Liriope muscari 'Variegata' I was delighted to see that the lilyturf, also known as monkey grass, which is really Liriope muscari 'Variegata', is blooming now. This tough as nails plant survived the Drought of '12, partial shade, neglect, squirrels and did I mention virtually no rain for three months? I was curious about its botanical family, so I looked it up. I love how I can look this kind of stuff up on the Internet and get up to date information. If I relied on the … [Read more...] about Say Liriope Loudly and Proudly
plant taxonomy
Throw me a liana
Throw me a liana and hoist me up out of this new rabbit hole I've been exploring. Liana, you ask? Yes, liana - a woody vine that is rooted at the ground and uses trees and other vertical structures to climb up. That's the first thing I found in this rabbit hole. Liana - like this Trumpet Creeper vine, Campsis radicans, that is growing up and over a metal trellis in my sister's garden. I remember when they got it, they were all excited about their new Clematis. I hated … [Read more...] about Throw me a liana
New bloom leads to Milton's Paradise Lost
Triteliea 'Rudy'I can not tell a lie. Not with Triteleia ‘Rudy’ beginning to bloom in my garden.I’ll admit when I first saw Triteleia’s blue and white striped bloom, I did not know what it was, but after the whole Star-of-Bethlehem scare earlier this spring, the sight of it sent me straight to the lists of bulbs I ordered last fall to find out what it could be.Narcissus? Tulipa? Iris? Nope, nope, nope… Triteleia?Yes, that’s it!I had never heard of Triteliea before I ordered it and then I forgot … [Read more...] about New bloom leads to Milton's Paradise Lost
Not Every Lily Is A Lily
My garden is full of flowers that we call lilies. There are tiger lilies, blackberry lilies, August lilies, toad lilies, surprise lilies, rain lilies, and daylilies blooming today. But what's in a name? Deception! That's what in a name. These are not all lilies! Can you tell which are truly lilies and which aren't? Let's start off with this Tiger Lily. Yes, this really is a lily, Lilium tigrinum. It is a lily because it is a member of the Liliaceae family of plants. How about this … [Read more...] about Not Every Lily Is A Lily
A New Family In The Garden
It always starts out so innocently. For several years, in early May, a local garden club has held a plant sale at the home of one of their members, just off a busy road that I drive up and down many times during the week, especially on the weekends. Every year, I see their sign advertising the plant sale but always on the day of the sale, I seem too busy and rushed and hurried to stop and look. But this year, I made myself slow down, for just a few minutes, and stopped in to see … [Read more...] about A New Family In The Garden
Thoughts Related to Viburnums
Raise your hand if you thought that the Viburnum genus was still in the Honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae.Yes, I thought so, too, and many online resources and books still include it in that family. But it appears that after careful review using molecular phylogeny, botanists decided that the genus Viburnum should be moved to the Moschatel family, Adoxaceae.Molecular phylogeny? I also naively thought that botanists looked primarily at flower structure to determine what family a plant should be … [Read more...] about Thoughts Related to Viburnums
