Late summer and fall are a great time to enjoy the plumes of our US native ornamental grass, Panicum virgatum. Here are two photos from the garden this week. The first is one of my favorites, the giant Panicum ‘Cloud 9’…an introduction from Maryland’s defunct Bluemount Nursery. Below this is a new dwarf, blue-foliage introduction
It’s a grass, don’t panic…umm Read More »
We admit to a long-standing case of buckwheat envy. Every visit to the worlds great rock gardens, such as the Denver Botanic Garden, leave us lusting to grow the rock garden genus, eriogonum. We’ve killed many members of the genus, since they truly hate our humid and wet summers. Even our crevice garden was no
Long-leaf Buckwheet Read More »
Early fall is peak ginger lily season, and Hedychium ‘Anne Bishop’ is looking particularly stunning this week. This amazing cultivar always ranks near the very top of our favorites list.
Late summer/early fall is show season for Eryngium aquaticum var. ravenelii…a superb southeast native plant that’s almost unknown by native plant enthusiasts. In the wild, it grows in seasonally flooded ditches, but in the garden at JLBG, our plants thrive in typical garden soil with an average amount of moisture. Here are our plants flowering
Reveling in Ravenel’s Rattlesnake Master Read More »
We were harvesting our abundant fig crop last week, and were astounded by the number of green June Beetles also enjoying the ripe figs. This indulging makes the beetles into a sweet and tasty snack for the likes of crows, grackles, blue jays, and mockingbirds. After gorging themselves through the summer, the beetles burrow 6-8″
The parade of Lycoris (surprise lilies) continue into their third consecutive month as we move through September. The key for a succession of flowers is having a large number of cultivars. So far at JLBG, we have flowered 300 different cultivars this summer. Here are a few recent ones. The varieties which form fall foliage
The Surprises Continue Read More »
We are fascinated with the wonderful genus zephyranthes (rain lilies). Zephyranthes are unobtrusive, summer-flowering bulbs that can fit in any garden, with a flower color ranging from yellow to white to pink. The great thing about zephyranthes is the lack of large foliage that often accompanies many other spring-flowering bulbs, so site them in the
This is one of the rare summers we actually got flowers on Amaryllis belladonna in the gardens at JLBG. The only problem is that they aren’t really Amaryllis belladonna. This poor South African native has suffered a series of nomenclatural mix ups over the last 250 years, that sadly continues today. First was the battle
The Case of The Beautiful Imposter Read More »
Just caught this image of two North American (Northern Mexico) natives snuggled up closely together in the garden. At top is one of the spider lilies, Hymenocallis acutifolia, and wrapped around its ankles is Tradescantia pallida. We truly love Tradescantia pallida as a great combination-enhancing perennial that’s completely winter hardy here in Zone 7b.
Hemerocallis ‘Autumn Daffodil’ was introduced in 1949, but remains one of the most incredible daylilies we grow here at JLBG. The 3′ tall, branched, sturdy, upright stems are topped with an abundance of amazing highly fragrant yellow flowers starting in July.
Old Fashioned, but not out of Fashion Read More »
