Looking great in mid-November here is Echinacea ‘Tres Amigos’. For us, many of the hybrid coneflowers are repetitive flowering machines, if they are cut to ground after each flowering. And when we say cut to the ground, it could be one of two senarios: if the basal foliage is still looking good after flowering, you
Coneflower Matrix, Reloaded Read More »
Putting on quite a show this month is the North American native, Malvaviscus drummondii ‘Big Momma’. This supersize form has been flowering all summer, but continues unabated as we move into fall. In the wild, malvaviscus grows in dry shade, but we have found that slightly moist sun produces a much more showy plant. This
In 2022, we introduced Ruellia sp. nov. ‘Humility’, a new, still unpublished Southeast US native species, found in 2013, by our taxonomist, Zac Hill, in southern Alabama. Until it’s formally published with an official name, we gave it a cultivar. Not only is it easy to grow, and attractive in flower, but the October foliage
Who says there isn’t much flowering in fall? Our clump of Crinum ‘Lil’ Suzy’ is looking pretty amazing in early October. This little-known, but stunning hybrid was created by Texas plantsman Steve Lowe from a cross of Crinum scabrum x Crinum oliganthum. Crinum are one of Juniper Level Botanic Garden’s specialty collections which includes about
We love any plants that attract our native blue-winged wasps, Scolia dubia, to the garden, and few plants do that better in fall than the beautiful Sedum ‘Frosted Fire’. These amazing beneficial pollinators attack pesky insects like Japanese beetle grubs, so this is an insect you want to attract to your garden. In our area,
Blue wings and Pink flowers Read More »
Here is a photo of one our many superb rain lily selections, Zephyranthes ‘Summer Snow’. This is Not an exceptional display but a perfectly typical display that follows most every rain event in the summer. The rain lilies do not flower continuously but burst forth periodically over the many frost-free months of the year. One
Room for One More? No way! Read More »
Have you met Anna yet? This charmer is a member of the Gesneriad clan, first cousin to the better known African violets, sinningias, and gloxinias. Anna ophiorrhizoides has only been with us for a year and a half, but we’re certainly hoping to make this a long term relationship. Before she moved to North America,
An introduction to Anna Read More »
Most red hot pokers flower in late spring, but virtually none have been hybridized with the late summer/fall flowering, Kniphofia rooperi. One of our favorite Kniphofia rooperi hybrids flowering this time of year is Kniphofia ‘Yellow Cheer’, which we first imported from South Africa in 1995. Since then, it’s never failed to put on an
Yellow Cheer in Fall of the Year Read More »
Hypericum lloydii has looked great in the garden for the last few years. This little-known, imperiled (G4 rank) Southeastern US native, has shown excellent potential as a garden plant. In the wild, it’s found in dry open woodlands and woodland edges in well-drained soils in a narrow band from Virginia south to Alabama. In the
Lloyds St. John’s Wort Read More »
Goin’ bonkers in the garden in late August is the hardy South African spider plant, Chlorophytum bowkeri. Chlorophytum bowkeri is an African native (Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, and Zimbawae), non-running spider plant that can be found in damp grasslands and forest margins to 6,000′ elevation. In the garden, it has been an outstanding performer for
