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Contents |
PDN Newsletter Archives 2007January 2007Well, we've got the first month of 2007 in the books, the Super Bowl out of the way, and spring is right behind. Actually, I'm beginning to think spring got delayed in most parts of the country. We were cruising right along with a delightful global warming-like winter and wham... one of those old-fashioned winters arrived. Do you reckon Al will give me a refund because of this inconvenient weather? Even the hoards of robins, who thought spring was here, are now feasting for a long cold stretch by devouring every berry from our 1200' long Ilex 'Nellie R. Stevens' holly hedge. Do you know what a mess 80 robins make while eating... geez, manners like some of my other southern-born relatives. Meanwhile some of us aren't enjoying the dramatic cool down personally, but at least the ice fishermen in Minnesota aren't crashing through the lakes any longer. The cool down is actually great for our plants which were emerging and flowering far too early, so the cold has put everything back in a cryogenic state until spring really does arrive.I hate to talk about the closing of more mail order nurseries, but I wanted to mention that Pam Baggett of Singing Springs Nursery in NC has closed her greenhouse doors. Pam built a wonderful business specializing in tender perennials and cool annuals but has closed to allow more time for the less-stressful tasks of writing, speaking, and gardening. On the West Coast, Collector's Nursery has also closed... at least for the 2007 season. Diana is taking the year off to travel, write, and garden but is considering re-opening again in the future. We'd like to publically thank both nurseries for their contributions to horticulture. Now that we're in February, let me remind you that our shipping season begins in a few more weeks... Feb. 26, for those of you in the southern zones. Also remember that the deadline of February 15 is drawing near to enter our 2007 Pick the Top 25 Sellers Contest. Okay, it's not the Powerball Lottery, but you've got nothing to lose and the chance to win a $250 PDN gift certificate. For rules and an entry blank, visit our website at http://www.plantdelights.com/New/contest.html. I look forward to seeing many of you on the road, as I dash across the country during the next few months. One of the treats of 2006 was to finally meet and share the stage with garden author and landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy. I had heard rave reviews about Julie's landscape design talks, but I usually find such presentations to be yawners. Julie was not only a delightfully charming and approachable person, but a splendid and thoughtful presenter. The JC Raulston Arboretum has subsequently booked Julie for an upcoming April 21 landscape design seminar titled, 'Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home.' If you have any interest in landscape design and have not had the opportunity to attend one of Julie's programs, put this on your calendar. You can find out more about the all day seminar (including lunch) on the JC Raulston Arboretum website [pdf]. Call Chris Glenn at (919) 513-7005 for more information about this event or to register. We don't get many winter visitors but were delighted to have Dr. Richard (Dick) Weaver, the founder of We-Du nurseries of Polly Spout, NC, stop by a couple of weeks ago when he was in the area to speak to our Rock Garden Society local chapter. For those that remember Dick and Rene from their We-Du days, they are back from Puerto Rico and now living in Florida... both doing very well. We purchased many plants from We-Du, but as the old saying goes, "I wish I knew then what I know now..." and I'd have purchased much more. Dick was really a pioneer in selecting great natives as well as introducing great garden plants from foreign lands. The new owners of We-Du, Jamie and Merri, are once again venturing into mail order, so check them out at www.we-du.com I hope you have already made plans to attend our 2007 Winter Open House, February 23 & 24 and March 2 & 3, 2007. We've got some very special hellebores for you to pick from, along with many other winter goodies. Once again, we are coordinating open house days with our friends at Pine Knot Farms of Virginia (about 1hr 15 minutes north of PDN), who hold their winter open house, but only on Saturdays during the same weekends. While many plants have their toes curled up during our current cold snap, others don't miss a beat. One of the stars of the winter garden is Nothoscordum sellowianum. This delightful small bulb has been in flower in the garden since mid-January and will continue through March. The hellebores are looking great, particularly H. x nigercors and H. x ericsmithii. The colder night temperatures have intensified the color of the flower to a near red. Amazingly, we've also already got Asarums flowering in the garden including the stunning A. maximum. Finally, before I close, we have a position open for an Assistant Garden Curator for our Juniper Level Botanic Gardens. The job includes all aspects of garden maintenance from mulching to planting and weeding. The starting salary of this year-round, benefitted position is $25,000. We prefer someone with garden maintenance experience, at least a 2 year horticulture degree, and a passion for cool plants. For more information, email our business manager Heather Brameyer at heather@plantdelights.com . As always, we thank you for your continued support and patronage. Please direct all replies and questions to office@plantdelights.com March 2007It's hard to believe that March is already here as we move nearer to the long-awaited spring season. The Winter Open House is behind us, and the response was tremendous. We've never been able to offer such a stupendous selection of flowering hellebores, and the response reflected that. There are still plenty of great selections remaining, which have been added to the website at Website-Only Plants - click on March 2007 additions. I can tell you that the yellow, double white, double purple, and single black-purple flowered hellebores are stunning.The first top 25 list of the year is filled with surprises. The biggest is that only 6 plants from the final 2006 list are currently among the top 25. It's almost unheard of for a hosta, a trillium, a zephyranthes, and a hellebore to make the list, but there they are. Of the top 25, there are 11 plants that we've never offered before, so we thank you for your confidence and for giving them a try. I'm sure that the list will change dramatically over the rest of the year, but what an unusual start to the new year. As always, we thank you for your continued support and patronage. Please direct all replies and questions to office@plantdelights.com. April 2007Dear PDN'ers:Greetings from Plant Delights, where after two weeks of late spring weather, we have once again plunged back into the grip of winter. For nurserymen, it is the month of April that results in the most premature grey hair accompanied by high blood pressure due to the worry about late spring frosts. After two weeks of temperatures in the 80's, a cold front has once again gripped our area, with predictions of five consecutive nights of freezing temperatures and lows of 24-26 degrees F, which will shatter our old low temperature records for most of those dates. Where's global warming when you really need it? Since we haven't uncovered the overwintering greenhouses yet, the containerized nursery plants are fine, other than causing some heating bills that we could have done without. Our primary concerns are for plants in the display garden, where some arisaemas are in full flower and early hostas are in full leaf. Our crew has spent over 24 man hours covering tender vegetation with spun-bound polyester frost fabric (I'm glad nursery folks never got the memo that polyester went out of fashion). Frost cloth is made for this purpose and can offer several degrees of protection for tender plants in just such a situation. The key to how much damage we will see is a combination of how cold the temperatures drop and how long they stay there. Typically, frost clothes can offer protection down to about 27 degrees F, but below that, cold injury could still occur. There is also the issue of trees and shrubs that have already developed spring growth. While these are virtually impossible to protect with frost cloth, they can be very sensitive to frost damage. Japanese maples are one of many trees that are particularly sensitive and can be killed outright by late spring freezes when they are at a susceptible stage of growth. In such cases, there are really only two options for protection. One is the application of irrigation, which, while the water is freezing actually releases heat that protects the plants. This technique is most commonly used on field grown crops such as strawberries. The downside is that water must be applied at the proper rate and the application must continue continuously until the temperatures rise above freezing. The other option is to rent kerosene space heaters and simply heat up the night air around the plant. This is similar to the smudge pots that are used in Florida orange orchards when frosts are imminent. These heaters can usually be rented from stores who specialize in the rental of construction equipment. If you would like to know more of the technical details about water application to protect plants, the following NCSU website is quite useful: We'd like to thank everyone who has ordered this spring, and we hope you have been well pleased if you have received your order. We are currently shipping most orders within 7 days of receipt, and we anticipate being able to continue this turnaround until the week of April 23-27, when a one-week delay is possible. Due to the volume of orders, there is a possible two-week delay for orders received between April 28 and May 11. We will always work to get your orders out as fast as possible, but be aware that our shipping staff and facilities are near capacity during this three-week period. Thanks in advance for your understanding. We are delighted to announce that Raleigh resident and PDN cover artist Jack Pittman has been nominated for another Reuben Award. The Reuben Awards (named after Rube Goldberg) are the cartoonists' equivalent of the Emmys or Oscars. Jack has previously won Reubens in 1995, 1998, and 2004. We are truly fortunate to have Jack create our catalog covers. It's quite rewarding to know that other businesses who have seen his PDN creations have subsequently used his artwork. I've included a link to Jack's site as well as to the Reuben Awards site.
