2021 quick trips

After our quick trip to northwest Georgia to see our friends, we spent a couple of days at home before taking off to see our friend Susie in Raleigh. She and I were roommates before I met Barney, so the three of us have been long-time friends. We’ve visited her so many times that I thought maybe we had seen everything in the Raleigh area, but no, she had 3 new places for us to visit—places I might not have gone to on my own.

As we walked up to the entrance, we were greeted by this beautiful plant.

We’ll be going to the Asian Valley, the Xeric and Scree Gardens, the Japanese Garden that was closed for the day, the Great Lawn, the Lath House, the Color Trials, the Rose Garden, the Conifer Garden, the Yurt, the White Garden, and the Rooftop Terrace on top of the Education Center.

Susie is ready to see the arboretum again.

Underneath the Rooftop Terrace is this covered area with a small waterfall.

Asian Valley (according to the sign)

This area covers forests of eastern North America and much of temperate Asia. Asian forests often have broadleaf evergreen trees, such as oaks and laurels. Areas with monsoonal climates (monsoons) usually have subtropical plants such as gingers, bamboos, and elephant ears growing with conifers, evergreen shrubs, and deciduous trees.

Asian plants have grown in the west for centuries, with new species continually being introduced by plant collectors and breeders. Seems like I wasn’t attracted by any of these plants since I don’t have any pictures, so let’s go to the next garden.

Xeric Garden (according to the sign)

Dry or xeric habitats are found all over the world. In the Americas, they occur from the sandhills and shale barrens of the Carolinas and Virginia to southwestern U.S., Mexico, and South America. These habitats cross the oceans to Mediterranean Europe and North Africa, the Middle East into the dry mountains of the Caucasus, and down to South Africa and Australia.

These plants thrive in southeastern U.S. if they’re grown in a well drained soil on raised berms because of our rainfall and high humidity.

Plant adaptations to xeric conditions may include silver or blue colors to reflect light, thick waxy covering, or early leaves to reduce water loss, high water capacity in succulent leaves and stems, and different photosynthetic pathways with high water use.

These leaf characteristics help us to distinguish these sun-loving plants.

This cactus reminds me of an artichoke with all its leaves or a cabbage.

other spikey leaves with a lacey plant behind it

Scree Garden (according to the sign)

This garden around the Educational Center mimics the conditions of a scree slope like those in the following picture that provide excellent draining and full sun. Scree is loose gravel formed as water freezes in stone crevices. It slowly breaks large rocks apart, and the gravel accumulates at the base of mountain slopes.

Plants in this habitat must be able to withstand hot, dry conditions during the summer and subfreezing winter temperatures. Their deep root systems and small size will help plants survive in these conditions.

Plants growing in these conditions are sun ferns, aloes, agaves, and dwarf bulbs.

monocarpic agaves (according to the sign)

New word for you too? These plants only flower once before the mother plant dies, leaving behind young offsets or pups. This flowering usually takes 10-15 years to happen in a garden and up to 100 years in the wild. During the flowering process, a tall asparagus-like stalk grows vertically from the center of the plant. When it’s mature, the stalk may branch and produce many short tubular flowers.

Agaves are often called woody lilies. They form a rosette of thick fleshy leaves that end in a sharp spine. These low maintenance plants perform best in well-drained soils and full sun.

This green lace-leaf plant is actually a Japanese maple.

This Japanese maple native to China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. No wonder it doesn’t look like ours.

Along the walkway was this lovely hydrangea plant.

bee hotel (according to the sign)

Along the walkway was this interesting structure that’s the Arboretum’s bee hotel.

Of the 21,000 species of bees worldwide, only 10% are honeybees and other social bees. So if the others don’t make honey, what is their purpose?

The other 90% of bees live solitary lives in their nests in the ground or cavities in trees and stems, like the bee hotel. These solitary bees don’t have pollen baskets on their bodies so they drop more pollen as they fly around, making their extraordinary pollinators and a boon to garden environments. Some of these solitary bees and wasps may have stingers, but they are nonaggressive and their poison is very weak, so their sting rarely causes an allergic reaction to humans.

Great Lawn

This area is the largest open grassy area in the Arboretum.

a flowering plant (for the bees) up close

These flowering plants are close to the bee hotel.

the Lath House (according to the sign)

This plant-friendly building is for plants that have a hard time growing in North Carolina’s winters. Plants that are considered special and rare are first planted here for extra protection as they acclimate. In the summer the intensity of sunlight is reduced, resulting in lowered temperatures and higher humidity. During the winter, the structure helps retain radiant heat. Using raised planting beds provides plants with excellent drainage and aeration.

Some plants stay here permanently, but others will only start here before being moved to other areas of the Arboretum.

Next to the Lath House was this mature but short tree.

As we walked along the sidewalk around the field, we saw this “tree” that looked familiar.

especially when we saw this dogwood flower

It’s a weeping Kousa dogwood that’s native to Japan and Korea. No wonder it looked familiar but different.

When we were walking to the large, open field, we had seen this sign about a wedding in the Japanese Garden explaining why we couldn’t walk around in this area.

But we did see the beautiful bride around the flowering plants.

Here are some more flowering plants . . .

I was never a science person so could never remember these terms when referring to trees and plants. Now I have it written down.

Conifer Garden

One of the walkways took us through the conifer garden.

This statue has been on loan to the Arboretum for a while. Such a lovely lady in a lovely garden in the Monocot Garden.

Close to this area was the planting areas for new plants.

Looks like this flowering plant is about ready to be replanted elsewhere.

a yurt and its history (according to the sign)

a yurt like what we’ve seen in state parks

This yurt serves as the indoor/outdoor educational space for the children’s programs at the Arboretum. It’s a place for them to learn about nature, experiment with science, get creative, and enjoy the garden.

Loved this history of the word Yurt. It comes from a Russian word that describes a circular trellis-walled framed tent. Its roof is supported by a conical or domed frame consisting of a number of ribs radiating form a central wooden wheel to the top of the think wall trellis.

The yurt is traditionally covered with felt made from sheep fleece. The Mongolian “Ger,” from which yurts originated, have been home for centuries to the nomads of central Asia. The oldest complete yurt was discovered in the 13th century in the Khentei Mountains of Mongolia. Its structure indicated that the building technology goes back to the 4th century BC. Pretty amazing.

the White Garden (according to the sign)

When we walked into this garden, Susie said it reminded her of the White Garden at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in England.

Sure enough, this garden space was inspired by the famous White Garden she had visited. It has both white-flowered plants and plants with gray, white, or silver foliage set against a dark background of hollies and conifers.

The central green lawn is surrounded by low stone walls is a lovely contrast to the bright flowers and foliate. This garden was the original entryway into the Arboretum.

Bet this gazebo is the location for weddings during the year.

Rooftop Garden (according to the sign)

As we walked onto this rooftop garden, we saw this sign telling us that such gardens insulate buildings, reduce urban heat load, and improve water quality by absorbing and cleansing runoff.

This rooftop garden on top of the Education Center was specially designed and constructed to support vegetation. Layers of growing media (materials for growing greenhouse crops), draining elements, and protective roof membranes are hidden beneath the surface.

Rooftop conditions are typically severe: hot, dry, exposed to wind, and precipitation. Plants chosen for this location can tolerate these extreme conditions as well as moderate them for the good of the environment and for those who use the space.