This past spring the staff and I embarked on our annual task of adding a mix of new and interesting plants to the arboretum's collection. This key part of our mission ensures that we are providing a diverse, botanically rich environment that fosters discovery and learning while crafting an aesthetically appealing experience for all. New plants can range from novel or unusual horticultural creations to native plants worthy of wider cultivation and appreciation. They also help showcase the gamut of beautiful, useful, and sometimes obscure offerings from our friends in the nursery industry. Whether intended for study, formal research, or simply enjoyment, these components of our living collection form the backbone of Secrest Arboretum.
I will admit that acquiring and determining the locations for new plants is one of the best parts of my job as curator. The process is both scientific and creative. It is challenging and gratifying to help shape the arboretum into a place where the unpredictability of nature is somewhat restrained by our best attempt at order.
The official start of the tree planting season took place on Arbor Day, which we celebrated with a gathering of fellow plant lovers on April 24th. An outstanding planting demonstration by Phil Knopp, one of our campus grounds department colleagues, culminated in the addition of a new magnolia specimen northeast of the Barnhart Rice Stone House. ‘Legacy’ is a unique hybrid that features a prodigious display of massive light pink flowers in early April.
‘Legacy’ touts an interesting Wooster connection. It was bred and introduced by the late David Leach, a gifted horticulturist noted mainly for his expertise in rhododendrons. Mr. Leach, a native Pennsylvanian, attended the College of Wooster and spent the second half of his life studying and hybridizing rhododendrons and other plants at his extensive garden in Madison, Lake County. Along with Dr. Oliver Diller and others, he was instrumental in establishing the Rhododendron Display Garden at Secrest in 1966. Unfortunately, only small remnants of the garden remain following the notorious tornado of 2010.
Another of Leach’s magnolia introductions, ‘Golden Gift’, occupies a place of prominence at the center of Secrest’s Schmitt Family Collector’s Garden. The scope of magnolia taxa on display at Secrest has grown significantly in recent years and now stands at over 70 species and cultivated varieties.
Redbud (Cercis canadensis) is an outstanding native tree that was deservedly recognized as a Secrest Select
plant earlier this year. So far in 2025, Secrest has added five new redbud cultivars to the collection. These include ‘Purple Rain’, which recently joined ‘Ruby Falls’ as the second commercially available redbud exhibiting a weeping habit and purple foliage, and ‘Arnold Banner’ which arose as a flower mutation at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. The latter is characterized by unusual pale pink flowers sporting prominent nectar guides to draw in pollinators. For those with no tolerance for subtlety, Hearts A’fire™ (‘JN100’) is the latest redbud with flamboyant foliage from Jackson Nursery in Tennessee. It boasts emerging leaves in shades of bright red and orange from spring through summer.
As with all new plants, we look forward to assessing the adaptability and performance of each variety over time. These and Secrest’s other new additions can be located using our “Arboretum Explorer” search tool at https://secrest.arboretumexplorer.org.
--Jason Veil, Curator veil11@osu.edu