Gardens Near and Far GCA Donors GCA Bulletin Fall 2016

Winds of Change: Turbines, Anemophily, Coast Redwoods, Step UP! Gardens Near and Far GCA Donors GCA Bulletin Fall 2016

The purpose of The Garden Club of America is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to share the advantages of association by means of educational meetings, conferences, correspondence, and publication, and to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and actions in the fields of conservation and civic improvement.

Submissions and Advertising The Garden Club of America, a 501(c)(3) organization, publishes the Bulletin quarterly. The Bulletin Committee welcomes letters, story ideas, articles with photographs, and original artwork from GCA club members. Advertising is also encouraged from GCA Yuletide clubs, club members, and relevant companies and individuals. AT WINTERTHUR ¤Advertising: Contact [email protected] ¤Email: [email protected] for more information or visit the Bulletin Committee page in the Members Area of the GCA website (www.gcamerica.org) for the submission form ¤Address: The Garden Club of America, 14 East 60th Street, Open daily for holiday tours New York, NY 10022 NOVEMBER 19, 2016–JANUARY 8, 2017 ¤Submission Deadlines: November 1st (Winter issue); February 15th (Spring issue); May 15th (Summer issue); August 15th (Fall issue) To reserve your Yuletide tour, please call 800.448.3883 On the Cover or visit winterthur.org/yuletide.* The Palouse Wind Farm is a 40-acre, 58-turbine site located on the Naff Ridge near Oakesdale, WA, that became operational in late 2012. This photograph of the Palouse hills and distant wind Presented by farm, as viewed from the Steptoe Butte outside of Colfax, WA, was taken in 2016 as an evening storm approached. Photo by *Yuletide reservations suggested. Included with admission. Members free. Melissa Clark, Perennial GC, Zone VI Open New Year’s Day. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Winterthur is nestled in Delaware’s beautiful Brandywine Valley on Route 52, midway between New York City and Washington, D.C. Take I-95 Exit 7 in Delaware. Features fall 2016

Smithsonian Wind Bella Italia! 12Gardens 23 Including How to 48 Enchanting Including the Enid A. Haupt See the Wind, Where the Wind Tuscany—Visiting Gardens Garden: A Proposed Plan and Blows: Powering the Future, Travelogue, Tips to Get on a the GCA Comments Life at the Top of Earth’s Tallest Visiting Gardens Trip Forest, Blowin’ in the Wind

69 | Book Review

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 1 The scarf is a 36" silk square with hand-rolled edges. The flowers on the 2017 GCA scarf represent some of Zone VI’s horticultural delights that bloom in May, entwined upon a trellis that is a portion of the Maryland State Flag called the Calvert Cross. The blue background color was chosen to represent blue skies and all of the small streams and rivers in and around Maryland and Washington, DC that lead to the magnificent Chesapeake Bay. $125 each + $4.00 for S & H Make checks payble to: GCA Annual Meeting 2017 Mail to: Jane Matz, 3010 O St., NW, Washington, DC 20007 Include name, shipping address, and e-mail Or order online at the GCA website: READ, WATCH, SHOP link in Members Area Questions? [email protected]

2 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 FIND YOUR ISLAND PARADISE The luxuries of a modern resort and the privacy of a secluded home, Sea Oats Captiva’s nine-bedroom rental estate offers breathtaking views and exclusive amenities for an unmatched getaway. Nestled between the Gulf of Mexico and one of Florida’s pristine preserves, Sea Oats Captiva is a modern island escape. Offering unique grounds and comforts, Sea Oats’ guests can improve their game on our tennis and basketball courts, kayak and paddle board by our scenic dock, and take in beautiful sunsets on the beach. With accommodations for parties of up to 30 guests, Sea Oats Captiva is the premier coastal estate. Available for full-home rentals only, with minimum one-week stays. Great for families, corporate retreats, and intimate weddings.

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The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 3 Sudi Singhvi

4 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 From President Anne Copenhaver Executive Board “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a ﬂower.” Albert Camus

Fall is my favorite season of the Executive Board year. As a Chapel Hill native in the 2016-17 days before summer school existed, I loved the invigorating energy of the Anne Copenhaver, GCA President university students returning to town Twin City GC, Zone VII and campus. As president of The Garden Dede Petri, First Vice President Club of America, I am eager for the Georgetown GC, Zone VI fall Quarterly Business Meeting at our Lloyd Brown, Corresponding Secretary newly refurbished Headquarters with The Weeders, Zone V the arrival of our leadership, primed for Lorill Haynes, Recording Secretary the 2016-2017 future upon us. Garden Guild of Winnetka, Zone XI June zone meetings in Southport, Cindy Hilson, Treasurer CT; Colorado Springs, CO; and Hancock Park GC, Zone XII Syracuse, NY were followed by fall zone meetings in Lenox, MA; Charlottesville, Marguerite Borden, Vice President VA; and Gladwyn, PA. The September Cohasset GC, Zone I Conservation Study Trip in Boston Diana Boyce, Vice President was followed by the Shirley Meneice St. George’s GC, Zone VI Horticulture Conference at the Crissy Cherry, Vice President Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Educational Lake Forest GC, Zone XI forums in “the fields of our endeavor” Gretchen Downs, Vice President beckon to every member at the club, Country GC, Zone X zone, and national levels whether your SaSa Panarese, Vice President passion is conservation, horticulture, Milton GC, Zone I floral design, photography, or garden Wendy Serrell, Vice President history and design as highlighted by the Anne Copenhaver at the Garden of the Gods Club, Hortulus, Zone II Visiting Gardens Committee and Board Zone XII Meeting, Colorado Springs, CO of Associates annual trips. Elizabeth Meyer, Zone Director Serving The president’s end of summer phone calls to each and every national committee on the Executive Board chairman offered assurance that together we are furthering the stated purpose of The Cambridge Plant & Garden GC, Zone I Garden Club of America. To steward such an organization is a privilege and unparalleled Jennifer Barnette, Chief Operating Officer opportunity. I am glad I said yes. I am glad the individuals I have asked to serve in positions throughout the GCA have said yes! As the Nominating Committee meets at Headquarters late in October to begin setting in motion the 2017-2019 leadership cycle, if you get a call please consider saying yes! Significant initiatives underway and yet to come are conducted at every level of voluntarism and staff support with integrity, quality, and commitment towards the GCA purpose. Leadership, stewardship, friendship...oh, my the friendships! They can sustain us across the miles and, in my case, across the summer! For now, take time and bask in the glory and beauty of nature this fall season, every leaf a flower.

Best regards,

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 5 200 LEXINGTON AVENUE [AT 32ND STREET] • FOURTH FLOOR, SUITE 416 • NEW YORK, NY 10016 TO ORDER CALL 212/839-0500 • FAX 212/839-0501 • WWW.PENNOYERNEWMAN.COM

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8 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 9 From the Bulletin Committee Bulletin Committee

With thanks from the Committee!

WIND—the theme of this Bulletin Committee 2016–17 issue—brings to mind Gina Brandt, Chairman change. Change in the Hancock Park GC, Zone XII seasons and, in our case, Laura Case, Vice Chairman change on our committee. New Canaan GC, Zone II We are deeply indebted to Ann Price Davis, who led Pamela Hirsch, Vice Chairman our committee for these past GC of Morristown, Zone IV two years with her broad Gay Legg, Vice Chairman vision, focused attention, and St. George’s GC, Zone VI energizing leadership. We are Penelope Ross, Copy Editor equally indebted to all those Fairfield GC, Zone II who led or served on the Bulletin Committee in prior years ensuring that the Bulletin continues to be a vital link zone representatives between the GCA, its member clubs, and you—the club members, and, of course, to GCA Ruthie Barker, Fox Hills GC, Zone I presidents Anne Copenhaver and Katie Heins (2013-2015), whose foresight and support Louise van Tartwijk, Washington GC, Zone II have been invaluable. In this issue you will find articles about wind. Wind turbines are now a fixed part Lorraine Alexander, Editor-at-large of the American landscape. Did you know that there are over 48,000 wind turbines in Millbrook GC, Zone III the continental United States? What effect does this have on our lives and on the world? Kathryne Singleton, Rumson GC, Zone IV Wind has always played a critical role in pollination. Our giant coast redwoods (Sequoia Debbie Laverell, The Garden Workers, sempervirens) were pollinated by wind in the Age of Antiquity. You’ll read about P4P Zone V projects that focus on wind-pollinated grasses. And wind is evident in the photographs from our club members that illustrate the Bulletin. Brooke Morton, Perennial GC, Zone VI The Conservation and NAL Committees are launching a new initiative called Step UP! Madeline Mayhood, James River GC, Yes, wind means change and that also means climate change and stepping up to do our part Zone VII to address the deleterious effects of fossil fuels on our environment. So read this article and Julie Badger, Sand Hills GC, Zone VIII Step UP! And while stepping up, consider stepping out and taking a vicarious journey to Tuscany with GCA club members on their fabulous Visiting Gardens trip last spring. You’ll Sandy Dansby, The Monroe Garden wish you had gone! Study League, Zone IX As always, the Bulletin is filled with news about our clubs as well as information about Betsy Bosway, Indianapolis GC, Zone X what is happening on the national level including a prestigious award and an update on the Julie Taylor, Cedar Rapids GC, Zone XI Smithsonian’s Enid A. Haupt Garden. So don’t miss a word (or an ad since our advertisers represent the best of the best). Teri Taylor, GC of Santa Barbara, Zone XII This fall issue is the product not just of those on our committee but of numerous GCA executive board liaison contributors, staff members, and friends such as Joyce Connelly from the Smithsonian and Crissy Cherry, Lake Forest GC, Zone XI Emily Burns from Save the Redwoods League. We are grateful to each of you. Thank you. zone director liaison —The Bulletin Committee Malinda Bergen, Trustees’ GC, Zone VIII gca staff administrator Paige Trubatch

10 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Open Space Institute Honors the GCA

A Well-Deserved Tribute Open Space Institute Honors the GCA

to its ongoing and current fields of endeavor—clean air, clean water, climate change, national parks, native plants—The Garden Club of America continues to strive to hold the best of nature in trust for future generations.” In 2016 the GCA’s active support of programs like OSI’s Outdoors America Campaign helped to advance permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a $300 million program that preserves federal lands and promotes outdoor recreation. “The Garden Club of America’s ongoing support of the Land and Water Conservation Fund is key to the natural and economic strength of communities across the nation,” said Kim Elliman, OSI’s president and CEO. “As an organization committed to preserving important natural landscapes and the critical resources they protect, OSI is honored to celebrate The Garden Club of America’s invaluable contribution through the years. We are all indebted to the tireless efforts of those seemingly ordinary citizens whose early push for land conservation now forms our nation’s environmental inheritance.” GCA President Anne Copenhaver accepting OSI’s award at the Metropolitan Club in NYC

over 250 people gathered to attend an In June elegant luncheon at the historic Metropolitan Club in midtown Manhattan. The occasion was the presentation to The Garden Club of America of the prestigious 2016 Land Conservation Award by the Open Space Institute (OSI). Eminent environmentalists and conservationists listened as Douglas Brinkley, historian, author, and CNN commentator, gave the keynote address. Three former GCA presidents were in attendance: Katie Heins (2013-15), Jan Pratt (1995-97), and Gina Bissell (1975-77). The GCA received the OSI award to honor its century-plus legacy of nationwide advocacy for conservation policies, exemplified by its staunch support of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. In accepting the award, GCA President Anne Copenhaver said, “We are honored to be aligned with the Open Space Institute in advancing environmental protection, preservation of the natural world, and stewardship of public lands.” The OSI protects scenic, natural, and historic landscapes to provide public enjoyment, conserve habitat and working lands, and sustain communities. Since its founding in 1974, OSI has become a leader in environmental preservation and has partnered OSI Chairman John Adams, GCA President Anne Copenhaver, and OSI CEO in the protection of over two million acres in North America. Kim Elliman at OSI’s Awards Luncheon. Photos by Amanda Gentile, courtesy “Conservation is a founding principle of our 103 year-old of OSI organization,” GCA’s president continued. “From its beginning, working to ban billboards and protecting California’s redwoods,

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 11 Smithsonian

byGardens Joyce Connolly, Museum Specialist, Smithsonian Gardens

12 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Garden History & Design: Smithsonian Gardens

