A Royal Welcome

Speaking of monarch butterflies, Monarch Watch, an educational outreach program, recently designated Matthaei-Nichols as monarch waystations. 

We're all monarch mavens here, and welcome hundreds of these regal butterflies to our properties each summer. Look for the waystation signs---and the monarchs!

Milkweed: Not Just for Monarchs

Yesterday, Judy Dluzen, one of Matthaei-Nichols' horticulturists, pointed out an interesting bunch of tiny caterpillars on one of the milkweeds between the greenhouses. We knew they weren't monarchs, and after a little research discovered them to be early instar milkweed tussock caterpillars. Toxins found in the milkweed called cardenolides provide the caterpillars a chemical defense against predators such as bats, birds, lizards, and other insects. Doesn't this late-instar tussock caterpillar pictured here looks a bit like the monarch caterpillar?

Here's a link to an article on the milkweed tussock moth. Look for them on your milkweed!

---Steve Parrish, Matthaei-Nichols

Sensational Nature

Pollinator Week is coming up (June 18-24). To help you celebrate and learn about the many pollinating bees, flies, birds, and other creatures so critical to our ecosystem, check out our Sensational Nature children's programming this summer at Matthaei.

June 20: Butterflies and Dragons---go on a scavenger hunt for hummingbirds, dragonflies, and other signs of summer. Includes crafts, games, and guided hikes.

June 22: Bugs Are Beautiful---Take a hike to look for pollinators and build a model flower and fantasy pollinator to celebrate our winged friends.


Register today!

Name that Peony

As part of a multi-year, multi-faceted project, Matthaei-Nichols staff and a special panel of experts work to identify peonies from the Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden

Thursday, June 7, University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens - On this warm late-spring day, buckets of cut-peony bouquets in hues of pink, white, and red dazzled Greenhouse 3. A rosy peony aroma hung in the air.

Harvested in bud stage days earlier and kept cool until they could be forced to open, the cut peonies evoked a powerful memory of the now mostly faded peony garden itself.

Left to right: Peony Council member Scott Parker, Matthaei-Nichols staff member
Carmen Leskoviansky, and Council  member Reiner Jakubowski. The Council arrived at
Matthaei Botanical Gardens last week to help identify hundreds of peony stems that had been cut days earlier.

The flowers awaited the collective wisdom of the Peony Advisory Council, a group of local, regional, and international peony experts, growers, horticulturists, business owners, and historians. The Council reconvened this June to continue its work on helping Matthaei-Nichols staff conduct the Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden Initiative, a multi-year renovation project.

Staff and the Council are aiming for a positive identification of all the plants in the peony garden. No easy task, since peony names, forms, colors, and other attributes have in some cases shifted over the years.

While many of the peonies in the garden are believed to be correctly identified, there are some plants of questionable identity and approximately forty mystery plants. Verifying the identities of these plants will provide Matthaei-Nichols and the Council with a complete and correct catalog of the collection. In turn, the project will transform the garden into an internationally recognized reference collection that will serve as a conservation model for other historic cultivar collections and a destination for peony lovers.

To make the ID possible, exhaustive records are consulted. Council member Reiner Jakubowski in particular has amassed thousands of carefully organized records over decades into an enormous database created from historic peony manuals, catalogs, growers’ descriptions, and more.

In Greenhouse 3, already grown too warm by mid-morning, Matthaei-Nichols staff removed tagged stems of peonies, some with names. Carmen Leskoviansky, a staff horticulturist who leads the Peony Garden Initiative, read from descriptions based on Jakubowski’s work.

The council members examined each flower, comparing it against the description. Notes were taken; intense discussion ensued. Then the stem of flowers moved down the line where a photo volunteer clicked several pictures of the peony, including identifying features such as petals, stamens, and the name tag itself.

With the Council’s help recently, several unknown cultivars have been identified, including the rare ‘Silvia Saunders.’ Along the way, Arb and Garden’s staff have learned a great deal about peony culture and disease.

Stay tuned as work on the largest collection of heirloom peonies in North America continues. For more information, visit the peony section on our website.

A Dozen for the Matthaei-Nichols Bonsai Collection

The already outstanding Matthaei-Nichols bonsai collection just got better.

A recent purchase of twelve trees from local bonsai teacher, demonstrator, lecturer, and bonsai guru Jack Wikle brings our collection to well over 50. Wikle, who has been active in the bonsai community for decades, also has long-standing ties to Matthaei-Nichols as a volunteer, bonsai adviser, and member of the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society.

Of particular interest in the new acquisitions are an American hornbeam group (Carpinus caroliniana) and a larch (Larix laricina) group. Both species are native trees.

