New Plants Introduced to the US Market by Plant Delights Mail Order Nursery
...including North American native plants, flowering perennials, garden ferns, perennials for shade, exotic plants, and much more.
Plant Delights Nursery is the mail order nursery division of Juniper Level Botanic Garden, a research and botanic garden facility that specializes in genetic preservation of rare plants and the development and introduction of new, rare, and unusual species and garden hybrids. Plant Delights brings to market new and exotic plants that have often never before been commercialized. Our introductions include a large array of hardy garden ferns; flowering perennials like phlox and baptisia; exotic plants like the hardy aroids, amorphophallus and arisaema; hardy garden orchids such as calanthe and bletilla; perennials for shade gardens like hosta, aspidistra, and polygonatum (solomon's seal); drought-tolerant plants including agave and yucca; tropical foliage perennials including cannas and colocasia (elephant ear); geophytes like crinum, rain lilies, and lycoris ; and native plants like trillium and hibiscus (mallows). Whether they are flowering perennials, garden ferns, or perennials for shade, we find them, trial them, and then release the rarest and the best to you. If you're looking to buy native plants or exotic plants, Plant Delights has something for you. Below is a list of some of our releases.
list updated January 2013 (N) - Named by Plant Delights Nursery (PDN) - Our Own Introductions
Abutilon Abutilon 'Marion Stewart' (D. Dulling 1992)
This amazing Canna glauca hybrid (possibly with Canna iridiflora) was brought into the US by Texan Margie Brown, who purchased it sans name from a roadside nursery south of Bangkok. The 6' tall stalks of glaucous leaves are topped, starting in summer, with peachy-orange buds that open to lovely, somewhat pendent fleshy-pink flowers (RHS 48D)...the best pink-flowered canna we've ever grown...attractive to hummingbirds. Like Canna 'Panache', it multiplies and spreads quite rapidly when grown in moist, rich soil. Thanks to both Mary Elliott and Steve Lowe for independently sending it our way. Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.83 L)
For something truly unique, we are pleased to introduce Canna 'Thai Rainbow', which offers a unique leaf variegation pattern (reportedly radiation induced). Canna 'Thai Rainbow' forms a 6' tall, rapidly multiplying clump of narrow leaves that are banded green and cream with a purple flush that is particularly evident on the leaf edges. The clumps are topped with small but bright red-orange flowers that attract hummingbirds throughout the summer...looks and grows like a variegated form of Canna 'Intrigue'. Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.892 L)
Cardamine douglassii has become one of my new favorite native spring ephemeral plants. Cardamine douglassii emerges in early November for us and remains as flat rosettes of glaucous leaves until mid-February, when it expands into a 1' tall x 18" wide clump of foliage, adorned with flower spikes of mauvy-pink...a true showpiece in the winter woodland garden at the same time as hellebores. For us, Cardamine douglassii is completely dormant by late April. Our offering is an exceptional clone that plantswoman, Jan Midgley, discovered in Alabama. Pot Size: 7.87 fl. oz (232.7 ml)
We discovered this fantastic sedge on Taiwan's highest mountain, Yushan (Nantou County), at 7,400' elevation. In our garden, Carex gentilis 'Yushan' has made a stunning 18" tall x 3' wide, finely-textured, evergreen specimen. I find Carex gentilis a marvelous textural addition to the woodland garden. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Available 5-23-2013 Everyone who sees this clumping carex can't leave without it. From a 1970s Barry Yinger expedition to Japan comes this hard-to-find but easy-to-grow selection of Carex morrowii temnolepis v. temnolepis. The 2' wide clump of wispy, thread-like, deer-resistant foliage is striped white-and-green...giving it a silver sheen in the garden. Imagine a 70-year-old with a mop-top cut that hasn't been introduced to hair color and you get the picture. Carex' Silk Tassel' is great in the woodland garden...either in a mass planting or as a specimen near the garden pond...absolutely outstanding! Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This 1994 PDN introduction was found by our friend, the late Wolfgang Oehme of Oehme and Van Sweden (famous landscape designers). This sport from Wolfgang's garden has the typical growth habit of the North American native (Canada south to Arkansas) Carex muskingumensis (resembling a 1' tall palm tree) but with a clear yellow border around the leaves. Although Carex muskingumensis 'Oehme' emerges green, the vivid yellow stripes appear soon after. As with all sedges, Carex 'Oehme' has excellent deer resistance. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Native from Maine south to Texas, Carex retroflexa (related to C. texensis) can be found in openings of dry deciduous forests. Our particular form is one we collected in 2004 from northern Louisiana's Bienville Parish, where the infamous Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were gunned down in 1934. For us, Carex retroflexa has made a stunning, very fine textured, mop-top form...a nice complement to the bold textures of hostas in open woodland. Each clump forms a 6" tall x 18" wide mound. We have seen a bit of seeding in moist sites which is fine with us. I think you'll really like this great but little-known native. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(aka: Trilisa paniculata) Carphephorus paniculata is a little-known native (coastal NC south to Florida) member of the aster family that forms a flat basal rosette from which the flowering stalk emerges, starting in late spring. In late September, the 2' tall stalk opens like an exploding liatris, revealing a firework-like panicle of purple flowers...simply superb. Our original seed came from NC's coastal Brunswick County where it grows along a seasonally moist sandy roadside. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This new and hard-to-find introduction from NC's conifer expert, Paul Jones, is a seedling from Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Crippsii'. The foliage best resembles a dwarf golden Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Graciosa' with very dainty lace-like foliage. In our rock garden, this is one of the few dwarf golden chamaecyparis that doesn't foliage-burn. Our 15-year-old specimen of Chamaecyparis 'Spirited' has reached 8' tall x 3' wide. