Small Tree Arboretum

Highlights

• 50-60 identified small tree specimens less than 30 feet in mature height
• Under-plantings or ground cover include yellow, mini-Stella Dora daylillies, ‘Pink Panda’ and ‘Red’ Strawberry ground cover

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Established in 2000, the Small Tree Arboretum was partially funded by a grant from the National Tree Trust. This grant provided the majority of the existing trees featured in this section of the Demonstration Garden. The Benton Public Utility District (Benton PUD) also donated five trees that the Boy Scouts helped plant.

Many trees in this garden have interesting and striking features that bear close inspection. For example, the paperbark maple sheds its curly bark year round.

There are lovely aspects of trees to see in every season, even during the winter months. One lovely winter bloomer is witch hazel. There are three witch hazel cultivars here – – the 6 to 10 foot ‘Christmas Cheer’ and the 5 to 6 foot ‘Lombart’s Weeping’, ‘Colombe Wood’ and ‘Diane’. Diane is a red-flowering witch hazel. In Spring, you may see the magnolias bloom. During summer months, you are apt to see Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana with creamy dogwood-like blossoms and three varieties of Stewartia are lovely deciduous trees that have buttercup-shaped, white, yellow-centered blossoms. You’ll enjoy fall color in other parts of the Garden. In the autumn the ginkgo in the Shade Garden turns bright yellow, and the Japanese maples in the Japanese Garden turn red.

All of the trees in this arboretum will reach a mature height of 30 feet or less. They are ideal for smaller landscapes and even those that can be planted under power lines and still flourish. Identification tags on each tree indicate its species; the letter ‘E’ identifies evergreen trees.

Trees that may introduce diseases or insects to local commercial agriculture have been avoided. These include apple, cherry or other fruit bearing trees as well as hawthorn.

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