Archive for July 2008
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
Next time you walk along College Ave. past the Scott Arboretum office, be sure to notice the beautiful display of Echinacea purpurea ‘Rubinstern’. This relatively new purple coneflower is an improved cultivar of E. purpurea ‘Magnus’, the 1998 Perennial Plant of the Year, awarded by the Perennial Plant Association. Breeding efforts in the development of ‘Rubinstern’ have resulted in more uniformly-sized plants and larger, darker flowers. ‘Rubinstern’ will produce intense carmine-red blossoms from July through September and, like other E. purpurea cultivars, takes full sun and is a wonderful bee and butterfly attractor!
The roots and rhizomes of Echinacea plants have long been…
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Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
In further efforts to lessen our carbon footprint the Scott Arboretum has purchased a reel mower for mowing the lawns in the Entrance Garden and Terry Shane Teaching Garden. Summer intern, Jared Barnes is pictured mowing the lawn with a Brill RazorCut Premium 33. This German made lawn mower operates purely by a human pushing the mower and expends no fuel to operate.
In periods of ample rain and sunlight we have found that we have to mow the lawn about once every 5 days while with the conventional mower we were mowing once a week. More information on these mowers…
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Thursday, July 10th, 2008
Monarda graces every list which identifies plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. The small plot in my own front yard has been a frequent stop for some local ruby-throated hummingbirds. This North American genus, Monarda, was named for Dr. Nicolas Monardas, a Spanish physician whose Joyfull Newes Out of the New Founde Worlde was the first book to be published about the flora of the Americas.
With their square stems and tartly fragrant foliage, monardas can easily be identified as members of the mint family. A plethora of cultivars offer color choices like pink, red, white, or violet for lovely summer…
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