Category: News

The weather forecast for this weekend looks wonderful, so plan a stroll or walk through the Willowwood Arboretum

Mornings at Willowwood have been filled with the lively sounds of bird chatter, and night time temperatures here seem to be finally inching higher. Daffodils, magnolias, forsythias and cherries continue to put on a cheerful show throughout the arboretum, and the addition of tulip flowers opening has really made it look like spring.

On your next visit, spend some time in the Cottage Garden, where tulips can be spotted alongside Virginia bluebells, also now in bloom. Keep an eye out for pulmonaria, with its white-spotted leaves and delicate flowers in shades of pale purple and blue. Also well worth noticing is Ipheion uniflorum, a dainty bulb from South America with grass-like foliage and star shaped flowers.

Newly blooming woody plants include Chaenomeles japonica, Japanese quince, and several types of spiraea. Look for the coral flowers of Japanese quince in the bed between the Stone Barn and the Shingle Barn. A lovely white-flowered spiraea, Spiraea thunbergii ‘Mount Fuji’, can be found not far away, at the corner of the Stone Barn near the pergola.

Reported by Sara Perzley, MCPC Plant Records Specialist & Propagator

Lots of daffodils still in bloom but Magnolias and Cherry trees have started blooming this week at Willowwood, and are putting on an elegant display in shades of pink, white and cream.

As you drive through the entrance gates, look for Magnolia x loebneri ‘Willowwood’ immediately on the right, with its densely petaled white flowers.

M. ‘Royal Star’

At the far end of the Cottage Garden, Magnolia kobus var. stellata ‘Royal Star’ is looking appropriately regal, and has a particularly well balanced form.

Other good places to spot magnolias in bloom are along the Woodwalk and in the Orchard. Some of the best specimens in the Orchard can be seen by walking through the gate leading out of the Roserie: look for Magnolia ‘Betty’ immediately in front of you. This is just starting to flower, and the lower surface of its petals, now visible, are an intense magenta, and almost black at the base. Magnolia x loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’, with its lovely pyramidal form and lighter pink flowers, is a short walk further ahead.

M. ‘Betty’

M. ‘Leonard Messel’

C. infloresence

Some of the other woody plants flowering now include several species of Corylopsis, Winter Hazel, which have lovey, pendent inflorescences in shades of creamy yellow. Look for these along the sides of the drive past the Tubbs house, towards the Bee Meadow and paths to the Brocade Hillside.

We hope you’ll come out to enjoy the plants and mild weather, and keep returning often over the next several months to watch spring unfold!

Click on an image to enlarge.

Reported by Sara Perzley

Plant Records Specialist & Propagator

Leucojum vernum

The very first daffodil blooms have been spotted this week at Willowwood! They are just starting to make a cheerful and very welcome show in the Alfalfa Field along the drive and in the Winter Garden. Keep watching over the next weeks as more and more varieties appear.

Siberian squill, Scilla siberica, has carpeted large areas of the cottage garden in an energetic blue. It has also popped up in the Rockery and the beds on the slope between the Roserie and Pan’s Garden.

Cyclamen hederifolium

You can also find spring snowflake (Leucojum vernum), ivy-leaved cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium), and lungwort, (Pulmonaria sp.) blooming in the Rockery now. Plenty of hellebores are flowering in garden beds all over Willowwood.

Cornus mas

There are some gorgeous woody plants in bloom this week as well. Look for the cornelian cherry, Cornus mas, and its relative, Cornus macrophylla, just as you go through the entrance gate on the left. Both are covered in delicate yellow flowers, as is the large cornelian cherry next to the Rockery.

Lonicera fragrantissima

As you walk across the lawn between the stone barn and the greenhouse, stop to take in the strong and deliciously sweet scent of winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima, with its creamy white flowers and pale pink buds.

Skunk cabbage flower

For those brave enough, contrast this pleasing fragrance with a whiff of the stinky flowers of skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, found alongside the path in the Woodwalk. The mottled maroon and green hooded flowers of these fascinating wetland plants have a sci-fi look about them, and even have the rare ability to generate their own heat. The extra warmth given off by the flowers helps spread their foul scent and attract early pollinators like flies. This year, given the recent warm temperatures, perhaps these plants have not needed to spend as much energy as usual on heating up!

Click on individual images to enlarge.

Hamamelis ‘Jelena’ (closeup)

Sara Perzley of the Parks Commission writes (and sends the beautiful pictures):

“Thought I’d send these photos of the two witch hazels between the Cottage Garden and the drive in front of the Tubbs House…they’re in flower and looking lovely. I wouldn’t have expected blooms until mid to late February, but I guess they got a bit off schedule with the warmer weather earlier on!”

Click on an image to enlarge.

H. vernalis

H. ‘Jelena’