Acer griesum new foliage, Rhododendron 'Ken Janek', Illicium flower
Happy May!
Before I go into my newsletter, I just want folks to know that today, May 20 is Hudson Valley Gives, a big fundraising day for your favorite nonprofits in the area.
I try to keep our asks at a minimum, but if you can contribute to Hortus, this year we need to enlarge our propagation area. By doing so we will be able to grow more plants to sell to the public, (including our annual plant sale, more on that below), and also increase our holding area for rare and endangered plants which we need to grow out before planting in the arboretum because they are too small to put in the ground.
Us doing inventory for plant sale. I am sitting on a 5-gallon bucket!!
The staff at Hortus is fond of sending me photos of “friends” they find when working…
When I began writing this 3 weeks ago we had just suffered a very hard frost with overnight temperatures in the low 20’s which sadly caused a lot of damage!
The evidence is becoming much clearer on how much injury the plants suffered.
Now, 3 weeks later, we are in a bit of a heatwave.
It should give us a moment to reflect on how our local ecosystems around us respond to these climatic shifts, including how insects and other wildlife react.
A blast of chilly temps!
It should also make us reflect on the environmental conditions of the previous season, in this case, last autumn, and how it affected us this spring.
A dragonfly in the first week of May
Thousands upon thousands of Norway maple seedlings, which are considered invasive. We must have pulled up close to 10,000 seedlings (no joke!). And although this was for a client’s garden, and this tree wasn’t on her property, but on land owned by the city of Kingston, NY, its samaras seemed to whirlygig and descend into her garden!
We also got big flushes of shiitake mushrooms that started much earlier in the season than what has been “normal” for us.
I’m also noticing the patterns of phenology. Are you?
This year, the fringed tulips began blooming way before the Fringe tree even showed signs of leafing out. In the past they were both in flower at the same time. A double Fringe moment. Many of the woody plants have delayed their flowering, including the tree peonies, which often open up during Mother’s Day Weekend.
May 16th, 2026 Black Fringed Tulip & Tree Peony status.
From my last newsletter, I wrote about the Chinese Wisteria:
Of course, wouldn’t you know that after growing Wisteria sinensis for close to 25 years, this is the year that it finally has more than 6 blooms and is actually loaded with flowers! I will be covering it up just cause! Of course, that’s a reason to grow our wonderful native Wisteria macrostachya ‘Aunt Dee’, which, for us, opens later (more like May in our area), with beautiful flowers (albeit smaller) that never get frost-kissed.
Blasted buds from April and mid-May's abundance on Wisteria sinensis.
So I never did get around to covering up the Wisteria’s flower buds!
But the vine ended up having lots of flower buds that made it!
Is it because it is growing on the other side of the gate? Or that the buds were higher up on the vine??
But then yesterday I went and looked and noticed that there were a handful of flowering racemes growing where I thought everything else was blasted.
Heatwave has fully opened the racemes!
P.S.: I will prune this Wisteria vine back hard. After growing it for this long I can honestly tell you that although it is a beast, if properly pruned and maintained it can be contained. People think that once you plant something you are absolved of taking care and doing anything else for it. That is a garden myth, and I am resolved to keep gardeners of all levels reminded of this. Sure there are low-maintenance plants that require lets inputs, but overtime, pruning, rejuvenating the soil and other necessary chores are required for the health and well being of your woody plants.
Hortus Gardens is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
SAVE THE DATES:
June 6th - The Hortus Plant Sale.
Hortus will be offering many plants propagated from the arboretum that are often not available locally.
We will also be joined by 3 other growers, including Hazelmor Nursery, Treadlight Farms, and Vly Ridge Farm. Members will have early access to the online Hortus plant sale list, as well as early entry on the day of the event. Want to have earlier access? Become a member? Membership also allows you free entry to hundreds of participating gardens across the U.S. Sign up here.
June 14th - Levi O’Brien will be back at Hortus to teach 2 classes! Click on the links to learn more and to buy your ticket(s), Tree ID & Woodlore. Bring a lunch and take both classes for a reduced fee.
**If you’re not familiar with him, his account is a school on all things trees!Check him out.
July 4th - The 6th Annual Art in the Gardens - The featured artist this year is Adam Holland. Also on this day we will have a “pop-up” artists as well. Check the website to learn more about this free event.
August 29th - Bonnee Pecquex is back this year and offering 2 classes. Eco-printing on silk & Bundle Dying class. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information and to sign up.
Do you know a visual artist who works with natural material or whose work deals with the natural world? If so, please forward this unique opportunity to stay and have access to the botanical gardens 24/7 for 1 week.
The juror is Negar Zonoobi, the 2026 Spring Art Resident.
Negar at Hortus 5/2026
Below is information about the June 6th plant sale and an interesting article about woody plants and why they are important, for subscribers only.
Hortus Gardens is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Thanks for reading along.
See you in the gardens!
Shiitakes normally fruit for us in late Summer, not generally in April.
Allyson
Members of Substack, you too will have access to the Plant Store earlier than nonmembers. The store will not be open by the time you receive this newsletter, because we are still assessing which plants made it and are ready for new homes.
I’m not sure when the list is going live, but it will be soon. We will be adding plants to the store everyday, so please check back often. If you want to have early access please send me a message!
I found this intriguing blog from the very interesting mail-order nursery called Woodlanders. Although the article is specifically about plants for the Southeast, its relevance is applicable no matter where this newsletter finds you. And of course, we are growing all of those “Southeastern” plants here at Hortus.
