A timeless favorite with a bright twist. Weigela florida 'Variegata' is a compact, deciduous shrub grown for two gifts at once: cream-edged, softly variegated foliage and a late-spring flood of deep rose-pink, trumpet-shaped flowers. The genus honors the German botanist Christian Ehrenfried Weigel, and the species florida, meaning flowering, ranges as a wild plant through northern China, Korea, and Japan.
There are few sights more stirring than a wisteria in bloom, and 'Amethyst Falls' offers all the romance without the unruly habits of the Asian cousins. This refined selection of the native American wisteria, Wisteria frutescens, pours out cascades of fragrant, lavender-violet blossoms in late spring, with smaller flushes through summer, a soft echo of springtime returning again and again.
For the first sixty-five years in the books, this vine was filed as a kind of soybean. Linnaeus named the plant Glycine frutescens in 1753, frutescens meaning turning shrubby, and there the classification sat until 1818, when Thomas Nuttall looked again, decided a woody climber of the southern riverbanks deserved a genus apart, and named the vine for his friend Caspar Wistar, the Philadelphia anatomist. Somewhere between the man and the plant a vowel slipped, Wistar becoming Wisteria, and the misspelling has outlived everyone involved.
A rare white form of the well-behaved native. Wisteria frutescens 'Nivea' is a twining, woody, deciduous vine with compound leaves and short clusters of pure white flowers that open with the foliage, far less rampant than the common Asian wisterias and, in white, a genuine rarity. This form was virtually unknown to American gardeners until Woodlanders brought the plant into the trade. It has long been listed, here and elsewhere, as Wisteria frutescens var. nivea; the botanical variety has no standing in the current literature, so we now carry it under the cultivar name it has earned.
Some years ago the late Lynn Lowrey, a pioneer of Texas native plants, found a fine selection of native wisteria near the dam of an East Texas reservoir. The dam was known as Dam-B, and Lynn gave that name to the plant, though some contend the true name was Damn Bee. Woodlanders thanks Dr. David Creech of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, for the start of this and several other fine plants.
The white form of the latest-blooming native. Wisteria macrostachya 'Clara Mack' is a twining, deciduous Kentucky wisteria with compound leaves and long, hanging clusters of pure white flowers, a splendid white version of a species normally blue. The racemes run longer and open later than those of the other native, Wisteria frutescens, extending the native wisteria season.
Join the ranks of discerning plant lovers with the first official, modern piece of Woodlanders merchandise. This premium cotton hat is equal parts utility and quiet allegiance—a nod to those who know their Schima from their Franklinia (and perhaps know about the the Schimlinia too). Wear it out in the field, at the market, or wherever rare plants are appreciated.
Every nursery keeps a working cap, the one that lives on the dashboard and comes back smelling of pine bark and potting mix. Ours wears an oak. Quercus has always been the South's way of keeping time, the tree you put in the ground for somebody you'll never meet, so it felt right to stitch one above the Woodlanders name.
Gift your loved ones the beauty of nature with the Woodlanders Gift Card. Perfect for plant lovers and avid gardeners, this card will bring a smile to their face and endless possibilities to their garden. Share the joy of gardening with a gift that keeps on giving!
Before there were nurseries there were glasshouses, and before glasshouses there was a single cutting kept alive under a bell of glass, carried across an ocean on the chance it might root. The front of this one is a nod to that older instinct, the one that says a plant worth having is a plant worth protecting: a specimen held in a glass vase, lit like it's the only one of its kind. Some days at the nursery, it is.
We first made these tees for our own crew at the nursery—something soft enough for long propagation days, sturdy enough to survive soil, sun, and the occasional splash from the hose. Now it’s your turn to wear the mark. Think of it as a modern field uniform for rare-plant people: understated, durable, and just nerdy enough for those who know their Schima from their Franklinia (and yes, we see you, Schimlinia fans).
We'd hoped this Citrangequat might be the original 'Telfair' variety. With its egg size and shaped fruit it was in Joe Levert's outstanding hardy citrus collection in Augusta, Georgia. Our friend and hardy citrus guru Tom McClendon told us that 'Telfair' may well be extinct and advised as follows: "I collected that citrangequat at the Florida USDA citrus arboretum in 2000. It was a newer hybrid developed for rootstock potential and assigned only a number, not a name. I collected it because I reasoned it would be hardy and because it had beautiful fruit. When it started fruiting at Aquinas, I proposed calling it ‘Augusta’ to honor the tradition of naming citrus hybrids after the location where they first fruited (away from the USDA).
Woodlanders has been a leader in offering a wide range of Citrus and Citrus hybrids which are hardy outdoors beyond the normal Citrus growing areas. This upright small tree produces abundant Yellow-orange pear-shaped juicy fruit which is tasty when fully mature. The fruit is lemon-sized or larger than the 'Thomasville' Citrangequat. Citrangequats are hybrids between a Citrange and a Kumquat. This citrus is somewhat of a mystery. Records are sketchy but is has been grown for years at the Citrus Arboretum in Lake Alfred, Florida. It could be an unnamed Citrangequat variety or a more complex hybrid that includes Citrangequat. We thank our friend Jeff Stevens for propagation material for this unusual citrus.
A charming citrus hybrid for containers, winter patios, and kitchen harvests. Known as the calamondin orange, x Citrofortunella mitis 'Calamondin' is a compact, cold-tolerant citrus treasured for abundant fragrant blossoms, ornamental good looks, and tart, edible fruit. A natural cross between the mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata, and the kumquat, Fortunella, calamondin is equally at home on a patio or in a bright kitchen window, offering both beauty and bounty the year round.
Clear pink flower spikes to 18 inches above attractive green basal foliage. A choice perennial for extended bloom in the woodland garden. Best in light shade. (See ARM)
John Bartram collected Xanthorhiza simplicissima from the Carolina mountains sometime before 1776 and brought the plant back to his famous Philadelphia garden, which tells you two things: that yellowroot has been in cultivation for as long as this country has existed, and that people who know plants have always recognized something worth paying attention to here. The Cherokee had known the plant far longer, using the roots, sliced open to reveal a vivid, almost electric chrome yellow, as a dye, a bitter tonic, and a medicine for ailments from mouth sores to stomach complaints. The active compound is berberine, the same antimicrobial alkaloid found in goldenseal, and the roots produce berberine in striking quantity. Xanthorhiza is Greek for yellow root, and the name is no metaphor.
This "Elephant Ear" has huge bright green arrowhead shaped leaves. It is a great for a tropical effect in sun or part shade. Cut back plants after the frost kills the tops and mound 10 inches of coarse sand over the stubs and mulch over with pine straw. As weather warms, remove this covering to allow new shoots to emerge. Given rich soil and ample water, these plants will thrive during hot summers. Perhaps originally native to the West Indies but widely grown and naturalized elsewhere in warm climate areas.
A brand-new intergeneric hybrid, and a small horticultural triumph. Dr. Tom Ranney of the North Carolina State University research station in Fletcher succeeded in crossing two icons of the Southern flora: the legendary Franklinia alatamaha, the lost Franklin tree that has not been seen in the wild since the early 1800s, with the native loblolly bay, Gordonia lasianthus. The result is xGordlinia grandiflora, a bigeneric cross that carries the best of both parents.
