hybridization

Adonis 'Chichibu Beni'

Peek-a-boo, Chichibu

After five failed attempts, we finally succeeded in establishing the rare orange-flowered Adonis ‘Chichibu Beni’ in the garden. It was only after we planted this in a newly installed rock garden crevice, that we finally found the right location. This gem is a triploid hybrid between two pheasant-eye species, Adonis multiflora and Adonis ramosa. Our

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Helleborus x glandforensis 'Ice n' Roses Red'

Lenten Roses parade continues

Two more of our favorite sterile lenten roses are putting on quite a show today. The first is Helleborus x glandorfensis ‘Ice n’ Roses Red’. Below that is Helleborus x lemperii ‘Walberton’s Rosemary’, a stunning David Tristram hybrid that PDN will have available later this year, for the first time in four years. Join us

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Helleborus x nigercors 'Ice Breaker Gala'

Christmas Rose on a Stick

We’ve always loved the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, and a few years ago, European breeders were able to cross it with Helleborus argutifolius. Helleborus niger is a white-flowered species with below ground flowering stems (acaulescent), while Helleborus argutifolius is a green-flowered species with above ground flowering stems (caulescent). The hybrids, known as Helleborus x nigercors,

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Lycoris x straminea fall foliage

Don’t forget the leaves

Most gardeners are so focused on the flowers of surprise lilies (Lycoris), they forget about the amazing foliage. There are two groups of surprise lilies: those which produce leaves in fall, and those which produce leaves in spring. The fall-leaf species and hybrids have foliage that emerges anywhere between September and November. With the hybrids,

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Rohdea x japensis

Randy Rohdeas

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

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Check out our Tioga Party

On of our obsessive plant friends, Glen Melcher, of Tioga, Lousiaiana, sent us several seedlings a few years ago, from his cross of Hibiscus paramutabilis x mutabilis. We made our final selection this fall, which we’ve christened Hibiscus ‘Tioga Party’. This 12′ tall x 12′ wide beast puts on quite a show, starting several weeks

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To Breed or Not to Breed

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

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Iron Clad Hybrids

Up until a couple of years ago, we could find no literature detailing any hybrids in the cast iron plant genus, Aspidistra. With our extensive in-ground collection, we had begun noticing seedlings that were obvious hybrids, so we began first by confirming that both the flowers and foliage showed signs of being intermediate between both

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