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In the Spotlight

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tolly-beckWritten by Tolly Beck
Tolly Beck is a horticulturist at Lasdon Park and Arboretum in Westchester County. She was formerly a horticulture educator for New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland, NY.

What’s in Bloom 

Updated Weekly

SHRUBS   
Carolina rose  Rosa carolinia

PERENNIALS  
Aster  Symphyotrichum spp. and cvs.
Chrysanthemum spp.
Montauk daisy  Nipponanthemum nipponicum

 

In the Spotlight
Native Shrubs Display Autumn Beauty

Deciduous trees offer a beautiful foliage display each year when their leaves change color in fall. Many native shrubs, too, have foliage that turns color in the autumn. Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) displays bright yellow leaves, while the red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea) displays leaves of deep red. Sweetspire (Itea virginica) exhibits bright red and orange leaves for fall.

Native shrubs don’t just show off their colorful leaves, many shrubs produce colorful berries in autumn. The native winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata) has showy clusters of bright red berries.  Arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) has red leaves and beautiful blue berries. Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) has red foliage and clusters of black berries. Putting on a showy display the american beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) pictured above, has brilliant purple berries at the base of all its’ leaves on long, pendulous branches. 

Autumn is a wonderful time to visit Lasdon. Come walk through the Memorial Garden Shrub Border and see the beautiful fall displays of shrubs you may know, and ones you have yet to discover.