Favorite Local Independent Garden Center

The bloggers over at Gardening Gone Wild recently published a post on favorite independent garden centers -- local, not mail-order. It so happens that two of my favorite local nurseries are mail-order, but one is open to the public 5-7 days a week (depending upon the time of year), and the other has 4 open houses every year.

My favorite is Niche Gardens. It's about 10 miles from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (home of the Tar Heels) and has a lovely display garden and wonderful selection. A lot of natives, but not a natives-only nursery. Elizabeth Lawrence once wrote that few people would buy a plant based on a catalog description. She would have changed her mind if she had had the opportunity to read the descriptions in the Niche Gardens catalogs. I believe that most of the entries were written by Bob, who has worked at Niche for years, and Kim Hawks, Niche's founder and former owner.

I don't have pictures of Niche Gardens, but I do have plenty of pictures of plants that I bought there. :)

Georgia speedwell

Pinxterflower buds

Phlox divaricata 'Clouds of Perfume', 'London Grove Blue' and 'Louisiana'.

Goldflame Honeysuckle (Lonicera x heckrottii)

Toothwort

Running green and gold and dwarf crested iris

Baptisia 'Purple Smoke'

Gulf Coast Penstemon (Penstemon tenuis)

Louisiana Iris 'Sinfonietta'

Carolina Bog Mint (Macbridea caroliniana)

Seashore Mallow (Kosteletzkya virginica)

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'

Chrystanthemum 'Venus'

Aster 'Miss Bessie'

Signature Plant(s)

Last month Tina (In the Garden) started a meme asking, What is the signature plant in your garden?

I'd say in my garden that bearded iris comes first, followed by assorted natives, then roses. This post will be dedicated to my first plant love, iris.

My most prolific iris are the relatively modern Jesse's Song and a noid white from my husband's grandmother's garden, which I have named Eva's White. Eva's White has the most wonderful fragrance; if I could bottle it as perfume I would be rich. It's not at all like I. pallida, but is just as wonderful. (Yes I know, I just used the word wonderful twice. :))

Jesse's Song with Baptisia 'Purple Smoke', Baptisia alba and Rose 'Climbing Old Blush'.

Jesse's Song and Eva's White in big perennial bed, looking up toward the house and neighbor's pasture.

I love the old historic iris. This is I. germanica 'Crimson King', which
doesn't have the best substance but whose color and fragrance are outstanding.

Here it is with the Italian I. kochii ('Crimson
King' is on the top and I. kochii on the bottom).

I. kochii. This iris doesn't have any fragrance, but it's
a very reliable iris in the South and has picture perfect form.

'Great Lakes'

With Black Swallowtail

'Conquistador'

'Helen Collingwood'

Noid pink

Noid iris from Eva's garden

Iris along the front sidewalk: yellow noid from Eva, Eva's White,
Jesse's Song, Great Lakes and Conquistador (the very tall blue),
Helen Collingswood, the noid pink, and what is probably Indian Chief.

'Indian Chief' or lookalike

One of the loveliest of the historic iris, or any iris, 'Quaker Lady'.

Another blue-violet noid from Eva's Garden. This one starts out dark and lightens as it ages.

With yellow noid, also from Eva's Garden

Showing its variation in color.

Iris pallida with Stipa in background.

Noid from my grandfather's garden.

Lovely bicolor noid from Eva's garden.

Noid peach with Eva's White

Two Kinds of Beautiful Days-

Yesterday I pruned the apple trees - much needed, as they were bearing so much fruit that none could mature to a good size. These are trees grafted onto dwarf stock and planted 10 years ago. They are never sprayed, and so don't bear beautiful fruit, but we use the apples for baking. One tree is 'Liberty' and the other is 'Freedom'.

My favorite aspect of the trees, aside from their flowers, is their extraordinary bark. Patches of gray, silver, taupe, olive green and pink.

I like the bark of this seedling crape myrtle too. It's the old Lagerstroemia indica, not a faurei hybrid, a seedling of a seedling of Pink Lace. It has huge flowers trusses of ruby red/pink, and this smooth-as-skin bark. Alas, it has not demonstrated any fall color, but I like it anyway.

It was a beautiful winter day, windy but sunny. A few Prunus mume flowers -- whose buds somehow lasted the cold a few weeks ago -- looked lovely against the blue sky.

And then, this morning - this!

First Breath of Spring

Prunus mume


Beautiful now, it'll probably be gone tomorrow.