I loved May in graduate school at North Carolina State University. Being free of homework and tests allowed me more time to focus on graduate work and research. And, in the evenings I had even more time to go visit the JC Raulston Arboretum. May was the first month where the garden didn’t feel like it was trying to decide should it be spring or winter. Warmth had settled in and the plants responded beautifully. Enjoy this reflective plant list of many of my favorites of mid-spring.
Witch Hazels at The Scott Arboretum
I’ve been enamored with witch hazels ever since I realized they were a thing. As a young horticulturist, I was amazed to discover that a species could flower in the dreariest of winter weather. And, bloom they do, their petals blazing yellow, orange, red, and even purple against a cold winter sky. These pompoms of color warm the heart and say spring is near. Where I’ve lived in Tennessee and North Carolina, these have been planted in the gardens I knew and visited, but now living in Texas, they are largely absent from the landscape, save for a few native species.
So, I was happy a few years ago when Karen and I travelled to Philadelphia for a business trip in February. I wanted to show her The Scott Arboretum where I had interned 10 years ago at the time. (Wow, has it really been that long?) I had visited this beautiful campus in spring, summer, and fall but never winter. I was hopeful that the Hamamelis would be in full bloom. The collection features all kinds of Hamamelis vernalis, Hamamelis × intermedia, and Hamamelis mollis.
We made our way through campus as a cold rain diminished and left a dismal sky in its wake. Yet near the Cunningham House, the pale yellow ‘Luna’ glowed. It is considered by some to be one of the lightest forms available.
Around the back the short and dense ‘Quasimodo’ echoed the color of the stem colors found in the Cornus planted nearby. It is such a good cultivar for small spaces.
We continued past Parrish Hall in the center of campus and the long allée of swamp white oaks to find a few witch hazels on the other side just above the famous amphitheater. ‘Strawberries and Cream’ had this delicious red to yellow fade outward on the petals that mellowed the color. Also nearby was a young ‘Diane’, one of the best red witch hazels. She still clung to her marcescent coat of leaves, but I found a perfect spot to navigate a photo without the clingy foliage.
I almost missed my favorite specimen of the day. On our way to the main collection, I passed by the Clothier courtyard, but with a quick glance back my eyes caught a blob of yellow and I stopped in my tracks. Espaliered against the north wall of the courtyard in the fragrance garden was Hamamelis mollis ‘Early Bright’. Reading in Chris Lane's book Witch Hazels, I realized that this cultivar was found at The Scott Arboretum as a chance seedling, and the name was registered by my friend Andrew Bunting who was curator there for many years because it bloomed a few weeks earlier than other Hamamelis mollis forms. Seeing it espaliered gave me some serious plant lust for wanting to grow witch hazels in east Texas. Alas, we lack the winter cold that fans their buds into flames.
Our arrival to the collection proper near the tennis courts was quickly evident as hazes of crimsons, tangerines, and saffrons filled the drab landscape with color.
I was so impressed by the sheer size of the plants. Most of the time I see young developing witch hazels in gardens, and I had never seen Hamamelis this large. Two behemoth specimens were ‘Jelena’ and another ‘Early Bright’, this time allowed to grow into its true form.
I really like collections like this because it allows one to study the plants and see their growth and seasonal differences. Some like ‘Primavera’, ‘Feuerzauber’, and ‘Wisley Supreme’ were in full bloom while others like ‘Gimborn's Perfume’ and ‘Sunburst’ had yet to flower.
Having seen most of the flowering specimens in the collection and with light waning, we left. It was so much fun to visit this collection and get a better idea of which witch hazels deserve more use and attention in gardens. I hope this overview provides a few ideas and inspiration about using witch hazels in your garden.
Fall Foliage in East Texas
While much of the rest of the country has already experienced autumn, fall color usually peaks in the last few weeks of November here in east Texas. We haven’t even had a hard frost yet, though the forecast suggests that is coming Tuesday morning. With the arrival of cooler temperatures and shorter days, plants turn brilliant colors of red, orange, yellow, purple and a myriad of variations between. Our autumn show was pretty strung out over the past few weeks, and below are some of my favorite plants for fall color. You’ll see that many of them are Rhus and Acer with a few other colorful characters that follow. Maybe if you are looking for adding more fall color to your garden, you’ll get some inspiration from the images.
Celebrating Earth Day with Stewartia malacodendron
Stewartia malacodendron (silky camellia) is a member of the tea family (Theaceae) that graces the stream-side understory of our southern forests. Populations are scattered, and we are fortunate enough to have a disjunct population in east Texas.
Karen and I spent a cloudy Earth Day looking for these small trees in Newton County, Texas. We were joined by Dawn Stover and our guide Peter Loos who has been investigating these populations since the early 1990’s.
I saw them in flower last spring with students. The white blooms are hard to miss against the dark forest. On closer inspection one sees the eggshell petals surrounding a sparkler of purple-red stamens. But, I have only seen them in an edge habitat.
Peter took us to a new site that had even more specimens. We walked through a wooded gully seeing jewels like Asclepias variegata and even the rare-to-Texas Amelanchier arborea. We climbed the other side and soon found ourselves flanked by Stewartia.
Seeing the trees in their natural environment under a canopy I noticed for the first time their strongly horizontal growth. I suspect that these plagiotropic branches are arranged to maximize sunlight collection. It even seemed like the foliage had this pattern where leaves didn’t overlap each other. We saw one specimen that Peter deemed “The Champion” as it had a canopy spread of 25 feet.
Quickening claps of thunder cut our visit short. But, we’ll return again. Evidently, cuttings are best taken in early-to-mid May. We will see in a few weeks as we work to learn more about how to propagate this incredible native tree. It is safe from extinction due to its wide distribution in the southeast, but it is critically imperiled in Texas. Working to save diversity was a great way to celebrate Earth Day.
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.