Through the Seasons at the Morton Arboretum: Then and Now (August)
“Notwithstanding heat and drouth, August at the Arboretum is far from devoid of horticultural interest.” - Lowell Kammerer, 1942
Late summer days in the Midwest are predictably hot. The early August day when I visited the Morton Arboretum to investigate late summer blooms was no exception. Even having witnessed the shift in seasons only a few months ago, I somehow felt certain that the landscape must have always looked the way it does now - green, leafy, dense. For as lush and alive as the landscape appeared, it had a certain lack of inertia, like it often does during the dead of winter. Now, in the height of summer, it feels like the nature around us will retain this humid green endlessly.
Somehow, even after three decades of living with my long curly hair, I always think, THIS hot, humid day will be the one where it's safe to wear my hair down without it exploding into a halo of frizz. But I'm always wrong.
Bad hair day notwithstanding, the Arboretum's August show did not disappoint. I've been seeking out the plants my grandfather described as must-see for each month of the year in a 1942 article for the Chicago Flower Show. On this trip, I was fortunate to find many of the wildflower blooms he mentioned.
The Shrubby Althaea or Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) chooses this month to open its large, Hollyhock-like flowers, and through September the collection along Lakeview Drive northeast of Parking Area 3 will enlivened with single, semi-double, and double flowers of many colors. - Lowell Kammerer, 1942
I was limited in how much I could wander during my visit due to both time and stamina, so I wasn’t able to seek out the Hibiscus variety my grandfather specifically mentioned in his outline of August blooms. However, the path around Meadow Lake was generously spotted by Rosemallow flowers - large blooms of white with blood-red centers or pink with red centers, primarily.
The next plant he described was a type of bushy clover. I didn't see the exact species my grandfather wrote about (the Chinese Clover Shrub, Campylotropis macrocarpa), but I did happen upon a close relative (Lespedeza bicolor) on the east side of the Arb along Meadow Lake. And it looked pretty similar to how my grandfather described its close cousin: “burst into rosy-purple bloom...its pea-shaped flowers are freely produced in long-stemmed racemes at the ends of upright branches clothed with clean, three-parted foliage.”
I was compelled to take a video of the shrub clover's movement, the leaves shifting like water ebbing and flowing in the (very welcome) breeze. You can find it posted on the Instagram and Twitter pages for Bulletin of Remarkable Trees!
Over on the west side, I was pleased to find a Dogwood mentioned by my grandfather: the Pagoda (or Alternate Leaf) Dogwood, Cornus alternifolia. The distinctive red stems capped with deep blue berries were exactly as he described: “the dark blue fruit of the Alternate Leaved Dogwood appears on stems equally red.”
As for wildflowers, there was no shortage of impressively tall or brightly colored specimens to enjoy.
My grandfather wrote of this month's wildflowers:
August’s wild flowers are largely sun lovers and in the virgin prairie on the far east side occurs a representative selection. Among them are numerous Asters, two Blazing Stars (Liatris), the broad leaved Prairie Dock, lacinated Rosin Weed, Rattlesnake Master, Dusty Bushclover, various Prairie Sunflowers (Helianthus), and a host of Goldenrods.
Even along the path ringing Meadow Lake right next to the visitor's center, I was able to spot many of these blooms, alongside a few others he hadn't mentioned but I took a particular liking to.
I was able to spot plentiful butterflies all along the lake path, and a few butterfly-adjacent plants were beautifully in bloom throughout the Arboretum:
I particularly liked the gradation visible in the berries on this plant near Thornhill on the arboretum’s West side:
I couldn’t find a tag identifying it and had less luck than I anticipated trying to figure out what it was. While I love plants, I am far (far) from a plant expert. If anyone knows the identity of this bush with green-grey-indigo berries, please let me know in the comments!
I do my best to correctly ID the plants I come across, but I will probably make some mistakes. Please don’t hesitate to correct me in the comments if I misidentify a plant, or if you have any interesting knowledge related to something I've talked about! I love hearing from you all.
Starting in September, Through the Seasons at the Morton Arboretum: Then and Now will be for subscribers only. The Bulletin of Remarkable Trees issues will still go out to everyone, but if you want to come along as I follow my grandfather’s seasonal recommendations on what to look for at the Arb, you can subscribe by clicking here:
I want to end with a link to a newsletter I’ve been enjoying, Fire Escape Bonsai - a fellow tree enthusiast writing about Bonsai in the city. The most recent post really resonated with me as someone who also lives with a mood disorder. I highly recommend giving it a read.
And as always, if you enjoyed this post or the newsletter in general, please consider sharing!