Out and About in the Arboretum

Beautyberry, Callicarpa dichotoma, is a small, rounded, deciduous shrub, and is included in the landscape for its showy fall display of lilac-violet berries. Clusters of small, pink-to-lavender flowers have yielded clusters of berries which ripen in September and put on their best show through October. The birds will feast on these berries once the cold weather settles in. This is a wonderful native plant for all to enjoy.

For a lovely show of the early fall season, you may want to stop by Court 16 on the Medford Campus to enjoy a woodlands garden as it sets its color for fall. The Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) is particularly attractive at this time. Worthy of a visit for sure.

September brings a lovely treat, as the air is filled with the scent of sweet Autumn Clematis, Clematis paniculata. Courtyard Garden 10 on the Medford Campus is alive with the fragrance and beauty of this prolific bloomer. Small white flowers emerge to display themselves, and as fall approaches the flowers become a silvery mass of fluffy seed heads. This vine is quite at home located on the pergola in this garden.

Magnolia virginiana, commonly called Sweet Bay magnolia, is native to the southeastern United States north along the Atlantic coast to New York. It typically grows as a shorter, suckering, open, multi-stemmed shrub. The tree features cup-shaped, sweetly fragrant creamy white flowers, in mid-spring. In late summer, cone-like fruits with bright red are maturing. Fun to see a bit of bright red at this time of the year.

Oh my, the trees – they surely do grow… who would have thought when the white pines were planted many years ago that they would cause some residents and staff challenges today? Over the next week or so you may notice that we will take down eleven trees on the Medford Campus that are impacting folks who park their cars near these trees. Over the years the trees have have been pruned to mitigate sap damage, but the time has come that no more pruning will eliminate this issue

Check out Court 28 on the Medford Campus to see a living laboratory of monarch butterflies as they emerge from their chrysalis. This court is home to a number of native milkweed plants which attract the monarch butterflies. As the eggs on the milkweed plants hatch, they form caterpillars, who have a very busy time eating the milkweed and growing very quickly. The caterpillars then form their chrysalises, which protect them. Shortly before emerging, the chrysalis will appear transparent and sometimes you can clearly see the distinctive patterns of the wings.