WOOSTER, Ohio ââ¬â Bowed but unbroken by late snow and cold, battered by rain and hail just two days ago, Secrest Arboretumââ¬â¢s 500-plus crabapple trees stand poised to bloom and could hit their peak as soon as this weekend (May 5-6).
ââ¬ÅThings are really going to move along each day,ââ¬Â says Arboretum Curator Ken Cochran about the blossomsââ¬â¢ progress. ââ¬ÅDepending on the weather, the peak should be sometime between Saturday (May 5) and the middle of next week.ââ¬Â
Located on the Wooster campus of Ohio State Universityââ¬â¢s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), 1680 Madison Ave., Secrest Arboretum is home to whatââ¬â¢s called the worldââ¬â¢s greatest crabapple collection, with hundreds of trees in the ââ¬ÅCrablandiaââ¬Â I and II research plots and dozens on display around campus.
Not every crab will look great, Cochran notes. Some got zapped by Ohioââ¬â¢s spring freeze, suffering dead leaves, branches, flower buds or all three but otherwise staying alive and kicking.
Donââ¬â¢t be alarmed by any dieback you see, Cochran says.
Admission to the campus and arboretum is free and open to the public seven days a week, dawn to dusk.
Get details and directions at http://secrest.osu.edu/ or call (330) 263-3761.
On Saturday, May 5, the arboretum will host Plant Discovery Day, an annual event now in its 14th year with sales and auctions of plants and art. Hours are 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Admission is free. Look for most activities in and around Fisher Auditorium on campus.
See and learn more about the arboretumââ¬â¢s crabapples on a free public Ornamental Crabapple Walk, 4-5:30 p.m., Monday, May 7, led by horticulture specialist Jim Chatfield of the OSU Extension Center at Wooster and starting from the arboretum visitor pavilion on Williams Road.
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Editor: For a color image of a Candymint crabapple flower in Secrest Arboretum, contact Kurt Knebusch, (330) 263-3776, knebusch.1@osu.edu, or download it at http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~news/ (scroll to the press release).