A couple of years ago, we blogged about the new Raleigh Interstate 540 highway loop that seized a bit of our land. Much progress has been made on the highway since that time, and supposedly less than a year remains before it will be open for traffic. Here are a couple of recent images showing the progress, from what used to be garden property. The first images is looking east toward the Hwy 50 exit. The second image is looking west toward Sauls Road, where there will not be an exit. At least this should save some folks time in the future when driving to our Open Nursery & Garden Days.
I-540 construction heading eastI-540 construction heading west
Imagine what it’s like arriving at work in the early morning hours for a winter open house day to find that straight line winds during the night have destroyed the entire nursery checkout structure. Indeed, that’s what our staff faced on the final weekend of our recently concluded open house.
Not only was our canvas cover ripped to shreds, but most of the support poles were mangled beyond imagination. Electrical wires and Internet cables were twisted into a tangled mass, with some dangling 20′ in the air.
Our Saturday morning debacle saw both the nursery and garden staff jump into action, including some of which were awakened from their weekend slumber to help demolish, quickly rebuild, and then re-wire the entire structure, so that by 10:30am, we were able to resume checkout in something other than our temporary set up.
Thanks to our amazing staff, and thanks to the patience of the record-breaking crowds who visited during the final Saturday and Sunday.
Open house checkout demolished by straight line windsOpen house checkout demolished by straight line windsOpen house checkout demolished by straight line windsWinter Open House parking on Saturday
Here are some of the latest crop of amazing Helleborus x hybridus to flower in the garden. If you attend our Winter Open Nursery and Garden this week or next, you will see these in person. Plant Delights will also have a pretty incredible crop of these for sale during the open house days. We hope to see you in person!
If you’ve visited PDN/JLBG this year, you’ve no doubt noticed the construction of the new Raleigh outer loop, I-540, which required the seizure of nearly an acre of our property. The construction also requires our road to be raised 15′ to clear the new Interstate being built below grade. This will add a whole new level of adventure in the winter when the road is covered in snow or ice. This week, the new Sauls Road overpass will be completed. While there will not be an exit on Sauls Road, there will be one within a mile both east and west of the gardens/nursery. Construction of the new Raleigh southern loop is scheduled to be completed in late 2023.
Here are a few photos of JLBG in early July…hope you can join us for our upcoming Summer Open Nursery & Garden Days, July 15-17 and 22-24, 2022, and see what’s possible in a summer garden. The nursery will also be open for attendees to shop while on-site.
Be sure to take part in our free Gardening Unplugged talks, which are held each day during the Summer Open House at 10am and 2pm, just meet at the welcome tent.
We truly love having garden visitors! We recently wrapped up our winter Open Nursery and Garden days, and will open in again in spring in late April/early May. It’s great to see folks get ideas both about plants they would like to try as well as garden design ideas. Because of exceptionally good weather most days this winter, the crowds were record-setting.
Open house is also like a giant horticultural family reunion. It’s actually surprising when folks don’t run into their gardening friends in the garden. We love seeing old friends, while meeting new ones. Below is George McLellan, a long time friend and avid plantsman from Virginia and member of the mid-Atlantic Rhododendron Society. On the left is Barbara Bullock, who recently retired from the US National Arboretum after 29 years of curating the garden’s azalea collection…here for her first visit.
Geroge McLellan (c), and Barbara Bullock (l)
The prize for the traveling the farthest distance this year goes to hosta nurseryman, Marco Fransen of Holland. I had the pleasure of visiting Marco’s nursery several years ago, so it was lovely to have the chance to chat. It was interesting to learn that Marco’s main customer base for new hosta introductions is both Russia and Ukraine. It would be safe to conclude that the current conflict in that region won’t be good for business, but our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone effected.
Every year, we grow thousands of lenten roses from our own seed collections in the garden. Most, we sell at our Winter Open Nursery and Garden as Helleborus x hybridus ‘Winter Delights’. All of our Winter Delights hellebores are hand selected by color after they flower. Every now and then, an incredibly unique form gets pulled for the gardens and here is one of those from a few years ago. This amazing plant has huge 3.5″ wide flowers, and was already in full flower by January 1. We hope everyone can visit our upcoming Winter Open House and see the amazing hellebore selections in the garden.
Opuntia is a rather large genus of cacti, containing some 200 or more species native to the deserts of the Americas. Opuntia are amazingly adaptable and can be found native in almost every US state and Canada. Plant Delights Nursery at Juniper Level Botanic Garden has a large collection of opuntia with over 300 unique clones.
Many of our opuntia clumps have gotten quite large over the years and are in need of dividing. We will be offering pads of select clones to give away (pick up only) during our 2020 Summer Open Nursery & Garden Days. What a great time to start an opuntia collection!
Opuntia phaeacantha ‘Tahiti Sunrise’
Opuntia species have a distinctive look, with flat pads, beautiful, large flowers and fig-sized, maroon fruits. Both the fruits and the young pads are edible provided that you carefully remove all of the thorns and hairs.
Humanity could not exist without plants. People’s interactions with plants have evolved throughout history from medicinal, to magical, to nutritional. These interactions often resulted in whimsical, fanciful tales tied to oral history passed from one generation to the next.
Take for example the genus Adiantum, maidenhair fern: The genus is derived from the Greek for “unwetted” because water rolls off the fronds. The individual pinnae were thought to resemble the hair of Venus, from Roman mythology, when she was born from the sea, fully formed and with dry hair, thus the common name maidenhair fern.
The Birth of Venus
As part of our Gardening Unplugged garden chat series held in conjunction with our Open Nursery & Garden Days, assistant nursery manager, Dennis Carey, leads a brief tour through the gardens discussing the plant folklore surrounding some popular garden plants. Learn more about adiantum and other plant folklore here!
