The Colors of Squire Creek

Flowering Dogwood

Eastern Redbuds

Mayapples

Flame Buckeye

Fisher Pink

After the long hard winter a sign of spring has finally arrived. The temperatures have been great and the flowering plants are showing off their true beauty. Here are a few of the plants you will see around the course this time of year:

1. Flowering Dogwood- (Cornus Flordia) This has been called the most beautiful native tree in North America. The flowers are white and the cover the whole tree. Most dogwoods take full sun, but will tolerate light shade. They make excellent lawn, patio, or understory trees. They like moist, acidic, well drained soil with lots of organic matter. The pruning of this tree is seldomly necessary except when their is a need to remove weak or crossed branches.


2. Redbud- (Cersis) This deciduous tree or shrub is one of the most charming native trees we have in our area. The redbud is valuable for bridging the color gap between early flowering fruit trees (peach, plum) and the late flowering dogwoods and cherries. The flowers are small and rosy pink or lavender in color. Redbuds are effective as a specimen or understory tree.


3. Mayapple-(Podophyllum) New growth pushing up through leaf litter is one of the earliest signs of spring in the wooded areas. Mature leaves of mayapples are 1 foot wide, divided into 5-9 lobes, and are shiny dark green in color. The plant then produces a white flower under the leaf. Mayapples spread very quickly and produces a great contrast to the woodland bottoms around the course.


4. Flame Buckeye- (a. pavia) Native to the eastern U.S. this bulky shrub grows 3 -20ft tall and just as wide, with an irregular rounded crown. This plant bears narrow, erect 10 inch clusters of bright red flowers. Buckeyes do extremely well in warm, humid climates.


5. Azaleas- These are arguably the Souths favorites shrubs. Azaleas need acidic, well drained, organically enriched soil that should neither get too dry nor too soggy. An azalea loves the ph to be between a 5-6, this is the main reason they do so well in our area. When you plant an azalea you always need to plant the root ball slightly above the soil level. These plants have an extremely shallow root system. It is very important when watered to wet the roots and the foliage. In the spring after the bloom fade, you can feel free to prune, mulch and fertilize them. Some of the different azaleas we have are: Fisher Pink, Formosa, George Lindsey Taber, Mrs. G.G. Gerbing, and Sunglow