climates.
Looking great well into December is the North American native, Salvia chamaedryoides, known as Blue Oak sage. This evergreen, dryland native hails form 7,000′ to 9,000′ elevation in the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico. For us, it flowers heaviest in spring and fall, with dark, cobalt blue flowers. It’s one of the few silver leaf
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One of our favorite small trees for summer interest in the garden is the purple-leaf peach, Prunus persica ‘Bonfire’. Although the fruit is edible, it wasn’t selected for fruit quality, so don’t expect grocery store quality. We’re far more interested in the amazing foliage, which remains looking great during the summer. The other highlight is
Flowering now in the garden is the little-known South American (Chile/Argentina) cousin of tomatoes/potatoes, Fabiana imbricata. This oddity doesn’t have anything that we’d call true leaves. Instead, the upright stalks are clothed in evergreen green scales, and the stalks are topped with clusters of these unique honey-scented flowers. We found that dry, well-drained, partially sunny
Clematis ‘Sapphire Indigo’ is looking quite stunning in the garden. This fascinating clematis isn’t a vine or a clump. It could be best referred to as a short sprawler. We’ve used it throughout the gardens as a groundcover filler between both shrubs and other perennials. It doesn’t actually spread, because in the winter, it dies
In the hot, humid south, the word Dianthus is jokingly translated as “prepare to die”. As of this spring, we’ve grown 169 different dianthus taxa (different accessions). Of those, most are dead, a few are hanging on, and then a much smaller subset are absolutely thriving. Below are a few images from the spring garden
