Plant Sale Buggy

Next time you are at the JC Raulston Arboretum, be sure to check out the Plant Sale Buggy located outside the Bobby G. Wilder Visitor Center. It’s a great spot for visitors to find a wide assortment of choice and unusual plants for your garden. Self-service purchases are made by cash or checks only, and it is open rain or shine during regular Arboretum operating hours. New plants are added weekly, so visit often.

Here's what we're offering this week.

Buddleja cordata

Mexican butterfly bush

This plant hails from Mexico, where it makes a sizable tree used in tough spots like parking lots. In central North Carolina, it just won't form a tree but instead makes a lovely shrub with gorgeous large silvery foliage. Fragrant white flowers in late fall, though not particularly showy, add to the plant's appeal and provide nectar for a variety of pollinators.

Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Special Variegated'

variegated Hinoki falsecypress

An upright evergreen conifer that really lives up to its name. Loose sprays of green foliage are covered with a glaze of cream white. Easy to grow, it will not burn in full sun once established. Prefers sun/partial shade in well-drained soil. 7’ tall x 3’ wide in 10 years.

Hamamelis virginiana 'Little Prospect'

common witch hazel

A (slighty) dwarf and (heavily) variegated selection of the native witch hazel. Leaves are green with a broad yellow margin. Densely branched to about 6'+ tall in 10 years. It blooms in fall with lightly fragrant yellow flowers. Grows best in well-drained but consistently moist soil, but will tolerate heavy clay.

Juniperus horizontalis 'Silver Sheen'

creeping juniper

This excellent addition to the ranks of groundcover junipers is unaccountably absent from the trade. A knowledgeable juniper expert has pointed out that we may have the only properly identified specimen around. Silvery-blue foliage in flat sprays is reminiscent of 'Wiltonii’ but is much more silver than blue. Hardy to zone 4.

Magnolia acuminata

cucumber-tree magnolia

This native deciduous magnolia features leaves up to 10". The yellowish-green tulip-shaped flowers are 2 to 4" long and appear in spring. Flowers are followed by warty green, somewhat cucumber-like fruit. The fruit turns red as it matures.

Sambucus canadensis 'Blonde Envy'

American elder

A bright yellow-leaved cultivar of the North American native. Perhaps the first ornamental cultivar of this native and because of its provenance, we expect it will persist in gardens. A suckering deciduous shrub from 5'–12' tall. Fragrant white lacy blooms in summer similar to Queen Anne's lace. In late summer, edible black elderberry fruits appear.

Spiraea japonica 'Matgold'

Rainbow Fizz Japanese spirea

Foliage emerges copper, changes to yellow with red tips in spring, and then finishes with copper-red in fall. Flower buds start red and finish with a pink bloom. To 4' tall. Hardy to zone 5.

An archive of what we've offered in the past is also available.