Created in 1972... Smithsonian Gardens Most GCA club members know that a has grown from simply a entomologists, administrators, and museum rewarding connection between The Garden and education specialists to carry out its Club of America and the Smithsonian mission of enriching the Smithsonian Institution was established in 1987 when grow-and-mow operation experience through exceptional gardens, the GCA deposited its Slide Library of horticultural exhibits, collections, and Notable American Parks and Gardens (now to a public garden with a education. It manages twelve separate Mthe GCA Collection) with the Archives of gardens that ring the National Mall in American Gardens. What most GCA club staff of over 50 employees. Washington. All of these gardens have been members might not know is that AAG’s designed to complement the museums they parent organization, Smithsonian Gardens border and to enhance the overall museum (SG), serves as the Smithsonian’s “outdoor Facing page: The “Downing Urn” at the Haupt experience of learning, appreciation, and museum.” Garden in front of the Smithsonian Art and enjoyment. Created in 1972 (a blink of an eye Industries Building. Photo by Gay Legg On the Mall’s south side is the Enid A.

in Smithsonian years), SG has grown Bottom: The view from the Smithsonian Castle Haupt Garden (see accompanying article, from simply a grow-and-mow operation overlooking the Haupt Garden. The National “When a Garden Is More Than a Garden”). to a public garden with a staff of over 50 Museum of African Art is on the left and the Arthur The Haupt’s Moongate Garden was inspired employees, accredited by the American M. Sackler Gallery is on the right. Across is the by the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, while Alliance of Museums. SG employs Department of Energy at L’Enfant Plaza. Photo its Fountain Garden was modeled after a horticulturists, landscape architects, courtesy of the Smithsonian courtyard in the Alhambra. Its centerpiece

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 13 Garden History & Design: Smithsonian Gardens

the Butterfly Habitat Garden) as one of its Founders Fund projects and contributed funding for the garden’s expansion. SG faces challenges that most other public gardens do not. Accessibility to the public 24/7 is one significant challenge. In addition, the gardens are sited in a busy urban area where tens of millions visit each year and where gatherings and marches occur on a regular basis. On the plus side, SG manages its own greenhouse facility in nearby Suitland, Maryland, where horticulturists produce and care for much of the plant material used in the gardens, grounds, and horticultural exhibits is a Victorian-style parterre accentuated throughout the Smithsonian. Each year SG by colorful seasonal plantings arranged in complements several Smithsonian museum geometric motifs. The Mary Livingston exhibits with plantings that highlight Ripley Garden displays dozens of unusual specific regions or cultures. plant varieties in raised beds. Curvilinear As if caring for an array of public brick paths lead visitors to horticultural gardens weren’t enough, SG manages surprises around each bend. Other gardens four diverse collections: the Archives of on this side of the Mall include the Freer American Gardens, Smithsonian Gardens Gallery of Art’s formal courtyard garden, Orchid Collection, Smithsonian Gardens the fragrant Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose Tree Collection, and Garden Furnishings Garden, and the Hirshhorn Museum and and Horticultural Artifacts Collection. Sculpture Garden, where the plantings Examples from the latter three are displayed provide an ever-changing backdrop for the throughout the Smithsonian museums and artworks on display. The native landscape gardens. at the National Museum of the American SG’s lively education program engages Indian and terraced beds at the National visitors with a variety of events, tours, and Air and Space Museum provide year-round demonstrations. Its latest online endeavor, interest for visitors. Community of Gardens, captures garden Across the Mall, the Victory Garden at stories from across the country. An annual the National Museum of American History orchid exhibit, a collaboration between SG is typical of vegetable gardens planted and the US Botanic Garden on the grounds during World War II, while the nearby of the Capitol, now in its 20th year, draws Heirloom Garden showcases favorites Top: Looking across the Parterre to the entrance hundreds of thousands of visitors each cultivated in American gardens prior to of the National Museum of African Art. Photo by winter. SG would not be able to accomplish 1950. The Pollinator Garden and Urban Gay Legg what it does without the help of 80+ Bird Habitat at the National Museum of Middle: Courtyard Garden at the Freer Gallery of volunteers and a dozen or so interns each Natural History spotlight plantings that Art. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian year (including a GCA Garden History and provide food and shelter for migrating Design intern). There’s much more to learn wildlife species. In 2000, the GCA Bottom: The entrance to the Moongate Garden. about us when you come visit! designated the Pollinator Garden (formerly Photo by Gay Legg

14 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Garden History & Design: Smithsonian Gardens When a Garden Is More Than a Garden

A garden is many things to many people— a spot to sit and rest, a place to admire nature, an island of restorative calm. In the midst of the din of the nation’s capital, the 4.2-acre Enid A. Haupt Garden at the Smithsonian Castle is an excellent example of all three, and something more: a green roof. The thousands of visitors who come to enjoy the Haupt Garden each year are likely not aware that they are actually standing on the roof of the largest Asian art research library in the United States, as well as portions of the National Museum of African Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery—all part of an underground web of conference spaces, restoration rooms, Enid Annenberg galleries, and storage areas constructed in the 1980s. Haupt The centerpiece of the Haupt Garden, endowed entirely by its namesake, is the elaborately “embroidered” Parterre, which changes in color and texture throughout the seasons. Dating from 1976, the Parterre is a Victorian-style garden intended to complement the iconic Smithsonian Castle adjacent to it. (The Castle, designed in 1855 by noted architect James Renwick, Jr., was designated a National Historic Landmark in

Enid Annenberg Haupt with First Lady Lady Bird Johnson strolling in the Haupt Garden in 1988. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Enid Annenberg Haupt was considered by many at the time of her death, in 2005, to be American horticulture’s greatest patron. An heir to the Annenberg publishing fortune, she was often quoted as saying “nature is my religion,” and her substantial philanthropy was intended to ensure that everyone has access to that “religion.” She believed in public gardens and felt that the respite they provide was essential to health and well-being. She also made major gifts to the New York Botanical Garden, the Cloisters, and the restoration of Bryant Park at the New York Public Library. Her generosity made it possible for the American Horticultural Society to purchase as its headquarters River Farm in Virginia, a property once owned by George Washington, and she endowed the Smithsonian garden that bears her name. The Haupt Garden is comprised of three distinct gardens in its 4.2 acres: the Parterre in front of the Castle (pictured above), the Moongate Garden, and the Fountain Garden. Photo by Gay Legg

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 15 Garden History & Design: Smithsonian Gardens

Above: Baskets hung from Victorian cast-iron lamp 1977.) Relatively speaking, four decades is not old for a garden, but when a garden is also a posts showcase the iconic red sandstone of the roof it can be a lifespan. Due to chronic leaks and aging infrastructure, the garden roof has Smithsonian Castle. Photo by Gay Legg nearly come to the end of its useful life. The Smithsonian determined that a comprehensive master plan was needed that would address these issues and include a long-term strategic Right: The red brick path leading to the Arts and plan for the entire quadrangle complex on its South Mall campus including the Castle Industries Building adjoining the Haupt Garden. Photo by Gay Legg itself. The Smithsonian’s project was awarded to a Danish firm, BIG, or Bjarke Ingels Group, noted for its bold and futuristic approach to landscape and architecture. While BIG’s plan, a joint vision of BIG and the Smithsonian, outlines much needed renovations to buildings and infrastructure, the modernistic renderings reveal an overall plan with swooping swaths of turf, glass, and steel providing windows to the underground spaces. These conceptual illustrations contain substantial design elements that effectively eliminate the entire Haupt Garden, and include significant alterations to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, the Mary Ripley Livingston Garden, and the Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose Garden. The $2 billion-plus master plan, which is to be implemented over several decades, has raised considerable concern among citizens and organizations for its profound changes to historically significant outdoor landscapes. This past spring a petition drive in opposition to BIG’s design was launched, requesting that the Haupt Garden be preserved and the surrounding architectural and landscape features be retained. The Garden Club of America responded as well. (See the GCA’s Comments under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, reprinted in full on page 18.) While acknowledging that institutional

16 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Garden History & Design: Smithsonian Gardens

needs change over time and that the master plan has many positive internal features, the GCA’s official comments expressed concern that the master plan “appears to engage the landscape as an afterthought.” President Anne Copenhaver wrote, “We believe that further study is necessary to 1) assess and address the period of significance for this garden; 2) revisit whether the garden should indeed be included on the National Register of Historic Places; and 3) honor the terms of Mrs. Haupt’s gift. Because the Smithsonian depends on the generosity of donors, remaining true to donor intent should be an essential consideration.” In a response to the GCA’s Comments, the Secretary of the Smithsonian said BIG’s renderings are just one of many alternatives under consideration, and the ultimate design (to be developed after the renovations to the Quad begin in the next five to ten years) will be determined only after meaningful opportunities for public participation. A public hearing before the National Capital Planning Commission is expected in 2017, and the GCA will continue to engage this important issue. —Gay Legg, St. George’s Garden Club, Zone VI

A dedicated team of Smithsonian horticulturalists maintain the Haupt Garden. Photo by Gay Legg The Proposed Plan

Smithsonian South Campus Master Plan rendering by Bjarke Ingels Group

The initial phase of the Smithsonian’s master plan is currently under review by the National Capital Planning Commission and is in an extended public comment period. Additionally, the plan will need to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act as well as Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The National Park Service recently issued a proposal to amend and enlarge the National Mall Historic District to include the Haupt Garden and its related features, to be designated as “contributing” elements to the historic design, and be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Although this will not protect the Haupt Garden from demolition, it will ofﬁcially recognize the historic importance of the Haupt Garden in its present conﬁguration. The $2 billion-plus cost of the plan is expected to be funded by public and private entities. Congressional appropriations and federal grants and contracts historically fund 60% of the Smithsonian’s budget; no doubt funding issues will continue to be a factor.

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 17 Garden History & Design: Smithsonian Gardens

THE GARDEN CLUB of AMERICA

14 EAST 60TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10022-1006

212.753.8287/FAX 212.753.0134/GCAMERICA.ORG

Comments of The Garden Club of America - May 2016

We are writing with considerable concern regarding the Smithsonian Institution’s plan to demolish the beloved Enid A. Haupt Garden adjoining the Castle.

The Haupt Garden is a favorite “outdoor museum” and center of activity on the Smithsonian grounds. It is a remarkable and joyous introduction to Victorian and other garden design. Thousands of visitors to this garden and the three museums which surround it enjoy its unique rooftop garden and outdoor complex singled out by the American Institute of Architects in 1987 as a masterful blending of old and new.

While the Haupt garden was completed in 1987, it is noteworthy that Messrs. Carlhian and Collins designed it, not as a new garden, but as a renewal and enhancement of the Victorian garden installed in 1976 in celebration of the nation’s bicentennial. Indeed, records indicate that the Haupt Garden was created to respond to a major public outcry over the Smithsonian’s announcement that it planned to destroy the Victorian garden then on site.

We are concerned as well that the Master Plan, with many positive internal features, appears to engage the landscape as an afterthought. The report analyzing and supporting the Smithsonian’s billion-dollar South Mall Campus plan fails to adequately and fully address the postmodernist significance of the Haupt garden or to ascertain its broader cultural significance. We believe that further study is necessary 1) to assess and address the period of significance for this garden; 2) to revisit whether the garden should indeed be included on the National Register of Historic Places; and 3) to honor the terms of Mrs. Haupt’s gift. Because the Smithsonian depends upon the generosity of donors, remaining true to donor intent should be an essential consideration.

We raise these issues as long-time friends and supporters of the Smithsonian. The Archives of American Gardens constitute a major horticultural collection whose core images and slides were made possible by a gift from The Garden Club of America in 1992. The Pollinator Garden, adjoining the National Museum of Natural History, was created in 1995 and significantly expanded in 2000, thanks to funding from the GCA and the Smithsonian Women’s Committee in conjunction with the Smithsonian’s Horticulture Services Division. Many of our members serve on the Women’s Committee and in other professional and volunteer positions. In 2004, our Annual Meeting brought delegates to the Haupt Garden to see it and other outdoor displays. The 200 member clubs of the GCA across the country—with nearly 18,000 members—are amongst the millions of local, national, and international visitors attracted to the Smithsonian’s world-class indoor and outdoor collections. We will be attending the Smithsonian’s exhibit opening in 2017 entitled Cultivating American’s Gardens and focusing on the work of garden clubs around the country.

At a time when the American people are rightly focusing on a healthy and green environment, it would be ironic indeed for the Smithsonian to destroy a peaceful and beautiful green space and replace it with a cold space of steel and lights. We understand that institutional needs must change over time. However, we believe that the Smithsonian’s proposed Master Plan for the South Mall Campus would wrongly eliminate a unique and historic garden--yes, an “outdoor museum”--in the heart of the nation’s capital.

Thank you for your consideration.

