Bellefontaine in Bloom – Conservation Partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden
In late 2016, Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum Horticulture Supervisor, Kyle Cheesborough, began collaborating with colleagues from the Missouri Botanical Garden to devise a conservation action plan between the two entities. The collaboration resulted in a grant from the American Public Gardens Association to conserve the genetic material from populations of bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) and...
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Bellefontaine In Bloom – Lilies
The month of June brings BCA’s diverse collection of lilies into full bloom. True bulbous lilies, Lilium, cemetery lilies, Crinum, and hardy water lilies, Nymphaea, provide visitors myriad colors, textures, and fragrances. In the gardens of Wildwood Valley, twenty varieties and 3,125 total bulbs of true lilies, Lilium, were planted last fall, including Asiatic, Dwarf...
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Bellefontaine in Bloom – Native Fruit-bearing Plants
The climate in Missouri lends itself to growing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, vines, and perennials. Included in the long, diverse list of species that thrive in our four-season environment are a number of fruiting trees and shrubs. Some, such as apples, peaches, plums, etc., require diligent attention to pruning, disease management, fertility, pollination,...
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Bellefontaine in Bloom – Bowman’s root, red-hot poker, and yellow foxglove
The garden in late spring is an exciting place as slowly emerging perennials fill in empty spaces while a myriad of blossoms begin unfurling. The long-awaited true spring show really shines in May and June, with a few standouts in mid-May. One of these May show-stoppers is Bowman’s root, Porteranthus trifoliata (syn. Gillenia trifoliata). A...
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