Morphing Aglamorpha

Posted on August 4, 2023 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Back in the 1970s, when I was specializing in house plants, one of my favorites was the epiphytic fern genus, Aglamorpha. These staghorn relatives made delightful hanging baskets, despite being far outside the bell curve in regards to recognizability to most gardeners.

Over the years, as I migrated more to hardy perennials, I gave up most of my house plants, but not before trying most of them in the ground. As you can imagine, aglmorphas were a failure, but I never gave up on the idea of finding a winter hardy one.

Fast forward some 40+ years later, I spotted an aglamorpha-like fern in the crowded cold frame at England’s Pan Global Plants. Examining the tag, which read, Drynaria sinica, led me down another rabbit hole, where I discovered that the genus Aglamorpha and Drynaria had recently been joined due to a botanical merger.

In the new group of 30+ species, one, Drynaria sinica, came from an elevation of over 12,000’…a certain sign of potential hardiness. My purchase made it through both the inspection and shipping process, and now thrives in our rock garden, where it sailed though 11 degrees F this winter. Despite a recent name change to Drynaria baronii, we are very excited about this hardy epiphytic fern, and look forward to eventually having some to share.

Globs of Globularia

Posted on July 12, 2023 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Globularia is a genus of small, rock garden-sized plants in the Plantaginaceae family, with a native distribution centered around Mediterranean Europe. I admired these during our 2012 Balkan expedition, but it wasn’t until we constructed our crevice garden empire, that we really began to have much success with the dryland plants in our wet, humid summer climate.

We’ve now tried 15 of the 22 known globularia species, and have only lost two of those outright. While globularias are usually grown for their puffy blue, ball-shaped flowers in spring, we love species like Globularia repens for its habit as a slow-growing, dense groundcover. The key to our success is a soil mix of 50% Permatill, which is a lava-like popped slate. Hardiness Zone 4b-8a.

Rockin’, Rollin, and Plantin’

Posted on June 11, 2023 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

For those who regularly attend our Open Nursery and Garden days, you have no doubt watched the evolution of our new dryland rock garden by our welcome tent. I thought it would be fun to look back at its short evolution. Below is Jeremy’s bed outline from late January 2021, when this new bed was only a vision in our heads.

In late January 2021, Jeremy broke ground by digging down until we reached undisturbed subsoil, which was then loosened.

The next step was to add our planting mix, which consists of 25% native soil, 25% compost, and 50% Permatill (a popped slate gravel). The planting media was thoroughly mixed with the subsoil, which ensures continuous drainage by not layering different soil types. The final height of our bed was 5.5′, with the knowledge that we would loose about 6″ in final height to settling. Planting began in early March 2021.

Below is the same area taken this week–27 months after construction. The bed is 35′ long with an average width of 15′, which would give us 525 square feet of bed space–if the bed was flat. With our finished height of 5′, we actually have close to 800 square feet of planting space–50% more surface area, all because we raised the bed height.

Because these are dryland plants, this section of the garden is un-irrigated, except during extended periods of severe drought and above normal heat. We hope this “peaks” your interest in both the science and art of rock gardening. If so, the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS.org) is an amazing group of like-minded folks with an incredible seed list of treasures for this type of garden.

Tough Love Child

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

We were thrilled to see most of our plants of Trichocereus ‘Love Child’ come through the 11 degrees F unscathed. We hope to have enough of these in the next year or two to share. We had long wanted to grow and offer some of the ridiculously large flowered, tacky colored tropical trichocereus cactus, but they simply had no winter hardiness.

Enter our former volunteer curator, Mike Papay, who had the same idea, but was more determined to make it happen. Mike worked with Trichocereus bruchii, and the resulting second generation plants yielded one he named Trichocereus ‘Big Time’.