On behalf of the Executive Board of The Garden Club of America, Anne P. Copenhaver

President, The Garden Club of America

18 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 GCA Proﬁles Arete Warren: Recipient of the GCA’s 2016 Achievement Award

Arete, you joined Millbrook Garden Did you, like so many people Club in 1993-94, and were its interviewed in these pages, have a president from 2009 to 2011. Your garden when you were a child? free-spirited humor and spontaneity No, but my paternal grandmama and Aunt Arete had fabulous are legend, coupled with your ability gardens, and my mother had a rose garden. to focus on the business of the day. You have been all over the map of And your immediate family? accomplishment, from charitable foundations to arts and preservation My husband, Bill, died several years ago. He was a lawyer and commissions and, within the GCA, book collector. My stepson, John, is headmaster of a school in zone and national roles. Given all that, Massachusetts, and my stepdaughter, Sarah, is an award-winning what might surprise people about you weaver who divides her time between New Hampshire and New and your life story so far? Mexico. I know that people are surprised to learn that I grew up in a little Your own love of books is evident town in the farm country of Illinois and my brother and I still in your work with GCA’s Library have family farms near Champaign-Urbana. My maiden name, Committee, for which you served Swartz, is Pennsylvania-Dutch. My paternal great-grandfather, a two terms, 2010-14, as chair. And you William Penn Quaker, remembered hearing the guns of the Battle have authored several books: Glass of Gettysburg. Houses: Greenhouses, Conservatories, and Orangeries (1988) and Gardening Those are strong connections to the by the Book: Celebrating 100 Years of land, and yet “urbane” is among the The Garden Club of America (2013). ﬁrst adjectivesectives I associate wwithith you. InIn a way,way, I fell into the GlGlassass HoHousesusess project. An oold friend and hhistorian,istorian, May Woods, had begunbegun writingwriting thet book, but My mother saidd thatthat mimidwesternersdwesterners were thethe RRizzoliizzoli InternationaInternationall wantewantedd it expandedexpand for the best travelers, moremore curious aboutabout thethe worldworld AAmericanmerican marmarket.ket. AfterAfter I marriedmarried in 1985, my because land onn its own leftleft so muchmuch to motmotherher ddiedied a weeweekk llater,ater, andan everyone the imagination.n. My parents had no tthoughthought I sshouldhould ggetet iinvolvedn in the expectation thatat we’d stay at book. Which I didid. Gardening home, even thoughough it would bbyy the BookBook,, much later, have been finei fif we we wawass babasedse on the had. GGCA’sC collection

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 19 GCA Proﬁles

me on a certain course. I have dear friends there. And, I want to mention that I had a wonderful English history professor during my undergrad years at Northwestern.

Both of your books are heavy on research. You spent several months in 2014 researching your next book, on Boston architect Guy Lowell (1870- 1927), as a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome. Do you prefer research to writing? Writing is not easy for me, but I have learned to do it. And once I get going it’s fine. Finding the initial statement is the key for me.

What else can you tell us about your work habits? Do you make outlines? Do you ﬁnd it easier to work at your apartment in the city or in the country? I do make outlines. And I write more in the city, where the cultural life and sheer vibrancy keep me going. There are more physical distractions in the country—I like entertaining and dabbling in my garden. It’s a country garden with limits prescribed by its being on a slope of solid rock surrounded by trees. And the deer factor!

You have held many MGC and GCA positions as well as your work on boards, panels, and juries. And your life as a lecturer is, I think I can say, a of four centuries of gardening and botanical art. The book was growth industry. I gather that energy co-published by the GCA and Grolier, which held the companion is not a commodity you have difﬁculty exhibition. The rare books collection that was part of the show has mining. since gone to the New York Botanical Garden library on extended loan. All these involvements give life to me. My greatest enjoyment and satisfaction, apart from my GCA work and friendships, come from The 2013 Grolier Club exhibition also my work in preservation, which includes 20 years with the Royal beneﬁted from your experience in the Oak Foundation and a little more than that with the Preservation world of museums. You’ve worked League of New York. I love that, even in this huge “ocean” of New with museums from North Carolina York City, one can still have a deep sense of community. to New York to London. You are a true —Lorraine Alexander, Millbrook GC, Zone III anglophile, wouldn’t you agree? One of my first jobs, after finishing my art history graduate studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, was as a research assistant at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. I was there for three years, and that set

20 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Rare Book Collection

Left: Books in transit. Photo by Nelly Balloffet

Right: A few of the many books in the GCA’s Rare Book Collection. Photo by Jennifer Barnette

chairman of the Library Committee, Where Have All the Kathy Metz (Millbrook GC), Peggy Miller (Halten GC), and Arete Warren. Together we investigated twelve prominent botanical Rare Books Gone? libraries around the country, and after four months we submitted our report to the by Ruth Oliver Jolliffe, Buzzards Bay GC, Zone I Executive Committee. We’d narrowed the field to six and recommended the books be the grolier club’s 2013 exhibition, Gar- I received a call from GCA President housed off-site. dening by the Book, curated by Arete Warren Katie Heins asking me to chair an ad hoc With Exec’s go-ahead we approached (Millbrook GC), brought welcome atten- committee with the charge “to research the LuEsther T. Mertz Library at the New tion to the importance of the Rare Book the options for housing the rare books and York Botanical Garden (NYBG) a month Collection of The Garden Club of America. to recommend whether the books should later, in June 2014. Jane Harris and I met Over the years the Library Committee has remain at HQ or be housed at another with Librarian Susan Fraser and agreed discussed how best to promote and protect institution, with details for both options.” to pursue an arrangement. Discussion the collection. At Headquarters the rare To stay or not to stay (at HQ), that was the centered on whether the GCA collection books were viewable only to members and question. complemented NYBG’s. Among other to scholars, and by appointment only. The assigned committee was an august considerations to be settled were how the In early 2014, while on a trip to Maine, group: Jane Harris (Middletown GC), collection would be shelved—separately or

T The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 21 Rare Book Collection

within NYBG’s collection—its availability for exhibitions, various conservation procedures, and GCA visitation. NYBG staff members who inspected the collection also agreed to the project. Then began the actual process. Myriad details needed to be worked out, a process that took nearly two years. The negotiated memorandum of understanding included specific terms for appraisals, cataloguing, a professional condition report, conservation, exhibitions, insurance, loans, ownership descriptions, quarantine requirements, shelving, and numerous other issues. The final agreement was signed on July 1, 2016. Nelly Balloffet, of Paper Star Associates in Ossining, NY, produced the required The GCA Rare Book Collection will detailed condition report (an be accessible to researchers and evaluation of the size, state of those interested in such books. Here repair, and any special notes Arete Warren views rare botanical regarding each book), as well books carefully maintained by the Anderson Horticultural Library at the as a packing list for the move. Minnesota Landscape Arboretum To meet NYBG quarantine with volunteer Lucianne Taylor. requirements a 72-hour- Photo by Crissy Cherry minimum freeze time (to kill any unwanted organisms) posed both moving and expense issues. time, and delivered it, still sealed, to for 714 volumes came out to about NYBG’s book freezer can accommodate NYBG the following week. The books are $54 a volume. Where I live, up in the only one or two small boxes at a time, and now being catalogued, a job that will take backcountry of Massachusetts, that would we had 714 books. That meant many relays many months to complete. buy lunch for four people. On the other to and from the freezer, as well as many From the start the committee realized hand, a couple of weeks ago, a block from billable hours of “freeze time”! Luckily there was no such thing as a free lunch, yet Headquarters, I spent nearly that for a fruit a company called Polygon, specialists we lacked sufficient information to obtain cup, a piece of toast, and a cup of coffee! in document restoration, came to our good estimates. As it was, most of the The bottom line—the important results attention. Polygon packed and sealed the expenses—for condition reports, moving/ of this endeavor—is that our rare books collection, moved it to its headquarters, freezing, transit insurance, etc.—came are safe, under excellent care, and in a fine for blast freezing at -42° F for the required at the end. The final amount of $38,675 location to visit.

22 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 How to See the Wind by Gay Legg, St. George’s Garden Club, Zone VI

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 23 Wind

ailors watch for dark patches as puffs of clouds move across the water while sails fill and flags snap to Sattention. In the landscape we see obedient trees bowing to prevailing weather systems, branches straining in one direction, and grasses bending and waving. The US National Weather Service and the Global Forecast System show super-computer models updated every three hours with the atmospheric circulation of wind currents around the earth indicating the whorls and vortices that create high and low pressure zones. For many gardeners old ways suffice—pinwheels, whirligigs, and weather vanes show the wind—blades spinning, gears turning, and arrows pointing. Kinetic sculptors often use the wind to power their creations to move in amazing ways in public spaces and private gardens. At the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore the Giant Whirligig by artist Vollis Simpson stands 55 feet tall and is brightly painted with accents of red, white, and blue—a nod to the museum’s address at the base of Federal Hill. Artist Paul Daniel has constructed a kinetic sculpture with metal cones that spins at the slightest breeze among the cone flowers in the suburban Baltimore garden of Sana Brooks (St. George’s GC).

24 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Wind

We see the wind in all these signs and symbols, and sometimes pay attention to old proverbs:

Wind from the East the fish bite least, Wind from the West the fish bite best, Wind from the North the fisherman dareth not go forth, Wind from the South blows the bait right out of the fish’s mouth.

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 25 Wind Where the Wind

ind is a source of for centuries. Industrial wind boxes from the ground, but each their twinkling night-lights, renewable energy turbines, their progeny, are one is actually the size of a bus— but visitors from Boston to Wthat has fueled our another thing altogether, despite are still imported from Denmark Berlin fill eco-tour buses, planet since people first hoisted our casual blurring of the terms. and other European countries enthusiastically following retired sails on a boat, about 5,000 “The distinction is the first due to superior steel quality. engineers turned tour guides. years ago. Hammurabi, the thing I teach my classes,” says a My first view of a massive No one is complaining at the Babylonian emperor renowned research associate in aerospace wind farm was at 2:00 a.m. one Palm Springs tourist office. for both his legal code and engineering at Penn State. January morning as I exited While safety lights are public works, devised a wind- Windmills perform tasks like Interstate 10, driving south to federally mandated, regulation driven irrigation system in grinding grain, whereas wind Palm Springs, CA. Suddenly of noise is determined, the 1700s BC. Because wind turbines, developed in Scotland the sky to my left was filling sometimes haphazardly, by circulates freely aboveground, it and Denmark in the late 19th with tiny red lights, like distant state. Guidelines vary, but the is sometimes referred to as “free.” century, generate electricity, a scarlet stars. I had no idea what World Health Organization Harnessing its power, however, force as invisible and powerful as I was looking at. The next day I recommends a noise limit of as with any manufacturing wind itself. By the 1940s wind learned that the lights, mounted 40 decibels. At a residential activity, incurs costs, some more turbines were springing up from throughout 3,000+ wind distance of nearly 1,000 feet, obvious than others. the USSR to Grandpa’s Knob turbines—seven generations’ noise from turbines is around Wind forms when warm in Vermont. Today’s technology worth on 41 privately owned 45 decibels, slightly louder than air rises and cool air moves in comes mostly from Europe, but wind farms in the Coachella a humming refrigerator; at one to take its place; the greater the enormous towers and rotors Valley’s San Gorgonio Pass— mile it becomes inaudible to the disparity in temperature, are increasingly US-built. The were an FAA safety requirement the human ear. In Palm Springs the faster the wind blows. gearboxes and generators housed applied to all structures higher and other installations, taller, Small-scale windmills have in turbines’ fiberglass nacelles— than 200 feet. Some people sometimes shrouded turbines raised life-saving well water they look no bigger than sweater object to the turbines and and longer fiberglass rotors

San Jacinto Peak rises above seven generations of wind turbines, as much a feature of Palm Springs as its famed golf courses. Photo by Lorraine Alexander

26 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Wind Blows:

that rotate more slowly are In contrast, the DC- feet—that they escape “black eye,” to cite Michael only a few of the innovations based American Wind harm.) Environmentalists are Lynes of Audubon California. to mitigate noise. In 2015 an Energy Association has understandably up in arms. In response EDF Renewable Australian survey of research worked productively with Bat Groups such as the National Energy has been taking down literature found no credible Conservation International, Wind Technology Center are 300 outmoded turbines there, correlation between wind farms as chronicled by National working hard to track and replacing them with ten taller and human health impacts. Geographic in 2015. AWEA’s mitigate dangers to migratory ones; they will produce twice The same cannot be said for current CEO is a past birds, and retrofits from GPS the electricity of the older bats and birds, especially raptors. president of the National Parks systems to “smart blades” and models, enough to power Bats are invaluable consumers Conservation Association, and UV lighting are all being tested. 12,000 homes annually, while of insects. Though their primary 17 AWEA members, producing Near San Francisco, opening up airspace for birds threats remain white-nose about 90 percent of US wind Altamont Pass is home to a and securing ground-level syndrome and air pollution, power, have voluntarily agreed 4,000-turbine installation habitat for burrowing owls. they are vulnerable to something to begin idling turbines during that is frequented by 200 Pesticides, habitat called barotrauma, caused by bats’ migratory period, when bird species, some of them destruction, and greenhouse changes in air pressure. Wind 80% of bat accidents occur. endangered. Dating from the gas emissions remain the major producers who resist measures Birds too can be victims 1960s, the AP facility was sited causes of wildlife mortality. to reduce bat mortalities are of turbines. Emma Bryce, along the Pacific Flyway—a A year after the 2010 BP winding up in the court of writing for Audubon in March lesson in a wildlife-wind energy Deepwater Horizon disaster, a public opinion or, in a case 2016, cited a ScienceDirect conflict of interests. When report issued by the Center for arguing for (and winning last analysis placing the mean county records documented Biological Diversity estimated August) greater protections for number at 245,000 annually. 35 golden eagle deaths in 82,000 birds and 6,000 sea the Indiana Bat, in the DC (Songbirds fly at such great 2013, the pioneering AP Wind turtles fatalities; in 2015 the Circuit’s Court of Appeals. heights—4,000-6,000 Farm became wind energy’s National Wildlife Federation

