“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”
— Maud Hart Lovelace
Today marks the official beginning of summer, the Summer Solstice. Now that the warmer weather is here to stay for the next few months, the riot of spring blossoms have faded and the gardens are lush with green foliage. A new bench has been placed in the cottage garden and cozy nooks await to hide out from the sun. The gardeners have been busy planting annual flowers to continue the cheerful floral display until frost and have integrated containers of plantings into the gardens for extra color.
The horticulturists have also been busy with new planting projects. One of the largest has been the rosarie, located behind the nursery and wooden barn. After several years, the rosarie garden has re-opened to the public and has been planted with a wide variety of plants. Some of the new woody and perennial plantings include an Amelanchier canadensis ‘Autumn Brilliance’, Aronia melanocarpa, Geum triflorum, Acanthus, and Physocarpus Sweet Cherry Tree. The back gate to the garden was also recently replaced and the fountain re-installed for the season. We’re sure we’ll see many people resting on the bench under the rosarie pergola listening to the water again now that the garden has been re-opened. And while you’re there, be sure to admire the striking blue on the pointy Eryngium amethystinum flowers and look at the large white blooms of the Clematis languginosa ‘candida’ growing on the pergola.
Around the main gardens many perennial plantings are beginning to flower such as the native Opuntia humifusa cactus near the greenhouse, Monarda didyma ‘Gardenview Scarlet’ in the cottage garden and the Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ in front of the Tubbs house. Another interesting Hydrangra in flower is Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Midoriboshi-Temari’ in the rockery near the house which has colorful star-shaped flowers. The rockery and Pan’s Garden are also good gardens to admire in the summer for their use of color and texture in shady areas as they are full of ferns, grasses, and variegated plants.
The arrival of summer also means that the lilac season is ending at Willowwood. The last lilacs of the season to bloom are tree lilacs which are still flowering in highland park and also along Main Street in Chester. The fluffy cotton candy like blooms seem like an appropriate summer flower since they are so large and pale as though they are trying to match the puffy clouds above them. If you’d like to see the gardens, be sure to come by between 8AM and dusk when the front gates are open for free to the public! The Willowwood Arboretum is open year-round as part of the Morris County Park Commission park system.
Reported by Zinnia Cheetham, Plant Records Curator Specialist MCPC
