North Carolina State University has long had a commercial peach breeding program, but every now and then, a seedling emerges that may not have store quality fruit, but has instead good ornamental traits. Two of my favorites from their program are below. The first is Prunus persica ‘NCSU Dwarf Double Red’. I first saw this
With Peaches, beauty is more than skin deep Read More »
Here’s a fun spring color echo in the garden, where Yucca smalliana ‘Bright Edge’ is using Agave ‘Cordial Canary’ as a complimentary skirt and groundcover.
Spring Color Echo Read More »
Trillium oostingii by Doug Ruhren Trillium season does truly start at the turn of the calendar year, in a small way one might argue, but indeed the earliest do start in late December and early January, just foliage at first but it is the mottled foliage of the sessile trilliums that is so beautiful. One
Our Eastern US native sand myrtle, Kalmia buxifolia is a far cry from its better-known cousin, mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia. This is why for many years, it was placed in an entirely different genus, Leiophyllum. This more diminutive cousin prefers moist acidic sandy soils. Our collection from NC’s Brunswick County has made itself right at
We always celebrate when the Chinese tree peony species, Paeonia ostii bursts into flower, which for us, is usually mid-March. This is always the first peony to flower for us. Our oldest specimen below is now 21 years old, and measures 4′ tall x 7′ wide, so the term “tree” peony probably should be replaced
Tree’d by a Peony Read More »
One of the great groundcovers for small spaces is the Asian (SE China, Korea, and Japan) native, Mazus miquelii. For us, this 1-2″ tall, stunning groundcover bursts forth in flower, starting for us in mid-March. Its soil preference is for average to moist growing conditions. Recent taxonomic work has shown all material known commercially as
Messin’ with Mazus Read More »
We’ve passed the two year mark for our plant of the terrestrial orchid, Pleione ‘Alishan’. Our clump produced 2 flowers last year, but has expanded to 7 flowering stems since last spring. Last year, we planted several others varieties, so are still awaiting their emergence….fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.
It’s back! Pleione returns Read More »
The earliest of the pasque flowers of the genus, Pulsatilla have begun to flower in the crevice/rock garden. The common name “pasque” is a reference to the flowering period, which typically coincides with Passover/Easter. The genus is native to Europe, Asia, and North America, where they reside primarily in the colder, drier regions of each.
Pass the Pasque Flower Read More »
We were late wading into the epimedium craze, and without the assistance of epimedium guru, Darrell Probst, still might not have done so. Up until the mid 2000s, we had avoided epimediums, due to both their confusing taxonomy as well as the lack of many showy garden forms. Early introductions such as Epimedium x rubrum,
A Fluttering of Fairy Wings Read More »
Our extensive collection of loropetalums are looking great this spring. Loropetalum ‘GrifCRL‘, marketed as Little Rose Dawn, is especially stunning this week. The main problem with loropetalums is that when people plant them, either they don’t pay attention to the mature sizes, or they believe the lies that persist on far too many nursery plant
Lots of petals on the Loropetalums Read More »