Powering the Future by Lorraine Alexander, Millbrook GC, Zone III

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 27 Wind

Roger Liddell, an asset manager the Protection of Birds installed and specialist in the economics a wind turbine adjacent to its of renewables, says without headquarters in Bedfordshire. hesitation that offshore wind This single turbine should turbines present virtually no provide 50%+ of the RSPB’s hazard to wildlife. This fall the total UK electricity needs. “We first American offshore wind believe that renewable energy farm will become operational is an essential tool in the fight off Block Island, RI, and the against climate change, which Department of Energy confirms poses the single biggest threat to 20 projects in development, long-term survival of wildlife,” a based on current leases. spokesperson said. Individuals and small Scott Flaherty of the US businesses worldwide are Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) A golden eagle in Sitka, Alaska. following the trend of integrating has noted that ecologists are Windmills at Kinderdijk, the Photo by Sarah Salomon wind power into our energy- increasingly acting as siting Netherlands, a World Heritage site, dependent lives. Earlier this advisors. A study by The Nature were built in the mid-18th century to handle water. Photo by Lorraine revised the latter number as year Britain’s Royal Society for Conservancy concluded that Alexander much as tenfold. Oil damage to 1,000 miles of Gulf of Mexico shoreline has An Economic Snapshot using abandoned coal-mining been incalculable. West Texas sites and other “brownfields”— offers a brighter view: since 2008 No matter how energy is generated, its production creates varying areas contaminated by human the state has invested billions of degrees of what economists call externalities: costs or benefits that activity—could reduce the dollars to connect its cities to those affected do not choose and that producers do not calculate footprint for new turbines. the CREZ wind-energy project in gain and loss statements. Externalities can be positive (improved Separating science from (Texas’s Competitive Renewable productivity) and negative (nuclear waste). Wind produces the cleanest, snake oil can be as ambitious as Energy Zone). Early this year cheapest energy with the fewest negative externalities. proving a negative. But the beat a Scientific American article Investment payback periods for wind energy are hard to calculate, goes on. A pact recently signed ranked Texas and Iowa as the as they depend on site-specific infrastructure, tax laws, wholesale by the attorneys general of 15 nation’s leaders in wind power. electricity pricing, and of course average wind velocity. Investment costs states allows legal recourse to AG Weekly credits wind farms in are easier to quantify. A wind farm near Pittsburgh recently installed 14 “defend federal greenhouse gas Montana with economic benefits GE turbines (2.8 megawatts each) at a cost of $84 million, or $6 million emissions limits” and investigate due to land-lease payments and per turbine from construction to operation. Ken Huskey in Palm Springs delays in “implementation and property tax revenues. “Wind specifies similar figures: roughly $2 million per installed megawatt, or $6 deployment of renewable energy energy…also saves millions million per turbine. (For comparison’s sake four new nuclear reactors— technology.” The GCA’s long of gallons of water that would two in GA, two in SC—will cost $14 billion each and take 15 years to history of conservation advocacy otherwise be used to cool fossil build.) Ever mindful of wind-energy variables, Huskey estimates an is reflected in its position fuel plants.” economic payback period of four to seven years. papers, which recognize “the So far offshore wind Wind will never satisfy all our electrical needs, but its role is consequences of global climate farms—which obviate the need rising. By the end of 2015, with wind projects in 40 states, electricity change” and support “federal, for aboveground transmission generation from wind was 10% or more in twelve of them, while Iowa, state, and local legislation and lines—are little more than a South Dakota, and Kansas tallied more than 20%. Based on the DOE’s regulations, as well as individual mirage in the US. (They are Wind Vision Study Scenario, wind-generated electricity is expected to initiatives, to reduce greenhouse more prevalent in Europe.) rise to 20% by 2030, fueling a half million “green-collar” jobs. gas emissions.”

28 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Life at the Top of Earth’s Tallest Forest

by Emily Burns, Director of Science, Save the Redwoods League

Life in the redwood canopy beneﬁts from frequent fog in the summer that brings needed moisture. Photo by author

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 29 Wind

Right: The deep crowns of coast redwoods create space for vertical gardens of epiphytes that grow on the tree trunks and branches. Photo by Stephen Sillett, Humboldt State University

Below: Moss and mushrooms have their place in the coast redwood canopy. Photo by Stephen Sillett, Humboldt State University he canopy can seem out of reach, Thundreds of feet overhead, but if you look carefully there are clues all around. Sometimes I forget to look up when searching for signs of canopy life in the coast redwood forest. It is quite mesmerizing to scan the trail underfoot for threads of unusual lichen, fallen fronds from ferns that never grow on the forest floor, or eggshells from birds brave enough to nest high in the

30 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Wind

canopy. Wind casually sends these treasures to the ground as it swirls through the canopy, pollinating the redwoods and carrying fog inland from the ocean. Like looking for perfect sand dollars on a beach, once you start looking for clues about the redwood canopy from the ground, you will be hooked. Given how many clues rain down to the forest floor whenever the wind blows through the redwoods, it is remarkable that the coast redwood canopy ecosystem remained virtually unexplored and undocumented for most of the last century. It was not until the late 1990s that we first learned about the abundant and rich canopy life hundreds of feet above the ground. These first discoveries came from the pioneering research of Professor Stephen Sillett at Humboldt State University in Northern California. Dr. Sillett made the coast redwood canopy accessible to the scientific community with arborist rope techniques and revealed the lush treetop habitat that few individuals have seen firsthand, even today. A multitude of mosses and lichen cling to the bark of redwoods, but these organisms are dwarfed in size by the ferns, shrubs, and even other trees that can reside aloft. They are all called epiphytes—plants growing non-parasitically on the branches and trunks of large host trees. Coast redwood epiphytes are a diverse bunch, but what they have in common is a respectable ability to tolerate tough treetop weather and a dependence on old redwood trees. Sustained by winter rain and summer fog, epiphytes thrive in these majestic giants that have been shaped by the centuries into architectural vertical habitats—trees with divided trunks, thick limbs, fire cavities, and other nooks and crannies. The most common epiphyte, and my favorite, is the evergreen leather-leaf fern (Polypodium scouleri). It grows only in the canopy, and I saw my first specimen growing high

Redwood Facts

tA single coast redwood can hold more than 1,600 pounds of epiphytes.

tThe coast redwood is the tallest tree on Earth (380 feet).

t5he coast redwood forest ranges from the Central California coast in Big Sur to the temperate rainforest of southern Oregon.

t95% of the old-growth coast redwood forest has been lost to timber harvest since the Gold Rush era in California.

The leather-leaf fern (Polypodium scouleri) forms lush mats on thick redwood branches and provides fertile habitat for other plants and animals. Photo by Anthony Ambrose, UC Berkeley

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 31 Wind

in an impressive old coast redwood near the Klamath River in Northern California. Hanging by rope alongside this expansive fern, I realized this plant was the size of small car. Leather- leaf ferns are dispersed through the canopy by wind-borne spores, and once established, grow extensive mats of succulent rhizomes and fibrous roots. Leather-leaf ferns drape over large redwood branches and limbs, absorbing rain and fog water like a sponge and trapping falling leaves and bark. Earthworms, insects, and lungless salamanders are drawn to the moist soils that develop over time in the tangle of the fern roots. The ferns offer shelter to many species throughout the seasons, but they only grow natively within six miles of the Pacific Ocean, and rely on maritime fog that brings water to the canopy during the driest times of year. The fern mats can absorb and retain a tremendous amount of water, helping hold more than 5,000 gallons of water per acre in the canopy. Redwoods benefit from this bonus water and can grow aerial roots into the rhizome mats of leather-leaf ferns to share in the moisture and recycled nutrients. Most of the other vascular plants in the coast redwood canopy are considered accidental epiphytes—species typically confined to the forest floor unless their seeds are transported to the canopy. For shrubs and even some trees, birds are the main mischief-makers in this regard (though squirrels do their share), inadvertently planting seeds in fern mats or rotten

The evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) wood cavities when they defecate. California huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) with its is an important epiphyte of coast redwood rain- dark juicy berries is the most common animal hitch-hiker, but other fruit-bearing shrubs forest canopies. Mammals and birds are lured to such as trailing black current (Ribes laxifolia), Pacific red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), redwood crowns, where they feast on abundant salal (Gaultheria shallon), Cascara buckthorn (Frangula purshiana), and even poison oak huckleberries during the fall. Photo by Stephen (Toxicodendron diversilobum) become occasional epiphytes in the same manner. Even large- Sillett, Humboldt State University seed trees such as tanoak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus), bay laurel (Umbellularia californica), hazel (Corylus cornuta), and chinquapin (Chrysolepis chrysophylla) occasionally make the redwood canopy home thanks to enterprising animals. Wind gives conifers a lift into the redwood canopy. Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), Douglas fir (Pseudostuga menziesii), and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) are typically large-canopy trees themselves in the coast redwood forest, but these species have also been discovered growing as epiphytes. One remarkable epiphytic Sitka spruce found rooted in a coast redwood was itself harboring several species of moss and lichen that have never been found to grow directly on coast redwoods (both epiphytic moss and lichen exhibit strong preference in their choice of host trees). Talk about a super-epiphyte! Discoveries like these push us one step closer to understanding this iconic forest and what it will take to protect it for future generations. What we know for sure is that it takes a mighty tree to support such wide-ranging flora on its branches. When I come across dislodged epiphytes while hiking, I am grateful to have a peek into the vertical gardens overhead.

Colorful lichen festoon redwood branches of old trees. Photo by Stephen Sillett, Humboldt State University

32 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Wind lowin’ in the ind… all may be the season when many plants die America up to half of all allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, results from or enter a period of dormancy, but for anyone sensitivity to ragweed. It’s worth noting that pollens are not the who suffers from wind-borne pollens it is also only allergens that induce allergic reactions in the fall; dust and a prime time for certain allergies. In the spring, mold spores buried in autumn leaves also fill the air. pines, cottonwoods, and other trees release Regardless of the season, wind pollination, known in the pollen in huge quantities that clog air filters, literature as anemophily, is the preferred means of transport for a including our human lungs. In fall, howev- variety of plant pollens. Many grains—wheat, rice, rye, oats, corn, er, the wind-borne pollen of ragweed (about 50 species, from the and barley—that are grown for worldwide consumption depend on genusF Ambrosia in the aster family) is the most widespread cause of anemophily. Conifers, grasses, and some nut trees also rely on wind allergic reactions. According to the WebMD site, 75% of people pollination for survival. And while some plants are fine with long- who are allergic to tree pollens are also allergic to ragweed. In North distance pollinating travel, others prefer their pollination closer

Above: Milkweed (Asclepias). Photo by Barbara Tufﬂi

Left: Maple (Acer palmatum). Photo by Barbara Tufﬂi

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 33 Wind

to home. Certain plants in the walnut family, for instance, will pollination that is a model of artful technique. The next time you not produce nuts unless male and female trees are planted in close take a walk in a wooded area graced with maples, stop to study proximity. their fruit, called samaras, which are papery, wing-shaped seed How does one tell if wind is a plant’s secret to success? pockets that spin and dip as they float through the air. The seeds Catkins—cylindrical flowers clustered along stems that are often are dislodged and dispersed as they crash ever so lightly to the leafless—are good indicators. Most catkin-bearing plants, such ground. as alders (Alnus) and hazel (Corylus), both in the birch family Despite the beauty of some catkins, wind-pollinated plants (Betulaceae), rely on wind for pollination. The catkins (from the are not known for showy flowers, fragrance, or the production of Dutch word for “kitty,” whose fluffy tails they often resemble) tend nectar. Consider the non-flowering (gymnosperms) grasses and to form in the fall and are ripe for pollination by late winter or conifers. Compared to flowering plants (angiosperms) and perhaps early spring. The maple family (Aceraceae) enjoys a form of wind by way of compensation for their lack of competitively alluring

