Plant Delights Nursery
at Juniper Level Botanic Garden
9241 Sauls Road, Raleigh, NC 27603 • (919) 772-4794
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T he Plant Delights Nursery website is one of my top online plant-addictions. They open their nursery and gardens to the public only a couple weekends each year and it's on my bucket list to take AP and go!
Can you imagine driving a U-haul from California to North Carolina and stopping at every nursery on our path and how many plants would be lovingly jammed into that U-haul by the end of our trip?
Can you imagine how many state borders we would have to cross and potentially haul all those plants out onto the hot pavement—or snow—for inspection?
Can you imagine renting a large enough U-haul to put a porta-potty inside? What comfort!
Until that day arrives, I'm happy to waltz virtually through PDN's online nursery, and whenever a Plant Delights box shows up at my gate, I know for damn sure it is going to be a great day.
Sidenote: PDN is where I get 99-percent of all my Hellebores. (In case you forgot what those look like, revisit post 29. So well worth it.)
If you've never purchased from PDN, what are you waiting for?! You will not be disappointed by the quality of their plants. See how healthy they look in the delivery box?
I made my most recent PDN purchase in July (2021). Their shipping policy is to send plants in the Fall based on the customer's planting zone. Well that put my scheduled delivery 5 months later in December! So of course I told them, "No. I simply cannot wait that long. I want my plants in October." And to show I was serious I added, "I will take full responsibility for death!"
Here they are potted up.
I’ll feature them in future posts once they're in the gardens and ready for showcasing.
As I have mentioned before, all new plants go into my holding area. If they come in 4-inch or smaller pots, they get potted up into 1-gallons so they can become acclimated to my micro-climate and to give me time to figure out where exactly to place them in the gardens. Sometimes it can take up to 2 years to figure that out!
Hibiscus moscheuto 'Starry Starry Night'
I featured Starry Starry Night—a 2020 PDN purchase—in blog post 39 and got this first blossom just weeks after that post. Blossom is almost bigger than the plant!
I ordered these Fountain Grasses from PDN in 2019...
LEFT: Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Lumen Gold' (Dwarf Fountain Grass)
RIGHT: Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hush Puppy' (Fountain Grass)
After potting them up into 1-gallons, I sat undecided on them until I finally gave them to my "lil' gardening friend." I often do this when I buy grasses because—along with her other obsessions—she’s an All-Things-Grasses addict.
It's your lucky day if you ever find the ‘Lumen Gold’ at your local nursery. Isn’t that color stunning?!
Be aware: ‘Hush Puppy’ can be a hit or miss.
FYI, now is the time to buy ornamental grasses as they are in full bloom and many are going on sale for ridiculous prices.
Baptisia sphaerocarpa 'Screamin Yellow'
This Baptisia is a profuse pea-like shape bloomer, but you'll only get blooms during April and May. At maturity, it grows to 2-feet tall and up to 5-feet wide.
It was in a lovely spot in my garden until I noticed one day it looked rather ill. So I gave it a quick tug and, well, a damn gopher had eaten all but 2-inches of root ball! So I placed it in a galvanized trough in my holding area, where I left it for over a year. I did not expect it to come back to life because—once established—Baptisias do not like being moved.
But lucky me! The Baptisia is alive and the gopher is dead! LOL, I don’t know which makes me happier.
Aspidistra ebianensis ‘Flowing Fountains’ (Flowing Fountains Cast Iron Plant)
I love Cast Iron Plants and use them outdoors in my shade gardens. They are deer resistant and—most importantly—evergreen. I use them consistently throughout the gardens to fill in areas that require big wide lush greenery.
Readers, you must have variety in foliage and color. If all plants are "one note," the eye has difficulty landing on a spot to enjoy what's there.
Flowing Fountains produces 20-inch-long white spotted leaves and grows very low to the ground. In the garden, place it at the base of containers to soften where mulch meets container.
Here's another Aspidestra I've had for years...
Aspidistra elatior 'Sekko Kan'
I do love them, but let’s just say Cast Iron Plants are one the slowest growing plants EVER! This explains why they are so expensive. Growers have to maintain them a long time before they're ready to be sold. They're especially high priced when you dabble in the green-white variegated foliage genre. Holy moly!
But well worth it don’t ya' think?
In this post I haven't come close to mentioning all the plants I've purchased from Plant Delights Nursery over the years. But I should stop for now.
Wouldn’t want my husband (who always reads this blog) to think I spend all my office time clicking ADD TO CART!
However...before I sent this post to publish, I did hop onto Plant Delights in case I missed a plant I might want to mention (or buy!) before their fall shipping closes. I came across this...
Podophyllum pleianthum ‘Sugar Daddy’ (Sugar Daddy Chinese Mayapple)
You've got to read the description.
"Podophyllum pleianthum 'Sugar Daddy' is a variegated selection of the Chinese mayapple. The white leaf streaking is very unstable...sort of like the people who are attracted to this sort of plant. Some years, the leaves may be solid green, and the variegation returns the following season. This genetic behavior cannot be altered, even with high doses of anti-psychotic meds. If you are unable to handle this type of schizophrenic behavior in your garden, you probably should purchase something else."
OMG, it's $75, but this plant! I am definitely one of "the people who are attracted" to it! I don’t know that I'm "unstable" (don't ask Mike), but I am eclectic and drawn to, not weird, but unusual plants like this amazing looking Chinese Mayapple.
As you read this, I am trying very very hard not to ADD TO CART...
Photos: Sheri Lynn Burke and Plant Delights Nursery
