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Most of us have heard of Catnip, and cat lovers might even gift their beloved pets with a bit of this intoxicating treat now and then, but not many of us actually grow this plant in our gardens. I suspect the reason for that is that most gardeners don’t want every cat in the neighborhood prowling through their gardens and rolling around through their plants. Nonetheless, you will occasionally find Nepeta cataria, Catnip, in seed catalogs and nurseries. It is classified as an herb, as it falls within the mint family, and its leaves can be used to flavor things like soups, stews, and pasta. Some cats find the scent of the leaves stimulating, while for others it seems to act as a sedative. Far more common in gardens, however, is the related plant known as Catmint, Nepeta faassenii. Catmint shares many of the same characteristics as Catnip, even down to the scented leaves, but it doesn’t draw nearly as much feline attention. In particular, the cultivar known as ‘Walker’s Low,’ named the 2007 Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association, has become a mainstay of modern gardens. What makes Walker’s Low Catmint drive gardeners wild?
mingbirds to the garden. Right: Catmint flowers. Both photos: D. J. Stang, CC BY- SA 4.0 
For starters, it is tremendously easy to grow. It tolerates hot, sunny, and dry locations, though it will also do well in partial shade with average moisture. It has an extended bloom time, often starting to produce its lavender purple flowers in early spring and continuing through fall. Cutting back spent blossoms periodically will maximize the floral show, but Catmint will continue blooming even if left unattended. Pollinators that include bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, love the nectar-filled flowers. Even in periods before or between blooming, the silvery-gray foliage is attractive, and provides a nice contrast to the true green color found in most other garden plants. It also pairs nicely with plants that have purple or yellow foliage.
Walker’s Low Catmint grows to a height of about 18-24 inches high, and a width of 2-3 feet. Though it is not native, it behaves well in our gardens, spreading quickly but not aggressively and not reseeding nearly as profusely as its relative Catnip. Because it is adaptable to different types of garden conditions, Catmint can be grown in a variety of settings, from a standard perennial garden to a rock garden or a pollinator garden. It could also be used in an herb garden. While the leaves can be used in teas, Catmint is more of an aromatic, sensory herb than a culinary herb. This plant also looks great when several plants are grown together in mass groups, so it can be used along walkways, near entrances, under mailboxes, signs, or structures. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705.
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I’m sure I’ve already outed myself as a plant geek at this point, but let’s just go ahead and cement my geekdom by talking about plant names for a minute. Sometimes I think that the coolest part of being a botanist or plant breeder is that if you discover or create a new plant, you get to name it whatever you want. Sometimes they name it after themselves, or a fellow botanist who may have been a mentor or inspiration (see the many plants with the species name wilsonii after Ernest Henry Wilson). Other times they name it after a loved one such as a spouse or family member. Countless flower cultivars of various species have women’s names in them, and I imagine each of them as a botanist husband’s attempt to apologize to his wife for spending long hours at work by naming something beautiful in her honor. Still other times, the names simply describe the appearance of the plant itself or describe something it does. For instance, butterfly bush is a bush that attracts butterflies, while button bush is a bush that has flowers shaped like buttons, and so forth. How about a plant that incorporates a person’s name and also describes exactly what it looks like? Look no further than the plant commonly known as Red Hot Poker, and known botanically as either Kniphofia uvaria or Kniphofia praecox. The name Red Hot Poker comes from the appearance of the flower, which looks quite a bit like a torch on a long stem. Dozens of individual tubular flowers cluster in a floral shape known as a raceme, and collectively resemble a flame with a mix of red, orange, and yellow components. These flowers emerge in late spring and early summer, on a stalk that may reach 2-4 feet in height. One can easily imagine using the stalk as a handle while poking someone or something with the red-hot flame at the tip. Presumably, that is exactly what 18th century German botanist Johann Hieronymus Kniphof (or whomever named the genus Kniphofia in his honor) had in mind.
Name aside, this is a relatively easy garden plant to grow, one that thrives in the often difficult hot, dry, sunny garden locations that cause many a weaker plant to shrivel and wilt during the peak of summer. Sandy soils are fine, but poorly drained soils that retain too much moisture are not ideal, particularly during the colder months. Kniphofia will generally grow to a width of about 2-3 feet, and though it doesn’t like to disturbed from its original planting place, it will produce many offshoots that can be severed and relocated or shared with gardening friends.
