One of the most colorful plants of the fall garden is Clerodendrum speciosissimum ‘Arkansas Hardy’. This Indonesian native is rightly listed as only hardy to Zone 9 by most sources. Years ago, however, Arkansas customer, David Cockrell, told us about a form that was winter hardy there, which he later shared. His clone, shown below
Leucophyllum langmaniae ‘Purple Lion’ is the second selection of barometer bush that has thrived for us, since 2019. This is another collection from the amazing field work of plantsman, Patrick McMillan. Hailing from north of Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, this cold and heat/humidity tolerant clone has been an amazing performer in our garden, forming
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Looking absolutely dazzling in early August is our plant of Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Silver Spirit’. For decades we tried to grow this Southwestern US (Utah, Arizona, and Texas) native, but failed over and over again with winter survival, until Patrick McMillan shared cuttings of his Uvalde, Texas collection. After five years in the ground, it’s still
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It’s July, which means we’re enjoying the crazy flower clusters of Mucuna cyclocarpa. This vigorous, but non-invasive vine, from Southeastern China, flowers non-stop for us, from July until late September. The rubbery-feeling flowers resemble huge grape clusters. This self-sterile vine needs two clones to set viable seed, which is probably a good thing. Full sun,
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After peak hydrangea season is long in the rear view mirror, the Japanese/Taiwanese Hydrangea involucrata erupts in flower. For us, that means August and September in NC. The main clone on the market (pictured below) is Hydrangea involucrata ‘Wim Rutten’, from Dutch plant breeder, Catherine Rutten. Our garden specimen is now just over six years
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Flowering this week in the garden is the little-known, Hydrangea hypoglauca. Hydrangea taxonomy has been in a bit of flux, especially within the group of species that comprise the Hydrangea heteromalla complex. One of the taxonomic segregates from that group is Hydrangea hypoglauca, which hails from forested mountains between 600 and 12,000′ elevation in the
We’ve assemble a decent collection of Hydrangea through the years, and while we love them all, it’s hard to to beat the Japanese/Korean mountain hydrangea selection, ‘Mak20’. This creation was a seedling from Hydrangea serrata ‘Maiko’, selected by the breeders at Michigan’s Spring Meadow Nursery. Our oldest plants are now eleven years old, and they
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Putting on quite a show now is the little-known Chinese crape myrtle species, Lagerostroemia limii. In the wild, this lowland species is only found in the Chinese provinces of Fujian, Hubei, and Zhejiang. Unlike, Lagerostroemia indica and L. faureii which have smooth bark, this species has rough, furrowed bark. The leaves are also many times larger
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After a long and magnificent flowering season, we’re now enjoying the fruit of the Gloriosa lily, Gloriosa superba. This sprawling vine has an odd distribution that includes both the Indian subcontinent, as well as Central and Southern Africa. There are many names in the genus, since through the years, taxonomists have named seemingly every variation.
Something Seedy about Gloriosa Read More »
I first met orchid trees on a Florida vacation when I was quite young, amazed at both the fascinating leaves and the unique flowers. At the time, I assumed the entire genus to be tropical. I was decades later, when I discovered that in fact there are a few Zone 7 winter hardy species. Our