Above: Common Thistle (Cirsium). Photo by Alice Thomas

Right: Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia). Photo by Janice Lynn, Lady Bird Johnson Wildﬂower Center

34 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Wind

color and fragrance, they produce larger quantities of lightweight the gymnosperms. The ability of flowering plants to grow quickly pollen that is more or less dumped and scattered by wind over long allows them to be the pioneer flora in many environments. distances. In this way, spreading the wealth, so to speak, hedging Their promoters are the many insects that do their bidding. (The their bets, they naturally increase their chances of successful exception to this evolutionary tale is the conifers, which remain fertilization. dominant in colder regions and at higher altitudes.) In some respects, the history of angiosperms and gymnosperms In the end, the movement of plant pollen by wind results in begins to resemble the periods of a geological survey. After ferns, a certain lack of precision—and the potentially happy surprise which have no seeds or flowers, gymnosperms were the first major of plants popping up in the most unexpected places. A minute group of plants to emerge in the landscape. Angiosperms arose proportion of wind-driven pollen actually lands on a suitably soon afterward, however, and their more advanced tissues and receptive target. Everything else is blowin’ in the wind. adaptive talents, leading to greater diversity, quickly displaced —Catherine Allan, Seattle GC, Zone XII

Above: Dandelion (Taraxacum). Photo by Alice Thomas

Left: Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) with seeds from Fremont’s cottonwood (Populous fremontii). Photo by Alice Thomas

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 35 Conservation

reservation of the interrelatedness of our actions and natural world was the natural world. We can educate Pa founding concept ourselves by visiting our of the GCA. After the watersheds, water treatment Industrial Revolution and the plants, recycling centers, introduction of automobiles, organic farms, and nature the founders watched the centers. By doing this we can building of highways, the become even more aware of proliferation of billboards, the consequences in our the worsening of air quality, daily lives, like turning on and the deterioration of urban and rural the water faucet, switching on the lights, areas. In a novel approach at the dawn of the 20th driving the car, fertilizing the garden, and shopping century, these women formed clubs as a way to for food. Each of these routine activities does have have a voice in positively influencing their own an effect on climate change. communities. We are thankful to these founding Personal and daily “little steps,” which we can members, as they left a healthier and more accomplish in many ways with our clubs, are as beautiful world for us. important as big ones. A full list of ideas, programs, Today we are experiencing impacts of climate and activities is posted on the GCA website. We change and can turn to our clubs to help us challenge you not only to Step UP!—but also to understand and take action. The Conservation and be creative, joining other committees or even your NAL Committees define the issues related to the community, and having fun in the process. GCA mission and encourage all club members to The Conservation and NAL Committees ask “Step UP!” It is our turn to act and to leave this you to Step UP!—because every step we take makes planet a better place for future GCA club members, a difference. Don’t forget to register your steps on as well as our children, grandchildren, and country. the Conservation Showcase. Well into the second decade of this century, —Missy Jensen, GCA Conservation Committee Chairman, Carmel-by-the-Sea GC, Zone XII and Linda Fraser, GCA NAL we better understand ecosystems and the Committee Chairman, Southampton GC, Zone III

36 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Conservation STEP UP! with GCA Conservation and NAL Committees | 2016-2017

STEP UP! STEP UP! with your Club at Home STEP UP! STEP UP! with your Community QStep UP! with another GCA QShop locally and buy organic in the Garden club products QStep UP! with local government QStudy your natural environment QTurn a regular meeting into a QTurn off the lights and use QTry out a Step UP! program at a QTake a step back, and think about green or zero waste meeting energy-efﬁcient bulbs seniors’ residence, a school, or the health of your garden with a youth group QEducate members with a mini- QEducate yourself about QEnrich your soil and mulch NAL meeting ingredients in household QEducate your community with a products and cosmetics QPlant at least 20% native and symposium or work project QPlan a ﬁeld trip, luncheon, or pollinator plants in your garden evening event with a Step UP! QPut shopping bags back in QPartner with another organization theme your car QUse organic products and shop and Step UP! together at local nurseries QUnderstand your carbon QUnplug chargers when not in use QUnderstand legislation that footprint, and do something QPlant more vegetables, herbs, relates to your region Q Pedal, walk, and consider about it fruits, and trees purchasing an electric or hybrid QPromote healthy food QPartner with a park vehicle

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 37 Partners for Plants Wind’s Dispersal of Seeds

Judy Cunningham of CBTSGC collecting soft rush Hillsborough GC members removing invasive sea seeds (Juncus effusus). Photo by Katie Pofahl lavender. Photo by Joni Amaroli

erhaps Sandburg’s “money” to restore habitats across the country Who can ever forget in this evocative poem refers in environments as varied as wetlands, to the seeds that the wind prairies, freshwater shorelines, forests, listening to the wind go by P jingles from the pockets of mountains, and coastal areas. These plants to sprinkle over the projects combine both conservation and land. Anemochory, the dispersal of seeds horticultural work by restoring habitat, counting its money by wind, is one of the ways a plant sends monitoring endangered plants, and its seeds out into the world. Seeds might collecting native seeds for propagation. float far on the breeze or flutter and spin Many P4P projects are working to and throwing it away? for short distances. When wind bends reestablish native grasses, which depend on —from ˝wind song˝ stems, the seeds are dumped out of their the wind for pollination and seed dispersal. by carl sandburg pods. Native plants depend on various Because of development, overgrazing, strategies for the dispersal of seeds, but and competition from non-native species, the critical point comes once those seeds coastal prairies are among the most have landed: native plants need hospitable critically endangered habitats in California. (native) habitat. Humans have disrupted Carmel-by-the-Sea GC is restoring native the environment, but human intervention grasses to upland prairies and marshlands can also benefit it by helping to restore along the Elkhorn Slough, which flows land to a state that is supportive of native into Monterey Bay. The goal here is to flora and fauna. conserve the estuarine watershed, help The Partners for Plants (P4P) program prevent erosion, sequester carbon, and was created in the 1990s as the GCA’s replant native grasses. response to increasing threats to the Five Zone XII Bay Area clubs— survival of native plants and habitats on Carmel-by-the-Sea, Hillsborough, Marin, public land. This year P4P, a joint initiative Orinda, Piedmont, and Woodside- of the Conservation and Horticulture Atherton—have formed “Bay Visions,” committees, is enrolling 45 projects committed to restoring the bays and

38 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Partners for Plants

Ginny McCanse and Westport GC members Ironweed and tiger swallowtail at Jerry Smith Milkweed (Asclepias). Photo by Barbara Tufﬂi processing collected milkweed seeds. Photo by Native Prairie Park. Photo by Tom Schroeder Kathy Gates estuaries around San Francisco. Last July, stage, it must be available for egg-laying least 6,000 years. Twenty years ago, at 22 garden club members from the Bay along the monarch’s northward migratory Coyote Point, Hillsborough GC members Visions alliance spent a day at Elkhorn path from over-wintering grounds in replanted pickleweed, which thrived. Last Slough removing invasive weeds; pruning Mexico and California. Overuse of March, club members returned to pull 27 coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis), California chemical herbicides in the ditches and cubic feet of invasive Algerian sea lavender sagebrush (Artemisia californica), and salt edges of farm fields has spelled the end of (Limonium ramosissimum)—which reduces grass (Distichlis spicata); and harvesting much of the milkweed in the Midwest. soil salinity by taking up and excreting salt common rush (Juncus effusus) seeds for P4P projects in Missouri, Iowa, and through glands in the inflorescence, which future planting. Nebraska are collecting seeds to propagate are then free to break off and blow away— Another native grass, little bluestem and replant native milkweeds. and opposite-leaf Russian thistle (Salsola (Schizachyrium scoparium), is found at Zone VI’s Georgetown GC is also soda). Both are a direct threat to the area’s several P4P locations. The Founders GC attempting to replenish monarch habitat, ecology. of Dallas reports that the deep roots of specifically through its restoration of English poet Christina Rossetti wrote this important range grass help stabilize meadows in Dumbarton Oaks Park simply, “Who has seen the wind? Neither the steep slopes. Fluffy white seed heads in Washington, DC. In the course of you nor I…” But in fact we all see it in form all summer and fall and are dispersed this work, members found a rare green the patterns of a waving sea of grasses, by wind and by birds, which eat the seeds milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora), which in monarchs dancing across a field, and and use the fluff as nesting material. The they will monitor while reintroducing in maple tree helicopters and elm tree blooms are fertilized by wind as well as by such common native plants as asters samaras moving gustily throughout the native bees. (Symphyotrichum), goldenrods (Solidago), landscape. In some areas milkweed (from the and black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)— —Sharon Blackburn, Asclepiadaceae family) is found among all having seed dispersed by wind. Loveland GC, Zone XI native grasses. Its seeds, tightly packed Some non-native invasive plants are into pods called follicles, are carried on the also spread by wind as they move into plant’s unfolding silky hairs as they float defenseless environments. Pickleweed on the wind. Because milkweed is the sole (Salicornia) has been growing along the food for the monarch butterfly’s caterpillar shoreline of San Francisco Bay for at

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 39 Clubs Taking Action

Along the Hudson’s western bank, mile-long trains with up to 120 tank cars can carry roughly 85,000 barrels of oil to reﬁneries in New Jersey. The trains’ outdated tank cars have been likened to ticking time bombs. Photo by Matt Kierstead

Philipstown Garden Club: Sponsoring an emit benzene, a Group 1 human carcinogen. Long-term exposure, defined by the Environmental Forum CDC as only days or weeks, can damage the central nervous system, kidneys, The Philipstown Garden Club blazed a new trail last spring by sponsoring a public and liver. An industry move to fast-track NYS permits for heating tar-sands oil (to forum about the transport of crude oil in New York State’s Hudson Valley. Among facilitate its transfer to river-connected transport) at the Port of Albany is currently the 70 people in attendance were members of Ulster County GC, Millbrook GC, on hold due to legal challenges by a coalition led by Earthjustice. GC of Orange and Dutchess Counties, and the GC of Irvington-on-Hudson. We Rail commerce is controlled by the federal government, but the Riverkeep- learned about the dangers of moving shale-imbedded Bakken oil from North Da- er-led panel suggested that citizens have several avenues of recourse, such as kota, Montana, and Canada through the Hudson Valley via barge, rail, and pipeline insisting on better spill-response plans and rigorous third-party inspections of in- to refineries in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. frastructure. Attention was also brought to an oil-assurance bill passed in the NY Paul Gallay, president of Hudson Riverkeeper, spoke about risks to State Assembly that has stalled in a state senate sub-committee. Relieving the river’s ecosystem, which supports 200 species of fish as well as taxpayer burdens, this bill would increase the liabilities of fossil fuel and drinking water northward from Poughkeepsie. Audrey Friedrichsen, transport companies from the current minimum to total damages a Scenic Hudson Inc. land use attorney, discussed the proposed Philipstown resulting from inadequate rail systems. Pilgrim Pipeline, which would run along both sides of the New Garden Club Pipelines are less visible than railcars and barges, which is York State Thruway between the capital at Albany and Linden, Zone III why their spills are often larger and go undetected longer. Be- NJ. Jennifer Metzger, co-director of Citizens for Local Power, Garrison, NY tween 2003 and 2013, when far fewer pipelines existed in the addressed alternative green-energy options. Co-sponsors of the US, leaks of 44 million gallons of oil caused 26 fatalities and $2.5 program included Catskill Mountain Keeper, Hudson River Sloop billion in property damage. The proposed Pilgrim Pipeline would Clearwater, and Hudson Highlands Land Trust, among others. carry crude oil southward and refined products northward, crossing As recently as 2011 the transport of crude oil along the Hudson River, a state parks and private farmland as well as the Hudson River and numerous National Heritage Area, was nonexistent. Today, with scant public awareness and tributaries, sources of drinking water for millions of people. The 2010 pipeline a notable absence of environmental-impact studies, about 200 tank cars travel rupture that defiled Michigan’s Kalamazoo River and adjacent land for 35 miles is daily over outdated bridges and train tracks, mere feet from the river in places. A one of many cautionary tales. A grassroots movement has already led two dozen permit currently in effect allows 2.8 billion gallons of crude to be transferred from municipalities along the proposed route to oppose Pilgrim Pipeline’s construction. railcars to barges and tankers at the Port of Albany for transport downriver. PGC is proud to have taken a public stand on our environmental concerns. The Residents are eager for facts via forums like PGC’s. Bakkan crude oil is espe- GCA’s Position Papers on protecting our environment gave us both the incentive cially flammable due to its high levels of methane, butane, propane, and other and goal for this forum: to educate and empower members of our garden clubs hydrocarbons. Tar-sands oil, a stew of toxic VOCs (volatile organic compounds), is and communities. denser, dirtier, and nearly impossible to remove once it sinks to a riverbed. Both —JoAnn Brown, Philipstown GC, Zone III

