Arboretum Foundation

Have a floriferous weekend!

Here’s just a sampling of blossoms from around the Arboretum.

1. The tree peony Paeonia lutea var. ludlowii, native to Tibet, in the peony section along Arboretum Drive. This specimen came to us from the North American Rock Garden Society in 1970.

2. Oyama magnolia (Magnolia sieboldii), native to China, Japan, and Korean, on the Visitors Center Terrace. After its first flush of bloom, it will keep blooming intermittently until late summer.

3. Chilean lantern tree (Crinodendron hookerianum) in the future Chile Forest area along the Loop Trail. Though the flowers look good enough to eat, the plant is actually toxic to humans.

4. Rock’s peony (Paeonia rockii), native to China, in the China Entry Garden at Pacific Connections. It is named for Austrian-American botanist and explorer Joseph Rock (1884–1962).

5. Chilean fire tree (Embothrium coccineum), native to Chile and Argentina in the future Chile Forest area along the Loop Trail. In its home range, the tree is pollinated by both hummingbirds and insects.

6. Blue blossom (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus), native to the Coast Range foothills of Oregon and California, in the Cascadia Forest garden. The flowers of this large evergreen shrub are magnets for native bees.

7. Illicium simonsii, a small evergreen tree from China, India, and Myanmar, blooming in Rhododendron Glen. The species is a recent introduction to horticulture. Our specimen came from a wild collection made by explorer Dan Hinkley in 2000.

8. Hybrid rhody (Rhododendron ‘Snow Queen’) in Rhododendron Glen. This specimen dates to 1964 and is still blooming beautifully.

A melange of beautiful blooms from around the park.

Help us grow the plants, programs, and people of the Arboretum with gift on May 5.

www.wagives.org/organization/arboretum-foundation-1

1. Umbrella plant (Darmera peltata) blooming in the Cascadia Entry Garden. Native to mountain stream sides and woodlands from southwestern Oregon to northern California, this wetland herbaceous perennial produces large, umbrella-like leaves after the flowers emerge. The young stalks can be eaten raw or cooked.

2. Winter’s bark (Drimys winteri var. chilensis), a small tree native to Chile and Argentina, along the Loop Trail just below the Chile Entry Garden. The common name refers to Captain John Wynter, who circumnavigated the globe with Francis Drake and used the medicinal bark of the plant to treat his scurvy-riddled crew.

3. Chinese flowering ash (Fraxinus sieboldiana) in the main ash collection, just north of the Loop Trail wetlands. The small, slender tree is native to China, Korea, and Japan. Our lone specimen came to us in 1977 from Toyko University Forests.

4. Davidia involucrata ‘Iseli Fastigiate’, a narrow form of the dove tree, by the Pacific Connections interpretive shelter. Native to China, the species gets its common name from the dove-like appearance of its inflorescence.

5. Himalayan bird cherry (Prunus cornuta) blooming on the Loop Trail, just up the hill from the Birch Parking Lot. The species epithet cornuta means “horned” and refers to the curled shape that the tree’s small, bitter red fruits take on in the Himalayas. The unusual growth is caused by the larvae of an insect native to that region.

6. Redvein enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus), native to open woodlands in Japan, near the new circular bench in lower Rhododendron Glen. The genus name comes from Greek words enkyos, meaning “pregnant,” and anthos, meaning “flower,” a reference to rounded shape of the flowers.

7. Lanceleaf azara (Azara lanceolata), also from Argentina and Chile, along the Loop Trail just below the Chile Entry Garden. This arching shrub was given its scientific name from collections made by Charles Darwin in 1834.

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