Director's Note

By Mark Weathington, Director

Spring has definitely sprung and the Arboretum is looking fantastic! Everything is popping and the relatively cool nights have kept the display going longer than those years where spring comes and goes in the blink of an eye.

If you didn't make it out to Raulston Blooms! this year, you missed a great event. About 1,000 folks came out to enjoy a fun-filled event with games and activities for the kids, an awesome birdhouse competition, plant sale, education sessions, food trucks and more. And don't even get me started on the coconut and banana pudding flavored cotton candy. It was so much fun, we had 56 new members join. Make sure you mark your calendar for the first weekend in April in 2016.

Our next big event is the annual Gala in the Garden, the Triangle's best garden party on May 3. You should still be able to register (closes Wednesday at midnight) as you receive this E-update. Great food and wine, a little dancing, a chance to check out the new Finley-Nottingham Rose Garden, bid on some fabulous auction items and see the garden at its peak.

In other news, Kew Gardens is sending one of their students, Alex Hoyle, for a work-study with us the first week of May. If you see him, make sure to say hello. The Proceedings of the 5th Global Botanic Gardens Congress International have just been published. The Congress took place in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 2013 and you can check out the JCRA's contribution as well as all the other presentations.

We hope to see you at some of our many programs this spring or just out taking a stroll around the Arboretum, it has never looked better. Have a wonderful spring.

Plant of the Month

Paeonia lactiflora

By Mark Weathington, Director

Peonies have long been valued in gardens for the incredible showy blooms and their incredibly tough constitution. Many an old farmstead can be found by the patches of peonies long after the house has disappeared. The scientific name for peony, Paeonia, is derived from the Greek physician Paeon who was the physician to the gods according to Homer. Much lore surrounds peonies, Theophrastus writing 300 years B.C.E. warns us that it, "… should be dug at night, for if a man does it in the daytime and is observed by a woodpecker, he risks the loss of his eyesight." Pliny the Elder nearly 2,000 years later in the 1600's echoes this warning and adds that peonies, “… prevent the mocking delusions that the Fauns bring on us in our sleep."

There are between 30–40 species of peonies all found in the northern hemisphere across Europe, through much of Asia and across the Pacific on the west coast of North America. Peonies have been cultivated for centuries leading to an array of cultivars. Perhaps most widely used species in breeding herbaceous peonies has been the delightful P. lactiflora which occurs across Siberia, Mongolia, and China.

Paeonia lactiflora, named for the typically milky-white flowers is actually quite variable in the wild ranging from pure white to deep rose. It is a long-lived perennial with red-tinged new shoots which emerge in spring to form low mounds to 30" of jade green foliage topped in late April to early May with semi-double flowers of ragged edged white to pink flowers surrounding a central boss of gold stamens. In very warm springs, the floral display can be somewhat short but still worth a place in the garden. Quite a few named cultivars exist including the double pink ‘Karl Rosenfield’ but the simplicity of the species is hard to beat.

The JCRA is currently growing about 50 selections of peony thanks in large part to the American Peony Society. The colors and forms are simply astounding and the new Itoh hybrids which cross the tree and herbaceous peonies are hard to beat but I still gravitate to the sweet P. lactiflora species. We have been growing this species since the mid 1990's, our form being a soft pink flowered selection. It is a reliable performer despite having been moved a few times and now provides a welcome spring display where Asian Valley meets the Perennial Border path.

This species is exceptionally hardy, easily surviving zone 4 winters but also tolerating warm southern gardens as well. As with all peonies, plant with the crown close to the soil level and if planting as a bareroot, dormant crown, make sure to plant with the growing points facing up. More peonies are lost by planting upside-down than you might believe. They are best in a sunny spot but a bit of afternoon shade can help extend the flower show. Once established, they should be low care and easy, reliable perennials for decades to come.

Gala in the Garden

You are invited to "Stop and Smell the Roses" at our annual Gala in the Garden.

This year's theme features the newly installed rose garden, gourmet cuisine  and a fabulous silent auction. All proceeds from event tickets and the silent auction benefit the JC Raulston Arboretum.  

Sunday, May 3, 2015
3:30 pm–7:00 pm
JC Raulston Arboretum
4415 Beryl Road, Raleigh

Registration is required. Tickets are $100 ($40 is a tax deductible gift). The Gala in the Garden fund-raising efforts operate under the auspices of the North Carolina Agricultural Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization. Proceeds benefit the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Purchase tickets by the end of the day on Wednesday, April 25!

Questions? Please contact Kathy Field at (919) 513-0264 or kathy_field@ncsu.edu.

Pollinator Garden Workshop

Saturday, May 16, 2015
8:30 am–11:30 am

10:30 am–1:30 pm (en español)

North Carolina is home to more than 500 species of native bees. Often overlooked, these beneficial insects are essential to the maintenance of our gardens and the environment. More than 85% of all flowering plants need bees or other pollinators to help them reproduce and bear fruit! This workshop will help participants recognize some of our many native bees, understand their unique relationships with plants, and support them with attractive, bee-friendly gardens. After an overview of garden design and installation, participants will get hands-on experience planting a pollinator garden at the JC Raulston Arboretum. This workshop is appropriate for novice gardeners, but there will be something new for everyone—including plants to take home! A Spanish version of this workshop begins at 10:30 am

For more information, please contact Chris Glenn at (919) 513-7005 or chris_glenn@ncsu.edu. To register, please visit the JCRA's registration e-store (English and Spanish).

Coming Attractions

By Nancy Doubrava, Interpretive Specialist

Magnolia figo var. crassipes 'Purple Queen'
purple-flowered banana shrub

Rosa 'Radtreasure'
Tahitian Treasure™ rose

Asphodeline liburnica
Jacob's rod

Eremurus 'Lemon Meringue'
foxtail lily

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Ice Crystal'
oakleaf hydrangea

Dianthus 'Chris's Passalong'
hybrid sweet William

Crinum bulbispermum
South African river lily

Hydrangea serrata 'Kokonoe yama'
variegated mountain hydrangea

Paeonia 'Bartzella'
Itoh hybrid peony

Cornus kousa 'Lustgarten Weeping'
weeping kousa dogwood

YouTube Channel

By Christopher Todd Glenn, Programs and Education Coordinator

Three new videos were recorded in April. Look for them in our YouTube Channel or click the links below.

Receive announcements about our latest additions by subscribing to our channel.