http://www.reuben.org/ncs/archive/divisions/advertising.asp
http://www.reuben.org/ncs/archive/divisions/magazine.asp http://www.jptoonist.com There's so much going on in the garden now, it's hard to even cover a fraction of it. As you know, I'm a big fan of arisaema and am glad to see the interest in these cool plants increase each year. In the garden, arisaema sikokianum is one of the first species up each year, and its stunning flowers are certainly a reason that it's consistently among the most popular. A. sikokianum is one of the few species that does not produce offsets, so you'll need two plants to produce a seed crop. The same is true for species like A. engleri, A. tortuosum, and A. sazensoo. Even having two plants won't always do the trick, since flowering size plants tend to be female. Arisaema are among the original transgender plants, changing from male (when they are young and weak) to female (when they are vigorous and ready to reproduce). Occasionally small flowering plants can be male, and you can easily check by snorting inside the spathe. If your nose is subsequently covered in white pollen, you snorted a male. Exhaling onto the spadix of the female is a primitive but effective way to pollinate your plant, although a small paintbrush works better and results in less strange looks from your spouse and neighbors. In case you have a garden of all females, simply behead one of your females. Yes, cut your flowering plant to the ground. This sounds drastic (be aware that you won't see any growth until the following season) but when your plant re-emerges next year, it will be a male and will be ready to tackle its reproductive responsibilities. The penalty, if you get caught, is only ten years hard labor, and for a gardener, that's a moot point. Other early flowering species include four of the most vigorous growers: A. ringens, A. urashima, A. amurense, and A. taiwanense. Unlike A. sikokianum, each of the species is a rapid multiplier and after a few years can be split into dozens of individual clumps. These are all superb garden specimens and because they multiply, they are much more likely to have male and female flowers in the same clump. If you order arisaema for early shipment, you will get them as a dormant tuber in a plastic bag of peat moss. Once they begin to sprout, we pot them and ship them growing in the container. You can take a look at more arisaema species at
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page10.html
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page11.html I promised to update you on the progress of our Wollemia nobilis (Wollemia Pine), which we planted outdoors in early January. So far, it's endured several nights of 15 degrees F, with no damage, so we are optimistic about our long-term chances in our climate. We had a little faux pas with one of our new offerings, Colocasia 'Royal Cho'. We have trialed a number of colocasias and were sent incorrect information about which cultivar was ready for release; we have just become aware of the error. Everyone who received this cultivar should have been notified about the error, and we appreciate your help in returning these. We apologize and appreciate your understanding in solving this problem. We still have plenty of other colocasias including our new introduction, C. 'Coal Miner', which I think is one of the most exciting new elephant ears that I've ever grown. See our listing at We've had a number of folks requesting the 2007 Gardening Jihad t-shirt, and they have just arrived at the nursery. They aren't available on-line yet, but give the office a call and we can add them to your order. We'd also like to invite you to visit our new garden site, http://www.juniperlevelbotanicgarden.org. We included much more about the garden, the collections, and our greatly expanded photo gallery of the garden and its early development. Over the last few months, I've mentioned many of the mail order nurseries that have closed around the country; regrettably I must add another name to that increasing list. Porterhowse Nursery of Oregon has closed to deal with family illness. Plantsman Don Howse started his wonderful nursery, which specialized in conifers, after working at the large wholesale conifer specialist, Iseli Nursery. If you never had the chance to visit Porterhowse, you missed a fantastic, well-designed collector's garden that despite the time I allotted on each visit, I never had enough time to see everything. If you ever get the chance to hear Don speak, you'll find it a real treat. Be sure to ask him what it was like being on a botanizing trip in Pakistan on 9/11/2001. As always, we thank you for your continued support and patronage. Please direct all replies and questions to office@plantdelights.com. May 2007Dear PDN'ers:We made it through winter in great shape, but then early spring jumped up and bit us in the you know where. Gardeners in many parts of the country were hit with devastating cold in early April after spring temperatures had already fooled many plants into beginning to grow. Web ordering provides us with a fascinating glimpse into gardeners' real-time state of mind. Everyone was going crazy ordering during the warm first week of April, only to be shell-shocked days later when the cold weather returned. We can see folks just starting to recover enough to think positively about gardening again... perhaps we need an on-line gardening therapist to help with the recovery... where is Dr. Philadelphus when you need him? In Juniper Level, we had been in the 80's for two weeks, before encountering five consecutive nights below freezing with the worst night reaching 22 degrees F. A couple of days later, we got to enjoy a smashing hailstorm, followed by an entire day of 50+ mph winds. I know this is a typical spring day to many midwest residents, but in our neck of the woods, it's a big deal. Although we covered quite a few perennials in the garden and kept the damage to a minimum on those plants, the trees and shrubs were not as lucky. Magnolias, celtis, crape myrtles, and idesia were fried to a crisp. I read a laughable article in our local paper just a day before the freeze explaining how native plants would not be hurt and how they should be planted instead of plants from foreign lands. Guess what... native oaks, walnuts, fringe trees, redbuds, maples, and many more look like my darkened efforts to cook toast. I guess I should have let my native plants read the article. Now it's a matter of wait and see if the plants will recover. Many of these plants have dormant buds along the stem, which under normal circumstances would not develop. The plants must first get over the cold shock, then we will learn if the physiology of the plant will allow the dormant buds to develop without some additional stimulus such as an additional number of chilling hours. In many cases, the death of a terminal bud may be enough to change the hormonal balance that often keeps the dormant buds from growing. In any case, it will take 2-8 weeks of warm weather before we will know for sure what to expect from our plants. There will be some cases where the plants only sprout from the base and others where they may be completely dead. Not only is each plant different, but the physical state of each plant is another part of the equation. Plants on the north side of a building may have remained dormant and avoided damage, while the same clone in a warmer location may have been killed. Many nurserymen who had recently dug balled and burlapped crape myrtles actually saved their plants. The process of digging and root removal caused the plant not to begin growing as early. These dug plants are mostly fine. It seems that nursery growers in the wholesale production regions of Tennessee got hit the hardest, with several growers suffering losses in the 100,000's of plants as temperatures dropped into the mid-teens after many plants were in full leaf. Our thoughts go out to them during what will be a financially difficult time recovering and staying in business. I've been on the road quite a bit in April, and it's always a treat to see other gardens in peak