The flowers are a favorite of bees, hummingbirds, and even a few songbird species. Cutting back spent blooms will encourage a late summer/early fall rebloom. Many cultivars exist with variations on the traditional flower color, including ‘Lemon Popsicle’, ‘Peachy Cheeks’, ‘Orange Blaze’ and many others. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. In the plant world, our favorites often evolve and change over time. This can be due to new plants that are introduced into the nursery trade that have showier characteristics or better pest resistance than the old favorite they are replacing. It can be due to property size and available space in the average landscape decreasing over time, changing how we choose to allot our space to plants. It may simply happen due to our own changing tastes. Gardeners may use terms like ‘old-fashioned’ to describe plants that were once very popular and are now relatively rare, while those that have stood the test of time without decreasing in popularity might instead be called ‘classics.’ Bee balm probably falls somewhere in the middle of these two somewhat arbitrary designations. It’s certainly not quite as popular as it once was in the average home landscape, due in part to its aggressive spreading habit (it is a member of the mint family, after all) and in part due to the relatively common occurrence of powdery mildew on many varieties. That said, bee balm is still quite common in public gardens and larger landscapes, due to its reliable summer color display. In fact, with the increased popularity of pollinator gardens, butterfly gardens, native gardens, and edible landscaping, it is quite easy to find ways to make bee balm fit into a variety of landscape situations.
The most common form of bee balm is Monarda didyma, a herbaceous perennial that grows 2-4 feet tall and at least that wide. Flowers can range from dark red to light pink or lavender, the shape of which somewhat resembles a spider, having a central round flower head surrounded by slender colorful bracts pointing outward like legs. Flowers can last from early July into September. While this species is prone to powdery mildew as I mentioned, many varieties such as ‘Jacob Cline’ and ‘Petite Delight’ have strong resistance to this problem. Periodic thinning out of large plantings will increase air flow, which also helps limit powdery mildew.
Bee balm is a great fit for pollinator plantings because it has a long bloom period and attracts a variety of important pollinating species. These include honey bees, bumble bees, a number of lesser-known native bee species, ruby-throated hummingbirds, swallowtail butterflies, and sphinx moths. The flowers are edible, and have been used to flavor teas, jellies, soups, stews, and in salads. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardener Infoline at 252-902-1705. During a recent Arbor Day event, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein announced that the 2025 NC Tree of the Year is the White Oak, Quercus alba. White Oak is a great choice for a number of reasons. Its native to NC, fairly easy to grow, free of any significant insect or disease pests, and likely to play a big role in the reforestation efforts in western NC following last year’s Hurricane Helene devastation. What about locally? White Oak is also happy in our Eastern North Carolina soils and climate, and makes a fantastic shade tree. At a mature height of about 80 feet tall and 50 to 60 feet wide, it is not a tree that is easy to fit in every backyard, but it is often used in parks and public spaces to provide shade for visitors. One of many species of oak found in NC, Quercus alba is notable for a few reasons. It has finger-like lobes that lack the sharp bristle at the tip of many other species. Leaf color is a pale green that is not quite as dark or glossy as other oak species. Compare their leaves to a red-oak type such as Quercus falcata or Quercus palustris, and you’ll probably come to the conclusion that White Oak has a softer, gentler appearance.
In the fall, these green leaves turn a burgundy red or coppery orange color, providing excellent fall color throughout several weeks in autumn. And then, something unusual happens, and this is the part of the column where you learn some fun new horticultural terms to impress your friends at parties. Instead of falling to the ground, a large portion of the leaves stay attached to the tree, turning brown and persisting throughout much of the winter. Why does this happen, you may wonder? Deciduous trees typically form a cluster of cells at the spot where a leaf’s petiole (a short stalk-like structure at the base of a leaf) attaches to a branch. Botanists refer to this as the abscission layer. As this area swells in autumn, it eventually reaches a literal breaking point where the petiole snaps off the branch and the leaf falls to the ground. Certain species of oak, beech, and ironwood often don’t fully develop this abscission layer, and thus dead leaves remain on the tree during the winter. Retention of dead leaves during the winter is referred to as marcescence. These marcescent leaves will gradually fall off one by one over the winter months due to rain, wind, snow, and other elements, and any that remain in the following spring are pushed off by the emerging new foliage.