40 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Clubs Taking Action

Formal garden at Meadowbrook Farm. Photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Huntingdon Valley Garden Club: Perpetuating main; clipped hedges and topiaries are a hallmark. Pennock fashioned the Legacy of Meadowbrook Farm the gardens as outdoor rooms that connect with each other in much In the midst of Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, lies Meadowbrook the same way a house is designed. The gardens as well as the Farm. Just north of Philadelphia, the estate of the late Liddon Pen- Cotswold-style house are open to the public. In addition, the Green- nock, Jr. and his wife Alice was built in the 1930s. Pennock, a for- house is a source for indoor and outdoor plants and garden acces- mer president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and sories. the Philadelphia Flower Show, was an influential figure in horticulture HVGC members not only provide volunteer support at Meadowbrook and floral design. The Pennocks perfected the gardens that surrounded their Farm, but the club also sponsors summer interns who bring a myriad back- home. In 1977, they added the Greenhouse, a retail and education center that grounds and experiences to the property—from landscape architecture to en- gave Liddon an opportunity to share his love of horticulture and design vironmental science and horticulture. Director Jenny Rose Carey, a mem- with a whole new audience. Today, Meadowbrook Farm remains ber of the Garden Club of Philadelphia, is a long-time educator and the Pennocks’ garden legacy. After Liddon’s death in 2003, it Huntingdon former director at Temple University’s Ambler Arboretum. She became a nonprofit affiliate of the PHS at his bequest. Valley Garden believes that those who love horticulture, including members The challenge, however, was to help Meadowbrook Farm Club of the HVGC, have a responsibility to train the next genera- transition from a private home and garden into a sizable pub- Zone V tion of horticulturists. “I am so grateful to HVGC for helping lic resource for all who are interested in horticulture. Alice Huntingdon sponsor our summer interns,” she says. “HVGC members are Herkness Pennock was a beloved member of the Huntingdon Valley, PA involved with so many aspects of what we are doing here. Valley Garden Club, and from the very beginning, club members Their support makes such a positive difference.” Matt Rader, treasured this resource. It was a place for advice, for inspiration, president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, agrees: “Our for education, for plants, for forcing exhibits at the Philadelphia Flower partnership with Huntingdon Valley Garden Club provides us with the Show, for “gardening chat,” and for peaceful strolls. Once the property tran- strong volunteer and financial support we need to make Meadowbrook the sitioned to the PHS, members stepped in and took on projects such as dec- best it can be.” orating the Pennock home for open houses, and making terrariums, holiday HVGC is proud to be associated with the Pennsylvania Horticultural So- baskets and other items for sale in the shop and at the Philadelphia ciety in supporting Meadowbrook Farm, one of the crown jewels of Flower Show. Those traditions continue today. Philadelphia. Meadowbrook Farm today comprises 25 acres, much of it —Joie Smith, Huntingdon Valley Garden Club, Zone V woodland. About 15 of the original Pennock-designed gardens re-

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 41 Clubs Taking Action

Zen garden. Photo by Pam Mahoney

Indianapolis’s Garden Walk: Enhancing the projects have aided urban farming, plantings along the Glick Cultural City’s Gardens and Public Spaces Trail, and reintroduction of native pollinator plants at a Nature Dappled sunlight and over 400 varieties of hosta welcomed visitors Conservancy property in Indianapolis. to one of the glorious gardens chosen for the Indianapolis Garden IGC has developed criteria for the grant process as well as Club’s 2016 Garden Walk. In its 21st year, this annual event is the the distribution of funds. The scope of projects is as varied as the harbinger of summer for the 600-plus attendees. Five selected gardens that have produced their funding. Astute business practices gardens range from vast estate gardens replete with fountains, pools, over the years have made the funding mechanism more accountable, and statuary to simpler gardens tended to lovingly by their owners. Whether ensuring that hard-earned dollars are going exactly where they have been a garden is large or small, there is always an “it” factor that separates these designated. gardens from the typical backyard expanse and brings visitors back year after Nine of the beautiful gardens that participated in previous Garden Walks year. have also been documented through the GCA’s Garden History & Design The Garden Walk was the result of a round table discussion on Committee for the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens. fundraising at a GCA Annual Meeting years ago. IGC members This process of honoring such living gems guarantees that generations to come may marvel at their beauty. Mary Rogers and Hilary Salatich listened intently and soon Indianapolis Immediate past Garden Walk chairman Mary Grein says the saw a possibility when a local private school suspended its Garden Club heart of the event is the committee and the garden owners spring house tour. The club envisioned a one-day tour of ﬁve Zone X who generously allow their properties to be showcased. All spectacular gardens as well as lunch at the historic Woodstock Indianapolis, IN Club. The ﬁrst Garden Walk was launched 20 years ago and work in harmony, much like Mother Nature, to ensure that the proved to be a successful formula to emulate. next event will dazzle and delight. With such a lengthy history, IGC has donated close to $500,000 —Betsy Bosway, Indianapolis Garden Club, Zone X to the greater Indianapolis community. IGC’s funding has supported a variety of projects, such as the Sky Farm atop Eskenazi Health (Bulletin, Top: Climbing roses. Photo by Emerson Houck Winter 2015), Conner Prairie Wetlands Restoration, and the preservation Bottom: Magnolia blossom. Photo by Emerson Houck of historic gardens at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. New

42 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 GCA Scholar The GCA’S 2007 Chatham Fellowship Winner Today: a Medical Phenomenon

winner of the GCA’s Chatham Fellowship Cassandra Quave, in 2007, has a boundless passion for ethnobotany, the systemic study of the relationship between people and plants. Much of her enthusiasm is devoted to teaching researchers to fight life-threatening infections. Dr. Quave’s curiosity for science developed early; when she was three her right leg was amputated due to a birth defect followed by a bacterial infection. Her childhood curiosity led to science-fair projects focusing on bacteria, and later in college she concentrated on ethnobotany. Dr. Quave received the GCA’s award during a crucial period of her doctoral research. The award enabled her to study more than one hundred different medicinal plants that she collected in Italy. As a graduate student at Florida International University, she began to analyze theirthei effectiveness in treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium thatthat causes an infection resistant to antibiotics. Stressing the importance of scholarships to support her field of study, Dr. Quave nonotest that funding is limited and every dollar helps students. She is concerned that bbotanyot courses and entire departments are being eliminated. “Historically, botanists hhaveav played key roles in drug discovery, crop development, biodiversity conservation, anandd ecological monitoring. At a time when humankind is facing some of the biggest sscientificci hurdles, ranging from climate change, food and water insecurity, antibiotic reresistance,s and chronic disease, we need to train more botanists to contribute to ththese research efforts,” according to Dr. Quave. Dr. Quave says botanists are needed to continue to build the foundations ththat validate traditional medicine and understand how those remedies work. Her rresearche shows that traditional medicines help, not by killing bacteria, but by mmaking them more susceptible to antibiotics. For example, extract of elm leaf bblackberry (Rubus ulmifolius) is routinely used in southern Italy to treat skin

Above: Cassandra Quave at 3 years old, in the hospital following the amputation of her right leg

Right: On top of Montagna Grande on the island of Pantelleria, Sicily, where Dr. Quave worked with Italian collaborators to document the wild food and medicinal plants of the island

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 43 GCA Scholar

infections,inf but recent study has discovered that the roots are especially eeffectiveff at blocking the formation of biofilm byStaphylococcus aureus, wwhichh enables antibiotics to have greater potency in treatment. Recently awarded a pilot grant from the Emory University Winship CCancer Institute, Dr. Quave will head a project to screen 800 plant ssamplesa that might lead to an effective treatment for melanoma. Dr. Quave’s passion for teaching extends to people of all ages. She rrecently led a group of undergraduates on a plant-collecting field trip in Florida. Knowledge about food security, seed collecting, plant names and uses, preserving traditional plant lore, and teaching children to understand where their food comes from are important parts of her educational message. Dr Quave says that her three young children also are teachers among their peers! —Kathy Keller, Akron Garden Club, Zone X

About Dr. Quave

Cassandra L. Quave, PhD, holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor of Dermatology, Emory University School of Medicine and Emory Center for the Study of Human Health. She also serves as curator of the Emory University Herbarium and as associated faculty with the departments of Biology, Environmental Sciences, and Anthropology at Emory. Dr. Quave is a member of the Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics research program at Winship Cancer Institute and Emory University Antibiotic Resistance Center, where she serves on the training faculty. She also teaches two graduate programs at Emory: Molecular and Systems Pharmacology and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. TopTLft Left: DDr. Quave Q iinvestigates ti t the th chemical h i l makeup k and d bibioactivity ti it of f medicinal di i l plants l t iin hher EEmory laboratory

Bottom: Dr. Quave worked with collaborators at the University of Prishtina to lead a ﬁeld training course in ethnobotany in Kosovo. Here she is pictured with students and local residents

44 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 GCA Proﬁles Meet Kayo Bregy: Granddaughter of the GCA’s First President

granddaughter of the GCA’s first What special memories president was awe-inspiring. And do you have about your that was just the beginning of my garden club? appreciation for this dynamic, Garden club member Louise Bush-Brown imaginative, and forward-thinking got us started on a window box project. lady. Our club wanted to do some work in an underprivileged neighborhood in What can you tell me Philadelphia. We selected several blocks of about your grandmother? houses, and made arrangements with the owners to create window boxes for their I remember every Sunday my sister homes. They built the boxes, and we came and I visited my grandparents. My in with tools, soil, and plants to complete grandmother was often busy at her desk the projects. The effect was beautiful and dictating, writing, or working for various so gratifying. organizations. She first organized the Garden Club of Philadelphia, and then Finally, what do you The Garden Club of America. When WWI value the most? began, she and eight friends organized the Artist, philanthropist, dedicated I value honesty, charity, and gratitude. Emergency Aid Society of Pennsylvania, community volunteer, wife, and And, it’s important to have goals, whether and helped reactivate the Pennsylvania Red they are physical or mental. Do not mother, Kayo Bregy has been a Cross. My grandmother always seemed fear failure…it’s inevitable to growth. I member of Four Counties Garden so important, and that impressed me. I value my family dearly and nature. Most Club for 64 years. The fact that her also remember our sitting together in her important is faith. garden and just talking. Her garden was grandmother was Elizabeth Price —Susan E. Townend, Four Counties filled with delphiniums and boxwood. I Martin, the GCA’s first president, Garden Club, Zone V makes her a living treasure in the still love the smell of boxwood. annals of GCA history. How did you become Kayo studied at the prestigious interested in horticulture Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine and art? Arts, and painting remains her My mother, Marion Rivinus, was president passion. Her portraits of prominent of Four Counties Garden Club. She and Pennsylvania judges hang in the my father are two people I most admire. capitol building in Harrisburg They both inspired in me a love of nature, and elsewhere in the state. She horticulture, and art. While gardening is continues to evolve as an artist and a joy, painting became my passion. And has recently developed a new style I combined the two by painting many background scenes for our garden club’s that reinterprets her earlier realistic exhibits at the Philadelphia Flower Show. paintings in an abstract style. On a recent morning on the outskirts of Philadelphia, I had the privilege of meeting with Kayo Bregy. Spending time with the Kayo’s painting of her mother, Marion Rivinus

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 45 GCA Proﬁles MaryEllen O’Brien: A Well-Designed Life

What is your do design some contemporary styles background and training with the minimal use of plant material, in design? I grew up in the country I do like abundance—a profusion of in western Massachusetts, surrounded by flowers, plenty of color and contrast. many acres of open land. It was a carefree My strong suit is mass designs. childhood that gave me the chance to learn and practice gardening and floral design. I Tell me about your began arranging flowers at a very early age. website? I have designed I was about ten when my mother gave me several websites, including my club’s. a Japanese kenzan, which is a metal spiky After speaking to many novice floral frog used in ikebana arrangements—in designers, I realized they were an those days there was no floral foam to keep under-served group. Generally floral stems in place. I was not allowed to cut design magazines are written for flowers out of my mom’s gardens in those advanced designers about the latest early years, so I learned with wildflowers techniques—not really user-friendly and weeds. Eventually, she softened her for beginners who struggle with the rules and let me cut from her perennial basics and are timid about entering gardens. I guess that I passed her test. flower shows. I just wanted to help Later, I studied both fine arts and graphic increase confidence levels. art design in college. Sculpture courses certainly laid the foundation for my later work. Today I sculpt with flowers MaryEllen O’Brien, this year’s instead of wood or stone. recipient of the Katharine Thomas What is your Cary Medal for her outstanding design achievement in floral design experience? education, is best described as one of Your the GCA’s most cherished teachers. personal As a member of the Lenox Garden style? I Club (Zone I), she has received a started as a staggering number of GCA and other part-time floral designer in a small awards recognizing her significant shop. I was then contributions to floral design. A asked to manage a GCA judge and former editor of By new local endeavor Design, MaryEllen has served on that was being both club and national committees. planned with an eye She has dedicated much of her life to cutting-edge modern styles, allowing me to teaching aspiring floral designers to be as creative as through her workshops, programs, possible. Eventually blog, and website with its companion I decided I wanted magazine, appropriately called to open my own “Flower Show Flowers.” business. Even though I

46 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 GCA Proﬁles

What made you create What motivates you? I What is your vision for a blog, website, and would like everyone to have successes in the GCA and your club? magazine devoted to floral design. My courses are extremely The future of all garden clubs and the GCA ﬂower show ﬂowers? informative and offer a hands-on approach is with our younger generations. Teaching Electronic media gave me the best in a non-threatening way with lots of positive school-age children about horticulture opportunity to reach the greatest number of reinforcement. Spreading the word about and gardening can enlighten and inspire. people. I hoped these formats would offer floral design is a passion of mine. Through We can hope that these young minds will insights and ideas to those who wanted to my participation in so many flower shows, remember their experiences and consider take their hobby to the next level. I was whether as a judge or a competitor, I have joining a garden club later in life. Garden interested in including tips on the basics, met the most incredible women in the GCA. club members need to bring their daughters information on flower show preparations, The friendships and camaraderie continually into our clubs as well. Younger people are the and plenty of photos to inspire. motivate me to help others. lifeblood of the organization and its clubs.

