Contents
- Welcome!
- Our Catalog
- Botanic Garden & Research
- Plant Delights Nursery
- Shipping Division
- Education Center
- Visiting
- Introductions
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WELCOME! To Plant Delights Nursery
at Juniper Level Botanic Gardens
So, you want to know more about us? We're glad you asked.
Plant Delights Nursery Inc.
is a mail order nursery specializing in new and rare
perennials. Our adjunct facility,
Juniper Level Botanic Gardens, is where
new plants are trialed and displayed.
Plant Delights Education Center
is where we teach gardeners about new plants and garden techniques. To find
out more about the various aspects of our facility, see the links at left.
Started in 1988, the goal of Plant Delights Nursery, Inc., is to change the
way America gardens by offering the best, the newest, and the strangest fun,
garden-worthy perennials to gardeners around the world. Our Retail Nursery
division is a 2.5 acre adjunct funding facility for our
research/development/educational arm, Juniper Level Botanic Gardens. Income
from the Nursery Division allows us to continue our research and breeding,
maintain our display gardens, and expand our garden outreach programs.
We strive to offer large, quality plants at affordable prices. If you are
used to receiving dried bulbs, barely rooted cuttings, or cooler-stored
D.O.A.'s, we think you will be pleasantly surprised to receive healthy,
live plants.
Juniper Level Botanic Gardens is currently a 5 acre display garden containing
over 17,000 different plants ... some woody, some perennial, and some
in-betweeners. We are a proud institutional member of the APGA (American
Public Gardens Association). The botanical garden not only functions as a
display area, but doubles as a research and development facility. New
plants from seed exchanges, plants from our breeding program, and plants
from our expeditions are evaluated for their garden worthiness, their
adaptability to the climate of the Southeastern US, and their ability to
peacefully co-exist with our natives. We also strive to sort out some of
the misinformation and nomenclature problems that unfortunately abound in
this industry by assembling complete collections of specific plant groups.
BREEDING PROGRAM:
Our specialty is hostas ... you know, "I've got both, the green and the
variegated one." Since 1984, we have conducted one of the most extensive
hosta breeding programs in the country, yielding exciting introductions like
Hosta 'White Wall Tire' (98), Hosta 'Tattoo' PP 11,603 (98), Hosta 'Elvis
Lives' (95), and the ugliest hosta ever, Hosta 'Out House Delight' (94)!
Despite the large number of hostas on the market today, there is room for
distinctive leaf patterns, better flowers, and good old Southern non-wimpy
names. We have worked with other genera to a lesser extent, and we hope
these ongoing programs will yield some wonderful results in the near future.
PLANT INTRODUCTION PROGRAM:
For years, we have worked with other plant breeders and explorers from
around the country to introduce and market their new plants. If we can be
of help to you, feel free to give us a call. We require a trial period for
new plants before including them in the catalog ... please understand that
this is not always a quick process. Also ... don't expect to get filthy
rich! Our website details a list of plants that we have either introduced
or facilitated their introduction into the market.
COLLECTIONS AND INVASIVE PLANT POLICY:
We spend several weeks each year in different parts of the USA or in other
countries on plant expeditions, from which we bring back many new wonders
you may one day enjoy. All plants are carefully evaluated here and at
other cooperating sites. It is our goal to not offer plants that will
become invasive (i.e., invade and displace natives in functioning natural
ecosystems). We adhere to the Nursery Codes of Conduct as adopted at the
2001 St. Louis Summit on Invasive Plants and encourage other nurseries to
do the same. Realizing that it is impossible to completely predict
invasiveness in every ecological region of the country, we implore
gardeners to watch for plants that show true invasive potential and to
let us know those findings. Please understand also that re-seeding
around the garden is very different from invading natural areas. Please
also understand that while a species may be invasive, cultivars within
that species may not exhibit those particular undesirable traits. While
the invasive plant issue is a great area of concern to us, a proposed
nationwide ban of plants that are only invasive and hardy in Hawaii or
South Florida is absurdly extreme. We are very wary of a small but
vocal group of plant bigots who advocate a horticultural ethnic
cleansing as a means of satisfying their myopic view of nature. As
with all vices, moderation and responsibility are the answer.
PROPAGATION:
Our plants are nursery propagated, not wild collected or nursery-grown.
We practice conservation by propagation. We are members of the
International Plant Propagators Society, a group dedicated to the
proposition that all plants should be divided equally. If we have a
plant, we will either propagate it or kill it trying ... and as a good
friend taught me, once you propagate a rare plant ... it's not rare anymore!
IDENTIFICATION:
We use all means at our disposal to make sure the plants are named using
correct horticultural nomenclature. Our primary references include the
RHS Index of Garden Plants, Hortus III, Jelitto's Perennials I & II, The
Genus Hosta, The Hosta List of Registered Cultivars, The Hosta Handbook,
The World Checklist of Conifers, The BONAP Database, Mobot's Tropicos
Database, England's The RHS Plant Finder, and many National Collection
holders in the UK. Special thanks also to our friend Barry Yinger for
his invaluable contribution with Japanese plants, and Wilbert Hetterscheid,
who worked on the 2004 International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated
Plants. If no information exists on a plant (which often happens) we
throw a cookout for the neighbors, who after a few drinks begin throwing
darts at Jelitto's Perennials I & II, along with the remainder of Hortus
III. When botanists differ on correct nomenclature, we hop in the pickup,
find a few taxonomists, and throw darts at them.
LOCATION:
Our nursery and display gardens are in Juniper Level, North Carolina
(USDA Zone 7b), centrally located between Panther Branch and Willow Springs
... pronounced "willer sprangs" in the South. In case you don't have a
Juniper Level map, we are off Interstate 40 south of Raleigh, NC. And
since we are open only by appointment, we will leave it at that.
Our open sale days are limited to eight weekends per year, two each during
February/March, May, July, and September. Any other time, if you are coming
from out of town or would like to bring a group, call WAY in advance and
we will be delighted to try to make arrangements to meet you at the nursery
and garden ... weekdays are strongly preferred. Peak season in the display
gardens is from late April until October. PLEASE DO NOT DROP IN UNANNOUNCED.
We can be much more flexible with visitors after our spring rush ends
in early May. We love having visitors, but your visit must be scheduled.
CATALOGS:
We publish two catalogs each year, one on January 1, and the other one on
August 1. As much as we would like to be able to send our catalogs to
everyone forever, this is not possible with the rising cost of publishing.
If you are a garden writer, communicator, teacher, extension agent,
horticulture guru, etc., who would like to remain on our list permanently,
just let us know. Customers will remain on the catalog mailing list for
2 years after purchasing. Even if you run out of room in your own garden,
there are always gift certificates for friends. Our on-line catalog contains
many plants that do not appear in our print catalogs. Some are leftovers
from past catalogs and some are plants which are available only in
smaller quantities.
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