Looking lovely in the late July garden is the rare North American native Allium oxyphyllum. This little-known species hails from the shale barren (eroded, and often baking steep slopes of degraded shale) region of Virginia and West Virginia, where it is extremely rare, with a global G2 rank. The 1′ tall x 1′ wide clump
One of our favorite summer flower natives, that’s looking great in the water garden now, is the stunning water hemlock, Cicuta maculata. Although it’s native across all of North America, it’s rarely grown in gardens. Perhaps this is because nurseries like us, are terrified to offer a perennial plant that contains such a highly effective
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 »
If you want to create a colorful, fire-like spark in your woodland garden, without endangering your neighbors, there are few plants better than our 2021 introduction, Lychnis senno ‘Once in a Vermillion’. This Chinese woodland native catchfly, has proven both durable and reliable, starting to flower for us in July, and continuing through September. Below
A Cool Forest Fire Read More »
We were recently checking our nursery swamp pink seedlings of Sabatia foliosa and to our surprise we found that most of the offspring looked nothing like the parent. Unbeknownst to us, our garden plant from which we gathered seed had been sexually involved with a nearby Sabatia kennedeyana. The resulting crop of plants were perfectly
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It’s hard to resist humming the Village People’s 1979 disco tune, In the Navy, every year when the amazing Agapanthus ‘Navy Blue’ comes into full bloom. From our kitchen window, it’s certainly looking quite stunning in the summer garden. Although a single flower head isn’t as large as some other cultivars, the mere show power
Flowering now is the amazing Hymenocallis azteciana, from Northern Mexico. The wide glacous foliage, which doesn’t emerge until June, is enough reason to grow this dazzling spider lily, but the clumps are also topped with 3′ tall spikes of narrow-petalled white flowers, which open each evening. Our form is from an original collection in Jalisco,
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Hibiscus ‘Summer Carnival’ is looking rather exceptional and unfazed in the garden, as we approach a week of temperatures in the 100s F. This amazing introduction from plant breeder Hans Hansen at Walters Gardens is the first stable variegated hardy hibiscus. This can be grown as a marginal aquatic, or as we have it planted
A Hot Summer Carnival Read More »
We’ve grown Pink Mist calla lily for decades, and have rarely seen a flower, so a couple of years ago, we transplanted one to a much more moist site, where the species, Zantedeschia aethiopica grows in the wilds of South Africa. While it persisted for years in our garden, in average moisture garden soil, it’s
Can’t Miss Pink Mist Read More »
Cornus kousa ‘Akatsuki’ and Asclepias perennis putting on a lovely light show in the summer garden. The white flowers of the native asclepias are a bright color echo of the white variegation of the dogwood. Cornus kousa ‘Akatsuki’, Asclepias perennis
