Two of our favorite elephant ears from John Cho’s breeding program in Hawaii are looking great in the garden now. The top is Colocasia ‘Maui Sunrise’, while the bottom is the more compact, Colocasia ‘Waikiki’. View JLBG’s Colocasia specialty collection gallery.
Hawaiian Happiness Read More »
Colocasia ‘Redemption’ is looking rather exceptional in the garden now. We are thrilled to be able to offer Brian Williams’ amazing elephant ear introduction. If you’d like a little pizzaz in your summer garden, this is for you.
Lookin’ for Redemption Read More »
We truly love the dwarf ginger lily, Hedychium ‘Slim’s Orange’. Not only is it the earliest ginger lily to flower, but it’s also one of the smallest and most floriferous. The photo below was taken a few weeks ago in mid-June. I can’t imagine gardening without this amazing selection, first shared with us by Raleigh
Emerging from their winter rest in mid-June are the miniature elephant ears. These little-known plants make fascinating garden specimens (Zone 7b south), and great container specimens further north. All of these mature at around 1-1.5′ tall, when happy. They are slow spreaders via very short rhizomes. By far, the fastest grower of the bunch is
The first of the cobra lilies are up and flowering already. Arisaema ringens is already in full flower at JLBG, sporting its diabolical-looking inflorescences, tucked among the tropical looking foliage. This is one of the easiest arisaema species to grow over a wide range of climates. Hardiness is Zone 5a-9b.
Our title is obviously borrowed from the 1961 Chubby Checker song, which few people reading this, probably remember. Abutilon ‘Twister’ is looking absolutely elegant now in the fall garden. This amazing flowering maple hybrid from the folks at California’s Monterrey Bay Nursery, has thrived here since 2005, enduring several single digit F. winters. For us,
Let’s Twist Again, Like we did Last Summer Read More »
We’ve planted quite a few forms of our native Sabal palmetto through the years. Only two have survived long term; the the form from Bald Head Island, NC, and one propagated from an ancient specimen in Mt. Holly, NC, just west of Charlotte. Taken recently, our Mt. Holly specimen is now 22 years old. It’s
Mt. Holly Palmetto Read More »
Our oldest, 21 year-old Cycas taitungensis finally decided to flower this year, but it waited until three months after all the other cycads had finished coning. Plants in the genus Cycas are dioecious, with male and female cones on separate plants. Our specimen turned out to be a female, and by the time we finally
Here’s a new banana to add to the list of hardy species, Musa haekkinenii. This very new, compact-growing, species was first published in 2013, and named after Finnish Musa expert, Markku Häkkinen. Genetically, it’s a relative of Musa coccinea & Musa exotica, that hails from Phú Thọ Province of Northern Vietnam, where it was discovered
Hankerin’ for Hakkinen’s Banana Read More »
We are thrilled at the performance of the little-known banana, Musa nagesium var. hongii. Our plants are from the recently discovered population in Northeast India, which is a good jaunt from the formerly known populations in Yunnan, China. These sailed through our cold winter, and have exploded in growth during our hot summer. We love
