Six summers ago, a group of University of Maine faculty, students and Master Gardener Volunteers created the Eastern Maine Native Plant Arboretum. We planted 24 species of native trees and shrubs, at least three plants of each species, in an open space next to the Penobscot County Extension office at 307 Maine Ave. in Bangor, creating an outdoor classroom where, over time, visitors could learn which native trees and shrubs perform best in urban landscapes.
I left the university a year later, but I have kept an eye on the plants of the Arboretum, now in their seventh growing season, and I continue to learn from the successes and failures. Of course, a first-time visitor will not be aware of the failures — they have been removed, the lesson learned — but if you take the time to walk among the trees and shrubs that are thriving in the Arboretum, you may leave inspired by the success stories, encouraged to plant native species in your landscape.
Among the trees thriving in the Arboretum are three tree species that provide a succession of white flowers from early May to mid-June, followed by colorful fruits. They are, in order of bloom, serviceberries (Amelanchier sp.), choke cherry (Prunus virginiana) and American mountain ash (Sorbus decora). While birds quickly harvest the serviceberries and cherries in the wild, mountain ash’s broad white clusters of flowers give way to flame-red fruit clusters that ripen to full color in late summer and may persist through winter until the birds finally take them.
The Arboretum also offers visitors a look at cultivars of the two best native birches for urban landscapes, the Heritage river birch (Betula nigra) and the Whitespire gray birch (B. populifolia). While the Heritage birch is well known for its peeling outer bark and salmon-colored inner bark, the Whitespire birch is still waiting to be discovered, at least locally. It has the whitest bark of the species and, while the bark is not as bright-white as that of the paperbark birch (B. paperifera), the tree has a greater tolerance of environmental stresses, including drought and soil compaction, and a greater resistance to birch borers and leaf miners.
Visitors to the Arboretum can see specimens of American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), a native tree with smooth gray bark that becomes fluted with age, earning it the common names of “musclewood” and “ironwood.”
Native shrub species at the Arboretum include northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), popular for its scented foliage and for its chalky gray-green berries used to scent bayberry candles, and winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata), its bright red winter berries now dried to brown, persisting into summer in the absence of wild birds to eat them.
The shrub collection also includes elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), two species of sumac (Rhus) and a native viburnum species (Viburnum lentago) resistant to the viburnum leaf beetle.
For those interested in landscaping with native trees and shrubs, even in the most urban locations, I recommend a visit to the Eastern Maine Native Plant Arboretum at each season of the year. The collection of trees and shrubs planted there six years ago continues to teach us.
The end of an era
Earlier this week I learned that Gail and Michael Zuck, owners of Everlasting Farm in Bangor, will soon be closing their business, retiring from the rigors of retail horticulture after 25 years of growing and selling plants.
It is the end of an era. It is the end of annual pilgrimages to Everlasting Farm to buy plants that could only be found there and to talk with two friends about a shared passion. Michael and Gail always would be there, often at the end of the hose, but never too busy to talk about plants.
I know that many of my readers will join me in thanking Michael and Gail for making Everlasting Farm a part of our lives for so many years.
Monday, June 21, will be the last day that Everlasting Farm’s greenhouses and display gardens will be open to the public.