Approaching the end of July, things are still looking green in the arboretum. Thus far, we have had an unexpectedly wet summer. We're around 8 inches in excess of our expected year-to-date precipitation (approximately 40 actual versus 32 expected) and we've had around 7 inches of rain since June 1st. That's enough to keep the frogs happy! New recruits in the arboretum are particularly thankful, one such specimen is pictured below:
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| This is a young paw paw (Asimina triloba). The young tree comes to us from the banks of the Missouri River in Nebraska, where it was collected by Mark Anderson. Mr. Anderson successfully germinated numerous seeds for a project on his Texas property and was kind enough to donate five plants to the arboretum. This past winter, we planted three paw paw saplings in the arboretum. One died, and one of the two survivors is shown in the photo. Since it's so easy for the weeds to overrun such a small individual, the regular application of elbow-grease (regular weed-pulling) is necessary, especially with all of the aforementioned summer rain. And after the weeds are removed, a layer of mulch must be added to the ground around the stem to prevent the dirt from drying out too fast. |