He created another winter hardy hybrid using Trichocereus bruchii and Trichocereus thelogonus that he named Trichocereus ‘Iridescent Watermelon’. We subsequently crossed both of Mike’s hybrids together to create a seed strain we named Trichocereus ‘Love Child’. Below is one of our garden plants after enduring 11 degrees F. Below that is the same plant in flower last spring. Hardiness zone 7b to 10b.

December Daphnes

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

I’ve posted about daphnes a couple of times this year, but can’t help post again now that we’re in December and still have two daphnes in full flower, despite two nights at 25 degrees F.

The top is Daphne collina from Southern Italy, and the bottom is Daphne x napolitana ‘Bramdream’…a hybrid of Daphne collina x Daphne cneorum var. pygmaea. These are growing in our dry crevice garden in a soil mix of 50% Permatill gravel. It seems obvious that the Daphne collina is the source of the continuous bloom. Winter hardiness is Zone 6a-8b (top), and Zone 5-8b (bottom).

Daphnes in the crevice garden — Daphne collina

Daphne x napolitana 'Bramdream' in the rock garden — Daphne x napolitana ‘Bramdream’

If at first you don’t suceed, plant and plant again

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

One of my most lustful plants has been the super cute Euphorbia clavarioides var. truncata. I first ran into this fascinating poinsettia cousin at the Denver Botanic Gardens in the 1990s, and have subsequently killed it 5 times, prior to the construction of our crevice garden. Now, our specimen below is 2.5 years old and thriving. The key is perfect drainage and no water in the winter.

Below is a giant clump, which we saw in the wilds of South Africa in 2005. These massive clumps are considered to be well over a century in age, so our little patch has a lot of growing to do.

Image of Euphorbia clavarioides var. truncata HCG form growing in our crevice garden. — Euphorbia clavarioides var. truncata HCG form

Image of Euphorbia clavarioides var. truncata in the wilds of South Africa. — Euphorbia clavarioides var. truncata in the wilds of South Africa.

Stunning bergia

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Looking lovely in the garden today is the fall-flowering geophyte, Sternbergia sicula. This Mediterranean native is found in the wild growing on alkaline hilly sites. Some taxonomists list it as a subspecies of the more common Sternbergia lutea, but it seems consistently smaller. At JLBG, our plant thrives in the crevice garden. Hardiness is Zone 6a-8b.

Sternbergia sicula flowering in the crevice garden — Sternbergia sicula in the crevice garden

Cat Whiskers Cactus

Posted on October 13, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Our planting of Glandulicactus wrightii is looking quite lovely as we head into fall. Sadly, few folks take time to closely examine the fascinating and intricate arrangements of cactus spines. Glandulicactus wrightii, which is native to Texas and adjacent Mexico has amazingly long, hooked spines that resemble cat whiskers. Long term winter hardiness is hopeful here in Zone 7b, since the seed from which this was grown came from a population at 5,000′ elevation on the New Mexico/Texas border.

Glandulicactus wrightii in the crevice garden — Glandulicactus wrightii

Little Big Man

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Most highly prized rock garden plants originated somewhere other than the Southeast US. One notable exception is Bigelowia nuttallii, or if you prefer common names, Nuttall’s rayless goldenrod. This fascinating plant resembles a whisk broom that just swept up a spilled bottle of mustard.

Named after English botanist/zoologist Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859), who lived in the US from 1808 until 1841, this fascinating plant, grown by rock gardeners worldwide, is native in only a few locations from Georgia west to Texas.

Bigelowii nuttallii makes a tight evergreen clump of needle-thin leaves, topped from mid-summer until fall with 1′ tall sprays of frothy yellow flowers…yes, those are actually flowers, but without the typical showy “rays”. Full sun for at least half a day, and good drainage are the key to success with this very easy native perennial. Hardiness is Zone 5a-9b.

