Category: PhotoGallery

A variety of gardening related gifts will be available for purchase at the Plant Sale, i.e., Womanswork Pink Weeder Gloves, Womanswork Plant Snips in green or pink, Gorilla Tubs medium or large, Very Dirty Hands Soap etc. These make wonderful Mother’s Day gifts or gifts for any lucky gardener!

Spring has come full force to the Frelinghuysen Arboretum as beautifully illustrated by these pictures from Steve Kanan.

Selected for their vigor, adaptability and superior cold hardiness, this group of English lavender and hybrid (x intermedia) lavenders always need good drainage. Drought tolerant and deer resistant. Our intermedia hybrids were bred by Lloyd Travern from Peace Tree Farm, a vendor at the Friends’ plant sale for years.

Here’s a preview of these lovelies: Lavandula angustifolia ‘Munstead’, Lavandula angustifolia ‘Royal Velvet’, Lavandula x intermedia ‘Inspirational’, Lavandula x intermedia ‘Phenomenal’ and Lavandula x intermedia ‘Sensational’. Can’t you just catch their scent!

Here’s a preview of some of the rare and unusual beauties that will be available at this year’s Plant Sale: Bletilla Yokohama (Ground Orchid) sports some lovely star shaped lavender flowers; Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘White Surprise’ (White Surprise False Blue Spirea) with lovely white edged leaves and small blue flowers; Fragaria variegata (Variegated Alpine Strawberry), another white edged leaf plant producing crops of sweet flavorful fruit; Gladiolus dalenii ‘Boone’ (Boone Hardy Gladiolus) this is a cold hardy gladiolus with gorgeous apricot colored flowers; Lilium ‘Springville’ (Springville Lily) a natural hybrid of two North American native lilies, the pendent scarlet red flowers are each spotted brown toward the throat. Nepeta racemosa ‘Little Titch’ (Little Titch Catmint) a compact Catmint growing up to 10″ tall with masses of fragrant, tubular lavender flowers; Streptocarpus ‘Spin Art’ (Cape Primrose) makes an excellent houseplant for a low light area, with royal purple flowers streaked with red.

Most of these are tender perennials, so they will look great in containers and/or as house plants: Abutilon savitzii (Variegated Flowering Maple), Alternanthera ficoidea ‘Party Time’ (Joseph’s coat). Farfugium japonicum var. giganteum (Giant Leopard Plant), Pelargonium ‘Mr. Henry Cox’ (Henry Cox Geranium), Rodgersia pinnata ‘Superba’ (Rodger’s Flower) and Alocasia cuprea ‘Red Secret’ (Elephant Ear).

All of these gorgeous plants will be available at this year’s Plant Sale!

Here are some beautiful black & blue hued annuals that you will find at the Friends 2026 Plant Sale. Won’t they look great in your garden?

The 16th Annual Community Garden Conference is a wrap. Keynote speakers Christopher Bolden-Newsome and Owen Taylor presented a wonderful, interesting and informative program, and their Truelove Seeds were available for purchase at the Conference. Thank you to all the presenters and roundtable moderators for another successful Conference. See you next year!

Here are a couple of photos of the keynote speakers and the seed sale table. Thanks to Peter Nitzsche for the Truelove Seeds table photo and to Judy Snow for the photo of the keynote speakers at the table.

Take a visual journey through Marge’s remarkable 40-year career in floral design. This special display showcases a small portion of her stunning arrangements over the decades, highlighting her creativity, artistry, and lasting impact on the world of floral design.

On a recent visit to the Arboretum, Lisa Bencivengo and Heather Emelander captured several lovely examples of winter interest in the garden. The red twigs of a Cornus sericea (Red Stemmed Dogwood – Lisa) and the reddish, early blooming, strappy flowers of Hamamelis vernalis (Red Imp Witch Hazel – Heather) are delightful on a late winter day, as is the exfoliating bark on the Acer griseum (Paperbark Maple – Lisa) at the entrance to the Haggerty Education Center. Subtle, but beautiful nevertheless.

Thanks, Lisa & Heather!

Explore these trees, shrubs, and seasonal highlights in our Garden Drop Video Series on our  YouTube Channel  — your source for year-round garden inspiration. 

The annual Benjamin Blackburn Scholarship Lecture was held on Saturday, February 7 in the Haggerty Education Center at The Frelinghuysen Arboretum.

We want to thank all volunteers who helped make this program enjoyable for everyone in attendance by making sure everything ran smoothly. Thanks also to Marge Hulstrunk, who created the lovely centerpieces on the food and beverage tables.

A recent visit to the Arboretum on a cold, windy day was short, but enjoyable. A striking dark leaved Euphorbia was a surprise as was the pastel-hued ornamental cabbage, both nestled among thin leaves of grass. The arbor was decorated with a series of grapevine globes and a whimsical pair of grapevine “snowmen” greeted me on the way into the Haggerty Education Center.

Even on a chilly, early winter day, there was beauty to be found. Plan a visit soon!

Saturday’s Tree Symposium was a big success, judging by the enthusiastic comments from 70 participants.  Four excellent speakers engaged the audience with the latest information on the impact of trees in our environment, as well as the challenges facing their survival.  Bruce Crawford, MCPC Garden Manager, gave the final talk on special trees at the Arboretum and led a walking tour to point them out.  At the end, he demonstrated best practices for tree planting at the edge of the great lawn in front of the mansion.  We are grateful to Bartlett Tree Experts for sponsoring the event and donating the tree that was planted.  Read more in the upcoming issue of Arboretum Leaves. Judy Snow

Thank you to Marge Hulstrunk and Russell Gatzke for the lovely table arrangements, see photo.

Thanks to Kathy Kirk for the photos of our speakers and to Judy Snow for the photos of Bruce Crawford on the tour and tree planting.

Here are some photos of trees in the Arboretum’s collection that will be talked about during the Symposium.

Heptacodium miconioides, or Seven-Sons-Tree, a member of the honeysuckle family and native to China, has creamy white scented flowers, each with a showy red calyx and a beautiful exfoliating trunk. The specimen at the Arboretum is a NJ State Champion Tree.

Oxydendrum arboreum, or Sourwood, a member of the Heath family and native to the East Coast of the United States, exhibits canoe shaped leaves, pendulous flower racemes and striking red fall color.

Ginkgo biloba, known as Maidenhair Tree, is a large shade tree native to eastern China with fan-shaped leaves that turn a lovely, lemony yellow color in fall. There are Ginkgo fossils dating back over 270 million years!

Thanks to Lisa Bencivengo for all photos, except Margery’s closeup of Ginkgo leaves.

Member Deborah Holz recently visited the Arboretum and shared some of her photographs with us. The calendar may say late October, but Deborah found a lovely pale pink Iris in full bloom, as well as Roses in full bloom in the garden behind the Mansion – don’t they look beautiful with the fall foliage as a backdrop? The Japanese Maples are donning their colorful fall coats and a planter with ornamental cabbage, grasses, chrysanthemums, etc. is a bright spot on the sidewalk going towards the Haggerty Education Center.

Thank you Deborah for these lovely photos.

Frequent contributor Elizabeth Brannin sent these beautiful pictures recently, together with this note:

“I was at the arboretum on Friday. It was magnificent, the flowers were just breathtaking. Autumn was in the air and the colors were just starting to show. The scarecrows are so festive. “

Thanks, Elizabeth for the nice glimpse of Fall at the Arboretum.