For Wildflower Wednesday hosted by gail over at clay and limestone, I am going back to Chapel Hill in April.
For a long time I was on the fence about Fothergilla. I found the bottlebrush flowers to be a little strange and the honey scent I read about seemed weak to me. Then I saw them in full bloom and even more importantly saw them in their fall finery (here and here).
At the NC Botanical Garden
and on the UNC campus.
A young beech tree in Battle Park.
It's nice to see a beech tree on campus whose smooth gray bark is not blemished by carving. In the Botanical Garden woods it seems almost every tree has initials carved in it. The new leaves are exactly the color of Crayola spring green.
A blackhaw viburnum in Battle Woods. There's a big beautiful blackhaw by the Totten Center in the Botanical Garden that inspired me to buy one, which is now a little stick planted in the ditch at the back of the big bed. This year I had it in a spot that was obviously too dry for it because it didn't budge in height at all.
Little Sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum) and fernleaf scorpionweed at the Coker Arboretum. I read in one of Elizabeth Lawrence's books that a wide swath of T. cuneatum is wonderfully sweetly fragrant. I can confirm that so is a single one when I had one in my garden.
'The Rising Sun' Eastern redbud with golden ragwort. Normally I don't care for plants with yellow foliage but this one is stunning in dappled sunlight.
With yellow trillium and fothergilla
The fairy-like flowers of a parsley hawthorn at the Coker Arboretum.
If I lived on your side of the pond, I'd grow trilliums, and more trilliums!
ReplyDeleteWow ! Parsley hawthorn ? I just fall in love with those marvellous flowers !
ReplyDeleteI'm in love with that parsley hawthorn!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous spring blooms. I must see if Parsley Hawthorn will grow in my garden.
ReplyDeleteLove your fothergilla shots. I have one in my front foundation bed and it is one of my favorite shrubs. Trouble-free, surprisingly tough, deer don't bother it, charming flowers in spring, incredible long-lasting fall color. Heck, I even like the shape of the foliage. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, I like Chapel Hill in April! It reminds me of Madison in May! Everything seems to bloom at once. Not really, of course, but quite a few spring bloomers seem to explode at the same time in early mid-May. That Parsley Hawthorn and your photos of it are stunningly beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLoved looking at your stunning tree photos! Many of tree varieties that I am not familiar with. I was especially smitten by the Parsley Hawthorn. Sooo... beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHave a nice weekend!
Warm regards,
Christina
Fabulous selection of plants you've shown from the arboretum. My fothergilla died two years ago and I really need to get another one or two. I love them! I think they look fabulous with the trillium too.
ReplyDeleteThe Coker Arboretum looks like my kind of place! I have always loved fothergilla and have a couple of varieties in my garden. I love the foliage as much as the flowers. The blooms have been wonderfully fragrant for me, though last year my oldest one had minimal blooms. I am not sure what caused this but am eager to see what happens this spring.
ReplyDeleteI planted a Fothergilla last summer. Sure hope it blooms this spring. Seeing your pictures I think it is much taller than I thought. I may have to move it now.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful.....!!! I love fothergilla and had them in my garden in SC. Now I have them again in my garden here and love them. I love the little bottle brush flowers. :o)
ReplyDelete