season. This is the second year in a row that I've made it to Michigan in spring and as always, I try to stop by and visit our friends Bob and Brigitta Stewart of Arrowhead Alpines. www.arrowhead-alpines.com. Don't be fooled by the name, as alpines are only a small part of their extensive plant offerings. If you are passionate about cool plants, their nursery, which is about 1 hour northwest of Detroit, is a horticultural mecca. I always make the mistake of not taking enough empty luggage to haul plants home. The other gem that I discovered this year was Armstrong Atlantic State University Arboretum ( www.arboretum.armstrong.edu) in Savannah, GA. Never heard of it? It's not an arboretum in the conventional sense, as it is actually a 280+ acre campus-wide botanic garden, along the same lines as the fabulous Scott Arboretum on the Swarthmore PA campus. UGA graduate and Mike Dirr protégé, Philip Schretter, has turned the campus into one of the most amazing public gardens that I've ever visited, and I will admit to feeling a bit jaded. I don't know if it was the International Garden with sections devoted to each continent or the Banksia garden that was the most impressive, but I can't begin to tell you what a gem this is. For those that have been to Savannah, it's only a five minute drive from the famed Bamboo Experiment Station just south of town. We've just added quite a few new plants to our on-line catalog, many of which are in short supply. When we discover a new plant that we think may have good garden potential, we will often order several for trial. Many of the overseas wholesalers require a minimum order of 25 plants per variety, so after planting our trial plants, we often have 20 or so of each left. Several of the new plants on our list fall into this category... plants that we think will be future stars, but ones we aren't ready to put in the printed catalog without some on-site trials. If you enjoy having the newest plants first, this is a great opportunity, but only if you act fast. If these plants trial well for us, it may be 1-3 years before they hit the main catalog. You can find the new offerings at www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/web_only.html and click on April 2007 additions. They also appear in alphabetical order if you are going through the entire on-line catalog. We're gearing up for our Spring Open House, which begins a week from today and runs Friday-Sunday, May 4-6 and 11-13. The hours are 8-5 on Fridays and Saturdays and 1-5 on Sundays. Despite the freeze damage, the gardens really look quite superb, and the nursery is brimming with special treasures. We hope you will take time to drop by for a visit. If you are bringing a bus tour, just give us a call and we can assist with your arrangements. As I mentioned earlier in the month, this is our heaviest shipping season. Combined with open house, our shipping staff and facilities get maxed out for a few weeks. We cannot add any additional orders to be shipped out the week of April 30-May 4 but can still handle a few more for the week of May 7-11. If you are having a horticultural emergency, please don't wait to let us know. On a final but sad note, Bill Janssen of Collectors Nursery in Oregon passed away after an extended illness. Our condolences go out to Bill's wife, Diana Reeck, during this difficult time. The late April version of the top 25 list of the year hasn't seen too many changes. We expect the big shuffling to occur after open house next weekend. It's still quite amazing to have a hosta hanging in at #4 and two euphorbias still in the top 10. I hope your Top 25 Contest selections are making their way to the top! As always, we thank you for your continued support and patronage. Please direct all replies and questions to office@plantdelights.com. June 2007Dear PDN'ers:When we last talked, we had just been zapped by an April freeze, while customers in the Northeast and parts of the Midwest were busy building arks to escape the raging floods. One fellow in the Netherlands watched An Inconvenient Truth too many times and has subsequently built a replica of Noah's Ark so that he can be ready when Holland floods. click here to view After an extended dry spell in the Southeast US, Tropical Storm Barry brought needed rains from Florida up through the Carolinas... we got 1.5" from the remnants. Our gardens have been quite a bit warmer during the winter months since 1996, which has allowed us to grow many plants that were marginal back in the 1980's. Like us, I'm sure many of you are following the great global warming debate... yes, there is a debate, despite what some folks would like you to think. I'd like to direct you to two websites that help to frame the current warming cycle into the large picture of global climate change. The information and charts at the National Climatic Data Center show that the last century was indeed the warmest since we have been keeping records. click here to view To put that into perspective, check out the paleo temperature map at click here to view which illustrates the warming and cooling that Earth has experienced throughout its history. During the late Cretaceous and early-to-mid Tertiary Periods, the earth was 18 degrees F (10 degrees C) warmer that it is today... that was serious global warming. We have actually found over a ton of petrified wood (cypress and palm) from this period on our property. By talking only about smaller data samples, such as the last few decades or centuries, it's easy to lose a historical perspective. As you listen to and study the new research, I urge you to keep in mind the difference between sound science and an unproven hypothesis. Be sure to look and listen for terms such as 'think,' 'assume,' 'must be,' and 'no other explanation for.' These are emotional terms, not scientific ones. Back at home, we can pretty much assess damage now and have completely lost some Japanese maples as well as suffered severe damage on some elms and magnolias. It's now time to cut back those hydrangeas since it has become apparent that there aren't going to be any flowers on old wood this year. There is plenty of minor damage, but with other plants growing so fast, it's hard to notice it. We've made it through another hectic spring shipping season, as June has arrived and ordering has slowed. Does it seems to anyone else that the year passes faster each year? That must be part of getting older. All in all, spring shipping went extremely well with only a few minor hiccups. We thought we had eliminated the shipping snafues than can occur when people order in January for May and June shipment, but we didn't quite hit our target of 100% success. Our intent is for those who order first to get the best plants (assuming there is actually a difference, which is rare). This year showed us that we still need to make a minor adjustment to our system for the future, which has already been done for next year. As always, there are a few issues with crop growth that are unanticipated. Examples this year include several baptisia that simply never emerged from dormancy. We've got pots full of roots but, unfortunately, many with no tops. We thought we had this production problem figured out, but it looks like it's back to the chalkboard again. Amsonia 'Georgia Pancake' had similar problems... they looked great when they went dormant but have been painfully slow to re-emerge in spring. This is a new problem... hopefully a one-year issue that we haven't encountered before. We were hit very hard in our epimedium greenhouse, when a heater and backup alarm system failed one night during the winter. What we thought was minor cosmetic damage at the time resulted in several hundred plants still with no foliage, although the rhizomes seem alive. We will hold these in the hopes that they will eventually resprout. Then there is Podophyllum 'Kaleidoscope' ...nearly 300 plants... 