News and Events Archive
The City and MSPC are working together to remove a damaged and failing ‘Shogetsu’ flowering cherry tree near the Conservatory. We have already purchased a replacement ‘Shogetsu’ cherry tree that will be planted in nearly the same location. Gardenia.net calls the Shogetsu cherry tree “One of the finest Japanese cherries” and describes it as “a broad-spreading…
The Conservancy has started the much-needed rehabilitation of the park’s historic crabapple collection, which likely dates back to the 1940’s. The collection was first inventoried and mapped in 2003 by crabapple expert Arthur Jacobsen. He determined that the collection included at least 44 individual trees representing 42 different species or cultivars of Malus. Several trees have…
Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) is a cascading deciduous shrub with tiny non-fragrant bright yellow flowers that bloom on bare bright green stems in late winter before its leaves appear in spring. It can be grown as a mounding shrub or trained on a support, though it doesn’t have tendrils for climbing. If left as a…
Last month, we removed a dead Thundercloud flowering plum, likely planted by the landscape architects Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver. This month, we planted its replacement. This was one of many actions MSPC is taking to rehabilitate the park’s flowering tree collection.
The Ravine Enhancement Project is continuing this week with the modest widening of the existing seasonal (seep) stream bed and placement of native erratic boulders at the channel’s edges. The addition of boulders will slow down the water and allow it to infiltrate into the ground and also improve the areas’s appearance. Later, MSPC will…
We have several dozen odd, helical iron posts at Bush’s Pasture Park that hold climbing roses. The posts date from the early 1960’s. Each year, each rose has to be pruned to the ten strongest canes, then wound and tied to the posts’ crossbars. It takes about 40-50 knots per rose and takes anywhere from…
The Ravine enhancement project is moving towards its installation phase, thanks to a supply of local boulders gifted to us by Betty O’Brien of Elton Vineyards and the folks at Willamette Valley Vineyards. Thanks, too, to the City of Salem for use of their trucks. The project is led by landscape designer Ron Miner. “The…
Bush Park’s Chinese Hawthorn tree (aka Crataegus pinnatifida) is at its peak fall color now. The Chinese use the fruit in candy, jam, jelly, and desserts. It’s common to see children eating sugar-coated Hawthorn berries on a stick. Chinese and Western herbalists also use the fruit to treat hypertension and coronary artery disease, to lower…
Recently, one of our Facebook Friends asked “Why is an apple tree at Bush Park called the Diversity Tree?” Turns out there are two Diversity Trees— planted in 1981 and 2005. The Salem Human Rights and Relations Advisory Commission, along with concerned members of the community planted both trees in response to hate activity occurring…
Jim Schomaker, a long-time volunteer with Mission Street parks Conservancy (previously Friends of Bush Gardens) is currently Salem Art Association’s Featured Artist. His exhibit focuses on capturing Bush’s Pasture Park’s roses through photography. “I wanted to show two things; roses start to atrophy and lose their health, withering with the onset of winter, and they…