The TNLA Demonstration Garden at the Dallas Arboretum

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The Texas Nursery and Landscape Association Demonstration Garden at the Dallas Arboretum is a wonderful teaching environment, exhibiting plants that are WaterWise and  friendly.  When I visited in the spring there was a ground cover I found  quite curious.  New-to-me, cobweb spiderwort, (Tradescantia sillamontana), has a silver/white appearance. Below is a comparison between the newly emerging spring foliage and the later, fall blooming foliage. The cobweb spiderwort is a sun loving watersaving plant used in the landscape similarly to it's cousin, the purple heart (Tradescantia pallidia).    

Spring foliage

Fall foliage and flower

The spiderwort surrounds the base of several plinths signed to highlight various steps to save water. The sweeping design includes purslane 'cupcake carrot,' agaves, and a large desert willow.

The principles of water saving gardening are described along the path. Texas red salvia and Mexican purple salvia attract pollinators and add splashes of spikey color.

Periwinkle lavender fall flowering mistflower adjacent to an upright  purple verbena. The Queen butterfly is reading the sign.

American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)

The garden is alive with asters and wildlife.

Lantana feeds the monarch butterfly.
Milkweed plants feed the monarch butterfly larva. 
This might be a Queen butterfly.
The Queen has white spots on the bottom wings and Monarchs do not.
The orange of the Queen butterfly is more pumpkin pie and the 
Monarch butterfly orange is more true orange.
Painted Lady and the Viceroy butterfly can also be confused with the Monarch and Queen.

The graceful arching Mexican salvia attract pollinators. 

The rain lily (Zephyranthes candida) accentuate a corner  and  bloom in response to a late season rain. 

Queen Victoria Agave

Grassroots Horticulture

2006-2016

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Dallas Arboretum | Spring 2016

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Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) is used to provide beautiful texture, form, and color throughout the garden. Here, a shy tulip hides underneath the foliage. Half a million bulbs are planted each spring.

This year we decided to ride the trolley through the garden and listen to the very interesting and knowledgeable docent tell of the treasures located throughout the Arboretum. He shared the history of the Pecan groves, the very old and historic bois d’ arc tree and its importance in making practical wooden items because of its hard wood, the magnolias, ginkgo trees, teddy hollies, Japanese maples and crape myrtles. The arboretum and botanical garden tests seeds for several companies to see whether the varieties can thrive in the Dallas climate and soils. 

The Arboretum has become part of the Dallas culture from the seasonal displays, elegant designs, educational programs and displays, musical performances, and backdrop to weddings and quinceañera passages. Each room of the garden opens your eyes to the sensual experiences of fragrance, artistic elements of line, form, texture and color, sounds of waterfalls and wildlife and the cool mists in the fern dell with misters created by engineers from NASA to provide the fern life with ambient humidity and temperature. 

Misty Azaleas in the Fern Dell

Japanese Maple and Azaleas in the Fern Dell

This year I took ample time to read and make notes about the demonstration garden for water saving techniques and planting ideas. I have several of the plants already in my yard but I found a curious little ground cover called cobweb spiderwort that I would like to explore more.  

Monsella tulip is canary-yellow, feathered blood-red, while the inside is sulphur-yellow with blood-red flames. 

Snapdragon 'Arrow Yellow, Tulip 'World's Favorite

Tulips in heliotrope shades

Additional varieties of the spring bulbs on display at the Arboretum and Botanical Gardens are Tulip 'Monte Carlo, 'World's Favorite, 'El Nino, 'Madeleine, 'Curly Sue, 'Elegant Lady, and 'Big Smile; Hyacinth 'Blue Star, 'Sky Jacket, and Narcissus 'Carlton. Just a few of the treasures to see this spring.

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