Garden Design

Antarctica's shores were once lined with palms & tree-ferns, its hills filled with beeches & conifers. That was 55 million years ago, when the continent was a lot hotter. However, this recent discovery asks scientists to consider the future: will the globe's melting ice be replaced with tropical plants? It has been a hot summer.

Matilija poppies (Romneya coulteri) are fondly referred to as the fried egg flower, nicknamed for bleached-muslin petals and buttery yellow stamens. It's the largest poppy blossom, and the largest California native flower. Blooming begins in early May, and sweeps north along the west coast—the poppies are now still blooming in Oregon's summer sun. 

Paris japonica has the largest genome—the most DNA—of any organism, flora or fauna. The rare plant's genome is 50 times longer than humans, though a long genome isn't always a good thing for a species. 

The past couple weeks, corpse flowers have been blooming at gardens across the country. Amorphophallus titanum, or titan arum, flowers with the odor of a thousand toxic fumes, the height of two men, and draws crowds as large as any circus. The corpse flower may be most famous in the genus, but more than 170 species of Amorphophallus have been indentified, including a new one earlier this year, found in Madagascar's dry rocky soil.