The May workshop at the Arboretum Open House will continue the theme of environmental awareness. We will have a poster and live demo illustrating how composting as can be used as a way of recycling organic material. Emphasis will be on ways that fungi can increase efficiency of home composting. The exhibit is quite spectacular: oyster mushrooms on a coffee grounds substrate.


The Horseshoe Horticultural Garden is flourishing with abundant growth of the stake and fence garden and of the trees within the Horseshoe. Seven new trees have been added: a wild crab apple tree, a witch hazel tree, a Deododra cedar, and a paw-paw patch. In addition, Riverbanks Zoo generously contributed 3 magnificent specimen plants for the Horsegrove Garden: a dwarf river birch, a Loblolly Bay tree, and a very handsome hydrangea. The Butterfly Garden is in full bloom.

The summer organic vegetable garden has been enlarged and planted with summer delights. We hope to have produce for visitors to taste soon. At the Bloomwood Trailhead beyond the Organic Garden a brand new feature has been created around two very special trees. The two new Chinquapin trees (a native species of miniature chestnut tree) in the Chinquapin Glade are flanked by dogwood trees, redbud trees, and red maple trees. The chinquapin trees are now budding and should soon burst into bloom. The cypress swamp is very impressive with its 50 cypress seedlings growing inches each week, some reaching 15 feet tall. Equally awesome is the remarkable growth of the pine plantation trees, both loblolly pine and long leaf pines, near the Bloomwood gate. The new growth "candles" are elongating and spreading beyond out highest expectations. In addition, the Virginia sweetspire understory of the pine plantation looks like a waterfall on the hillside, and after dark perfumes the air with its appealing scent.

Visitors can see the effects of the major brush clearing, which is now about 90% complete. During early spring about 200 trees from Arboretum tree nurseries were planted in their permanent field sites throughout the Arboretum to restore the 9 ecosystems that will form the floral structure of the Arboretum. The redbud trees have already reached a height of up to 9 feet, and the enormous flush of growth of the oak seedlings is very encouraging. The returning health of the forests is very apparent.

A brand new forest tree nursery is located now just beyond the waterfall and pool. It contains the 200 seedling trees gifted to the Arboretum by the South Carolina Forestry Commission. Further along the trail on the steep hillside leading up to the Wilmot Gate you will find the abundant Carolina Allspice in spectacular bloom. A short distance beyond the Wilmot gate is our new blight-resistant American Chestnut forest in progress. The twelve plot sites have been chosen, rototilled to break up the dense mesh of roots, tested for pH (5.5), and prepared for planting of the 4-foot trees in two weeks.

Perhaps the greatest new addition will be visible only to a careful observer, but it will change the outlook for the entire Arboretum in the future. In late April, Gene Lindler and Pat DeCoursey installed 600 feet of underground high pressure water line with outlet faucets at 200 feet intervals from the Bloomwood Gate to the Spring, down the center of the Loop Trail. It worked to perfection, and will end the dragging of four hundred-foot hoses and water buckets to water our newly planted trees in dry spells. This was a trial run for the remaining 1200 feet of water line that will be installed on May 10 by Joshua Smith with help from his family and friends as his Eagle Scout project on May 10.

The Arboretum staff thanks the many friends of the Arboretum who have contributed so generously with plants, volunteer time, and with contributions to the Endowment Fund.