by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson Pulmonarias, or lungworts as they are commonly called, are bold-textured, clumping woodland perennials, prized for their unique silver-spotted, deer-resistant foliage. Long a favorite of shade gardeners in temperate climates, Pulmonarias flower in late winter…
by Tony Avent The genus cyclamen has long fascinated me, perhaps for its unusual, almost magical-looking flowers as well as its enchanting silver-patterned leaves. I first encountered cyclamen in the flesh in the early 1970s while garden-shopping at the old…
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson Aster oblongifolius – “Fanny” – and I go way back. Back to 1992, when I learned about it through Ruth Knopf, the antique rose expert at South Carolina’s Boone Hall Plantation near Charleston….
by Tony Avent When most folks decide to grow a fig, they opt for something like brown turkey fig, or at least something relatively edible. Me, I’m more interested in the ornamental figs – all members of the plant genus…
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson I’ve long been fascinated with the genus Aralia, beginning with my love of house plants as a young child. A few years later, I met the native “devil’s walking stick,” Aralia spinosa, in…
by Tony Avent Gesneriads have long been a personal favorite of mine, starting from my days growing and selling African violets (a member of that family) as a young teenager. Like any addiction, African violets led me too other gesneriads:…
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson I’m not sure why gardeners are so attracted to maidenhair ferns, but odds are the plant’s romantic common name – which aptly describes its dainty foliage – has something to do with it….
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson It’s not until you come face-to-face – or perhaps I should say nose-to-nose – with a pig butt arum that you realize it isn’t a grand horticultural April Fool’s prank. Indeed, I…
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson At some time in most gardeners’ lives, they become enchanted with violets. Some with well-behaving violets, and others with the less-stellar members of the clan. I, for one, have always had a tenuous…
by Tony Avent I’ve grown many bulbs in my gardening life, but rarely has any plant enchanted me like the miniature Nothoscordum sellowianum. My love affair started in 1995 as I perused one of the obscure botanical journals (which qualify…
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson I don’t remember exactly when or why I became enamored with trilliums, but it was certainly at an early stage of my planthood…I mean, childhood. There always seemed to be something magical about…
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson I first became enamored with Rohdea japonica back around the time President Richard Nixon uttered that immortal line, “I am not a crook.” As I was always on the lookout for new plants…
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson Since Raleigh is known as the City of Oaks, most residents like to think they can identify oak trees, but when I show Henry’s oak to garden visitors, their jaws drop to an unnatural…
by Tony Avent In a world where most plant breeders and nursery folks buy into the mistaken proposition that all homeowners want short plants, I embrace a different notion. I can’t imagine anything worse than opening my front door and…