This is the week to see flowering crabapple trees in bloom! The best spots at The Morton Arboretum to enjoy an abundant display of their colorful pink, white, and red blooms are in the Crabapple Collection near Parking Lot 4 on the East Side and the Flowering Trees Collection near Parking Lot 19 on the West Side.
In the central areas of the Arboretum near Parking Lot 1, exuberant displays of tulips, daffodils, and other flowers bloom brightly. You can enjoy white blossoms on fragrant honeysuckle and several kinds of sweet-smelling viburnum: fragrant snowball viburnum, Manchurian viburnum, Burkwood’s viburnum, Korean spice viburnum, and wayfaring tree. Witch-alders have white floral displays that are actually clusters of stamens, not petals.
Along the ground, hellebores (Christmas-rose and Lenten-rose) are still blooming, along with blue periwinkle and Virginia bluebells in abundance. Flowering-quince shrubs of various cultivars are flowering in white, pink, and red, while Korean lilacs are blooming in pale lavender and white.
Trees in the area are also adding significant colors: Yellow Bird magnolia is blooming in yellow while Ohio buckeyes have large yellow flower clusters. Swamp white oak and musclewood pollen catkins—their male flowers—are elongating.
On the East Side
Between parking lots 1 and 2 along the main road, look for white flowering-dogwood blooms and dark maroon flowers on pawpaw trees. Near Parking Lot 2 look for the white flowers of pearlbush, white flowers of hawthorns, yellow flowers on Ohio buckeye, dark maroon flowers on pawpaw, lavender blooms on redbud, and a patch of yellow Tahiti daffodils.
On trees nearby, there are catkins to see on ironwood, blue-beech, and swamp white oak. On Frost Hill near Parking Lot 3, Carolina silverbell is blooming white and white-flowering hawthorns are starting to flower. Near parking lots 4 and 5, many kinds of crabapples are in full bloom around Crabapple Lake.
In the Magnolia Collection near Parking Lot 5, yellow-blooming magnolia cultivars are nearly done blooming. Nearby are a number of cultivars of daffodils blooming in yellow, orange, and white: Carlton, Delibes, Flower Parade, Las Vegas, Mount Hood, and Tahiti.
Near Parking Lot 6 in the Buckeye Collection, Ohio buckeyes have yellow flowers while red buckeye has dark red ones. Between parking lots 6 and 7, Carolina silverbell has white flowers. Look for oak catkins elongating in the Oak Collection near parking lots 7 and 8.
Late spring wildflowers are blooming in the East Woods, between parking lots 8 and 16. Along the woodland trails, among trees that are beginning to open light green leaves, look for white and yellow trout-lilies, white rue-anemone and white false rue-anemone, blue Virginia bluebells, white and blue violets, blue woodland phlox, pink wild geranium, yellow celandine-poppy, yellow bellwort, lavender redbud, maroon wakerobin or prairie trillium, and white-flowered chokecherry.
At Parking Lot 14, a sweep of daffodils is still in flower, including the cultivars Jetfire, Pipit, and Quail. Alongside are the blue blooms of Siberian squill. Maples are blooming in the Maple Collection, as well as white-flowering blackhaw shrubs. Near Parking Lot 16, Barrett Browning and Brackenhurst daffodils are in flower, with green-flowered sugar maple trees, white-flowered American bladdernut, and dark maroon pawpaw. Near Parking Lot 17, look for white-flowering pears, pearlbush, and flowering dogwood.
On the West Side
Crabapple trees are in glorious bloom near Parking Lot 19, just beyond where the road crosses through the underpass and over the river. Near Parking Lot 19, yellow and white daffodils bloom among the trees, along with pink redbud. Near the Thornhill Education Center (Parking Lot 21), a number of kinds of sweet-smelling viburnum are in flower in the Fragrance Garden and along Joy Path. Among the other bright sights are daffodils, Siberian squill, magnolias, winter honeysuckle, periwinkle, and Virginia bluebells.
Along the Main Route, there are still daffodils to enjoy at Daffodil Glade (parking lots 22 and 23) along with clumps of violets. The Schulenberg Prairie (Parking Lot 25) is beginning to green up, and the prairie’s bloom season is just getting underway. Lilacs are in full bloom in Godshalk Meadow near Parking Lot 33.
Along the Alternate Route through Sargent’s Glade and around Lake Marmo (parking lots 26 through 29), enjoy the last of the naturalized daffodils in Sargent’s Glade (near Parking Lot 26). Skunk-cabbage blooms and leaves can still be seen along Willoway Brook west of Lake Marmo and south of the dam.
Redbud trees are blooming around the lake, and blue Virginia bluebells are in flower along its north shore as are white-blooming large witch-alders. Catkins are elongating on ancient ironwood trees south of the lake, along with the showy white flowers of flowering dogwood and large trillium.
Spring is moving fast at The Morton Arboretum. Take advantage of warm weather to get out into the Arboretum’s tree collections, gardens, and woodland trails. and drink in all the sights of this glorious season.
