One of our favorite spring-flowering groundcovers is the amazing Laurentia fluvitalis…aka Blue Star Creeper. Here it is in our spring garden providing a lovely color contrast to the surrounding gold foliage plants. Evergreen in warm winter climates, it goes deciduous when winter temps drop below 15F, but bounces right back when spring arrives. Hardiness is Zone 5a-10b. 

Looks what’s flowering in the gardens today…our PDN intro, the giant flowering Asarum ‘King Kong’…no bending over needed to see this well-endowed ginger. We should have enough stock to offer this again in 2019. 

 

Here’s a fun combination from the gardens yesterday…Trillium maculatum and Vinca ‘Illumination’.  It’s a love it or hate it combination, but you sure can’t miss it.

Do you reckon anyone would buy such as oddity as our seedling, that we christened Ligularia japonica ‘Frosted Flecks’…or is it just too weird?

Although it might not compete with the riveting, edge-of-your-seat excitement of Olympic curling, we personally find Rohdea ‘Shishi‘ far more interesting. Here’s a photo of our garden patch looking great this week, even after a rough winter. This fascinating woodland specimen is winter hardy in Zones 6a-10b.

Most gardeners think vegetables when crucifers (brocolli, kale, cabbage, etc.) come to mind, while lawn afficinados, think weedy bittercress, and lab researchers think arabadopsis (the horticultural guinea pig). It's hard to imagine, but these are all members of the giant crucifer family, Brassicaceae.  The family also includes many ornamental garden plants, of which we are particularly enamoured with our native cardamines. Before the DNA crowd got hold of these, there were actually two distinct genera, which we still acknowledge, cardamine and dentaria (toothworts). All are spring woodland ephemerals, meaning they flower in winter, and are dormant by May. We've made a number of special selections from travels in the Eastern half of the country, some of which we've introduced, and several still in trials. Below are a few that we think are exceptional including some of our garden seedlings.   Cardamine bulbosa 'Show Showers' is the most amazing selection of our native Read more [...]

Here are images of the latest round of lenten rose hybrids in flower in our gardens this week.  It was great to chat with so many wonderful visitors who came to see them in person during our Open Nursery and Garden days.  For those who couldn't make it, you can enjoy this on-line glimpse. We've now added all of the remaining hellebores from our open days for our on-line customers.  Enjoy! Read more [...]

We are pleased to share another outstanding selection from our epimedium introduction program for 2018.  Epimedium ‘Peachie‘ is not only a color break, but is also incredibly floriferous.  If you have a woodland garden, we think you’ll enjoy this as much as we do.  Hardiness is Zone 5a-8b, at least. 

Popping out of the ground today is the delightful shredded umbrella plant, Syneilesis aconitifolia...love how the new growth is covered with white hair.