This morning, I headed out to Oak Hill to see how the autumn-crocus (Colchicum) were doing. Pink is such a delicious color in the autumn landscape!
Autumn-crocus with back ponds beyond
Autumn-crocus close-up
Passing through the Reflecting Pool Garden, I interrupted horticulturist Michele C. as she did battle with the white snakeroot (eupatorium) that has invaded this part of the Winterthur Garden. It’s a native plant, but wow, an agressive one! Made me realize it’s time for me to pull it from my home garden before all those flowers turn to seed.
Eupatorium’s demise
Michele pulls eupatorium from the Reflecting Pool Garden
I’ve been wondering about the purple-leaved filbert shrub that provides a rich contrast to the Coral Bell Azaleas that bloom each spring on the hill of the Reflecting Pool Garden, left of the main staircase and below the portico. They’ve been cut back hard – all the way to the ground. Michele is fighting a blight that attacks commercial filberts as well as our ornamental filbert. She’s cut the shrub all the way to the ground to remove as many spores as possible from the area. Now, we’ll wait and see if the filbert recovers and if there is less blight damage next year. Stay tuned. Go filbert!
Filbert cutback in Reflecting Pool Garden
Cut off at the ground, the purple-leaved filbert is coming back to life!
For more information about the blight: http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/factsheets/filbertblight.pdf