The Node

Woodlanders' resource center for plant education, how-tos, garden inspiration, and news.

Region

Southeast

62 articles

The Holly That Forgot the Spines: How to Grow Inkberry (Ilex glabra)

How-To · Ilex glabra · Southeast. How to plant, pollinate, prune and renew inkberry, the native evergreen holly that is easier than boxwood and far better company.

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The Gold That Comes Before the Thaw: Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)

Plant Highlight · Gelsemium sempervirens · Southeast. Carolina jessamine is South Carolina's state flower, a scented evergreen vine, and a plant that deserves both admiration and a careful hand.

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The Night Before the Freeze, and the Morning After: Caring for Cold-Hardy Citrus Through a Hard Winter

How-To · Cold-Hardy Citrus · Southeast. The October checklist, the freeze-night plan, and what to do on the morning after, when every leaf on the tree has gone the color...

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Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina): Antlers in Velvet at the Southern Edge

Plant Highlights · Staghorn Sumac · Southeast. A northern native at the southern edge of the range: velvet antler branches in winter, scarlet leaves in October, and red cones that...

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How to Grow Arkansas Bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii): Planting, Cutting Back and Fall Gold

How-To · Arkansas Bluestar · Southeast. A creek-bank perennial from the Ouachita Mountains that wants lean soil and full sun: how to plant threadleaf bluestar this fall, when to cut,...

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Siting Tea Olives (Osmanthus): Fragrance, Hedges and the Fall Bloom

Landscape Design · Tea Olives · Southeast. A tea olive in bloom can be smelled before the shrub is seen. Where to plant one so the scent finds you, which...

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A Field Guide to Trifoliate Orange and Its Hybrids: Citranges, Citrumelos and Citrangequats

Field Guide · Trifoliate Orange and the Hybrids · Southeast. A thorny, deciduous, bitter little tree from northern China is the reason citrus grows north of Florida at all. Here...

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The Shrimp Plant, Closely Read: Everything You Are Looking At Is a Leaf

Plant Highlight · Justicia brandegeeana · Mexico to the Gulf South. The shrimp plant is one of the most recognizable shrubs in the warm South, and almost nobody who grows...

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The Quiet Bells of Styrax: A Field Guide to the Snowbells

Field Guide · A field guide to Styrax, the snowbell genus: native Southeastern species and their fragrant East Asian cousins, and how to site a flower that hangs face down.

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Mexican Flame Vine (Senecio confusus): How to Grow and Overwinter at the Cold Edge

How-To & Propagation · Mexican Flame Vine · The Southeast. A tropical vine that blazes orange from June until frost, grown at the cold edge of the map, and how...

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Ilex verticillata: The Holly That Stands Bare in December

How-To · Holly Pollination · Southeast. Every winter someone writes to us about a holly that flowers faithfully and fruits never, and the answer is almost always the same, and...

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Myrcianthes fragrans: The Shrub That Comes in Twos

Plant Highlight · Myrcianthes fragrans · Florida and the Caribbean. Twin berries on a forked stalk, two common names that disagree about the plant entirely, and a nutmeg scent hiding...

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