‘This week’s MBF is a local native, Gelsemium sempervirens ‘Carolina jessamine.’ In late winter/early spring, its yellow blossoms appear just as the deciduous leaves are beginning to show. It is one of those wonderful early blooming plants that announces, “Spring is just around the corner.”
Gelsemium sempervirens ‘Carolina jessamine.’
Carolina jessamine is fast growing. I planted two of them on this arbor and they quickly covered it. A bit of pruning on a ladder is required from time to time to keep it in place. Only one year has it suffered from cold weather. I thought a particularly cold stretch had killed them, but I cut them back to living wood and in months they were covering the arbor again.
It is often misidentified as a member of the jasmine family.
I love peonies. Those who are following this series will see peonies turn up frequently in my MBF offerings. Among my favorites are the tree peonies. I grew them for the first time in my North Carolina garden and discovered gorgeous plants. This is a pink tree peony that I consider to be among the very beautiful flowers ever. I never knew its name, but I didn’t worry about its parentage.
Pink Tree Peony
I wrote about this flower in Guess What’s in My Garden!
When they are in bloom, nothing else in the garden can compare. Friends who saw them were in awe. The blossoms are eight to ten inches across and so perfect that one is tempted to think they are unreal. Could they be made of crepe paper? They are simply spectacular.
Individual blossoms may last only five or six days before they begin to drop their petals; it helps if there is no rain during their all too short blooming period. The seed pods are attractive, but not particularly different from herbaceous peonies. I usually removed them hoping to direct more energy to flower production for next year. I didn’t give mine any special care; they were in raised beds, got plenty of sun and adequate water. They were the queens of the garden for that special few weeks in April.
I often see bare root tree peonies for sale in spring in our local garden centers. They are also featured in several catalogs. I’ve tried to get them going in the spring, but unsuccessfully. They could not get established well enough to withstand our hot North Carolina summers. When I planted them in the fall, they did fine.
Tree peonies need fifty weeks of sunshine to grow and two weeks of shade at bloom time. I tried to put up a beach umbrella to protect them from the hot sun. It kept blowing over. Maybe I should have tried one of those beach canopy tents. It might have been worth it…I spent so much time looking at the tree peonies that it would have given me some protection against sunburn.
These photographs were taken on January 10th in North Carolina (zone 7B).
I wrote about this tree in Guess What’s in My Garden! (available to download in digital format):
The flowering apricot (Prunus mume) is one of the wonders of the winter garden. When we had landscaping installed in our new home in North Carolina, I asked that two flowering apricots be included. They were planted astride our driveway entrance. I had seen pictures and descriptions of this fabulous tree in several garden magazines and catalogues. Being a sucker for a pretty tree, I had to have it!
Just when winter is at its grayest in our part of North Carolina, the flowering apricots put out their blossoms. Mine are a delicate pink with yellow stamens, with blooms about the size of a quarter. They remind me of miniature peonies. The trees are covered with them for six to eight weeks. Their first flowers have opened as early as the end of December and as late as the middle of February. They have survived a light snow, being particularly charming poking their little pink heads out of the white snow. One year we had a fierce ice storm just as the buds were swelling. The ice killed the buds, but new ones came out and the trees bloomed in February only slightly less than usual. They are pretty tough customers. About the only down side is that they put out a heavy and spreading root system just below ground level (much like silver maples); it’s difficult to find anything to plant underneath them that can compete for nutrients.
Flowering apricots were bred to produce no fruit; their primary value is their ornamental flowers in winter. Only occasionally will mine set fruit, usually no more than a dozen on each tree per year. Several years ago, something went haywire in their fruiting genes for a season, and the trees set huge amounts of little pinkish apricots. In an attempt to understand why, I asked a nurserywoman friend who sold flowering apricots. She told me it was the first time she had heard of their fruiting like that…and couldn’t guess why. “They aren’t supposed to do that!”
But mine did, and by the bucketsful. As they dropped, they became a true nuisance. Hundreds fell to the ground and began to rot. As they did so, they attracted yellow jackets. My back began to ache from bending over to pick them up. Several of my grandchildren were visiting during this time…and complaining about the yellow jackets…so I had the grand idea of teaching them a lesson on free enterprise. I offered a penny an apricot, which seemed like a reasonable bargain. They accepted my offer with enthusiasm, and a contest ensued to see which one would pick up the most apricots (translation: make the most money). Their enthusiasm waned almost immediately; they were fighting the yellow jackets who didn’t want to share their bounty, and I discovered that little people’s backs get tired bending over just like old folks. And besides, it was boring. They quickly retired from the field, leaving the chore to me.
I wasn’t looking forward to the next season with the likelihood of a repeat performance of the apricot deluge. Thankfully, it hasn’t happened since. Flowering apricot remains a wonderful tree in my opinion, and I continue to recommend it to others. I do, however, tell them the story of the year it rained apricots.
After taking a break for the holidays, I am happy to resume the MBF series by presenting the gorgeous Camellia japonica ‘Magnoliaeflora.‘ It has been an absolute delight in two North Carolina gardens.
Camellia japonica ‘Magnoliaeflora’
The symmetry of the Magnoliaeflora blossom is as close to perfect as can be found in an imperfect world. The color is enchanting. My wife wore one to church on Easter a few years ago, and it was so perfect that several people thought it was created of nonfloral material.
It is a slow grower, perfect for a small garden. It has been available since the late 1800’s. An alternate name is ‘Hagoromo,‘ which speaks to its Japanese origins.
Here we are at the end of of 2023 and looking ahead to 2024. I pray for peace and prosperity in this world of troubles. In all languages, I think people all over the world want peace.
I love peonies…the antique herbaceous varieties from my grandmother and the tree peonies. Several years ago I learned of a new breed of peonies…Itoh (intersectional) peonies. They are a cross between the herbaceous and tree varieties. And they are beautiful. This week’s Most Beautiful Flower is Itoh peony ‘Bartzella.’
It is a large, sturdy, beautiful plant. Visitors to my garden have raved about it. When other peonies droop in wind and rain with heavy blossoms, ‘Bartzella’ stands tall in the weather. Its secondary buds bloom reliably.
There are dozens of Itoh (intersectional) peonies available from nurseries in many colors. They are still expensive, but well worth it. I would expect the prices to come down in time.
This week’s MBF is Camellia sasanqua ‘Our Linda.‘ The plant was a gift from David Parks of Camellia Forest Nursery in Chapel Hill, NC. The nursery is one of the best sources of camellias in the country.
Camellia sasanqua ‘Our Linda’
I planted Our Linda in my Charlotte garden in 2009, at the time a small container plant. I visited my old garden a few weeks ago, thanks to my friends the current owners, and was delighted to see how Our Linda had grown. Full of flowers in November, it had grown to over 6-8 feet tall.
Camellia sasanqua ‘Our Linda’
If you are looking for camellias for your garden, try Camellia Forest Nursery, a sure source of quality plants and service.
I wish to family and friends throughout the world a Happy Thanksgiving. We have much for which to be grateful. My prayer today is for peace and prosperity.
Please join me for A Walk in the Garden: a way of sharing gardening observations, spiced I hope with a dash of experience, a dollop of opinion, a slice of irreverence, a spoonful of love for plants, and a cup full of memories.
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