March at the JC Raulston Arboretum

This post is 3 of 12 of a series I’m doing this year reflecting back on some of my favorite plants from visiting the JC Raulston Arboretum while attending graduate school at NC State in Raleigh NC. Check back next month for more.

March was always a moody month in Raleigh. Well, I guess isn’t it everywhere? Some years it was filled with gorgeous days, and others it taunted the gardener with late freezes. Nevertheless, there always seemed to be plants in bloom some time during the month at the JC Raulston Arboretum. This month, I look back at some of my favorite trees, shrubs, and perennials that welcomed spring. I hope these images inspire you to try some new plants in your garden. I know learning about them helped to build my palette of plants to use for the beginning of the gardening season.

THE TREES

There was an incredible Magnolia collection at the arboretum. Here the vigorously growing Magnolia × loebneri 'Merrill' flowers in the White Garden. This selection is quite hardy up into the northern states.

One of my favorite magnolias is Magnolia × kewensis 'Wada's Memory'. I love its cut-handkerchief-like petals, and I’m considering using this cultivar around our house.

Each spring I loved seeing the floriferous Magnolia stellata 'Chrysanthemumiflora' in bloom. The pink blossoms are so voluminous, and this tree’s short stature welcomes its use in smaller gardens.

Near the Ruby McSwain center was the Asian Sassafras tzumu with its tiered branching habit classic to Sassafras species.

As the flowers fade, the new foliage emerges on Sassafras tzumu with a similar textured Yucca in the background.

J.C. raved about Halesia diptera var. magniflora and for good reason. This variety from Florida highlands features beautiful white flowers a little bigger than a thimble that cover the tree in early spring. This species does well in Texas, too.

A close up of Halesia diptera var. magniflora

I can’t wait to try Melliodendron xylocarpum in Texas. I adored this tree’s Easter egg shaped buds that would open to…

…beautiful star-shaped white flowers. I recall that some years Melliodendron xylocarpum would get burned by late freezes, but like many early spring flowering plants, planting them is certainly worth the risk.

THE SHRUBS

Exochorda racemosa is shrub that takes our heat and humidity in the south well. The little buds look like pearls, hence the name pearlbush. I always enjoyed looking at the intricacies of the flowers once they open.

Spiraea thunbergii 'Ogon' is a reliable flowering shrub that is covered with white flowers in early spring and followed by thin, golden leaves.

A subtle color echo between the emerging foliage on Spiraea thunbergii 'Ogon' and its orange pistils.

Last month I shared my love of Stachyurus. Even more plants would be flowering in March. Here Stachyurus praecox 'Issai' flowers with a Chaenomeles in the background.

There was even a Stachyurus selection—Stachyurus praecox 'Rubriflora'—that had buds and petals blushed pink.

A really interesting and uncommon shrub I learned about at the arboretum was Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana. This member of the witch hazel family would be covered in flowers in March.

In this close up of the flowers on Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana, you can see the plethora of stamens and the skirt of white bracts underneath.

Edgeworthia chrysantha was in full bloom in March many years at the arboretum. The flowers face down, likely to protect the pollen from rain.

Neviusia alabamensis is a novelty native shrub that slowly spreads via rhizomes in the garden. It is rare throughout its range, but deserves wider use for its dainty flowers.

I enjoyed the pompom flowers of Neviusia alabamensis so much that I now have this growing in my Texas garden.

The late witch hazels would still be flowering in March. Here Hamamelis mollis 'Wisley Supreme' flowers with a carpet of Narcissus underneath.

While most lilacs don’t do well in the south, Syringa × laciniata was always a beautiful bloomer in the arboretum and tolerated heat well.

The lavender flowers of Syringa × laciniata

THE PERENNIALS

I also learned about Tulipa clusiana selections at the arboretum. This species tends to do better in the south and can grow well in gravel gardens. Here ‘Cynthia’ flowers with creamy yellow and salmon petals.

Another clusiana type was ‘Peppermint Stick’, named for its red and white petals.

The Foggy Flowers of White Fringe Tree

I love seeing our Chionanthus virginicus (white fringe tree) lit with the golden glow of dawn.  As I look west out the kitchen window, the flowers look more like white cotton candy hanging in the tree than petals.  

I was amazed when we first bought the house at how big a fringe tree we had inherited!  This fine vase-shaped specimen tops out around 15 feet tall.  And, every spring it brings me joy when it erupts in its haze of bloom. I worry about it a bit because there’s some deadwood that needs to be removed, but these trees have a way of surviving in the pineywoods.  I see them flowering up and down the roadside edges in much less hospitable environs.  And, I hope that emerald ash borer stays away for a long time from this area as they can complete their life cycle in fringe trees. Yuck.

Here’s a fun fact.  Did you know that Chionanthus virginicus is dioecious?  That means that you have separate male and female flowers on different plants.  Therefore, both sexes are needed for fruit set.  

Rarely, plants exhibit the interesting condition where they are polygamo-dioecious.  That means individuals that are male or female may have some perfect (male and female) flowers mixed in.  I have yet to see any fruit on ours; therefore, I assume it is male.  Here’s hoping that some of it’s pollen makes it’s way to a female or polygamo-dioecious male to make more of these incredible trees.