The hornbeam, which dates to 1964, was Wikle’s second bonsai tree, says staff member Carmen Leskoviansky, who oversees the Matthaei-Nichols bonsai collection. “Hornbeam is special because it’s native, not traditional bonsai material, and more difficult to work with,” she says.

The larch forest resembles a miniature woods and sits atop a slab, a bonsai vessel that’s even shallower than the usual bonsai pot. While the Matthaei-Nichols bonsai collection has three other larch specimens, this is the first larch forest. As a woods in miniature the larch forest is convincing enough that it’s easy to imagine yourself in the midst of a Michigan tamarack bog. Such realism is what makes this acquisition particularly exciting, says Leskoviansky. 

The twelve news trees come from a collection many years in the making. Wikle, who turned 80 last winter, offered the collection for sale to several area organizations and individuals, including Hidden Lake Gardens in Tipton, Mich. Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Matthaei-Nichols. As bittersweet as saying goodbye to his bonsai must have been, Wikle says that he and his wife now see these trees, which were a big part of their lives, “bringing pleasure and inspiration to others in the years to come after we are gone.”

Many of the new additions and those from our permanent collection will be on display in the new bonsai and penjing garden currently under construction at Matthaei Botanical Gardens.

A list of the twelve new trees:

Carpinus caroliniana Group (American hornbeam)

Carpinus caroliniana Single Trunk (American hornbeam)

Thuja occidentalis (white cedar)

Larix laricina Forest (American larch)

Hypericum kalmianum (Kalm St. John’swort)

Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)

Acer buergerianum (trident maple)

Carpinus koreana (Korean hornbeam)

Prunus subhirtella var. autumnalis (fall flowering Higan cherry)

Cotoneaster multiflorus (many-flowered cotoneaster)

Chaenomeles speciosa var. (flowering quince)

Tilia cordata (littleleaf linden)

Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden Tours

The Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden is the largest collection of antique and heirloom peonies in North America. At peak bloom visitors are treated to more than 10,000 blossoms in shades of pink, red, and white. It's a must-see event, so don't miss this year's peony garden blooming season. 

Really - don't miss it, because thanks to a warm March and even more warm weather recently, the garden is early and we've moved the bloom dates up considerably.  If one can ever be certain about nature or the weather we're now pretty sure that the peony garden will bloom between May 15 and the end of May or very early June.

Beyond a visit to to enjoy the blooms, if you'd like to dig a little deeper into the peony garden's storied history be sure to attend one or more in a series of free, staff-led tours during the 2012 peony bloom season. All tours take place in the Arboretum, 1610 Washington Hts. For more information, and to stay on top of the garden visit our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter  @MatthaeiNichols. Or call 734.647.7600.

Peony Garden tours:

Tuesday, May 15

12:15 pm

Staff Picks

Favorite peonies of Matthaei-Nichols staff

7:00 pm

Elements of Style

Demystifying peony forms and fashions

Wednesday, May 16

12:15 pm

Elements of Style

Demystifying peony forms and fashions

7:00 pm

What’s in a Name?

Peony names of the past—the who, what, when, and why

Thursday, May 17

12:15 p

What’s in a Name?

Peony names of the past—the who, what, when, and why

7:00 pm

Best in Show

Top-ranked peonies and why they were considered champions in their time

Friday, May 18

12:15 pm

Best in Show

Top-ranked peonies and why they were considered champions in their time

7:00 pm

What Price Peonies

From steep to cheap, peonies of the past and what we paid for them

Saturday, May 19

12:15 pm

What Price Peonies

From steep to cheap, peonies of the past and what we paid for them

7:00 pm

Building a Better Peony Garden

A behind-the-scenes look at the efforts of Matthaei-Nichols and many others to grow, maintain, and steward the historic peony garden now and for the future

Sunday, May 20

12:15 pm

Staff Picks

Favorite peonies of Matthaei-Nichols staff

7:00 pm

How to Grow Peonies

Experts tips, hints, and information from our staff on growing peonies right

National Walking Day is April 4

Your legs were made for walking! 


We've partnered with the University of Michigan MHealthy and the American Heart Association as one of the host sites for National Walking Day. We'll have trail signage at Matthaei and the Arboretum, and MHealthy will be giving a presentation on fitness and exercise in the Botanical Gardens auditorium from 10-10:45 am. Free.


If you can't make it Wed., stop in anytime: Matthaei-Nichols is open 7 days a week.


Start walking at U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N. Dixboro Rd.; U-M Nichols Arboretum, 1610 Washington Hts. 734.647.7600.