We were recently bushhogging an overflow nursery parking area, which is a fallow field, that includes quite a few tree seedlings, primarily Liquidambar styraciflua. During the six-hour mowing exercise, I discovered three different variegated clones of our native sweet gum, each growing about 100 feet apart. Recent research has documented that mowing off woody plants
Our New Gums Make us Smile Read More »
We’ve grown Pink Mist calla lily for decades, and have rarely seen a flower, so a couple of years ago, we transplanted one to a much more moist site, where the species, Zantedeschia aethiopica grows in the wilds of South Africa. While it persisted for years in our garden, in average moisture garden soil, it’s
Can’t Miss Pink Mist Read More »
While most folks from Zone 7 and north are quite familiar the English, Japanese, and European boxwoods of the genus, Buxus, gardeners in hotter climates had to turn to a substitue plant with similar traits for their climate. That plant is Myrsine africana, a woody member of the Primula family, which gained the common name,
Ten months ago, we wrote about our purchase of a special, one of a kind, variegated form of Agave utahensis, that we named Agave ‘Liberty’. Because of its size, we knew it would be flowering soon, and as such, permanently lost. Before it initiated flower buds, we beheaded it, which in theory, should cause it
An update on our Liberty Read More »
One of the oddest, and consequenty, coolest ferns we grow in the garden is Lepisorus palmatopedatus, which translates in to palm-foot, scaly-sori fern. We’ve grown this Chinese (Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou) oddity for over three years, and it justs gets better each year, spreading slowly, via an underground rhizome. For us, it’s been mostly evergreen
Our oldest clumps of Heuchera ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ are still looking great after nine years in the garden. Most modern coral bells have a garden life expectancy about as long as an unwatered and unplanted cell pack of annuals. We’re thrilled to have such amazing clones, such as this Walters Gardens introduction, to share.
I’ve got a new favorite blue conifer, in a climate where most blue conifers fear to tread. Cedrus atlantica ‘Horstmann’ is a 1970’s selection from Germany’s Horstmann’s Nursery, that forms a very compact specimen. Our seven year old plant has reached 7′ tall x 5′ wide, without any type of opressive control. Typical blue Atlas
Blue Atlas Shrugged Read More »
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 »