300 very expensive plants which simply melted away during the winter. This is such a great plant, but one that has driven us completely crazy trying to produce it in a container. We're pretty stubborn, so we.re not giving up yet. Also, the plants that we sold as Arisaema album turned out to be A. consanguineum. We are extremely disappointed since these came from a normally reliable supplier. If you purchased one, please contact our Customer Service Department for a credit or refund. We'd particularly like to thank customers who have written and posted kind comments on the Garden Watchdog website. We are very pleased to be ranked by customers as one of the Top 30 Mail Order Nurseries in the country. If crop failures aren't enough to make our year, our friends at the US Postal Service just announced a 17% increase in the cost to mail our catalogs. This caught many folks by surprise, because instead of a straight rate increase, the dramatic rise came because of a reclassification of many types of mail, including catalogs. Depending on size and shape, some catalog mailers will see a cost increase of 33%. I thought the first class increase of 5.1% was a lot, but 17%..geez! Because of an industry backlash, the Postal Regulatory Commission has agreed to a temporary reduction in the amount of the increase. Obviously, these higher costs will have to be absorbed by you, the customer, unless you see fit to express your concern to The Postal Regulatory Commission at www.prc.gov. We have filmed many segments for NC Public Television over the last couple of decades, and our most recent ones are slated to run shortly. 'Rock Gardens' will air on Saturday, June 9 at noon and again on Sunday, June 10 at 11:30 a.m. 'Arisaemas' will run on Saturday, July 21 at noon and Sunday, July 22 at 11:30 a.m. If you are in NC, check them out on Public Television. As always, there is news on the horticultural front. In the mail order world, Donald and Glenda Hachenberger, former Re-Max realty executives, have recently disclosed their upcoming purchase of Jackson and Perkins Roses. The Hachenbergers also own controlling interest in Park Seed and Wayside Gardens. I can't imagine wanting to own the $74-million-dollar Jackson and Perkins after already seeing what mail order is like with Wayside and Park Seed, but as the old saying goes, there's one born every minute. We wish them the best of luck in improving their dismal customer satisfaction ratings for all three companies. For those who remember former NCSU PhD, Dr. Kim Tripp, who went on to become Director of the prestigious NY Botanic Garden in March 2005: We received news that she has suddenly resigned. Kim's mid-life career shift will start out with a four-year stint in medical school. Kim tells me that she is not sure where she will land once she finishes but hopes to find a medical tie-in to the plant world. We wish her the best of luck in her new endeavor but will miss seeing her at NYBG. For fans of the JC Raulston Arboretum, the university has at long last filled the Assistant Director position with the hiring of Mark Weatherington. Mark comes to the JCRA from the Norfolk Botanic Garden where he has worked since 1999 and is currently the Director of Horticulture. Mark is scheduled to begin his duties on July 23. Please be sure to welcome Mark and his family to Raleigh when you see them. Jane Connor, who has been the publisher at Timber Press is headed back to her native New Zealand after 5 years in the US. Taking over for Jane will be Neal Maillet, Timber's well thought of former editor, who spent the last three years working for John Wiley Publishers in San Francisco. Neal tells me that he's looking forward to gardening again in a temperate zone (Portland, Oregon). We're delighted to have Neal back in the garden book world! The horticultural world has lost two stalwarts this month with the death of nurseryman William Flemmer III and plantswoman Polly Hill. Flemmer, 85, was the head of the famous Princeton Nurseries in New Jersey, which was started by his grandfather. You can read more about his life at NJ.com. Polly Hill, 100, was an amazing plantswoman whose passion for plants led her to start the famed Polly Hill Arboretum on Martha's Vineyard. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit and speak for the arboretum in 2004. You can read more about Polly at the Washington Post. May road trips took me back to Gainesville, Florida, for the UF Floriculture Field Day. I highly recommend two botanic gardens in the region... Kanapaha in Gainesville http://www.kanapaha.org and Harry P. Leu Botanic Garden in Orlando www.leugardens.org. Both are superb plantsmans gardens that are not to be missed. It is always great to see what thrives in Zone 9, including two surprises, Dahlia imperialis and Rubus pentalobus. Another highlight of the Florida trip was a chance to botanize around Gainesville with Dick Weaver (founder of We-Du) and Gainesville plantsman Mike McCaffery. It was great to see the native clematis reticulata as well as the dwarf pawpaw (Asimina angustifolia) in full flower. The highlight had to be finding native stands of Trillium maculatum... surely at the southern end of its range. The Florida fires that we have heard so much about are still burning, but fortunately the winds were blowing in the other direction while I was there. I recently heard from palm guru Kyle Brown of Lake City, who tells me the fires got within 10 miles of his home before they were brought under control. Back home, we were shocked last week to discover that one of our giant Agave americana var. protoamericana clumps is sending up a flower stalk. When we first noticed the stalk on May 17, it was already 10' tall. Since this is the first blessed event on this species, we aren't sure how tall the mature stalk will reach before it opens. In the wild, the large agaves often take 100 years to flower; hence, the name century plants. In cultivation, we can usually cut about 90 years off that total. Our flowering plants are 10 years from seed and 8 years from being planted in the garden. If you are in the area, the JC Raulston Arboretum has an A. salmiana flowering also! Work is beginning on our fall catalog, as propagation for both fall and next spring elevates to a fever pitch. Just walking though the greenhouses today, we saw that we still have some superb looking arisaemas. Especially nice are our Arisaema consanguineum... all extremely narrow-leaf forms, most in full flower. The A. concinnum, A. fargesii, A. sikokianum Silver Center, and A. candidissimum are also looking superb and still in good supply. Any arisaemas that are still unsold after the next couple of weeks go back in the ground until next year. They would much rather have a home in your garden... they told us so! We are anxiously anticipating the upcoming meeting of the International Magnolia Society. Co-Chairman Pat McCracken tells me to expect at least 110 attendees, which will make this one of the largest meetings in its history! If you can't make the magnolia meeting, be sure to mark our Summer Open House on your schedule... July 6-8 and 13-15. We'll see you then! Finally... regarding the Top 25 Sellers... there's been some movement this month. While the top 3 stayed the same, Gaillardia 'Fanfare' zoomed from 18th to 5th, Canna 'Phaison' crept into the top 10 from 13th, and Salvia chamaedryoides made the biggest leap from 30th to 9th. Several plants outside the April top 30 made gains with Dianthus 'Heart Attack' reaching 12th and Salvia 'Hot Lips' reaching 15th. Cuphea micropetala, Acanthus mollis 'Tasmanian Angel', and Verbena 'Snowflurry', all cracked the top 30 at 28-30th respectively. Please direct all replies and questions to office@plantdelights.com. July 2007Greetings from Plant Delights and we hope the summer find you all well.We recently finished our 2007 Summer Open House and would like to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to visit and take home a few special plants. For those who have never been to visit us in the summer, this is a great chance to see numerous summer flowering plants, many of which only make an appearance during the summer months. We really hope we can encourage more folks to visit during this exciting time of year in the garden. If you missed our open house, we're just over a week away from hosting the Summer Meeting of the