Arboretum & Botanical Garden Bulletin Board
Plant of the Month
Yoshino Flowering Cherry
Prunus x yedoensis
Location: Grid U3 at the base of the new rock steps leading up to the Hosta Walk.
Unfortunately, I do not think we will ever have the display of Cherry blossoms that they achieve in Japan or Washington D.C. or the University of Washington campus in Seattle. Cherries tend to struggle here, I think our winters are a little too cold and dry for them to thrive, then they become stressed and are prone to various diseases.
However, we do have 22 different varieties of flowering cherries in the collection, some better than others. Most of them are planted on the west facing slope near the north end of the Arboretum. Ikuyo Suzuki, retired Japanese language faculty member is a regular arboretum visitor. She has encouraged us to plant more cherries and donated funds for more trees. I decided to plant them in a more protected locations to see if that makes a difference in how they do here.
Flowering cherries are easy to distinguish from other flowering trees because they are generally the first trees to flower in the spring and the flowers open before the leaves emerge. They usually flower here in late March, followed by flowering plums in April and flowering crabapples in May.
Monthly Projects
March may have come in and left like a lion and was very lamb-like in the middle. Moscow hit a record high of 69° on March 17 and 18. That nice weather allowed us to get the first trees of the season planted and gave us a little head start on general spring clean-up. Unfortunately, it also gives all the weeds the go-ahead to get started thriving…
Fun activity this month was a road trip to the Orton Botanical Garden in Twin Falls, Idaho. Two of my summer crew and I spent three days over Spring Break collecting plants for a new bed in the Xeriscape Garden. Zach Green, one of the crew has proposed adding a collection of cold hardy cacti and succulents and the Orton Garden agreed to share some plants. We were able to collect 19 different cacti, three yuccas (including two Joshua Trees) and an agave. We also toured the Idaho Botanical Garden, the Sawtooth Botanical Garden and Moss Greenhouses, the largest greenhouse grower in Idaho.
Upcoming Events
Arboretum Associates Annual Meeting
1912 Center, Great Room, 412 E 3rd St.
7 p.m. Tuesday, April 16
Guest speaker Philip Shinn, retired certified arborist, will speak on pollinators
Featured speaker Paul Warnick, the University of Idaho Arboretum Horticulturalist, will speak on the annual arboretum update
Arboretum Associates Annual Plant Sale
NEW LOCATION THIS YEAR!!! — Facilities Greenhouse, 875 Perimeter Drive
10 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 18
When visiting the Arboretum, please remember that for your safety, the safety of others and for the protection of wildlife and plant collections, no pets are allowed. Ice on ponds is very unstable—stay off any ice.
