Green has taken over the landscape of The Morton Arboretum as springtime draws toward summer. There are still blooms to enjoy in the gardens and the woods.
On the East Side, near the Visitor Center (Parking Lot 1), flowers can be seen on shrubs including Japanese kerria, fragrant sumac, blood-twigged dogwood, and black-haw. Blooming perennials include Lemon Drop blue star, snowdrop anemone, and sage, with its blue spikes of bloom. There are also flower clusters on buckeye trees.
Near Parking Lot 2 are more buckeyes, with yellow-green flower clusters, as well as pawpaw trees with large maroon flowers, black-haw, and nannyberry.
Carolina silverbell and pagoda dogwood are in flower near Parking Lot 3, and there are still some crabapple trees blooming near the berm that rises at the south edge of the Arboretum.
Shrubs to see within a short walk from Parking Lot 4 include cotoneasters, deutzia, shrubby cinquefoil, and mountain-ash. Big-leaved magnolia is still blooming near Parking Lot 5.
There are plenty of buckeye trees blooming near Parking Lot 6.
Along the road and trails through the East Woods, between parking lots 8 and 16, there are still some late spring wildflowers, including woodland phlox, wild geranium, great white trillium, May-apples, waterleaf, wild hyacinth, and shooting star. Black-haw shrubs and pawpaw trees are also in bloom. The Arboretum’s largest pawpaw patch is to be found near Parking Lot 16, where you can also see blooming dogwoods and hawthorns.
On the West Side, near Parking Lot 20, wild hyacinth, wild geranium, and woodland phlox are in bloom.
Near the Thornhill Education Center (Parking Lot 21), hawthorns are blooming. There are flowers to enjoy in the Four Seasons Garden and the Fragrance Garden, and, along Joy Path, the buds of peonies are swollen and will soon open.
If you drive the West Side’s Alternate Route past parking lots 26 through 30, it will take you through the Sargent’s Glade and past Lake Marmo, with views along the way of blooming wild geranium, May-apple, great white trillium, flowering dogwood, and waterleaf.
The Main Route takes you through Daffodil Glade (Parking Lot 22) and Pine Hill where there are woodland phlox, wild geranium, May-apple, golden Alexanders, and false Solomon’s seal in flower.
In the Schulenberg Prairie (Parking Lot 25), early prairie flowers in bloom include shooting star, toadflax, and lousewort.
As you pass Parking Lot 31, notice the catkins of birches and nut trees still hanging from branches as their leaves emerge and open.
During the summer, the Arboretum’s gardens and seasonal displays and the Schulenberg Prairie will be the go-to places for blooms. Meanwhile, the tree collections and woodlands will offer cool green shade, birdsong, and places of respite and relaxation all summer long.