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(aka: Notholaena eckloniana) One of the most exciting plants that we saw on our 2005 expedition to South Africa was a desert sun fern, Cheilanthes eckloniana. Although we have only dropped to 9 degrees F since we have had it in the garden, it has remained evergreen so far. The steely, blue-green, deer-resistant fronds emerge from the hairy tan croziers to form a 1' tall x 20" wide rock garden-sized clump. These spore-grown offerings are from plants growing along the road to Naude's Neck Pass around 8,000' elevation. Cheilanthes eckloniana is named after the 1800's Danish plant collector, Christian Ecklon. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Cheilanthes 'Mighty Tidy' is a splendid dwarf form of our native Cheilanthes lanosa that popped up here as a sporeling. In our full sun rock garden, it has made a splendid compact clump to 6" tall x 1' wide. Each frond of this deer-resistant dryland fern is dramatically smaller and narrower than is typical for Cheilanthes lanosa. Well-drained soils are a must for Cheilanthes lanosa to thrive. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This accession of the 4-pinnate South African desert ferns hails from 4,000' elevation in the Eastern Cape near the town of Cathcart. Cheilanthes quadripinnata is a charming 10" tall clumper with finely cut foliage held on a jet black stipe that feels like hard plastic. In the wild, Cheilanthes quadripinnata occurs in rocky cracks just below the high forests. For us, it occurs in our full-sun rock garden. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(syn: Anthericum saundersiae 'Variegata') This great variegated form of the rare South African (Swaziland) native arose at Florida's Agristarts Nursery. The easy-to-grow, well-behaved, small, grass-like clumps of arching green leaves are heavily striped with white edges. Throughout the summer the 18" wide clumps are topped with airy spikes bearing small, white, spider plant-like flowers. Chlorophytum 'Agristripes' makes a great garden plant where it is winter-hardy and a great container plant where it isn't. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
We are very pleased to share the Plant Delights introduction, Chrysanthemum 'Snow Dome', our favorite of the new group of hybrids between garden mums and Chrysanthemum pacificum (aka: ajania). This superb selection, thanks to genetics from NC's Richard Hayes, makes an unbelievable tight dome of cutleaf, silver-backed foliage that forms a perfect 15" tall x 2' wide mound...without any pruning or pinching. The foliage is then topped in October with a blanket of small white daisies. I'd grow this superb selection even if it didn't flower...great for a small garden. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This charming garden mum appeared in our roadside garden bed about fifteen years ago, and every year I intended to get it propagated. We finally got "a round tuit," naming it after my late wife Michelle, who commented glowingly every fall when it flowered for her Halloween birthday. Chrysanthemum 'Michelle's Pink' makes a spreading clump to 5' wide in 5 years. The 2' flowering stalks are topped, starting in mid-October and continuing into November, with 2" mauvy pink (Pantone 700), slightly fragrant flowers...a real sweetheart. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
As a rule, there aren't many of the Mediterranean rock roses that will thrive in our humid, moist climate, so when we find one, we get quite excited. Such is the case with Cistus 'Harper's White' that we obtained from legendary Virginia garden writer, Pamela Harper, in 2007. Pam obtained it, first in 1972, as Cistus x corbariensis and again in 1991 as Cistus x hybridus. Unfortunately, the plant doesn't match either name. For us Cistus 'Harper's White' has formed a 2.5' tall x 5' wide evergreen bush with thick, dark green leaves which are complemented in April and May with clusters of rose-like flowers of pure white. If you've been looking for a plant that thrives in heat and drought, look no further. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This amazing variant of the southeast US native Clinopodium coccineum was discovered along Weaver River in the Florida Panhandle (Santa Rosa County - the hanging chad place) by Fred Spicer of the Birmingham Botanic Garden, Rick Lewandowski (formerly of Mt. Cuba), and Florida plantsman, Ron Miller. The 2' tall x 3' wide see-through clump of thin woody stems is adorned with small narrow green leaves. Starting in late summer, the clump is ablaze with tubular bright yellow flowers, each with a slight blush of orange. The flowers continue until frost and are a favorite of hummingbirds. Well-drained soils are the key to growing clinopodium coccineum. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Several years ago, we received a shipment of Colocasia from India of which most were inferior to plants we already grew. After several years of trials, one plant stood out that we are now able to share. Colocasia 'Blackwater' is similar to Colocasia 'Fontanesii' with glossy, jet black stems rising to 6' tall. The stems are topped with glossy, dark olive-green leaves that are much darker and narrower, with a longer leaf tip than Colocasia 'Fontanesii'. It spreads rapidly via black snake-like rhizomes that lay on top of the ground. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Colocasia 'Coffee Cups' was discovered in the wild by Indonesian botanist, Gregory Hambali and brought to the US by aroid expert, Alan Galloway. Colocasia 'Coffee Cups' makes a stunning 6' tall clump of Colocasia 'Fontanesii'-like leaves (glossy olive green) with a dark purple-black stem. The unique feature is the dramatic leaf cupping, even more dramatic than Colocasia 'Big Dipper'. As the leaf fills with water, the stem gives enough for the leaf to dump out its catch before refilling...fascinating. Obviously, it performs best in freshly ground soil. Colocasia 'Coffee Cups' sends out above-ground runners...but only in the fall. Most of the plants previously sold in the US under this name are actually Colocasia 'Big Dipper'. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(aka: Colocasia 2006-147) We are thrilled to offer the most incredible elephant ear yet from the breeding program of Hawaii's Dr. John Cho. Colocasia 'Black Coral' represents an amazing breeding breakthrough, forming a 3.5' tall clump of very glossy, jet black leaves with heavy corrugation. We originally tossed around the name "Exxon Valdez," since it looks like someone covered the leaves in crude oil...amazing! We have had this on trial since 2007 and I guarantee that visitors will stop in their tracks over this one. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
