Flowering this week in the garden is Cymbidium (pronounced “Some Biddy Yum”) goeringii ‘Datuanyuan’. The evergreen foliage of this woodland, terrestrial orchid, resembles a clump of monkey grass, until it starts flowering in early March. While we have grown these for decades, this is the first flowering of this special cultivar with rounded petals and
Some Biddy Yum flowers Read More »
With a tribute to the Frankie Laine theme song for the 1950/1960s television western, the cast iron plant that bears the same name is equally as tough and long lasting. We offered this amazing, compact selection of Aspidistra sichuanensis for several years, but sadly, it never sold very well, possibly due to its slow growth
Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’…Rawhide Read More »
Looking rather nice in the garden in mid-winter is the yellow-fruited, Rohdea japonica ‘Golden Eggs’. We’re now on our third generation, and have been please to find that all of our offspring that have fruited so far, come true to color from seed. We picked up our original plant a Japanese auction over a decade
Golden Eggs in the Garden Read More »
Looking handsome in the winter woodland is Polystichum dracomontanum. While most garden polystichums are either American or Asian in origin, this gem hails from South Africa. The specific epithet “dracomontanum” translates to Dragon Mountain, and in this case indicates that the plant is from the Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa. Although I spent a bit
Dragon Mountain Fern 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
One of the real stars from our woodland garden trials is the new hardy begonia, Begonia ‘Sterling Moon’. This Ozzie Johnson creation has both heat and cold tolerance, something sadly lacking in all of the Pacific Northwest hybrids we’ve trialed. So far, it’s survived single digits F, and weeks over 100 F in summer. We
We usually don’t think of seed as being one of the more showy part of the plants, but that’s not the case with the Southeast Asian (Japan, China, Taiwan) native, Amorphophallus kiusianus. After flowering, these form a stunning seed head, usually atop a 2-3′ tall stalk. The berries first turn pink, then over a course
Looking great in the woodland garden now is the amazing Asian (China, Korea, Manchuria) native Solomon’s Seal, Disporum flavens. This species is probably the showiest of the genus, putting on a tremendous show in spring garden. While there are both running and clumping species in the genus, Disporum, this gem remains in a nice clump.
Is anyone other than us growing, the Japanese woodland perennial, Ainsliaea cordifolia? This odd member of the aster family has strikingly patterned foliage, but for us, has been painfully slow to grow. The plant below is all we have after 18 years of cultivation of a plant we purchased originally from Barry Yinger’s Asiatica Nursery.
Who Knows Ainsliaea Read More »
The genus Asarum are primarily late winter flowering woodland perennials in the pipevine (Aristolochiaceae) family, that have long been a focus of our collection efforts. Asarum includes the former genus, Hexastylis, that Southeast US botanists still struggle emotionally to give up. We trim the previous years foliage away as the flowers emerge, so we can
Gingers are Ready and Willing Read More »
