The North American (Durango, Mexico) native, Hymenocallis durangoensis, has been absolutely spectacular this month in the garden, where we grow it in full sun, in average to moist soils. Sadly, this spider lily never sells very well, so we keep having to dump our surplus nursery stock at years end. We’re just stubborn enough to
We are infatuated with the dwarf Greek daphne, Daphne jasminea, that lights up our dryland rock garden with small, white, star-shaped flowers in May and June. For us, flowering also continues sporadically throughout the summer. Our five year old specimen has reached 8″ tall x 20″ wide.
Look down at the White Stars Read More »
We are just wrapping up the early spring lily season in the garden, and here are few we captured images of this year. Lilium formosanum var. pricei ‘Hehuan’ is a dwarf form of the Taiwan lily, from our 2008 expedition, collected at 9,300′. It blooms two months before the much taller, lowland form Lilium formosanum
Flowering this week at JLBG is the little known, woody, vining Hydrangea ampla. Originally discovered in Sichuan, China, it has recently been discovered and collected in Northern Vietnam, often under the name Hydrangea megalocarpa, which is almost certainly the same plant. Our specimen, from an Ozzie Johnson/Scott McMahon collection, has thrived with no damage since
On a 2020 trip to the UK, I purchased a plant labeled Acanthus spinosus ‘Ferguson’s Form’ from our friends at Cotswold Garden Flowers. In the six years since, it’s turned out to be one of the most stunning clones of bears breech we’ve ever seen. Below is a garden photo taken this week. We don’t
One of the most amazingly stunning North American native plants we’ve ever had the pleasure to introduce is Saururus cernus ‘Hertford Streaker’. Below is it in the nursery this week. This perennial is found in swampy bogs from Canada south to Texas. In smaller and more intricate gardens, it’s probably not appropriate since it is
Join me for another round of trillium photos that capture many of the later blooming species and hybrids grown here at JLBG. These typically wrap up here around mid-to-late April, depending on the weather. We hope this stirs up interest in this amazing group of perennials, especially the little-known species that hail from the southeast
Trilliums – Sound the Bell for Round 2 Read More »
I’ve always loved the genus Mukdenia, since first spying it cliffside on a 1997 botanical expedition through South Korea. This monotypic genus currently belongs is the Saxifragaceae family…think Tiarella, Heuchera, and Astilbe. Although, it’s typically grown as a woodland plant, we tried one clump of Mukdenia rossii ‘Karasuba’ in our full sun crevice garden, planted
With a Name like Mukers, It’s Gotta Be Good Read More »
One of my personal favorites in the very early spring garden is the amazing Chloranthus japonicus. This delightful Asian (China, Japan, Korea, and Russia) native is naturally found in moist woodlands, growing streamside, up to 6,000′ elevation. In the garden, it forms a 15″ tall x 20″ wide clump. We have found it very easy
Essentially Essoteric Read More »
One of the earliest bulbous plants to pop up in the garden is Fritillaria verticillata, also known as Fritillaria thunbergii. This Central Asian native has no problem starting to grow while low temperatures are still in the teens F. The leaves form hooks at the end in case climbing on a neighbor is needed. Within