Stingray in the Garden

Posted on August 12, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

We love the spineless Agave bracteosa ‘Stingray’ in the garden. We’ve had these dotted throughout the garden since 2017, and so far, with good drainage, they’ve handled our winters quite well, which is certainly not normal for a variegated century plant. This particular species prefers part sun to light shade. Hardiness is Zone 7b/8a and warmer.

Baccharis-foliaged Beardtongue

Posted on July 1, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

We are enjoying the rare Penstemon baccharifolius this summer in our high/dry crevice garden. This species is native to limestone ledges up to 6,500′ elevation from the Edwards plateau in Texas south into Northern Mexico. This species hates our summer rains, and we had given up on growing this until we built our alkaline crevice garden a few years ago. Now it thrives, growing in 3′ deep Permatill gravel.

More pricks

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

It’s been quite a floral extravaganza this spring in the dryland garden sections. Here are the latest of our flowering barrel cactus that have bloomed recently at JLBG. All of our cactus are growing outside without any winter protection in our zone 7b garden. The key for most is simply good soil drainage.

Echinocereus papillosus var. angusticeps

Notocactus x subluteus (submammulosus x roseoluteus)

Trichocereus 20-07 (‘Big Time’ x Iridescent Watermelon’)

Hot Ice Plants

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Delosperma cooperi and Delosperma ‘Kelaidis’ have formed a lovely union in our crevice garden, where they grow in pure Permatill gravel. The key to growing ice plants in a hot, humid, rainy climate is excellent drainage.

Formanek’s Bellflower

Posted on May 21, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

The Greek bellflower, Campanula formanekiana has been superb in the crevice garden this spring. This amazing monocarpic (dies after flowering) species take three years to flower, and when it does, it puts on one heck of show. It’s namesake was Czech botanist, Eduard Formanek (1845-1900). We’re hoping for a good seed set. Hardiness is Zone 7a-9a, at least.

The Crevice is “Woke”

Posted on May 4, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

The crevice garden has “woke” for spring, with early flowering plants in full gear. Here’s a shot of one small section, featuring Delospema dyeri and Iberis simplex (taurica). We hope you can visit in person for the second weekend of our spring open house, May 6 – 8, 2022.

Meet Urophysa

Posted on January 14, 2022 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Unless you’re a serious plant nerd, you’ve probably never heard of the plant genus, Urophysa. This small genus of only two species in the clematis family (Ranunculaceae) is only found growing in Karst cliff crevices in a few limited provinces of South Central China. In other words, they are quite rare. Urophysa henryi was originally named Isopyrum henryi, when it was thought to be a brother of our native Isopyrum biternatum. Urophysa is now considered most closely related to the famed half-columbine, Semiaquilegia adoxoides.

While the Chinese people mostly use Urophysa henryi as a medicinal treatment for bruises, etc., we prefer it as a winter-flowering gem in the rock garden. Here are our plants, which began flowering in our rock garden, just as we turned the page on the new year, 2022.

Winter Onions

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Starring in the rock garden in early December is the amazing Allium virgunculae ‘Alba’. This delightful dwarf allium to 8″ tall is similar to the better known and slower offsetting Japanese Allium thunbergii. Allium virgunculae, which typically has lavender flowers, hails from Japan’s far south Kyushu Island.

Holy Zauschneria, Batman!

Posted on October 5, 2021 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Try as we might, we have been epic failures trying to grow the showy southwest native Zauschneria (now epilobium) in our garden, due to the combination of high humidity and torrential summer rainfalls. No matter where we tried them in the rock garden, they quickly expired. That was in the years BC…before crevice. Here is our plant of Zauschneria canum var. arizonica ‘Sky Island Orange’, a David Salman selection, planted in early 2018 and still thriving in our urbanite crevice garden. Not bad for a plant that doesn’t grow here.

