If you’re looking for a great chance to learn more about plants for rock gardening, we’d love to have you join our virtual symposium this Saturday, February 10, 2024 from noon till 4pm, EST. The four speakers are: Rod and Elisabeth Zander of CT on their amazing rock garden; Paul Spriggs (Canada), co-author on The […]
Rockin’ this Saturday Read More »
Working outside last weekend, I unknowingly uncovered this Southern ring-neck snake (Diadophis punctatus), who I’m sure was trying to stay warm. These cute snakes have one of the largest distributions of any North American native snake, ranging from Canada south to Florida. As many snakes as I’ve run across, I can’t specifically remember spotting one
Sneakily Ringing in the New Year Read More »
Last week, we were chatting on-line with one of our lycoris experts from China about the different forms of Lycoris aurea, when they mentioned the different foliage types that could be found in each region of China where the plant occurs. I should mention that the yellow-flowering Lycoris aurea has the widest native range of
One of the most interesting discoveries over the last few years, is the realization that our rohdeas are mating with other rohdea species in the garden. Below is our first documented hybrid between the commonly grown Rohdea japonica and the little-known Taiwan native, Rohdea chinensis var. watanabei. We use the name Rohdea x japensis for
Flowering in early December, this is our first time to see blooms on a cast iron plant collected for us in 2018, by the late Alan Galloway in northern Vietnam. It didn’t take but a glance to realize that it represents another new, undescribed cast iron plant species. Our taxonomist, Zac Hill, has already been
A Cast of Hundreds Read More »
We make crosses on our flowering agaves during the early summer, then in some cases, must wait until fall to see if we were successful. If we don’t get pods formed within a few weeks, we know that the particular cross was a failure, but in some cases, the cross forms pods, but there is
To Breed or Not to Breed Read More »
In case you missed it, the USDA just issued their Updated Winter Hardiness Map, led by former PDN/JLBG staffer, Dr. Todd Rounsaville. While the results show an expected warming trend, the results are a bit concerning from the point of view of what plants people will be encouraged to plant. You can find the new
Hardiness Har Har Read More »
JLBG/PDN was thrilled to recently host the attendees of the Southeastern Region meeting of the International Plant Propagators Society (IPPS) in late October. The society is open to anyone actively involved in the art/science of plant propagation. Attendees are usually split between green industry professional, allied trades, academic educators, and horticultural students. This is the
The Came, They Saw, They Shared, and They Propgated Read More »
Walking through the nursery this week, we spotted a fascinating triangle orbweaver spider (Verrucosa arenata). These cuties are usually seen in late summer and fall in open woodlands. Their diet focuses on small insects such as mosquitoes, but cause no harm to humans, except arachnophobes. We love the color echo with the ground fabric and
Itsy Bitsy Orb Spider Read More »
I recently had the opportunity to visit the grape breeding trial garden of grape savant, Jeff Bloodworth of Orange County, NC. I didn’t realize it until my visit that Jeff, now 73, and I were in the Horticulture Department at NC State together from the mid to late 1970s. While I was starting on my
