Editor: Crabapple bloom photographs and video, including aerials, are available. Please contact Mauricio Espinoza, (330) 202-3550 or espinoza.15@osu.edu, for details.
WOOSTER, Ohio A perfect storm of crabapple flowering will converge this weekend, May 7-8, in Wooster as the worlds greatest collection of crabapple trees reaches full bloom at Secrest Arboretum on the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC).
Cool weather in the past few days has slowed down blooming of our crabapples, said Jim Chatfield, an Ohio State University Extension horticulturist and president of the International Crabapple Society. That, in combination with the warmer weather expected this Mothers Day weekend and the different stages of maturity of our collection, will come together to provide one of the most spectacular crabapple blooms in decades.
The 85-acre Secrest Arboretum, which is part of OARDCs Wooster campus, has the most comprehensive garden collection of crabapples in the world with two research plots, Crablandia I and Crablandia II. Additional trees are planted around the OARDC campus. The collection includes more than 150 types of crabapples, genus Malus, and over 500 trees, Chatfield said.
The plots offer an enticing stroll through the arboretum, Secrest curator Ken Cochran said. OARDC researchers and OSU Extension specialists evaluate these crabapples for their aesthetics, disease resistance and ability to grow in Ohios environmental conditions. Research results from the plots are useful to the crabapple industry valued at $10 million annually in Ohio alone and for people looking for the perfect crabapple tree for their landscape.
The crabapple bloom this year will coincide with Plant Discovery Day, Saturday, May 7 a free annual event that includes plant sales, auctions, specialty plant vendors and a Biolab for Children, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., with seated wagon shuttle rides of the OARDC campus and the arboretum beginning at 10:30 a.m.
Plant Discovery Day activities, which support the arboretums year-round public programs, will be concentrated in and around Fisher Auditorium, 1680 Madison Ave. An outdoor research laboratory, Secrest Arboretum provides Ohioans with scientific knowledge of plants and landscape ideas and supports the states $2.78 billion nursery and landscape industry.
For maps and more information about the Secrest Arboretum crabapples and Plant Discovery Day, go to www.secrest.osu.edu or call (330) 263-3761. The arboretum is open to the public seven days a week, dawn to dusk.
OARDC and OSU Extension are part of Ohio State Universitys College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
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