Southeastern Palm Society. This is a great chance to talk with other palm and exotic plant growers from around the southeast, as well as pick up some of the latest new plants. If you would like to attend and are not a member of SPS (we hope you will join SPS at the meeting), just email our Administrative Assistant, Julie Picolla, so we can get a head count of how many to expect for lunch. You can download the meeting schedule at www.sepalms.org/SPS_Meetings_News.htm. The 2007 Fall Plant Delights Catalog is at the printers and will go in the mail next week. Thank goodness I can finally unchain myself from this computer and head back out into the garden where I belong. It'll take days to wipe the chlorophyll from my keyboard, so don't expect me to be back into the office anytime soon. I can tell that focusing on writing catalogs gets progressively more difficult as you age... either that or my ADHD is getting much worse. Regardless, the symptoms are the same. As with all fans of native plants, we mourn the passing of former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson. I hope everyone has had the opportunity to visit the wonderful center named in her honor in Austin, Texas. If not, put it on your list. You can find out more at www.wildflower.org. In other gardening news, Dr. David Creech, director of the SFA Mast Arboretum in Nacogdoches, Texas, will be retiring at the end of August and that opens a position in the horticulture program at Stephen F. Austin State University. If you've got your PhD and are passionate about plants, consider throwing your proverbial hat in the ring. SFASU is an exciting place, not just because most of the former Space Shuttle Challenger pieces landed there, but because Dr. Creech's boundless enthusiasm for plants has resulted in a truly amazing botanical collection. As a good friend of the late Dr. JC Raulston, he shared the same philosophy and vision.... It's all about the plants. If you've never seen the collections at SFASU, put this on your list to visit the next time you're in East Texas. Another change that came as a shock to most of us in the horticulture world was the spring departure of Doug Ruhren from the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. It was Doug's design skills and plant knowledge that took Daniel Stowe from a flat country field to a destination garden, setting it apart from the cookie-cutter gardens that are popping up around the country. It's a shame that something as silly as differing management philosophies over how to deal with problem staff were allowed to get in the way of keeping a horticulturist as brilliant as Doug at the garden. Far too often, garden management folks simply don't realize the importance and scarcity of top flight horticulture and subsequently lose the heart and soul of their gardens. Doug is still actively involved in garden design with both private and public projects. In other news, the famous Western Hills Nursery in Occidental, California has new owners. The property and nursery has been purchased by Robert Stansel and Joseph Gatta. For those who might be unfamiliar with Western Hills Nursery, it was opened in 1960 by famed California horticulturists Marshall Olbrich and Lester Hawkins, who bequeathed the nursery to one of their staff members, Maggie Wych. For much of its existence, Western Hills was considered the top nursery in the country to acquire new rare plants, and on more than one occasion the late Dr. JC Raulston raved about visiting Western Hills. Not only did the nursery offer great plants, but the 3-acre garden is a plantsman's masterpiece. After struggling with the nursery's financial health, Wych put the nursery up for sale in 2005. The nursery has now reopened, and you can find out more, including how to visit, by going to www.westernhillsnursery.com". In news that just delights me, The Garden Conservancy has adopted Pearl Fryar's topiary garden in Bishopville, SC, as one of its new conservation projects. I first met Pearl nearly a decade ago when we were both working on the same program, and I came away with a new appreciation of topiary and for the soul of a very special man. If you haven't read Pearl's heartwarming story, take time to read about him and hopefully visit his garden at www.fryarstopiaries.com. Horticulture magazine has announced a fall symposium in Raleigh on Saturday, October 20. The symposium includes a line-up of Lucy Hardiman, designer and author from Oregon; Scott Kunst of Old House Gardens; Landscape Architect Gordon Hayward of Vermont; Rosemary Alexander, founder of the English Gardening School at the Chelsea Physic Garden; and Horticulture.s own Nan Sinton. We're hosting a special brunch on Friday morning at the nursery before the symposium, where you will be able to tour the gardens and... if the mood strikes you... shop until you drop. We hope to see you here. Details are available at www.hortmag.com. It's been quite the year for Amorphophallus titanum flowering. Just after the plant at UNC-Charlotte flowered, another at Cleveland's Clemet Zoo flowered. To learn more or to see the video, go to www.clemetzoo.com/animal_plant/horticulture/cronus.asp. Amorphophallus are one of our specialty research genera to determine which species might survive outdoors in our warm temperate climate. Amorphophallus are quite valuable for a lightly shaded garden since most don't emerge before late spring/early summer and add a valuable freshness when the woodland garden begins to tire as the spring ephemerals go dormant. Not all amorphophallus species have huge or incredibly smelly flowers, but all do possess the delightful form of a deciduous perennial palm tree. Additionally, the seed heads provide another great garden feature. A. henry produces club-like spikes of blue fruit, A. konjac delivers a giant stalk of orange berries, and A. kiusianus produces fruit that starts pink and gradually turns blue. Another interesting thing we've noticed is that most species grow better in partial sun and in some cases full sun for several hours. Dense shade tends to produce very weak plants that aren't particularly attractive. We're now up to 11 species that have been successful outdoors in the ground... see the list below. There are still many more species that we are yet to try, and we hope for a few more hardy species. www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page7.html
For the first time in several years, we are working to catch up on Hosta registrations from our breeding program. While our hosta breeding has continued, we simply have not had the time to catch up on evaluations and subsequent registrations. After dedicating three consecutive days to the project, we have named 18 new hostas, most of which will be gradually introduced over the next few years. We are also changing the name of our Hosta 'Chickadee' to 'Dixie Chickadee' since research revealed that the late Dr. Herb Benedict introduced (but never registered) a plant by the same name. The name change will be reflected in our catalog as of January 2008. We feel this will be the easiest way to avoid possible confusion. There are so many great plants that look great in the summer that it often makes us wish that visitors could see them all, but the best we can do is to tell you about them and hope you will try them for yourselves. I'll start with some of the late-flowering daylilies. If you're like most folks, your normal daylilies have come and gone, but not if you grow some of the wonderful late-flowering varieties. While there are some modern day breeders working on late-flowering varieties, many of the most popular selections are still WWII era introductions. Two of my favorites which are in full flower now are H. 'Autumn Minaret' (yellow) and H. 'August Flame' (red). www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page47.html Other flowers similar in height include the perennial Alstroemerias, such as Mark Bridgen's great hybrids, A. 'Freedom' and A. 'Sweet Laura'... both great in the garden and for making summer flower arrangements. www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page6.html Mid to late July is also when the first of the ginger (hedychium) hybrids start to flower. The first in what will be a summer sucession of flowers include H. densiflorum 'Stephen', H. 