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Bloom Reports
Bloom Report Fall 2024
<p>As the season comes to an end, we marvel in the unraveling. The trees strip down, revealing their form. The gardeners pull and cut back tired plants from their areas, making way for our seasonal bulb displays. Slowly, the garden heads towards a long sleep. A few brave species dare to flower now, such as […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Nov 14, 20242 min read
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Bloom Report – September 2024
<p>September is both the month of abundance, but also the month that the summer starts to unravel, transitioning into fall. Pink is giving way to gold and purple in the meadows, and fall flowering grasses are sending up their inflorescences. Now, the coppery inflorescences of Sorghastrum nutans greet you as you drive in to Willowwood. […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Sep 7, 20242 min read
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Bloom Report – August, 2024
<p>August is a special month at Willowwood. This is the month that I, your author, joined the team here. It is also spectacularly alive, with the constant drone of cicadas, buzzing of bees and fluttering swallowtail and monarch butterflies just about everywhere. Willowwood is no exception, as large foraging flocks of goldfinch (our state bird!) […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Aug 11, 20242 min read
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Bloom Report July 2024
<p>I’m often asked what’s the best time to visit Willowwood by first-time visitors. “Will anything be blooming next month?” and to them I say of course! There are always flowers (or, as it is in the dead of winter) horticultural intrigue to be found at Willowwood. One should visit weekly in order to even try […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Jul 13, 20242 min read
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Bloom Report June 2024
<p>Our unusually wet spring has continued, leaving Willowwood particularly green, lush, and floriferous as we enter into the summer. Aside from the extra maintenance, there are much worse problems one could have! Currently the Arboretum core is freshly planted with this year’s annuals, featuring colorful and tropical species that are candy for the eyes, including […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Jun 4, 20242 min read
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Bloom Report – May 2024
<p>And just like that, the world is awash in the verdant green of fresh spring growth and colorful flowers. Spring really came out like a lion this year! As this year’s bulb display fades, we come into mid-spring perennials and trees. Willowwood is known for our Wisteria display, and we take great pride in maintaining […]</p>
Gardner Krag
May 20, 20242 min read
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Bloom Report April 2024
<p>How wonderful it is to live in a world with flowers. Right now, I can’t think of anywhere that it is more floriferous than Willowwood. Although it is still early spring, many tougher-than-they-look spring flowering bulbs and perennials are up and at it. Meanwhile, swelling buds and emerging shoots remind us that there’s much more […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Mar 29, 20242 min read
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Bloom Report – 1/15/24
<p>It is the dawn of a new year. Another year of growth, of progress, love, and of course, gardening! There is not one moment in the gardens at Willowwood that is uninteresting; even in the absence of the raucous colors of flowers abuzz with pollinators that grace us in the growing season one can find […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Jan 16, 20242 min read
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Bloom Report – 10/28/22
<p>With Halloween just around the corner this Monday, this weekend kicks off the festivities for families throughout the state. While no festive events are scheduled at the arboretum this weekend, visitors are encouraged to come visit to enjoy the orange leaves, natural spider webs, and enjoy the trails while covered in early morning fog for […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Oct 28, 20222 min read
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Bloom Report – June 21, 2022
<p>“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.” — Maud Hart Lovelace Today marks the official beginning of summer, the Summer Solstice. Now that the warmer weather is here to stay for the next few months, the riot of spring blossoms have faded and […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Jun 27, 20222 min read
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Lilacs
<p>Thanks to the Long Valley Garden Club for the lovely lilac photographs taken at the Willowwood Arboretum.</p>
Gardner Krag
May 23, 20221 min read
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Bloom Report 4.26.22
<p>“I sought the wood in summer When every twig was green; The rudest boughs were tender, And buds were pink between. Light-fingered aspens trembled In fitful sun and shade, And daffodils were golden In every starry glade. The brook sang like a robin- My hand could check him where The lissome maiden willows Shook out […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Apr 26, 20222 min read
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Bloom Report – April 8, 2022
<p>“There comes a day towards the end of March when there is but little wind. The Sun has gained much power, so that it is pleasant to sit out in the garden, or better still, in some sunny nook of sheltered woodland” -Gertrude Jekyll The first warm days of spring are really here since the […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Apr 12, 20222 min read
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Early Fall 9.24.2021
<p>“Then summer came, announced by June,With beauty, miracle and mirth.She hung aloft the rounding moon,She poured her sunshine on the earth”-Leslie Pinckney Hill, excerpt “Summer Magic” Although the main event of spring blooms has passed, the arboretum has lots of blooms for those who are willing to slow down and look. One show-stopper that is […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Sep 24, 20212 min read
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Bloom Report 5.7.2021
<p>“Mother Nature presents neither a wrinkled face nor tottering form, but constantly renews the bloom of her youth, while time fills up the volumes of her history.” -James Lendall Basford. Spring has settled in and Willowwood is now bursting with blooms. The main event- the annual lilac display- is now starting to reach its peak […]</p>
Gardner Krag
May 7, 20211 min read
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Lilacs Bloomin’ 4.25.2021
<p>Welcome to the Willowwood Arboretum. The Lilacs are in bud and some of them like Syringa x hyacinthiflora ‘Annabel’, one of the best pinks, are just beginning to bloom. The next couple of weeks will be wonderful as more Lilacs will open with sweet lilac fragrance perfuming the air. The 2021 Lilac Path Brochure (click […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Apr 24, 20211 min read
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Bloom Report April 8, 2021
<p>“Blossom by blossom the spring begins” -Algernon Charles Swinburne Suddenly it’s SPRING at Willowwood!. This winter was brutal as February was the snowiest on record for this area with over 31 inches of snow. It may have felt like winter was never going to end but the sounds of spring- the chirping birds, the hum […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Apr 8, 20212 min read
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Blooming at Willowwood 10.7.2020
<p>“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables The beauty of the autumn season has begun and visitors may now enjoy the arboreta during standard operating hours, daily from 8AM to dusk. The maples, dogwoods, and katsura are all changing color at the Willowwood […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Oct 7, 20202 min read
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Bloom Report August 4, 2020
<p>WELCOME BACK to the Willowwood Arboretum! Beginning Monday, August 3, Willowwood is open Monday through Friday, 10 am to 3 pm. CLOSED WEEKENDS. Buildings are closed but most gardens and walking trails are open. A porta john is available. This quote by Minnie Aumonier seems apt for this moment in time- “When the world wearies […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Aug 4, 20202 min read
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Bloomin’ 8.29.19
<p>Late summer is a wonderful time of year to enjoy the fullness of the gardens. The perennials throughout the grounds are large and lush. With only six or seven weeks until our first frost, now is a perfect time to enjoy the Rosarie, full of many cold-sensitive plants. Some interesting annuals are the Giant Castor […]</p>
Gardner Krag
Aug 29, 20192 min read
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