Looking great in the winter woodland garden is our specimen of Cyclamen hederifolium ‘Fine Silver’. Most silver leaf seedlings still have markings of green, but that’s not the case on this gem. These come reasonably pure within a range, so let’s hope we’re able to gather seed this year. Dry soils during the summer dormant
The Value of Silver is Rising Read More »
Flowering this week in the garden is the little-known Greek snowdrop, Galanthus snogerupii, which is found only on the Greek island of Andros. This glossy-leaf species is one of the earliest of the fall snowdrops to flower. Some galanthophiles consider it a subspecies of Galanthus ikariae, but others feel it deserves species status.
Falling for a Greek Snowdrop Read More »
Recently, Garden Curator, Doug Ruhren, was moving one of our new Amorphophallus konjac selections from our field trials into the garden. When dug, this form, with solid black stems, had a tuber that was nearly the size of a basketball. The old growth has died back, and it will remain dormant until next June. Below
Basketball Jones…On the Move Read More »
Looking superb in the garden in early November is Arum concinnatum ‘Far and Away’. This special selection is a 2024 Plant Delights/JLBG introduction of a superbly patterned form of the Cretan native Arum concinnatum, collected in 2004, by the late aroid specialist, Alan Galloway. Arum ‘Far and Away’ has the most heavily silver patterned leaf
Far and Away, but so Near Read More »
For those who have followed us for a while, you know we have a fascination for tuberous aroids, particularly those in the genus, Amorphophallus. We’ve spent quite a bit of time making seed selections as well as hybrids, often using the super winter hardy Amorphophallus as a parent. So far, we have 14 species that
Cognac or Konjac – We’ll take the Latter Read More »
Flowering now at JLBG is the dwarf, highly threatened pineapple lily, Eucomis montana. In botanical terms, the word “montana” indicates from the mountains. This stunningly elegant pineapple lily species hails from the northern end of South Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains (Mpumalanga, Free State, and Swaziland), where it can be found growing in grasslands on rocky hillsides.
This year marks our first flowering of the Mediterranean Alp native, Lilium pomponium. This lily is native to dry, rocky, alkaline soils, and has been right at home in our crevice rock garden. It’s probably good, however, that we didn’t read how difficult it is to grow before we tried it. These are now three
This week marked our annual flowering of the endangered African aroid, Pseudohydrosme gabunensis ‘Stained Glass’, which we first flowered in 2021. Kew Gardens recently posted that they just flowered it for the first time ever in the UK. This tropical African rain forest genus is comprised of only three species, all from the countries of
Putting on quite a show in late March is Leucojum aestivalis, commonly known as summer snowflake. The specific epithet “aestivalis” means “of the summer”, but I’m not sure why a late winter/early spring flowering bulb has such an odd epithet, as well as a common name of summer snowflake. Regardless, since we’re living in a
Giant Spring Snowflakes Read More »
Flowering in late February in the rock garden is the tiny bulb, Ornithogalum chionophyllum. This genus of onion relative has both some garden treasures and horrific weeds. This gem is a narrow endemic to the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus between 2,000′ and 6,000′ elevation. If the Troodos Mountain don’t sound familiar, perhaps you’ve heard of
