Rare Plant Auction/Symposium

We’re just back from a four-day plant roundup of donations (from some of the regions top plantsmen/women) to the Southeastern Plant Symposium rare plant auction this weekend. So far, we have over 350 plants, many of which aren’t available anywhere else in the world. The Symposium, which is a fundraising event for the JC Raulston Arboretum and the JLBG Endowment @ NC State, is virtual this year, and begins Saturday morning, June 12. The on-line auction has already begun, and runs through Saturday afternoon. If you’d like to check out the auction treasures, you can do so here. Plants which are 1 gallon size and smaller may be shipped, but large sizes are only available to be picked up. You do not need to sign up for the Symposium to participate in the auction, but we’d encourage you to join us for some truly amazing speakers. You can register for the talks here.

Exploring the Wonders of Fall!

Today is the first day of our Fall Open Nursery and Garden. We will be open til 5pm today, 8 am -5 pm tomorrow, and 1 pm – 5 pm on Sunday. Don’t fret if you can’t make it this weekend, we will also be open next weekend, September 16 – 18.

Come explore the gardens in their full fall glory and get inspiration for your own garden. Our sales houses are stocked full or rare and unique perennials to excite even the most seasoned gardeners.

picture of our sales-house stocked full

Our sales houses are full of rare and unique perennials!

We are adding plants to the sales houses throughout open house, and many in limited quantities. Here is a teaser of items we added just today: Verbena ‘Lavender Frappe’ and Aspidistra ‘Leopard’.

picture of verbena lavender-frappe added to out sales house today

Verbena ‘Lavender Frappe’ just added to our sales house today.

picture of aspidistra leopard added to our sales house today

Aspidistra ‘Leopard’ added to our sales house today.

During your visit, be sure to stop by our grape arbor and sample many varieties of muscadine grapes (Vitis rotundifolia) such as Farrer, Janebelle, Sweet Jenny and Ison. Muscadines can have bronze or purple hulls, ripen in the fall and are native to the Southeastern US. Which is your favorite?

picture of our grape-arbor

Muscadine arbor with 10 different varieties.

picture of Ison muscadine grapes

Vitis rotundifolia ‘Ison’ – one of the many varieties on our muscadine arbor.