'Kanogie', H. 'Daniel Weeks', and H. coccineum 'Flaming Torch'. While the plants will survive amazing drought conditions, remember that moisture is the key to good hedychium flowering. Additionally, planting hedychiums on a slope is preferred, although certainly not necessary. One of the things that struck me in the wild is that hedychiums are always found growing on a slope. www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page44.html There are a number of great summer bulbs including crocosmias. The new selections from David Tristam are exceptionally good flowering and a far cry from C. 'Lucifer', which essentially crowds itself out and stops flowering after only one season. www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page29.html Other favorite summer-flowering bulbs include the many selections of crinum and lycoris. Crinums are winter dormant, while lycoris are dormant in spring and early summer. Both plants provide a great mid to late summer show, despite the vargaries of the weather. Many of the crinums and lycoris have also proven to be much more winter hardy than some gardening texts give them credit. Thanks to help from our bulb friends, we've been able to assemble one of the best offerings of both of these great bulb genera that you'll find. While both are great southern pass-along plants, you first need a friend to pass them along. In the meantime, we'll be your intermediary. www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page28.html www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page71.html Lilies...yes, summer is the time for a great show of lilies. Many of the asiatic hybrids don't do much for me, but some of the species selections are phenomenal. Lilium formosanum is certainly hard to beat for a white lily, but the yellow-orange Lilium henryi provides a different effect with its arching stems of pendant flowers. If you haven't grown the recently discovered US native Lilium pyrophilum, then you've missed a truly great lily... find a moist spot and enjoy! Lest I end without mentioning Lilium lancifolium 'Flora Plena'. The amazing tiger lily is great in the garden, great as a cut flower, and also makes bulbils in the leaf axils that you can share with gardening friends. www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page70.html If you like red hot pokers, how about some that bloom in the summer? One of my favorite summer flowering clones is Kniphofia 'Nancy's Red', which is in full flower as we speak. I couldn't stop without mentioning the wonderful eupatoriums. All it takes is a slightly moist location and you'll have a landing tower for butterflies, not to mention the wonderful bouffant purple flower heads. I could go on for hours, but I'm already two pages over what marketing consultants tell us that customers will actually bother to read... you know, short attention spans and all that garbage. www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page68.html www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page40.html In other plant news, we like to let you know when we find a mix-up or when a plant doesn't perform as we have touted it. This is going back a few years, but we offered a Hosta 'Blue and Gold' in 2003, which was reportedly a sport of H. 'Hadspen Blue'. Now that our plant is mature, it is obviously H. 'Tokudama Flavocircinalis'... a great hosta, but not a sport of H. 'Hadspen Blue'. If you are one of the seven people who purchased these, change your tags. We have also been very disappointed at the overwintering performance of many of the new coreopsis hybrids. Part of the problem seems to be that one of the parents that imparts the cool colors to the hybrids is Coreopsis tinctoria, which is an annual species. While true winter hardiness is not the problem, we are finding that when planted in the ground and allowed to flower, they are not surviving even our last two mild winters of 15 degrees F. Reportedly, non-flowering plants installed in late fall will survive fine. A few folks tell me that if they are cut to the ground in the early fall, that this may help with winter survival, but we aren't betting on this. Researchers from NC State University think the problem is that the excessive flowering does not allow energy to go into developing enough basal growth for the plant to overwinter. We are pulling these from the market and hope the introducers of these will be willing to assist us with refunding money to customers (yeah, right!) who have not found them to be as winter hardy as promised. To get a credit or refund, just email our customer service department at office@plantdelights.com. As if we needed more pests, the following alert from the Florida Department of Agriculture may be of interest for those living in or vacationing to Florida. To quote information from officials in Florida, 'The redbay ambrosia beetle, Xyleborus glabratus was first detected in the U.S. in a survey trap in Georgia in 2002. It now exists from Florida to South Carolina on redbay and sassafras. Not enough is known about this ambrosia beetle, but its behavior seems very similar to the Granulate (Asian) ambrosia beetle. This beetle also makes "toothpicks" and is thought to vector a wilt disease. Please report any wilting or bark beetle activity on redbay or sassafras so it can be checked." For more information, see the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Pest Alert at www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/ento/x.glabratus.html. There's been some movement in the Top 25 this month, although most of the list has stayed relatively stable. Tiarella 'Pink Skyrocket' zoomed from off the list last month to 10th place overall, while Nierembergia 'Starry Eyes' also shot from 22nd to 14th place. In a couple of other big moves, the perennial hollyhock, Alcea rugosa, jumped from off the list to 19th place and Aloe polyphylla moved from 27th to 20th. So, how are your top 25 predictions faring? Only four more months remain before we award the $250 Plant Delights gift certificate to the person who came the closest to predicting the correct finishing order of sales. Please direct all replies and questions to office@plantdelights.com. September 2007It's been quite a month since we last talked. August at the Raleigh-Durham airport was the hottest month here since records have been kept... some 60+ years. As part of our 3-week heat binge, our 105 degree F temperature also tied a record for hottest temperature. Our 101 degree F temperature on September 10 smashed our old record of 97 degrees F. We can usually ship orders if the temperatures remain around 90 degrees F, but this summer has been the first since we have been in business that we have missed 3 consecutive weeks of shipping because of high temperatures. Rain has either occurred in the form of deluges or has been virtually non-existent depending on where you live. I expect many of us are ready for the weather patterns to change... we can't even manage a decent tropical storm this year, despite the ominous hurricane predictions by the climate experts.We've got one open house weekend under our belt and one more to go. Despite the weather, the gardens look quite good, so come and see what has survived the brutal heat... we hope to see you here. In upcoming events, the Garden Conservancy is holding its open day tours in Raleigh on September 22 and 23. The Garden Conservancy is the Non-Profit National Organization dedicated to preserving America's Greatest Gardens for future generations. On the Conservancy's Annual Open Days, private gardeners around the country open their properties to visitors for a charge of $5 per person per garden (discount tickets are available on-line). Proceeds are split between a local garden (the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh) and the Conservancy's preservation program. You can find a list of gardens open near you on the Garden Conservacy website. Their website also has more information about