Grass of Parnassus

In flower now at JLBG is the rarely seen, Southeast native, Parnassia caroliniana. This amazing, but difficult to grow bog perennial begins flowering for us in mid-November. Even more odd than the plant itself, are it’s relatives. It’s a member of the Celastraceae, meaning its cousins include the genus, Euonymus, and the bittersweet vine, Celastrus.

In the wild, it’s only native to North Carolina, South Carolina, and a single population in North Florida, where it can be found in open pine savannas that are regularly subject to fire. Due to timber production, commercial agriculture, and housing, it has gone from being fairly widespread, to becoming vulnerable with a Global-3 rarity rank and only 80 known populations. We inherited our specimen from a friend of the late Larry Mellichamp, who got his start from Larry many years earlier. We’d love to figure out how to propagate and make this available, so fingers crossed.

Parnassia caroliniana, close up
Parnassia caroliniana

Mt. Holly Palmetto

We’ve planted quite a few forms of our native Sabal palmetto through the years. Only two have survived long term; the the form from Bald Head Island, NC, and one propagated from an ancient specimen in Mt. Holly, NC, just west of Charlotte. Taken recently, our Mt. Holly specimen is now 22 years old. It’s been almost that long since we’ve had any to share, so we’re hopeful our plants are getting old enough to flower soon.

Sabal palmetto Mt. Holly form is now  years old in the garden.

Tressing Up for the Fall Dance

Here is one of our bog gardens showing off the lovely native Spiranthes bightensis ‘Chadd’s Ford’, wrapping up its flowering in early November. This easy-to-grow native orchid is right at home with sarracenias (pitcher plants) in very moist soils.

Despite its popularity in gardens, Spiranthes bightensis has a global rarity rank of G1, meaning it is the rarest of the rare plant species. It is currently known from only nine populations in the Delmarva region of the US East Coast. DNA testing showed that it is an ancient hybrid between two other species, Spiranthes odorata and Spiranthes cernua. The plant was named after the NY Bight, which is the geological area at the mouth of the Hudson River.

It would be interesting to know how those individuals who abhor hybrids deal with this.

Spiranthes bightensis ‘Chadd’s Ford’, Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Fruit Punch’

Elliot’s Eragrostis

Flowering this month in our parking lot dryland garden is the true Eragrostis elliottii. Back in 1999, we introduced a plant under that name, which had been identified as that species by a Florida taxonomist. Well, it turned out to be the South African Eragrostis chloromelas that’s now being sold nationwide as Eragrostis ‘Wind Dancer’.

Last year, we made a trek to South Carolina to obtain the correct Southeast coastal plant native, which is now under trial to determine its garden performance and behavior. You’ll notice the similar appearance to the popular Eragrostis spectabilis, but we’re hoping it doesn’t have the seeding proclivity of E. spectabilis. Once, and if it passes our weed potential trials, we’ll be ready to share.

Eragrostis elliottii

Grandma’s Hat Pins

Flowering this month is one of my favorite curiosities, Grandma’s hat pins. Eriocaulon decangulare hails from costal habits from New Jersey south to Texas, where it can be found in bogs and swamps. They thrive in the same conditions as pitcher plants. Perhaps it’s time to send some seed to the nursery since we haven’t offered this through Plant Delights since 2003. What do you think? Hardiness Zone 7a – 10b.

Eriocaulon decangulare

Lophiola who?

The native Lophiola aurea put on a lovely show in the garden this spring. Thanks to Patrick McMillan for introducing me to this little-grown, lowland bog endemic that has a bizarrely scattered range in a few coastal sites from Nova Scotia south to Florida. We have ours growing with pitcher plants, where it has thrived. We’d love to propagate this, but am not sure anyone would purchase it. Thoughts?

Lophiola aurea

Redneck Nation

In flower this week is Fothergilla milleri ‘Redneck Nation’. Most people have probably never heard of Fothergilla milleri, since it was just described as a new species in 2020. When a DNA analysis of the genus was completed, it showed several diploid populations previously thought to be Fothergilla gardenii were actually a new, undescribed species. Immediately after being described, it was listed as a Globally imperilled species (G2 rank).

Currently, Fothergilla milleri, which grows in swampy bog forests, is known from only 6-20 populations: a few in Coastal Alabama, one in Georgia, and a few in the Florida panhandle. This Baldwin County clone was discovered by naturalist, Fred Nation. The species was named to honor Dr. Ron Miller.

Fothergilla milleri ‘Redneck Nation’

Big Baby Bay

We’ve grown the native loblolly bay, Gordonia lasianthus for several decades, but I’d never stumbled on one as large as the one we spotted last week while botanizing in coastal southeastern North Carolina.

The specimen we ran across has a 26″ diameter and a height of 70′, which although huge, turned out to be slightly smaller than the state champions in Currituck County, which top out at 85-90′ tall. Posing by the trunk is the landowner, Vince and his son Vinny, who moved to coastal Carolina from Brooklyn, NY.

Also, on the same site, we found a population of Chamaedaphne calyculata, a bog-loving, blueberry relative with a circumboreal distribution in mostly cold and sub-arctic regions. When we returned, Patrick told me that it was quite rare in NC, but he found a singole documented record for North Carolina on Hwy 211 in Brunswick County (Vince’s property), that we’d accidentally stumbled upon. Sadly, Hwy 211 is being widened, so this population, along with many other amazing natives are in jeopardy. Fortunately, we now have a small division now growing in our ex-situ conservation garden at JLBG.

Gordonia lasianthus with Vince and Vinny
Gordonia lasianthus
Evergreen foliage of Gordonia lasianthus.
Gordonia lasianthus
Close up of the bark of Gordonia lasianthus
Gordonia lasianthus
Chamaedaphne calyculata

Pir a whattia?

You go straight through to the round of botanical superstars if you recognize this little-known southeast native (SC to Florida), Piriqueta caroliniana. This Patrick McMillan collection from coastal SC has thrived all summer in our full sun rock garden, flowering constantly, with new flowers opening every other day. This oddity is a member of the Turneraceae family, which comprises nine other equally obscure genera. We’ve yet to determine if this will actually make a good garden plant, but evaluation continues. Hardiness north of Zone 8a is unknown.

Piriqueta caroliniana
Piriqueta caroliniana