Category: News

And just like that, the world is awash in the verdant green of fresh spring growth and colorful flowers. Spring really came out like a lion this year! As this year’s bulb display fades, we come into mid-spring perennials and trees. Willowwood is known for our Wisteria display, and we take great pride in maintaining our plants to optimize flowering. I’m happy to report that Wisteria Watch is over and we are currently at peak bloom! We have multiple arbors on the property with Wisteria floribunda in all its pendulous purple glory and the more unusual Wisteria sinensis ‘Alba’ in Pan’s Garden. 

We’ve also just entered the season of another iconic Willowwood collection: Lilacs! A walk through our extensive collections is wonderful for the senses: so many different scents and textures to enjoy, such as Syringa vulgaris ‘Sensation’, with its white-margined flowers and classic lilac aroma. Don’t forget to stop at the Cottage Garden, which is an explosion of different textures and colors of flowering perennials, including budding roses like the (planted in 1940) Rosa x rehderiana ‘Marie Pavie’. 

 If you’d prefer more shade, a walk in the woodwalk is always delightful, but even more so with the candy-colored masses of Primula japonica (originally introduced to Willowwood in 1930!) in bloom. This variation in flower color is completely natural and random, so every year’s display is a pleasant surprise. The Woodwalk is home to a plethora of Japanese Maples of all different textures and colors, like the Acer palmatum ‘Koto-No-Ito” with its highly dissected leaves. 

While it’s easy to lose time in the core area of the arboretum, many of our collections of more obscure species are worth taking a gander at. The lantern-esque flowers of Enkianthus campanulatus var. sikokianus in the Orchard are an unexpected color for early spring; foreshadowing for their spectacular fall color in the same red-orange. Nearby, the demurer Staphylea pinnata, the European Bladdernut flowers catch early morning light beautifully. 

by Bonnie Semmling

How wonderful it is to live in a world with flowers. Right now, I can’t think of anywhere that it is more floriferous than Willowwood. Although it is still early spring, many tougher-than-they-look spring flowering bulbs and perennials are up and at it. Meanwhile, swelling buds and emerging shoots remind us that there’s much more to come. A stroll through the Rosarie is exemplative: among the bright daffodils contrasted by clumps of Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, the flower buds of “prairie smoke”, Geum triflorum, are beginning to unfurl. 

Right now, the Rockery, adjacent to the Tubbs’ House, is awash in blue and yellow. Drifts of Scilla siberica, Scilla(Chionodoxa) sardensis, Scilla (Chionodoxa) forbesii ‘Violet Beauty’, and Anemone blanda are punctuated by Narcissus“Rip Van Winkle”, Primula elatior (known affectionately as “oxslips”), and emerging Mertensia virginica, the Virginia bluebell. I find the Narcissus “Rip Van Winkle” to be particularly appealing, their double flowers floating over a “sea” of blue Scilla like stars on a clear night. 

While the traditional tulip display is due later in spring, a few “species tulips” are out, gracing us with their adorable blooms. Throughout the property, but especially in front of the Tubbs’ House are the cheerful Tulipa turkestanica and T. humilus “Alba Coerulea Oculata”. 

The delightful emerging gradient of flower buds of Stachyurus praecox, adjacent to the Propagation House. The specific epithet of this one, “praecox”, is a Latin term that means “early”. This one will be in full flower very soon! If you cannot wait, throughout the woodwalk one can find the fragrant, dangling flowers of Pieris japonica. Resembling, but not closely related to the “lily of the valley” (Convallaria majalis) we have to look forward to later in the season. 

Of course, we cannot forget the real star of the show: the Hellebore! Throughout Willowwood you will find a plethora of Helleborus selections, ranging from the surprisingly charming H. foetidus to the creamy flowers of Helleborus x nigercors“Honeyhill Joy”, seen here in the Cornus Mas Bed.  

By Bonnie Semmling.

It is the dawn of a new year. Another year of growth, of progress, love, and of course, gardening! 

There is not one moment in the gardens at Willowwood that is uninteresting; even in the absence of the raucous colors of flowers abuzz with pollinators that grace us in the growing season one can find interest. Now is the time to enjoy the structure and textures of the garden: bark, fruit, buds (as they swell in anticipation of spring, or perhaps a warm spell). Some structural interest is unexpectedly whimsical, such as the remaining sporophylls of sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis) or the fruit of the appropriately named blackberry lily (Iris domestica). (Click the images to enlarge them).

Even in this time of dormancy flowers can still be found at Willowwood, like this ‘Christmas Gold’ witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), a selection of our native species with especially dense flowers and a light, spicy aroma. 

A look to the meadows will reveal numerous winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata), their branches upright and studded in red fruit, as in the case of the straight species. An exception is the ‘Winter Gold’ cultivar whose fruit instead reads more like a pale vermillion: this difference can be especially striking when planted along its red-fruited sisters. 

In Pan’s Garden you will find the perfumed blooms of Viburnum farreri, a more unusual selection that flowers in bursts from November to February. The aroma of these is best admired while seated on the back porch of the Tubb’s House during a sunny winter day, where we would love to see you visiting. Willowwood Arboretum is open 7 days a week from sunrise to sunset. Please check the Morris County Park Commission website (Willowwood Arboretum | Morris County Parks (morrisparks.net) for more information for planning your visit.

By Bonnie Semmling.