Looking amazing this month is the evergreen, southeast US native groundcover, Houstonia procumbens. Our selection of roundleaf bluets, Houstonia ‘White Clay’, is our 2003 cutting collection from Clay County, Florida. Originally discovered in 1902 in Charleston, South Carolina, and hailing from the southeastern US, (southeastern South Carolina west to eastern Louisiana), roundleaf bluets live their
Florida’s Houston-ia Read More »
Salvia glabrescens is a little-known (in gardening circles) woodland perennial sage from the mountains of Japan’s Honshu Island. We have been thrilled with their garden performance since 2005, but equally disappointed at their sales. Customers continually ask for fall-flowering plants for the woodland garden, yet fail to buy them when they are made available. Salvia
The Bald Sages of Fall Read More »
The genus Pancratium in the Amaryllid family has long been a garden favorite, despite few others gardeners growing them. There seem to be several etymological theories on the derivation of the name. The root, “Pagkration” means almighty in Greek. Consequently, some folks think the genus name refers to ancient Greek sport of pankration, which involves
Sickenberg’s Pancreas Flower Read More »
I first met orchid trees on a Florida vacation when I was quite young, amazed at both the fascinating leaves and the unique flowers. At the time, I assumed the entire genus to be tropical. I was decades later, when I discovered that in fact there are a few Zone 7 winter hardy species. Our
Hardy Orchid Tree Read More »
Here is a photo of one our many superb rain lily selections, Zephyranthes ‘Summer Snow’. This is Not an exceptional display but a perfectly typical display that follows most every rain event in the summer. The rain lilies do not flower continuously but burst forth periodically over the many frost-free months of the year. One
Room for One More? No way! Read More »
Have you met Anna yet? This charmer is a member of the Gesneriad clan, first cousin to the better known African violets, sinningias, and gloxinias. Anna ophiorrhizoides has only been with us for a year and a half, but we’re certainly hoping to make this a long term relationship. Before she moved to North America,
An introduction to Anna Read More »
Flowering in the garden this week is the virtually unknown geophyte, we fondly refer to as the Milli Vanilli lily, aka. Milla magnifica. Native from the Mexican states of Guerrero and Morelos, this unusual member of the onion family grows from a bulb that remains dormant until mid-June. Once the bulb breaks dormancy, the long,
Goin’ bonkers in the garden in late August is the hardy South African spider plant, Chlorophytum bowkeri. Chlorophytum bowkeri is an African native (Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, and Zimbawae), non-running spider plant that can be found in damp grasslands and forest margins to 6,000′ elevation. In the garden, it has been an outstanding performer for
In 2017, we blogged about our first white-flowered seedling of the South American oxblood lily, that we christened Rhodophiala bifida ‘White Surprise’. Fast forward seven years later, our original still lives, and we now have babies. Five years ago, we self-pollinated the original plant to see if the white trait would come true from seed.
Looking absolutely wonderful in the garden this month is our patch of the native Clethra tomentosa ‘Woodlander’s Sarah’. This splendid introduction from SC’s Woodlander’s Nursery is the finest, and most stable variegated form we’ve ever seen. Each leaf is randomly speckled with creamy white speks and sectors. Starting in late July, the clump bursts into
