Some Cherries are Still in Bloom at the Arboretum

This is Prunus serrulata 'Royal Burgundy', just opening at the U.S. National Arboretum's Flowering Tree Collection.  If you are familiar with your basic cherries, think 'Kwanzan' with deep maroon foliage throughout the summer.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this arose as a sport of that common double flowering cherry cultivar.  Late last summer when we took stock of the collection with Curator Barbara Bullock, I noticed that these trees are throwing some green leaved branches, undoubtedly reversions back to the parent cultivar.  Barbara will just have to remove those errant branches to keep the trees true to their name. 

I got a call on Tuesday from one of the tourism bureaus.  Apparently tourists that are in town for the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin and are not happy that the cherries are way past peak, to put it mildly.  Last week's heat, followed by heavy rain and wind over the weekend sped the cherry blossom season to its conclusion.  The woman from the tourist bureau wanted to know if we had any cherry blossoms left that are worthy of admiration by out-of-towners.  Fortunately, we have a very diverse collection, and some of the late ones are just starting.  Cool weather this week will delay them even more. 

I shot this on the way home from work.  I was relieved that frost damage was light Tuesday morning.  Oddly, the plantain growing in the collection was hit hardest.  The crabapples were quite heavily damaged, too, but the late cherries look good.

Field Locoweed from Warren Peak, Wyoming

Of all the plants we collected in 2010 in Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska, Oxytropis campestris seems to be ahead in adapting to the climate in Washington, DC.  One plant actually started blooming last fall, and Chris wrote about it on his 1003 Gardens Blog.  Of course there were no flowers when we collected the seed, and I pegged it as Astragalus agrestis based on the dried up remains of the plant we collected.  When it flowered last fall, I was able to key it out correctly.  The calyces are covered in black hairs that contrast nicely with the creamy yellow flowers.  The foliage is a neat hairy tuft of pinnately compound leaves.

We collected this on the very exposed top of Warren Peak, just north of Sundance, Wyoming.  A lovely spot in northeast Wyoming with very beautiful meadows of a great variety of plants.  We'll have to see how long this persists.  If it does, it may have potential for use in gardens and on green roofs.  We might have to think up a more appetizing common name.  They aren't weeds, and insanity only results from eating it.