Plant of the Month
Cornus 'KV10-105v1' (Variegated Stellar Pink™)
By Mark Weathington, Assistant Director and Curator of Collections
Rutgers University has produced some outstanding dogwood hybrids between our native flowering dogwood, Cornus florida and the kousa dogwood, C. kousa. Elwin Orton’s 'Stellar Pink' has been a favorite for almost 25 years. Recently, a variegated sport was found in Tennessee and is proving to be a fantastic new selection.
Variegated Stellar Pink's foliage emerges in spring in pink shades becoming broadly white margined around a green center. Large rose-bracted flowers open after the foliage emerges. Fall color is a riot of pinks, maroons, and reds creating one of the brightest displays in the landscape. Winter stems are burgundy.
This dogwood grows in most situations well but will need adequate water if planted in full sun. It is at its best in light shade where the foliage sparkles and helps brighten the spot. It is usually grown as a single stem tree but can also be allowed to branch low to make a full, rounded large shrub.
While this plant is still difficult to find in the trade, the JC Raulston Arboretum will have a few for sale at the our annual spring plant sale, held in conjunction with Raulston Blooms! and the 14th Annual Birdhouse Competition.
Welcome Arlene
By Ted Bilderback, Director
It is a pleasure to welcome Arlene Calhoun as the JC Raulston Arboretum's new volunteer and membership care coordinator. Arlene brings previous experience during her career as an executive manager. She has excellent communication skills, a strong marketing history, and proven leadership skills. Arlene holds a bachelor of arts in journalism with a concentration in advertising from the University of Georgia. The JCRA staff and many volunteers have become acquainted with Arlene as a volunteer. She has worked with our records analyzing rental data as part of Board of Advisor’s ad-hoc rentals committee effort to streamline auditorium and garden rental procedures. Please welcome Arlene when you see her.
New Web Site
By Christopher Todd Glenn, Programs and Education Coordinator (and Webmaster)
After more than a year of planning and coding, we're pleased to announce the launch of our new Web site. The site includes many great features. Some of the highlights include the following:
- Memorable and easily spelled URL – jcra.ncsu.edu
- Responsive design for easy reading on all devices (phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops)
- Created with HTML5 and CSS3, the latest and greatest in Web standards
- Accessible by all audiences
- Automatic, nightly updates for all site databases
- Re-organized, simplified, and easier to use navigation menu featuring dropdown selections
- Each page includes an aside on the right side featuring items of interest to all visitors
- Bolder design
- Bigger photographs
- Easy to use search features in Our Plants (formerly Current Plantings) and Photographs (formerly Photograph Collection and J.C. Raulston's Slide Collection—the two collections have been merged)
- More horticultural information in Our Plants
- Videos now hosted on YouTube (subscribe to our channel so you don't miss the latest additions)
- and no members-only password
Children's Program
By Elizabeth Overcash, Children's Program Coordinator
The daffodils are in bloom, the wintersweet is filling the air with its beautiful fragrance so, what's missing from the garden? You and your children!
There are so many fun events planned for this spring. Mark your calendars and make plans to attend. Girl Scouts will be here at the beginning of the month earning badges. Miss North Carolina, Johna Edmonds, is coming to tea on March 16, and so should you! At the end of the month, Y Guides and Y Princesses will explore the gardens and earn a few of their second year requirements.
If you're already thinking of summer vacation and what your children will do to pass the weeks until school starts again, take a look at our Summer Garden Camps. It's the first year the Arboretum has offered camps, and we have four great camps planned. Rising first through third graders transform into "Nature Detectives" for a week in June. Your middle schooler can learn to become an expert garden photographer under local nature photographer, Susan Bailey's artistic eye in July. Four and five year olds become friends with an assortment of "Garden Critters" during their week. To end the summer, rising third through fifth graders see the garden through a farmer's viewpoint when they grow, tend, and harvest edibles in a "Garden to Table" camp. Registration is open, so secure your child's spot now!
I hope to see you and your families soon!
March Programs
By Christopher Todd Glenn, Programs and Education Coordinator
March roars in like a lion with four exciting programs in the first week alone. First up is David Boufford's lecture on plant collecting in China on Tuesday (new date). The very next day, Mark Weathington discusses Aucuba on his monthly Plantsmen's Tour. Then on Thursday, Richard Olsen discusses the U.S. National Arboretum's recent research trip to China. And, finally, the Triangle Camellia Society hosts its 6th Annual Camellia Show and Plant Sale on Saturday.
Mid month, the Piedmont Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society hosts Kenton Seth who'll be speaking on plant collecting in the Caucasus. Later on the same day, Kenton will present a short lecture on building a crevice garden which he'll follow up with a crevice garden installation demonstration on the roof of the Ruby C. McSwain Education Center.
Brent Heath of Brent and Becky's Bulbs visits us later in the year. He's presenting a lecture on planting bulbs for a tropical look, a tour highlighting some of the bulbs at their peak in the JCRA's collection, followed up with a living arrangements workshop.
The month concludes with a workshop, a demonstration, and a plant sale. Erin Weston of Weston Farms will show us how to create a topiary with southern magnolia branches that will last for years and Douglas Ruhren will demonstrate how to prune shrubs to rejuvenate them. Pi Alpha Xi closes out the month with their annual spring sale.
Tea with Miss North Carolina
By Elizabeth Overcash, Children's Program Coordinator
Sir Walter Snarleigh invites you to tea! Our first ever "Tea and Stories" will be held on March 16 with special guests, Miss North Carolina, Johna Edmonds, and Brie Gluvna Arthur from Camellia Forest Nursery. Join us for tea sipping, savory and sweet treats, hat making, tea talks, and stories. It's sure to be a fun Sunday afternoon for all ages. There are a limited number of tickets available, so register early!
Open Days Tour
Friday–Sunday, May 16–18, 2014
This spring’s Open Days Tour features seven private gardens. These gardens, large and small, are chocked with creative solutions for a variety of landscape challenges. Mark your calendars, invite a friend, and come join us this spring as we tour gardens of Wake Forest, Raleigh, and Cary.
Coming Attractions
By Nancy Doubrava, Interpretive Specialist
Sassafras tzumu
Chinese sassafras
Daphne odora 'Zuiko Nishiki'
winte daphne
Narcissus 'Golden Sunbeam'
trumpet daffodil
Camellia japonica 'Professor Sargent'
Japanese camellia
Hamamelis ×intermedia 'Feuerzauber'
magic fire common witchhazel
Chaenomeles japonica 'Chojuraku'
Japanese flowering quince
Ipheion uniflorum 'Rolf Fiedler'
spring star flower
Magnolia stellata 'Chrysanthemumiflora'
many-petalled star magnolia
Ficaria verna Flore Pleno Group
double-flowered fig buttercup
Muscari aucheri 'Mount Hood'
grape hyacinth
New YouTube Channel
by Chris Glenn, Programs and Education Coordinator
Along with the new Web site, we've started a new YouTube Channel to host our Friends of the Arboretum Lecture, Plantsmen's Tour, North American Rock Garden Society (Piedmont Chapter) lecture, and some miscellaneous videos. Subscribe to our channel so you don't miss the latest additions. Or, visit our new Videos page on our new Web site for the latest additions.
Two new videos were recorded in February and posted to YouTube. Along with the newest videos, we've uploaded many of the videos made in 2013 and all others in 2014.
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