University of Maryland Arboretum and Botanical Garden

One of the beautiful, unusual US natives that I feared was lost in the Knight Hall Pollinator Garden due to more aggressive (invasive, if in another country) native plants crowding them out was found blooming on Wednesday to my delight. It is White Rosinweed (Silphium albiflorum, the shortest Silphium that we have grown by far). Usually, Rosinweeds or Silphiums have yellow, daisy type flowers that produce nice size seeds that are a favorite of goldfinches and other birds.

Goldfinches have been steady visitors to the Knight Hall Pollinator Garden, frequenting the Simpson Rosinweeds (Silphium simpsonii) that can bloom from around April 25 through frost. Very few US native plants growing this far north have such a long bloom time as the Simpson Rosinweed.

'Summer Glow' Crinum (Crinum x 'Summer Glow') stood out today with its beautiful scape of flowers. It is part of a small Crinum Lily collection in Mowatt Circle.

Crinums are different than most lilies in that many of Crinums can tolerate standing water and thrive in wet sites. Crinum americanum, native to the southern states, is only found in standing water. Wet soils are generally the death of most plants with Lily in the name. Many Crinums can tolerate medium moisture soils in a garden. The drier the site, the smaller the plants will be.

Some Crinums can have fragrant flowers. Not all Crinum species and hybrids are cold hardy here; however, some of them are perfectly cold hardy here.

Here is our source: https://jenksfarmer.com/product/crinum-summer-glow/

photos and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

The University of Maryland Golf Course Tallgrass Prairie was full of buzzing sounds from the wings of Bumblebees and other pollinators this morning. Today was during the peak bloom time of American Senna (Senna hebecarpa) and Prairie Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata). Both are Maryland natives according to the Maryland Biodiversity Project.

While a Maryland entomologist has said that Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum) is the best native Maryland plant that they were aware of at attracting pollinators; today, both of these plants were far better at attracting pollinators than the Cup Plant, which was also in full bloom today in the Tallgrass Prairie.

American Senna and Prairie Partridge Pea, both thrive in wet meadows and can survive short periods of standing water. They do not stand a chance of growing in dry sites. The American Senna is a semi-woody perennial plant while the Prairie Partridge Pea is a herbaceous annual plant. Both plants are legumes, related to peas and beans and have similar pods containing the hard seeds.

videos, photos and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

Check out who and what was hidden in the Willowleaf Sunflowers (Helianthus salicifolius) in the Knight Hall Pollinator Garden. There were three different species of fauna hidden within just inches of each other. First up was Spittle Bug eggs covered with goo that resembles spit. Second was a a male praying mantis that still had his head, so obviously still a virgin or very lucky. Third was an unknown tiny spider web that looked like a small cotton ball, Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of the spider web.

This is the true Willowleaf Sunflower (Helianthus salicifolius) grown from seed collected in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, northwest of Emporia, Kansas. It is one of the last plants to bloom in the fall. It is best used on extremely well drained and dry sites with very poor soils that do not hold nutrients well. If it is planted in a rich, mosit soil, it will be 10-12 feet tall at the end of summer and then flop over, laying on the ground, just before it starts blooming. We tried pinching in late May or early June; however, that ruins the beauty of this plant.

Note that a Dwarf Willowleaf Sunflower does not exist yet. Someone will gladly sell you a plant labeled as a Dwarf Willowleaf Sunflower (Helianthus salicifolius) with a cultivar name such as 'Low Down'. However, it is not. 'Low Down' is a cultivar of the Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius). 'Low Down' is a fabulous cultivar of Swamp Sunflower that I highly recommend. However, I highly recommend you use the real name, not the incorrect name that someone from Australia slapped on the plant when they filed for a patent, They were granted a patent with the incorrect plant name. This same thing happened for a number of different similar dwarf cultivars of Swamp Sunflower.

