Raise your hand if you’ve grown macbridea in the garden. Raise your hand if you’ve even heard of macbridea. This cute North American native (NC, SC, GA) bog mint has really impressed us in the garden. Flowering started in the last few weeks, and shows no sign of abating. We’re always cautious with mint relatives,
Lycoris (surprise or hurricane lillies) season has begun in earnest. We’ve already had 97 diffrerent clones to flower and the season is young. In a typical year, we usually flower between 300 and 400 different selected clones. Here are a few that have looked good so far. The top three are spring-leaf varieties, and as
Surprise…the lycoris have begun Read More »
As a plant breeder, one of the cool things we get to do is observe the diversity that arises from a single cross. In some cases, the diversity shows up in the first generation (F1), while in other cases, the first set of offspring need to have sex with each other for the diversity in
Our patch of Aloe cooperi has been beautiful in flower this summer, but every time I see it, my mind automatically associates it with rocker, Alice Cooper. I guess he made quite an impression on me as a child. Aloe cooperi is the hardiest of the aloes, first cousin to the better known Aloe vera.
Cooperi…Aloe, not Alice Read More »
Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hush Puppy’ is a very vigorous fountain grass from the breeding program of Wayne Hanna at the University of Georgia, the result of their fountain grass sterilization program. Other introductions from this program include ‘Cayenne’, ‘Etouffee’, and ‘Jambalaya’. In the garden Pennisetum ‘Hush Puppy’ forms a 3′ tall x 4′ wide clump that
It’s been a great month for crinum lilies in the garden, so here are a few of our more recent images. Crinums are native in the wild to Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Some are winter hardy to Zone 7, while others are completely happy in Zone 6.
Sinningia ‘Pink Pockets’ was a Plant Delights/JLBG introduction in 2011…a hardy gesneriad that had thrived in our in ground trials. Here it is this week, planted in 2005 and still performing superbly in part sun. We love plants that stand the test of time in the garden.
This summer, two of our spiking clumps of Agave ovatifolia became dislodged from the ground during a violent thunderstorm. We wondered if they would still set viable seed despite being without roots, since the energy built up from 15 years of growth was still in the foliage. We made several crosses without having to set
I’ve fallen and I can’t get up Read More »
We have a rather large collections of crinum lilies at JLBG and occasionally take time to make a few crosses. One of our recent selections is one we’ve named Crinum ‘Delerium’. Flowering again this week, this is a cross of Crinum variabile and Crinum bulbispermum, meaning it should be winter hardy in Zone 6. We
Delerium in the Garden Read More »
Don’t let the name fool you, Hymenocallis caribaea ‘Tropical Giant’, as this North American native spider lily (Northern Mexico) has been hardy in our garden (zone 7b) without any protection since 2000. It’s flowering season has begun here at JLBG. Unlike some hymenocallis which require moist soils, this one will grow darn near anywhere. The
A Not so Tropical Giant Read More »
