Gardens by Kelly Productions

Amid rain and the gentle clamor of thunder, I sojourned today with fellow hortiholics Dan Heims, Bob Pries, and Kate Bryant across the great state of North Carolina.  In the area for the annual Garden Writers Association symposium (which I speak at on Friday), my cohorts and I decided to take advantage of the bounteous, local hort-resources.  We gathered at Bob’s house in Roxboro last evening making plans for the three days ahead.  We’ve got packed schedules and plan to die, filled with chlorophyll when we finish!

Day 1 of actual travels in North Carolina began this morning in Bob’s garden.  Carved out in the woods, Bob and wife Rose Mary’s new home will soon be surrounded by as-yet-unplanted nursery containers of choice shrubs, alpines, perennials, and trees.  Growing feet from their front door, seedlings of Helianthus angustifolius cheerfully greeted us this morning as we left.  My friend Troy from Nashville wrote about late summer sunflowers on his blog a few weeks back.  Check it out!

We arrived in Asheville about 12:30, four hours after leaving Bob’s house.  We visited the North Carolina State University Mountain Horticultural Crops Experiment Station this afternoon.  Woody plant breeder and guru Tom Ranney, of forthcoming Hydrangea arborescens ‘Spirit’  fame, was our gracious host.  This new pink-flowered “Annabelle” type hydrangea must grow in your garden.  Not to worry either, darker and more intense colors are forthcoming as well!

Much of the material at the experiment station is of proprietary value so photos shouldn’t in good faith be published.  I’ve shared a few shots below though of legitimate stuff that I won’t get in trouble for posting!  Tom and his crew focus on many of our favorite woodies including dogwoods, grape hollies (Mahonia), as well as a fascinating host of bigeneric hybrids (crosses between two different genera of plants) between Franklinia altamaha (the now extinct tree that bears the name of US forefather Benjamin Franklin), Schima argentea, and Gordonia lasiantha.  These incredibly unique small trees warrant attention by southern gardeners in particular, though hardiness remains in the realm of possibility with some further testing.  He’s also evaluating a good many triploid Miscanthus, something desperately sought by gardeners tired of their rampant tendencies.

We ended the evening at a very fine Mexican and Californian-themed cuisine restaurant called Limones.  Very nice food and exceptional company.  More of my jabby little jottings from the road throughout the week.

All images copyright Kelly D. Norris, 2009.