Gimghoul Road, the Twin Sisters' Garden, Hickerson House and the NC Botanical Garden

Continuing from my last post, when we went to Chapel Hill in April... after wandering around the Coker Arboretum we made the short hike over to Gimghoul Road.

On the way from Coker Arboretum to Gimghoul Road.

We walked the loop in the Gimghoul neighborhood. I liked the look of this little car in front of this house, which used to be quite small but like many houses in the neighborhood, it has been expanded.

I have always loved tri and multi-colored violas in these soft shades of lilac purple and lavender, but can never find any local to my area. I need to hit up some of the nurseries in Chapel Hill next fall.

I wish I knew the identity of this lavender azalea! I don't really want to get any more evergreen azaleas (all I have now are 5 Encore azaleas) because the deer like them so much, but I would make an exception for this one. I absolutely love the color.

It's gorgeous with Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight' and pink tulips.

Azalea 'George Taber'

April in NC wouldn't be complete without pink and white dogwoods and pink and cherry red azaleas.

Easter weekend at the twin sisters' garden. They are 101 years old now! Relatives and
volunteers help with much of the gardening chores in recent years, although they have
long gotten help from students who hung out in the garden. The sisters put them to work.

Dutch iris

The other side of the front yard in the sisters' garden

On the way back to Franklin Street we stopped to see the rose and iris next to Hickerson House on the UNC campus.


Rose 'Fun Jwan Lo' and Iris 'Crimson King'. CK has a delicious fragrance as well as the most beautiful vibrant purple color. Someone told me that 'Fun Jwan Lo' isn't really worth growing because it's prone to mildew. Because it's so vigorous it's often used as understock. However, it has an excellent rating on helpmefind and the flowers are gorgeous. And obviously the rose is vigorous. This is most likely what is left after the graft died. One of 'Fun Jwan Lo's parents is thought to be Rosa odorata var. gigantea, a somewhat tender very vigorous and disease resistant climber and once bloomer with single white to pale yellow flowers.

Then we drove over the NC Botanical Garden before heading home. Most of these pictures are from the medicinal plants section of the garden, which features many exotic plants.

Dame's rocket in the NC Botanical Garden

Culinary sage

Alkanet

Alkanet and pinks

I didn't even know lily-of-the-valley grew in central NC until I saw it in a bouquet in one of the buildings at the Garden and then later in the garden itself. It grew like a weed in my grandfather's garden and I always thought of it as a cold weather plant. Central Indiana is zone 6b or something insane like that.

I wish this China/gallica hybrid had a name, but apparently there are many purple roses whose origins are shrouded in mystery. Its gallica heritage is belied by its many spidery stems. It's a true purple (more of a bluish purple than it appears in this picture) with a fragrance like old rose plus peppery spice.

Mexican feather grass and pinks (Dianthus)

Rose 'Old Blush' in the background.

Coker Arboretum in April

These pictures are from a trip that we took to Chapel Hill in in the spring. The roses in front of the planetarium were in bloom. No labels, unfortunately. The hybrid teas and floribundas looked good because they had been sprayed within an inch of their lives. I always wish they'd plant more old-fashioned and species roses, since they do so much better here, but that isn't Witherspoon's thing. At any rate the roses were lovely even if they did smell like fungicide and insecticide.

A lovely holly with an unlovely name (Ilex vomitoria), otherwise known as Yaupon holly. The berries have a beautiful translucent quality. The Coker Arboretum is right behind the planetarium and we always visit it after having lunch on Franklin Street.

Alumroot, Camassia, and Baptisia

I enjoy visiting the arboretum to see all of the different specimens, native and otherwise, and it gives me a lot of ideas for my own garden. I really should plant Epimedium in my garden. It looks very dainty and delicate but I've read that it's tough as nails.

Bigleaf magnolia

I see a purple columbine here every year and had to have one in my own garden after seeing one here.

Fernleaf scorpionweed with an Amsonia in the center.

Spanish bluebells

Chinese Parasol Tree with Star of Bethlehem underneath and American beech in the background.

Cutleaf lilac

Piedmont azalea or pinxterflower

Spanish bluebells, Florida azalea, Piedmont azalea/pinxterflower, columbine and monkshood

The azaleas come in all shades of beautiful pinks.

Crossvine

Crossvine on pergola, my guess is 'Tangerine Beauty'.

Bladdernut

Dwarf crested iris

Fringetree

Lily-of-the-valley bush, Pieris japonica

Florida azalea 'Harrison's Red'. I knew that Florida azalea came in red, having read about it in Dirr's Manual, but the colors I had seen before this one were yellow to orange. This one isn't red either, more of a very pale pink with tangerine tones and very bright pink buds and stamens, but certainly a departure from what I have seen before.

Golden-larch

Usually I'm not very interested in pines, since we have so many loblolly pines at home and they are such a sculptural presence, but this Japanese red pine was appealing with its beautiful very soft needles and many cones.

Iris virginica

Coral honeysuckle

There are wild parsley leaf hawthorns that grow near the creek on the farm, but they don't usually bloom this profusely. They pop up when a storm downs trees and then are eventually shaded over again. I grew one from seed that is about 5' tall but has never bloomed. They seem to like conditions with a lot of moisture. The arboretum was at one time a swampy cow pasture(the faculty put their livestock there) before the stream was channeled. Probably dirt and Chapel Hill grit (decomposed sandstone) were hauled in to build up areas as well.

After visiting the Coker Arboretum we walked to Gimghoul Road, which I will save for another post. We visited around Easter and the sisters' garden was in full bloom.