The camas fields at Bush’s Pasture Park are now in bloom in the lower oak grove. These fields were managed before 1850 by the Kalapuya people who harvested the bulbs. The Camas have remerged after the park changed its maintenance procedures. You can learn more about the park’s camas and wildflowers here. Come and enjoy…
Four arborist from Elwood’s Tree Service spent the day at the park cleaning mistletoe and deadwood out of two of the park’s many oak trees.
The park’s extensive collection of Camellia japonica cultivars are in full bloom. These shrubs were likely planted by the landscape architect team of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver. Edith was quite fond of camellias while Elizabeth had a love of lilacs. The park’s camellia japonicas were likely planted in the 1950’s and 1960’s. You can…
A hardy group of eight souls braved a clear but cold day to tour Bush’s Pasture Parks searching for signs of Spring. Fortunately, there was plenty to see. The winter Helleborus orientalis (Lenten Rose) were in full bloom, along with early bulbs such as Galanthus nivalis (snowdrops), Chionodoxa luciliae, and Crocus thommasinianus (early Crocus). Daphne odora…
Tom Beatty retired as the City’s horticulturist on February 28th. His departure closes an 18-year tenure during which, among other duties, he served as the head gardener of Bush’s Pasture Park. While Tom had a desk at the park’s historic “root house,” he was more often out in the park supervising ground crews, planting spring bulbs…
The City and MSPC are working together to remove a damaged and failing ‘Shogetsu’ flowering cherry tree near the Conservatory. We have already purchased a replacement ‘Shogetsu’ cherry tree that will be planted in nearly the same location. Gardenia.net calls the Shogetsu cherry tree “One of the finest Japanese cherries” and describes it as “a broad-spreading…
The Conservancy has started the much-needed rehabilitation of the park’s historic crabapple collection, which likely dates back to the 1940’s. The collection was first inventoried and mapped in 2003 by crabapple expert Arthur Jacobsen. He determined that the collection included at least 44 individual trees representing 42 different species or cultivars of Malus. Several trees have…
Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) is a cascading deciduous shrub with tiny non-fragrant bright yellow flowers that bloom on bare bright green stems in late winter before its leaves appear in spring. It can be grown as a mounding shrub or trained on a support, though it doesn’t have tendrils for climbing. If left as a…
Last month, we removed a dead Thundercloud flowering plum, likely planted by the landscape architects Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver. This month, we planted its replacement. This was one of many actions MSPC is taking to rehabilitate the park’s flowering tree collection.
The Ravine Enhancement Project is continuing this week with the modest widening of the existing seasonal (seep) stream bed and placement of native erratic boulders at the channel’s edges. The addition of boulders will slow down the water and allow it to infiltrate into the ground and also improve the areas’s appearance. Later, MSPC will…