Hortus Arboretum & Botanical Gardens

Some buds opening on our Blue Bean plants botanically named Decaisnea fargesii, but also known as dead man's fingers which is a lot more fun to say. Note images 2 & 3 the buds are from two different specimens, (apologies for the not so sharp #3 photo).

Okay a break from plant photos and today highlight... WHERE ARE ALL MY LEFTS?? and why is it that the only one I have has a hole in it????

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is a great native shrub that is an important pollinator plant. It’s young spring leaves have a ‘citrusy’ taste and can be enjoyed tossed in salads, or used in a tea. Though my favorite thing about Spicebush, besides their early bright blossoms, are the red berries that can be dried and taste like a mixture of black pepper, coriander and a bit of allspice and citrus. We use the berries in place of pepper often and they will stay fresh refrigerated for a long while.

Simply gorgeous! We almost never get to see Magnolia stellata ‘Centennial’ completely filled out with their beautiful flowers that have not been tinged with frost, or for the matter just completely killed off. Ohhh and that fragrance!!

Current situation! Magnolia stellata ‘Centennial’ It was released by Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum to commemorate the institution’s 100th anniversary in 1972. ********... Hortus is hiring part-time gardeners! Link in bio to contact us or DM. See more

A big shout out to all our visitors this year!! Hortus is officially closed for the season but will reopen in Spring 2021...Covid or no Covid. We are grateful to everyone who made an appointment to visit the gardens this year and although we couldn’t give our usual tours we were so happy to see how many people came out to self-tour and to walk through the gardens, celebrate a birthday, draw, have a mental health break, buy plants, taste fruit, smell flowers, and get inspire...d. I’m gonna try and tag some of you who came for a visit, but I can only tag 20 people so if I didn’t tag you but you paid Hortus a visit, please say hi in a comment even if I didn’t snap a photo of you & your peeps. Scott & I thank you for your continued support in helping us to grow.

Our native Witch-hazels (Hamamelis virginiana) are in flower now and this is one plant at Hortus that we haven’t planted on the grounds and is just endemic to our woods. Most folks overlook the small flowers with their ribbon-like petals because some plants don’t always lose their leaves. However several of our large colonies of this wonderful, part-shade shrub do lose their leaves and the small yellow flowers can really standout against an otherwise branchy landscape.

First time noticing the flowers on this Disanthus cercidifolius, and though they would be considered insignificant in the horticultural world, they are BIG news to us at Hortus. Their flowers have strappy petals, much like the better know Witchhazels, (of which it is related to). They are admittedly teeny flowers that make you have to come up close to appreciate them. This plant from China and Japan is decidedly more fussy in terms of getting it to grow than others plants in ...its family. Supposedly tolerant of part shade, the mistake we made at Hortus is that we sited it incorrectly (three times!!!) and in our Hudson Valley environment even part-shade was too much for it, drying out it’s young root system too quickly. So she is now growing happily in a full shaded aspect. We also learned that like most newly planted shrubs or trees which need constant moisture the first year of planting, this shrub requires consistent additional watering it’s second growing season as well. Some plant are just worth all that coddling!

The Hortus Fall resident artist Hillary Waters Fayle has been collecting leaves this past week, and get inspiration in the gardens. Her amazing embroidery technique uses leaves as her material. Pretty cool use of Mother Nature!! Check out more of her work @hillary.waters

The Cornus kousa ‘Satomi’ is putting on some Fall color now. This handsome Chinese multilimbed shrub/small tree is a super low maintenance plant. C. kousa may be a better option for us on the East coast, than our own native species since it has no real disease or insect issues, at least not in the Hortus gardens.

This is Doublefile Viburnum aka Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum (haven’t identified yet if it’s a cultivar since this was from a seedling we took from a clients over 15 years ago). The same specimen in each photo taken yesterday. Still areas of green lower down the branches.... As stunning in its Fall color as it is in Spring flower (go to last photo)!

The ‘John Rick’ Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is rocking out fruit! This self-fertile cultivar has been producing butterscotchy-carmel tasting, sweet fruits for over two weeks now and the abundance is ridiculously wonderful. I really can’t walk by without a basket and when I do some sort of improvisation for carrying them is in order.

Hortus is so lucky to have this native tree throughout the gardens, Sassafras (Sassafras albidum). One key feature for identifying this 20’-30’ tree is by its three different types of leaves- mitten shape, mitten shape with two thumbs, or oval.... However if we do end up digging out some smaller specimens we always make it a point to use the roots and bark to make a tea, and although Sassafras is still banned by the FDA for commercially mass produced food and drugs, the FDA did lift that ban in 1977 for use of Sassafras in tea. In some cases it’s a problem since the mother trees sucker in the wild, and can form thickets. Truly the only bad thing I can say about this beautiful and useful tree is that because of its suckering habit most nurseries do not carry this plant for sale.

We were able to grab these Akebia fruits before filling opening on the vine (see photo 3- we did a more detailed post on this edible vine). We actually like this fruit, tasting vaguely like tapioca. And even if we didn’t, it’s such a cool looking fruit that gives high ornamentation value to an already lovely vine.

This is Sea Myrtle (Baccharis halimifolia) in the South Garden, photos taken in mid-September. This is a quiet, subtle plant and we only have one specimen planted at Hortus which means that this dioecious plant will not bear what is considered its best attribute- silvery plumes that bear one-seeded fruit, which in the Fall appear on Female plants. Other names for this tough, adaptable plant are called Groundsel Bush, Consumptionweed, Salt Marsh-elder, eastern baccharis, and... salt bush. It is the only native eastern species of the aster family reaching tree size south of Florida.

The Chinese Kiwi (Actinidia arguta) vine still has fruit hanging on now!! The cooler nights have actually made the fruits more sugary and it’s distinct kiwi-pineapply taste more distinct and pronounced. This dioecious vine took over a decade to start flowering, and a few more years until it bore fruit, which is why we promote its cousin, A. kolomikta (Artic Kiwi), since it bears fruit at a much younger age, sometimes three of four years after planting in the vines.... However the flavor of the latter, grape-sized fruit with their dead-on taste akin to the supermarket Kiwis most people are familiar with, does not have the complexities of the former. If you have a large property, and can offer structural support, planting both species can be a great strategy since the Artic Kiwi vines fruits in August while the Chinese bears fruit in the Fall. Kiwis for 3 months!!!!

#Love everything about this amazing native Magnolia. Bigleaf Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla) is endemic to the southeastern seaboard, and has done well at the Hortus gardens, (in fact we have two trees)! Love their ginormous leaves that can grow as large as 30, with flowers that open in early June, and their crazy, artichoke-like seed heads whose seed heads squeeze out the brightly colored seed that can stay on the branch for awhile, giving this stately tree a highly ornamental look!

We love our visitors!! Although this weekend is booked already, Hortus still has some open days available for visiting in October.