Almost two years ago, when I first saw photos of Zantedeschia ‘Frozen Queen’, I was overly skeptical that this was the result of A-I or Photoshop. To find out for sure, I ordered a few for the garden to see for myself. Well, after over a year in the ground, below are the plants in
The Ice Queen Awakens Read More »
Although it was discovered by U.T. Waterfall (not making this up), in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, in 1966, and subsequently named in 1970, the Glade Bee Balm, Monarda stipitaglandulosa is still little-known in gardens. This is only found in Arkansas and adjacent Oklahoma, where is grows in glades and open woodlands, over alkaline rock. These odd
When I first read the 2010 paper describing the discovery of an orange-flowered Musella (dwarf yellow banana), I was hopelessly hooked, and my heart filled with lust. Hanging out at 4,000′ elevation in China’s Sichuan province was a previously undiscovered population of only 130 orange-flowered plants, compared the more typical yellow. When you have grown
If Live Gives you Bananas, Make ’em Orange Read More »
When the new Downtown Cary Park opened in Fall 2023, visiting plant people were shocked at the poor plant choices, many of which simply won’t survive the summer in the Raleigh, NC area. Sadly, this is an all to common occurrence, when landscape architects, instead of knowledgeable horticulturists make the plant selections. In looking through
Smokin’ Hot Grass in NC Read More »
Eriobotrya japonica ‘Ghostbuster’ is our new loquat seedling, grown from seed from our spring, speckled-leaf selection in the garden. While most of the seedlings show some degree of speckling in spring, this gem is by far, the cream of the crop, with no sign of foliar burn. The foliage ages to green in summer, giving
Somethin’ Strange in your Neighbors Garden…Who ya Gonna Call? Read More »
Epimedium breeding has come so far in the last few years, they look nothing like some of the still commonly sold selections. Below are just a few fairy wings that look amazing now at JLBG from our recent photo sessions. Looking absolutely amazing in the garden is Epimedium ‘Lyrical Lemonade’. In the history of fairy
Red Bull may give you Wings, but we prefer Fairy Wings Read More »
While we love the typical redbuds that we’re all familiar with in our garden, only one plant stands out in the genus, as a true shade tree. While most redbuds that gardeners know, mature at 10-20′ tall, Cercis glabra towers above them all at a whopping 50-60′. This long-lived redbud is sadly virtually absent in
Last year, we posted fall pictures of our Sabal bermudana in full green leaf, but we would also like to share a current photo of the same specimen in its winter dress. As you can imagine, being from Bermuda, this palm isn’t enamored with our cold winter temperatures. Consequently, any nights that fall below 20
Flowering now in the garden is one of the rarest of the lenten rose hybrids, Helleborus x belcheri ‘Pink Ice’. This cross of the European Helleborus niger and the Chinese Helleborus thibetanus, was developed by Kevin Belcher at the UK’s Ashwood Nurseries. Since Helleborus thibetanus has been a miserable failure in our hot summer climates,
Belching in the Winter Garden Read More »
Ceratozamia microstrobila has been an amazing cycad in our trials, as you can see from the recent photo below. This rare species hails from the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains of Northern Mexico (Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosi), where there are only six populations remaining in the wild. Our 13 year old garden specimens have thrived in
