Today, we welcomed a new member into the arboretum collection: a laurel cherry (
Prunus caroliniana). This specimen had its beginning in the arboretum. In the fall of 2013, it was found growing along the brick retaining-wall west of Hamilton Hall. At the time, the little laurel cherry was only a very small seedling, so transplanting it to a plastic container was easy. For the past five years it has been living in a series of progressively larger containers, nurtured by the current arboretum curator. Today it was transplanted back into the arboretum.
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| Measuring from the base of the trunk, this laurel cherry is 4 feet, 8 inches tall. |
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| The container is less than a foot in diameter. |
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| The container is less than 9 inches tall. Not much digging is needed. |
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| Not much information is available on the laurel cherry, even from the best sources. Some describe it as preferring upland sites, some postulate lowlands. Some sources say it will tolerate anything from full sun to full shade. In the arboretum, we have recently noticed a cluster of volunteer laurel cherries that are doing quite well in full shade. Consequently, we have selected a shady spot for this specimen. In the summer this area is heavily shaded by a large Nuttall oak (Quercus texana) and a large pumpkin ash (Fraxinus profunda). |
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| The laurel cherry will be growing at the bottom of a slope, on the west side of the stream. |
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| After the location was chosen, it took no time to dig a hole. |
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| This part of the arboretum has rich black dirt. It was so easy to dig in this spot that the digger got carried away and the hole turned out to be too deep. |
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| The new addition to the arboretum fits naturally into the landscape. It perhaps blends in too much, which means that we will need to put stakes or big rocks around it to save it from the mowers this summer. |