You have received so You have been very Why do garden clubs many GCA awards. To involved in your club matter? Garden clubs connect us to what do you attribute and on the national GCA the land, horticulture, preservation, and each your creativity? Creativity level. What jobs have other. They allow us the opportunity for comes from thinking beyond the expected. If you enjoyed the most? I friendships within our clubs and throughout you usually see a vase or some other structure found the Flower Show Committee to be the the country. If you are asked to do a job standing upright, think about placing it in most rewarding. (No surprise, I guess!) While beyond the scope of your local club—I another position. Do something surprising. on this committee I worked closely with cannot say this strongly enough—never Most importantly, do not be afraid. some wonderful like-minded members—all say no. A job on the national level is so Experiment. Try new approaches. Do things as passionate as I am. It was just a treat to rewarding. that please you. And don’t give up. Keep be part of this committee as a Zone I rep, as —Gina Brandt, Hancock Park GC, Zone XII trying, no matter what some may say about editor of By Design magazine, and now as a your work. schedule reader.

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 47 Bella Italia! Enchanting Tuscany Visiting Gardens Travelogue

by Beth Murphy and Carol Hanks, The Monroe Garden Study League, Zone XI

Being a member of a GCA club has its perks and privileges, but the pièce de résistance is the Visiting Gardens Committee’s international trips. The GCA has long-reaching arms, and on the May 2016 “Enchanting Italy” trip, we were allowed access to many extraordinary places that are off-limits to other visitors, and we travelled with the best guides in the business. We dined in an abbey, in palaces, villas, and castles, and were hosted by the owners, most of whom were descendants of the original resident aristocratic families. We were entertained royally! Our tours of gardens were equally grand, often led by the villa owners and sometimes the landscape designers who created or restored them. The public parts of our trip— the Ufﬁzi Gallery in Florence, for example—were just as superlative. We were deftly whisked out of long lines to back corridors and secret passages for private viewings of paintings, statuary, and other precious works of art. If you ever have an opportunity to join a Visiting Gardens trip, do. You’ll never regret it!

48 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Visiting Gardens

monks, now operates as a country-house agriturismo. We enjoyed lunch at the chic restaurant as well as a tasting of regional wines. The gardens were laid out in the form of the ancient hortulus conclusus (enclosed garden). A box hedge surrounded beds of aromatic and medicinal plants, and pergolas were draped in vines. A bonus was a cooking demonstration by the abbey’s chef, Benedetta Vitali. May 7 Under an octagonal gazebo dripping with wisteria, we had the pleasure of meeting Federico Forquet, the designer-owner of the magnificent Valle Pinciole villa and gardens near the Tuscan border with Umbria. Mazes, pergolas, an herb garden, and a Gertrude Jekyll-style English garden are just some of the elements in this chocked-full landscape. Despite its expanse, many of us felt we could re-create portions in our own gardens. La Foce is in a class by itself! A converted farmhouse and now A major “wow” moment of our trip was the four-course luncheon hosted a serene B&B, it overlooks the Val d’Orcia in southern Tuscany. by Contessa Cesarina Pannocchieschi d’Elci in her elegant apartment We began our afternoon with lunch, hosted by owner Marchesa overlooking the piazza in Siena. The food and hospitality were equally as Benedetta Origo, followed by a tour of her villa and garden. The memorable. All 30 of us were seated at one table! Photo by John Bermel landscape is boldly dramatic, with boxwood parterres, a long May 4 We arrived in Florence early, to sunny skies. We were soon spirited away in small groups, traveling as if in a picture-perfect postcard of the Tuscan countryside, beginning our Italian journey in the medieval city of Siena. After getting acclimated our group gathered for cocktails and a fabulous four-course dinner at our hotel—a 17th century palazzo, the Grand Hotel Continental. The chef’s dessert was the hit of the night—a beautiful arrangement of tiramisu garnished with, among other items, a yellow delectable eventually identified as a physalis, commonly known as a cape gooseberry. Our adventure had begun! May 5 Our first official day began with a walking tour of Siena, a forti- fied, walled city and a UNESCO World Heritage site. We toured the Piazza Il Campo, one of Europe’s greatest medieval squares; the Duomo, the city’s c. 1215 cathedral; and the Museo dell’Opera and Baptistery, which house works by some of Italy’s great Early Renais- sance artists. Our guides made our experience in Siena truly memorable. The gardens at Badia a Coltibuono, an 11th century stone abbey, features geometrical boxwood hedges around medicinal and aromatic plants, and is May 6 an important early example of a Tuscan garden. The pool in the center and the Today we headed into the Chianti countryside. Badia a Coltibuono, surrounding hardscape are pietra serena, gray sandstone used extensively in a beautiful stone abbey founded in 1051 by an order of Benedictine the architectural and building details of Renaissance Florence.

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 49 Visiting Gardens

Roses and clipped box hedges deﬁne this garden at Villa Capponi. Views of the Arno Valley and Florence in the distance are stunning.

1995 and began work on a garden he always envisioned would be accessible to anyone who wanted to visit. The result is a very The gardens at La Foce with its serpentine switch-back drive of Italian cypress in the hills beyond. Rumor has it the cypress were planted speciﬁcally for personal landscape, where his sculptures and plantings seamlessly their impact. The villa at this 15th century estate was restored by the Origos share space. who hired British landscape architect Cecil Pinsent to design the gardens. The property remains in the Origo family. Photo by John Bermel. May 9 We made our way to Florence. All three gardens on our itinerary offered magnificent views over the city. Villa Bardini’s long- wisteria-strung pergola, and a wildflower garden. We all loved the abandoned garden, which dates from the 13th century, has lemon garden, adorned by boxwood trimmed into spherical shapes. undergone a major restoration under the stewardship of landscape Among other features were a rose garden with lavender, travertine- architect Mariachiara Pozzana, who was also our guide, showing us marble hardscaping, and urns and statuary. We also learned that the beautiful climbing roses, a grotto, and fountains. Next was lunch marchesa’s parents protected wounded soldiers and orphans during at Villa Suor Maria Celeste, the home of Marchesa Vittoria Gondi, World War II. president of the Garden Club of Florence. Her spectacular property had once been a convent where Galileo’s daughter lived. Next May 8 our group visited Villa Capponi—one of our favorites—the lawn Today we visited Pienza, birthplace of Pope Pius II. A charming, descending in terraces to an immaculate parterre of boxwood and Renaissance town, Pienza is a cluster of winding streets lined with lemon trees. small shops and restaurants. Bullet holes peppered the outer walls of the town’s cathedral and around the plaza—a reminder of World May 10 War II. Our group was lucky enough to be present for Pienza’s annual The gardens of Fiesole, a town northeast of Florence, were our flower festival, where vendors were selling everything for the garden. destination today. The site for Villa Le Balze was developed in the We spent the afternoon at a contemporary garden designed by early 20th century and eventually donated to Georgetown University American Sheppard Craige: Il Bosco della Ragnaia in San Giovanni as an international academic center. The gardens consist of many d’Asso. Craige, an artist, bought 15 acres of woodland here in small “rooms,” all arranged in a very natural progression. We could

50 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Visiting Gardens

architect Geoffrey Jellico—are its centuries-old cypress hedge and terraced gardens with extraordinary views of the Arno Valley and the rooftops and towers of Florence. The property was almost destroyed during World War II, but, using old prints, photographs, and maps, Marcello Marchi, who bought the property in the 1950s and in whose family it remains, was able to complete its meticulous restoration. May 11 Despite cloudy skies and a few sprinkles in the morning, the sun won out for our afternoon visit with Marchesa Elena Torrigiani at her beautiful Villa Torrigiani, where we also enjoyed a lovely lunch. The marchesa is an elegant woman—gracious, warm, and brimming with hospitality. The garden, said to be the largest private garden in Europe, was an important botanical garden in the 16th century, then redesigned in the 18th century in the English-garden style. May 12 Our last full day in Italy! No trip to Tuscany is complete without visits to the Uffizi Gallery and the Boboli Gardens, two iconic Florentine destinations. At the Uffizi we were treated to a private tour of the Vasari Corridor, which connects the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Piti and then joins the Uffizi. The Corridor boasts an impressive collection of artists’ self-portraits. The Boboli Gardens,

The courtyard garden at Villa Suor Maria Celeste, home of Marchesa Vittoria once a private Medici retreat, is now a public park and showcases Gondi, president of the Garden Club of Florence, featured gravel paths, long axial vistas, broad gravel avenues, and elegant stone and marble roses, herbs and lemon trees in containers. Photos by the authors unless statues, fountains, and grottoes. We then dashed to Palazzo Corsini, otherwise noted where our hostess, Principessa Giorgiana Corsini, took us on a tour of her fabulous garden. An annual arts and crafts show, Artigianato al Palazzo, happened to be in progress, and it didn’t take long for our only imagine being a student here, studying in this spectacular group to join in the festivities. setting! We were all on our own time during the afternoon, so most Villa La Pietra (c. 1462), now owned by New York University of us spent the hours happily infusing the Italian economy. A Visa and reputedly one of the grandest of all Florentine villas, houses representative called one member of our group just to make sure she paintings, furniture, and decorative art collected by previous owner was the guilty party burning up her credit card! While it cooled off, Arthur Acton. His design of the gardens, also based on the garden we all treated ourselves to pistachio gelati! “room” concept, feature a walled kitchen garden with lemon trees, At our farewell dinner, John Bermel (husband of Lisa, GC vegetables, aromatic flowers, and a theater where Dame Judi Dench of Hartford) surprised us with a fantastic slideshow of our trip has performed. Our guide was Villa La Pietra’s historian Nick on his laptop. The dinner table was beautifully decorated, the Dakin-Eliot, who is the heart and soul of the restoration of the menu enticing and delicious (caprese salad, asparagus risotto with property. His fascinating stories and observations about the business seared sea bass filet, and a fruit tartlet for dessert, all paired with end of maintaining such a grand garden were a tour highlight. outstanding wine selections). The evening was brimming with Our last tour was of Villa Gamberaia in the village of fellowship and camaraderie—the magic ingredients of our incredible

Settignano. Several notable elements of this impressive 17th century Italian adventure. With many new friendships forged and a lifetime villa—a favorite of writer Edith Wharton and the English landscape of memories captured, we declared our trip perfetto!