Beyond this bit of botanical curiosity, oaks are an important food source for a number of wildlife species. We may not want to attract all of these to our home landscape, but deer, squirrels, and many other small mammals feed on acorns, and a number of songbirds, butterflies, and moths also feed on foliage and other plant parts. Acorns are even edible to humans, once the tannins are leached or boiled out. I will always recall fondly a long conversation I had early in my career with a local naturalist in Halifax County, who had determined after much experimentation that White Oak was the best species to make acorn coffee from. I decided to simply take his word for it, rather than experiment myself. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Imagine you are walking barefoot, peacefully through the grass in your backyard. Your feet lightly tread on the soft green turf and the grass blades are tickling you softly between the toes. All of a sudden, you step on something sharp and hard, and your once-delicate stroll ends with you screaming out in pain. You’ve just stepped on a burweed. Or maybe you call them spurweed. Either way, you’ve stepped on a cool season annual broadleaf weed that produces a hard-coated spiny seed, and boy does it hurt. Now for the bad news. Once burweed has matured to the point of producing seeds, it’s very difficult to control. As a cool-season annual, burweed has been growing in your lawn since sometime last fall, but you haven’t noticed it until now. The good news is that the plants will die as the weather warms up, but those prickly seeds will stay in the lawn for a good while. Herbicides containing 2,4-D might kill the plants a little quicker, but they won’t get rid of the seeds. If the plants are contained in a relatively small area in the yard, you may be able to remove a good amount of the seeds by doing a thorough hard-raking of that area.
Above left: A burweed clump, about the size of the palm of a hand. It looks innocuous, but its effect is anything but. Photo: H. Rose, CC BY 2.0 Above right: Burs. The burs blend in well with the ground, causing untold misery to anyone walking barefoot and unaware of what lurks in the lawn. Photo: M. Lavin, CC-BY-SA 2.0 The best control against burweed is preventative – using pre-emergent controls that stop the weed before it comes up. Many of the same pre-emergent herbicides commonly used in the spring time to control summer annual weeds such as crabgrass can be used in the fall for weeds like burweed. Remember this in the fall to stop next year’s plants. 2,4-D can also be used during warm periods in late winter and early spring before the spines form. Lawns with centipede grass should avoid 2,4-D other than at very low doses, as it can cause harm to centipede, and instead use products containing certain formulas of the chemical carfentrazone, such as Quicksilver and Speedzone.
At the risk of being confusing, there is a similar weed that comes out during summer called sandspur. This weed also forms a hard, spiny seed that will make you shout naughty words if you step on it. he difference in terms of control is partly recognizing the time of year the weed is actively growing, but also knowing that sandbur is a grassy weed, whereas burweed is a broadleaf weed. That means the chemical options are different. For grassy weeds, post-emergent control is very difficult because nearly any product that will kill the weed will also harm or kill the turf it is growing in. Pre-emergent controls are generally the best option for grassy weeds like sandbur, and unfortunately, it’s now a bit too late for that this year. Heavy infestations of burweed or sandspurs in lawns are usually indications of poor grass stands and low-quality soils. While herbicides may help temporarily, you’ll need to take some other measures to strengthen the lawn for better long-term control. Visit www.turffiles.ncsu.edu to view a maintenance calendar specific to the type of grass you are growing, or visit the extension office and ask for a publication called Carolina Lawns. Either option will give you lots of helpful information about how to care for your lawn so that you are less likely to deal with problems like burweed and sandspurs. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. The scientific names of plants can be tricky for many of us to pronounce. Often it’s because the names are long and twist our tongues in ways that feel unfamiliar, but sometimes even the relatively simple ones can trip us up. Let’s face it, not many people go around speaking Latin, so when we’re forced to try, we don’t always know on which syllable to put the emphasis. Take clematis, for example, which is a bit of a tomato/tomatoh situation. Many pronounce it CLEM-a-tis, while others say cle-MAH-tis. Who is correct, you might ask? Who cares, I say. My advice is always to just say the plant name as confidently and comfortably as you can, and everyone around you will assume you’ve said it correctly. However, you can also visit the NC State Plant Toolbox at https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu. Among other features, the Toolbox includes an audio pronunciation guide for each plant in the database. Regardless of how you pronounce it, Clematis is a group of perennials in the Buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family that mostly serve as climbing vines or groundcovers, and frequently generate spectacular blooms. There are nearly 400 unique species within the genus of Clematis, each with slightly different characteristics, but many of the most common types found in gardens are the hybrid Clematis, Clematis x hybrida or Clematis x jackmanii.
 Above: Clematis viorna is a shade-loving species with a beautiful pink bell-shaped flower that hangs from the tips of stems in summer.
