Fragrant Flowers

Mahonia gracilis

Winter Mahonias

Here are a couple of our favorite winter-flowering mahonias currently in bloom at JLBG. The first is the North American native, Mahonia gracillis, which is virtually unknown in cultivation. Without several collections from the former Yucca Do Nursery, this probably wouldn’t even be known by US gardeners. The 8′ tall, unkempt form is adorned, starting

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Conjuring up a Conger

I can honestly say that no plant perfumes the garden better than the amazing Osmanthus fragrans ‘Conger Yellow’. We currently grow nine cultivars of tea olive, but none can hold a candle to the fragrance of this yellow-flowered clone. Anyone visiting the garden in September/October is dazzled by the fragrance from up to 200′ away…a

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Texas Kidneys

Our plants of Eysenhardtia texana ‘Uvalde’ are perfuming the air with their sweet fragrance in October. As you can imagine, it’s abuzz with pollinators. This Texas/Mexico native, known as Texas kidneywood, makes a 10′ tall shrub that’s quite heat and drought tolerant. The common name comes from the fact that the genus Eysenhardtia has been

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Summer Maid

Looking lovely in the early fall garden are the xAmarcrinum. These are man-made hybrids between Crinum lilies and the South African Amaryllis belladonna. Despite the later not growing well here, the hybrids are quite amazing with their sweetly-fragranced flowers. All xAmarcrinum are somewhat similar in growth, with greatly reduced foliage from most crinum parents. The

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Lavender and White

On my very short commute home, we’ve designed beds along the way that help relieve the stresses of the day. One of my favorite beds in summer is this combination of Allium ‘Millenium’, Sinningia tubiflora (white), Verbena bonariensis, and Pervoskia atriplicifolia. Both the sinningia and the verbena can be a bit aggressive in some areas

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Fab in the Garden

Flowering now in the garden is the little-known South American (Chile/Argentina) cousin of tomatoes/potatoes, Fabiana imbricata. This oddity doesn’t have anything that we’d call true leaves. Instead, the upright stalks are clothed in evergreen green scales, and the stalks are topped with clusters of these unique honey-scented flowers. We found that dry, well-drained, partially sunny

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