Pretty as a Juice Newton song is our patch of Brunnera macrophylla ‘Queen of Hearts’. For so many decades, we struggled to keep any brunneras alive in our hot, humid summers. Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ was the first to survive here, but thrive is a word we never could really use to describe it. That all
Playing with the Queen of Hearts Read More »
Last year, we posted a grainy, bigfoot-worthy image of the new trout lily discovery, Erythronium umbillicatum ‘Parks Mill’. Now, that it’s better established, we thought it was worth of a better garden shot, although it’s still a single leaf. While this could probably be recreated via AI, it’s hard to plant an AI creation that
AI- Ay Ay Ay…What a Trout Lily Read More »
Flowering now in the garden is Daphne odora ‘Wild Winter’. This patterned leaf form was named and introduced by NC Nurseryman, Jason Stevens. The flowers are the same, super fragrant type of typical Daphne odora, which hails from Southern China, Vietnam, and Taiwan. In cultivation, good drainage is the key to success.
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Looking good in late-winter is the rare, Japanese holly selection, Ilex crenata ‘Kufujin’. This superb, rock-garden-sized specimen, grows slowly, to only 1′ tall x 2′ wide in a decade. This gem hails from Japan’s Ishiguro Nursery, first brought to the US, by retired Hawksridge Nursery manager, Rick Crowder. Hardiness is Zone 5a-9a.
Nice and Bright in the Rock Garden Read More »
Over the last decade, we’ve grown a large number of cast iron plants from seed, and due to the diversity of plants in our collection (228 unique taxa), the diversity of seedlings have also been quite astonishing. Below is the latest seedling of Aspidistra elatior, that we found worthy of the name, Aspidistra ‘Split Personality’.
What a lovely surprise to find our native liver leaf (Hepatica americana) in flower in the garden on Christmas day. This fabulous North American native, evergreen perennial, is found in moist woodlands, throughout the Eastern US. Because this collection is from Western South Carolina, it’s flowering months earlier than forms from colder regions. The common
Liver for Christmas Read More »
We truly love the amazing English boxwood, Buxus sempervirens ‘Elegantissima’ in the winter garden. We’ve never been able to track down it’s origin, but we know that it was grown in Europe around 1860. We’ve grown this in both sun and light shade, and while it thrives in both, the density of the foliage is
Our Favorite Christmas Box Read More »
We recently included a photo of this amazing cast iron plant in a garden vignette, but thought it was also deserving of a full frontal centerfold. Aspidistra sichuanensis ‘Spotty’ is one of 16 named cultivars we grow, of this wonderful species from Sichuan, China. This exceptional clone was selected by our friend, Sean Hogan of
It’s odd that one of the most talked about gardenias in our garden is one that never flowers, but such is the case for Gardenia jasminoides ‘Screech Owl’. This previously un-named gem was passed around by plant collectors for years, before we put on our hound dog gear and traced it’s origin back to Texas
Screaming Gardenia Read More »
We have been enjoying the amazing Cyclamen hederifolium in the fall garden. One of my favorites is Cyclamen hederifolium ssp. crassifolium, with its uniquely mottled foliage. Cyclamen hederifolium ssp. crassifolium is a subspecies of Cyclamen hederifolium from the Greek Peloponnese that was formally described in 2009 as being different from typical Cyclamen hederifolium in both
