Jenkins Arboretum, Devon, Pennsylvania, legacy of H. Lawrence and Elisabeth Philippe Jenkins. 

Mt. Cuba Center, Hockessin, Delaware, legacy of the Lammot du Pont Copelands

Winterthur, Delaware, of Henry Francis du Pont (1889-1960).

 

Excerpt from the Navaho Night Chant. Translated by Linda Vallejo.

Happily may I walk.
Happily, with abundant dark clouds, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant showers, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant plants, may I walk.
Happily on a trail of pollen, may I walk.
Happily may I walk.
Being as it used to be long ago, may I walk.

 

 

A greenway through the naturalized gardens at Mt. Cuba Center

 

 

 

Native varieties of deciduous azalea at the Jenkins Arboretum survived this year to very late May

 

 

 

Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) 

 

 

 

Ashe’s magnolia (Magnolia ashei)

 

 

 

Devilwood, Wild Olive (Cartrema americanum)

 

 

 

Seed head of the prairie smoke flower (Geum triflorum).

Many local names in its native north-west US territory including torch flowers and Johnny-smokers.

 

 

 

Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum)

 

 

Drooping leucothoe (Leucothoe fontanesiana)

 

 

 

Flowers of a variety of the winter hawthorne tree (Crataegus viridis. Rosacae)

 

 

Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia)

 

 

Cinnamon fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum)

The green fronds, like a guard of honour, are sterile and die with the frost. The cinnamon-coloured fronds are fertile (spore-bearing) and persist through the winter to bear more spores. The fern has a fossil record of more than 70 million years.

 

 

 

 

Phlox

 

 

 

 

 

Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus). Fragrant leaves

 

 

 

Kentucky Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium kentuckiense); a native orchid. 

Protected everywhere; the plant depends on soil spores, the mechanics of which in the plant’s life cycle, are not fully known.

 

 

 

Carolina rose (Rosa carolina)

 

 

 

Purple and white Florida anise (Illicium floridanum). Fragrant, evergreen foliage

 

 

 

Goat’s-beard (Aruncus dioicus)

 

 

 

May Apple beneath its double leaf and before the fruit has formed.

Poisonous in all parts until the fruit is mature.

 

 

 

Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica)

 

 

 

Small’s beardtongue (Penstemon smallii)

 

 

 

Yellow trillium (Trillium luteum) at the end of its flowering cycle which begins in April

 

 

 

Betty Corning Clematis: a variety of native clematis 

The native clematis cannot compete with the Asian varieties of the plant whose flowers are large and very fabulous.

 

 

 

American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens). 

Someone, never traced, sent seeds to Longwood Gardens.    When Longwood studied the seed, they understood that this was a variant of wisteria dissimilar from the Asian variety.  A number of cultivars have since been developed.

 

 

 

 

Large flower two-wing silver bell (Halesia diptera)

 

 

 

Verdant leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata) 

 

 

 

Alabama snowreath (Neviusia alabamensis) 

A deciduous shrub with no petals; native to the south-eastern US. Endangered.

 

 

 

 

Wild columbine (Acquilegia canadensis) with wild ginger

 

 

 

Wild columbine (Acquilegia canadensis)

 

 

 

 

American fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus). Mid-canopy. Fragrant.