Current Plant Highlights
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May
Malus 'Mary Potter'
Magnolia 'Elizabeth'
Spiraea x arguta
Paulownia tomentosa
Davidia involucrata
Exchorda giraldii var. wilsonii
Rhododendron fortunei 'Duke of York'
The extensive ornamental crabapple collection represents decades of work by Arboretum staff. Charles S. Sargent, the first director, and E. H. Wilson, plant collector and Arboretum keeper, introduced many of the plants to the U.S. or even the West. Karl Sax, geneticist and former director of the Arboretum, bred and evaluated many of the hybrids. And Donald Wyman, Arboretum horticulturist from 1936 to 1969, further evaluated them and made them known to a wide audience of gardeners. The core of the collection is located on the north side of Peters Hill, although a few trees can be found in and around the Eleanor Cabot Bradley Collection of Rosaceous Plants.
Malus 'Mary Potter', a cross between M. sargentii 'Rosea' and M. atrosanguinea, was introduced by Dr. Sax in 1947 in honor of Mary Sargent Potter, daughter of the Arboretum's first director, Charles S. Sargent. In May its innumerable bright pink buds open to display clear white flowers. In full bloom trees look completely snow-covered. But perhaps the tree's best feature is its form, which is unusually low-branching and spreading. A fine specimen grows on the hillside south of the Bradley Collection.
Malus 'Donald Wyman', a chance seedling found on Peters Hill and named in honor of the horticulturist in 1970, is notable for its vigor and the reliability of the pink buds that open to single white flowers. Bright red, glossy fruit persist unfaded well into winter. One specimen grows in the Bradley Collection; two more can be found on the slopes of Peters Hill.
Malus 'Blanche Ames', which honors the noted botanical illustrator and wife of a Harvard botanist and supervisor of the Arboretum, is an especially elegant plant. Its graceful, slightly weeping form is reminiscent of Japanese maples, with a canopy at least as wide as its 25-foot height. The white flowers, looking something like a single rose, are billowy and cloudlike en masse. It was selected in 1947 (and later named) by Dr. Sax from a group of open-pollinated seedlings of M. spectabilis 'Riversii'. Two specimens grow on the northern edge of the Bradley Collection, but the Arboretum's best two plants grow on Peters Hill.
Magnolia 'Elizabeth', a hybrid of M. acuminata (cucumber magnolia) and M. denudata (yulan magnolia) that was developed at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, is prized for its fragrant, clear yellow flowers that bloom in spring before the leaves emerge. These wonderful blossoms inherit their unusual color from M. acuminata, whose flowers are smaller and rarely seen because they bloom high in the canopy. The Arboretum's M. 'Elizabeth' is located on the east side of Meadow Road just past the Hunnewell Building.
The garland spirea, Spiraea x arguta, is a cross between S. thunbergii and S. x multiflora (which is itself a cross between S. crenata and S. hypericifolia). The pure white flowers are borne in large numbers that create a splendid show against the shrub's small, narrow leaves. Several plantings of the selection 'Compacta' grow in the Bradley Collection.
With its large, tubular flowers of pale violet arrayed in loose inflorescences, Paulownia tomentosa, the royal paulownia or empress tree, is stunning in full bloom. The inner surfaces of the petals are marked with darker spots and yellow stripes. The flowers, which are vanilla-scented, resemble those of Digitalis (foxglove), a closely related herbaceous perennial. Royal paulownias are located above the lilac collection, just past the forsythia slope on the south side of Bussey Hill Road.
A native of China, Davidia involucrata, commonly known as the dove or handkerchief tree, was introduced to the West in 1901 by renowned plant explorer E. H. Wilson. Many plant lovers make pilgrimages to the Arboretum during May in hopes of finding this unusual tree in full flower, which is more easily said than done since it blooms for only 10 or 12 days. Its graceful white bracts (modified leaves rather than petals) lie draped over the tips of its branches, conjuring images of doves or handkerchiefs. At the center of the bracts is the true, albeit insignificant, inflorescence. The dove tree grows on Chinese Path.
Pearlbushes take their common name from their flowers, which resemble pearls when still in bud. The bright white flowers of the redbud pearlbush, Exochorda giraldii, are nearly 2 inches across and are borne in clusters of 6 to 8. The leaves and young branches are tinged with pink in spring. A variety known as the wilson pearlbush, E. giraldii var. wilsonii, is particularly floriferous. A magnificent, old specimen grows on the east side of Bussey Hill.
As a species Rhododendron fortunei, a native of eastern China, is uncommon in cultivation except as a parent in numerous hybrids. It produces large, fragrant flowers, white to light pink, with 14 to 16 stamens. An impressive example of an especially beautiful cultivar known as 'Duke of York' (R. fortunei x R. catawbiense 'Scipio') can be found on the Linda J. Davidson Rhododendron Path. Its flowers are rose-pink and cream.