Flowering for the last month is the amazing, winter-flowering Urophysa henryi. Formerly an Isopyrum, this rare Chinese endemic in the Ranunculaceae family, has thrived for over five years in our rock garden. Now that we finally have some spare seedlings, thanks to ours self-pollinating last year, we’ll be trying this around the garden to see
Urophysa…URO Star Read More »
Flowering in late February in the rock garden is the tiny bulb, Ornithogalum chionophyllum. This genus of onion relative has both some garden treasures and horrific weeds. This gem is a narrow endemic to the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus between 2,000′ and 6,000′ elevation. If the Troodos Mountain don’t sound familiar, perhaps you’ve heard of
Our 25 year old Magnolia platypetala has been spectacular over the last few weeks, until our recent lows in the teens. Not to worry, as the unopened flower buds should be fine. The fuzzy brown buds, which are beautiful in their own right, open to large, fragrant white flowers. Taxonomically, it’s often listed as a
Below is our clump of Yucca ‘Southern Twist’ in the garden this month. This is a plant we discovered in 2011, near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and have also found as far south as the Florida panhandle. The only problem is that this plant doesn’t technically exist, according to the botanical literature. It’s possible that it has
The Mystery Soapwort Read More »
Flowering now at JLBG is Galanthus elwesii ‘Mt. Everest’, a truly an amazing introduction in an already crowded field of snowdrops. This Galanthus elwesii selection appeared as a seedling for Holland’s Kwekerij De Schullhorn. It flowers on the early end of the galanthus season for most of the snowdrops we grow. We especially love the
Tall Drops of Snow Read More »
Looking great, despite our cold winter temperatures is the fabulous North American (Canada south to Alabama) native groundcover, Dentaria diphylla (aka: Cardamine diphylla). This woodland native spreads slowly via a thick rhizome, usually found at, or just below the soil surface. The silver-veined foliage often has a contrasting purple back in many clones. In our
Nothing Munches on Toothwort Read More »
With the consistent cold of late December/early January in our area, the flowering show of Christmas rose, Helleborus niger is lasting longer than is normal for us. These amazing evergreen perennials hail from Europe’s Balkan region. We find they thrive the best for us in very light shade or a couple of hours of morning
The Roses of Christmas Read More »
Flowering here in early January, is the little-known snowdrop, Galanthus snogerupii. This species hails from as very small region in central Greece. These are sometimes confused with Galanthus woronowii, and listed by some as a subspecies of Galanthus ikariae. Who says that plants can’t cheer you up on even the dreariest of days.
Hard to spell Snowdrop Read More »
We’ve tried many times to grow the common rock garden perennial, Cerastium tomentosum, commonly known as Snow in Summer. Its origin in the European Alps, has not exactly been a climate match for our hot, humid summers. A few years ago, we were excited to obtain seed from a Balkan native cerastium from Greek plantsman,
Snow in a Real Summer Read More »
While most plants are going dormant in winter, others have a seemingly backward schedule. One of those is our native cardamines. Below is our garden clump of Cardamine bulbosa, which emerged in late November, and is growing happily as we hit the new year. This cabbage family (Brassicaceae) member, native from North Dakota south to
It’s Grow time for Cardamines Read More »
