News from the Arb

This morning, my inbox contained this great email from Arb horticulturalist and communicator extraordinaire Matthew Scott:

Good news! The next few days should be super days to walk through the Arb if you have a chance. The weeping cherry at the west end of the prairie is just starting to bloom. Some PJM azaleas along the Laurel Ridge Trail are this close to blooming, and bloodroot’s starting to flower. More and more of the Imagine/Align daffs are in bloom, too. And the Pieris in Heathdale is lovely as well. There are lots of birds enjoying this warmer weather. The red-tailed hawks are often scoping out the Main Valley, and Eastern Bluebirds, different kinds of sparrows, and goldfinches are enjoying the prairie. And, of course, the Canada Geese are livening up the riverfront. The butterflies are more numerous now, too. Yesterday I saw several mourning cloak butterflies throughout the Arboretum.

Some other things you might notice are the better view of the Main Valley from the 3 Corners area thanks to our wonderful caretakers, a more open Ridge Trail due to the hard work of Jeff, the caretakers, and volunteers, and some added sections of the wetland boardwalk thanks to Sarah Weiss’s steely resolve and her Passover-brownie-fueled assorted cast. The area around the Field Office has recently been cleaned up of much of the scrap metal and assorted wood thanks to Tom and the sheriff’s crew, too. And Tom had some of us slapping our foreheads saying “Why didn’t we think of that?” after he put door handles on the sliding garage door here at the Field Office. We recently had the Forestry Crew here taking down dead trees along the Laurel Ridge Trail. We’ll be removing that wood over the next several weeks. If you get a chance, check it out and marvel at how they managed to cut the trees down without harming any of the rhododendrons or azaleas. They did a great job.

See you at the Arb!

Cheers,
Matthew

Matthew Scott
Collections/Natural Areas Specialist
Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum

Photo of bloodroot by Bob Grese. Laurel Ridge Trail entrance photo by MBGNA staff.