Both The jackmanii hybrids derive from a cross of two old English clematis varieties, generated by horticulturist George Jackman in the 1850s. Plants resulting from this cross are deciduous, twining vines that bloom on both old and new wood. Light pruning in late winter or early spring will reinvigorate the vines and keep them healthy and flourishing. They can spread up to 10-15 feet, though this is somewhat dependent on the structure they are climbing on. Flowers are large, 4-6 petal star-shaped blossoms in deeper shades of pink, purple and red. Additional clematis hybrids, derived from crosses of various origins, populate the nursery trade. Most share the characteristic of blooming on old and new wood and have large showy blossoms, though the color palette expands to include white, light pink, lavender, and other colors. Most hybrids prefer full or part sun, but like to have cool roots, and thus should be mulched or surrounded by other plants at their base. There are a few non-hybrid clematis of note, for good or for bad. Clematis armandii is an evergreen variety that grows to 15 feet or more, with smaller white fragrant flowers in the late winter and early spring. This type blooms on old wood only, and thus should be pruned soon after flowering finishes. Clematis viorna is a shade-loving species with a beautiful pink bell-shaped flower that hangs from the tips of stems in summer. Since it blooms on new growth and dies back in the winter, it should be pruned heavily in spring. Finally, Clematis terniflora, known as sweet autumn clematis, is a pretty but weedy vine that is adorned by hundreds of white flowers in the fall. Most states in the southeast and mid-Atlantic list C. terniflora as invasive, though it has long been a common pass-along plant due to its prolific nature. It should not be planted, as there are numerous more well-behaved alternatives to choose from. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. I love native plants. I love them for many reasons, all of which you’ve no doubt heard before if you yourself are a native plant lover, are in any garden groups with other native plant lovers, or if you’ve spent any time reading gardening columns like mine. Native plants are well adapted to our local climates, they have close relationships with other native insect and animal species, they are an important part of our national botanical heritage, and much more. But I am not a native plant absolutist, and I’m not sure I fully understand those who are. If you’re a native plant absolutist, you plant (or aspire to plant) only native species in your gardens and landscapes. If you are a native plant absolutist, you wouldn’t plant a Japanese maple in your garden. Japanese maples are, and have always been, one of my favorite trees. I don’t have space in this column to discuss all the multitude of different forms and varieties of Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) that one can find in the nursery and landscape trade. There are thousands. By and large they are valued for both their shape and their beautiful delicate leaves. The genus Acer means sharp in Latin and palmatum refers to the shape of a hand. While this might describe many species of maple, the lobes of many Japanese maples are particularly distinct and ‘finger-like,’ though there may be anywhere between 5 and 9 individual lobes.
 Above: The Sango Kaku tree is a green-leaved cultivar. Japanese maples are, and have always been, one of my favorite trees. I don’t have space in this column to discuss all the multitude of different forms and varieties of Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) that one can find in the nursery and landscape trade. There are thousands. By and large they are valued for both their shape and their beautiful delicate leaves. The genus Acer means sharp in Latin and palmatum refers to the shape of a hand. While this might describe many species of maple, the lobes of many Japanese maples are particularly distinct and ‘finger-like,’ though there may be anywhere between 5 and 9 individual lobes.
Japanese maples are prized for both their foliage and their form. Leaves are often thin and delicate, and in the case of the dissectum group (plants with lacelike, deeply cut leaves), they are intricately fine. Trees may be upright with single trunks, multi-trunked, or weeping. They tend to be slow growing, which often means they are expensive relative to other trees of similar size. For example, a five-foot tall Japanese maple is probably twice as old as a five-foot tall tree of another genus and species. Leaves may be green, red, or variegated, and often change throughout the seasons, particularly in fall. All of that said, there’s almost certainly something to like among the species, regardless of your personal preferences for color and form. Some classic varieties include ‘Bloodgood,’ a large upright shrub that grows up to 20’ tall and wide, with burgundy-red leaves throughout the summer; ‘Orangeola,’ a cultivar we have here at the Pitt County Arboretum whose leaves change color from green to reddish-purple to orange from spring through fall; and ‘Sango Kaku,’ a green-leaved cultivar that is attractive but somewhat plain during the summer, but ascends in fall with a gorgeous pale-yellow fall foliage color and especially shines during winter, when its orange and red twigs nearly glow throughout winter after the leaves have fallen. Though we all have our aesthetic preferences and make our own decisions about what works and doesn’t for our landscapes, it just seems silly to me not to find room for well-behaved non-native plants such as Japanese maples. One can still love, respect, and support native plants while occasionally incorporating those that aren’t. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Ever wonder what exactly triggers a plant to bloom? Most of us probably understand it to be some combination of environmental factors such as heat and sunlight, along with the maturity of the plant. In fact, that is essentially what makes most plants flower. While many plants respond to a combination of heat and light, some plants are controlled much more strongly by one factor or the other. For example, plants like poinsettia, chrysanthemum, and Easter lily are so beholden to day length that one can make those plants bloom almost any time of year in a controlled environment by manipulating how many hours of continual sunlight vs. continual darkness they are exposed to. In college, I worked for a professor who made me do just this to trick fall-blooming chrysanthemums into blooming in May. Other plants are controlled more by temperature, including cherries (both ornamental and fruit producing types), whose bloom time in the spring you can predict fairly accurately by measuring what are known as ‘chilling hours.’ This term refers to the number of hours a plant is exposed to temperatures above 32 degrees but below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, i.e., cold but not freezing temperatures. Once a plant has accumulated its desired number of chill hours in winter, it begins to initiate flowering.