The Swamp Sunflower has very short leaves, less than 1 inch long that are dark green and form an rounded 'M' in profile, not a 'V'. The leaves are not even remotely like those in the these photos of the true Willowleaf Sunflower (Helianthus salicifolius). The true Willowleaf Sunflower has a whitish bloom covering the stems.

This link shows Helianthus angustifolius 'Low Down', rather than Helianthus Salicifolius 'Low Down' as Gardenia incorrectly states. https://www.gardenia.net/plant/helianthus-salicifolius-low-down

photos and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

Friday, August 7, we will be offering 5 tours throughout the day of our Tawes Hall Fig and Persimmon collection, located southwest of Tawes Hall. We would like to invite the faculty, staff, students and the general public to attend. Participation will be limited to groups of 20. The earlier in the day that you sign up, the better your chance will be at tasting different ripe figs.

shared by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

First Annual Fig Festival Tours 'Mega Celeste' Fig is one of 23 different fig cultivars that the University of Maryland is trialing in its Tawes Hall Fig and Persimmon Collection.First…

'Dam B' American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens 'Dam B') blooms in up to 5 waves per year; however, none of these waves have as many flowers as the initial first wave of blossoms in late spring. This native wisteria initiates its first wave of blooms immediately after the foliage has emerged. 'Dam B' has wonderfully fragrant flowers, unlike 'Amethyst Falls' American Wisteria.

'Dam B' has proven to be cold hardy to -14 F in central New York state.

photos and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

The University of Maryland Golf Course has created a wonderful wildlife habitat area called a tall grass prairie. It is located immediately behind the Club House. In addition, many other wildlife habitat areas are located on the golf course. This one acre area of native plants was established in 2018 and inspired by native tall grass prairie ecosystems. It replaced a typical golf course rough area of a Scottish Links mix of non-native grasses with no native wildflowers in it. The Golf Course has increased the quality and diversity of this pollinator prairie every year by sowing additional native seed the first week of December.

This tall grass prairie is designed to have the tall grasses be the dominant plant type. While there are many native species of grasses in this tall grass prairie including native cool season grasses, the dominant grasses are the Four Horsemen of the Plains, Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indian Grass and Switch Grass. In parts of the eastern US with high rainfall, a fifth horseman, Eastern Gama Grass could be added. The Four Horsemen of the Plains were usually the dominant tall grasses in much of the eastern half of the United States where there was adequate rainfall and trees did not shade them out. They grew in places like Long Island, New York and the Suther Prairie in the piedmont area of North Carolina.

The Four Horsemen of the Plains are very different than most grasses, especially the cool season grasses that are used in most lawns. These four grasses can continue to photosynthesize on extremely hot summer afternoons when trees can no longer conduct photosynthesis in the outer layer of the trees because of the high temperatures. These four grasses can have roots that reach 15 feet deep in the soil. Very few plants, including trees, have roots that extend this deep into the soil. There is far more bio-mass in the below ground root part of these plants than what you see above the ground. These roots are constantly growing very rapidly and then turning around and dying very rapidly. When the roots die, they leave their carbon sequestered very deep in the soil. This unusual feature allows them to sequester more carbon per acre than what trees do. They are much better at preventing soil erosion than what trees are. The little tubes left in the soil by the dead roots allow needed water and oxygen to penetrated even tight, clay soils. Prairies with these plants have less runoff per acre than what forests do. However, they are extremely flammable when dry and must be carefully sited so that accidental fires will not cause damage. In some areas of the US, they can get dry enough in the late summer that they can burn in late July and August.

Today, Eastern Beebalm (Monarda fistulosa) was the pollinator king of the tall grass prairie with butterflies, moths, carpenter bees, bumble bees and other insects visiting them in large numbers. Check out the videos in this album which show the large amount of insect activity.

We are very proud of the University of Maryland Golf Course for using its rough areas to provide wildlife habitat as many golf courses do not do this!

photos and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist