Plant Profile: Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles speciosus)
Karen A native of China, flowering quince, was widely grown for in this country and Europe in hedges for many years until they were replaced by Japanese barberry which was more…
Plant Profile: Water Arum (Calla palustris)
A relative of the tropical calla lily and peace lily, water arum has the same type of inflorescence consisting of a showy white spath cuped around a fleshy central spadix…
Plant Profile: ‘Blackbird’ Spurge (Euphorbia ‘Nothowlee’)
The velvety dark purple foliage of ‘Blackbird’ spurge is striking in the garden from spring until fall. The foliage color is stimulated by sunlight so plants grown in full sun…
Plant Profile: New York Fern (Thelypteris noveboracensis)
I am partial to ferns so I am likely to incorporate almost any fern into my garden but this fern offers some unique characteristics that make it special. It forms…
Plant Profile: Gas Plant (Dictamnus albus)
The common name “gas plant’ surely piques the curiosity about this plant which is a fine garden specimen as well as a curiosity. According to the story the common name…
Plant Profile: Broadleaved Bears Breeches (Acanthus mollis) ‘Latifolius’
The ancient Greeks admired the large deeply lobed and cut leaves of this tender herbaceous perennial and used it as a model for the decorative capitals on their Corinthian columns.…
Plant Profile: ‘Dwarf Pagoda’ Japanese Holly (Ilex crenata ‘Dwarf Pagoda’)
For those of us who live in the mid-Atlantic or Southeast where summers are hot and humid there are a limited number of dwarf evergreen shrubs that we can grow…
Plant Profile: Colorado Columbine (Aquilegia caerulea)
Anyone who has seen the huge blue flowers of this columbine under the blue skies of the Rocky Mountains knows what a special plant this is. So special, in fact,…
Plant Profile: Olympic St. John’s Wort (Hypericum olympicum)
There are over 200 species of Hypericum, from shrubs, to sub-shrubs, to herbaceous perennials, and Hypericum olympicum is an excellent one for rock gardens. A native of southeast Europe and…
Plant Profile: Creeping Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila repens)
Creeping baby’s breath is a herbaceous perennial native the mountains of central and southern Europe where it grows on dry, chalky slopes. It is a member of the carnation family,…