the Garden Tours Program. If you live in the Raleigh area and would like to submit your garden as a tour subject for future years, contact chairman Helen Yost at helen@gardensgardens.com. If you live in an area that doesn.t yet participate in the Open Days Program, this is probably due to the lack of a coordinator in the region. If you would like to volunteer your services, contact the Garden Conservancy office at the link above. Following the Garden Conservancy Open Days is the Horticulture Magazine Symposium on October 20 in Raleigh. If you haven't signed up, there is still time to register at www.hortmag.com. We look forward to seeing you there. Do you have your 2008 calender yet? If so, hold the dates of September 25-27, 2008. The JC Raulston Arboretum Symposium will feature Bill Cullina, Larry Stanley, Sean Hogan, Thomas Bonnicksen, John Grimshaw, Richard Olsen, and Dave Demers. I don't know about you, but I can't wait! In sad news, former director of NY's Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Judy Zuk, 55, passed away after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. Judy was an amazing woman who, during her 15 years at the helm of BBG, helped to re-energize this great old garden with her amazing enthusiasm and foresight. Judy was active in so many phases of horticulture from APGA (the American Public Gardens Association) to serving as the co-editor-in-chief of The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. Her list of honors includes the prestigious Scott Medal, the Medal of Honor from the Garden Club of America, and then being named as an APGA Honorary Life Member. When she retired from BBG due to declining health in 2005, she was honored with the naming of Magnolia 'Judy Zuk', a cultivar developed at BBG. Judy was very special person and a great friend of PDN. While she will be greatly missed, her legacy lives on at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In the "It's just interesting department," Google has begun to scan old catalogs and put them on line. Thanks for Larry Hatch of the New Ornamentals Society for alerting me that a 100-year old catalog from the famed Biltmore House Nursery is now available for viewing. I was fascinated to see that many of the plants that we consider relatively new to horticulture were actually available a century earlier. If you have a few minutes, you'll find this link fascinating. So, what's looking so great in the gardens in September, you ask? If you like bulbous plants in the Amaryllid family, there is no better month than September. Whether it's habranthus, zephyranthes, lycoris, crinum, or rhodophiala, these are great providers of fall color. The habranthus and zephyranthes (both called rain lilies) are dependent on rain to flower well. That being said, because they are bulbous, they can sit in seemingly suspended animation during the worst of drought conditions, only to be ready to flower 2-3 days after a rain shower. Lycoris flower the same time of year, regardless of rain, emerging overnight when the 'time is right' (sorry to sound like a Cialis commercial). Rhodophiala bifida is a heat lover that flowers much the same as lycoris, appearing overnight with bright red or carmine pink flowers. Crinums have a wide flowering season depending on the species involved in their parentage. C. bulbispermum is an early spring bloomer, while cultivars such as C. 'Stars and Stripes', and C. 'Summer Nocturne' flower in the fall. There are several cultivars such as C. 'Olene' that flower in spring and continue through fall. Also flowering now are several great gesneriads. When I used to grow and sell house plants, I never dreamed that so many members of the African Violet (gesneriad) family would be winter hardy outdoors here in Zone 7b. It's hard to choose a favorite, but I hope that everyone has tried our introduction, Gloxinia 'Evita', by now. We have best luck growing this in a site that receives sun for a couple of hours in the afternoon. This amazing plant spreads from an underground rhizome and starts flowering in August and hits full stride by mid-September. Gloxinia 'Chic' is another great selection with narrow cherry-red flowers that grows under similar conditions. Fall is also a great time for many of the sinningias. These include the all-summer flowering S. sellovii and Sinningia conspicua. Both of these are incredibly drought tolerant with S. sellovii enjoying full-day sun. S. conspicua grows best in sites that receive 2-4 hours of full sun. For light shade to a couple of hours of sun, try Titanotrichum oldhammii. This amazing gesneriad begins flowering in early September with terminal racemes of simply stunning bright yellow flowers with cinnamon interiors. For light shade, try Eucodonia 'Adele'. This darling gesneriad begins flowering this month with lovely purple flowers that lay atop the quilted bronzy leaves. Another group of fall favorites are some members of the hibiscus (Malvaceae) family. Abutilons (flowering maple) are drought-tolerant members of the family that begin flowering in mid-summer with bell-shaped flowers that continue until frost with some of their most prolific flowering of the season in September. Another superb mallow is Malvaviscus drummondii. This drought tolerant US native is simply covered in bright orange-red flowers from summer through fall. If you have a moist site, then check out the sea-shore mallow, Kosteletzkya virginica. This native mallow is covered with flowers that resemble miniature hibiscus and is available in both pink and white. Another fall flowering mallow that can tolerate both boggy soils and extended drought is Hibiscus grandiflorus. In addition to the hairy grey leaves and bright pink flowers that top the plant in September, H. grandiflorus makes a stunning 6-7' tall clump. While most hibiscus are native to very moist sites, such is not the case with Hibiscus aculeatus, which can be found at home in dry sand. This native mallow is covered with light yellow flowers from summer through fall. There are so many other plants that are just looking great now from the fall-flowering sedums to the fall-blooming red hot poker, Kniphofia rooperi. I didn't even have time to mention Salvia, Anisacanthus, manettia, lobelia, and so much more. I hope you'll take some time and browse the on-line catalog for some great fall bloomers to add to your garden. To make it easy, just go to the catalog welcome page and type the word 'fall' into the search box and you're on your way! In the Top 25 this month there weren't many big moves. The largest movers include Canna 'Phaison', which moved from 13th to 8th, and Begonia 'Heron's Pirouette', which moved from 13th to 9th. So, how are your top 25 predictions faring? Only three more months remain before we award the $250 Plant Delights gift certificate to the person who came the closest to predicting the correct finishing order of sales. Please direct all replies and questions to office@plantdelights.com. November 2007When we last talked, we were discussing drought, which is still an issue in many states, particularly in the southeast US. In our part of NC, we have been blessed with two major rains, a 3.5" storm in mid-September and a 4" rain in mid-October. Mind you, we're still in need of much more, but at least the trees are in better shape going into fall.The drought has already had a huge effect on nurseries in the region. In NC, the drought took out Messenbrink's Nursery, and the owners are in the process of liquidating their assets. Mark and Louisa's retail booth has been a popular anchor at the NC Farmers Market in Raleigh, while their wholesale division supplied garden centers throughout the region. Just south of us, Georgia-based Pike Family Nurseries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after the severe drought severely impacted their business. Pike Nurseries is probably the largest independently-owned garden center chain in the US with 22 stores in the southeast and, at one time, over 700 employees. Pike's have secured enough funding to continue operations for now, and we wish them the best as they deal with the continuing drought.