Long-leaf Buckwheet

Posted on September 18, 2021 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

We admit to a long-standing case of buckwheat envy. Every visit to the worlds great rock gardens, such as the Denver Botanic Garden, leave us lusting to grow the rock garden genus, eriogonum. We’ve killed many members of the genus, since they truly hate our humid and wet summers. Even our crevice garden was no help in keeping these alive, even including our reportedly easy-to-grow Appalachian native, Eriogonum allenii. After almost giving up several times, we can finally declare success with the Texas native Eriogonum longifolium, from our East Texas botanizing expedition. Here’s our clump in full flower, and quite happy in one of the rock garden sections. Granted, it’s not as stunning as some of the species that thrive in Denver, but hey, we can now check that genus off the list.

Late Summer Rains

Posted on September 13, 2021 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

We are fascinated with the wonderful genus zephyranthes (rain lilies). Zephyranthes are unobtrusive, summer-flowering bulbs that can fit in any garden, with a flower color ranging from yellow to white to pink. The great thing about zephyranthes is the lack of large foliage that often accompanies many other spring-flowering bulbs, so site them in the front of the border, or in a rock garden to be best appreciated.

Zephyranthes are one of our specialty collections at Juniper Level Botanic Garden, with 25 species and 257 unique clones. Here are a few of the zephyranthes blooming this morning in our alpine berm. You can view our entire zephyranthes photo gallery here.

Rockin’ Rose

Posted on May 12, 2021 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

We’ve tried for years to grow Helianthemum, the European native rock rose, which is highly prized by rock gardeners. Over the last 35 years, we’ve failed miserably…until we built our crevice garden. Here, it is currently, thriving in our soil mix of 50% Permatill (popped slate).

A Concrete Idea

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Unless you’ve been hiding under a piece of concrete, you’ve no doubt heard of our crevice garden experiment, constructed with recycled concrete and plants planted in chipped slate (Permatill). It’s been just over three years since we started the project and just over a year since its completion. In all, the crevice garden spans 300′ linear feet and is built with 200 tons of recycled concrete. The garden has allowed us to grow a range of dryland (6-12″ of rain annually) plants that would otherwise be ungrowable in our climate which averages 45″ of rain annually.

One of many plants we’d killed several times ptc (prior to crevice) are the arilbred iris, known to iris folks as ab’s. These amazing hybrids are crosses between the dazzling middleastern desert species and bearded hybrids. Being ready to try again post crevice (pc), we sent in our order to a California iris breeder, who promptly emailed to tell us that he would not sell them to us because they were ungrowable here. It took some persuading before they agreed to send our order, but on arrival, they became some of the first plants to find a home in the new crevices. Although we’ve added more ab’s each year, the original plantings will be three years old in August. Here are a few flowers from this week.

Iris are just a few of the gems that can be found in our “cracks”, continuing below with dianthus. As we continually take note of our trial successes, more and more of those gems will find their way into our catalog and on-line offerings…as long as we can produce it in a container. Please let us know if any of these strikes your fancy.

If that’s not enough, here are some more shinning stars currently in bloom.

If any of this seems interesting, you probably should be a member of the North American Rock Garden Society…a group of similarly afflicted individuals. If you are specifically addicted to cracks, check out the nearly 2000 strong, really sick folks on Modern Crevice Gardens on Facebook

It’s pretty seedy around here

Posted on March 20, 2019 by Juniper Level Botanic Garden

In addition to spring, one of the things we look forward to most each year is the members only seed exchange list from the North American Rock Garden Society.

This amazing list of plants, shared by members from around the world, is truly the place to find seed of rare, hard-to-find plants for rock gardens and pretty much any kind of garden. The seed list typically offers 3000-4000 different plants annually…probably the best in the world. The first round of distribution in January of each year is limited to 25 different seed types (35 if you donate seed), and the second round, which just went live, allows members to select another 100 varieties. We just got out order submitted, and now anxiously await their arrival.

We think the seed exchange alone is worth far more than the annual dues, but there’s so much more from tours, to meetings, to networking, and a great journal. So, if you want to become a seedaholic, here’s your path to addiction!

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