Chicago Botanic Garden

PHOTO: Malus 'Donald Wyman' in springEnjoy Your Visit —
WALK THE GARDEN

It's Crab Apple Blossom Time!

It's no wonder that our pace, and our pulse, quicken during the month of May, when the landscape we viewed on Monday has changed by Tuesday. To witness these daily miracles requires exquisite planning, as well as a bit of fortune telling. Flowers open not by the calendar, but according to their own genetic coding, current temperatures, available moisture, and light cues. Because our spring season this year proved to be cooler than usual, some flowering plants will open later and hopefully last longer — good news for gardeners waiting for one of the signature spring moments at the Chicago Botanic Garden — the magnificent flower show put on by the scores of crab apple trees blooming around the Great Basin.

A beautiful spring walk designed to capture the crab apples, and other magical vistas and views, begins at the Overlook, next to the English Walled Garden. From this point, the entire central lake is visible, with Evening Island, the Arch and the Serpentine, the two bridges that connect the Main Island to Evening Island, forming a necklace lined with flowering crab apple trees.

Leaving the Overlook and walking toward the Arch leads visitors directly through masses of complementary flowering perennials, bulbs, ornamental grasses, and ground covers, laid out in a tapestry of color and texture to bloom in sequence with the crab apple trees above them. Early spring colors of these companion plants focus on yellows, purples, blues, and chartreuse, all intended to enhance the powerful pinks, reds, and whites of the five different varieties of flowering crab apples: 'Calocarpa', 'Prairifire', 'Donald Wyman', 'Profusion', and the Japanese flowering crab apple. These varieties have been chosen for their sequential bloom time, the long lasting flower shows, the ornamental quality of the buds, flowers, fruit, and foliage, and their resistance to pests and diseases.

PHOTO: Malus 'Prairifire' in springThe early combinations of blue forget-me-nots, chartreuse lady's mantle and marsh spurge, with dark purple grape hyacinths, drifts of daffodils and tulips, catmints, and coral bells capture just one moment in an ever-changing palette of spring color. The tiered arrangement of Japanese flowering crab apples to the left and 'Calocarpa' to the right allows a closer view of each tree as it moves from colorful leaf emergence to fragrant flower bud, mature flower, and finally to fruit. Note how the dark pink buds of 'Calocarpa' develop into white flowers; the Japanese flowering crab's red buds open pale pink, but pass to all white. 'Donald Wyman' changes its pink buds to white; 'Profusion' starts red but ends up violet with red flashes; and 'Prairifire' sports dark pink buds that blossom into deep fuchsia.

Birds, bees, and butterflies love these blossoms, and the tasty fruit that follows is enjoyed by hungry birds and wildlife. There are considerable differences in fruit as well as flowers. 'Calocarpa' produces glossy red fruit, while the Japanese flowering crab features yellow fruit with a rosy blush. 'Prairifire' retains its small dark fruit through winter, and only in late February or March do ravenous birds and squirrels pick it off. As the walk continues on Evening Island, a new complement of plants border the crab apples. They will bloom later in the season, after the trees have fully leafed out and are full of fruit. Low-growing dark pink roses, bluebeards, seas of ornamental grasses, and Golden Shower coreopsis will create a painter's masterpiece of color and texture, whether viewed up close or from across the lake. From all points, the reflected images of flowering trees are intensified in the water. When the petals drop and the wind picks up, it truly seems to rain with flowers.

PHOTO: MalusCrossing the Serpentine affords another perfect time to look back at the ring of nonstop blooming beauty. As the bridge reconnects with the Main Island, a shadier environment is revealed, with ligularia, hostas and ferns, Jacob's ladder, and Solomon's seal growing low, while the crab apples claim the sunnier high spots. The walk around the Great Basin has as many special moments of discovery as there are plants and flowers. The picture-perfect moments of today will not be the same as tomorrow's. Come back soon.