Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Some Trees in Bloom at the Dawes Arboretum

The Dawes Arboretum had some beautiful Flowering Buckeye trees throughout the grounds. I loved the clusters of tubular flowers.

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Aesculus pavia Koehenii Flowering Buckeye

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Aesculus splendens pavia Red Buckeye

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The Red Buckeye is a beautiful shade tree which has clusters of tubular red flowers as early as the second or third year. Only reaching 10-20 feet tall at maturity, the Red Buckeye attracts swarms of hummingbirds migrating in the Spring. The nut of the Red Florida Buckeye grows in clusters of three, is toxic and ignored by most animals. Red Buckeyes do require adequate moisture and thrive with moderate shade in the hotter parts of the day. Good in zones 5-9.

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The Honey Bees liked the blooms very much.

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Robinia Casque Rouge Pink Cascading Locust tree.

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Even from a distance the blooms on this Cascading Pink Flowering Locust tree just wowed us.
The large, pendulous, purplish-pink flowers of this vigorous small tree are profusely borne in early summer. Good to Zone 4.

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Flowering Tamarick or Salt Cedar tree.

Saltcedar is one of several common names for an invasive non-native tree that is spreading rapidly through the intermountain region of the western United States, through the Great Basin, California and Texas.
Mature tamarisk can also resprout vegetatively after fire, flood, or treatment with herbicides and can adapt to wide variations in soil condition. Because it can grow in such extreme conditions it is a very invasive tree.

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Okay, maybe not a tree. This little Critter  was standing along the Storybook Trail Garden. I am not certain every child would be thrilled by it. LOL!

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 Happy Gardening,
Lona

7 comments:

Shirley said...

Thank goodness knowledge about the salt cedar (tamarisk) is more readily available! A local greenhouse used to sell this plant just a few years ago until it was brought to its attention that this tree is so invasive that it is choking out desirable vegetation across America.

Love the flowers of the locust!

Alison said...

Love the Cousin It tree! The others are quite beautiful too (well, except for the invasive one).

Gatsbys Gardens said...

Lona,

The trees are beautiful especially the Buckeye. That critter at the end is downright scary!

Eileen

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

First a pink Buckeye and then a pink Locust...wow!!! I love the pink in that Locust tree bloom, what a beauty! I brought two tiny (6 inch) Red Buckeyes with me from Virginia, they both are alive and growing!

Becca's Dirt said...

I love the grass character. Beautiful blooms.

Sue Catmint said...

thanks for featuring trees - so interesting and I have so much to learn about them. The last photo of the Critter is wonderful and quite sinister and scary and so imaginative - I would love something like that in my garden. Better than a scarecrow!

sweetbay said...

Every storybook gardens needs a monster, right? (complete with garden gloves)

The pink locust and pink buckeye are beautiful.