Photo Galleries

One of the great things about gardening is the ability to create planters to place around your property to fill in an empty space in a flower bed, or to create a focal point. There’s no limit to your creativity since the planters can be placed wherever needed and the contents can be as exotic as you want.

Here are three that can be seen around the Haggerty Education Center: A large terracotta planter containing Billbergia cv. Hallelujah Queen’s Tears, orange Zinnias and a delicate white Bacopa. Another pot placed in the shade behind the handicap ramp contains Bacopa again, a couple of bright red flowers (perhaps a Begonia and Petunia) and a large leafy tropical all nicely backed up by an Oakleaf Hydrangea in full bloom. The third planter has a trellis for the pink Mandevilla to twine up plus a dark leaved vine to provide contrast between the pink and white flowers. I call this one Pretty in Pink!

There are more planters scattered around the property, so why not visit and try to find them all!

Picture credits: Margery Ennist.

I had a chance to walk around the Arboretum grounds this week, even in the heat, I was able to find shady spots and cool plantings such as the crisp, green and white combination of Cornus kousa ‘Wolf Eyes’ leaves and Hydrangea macrophylla cv. Tokyo Delight lacecap flowers (Wolf Eyes Japanese Dogwood and Tokyo Delight Bigleaf Hydrangea) next to the first bay in the parking lot. A large planting of purple Stachys officinalis (Bishop’s Wort, Betony or Wood Betony) completely surrounded the shady base of a tree at the end of another parking bay. As I strolled along, I happened upon a lovely view of the driveway coming up from Hanover Avenue, beautifully framed by shady greenery.

Come for a visit and discover your own special shady places!

Photo credits: Margery Ennist

June is here, the traditional month for weddings and bridal bouquets. Even though all brides don’t choose all white flowers for their bouquets, some of the blossoms to be seen at the Arboretum would certainly make lovely ones. For example, Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snowflake’ (Oakleaf Hydrangea) and the appropriately named, feather-like flowers of Astilbe ‘Bridal Veil’ (False Goatsbeard) would make a stunning combination; also the beautiful flowers of Stewartia pseudocamellia would provide an eye-catching focal point in any bouquet. For a totally different look, how about adding a deep red Calycanthus raulstonii ‘Hartlage Wine’ (Raulston’s Allspice or Sweetshrub) to the mix?

Make time for a visit soon, there is so much to see and enjoy!

Many thanks to Heather Emelander for this week’s photographs.

There is much to see and enjoy at the Arboretum, now that June is here: a dainty little bee enjoying the pale pink flowers on a Geranium x cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’ (Cranesbill Geranium) and the striking dark burgundy foliage of a Lagerstroemia indica cv. Delee (Crape Myrtle), just to name a few. When this Crape Myrtle cultivar blooms, the flowers will be hot pink, quite a contrast to the burgundy leaves – and it’s a rebloomer!

The photos this week are courtesy of Valerie Scarinci.

The red flowers of an Aesculus pavia tree (Red Buckeye), the delicate, white flowers of an Iris tectorum (Japanese Wall Iris) and the soft, fuzzy gray leaves of Stachys Byzantina cv. Big Ears (Lamb’s Ears). Big Ears rarely blooms, but bees appreciate the small, non-showy lavender flowers when it does!

Photos courtesy of Valerie Scarinci.

Vibrant shades of pink can be found all over the gardens at the Arboretum, from a large, beautiful Rhododendron in full bloom (the common and generic names come from Ancient Greek, rhodon = rose and dendron = tree), a lovely pink and cream Peony (Paeonia lactiflora ‘Gay Paree’), a shocking pink Dianthus (Dianthus gratianopolitanus cv. Firewitch) and a Blood Red Geranium (Geranium sanguineum) all doing their very best to put on a show for visitors to enjoy.

Thanks to Valerie Scarinci for this week’s photos.

Many thanks again to everyone who participated in this year’s Plant Sale, either by volunteering, organizing, advertising, purchasing plants, etc. Thanks to everyone, we had a very successful sale this year which will allow us to continue supporting The Frelinghuysen Arboretum with planting grants, grants for summer interns, etc. Here are just a few shots of this year’s sale.

Many thanks to volunteer and Member, Ann Mauro, for her great photos!

In spite of the very changeable weather, going from rain to sun to wind, many plants continue to bloom at the Arboretum. A beautiful red and yellow Columbine is flowering in the Alpine Garden in front of a bunch of tiny yellow Daffodils. A large Geum is full of gorgeous orange flowers with delicate red venation in the petals and slender filaments topped by anthers covered in pollen. A lovely dark purple Tulip covered in raindrops is a sight to behold; thank you Judy Snow for this photo and Margery Ennist for the other two.

More and more plants are beginning to bloom now that we’ve entered the lovely month of May. A gorgeous, deep purple Dwarf Bearded Iris, Iris cv. Dark Vader, is flowering in the Progressive Garden next to the first parking bay. Close by, an Epimedium cv. Pink Champagne (Bishop’s Hat) is covering the ground with delicate, pale pink spurred flowers. Not to be outdone, a Cornus florida f. Rubra (Pink Flowering Dogwood) is in full, dramatic bloom at the end of a parking bay close to the Plant Sale tent.

Varieties of all of the above will be sold at the Plant Sale, so plan to shop early to make sure your choices are available!

Thanks again to Judy Snow for these lovely photos.

Steve Kanan’s Sunday Saunter this week brings us a beautiful collection of macro shots of tulips. Isn’t Spring wonderful?

Thanks Steve for the another update of this great series.

Thanks to Katherine Boyle for the photograph of a Ladybug approaching a group of aphids; Ladybugs are wonderful, natural pest controllers. The aphids suck all the juices out of plants, damaging and killing them; the ladybug, however, eats the aphids (as many as 50 a day) and does no damage at all to the plant. They’re great to have in your garden! You can see more of Katharine’s pictures in several recent photo galleries on our website.

Thanks also to Judy Snow for the pictures of a container collection (Pansies, Geum and maybe a dark leaf lettuce?) next to the sundial in the Rose Garden, a lovely lavender Pulsatilla halleri ssp.styriaca and a gorgeous Cercis chinensis cv. Don Egolf in full bloom.

Elizabeth Brannin sent this beautiful batch of Arboretum pictures, noting “Even though it’s quite cold Spring is in bloom.”

Thanks, Elizabeth, for braving the chill to captures these images of Spring.

These pictures sent by Steve Kanan after his Saturday visit show off spring blossoms — mostly tulips, but with a daffodil and flowering trees for good measure. Thanks, Steve, for the lovely pictures.

Katharine Boyle wrote on April 18th, “Today’s rainfall and this evening’s cloudy sky made for some good photo opportunities of some lovely subjects. Here are photo highlights from tonight’s visit. “

Spring brings change every day of the week. Thanks to Katharine for capturing another day at the Arboretum on its journey through the seasons.

Katharine Boyle emailed yesterday, “Enclosed are some images from my visit to the arboretum Monday evening. The image of the ladybug is quite interesting. It wasn’t until I looked through the images tonight that I realized those little green dots are likely family members of the ladybug! Nature always amazes me. “

Thanks, Katharine. Nature is indeed putting on a great display.