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
The earliest of the Jack-in-the-pulpit species have begun to flower, starting with the consistently early Arisaema ringens. All of the arisaema shown below are woodland plants that thrive in rich, but well-drained, average to slightly moist (mesic) soils. Explore our full arisaema collection. Next in line this spring was the alluring Japanese, Arisaema mayebarae. A
One of the wild gingers that consistently sails through our winters without a blemish is the shockingly hardy, Asarum crassum. Asarum crassum is endemic to two small uninhabited islands off the south coast of Japan, Ucchima and Ujimukaeshima. Where they grow in the wild, the temperature never freezes, so, why are they so winter hardy? The
The first of the cobra lilies are up and flowering already. Arisaema ringens is already in full flower at JLBG, sporting its diabolical-looking inflorescences, tucked among the tropical looking foliage. This is one of the easiest arisaema species to grow over a wide range of climates. Hardiness is Zone 5a-9b.
Cobras are Active Read More »
One of our goals at Juniper Level Botanic Garden is to secure a wide diversity of species and, where possible, a wide range of genetic material for each species. Our specialty collections focus on preserving genetic germplasm through ex-situ conservation, scientific and taxonomic research, plant breeding, and sharing of unique, native, and rare perennials. Here
Genetic variability is the spice of life! Read More »
The bright red fruit of Rohdea japonica, the Japanese sacred lily, are showy all fall and winter so we wait to collect them until after our Winter Open Garden and Nursery so our guests can enjoy them and realize that this is another ornamental aspect of Rohdea. The fruit are worn by these plants like
False Advertising Read More »
One of our frustrations in introducing little-known plants is that they often don’t sell well, despite being superb garden plants. One such is Dryopteris stenolepis. Dryopteris stenolepis is a beautifully symmetrical evergreen, 18″ tall x 3′ wide clumping fern that hails from streamside slopes at 2,000′-7,000′ from India and Nepal and into southern China and
Narrow Scale Fern Read More »
I first met Aspidistra bogneri, when I crawled through a dense jungle of limbs in North Vietnam’s Ha Giang Province in 2005. There I was, face to face with a 5′ tall cast iron plant. Until that moment, I didn’t know such a plant even existed. Fast forward, 19 years later, it’s currently flowering in
Casting Around in Bogner’s Shadow Read More »
Looking lovely in the mid-January winter garden is the fern, Neolepisorus fortunei ‘Green Ribbons’. This fascinating evergreen fern looks nothing like what most gardeners are familiar with, when they think ferns. Neolepisorus is one of several genera of ferns, known as ribbon ferns. These ferns grow epiphytically (on trees) and lithophytically (on rocks), mostly in
Decorate the Woodland with Green Ribbons Read More »
I was lucky enough to catch the winter fruit show on our clump of Iris foetidissima last weekend. This little-known, evergreen, woodland iris from southern Europe, suffers because of its specific epithet “foetidissima”, which means stinking. That’s probably a bit much coming from someone with hundreds of amorphophallus clones. The name reportedly was given because