The three most popular ornamental cherry varieties in our area have long been ‘Okame,’ ‘Yoshino,’ and ‘Kwanzan.’ ‘Okame’ is the first to bloom because it requires the fewest chilling hours, roughly 300-400 hours, and thus accumulates what it needs the fastest. ‘Yoshino’ needs about 500-600 hours to bloom, and Kwanzan needs between 700-1000 hours. Here at the Pitt County Arboretum, our ‘Okame’ cherries bloomed about 3 weeks ago, while our ‘Yoshino’ cherries have just started their bloom within the last few days. Our one ‘Kwanzan’ cherry is still a way away from blooming. While this concept helps predict when a tree will bloom, it also helps decide what trees might be appropriate or not appropriate for a given climate. Most fruit-bearing cherries need more chilling hours than our climate reliably provides, and thus they don’t typically perform well for us. While the three ornamental varieties do have some insect and disease pests and can be short-lived, they are generally better suited to our climate.
Left: The Kwanzan cherry is one of the showiest cherry trees when it blooms in spring. Photo: Myrabella, CC BY-SA 3.0 Right: Leaves and blooms on the Kwanzan cherry tree. Photo: D.J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0 If growing any of these varieties, plant them in full sun to part-shade locations with well-drained soil. ‘Okame’ and ‘Yoshino’ have white to very light pink single flowers, while ‘Kwanzan’ has double pink flowers. ‘Okame’ has slightly more of a spreading branch structure and will grow 15 to 30’ high and roughly equally wide, while both ‘Yoshino’ and ‘Kwanzan’ will grow 30-40’ tall with a spread of 20 to 30’. None of the three do much of note other than flower, but each is tremendously beautiful during the 10-14 days of its spring bloom each year.
Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. The Order of the Longleaf Pine is one of the highest honors a citizen of North Carolina can receive, and the highest honor one can receive directly from the governor. This award is granted to distinguished North Carolinians who have a proven record of exemplary service to the state or have accomplished a special achievement worthy of recognition. Famous North Carolinians, from Michael Jordan to Maya Angelou, have received this award, and I’ve been lucky enough to witness many colleagues receive this award at the culmination of their careers as civil servants. Why the Longleaf Pine? Well, the Pine tree is the state tree of North Carolina, and while no single species of pine is singled out, the Longleaf Pine is one of eight species native to the state, and is specifically referenced in the official state toast of North Carolina. The toast begins “Here’s to the land of the Longleaf Pine,” and one of the benefits of induction into the Order of the Longleaf Pine is that recipients are considered cultural ambassadors of the state and can recite the state toast at any time they may deem appropriate.  Planting a young Longleaf Pine tree in the Children's Garden of the Pitt County Arboretum. The tree was donated by the Susanna Coutanch Evans Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) of Greenville. Photo: Vicki K., Extension Master Gardener, Pitt County Arboretum. The Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) is an evergreen tree species, notable for its exceptionally long needle-length, as much as 6-12” long. This about twice as long as the typical needle of a Loblolly Pine, and about four times as long as Virginia Pine, so among pines native to North Carolina, it clearly stands out. In addition to its long needles, it also produces the largest cones of any pine species native to eastern North America, but when it comes to names, large-cone pine just doesn’t have the same ring to it as Longleaf Pine. Longleaf Pine can be difficult to transport, as it develops a long taproot fairly rapidly. Young plants are known for their “grassy” stage, staying fairly short for the first five years of growth, until the stem thickens sufficiently and begins to grow more upright over time. Ultimately, trees will reach 60 feet tall or greater, with a spread of about 30 feet. The large needles are often used as mulch, though the needles and cones can be messy when they drop. When planted individually in landscapes, the trees produce a sort of filtered shade, but when planted in mass or in close proximity to other trees, create more of a dense shade. As with most pines, they are heavy pollen producers and can cause agitation for allergy sufferers, but they are also valuable trees for supporting a number of native bird and wildlife species.
