Scott Arboretum Snapshots - Townhouse Crape Myrtle, Western Redcedar, Prairie Dropseed, Japanese Falsecypress and more!

A couple of weeks ago, I visit the Scott Arboretum on the campus of Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College with my sister and my father. In fact, we were lucky enough to be able to visit on a day when the arboretum was offering one of its free monthly tours. (The dates for these tours are posted on the arboretum's calendar.)

The arboretum was established 85 years ago and today there are many beautiful mature trees.

I've got to say I'm a little jealous of the students, faculty and staff who get to spend so much time on this beautiful campus!

Here are a few of the plants at the arboretum that struck my fancy:

One bee, so many flowers... I think this is a magnificent clump of Stachys officinalis, a.k.a. Bettony (but I'm not 100% sure on my identification)

A stately Chamaecyparis pisifera "Filifera" (Japanese Falsecypress). I understand that this variety typically grows around 30-feet tall (per University of Kentucky). Clearly I just got a shot of the trunk here, but I'd guess this tree was taller than 30-feet. I was interested in how bare it appeared at the base, since in the other shots I've seen of this tree, the canopy seemed fuller all the way to the ground.

Beautiful bark and fluted trunk on a Cladastris kentuckea, American Yellowwood tree

And here's a shot of the sun-dappled Cladastris kentuckea canopy. Just a beautiful tree. Can't understand why American Yellowwood is not more popular in commerce. Perhaps because the tree reportedly doesn't start flowering until it's 8-10 years old? But I've never even seen a flowering American Yellowwood and I'm still smitten with the beauty of its other attributes.

Here's an interesting relatively large-scale planting of Sporobolus heterolepsis (Prairie Dropseed) used as a lawn alternative. I love the texture, although I don't know whether this 'lawn' can hold up to foot traffic. 

Thuja plicata "Excelsa", Western Redcedar, gorgeous feathery foliage on this evergreen. I was under the impression that T. plicata preferred cool and moist forest conditions in the Pacific Northwest, but it seemed to be thriving in this Pennsylvania arboretum. I'd love to hear from other gardeners in the East - especially the Southeast - who might have experience pro or con with this species. 

Japanese Crape Myrtle - Lagerstroemia fauriei "Townhouse" -- Not your typical crape myrtle (the usual species is L. indica), the Japanese Crape reportedly grows bigger (up to 40-60 feet tall), has fragrant flowers plus excellent resistance to powdery mildew and artistically exfoliating bark. These crapes weren't flowering when we visited in June. In the Mid-Atlantic, I'm guessing they probably don't flower until late summer (August?), but the foliage, form and bark were beautiful enough that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to any mid-Atlantic gardener who had the space. Like many places in the East, the Philadelphia area had a brutal winter in 2013-14 and this mature Townhouse crape apparently made it through unscathed. On the flip side, reportedly has the chops to withstand the heat and seasonal drought in Florida too. What a tree!

Atlanta Trip Report #4 -- Smith-Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw, Georgia

Rosa floribunda "Scentimental"

The Smith-Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw have a bonsai exhibit, a Camellia Garden and a 19th Century historic home.

But my favorite parts of this garden were the woodland trails (one of which leads to a shady nook by a cooling waterfall), the conifer collection and the delightful rose garden.

Here are some of the nicest roses that caught my eye -- or stimulated my olfactory system:

Hybrid Tea Rose "Heirloom"
The color is a bit garish and the flowers may be packed too tightly together, but it sure did smell good.

Abraham Darby, a David Austin English Rose
To be honest, the blooms are a bit ... overwrought for my tastes.
Beautifully fragrant, though.
Dave's Garden reviewers report epic struggles and heartbreak with this one.
The review and comments are priceless at The Gardener of Good and Evil.

IMHO, the jewelry store can't hold a candle to this "Tiffany" Hybrid Tea Rose.
(My wife might disagree.)

"Pat Austin" English Rose

Heading into the woodland garden, we came across this young Bigleaf Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla)

According to the Missouri Botanical Garden, Bigleaf Magnolia has the largest simple leaves (up to 30 inches long) of any tree indigenous to North America.

An unknown (but spectacular) purple rhododendron in full bloom on a shady woodland trail

Yep, it's another Cephalotaxus (Plum Yew)! What can I say? I'm smitten by the genre. This is Cephalotaxus harringtonia, the same species I have at home, but I've never heard of this cultivar - McCorkle.  I did find it online at one (wholesale?) nursery in Michigan called Spring Meadows. According to the listing there, McCorkle will grow about 5 feet high by 6 feet wide.

Close up on the delightful new growth in the foliage of Cephalotaxus harringtonia "McCorkle"

I was wowed by this bright, dense foliage of Chamaecyparis pisifera (a.k.a. Japanese Falsecypress or Sawara Cypress). The cultivar here was Filifera Aurea that the Missouri Botanical Garden says can grow slowly to 15-20 feet tall over many years

I decided to stand next to the tree to give you a better sense of its size. I'm approximately six-feet tall, so I'm guessing this tree was about 10-feet tall by 8-feet wide? It looks like it would be great for a privacy hedge, although the slow-growing quality means you'd need to buy a substantial tree to start or have a lot of time and patience.

This is the last of my four Atlanta trip reviews. (You can find links to the other reviews in the archive section of the sidebar.) I hope you enjoyed the journey! As always, I welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.