Here at PDN, we're winding up our 2007 shipping season with only two weeks
left before we suspend shipments on November 30, until mid-February. That
being said, we will do our best to accommodate any legitimate gardening
emergencies during this down period... weather permitting. While plant
shipping ends, the busy season for gift certificates is just cranking up.
If you have trouble finding gifts for the gardener in your family, consider
a PDN gift certificate. You can order on line at
It's always interesting to see what looks good in the garden in the fall,
so I've just returned from a stroll around the gardens here at Juniper Level.
We're at the tail end of Cyclamen hederifolium season... a time where the
winter-growing foliage has just emerged while the flowers are still in bloom.
If you still haven't grown cyclamen in your garden, you have missed one of
the truly great garden plants for the late summer and fall season.
Cyclamen hederifolium is best planted at the base of trees and shrubs so
that they will stay dry in the summer months while they are dormant.
I mentioned several of the late summer flowering mallows back in September, but three of them are still in full flower here in mid-November. While most commonly grown garden hibiscus are summer flowering types, the giant-growing Hibiscus mutabilis is a fall bloomer which is just getting started. Because of their late flowering, they aren't particularly useful north of Zone 7b, but south of here, they are highly prized... hence, the common name, Confederate rose... despite their Chinese heritage. This is also peak flowering season for abutilons, which are true stars of the fall garden. Visitors from the Atlanta Botanical Garden last week told us that many of their abutilons flowered all winter due to unseasonably mild winter temperatures last year. The last genera of mallows that are still in flower are the malvaviscus, which have been in full flower since early summer and continue unabated in fall ... even through a very light frost. A hard freeze will knock out the malvaviscus and hibiscus flowering, while most abutilons will continue down to at least 20 degrees F.
It's hard to imagine a better group of late season flowers than the fall-blooming salvias. The most spectacular has to be the 8' tall yellow-flowered Salvia madrensis. You'll need some room for this one, but darn it's showy. One step down in size to the 3-4' range is Salvia puberula (hot pink), the Salvia leucantha cultivars (lavender-purple), and the brilliant orange red flowered S. regla. If you're looking for something smaller in the 2' range, the Salvia greggii forms and hybrids are all in full flower now, as well as the blue flowered S. chamaedryoides. While we don't recommend planting marginally hardy salvias in the fall, just remember them when you shop in spring and also remember to give them good drainage when you're planting.
Other long-blooming perennials continue to strut their stuff including Geranium 'Rozanne', Alstroemerias 'Sweet Laura' and 'Freedom', the obscenely long-flowering Cestrum parqui and C. 'Orange Peel'. Lest I forget, one of the most striking plants is the brilliant red Bouvardia ternifolia. If you've tried the commercial bouvardias and they didn't survive the winter, you need to try our form which is from a colder area of Mexico.
One of my all-time fall favorites is a hardy gladiolus that we introduced several years ago as G. 'Halloweenie'. For us, it typically starts flowering on Halloween day and continues until a hard freeze. This fast multiplying glad produces enough stems for countless fall arrangements with colors of bright orange and yellow ... perfect for adding seasonal color. Another great geophyte (underground storage such as a bulb, tuber, or corm) for fall is the giant tree dahlia, D. imperialis. If we have an early fall, we miss the flowers, but this year, we have already enjoyed a few weeks of Dahlia 'Double or Nothing', which is the earliest of the D. imperialis cultivars to flower. From here south, they are truly superb. A couple of other great perennials that only strut their stuff in the fall include the many cultivars of Farfugium japonicum which are all topped with stunning spikes of bright yellow daisies right now. One plant that isn't as widely known as it should be is the Mexican Verbesina microptera. This garden giant tops out at 15' tall with huge leaves and is in full flower now with gigantic flower heads of yellow. Although we typically don't think of grasses as having flowers, their plumes just seem to fit the fall season. Some personal favorites that look great now include the giant Saccharum arundinaceum that doesn't open until mid-October, the re-flowering Miscanthus 'Andante', and the splendid Muhlenbergia capillaris ... especially the cultivar M. 'White Cloud' that simply must be seen to be believed.
Another great late fall and winter interest plant is the arum. These mostly Mediterranean natives are emerging now and will grow all winter before flowering in the spring, then go dormant in the summer months. Because of this reverse growing season, arums are amazingly drought tolerant. If you get serious about this group, be sure to pick up a copy of Peter Boyce's book, The Genus Arum.
We typically don't think of perennials for fall color other than flowers, but several of the amsonias, including A. hubrichtii and A. 'Georgia Pancake', have great fall foliage color, as does the popular solomon's seal, Polygonatum odoratum. Another plant that provides dramatic fall color sans flowers is the group of Ruscaceae that includes the genera danae and ruscus. These tough as nails evergreen perennials were born without the benefit of leaves, but with an amazing show of bright orange and red berries respectively in fall. Add another plant that you don't normally think of growing for fall fruit - the species peonies, P. japonica and P. obovata. Both of these produce amazing seedheads of bright red berries that look great now.
Have you got your 2008 calender handy? I briefly mentioned this in our last update, but here are more details. From September 25-27, 2008, the nearby J.C. Raulston Arboretum will hold a symposium titled, 'Surround Yourself with Shady Characters'. The don't-miss speaker list includes:
If you are looking for a job, Mississippi State University is looking for a director for the Crosby Arboretum. If you are interested, you can find out more about this and other exciting jobs in public horticulture at www.publicgardens.org/web/2006/06/careers_center_home.aspx. The great folks at the Birmingham Botanic Gardens asked if we would spread the word about The Central South Native Plant Conference on Oct. 17-18, 2008. The conference, held every 3-4 years, includes lectures, field trips, and tours. For more information, go to www.bbgardens.org (and click on "events"). If you find yourself indoors by your computer one evening, you might want to visit the JC Raulston Arboretum website, where all of J.C.'s slides (87,000+) have now been scanned and are viewable on line. This is an amazing account of J.C.'s wonderful life and extensive travels. www.ncsu.edu/jcraulstonarboretum/photography/raulston_slides/raulston_slides.php We had several interesting moves in the late season Top 25 list. The biggest mover was Lycoris radiata, which zoomed from nowhere to reach #5 on the list, thanks in part to a big article in Southern Living magazine. The next biggest move was another lycoris, L. aurea that zoomed to #18 from off the list. Musa 'Siam Ruby' jumped to #21 and Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' followed close behind at #22. So, how are your Top 25 predictions faring? Only a few more weeks remain before we award the $250 Plant Delights gift certificate to the person who came the closest to predicting the correct finishing order of sales. If you don't see your plants in the Top 25, you better get your friends busy ordering! As always, we thank you for your continued support and patronage. Please direct all replies and questions to office@plantdelights.com. Thanks and enjoy -tony
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