Here at the Pitt County Arboretum, we celebrated North Carolina’s Arbor Day with a ceremonial tree planting, and as you may have guessed, we planted a longleaf pine as part of that ceremony. Although National Arbor Day falls on the last Friday of April, North Carolina’s state observance of Arbor Day is typically held on the first Friday after March 15, which this year fell on March 21. We would like to thank our partner organization for this event, the Pitt County chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, for their donation of the tree.
Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. For many plant lovers, certainly the more obsessive among us, our plants are like our children. We care for them, watch them grow, wish for the best outcomes as they age, and hope they eventually reach a level of maturity where we can sit back and appreciate what they’ve become without requiring our daily guidance and intervention. Unlike with our children, however, it’s socially acceptable to have favorite plants. One of our favorites here at the Pitt County Arboretum is just about to do what it does best, bloom triumphantly and kick off spring! This favorite of ours is the ‘Butterflies’ magnolia, a deciduous, flowering tree with tulip-shaped, creamy-yellow blossoms. Why is this a favorite rather than any of the other multitudes of spring blooming magnolias? Well, they’re all great in their own ways, of course. Magnolia grandiflora, the Southern magnolia, is an iconic stately tree of the South, and gorgeous in bloom. However, its tremendous size (60-80’ tall) makes it difficult to fit into most modern landscapes. Some compact cultivars, such as ‘Little Gem,’ ‘Teddy Bear,’ and ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty,’ are more appropriately sized, but arguably none is as magnificent as a full-sized Southern magnolia. Magnolia stellata, the star magnolia, and Magnolia x soulangeana, the saucer magnolia, are both early bloomers that can be absolutely immaculate in full bloom. However, the tender flowers are extremely cold-sensitive, and are often damaged by cold temperatures, greatly diminishing their ornamental value. 
Top photo in middle: 'Butterflies' magnolia trees in bloom. Blossoms come out in mid-March and last for about 10-14 days. Photo: A. Stidham, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Above-left photo: Leaf arrangement. M. Hansen, CC-BY-SA 2.0 Above-right photo: Close-up of a 'Butterflies' magnolia flower. Photo: M. Hansen, CC-BY-SA 2.0 ‘Butterflies’ is a bit more cold-tolerant than the saucer and star magnolias. Thus, when ’butterflies’ blooms, the flowers are less likely to be damaged by ill-timed frosts. It’s also a more manageable size in the landscape than the Southern magnolia. The shape of the flowers is most similar to saucer magnolia, but the individual blooms are larger and slightly more open, creating a stunning visual impact. Flowers are lightly lemon-scented.
Here in the Arboretum, our specimen typically begins to bloom in mid-March, a week to ten days after Magnolia stellata. Bloom lasts about 10-14 days and is truly worth seeing. It appears on track to be in flower just in time for our first Northside Plant Walk of 2025, scheduled for today at 12 noon. Often ‘Butterflies’ will grow to a height of 15-20’ tall with a slightly lesser spread. Because our specimen is planted in close proximity to some other trees, it is slightly more shrub-like, wider than it is tall, but the flowering remains prolific. ‘Butterflies’ is a hybrid cross of parent plants Magnolia denudata ‘Sawada’s Cream’ and Magnolia acuminata ‘Fertile Myrtle.’ In addition to the flower shape and color, it inherits from its parents a large leaf with a distinctive shape. Each leaf is 6 inches long, and 3-6 inches wide, narrow at its base and widest close to the tip, with wavy margins. Though not as tall as a typical shade tree, the large leaves and density of the foliage can create a fair amount of shade. The leaves are not as thick and glossy as Southern magnolia leaves, so they decompose a bit quicker after falling and aren’t quite as messy. They also have a fairly attractive fall color, a pale-yellow, which is not a trait one normally associates with magnolias. All in all, ‘Butterflies’ does a lot to stand out and earn its distinction as one of our favorites. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. |
Matt Stevens
Pitt County Extension Director & Horticulture Agent Archives
June 2025
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