Perhaps you will read this post and decide you have not learned anything, so forgive me in advance. But some occurrences in the garden are just so charming they require nothing more of us than to just enjoy. This photo of a happy family of five voodoo lily flowers caught my attention. They appear to
Eavesdropping on Amorphophallus Read More »
Flowering today is the lovely Alophia drummondii, a small southeast/midwest (Mississippi to Oklahoma) native iris relative, that’s virtually unknown to both gardeners and nurseries. The narrow leaves are easy to overlook, but the small, intricate flowers atop 2′ tall stalks, certainly grab your attention when it bursts into flower, starting for us in mid-June. This
Pineywoods Purple Iris Read More »
As gardeners, we have a slightly different take on the words from Neil Diamond’s popular oldie of the same name. As Diamond writes; Where it began, I can’t begin to know whenBut then I know it’s growin’ strongWas in the spring, and spring became the summerWho’d have believe you’d come along? In our case, we
Sweet Carolyn…a Diamond in the Rough Read More »
As a general rule, native plants to California aren’t supposed to thrive in hot, humid NC, but from time to time, we find some fascinating surprises. One in particular is Anemopsis californica (Yerba mansa), which despite its origin has thrived for us, and has made a patch over 10′ wide in the garden. Although it’s
Moving from California Read More »
Hosta ‘Sunshine Floozie’ is looking great in the garden this week. This 2019 Plant Delights/JLBG introduction has a superb floral show in addition to making a great clump of foliage and is a hybrid that resulted from a series of crosses including Hosta ‘Dancing Queen’ and Hosta ‘Branching Out’. Unfortunately, it didn’t sell nearly as
We love the south Brazilian native, Abutilion megapotamicum, which as you can see, is looking absolutely fabulous in the garden. This amazing plant makes a towering stack of thin branches, each laden with hundreds of bright red calyces above the yellow bell-shaped flowers. This abutilon dies back to the ground when our winter temperatures drop
Brazilian Bellflower Read More »
We’re loving the amazing Agastache ‘Pink Pearl’ in the garden. This incredible Terra Nova introduction is the most densely flowering agastache clone we’ve ever grown. These are our two year old clumps in the drier part of the garden. As long as you give these a sunny, well-drained spot, they’ll reward you with an incredible
Discovering Pink Pearls in the Garden Read More »
Looking great in mid-January in our crevice garden, is the shrubby Mediterranean native, Teucrium marum, known more widely as kitty crack. The incredibly fragrant foliage is enough to drive your cats wild…far beyond anything you’ve seen from its cousin, Nepeta catarica (cat nip), which is also in the Lamiaceae family. It you really want to
A Crack full of Kitty Crack Read More »
Our title is obviously borrowed from the 1961 Chubby Checker song, which few people reading this, probably remember. Abutilon ‘Twister’ is looking absolutely elegant now in the fall garden. This amazing flowering maple hybrid from the folks at California’s Monterrey Bay Nursery, has thrived here since 2005, enduring several single digit F. winters. For us,
Let’s Twist Again, Like we did Last Summer Read More »
I posted photos earlier from our lycoris selection back in August, but the season extends through September and into October. Below are some of the later flowering varieties. With a selection of cultivars, you can easily have a lycoris in flower from early July until mid October. Lycoris ‘Tipping Point’ looks like the common Lycoris
The Last Surprises Read More »
