Trachelospermum asiaticum 'First Snow' from Cistus Nursery

Killer variegation. The cruised through last winter cheerfully but then last winter wasn't much of a winter.

Seed collecting for genetic diversity, re the Springhouse Run Restoration Project

I, we've, been waiting for the Springhouse Run Restoration Project for a long time. Now it seems like it's going to happen. The stream is to be freed from the masonry enclosed linear canal that it has been since the last time it was reengineered, and reconfigured to meander appropriately. And the invasive trees, draped with invasive vines will be replaced with appropriate wetland plants propagated from local collections. Wow!

To prepare for the collections, we had a training session today taught by Mary Byrne Roger. I remember when Mary worked at the Arboretum. Anyway, she bravely led this session aimed at both complete novices and professional germplasm managers. Hey, that doesn't sound that doable, but it went really well. She reviewed basics and then went into the specific protocols for collection for genetic diversity. I knew the former, not the latter. After most of the day in the classroom we were all pretty excited to go outdoors and apply those principles to an actual location with actual plants.

Collecting for genetic diversity is different from most of the the collecting most of us have done. We normally focus on particularly outstanding plants; often those exhibit notable variation from the norm. This "restoration collection" focuses on random inclusiveness and quantity. I'm intrigued.

Hosta ventricosa....this is a beautiful drift

Only improved likely, by the fall of two large oaks a couple of years back. Now the space gets enough light to maximize growth and flowering but not enough to burn the plants.

Hosta flowers are funny things; individually, or in a raceme, they don't seem like anything to get excited about but in a mass they are sometimes impressive, particularly this species with the dark (relatively) color and the long spikes. They're very nice.

There you have it, Hemerocallis sp.

Wild-collected in Korea in 1984 with many others. It's one of the hundred plus that used to live alongside the boundary fence in the Boxwood Collection. A few years ago we selected 50 or so and planted them in the Asian Collections. We put three each on the rocks along the road near the weeping katsura. They're easy to see; you can drive right up to them! This yellow flowers on this plant, perched atop 3 1/2 foot scapes, are pleasantly fragrant