White Trillium

A LARGE TRILLIUM COLLECTION TRANSCRIPT

NARRATOR: The Trillium collection at Crystal Bridges is among the largest and most diverse in the nation. Horticulturalist Cody George discusses the care required in cultivating Trillium and the ongoing development of the museum’s collection.

CODY GEORGE: The Trillium collection at Crystal Bridges, we first started in 2011. We first started out with four species, and now we’ve grown to ten different species of Trillium. We have two species that are native to this region of the Ozarks, and the rest of the Trillium collection is native to either the Eastern United States or to the Southeast United States. Our Trillium collection, although it is vast, we still plan on adding a few different species of Trillium to our collection. Of course, these species will be zone hardy and heat hardy to our region so that we can ensure that these plants will grow better. Notes will be taken and we will have some field trials to determine which ones grow better, not only in our region, but in the soil that we have and the climate that we have.

A field trial is a part of a bed that is dedicated to a certain type of a plant that we watch over, that we take notes on, and that way we can see with some of these different collections, which ones are more superior in which ones will do better in this climate. [Trillium grandiflorum,] or the white Trillium, is the plant that first caught my eye and really took off my passion for native plants. From seed it takes nine years to bloom. So these are plants that require a lot of attention to detail, attention to the climate, attention to the soil. So they’re quite specific to growing conditions, especially the ones that are not native to the Ozarks. And so they’re just a wonderful addition to a garden because they bloom for a short amount of time in the spring, although some species, they will alter. So we’ve played around with species, so we can start blooming in March and around mid-May, and alternating between different species of Trillium.

DR. COMPTON’S TRAIL BEDS TRANSCRIPT

NARRATOR: Cody George, Crystal Bridge’s horticulturalist, discusses Dr. Neil Compton’s native plant beds near Crystal Spring, which our grounds crew has uncovered and renewed.

CODY GEORGE: The terraces just south of Crystal Spring Pond are remnants of what was Dr. Compton’s original trial beds for Crystal Spring Garden that he had. These were covered up with many layers of leaves, as well as a layer of Japanese honeysuckle.
 
So after we first noticed these terraces in the garden, we removed the leaves and then we removed the honeysuckle, and what was left were these 12 nicely flattened terraces on the side of the hillside. These terraces were marked out by different rocks that were placed around – most of the rocks were in fact intact, so we only had to replace a few of them. And later on we saw a document that had an original plant lists for Crystal Spring Garden. And there are plants that are in these terrace beds that are on the list, like roseshell azalea, and beautybush.
 
So we’re happy to display these beds, and we add to these beds – we add Ozark native plants to these beds just to help further Dr. Compton’s legacy.