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 51 Visiting Gardens

Tips to Get a Coveted Spot on a GCA Visiting Gardens Trip tAlways put your name on the Interest List for any GCA trip you may want to join. Send an email to [email protected] with your name, email address, GCA club, and the trip name. tThen watch for the “alert email” with the trip itinerary, trip cost, and date the invitation to register will be emailed. tMAIL your completed registration forms and deposit on the first day. DO NOT DELAY! Priority is based first on the USPS postmarked date. tOnly use USPS! The USPS postmarked date establishes priority. tIf there are more applications received with the first USPS postmarked date than spaces available, there will be a lottery. Those who have gone on two or more trips in the prior two years will receive a lower lottery priority. tStay on the Wait List as people cancel! tAnd be sure to cross your fingers—these trips are amazing! —Betty Snellings, GCA Visiting Gardens Committee Chairman, Ridgefield GC, Zone II

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52 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Trees in America

The Windblown Western Juniper

Photo by Debbie Laverell it and be still until in the time of no rain you hear beneath the dry wind’s commotion in the trees S the sound of ﬂowing water among the rocks, a stream unheard before, and you are where breathing is prayer. —Wendell Berry

The western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) with its distinctive concerns ranchers and environmental professionals alike, as they see bark and often bushy form is an Oregon native that has long been an juniper trees displacing other native vegetation competing for what is inherent part of the state’s open-range landscape. Western juniper seed already a limited supply of water. cones, or cone berries, provide an important winter food source for The destructive proliferation of the western juniper, which some migratory birds as well as native deer, elk, and coyotes. Easy to split refer to as an “invasive,” comes as a result of changes made to the and resistant to rot, the wood of the western juniper burns cleanly, way open grasslands are managed. In the past, Native Americans which made it ideal for firewood, charcoal, corrals, and fence posts. regularly set fire to grasslands to keep them open; today such fires are Today, its lumber finds contemporary uses as paneling, plywood, and considered an obvious threat to homes and livestock. After a century particleboard. of fire suppression, livestock grazing, and climate change, the western While the juniper is one of the trees that helped settle the juniper is increasingly recognized as harmful to both wildlife habitats American West, it is viewed today in more unflattering terms as a good and the economic well-being of rural residents. Proposals to treat or tree gone rogue. Its recent and rapid growth into grasslands in Oregon remove early-stage encroachment of western junipers are currently and other western states is proving to be a very serious threat to native being considered by the Bureau of Land Management and other plants and wildlife. In eastern Oregon, the range of the western juniper governmental agencies. has expanded tenfold from 420,000 acres in 1936; in some parts of the —Louise Van Tartwijk, state, estimates range as high as 9 million acres. This is a situation that Washington GC, Zone II

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 53 Zone Meetings ZoneMeetings

Zone II Gavel Award: Lisa Rosie Jones Horticulture Award: Bermel, GC of Hartford Allison Bourke, Greenwich GC Katherine Pitney Award: Clarissa Willemsen Horticulture Marianne Pollak, Stamford GC Propagation Award: Nancy Flower Show Cannon, Hortulus Awards Best in Show—Horticulture: Marion Thompson Fuller Brown Empie Davis, South County GC Award in Conservation: Elise GCA Novice Award in Bates, Sarah Essig, Sasqua GC Photography: Urling Searle, Ann Lyon Crammond Award: Jane Greenwich GC Cary, Cynthia Rubin, Sasqua GC Photography Creativity Award: Harriet DeWaele Puckett Creativity Ellen Gould, Fairfield GC Award: Patricia Fernandez, Best in Show—Photography: Newport GC Ellen Gould, Fairfield GC Best in Show—Floral Design: Sally Highlights McGovern, Martha Fanelli, • No buses! Five gardens to tour Ann Pavano, Connecticut Valley within walking distance of the A view of the water at the Zone II Meeting in Southport CT GC meeting GCA Novice Award in Awards • Picture perfect setting! Zone II Horticulture: Lisa Bermel, GC of Creative Leadership Award: • Wonderful hospitality! 20 clubs in Connecticut and Hartford Debbie Edwards, GC of • Cozy venues for all events! Rhode Island New Haven Catherine Beattie Medal: Empie Davis, South County GC • Outstanding Conservation Zone Civic Improvement Award: Exhibit! Sound Gardening Garden Club of Hartford June 13-14, 2016 Zone Communications Award: Pequot Library Peggy Moore, Fairfield GC Hosted by Sasqua Garden Club, Zone Conservation Commendation: Southport, CT Connecticut Audubon Society, Chaired by Kate Schmidt, proposed by Sasqua GC Jennifer Smith, Beth Rhame Zone Floral Design Achievement Flower Show chaired by Award: Valerie Mead, Stamford Jennifer Downing, Megan Kelly, GC June Eichbaum, Kate Schmidt, Zone Horticulture Award: Jennifer Beth Rhame Brown, Green Fingers GC Speakers Zone Historic Preservation Commendation: Fairfield Andrew Coté, Silvermine Apiary, Museum and History Center, “Bees without Borders” proposed by Sasqua GC Leslie Lee, Connecticut Fund for the Environment and Save the Zone Judging Award: Lucy Day, Sound, “Update on the State of Hortulus the Sound” Members admiring the lush roses. Photos by Kate Schmidt

54 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Zone Meetings

Laureen Burke (Allyn’s Creek GC), assembling a two sided floral design for Dr. Cornelius Murphy, SUNY ESF, speaking on the history of Onondaga Lake. one of the pedestal classes at the fifty shades of green flower show. Photo by Patty Hale Photo by Sandy Wiley

Geoff Griffiths, GCA Scholar Zone Judging Award: Sue Bullock, Photography Creativity Award: Zone III State University of New York GC of East Hampton Carol Bouyoucos, Bedford GC 23 clubs in New York College of Environmental Science Zone Judging Award: Susan Detjens, Best in Show—Photography: and Forestry, “Engaging Citizen Millbrook GC Kathy de las Heras, Millbrook fifty shades of green Scientists in the Restoration of Zone III Director’s Award: Gail GC Understory Vascular Plant and June 27-29, 2016 Cooke, GC of East Hampton Highlights Pollinator Assemblages” Genesee Grande Hotel • Boat tour on Onondaga Lake Craig Milburn, Honeywell Flower Show Hosted by Syracuse Garden Awards Corporation, “The Cleanup of • Conservation Exhibit: Club, Syracuse, New York Onondaga Lake: Where it Stands Dorothy Vietor Munger Award: “Microbeads in the Water” Chaired by Nan Berger, Today and Plans for the Future” Nancy Ladd, Little GC of Rye • Meeting locations: Syracuse Patty Hale Awards Best in Show—Floral Design: Stage Theater, and the State Flower Show Chaired by Sandy Suzanne Hanson, Rochester GC University of New York College Zone Civic Improvement Award: Wiley, Carol Porter of Environmental Science and Ava Bynum, Educator, proposed by GCA Novice Award in Forestry (SUNY ESF) Speakers Philipstown GC Horticulture: Michelle Buchner, Allyn’s Creek GC • Excellent speakers Dennis Connors, Onondaga Zone Conservation Award: Diane Historical Association, “A Brief Lewis, MD, Bedford GC Catherine Beattie Medal: Rose • The Flower Show History of Onondaga Lake from Marie Maresca, Ulster GC Zone Conservation Commendation: • Tour of Thornden Park Rose the Early 1700s to the Late 19th Cornelius B. Murphy, Jr., PhD, Rosie Jones Horticulture Award: Garden Century” State University of New York College Rusticus GC Cornelius Murphy, State of Environmental Science and Corliss Knapp Engle Horticulture University of New York College Forestry, proposed by Syracuse GC Sweepstakes Award: Allyn’s Creek of Environmental Science and Zone Floral Design Achievement GC Forestry, “Onondaga Lake History Award: Lisa Gerard, Rusticus GC Clarissa Willemsen Horticulture from the Early 20th Century to Propagation Award: Susan the Early 21st Century—A Story Zone Horticulture Award: Ellen Murray, Allyn’s Creek GC of Severe Industrial Pollution and Petersen, Millbrook GC the Subsequent Remediation of Zone Historic Preservation Award: Best in Show—Horticulture: a National and State Superfund Jane Forbes Clark, Lake and Valley Phyllis Schmiedeberg, The Little Site” GC of Cooperstown GC of Rye

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 55 Zone Meetings

Zone Horticulture Commendation: • Experiencing the mountain Teresia M. Hazen, Legacy Health, beauty of Colorado Springs, proposed by The Portland Garden especially Garden of the Gods Club Park Zone Historic Preservation • Broadmoor GC volunteers were Commendation: El Pomar the best—friendly, engaging, Foundation, accepted by and always helpful Thayer Tutt, proposed • Stunning and creative floral by Broadmoor GC arrangements by Broadmoor Zone Photography Award: Marion members were found at every Bottomley, Carmel-by-the-Sea meal and venue GCA President Anne Copenhaver (center) congratulated those receiving GC • The club for the Awards Dinner awards at the Zone XII meeting: Sandy Scott (Zone Horticultural Award), Zone Horticulture Award: Angela was elegant yet intimate—a Marion Bottomley (Zone Photography Award), El Pomar Foundation - Thayer Overy, GC of Denver perfect spot! Tutt (Zone Historic Preservation Commendation), Kay Klunder (Creative Highlights • The signature cocktail at Joan Leadership Award), Dotty Nitta (Zone Floral Design Achievement Award), Donner’s home with its amazing and Anita Elder (Zone Communications Award). Photos by Melani Tutt • Exceptional speakers! views and art • Garden tours of two unique Lauren Springer Ogden, • The inviting Spanish courtyard Zone XII gardens, one a mountain garden horticulturalist, landscape with meadows and an oak forest, and dinner under the stars at 18 clubs in AZ, CA, CO, HI, designer, and author, “Creating the other an English garden in Margot Lane’s exquisite home NM, OR and WA a Beautiful Pollinator-Friendly the tradition of the city’s founders • Planning was exceptional and no Garden” detail was overlooked Pikes Peak or Bloom! BJ Dyer, floral designer and June 21-23, 2016 owner of BOUQUETS, “Cutting Broadmoor Hotel Edge Floral Design—Tips, Hosted by Broadmoor Garden Trends, and Tricks” Club, Colorado Springs, CO Awards Chaired by Kay Klunder, Creative Leadership Award: Jan Baron Kay Klunder, Broadmoor GC Speakers Zone Civic Improvement Dr. Paul Alan Cox, Institute for Commendation: EthnoMedicine, “Ethnobotany Elizabeth McKenney, proposed and a New Approach to ALS and by Pasadena GC Alzheimer’s Disease” Zone Communications Award: Panayoti Kelaidis, Denver Anita Elder, Broadmoor GC Botanic Gardens, “The Great Zone Floral Design Achievement American Non-Desert” Award: Dotty Nitta, The GC of Brian Vogt, Denver Botanic Honolulu Gardens, “How Botanic Gardens Zone Horticulture Award: Can Save the World” Sandy Scott, Woodside-Atherton GC

Patricia Radcliffe (Broadmoor GC) sharing information about the water lilies in her traditional English garden.

56 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Milestones ClubMilestones: Celebrations

Historical Society. The storyboards Thorne Medal for outstanding later traveled to Middletown’s garden design was named; Pearl City Hall and Russell Library, and Chase, Santa Barbara patron were displayed at the Durham and avid conservationist; and Agricultural Fair, Connecticut’s Elvira Doolan, the first GCA largest fair of its kind. president from the west coast To complement the celebration and for whom, in 1993, the of our anniversary members Elvira Broome Doolan Redwood planted 35 trees from the Grove was named. The WWI-era Connecticut River to Wesleyan, “Farmerettes” were also honored. and installed a Blue Star Memorial According to GCA historian By-Way marked on Veterans William Seale, the Farmerettes’ Green and a bench at the work in agriculture to replace Middlesex Land Trust’s Palmer Taylor Preserve. Our centennial Present and past members of the Middletown Garden Club gather to gala was held on April 15, 2015. commemorate the club’s 100th anniversary. Photo by Matt Kabel —Ona McLaughlin

members pooled their money to Zone II buy a Liberty Bond, later cashing Zone XII Middletown it and sending the money to war-torn France for the purchase Garden Club of Garden Club Santa Barbara Middletown, CT of fruit trees. During WWII meetings were held in a central Santa Barbara, CA Founded in 1915 Founded in 1916 Joined the GCA in 1920 location in order to conserve gasoline, and members adjourned Joined the GCA in 1918 Centennial tiered cake created by to fold gauze bandages. Lenore Hughes. Photo by In our 2015 year-long centennial In the early days of our club’s This has been quite a year for the Margaret Prothero celebration, the Middletown life, meetings were held in Garden Club of Santa Barbara, Garden Club revisited its lost manpower was “the most members’ homes and included a with three major events and the past, sharing its story with nationally visible contribution of report of what was in bloom in funding of three community the community and renewing the GCA in the defense effort.” their gardens. The club’s first entry projects to commemorate our relationships with past partners. Following this program, club in a flower show was in 1916, 100-year history. We began with The club’s archives were mercifully members enjoyed songs and and by the 1920s members were a rousing January program/ intact; documents dating to our stories and a 1916 vintage tea. entering the New York Flower skit: “The Way We Were… founding in April 1915 provided For the GCSB’s official April Show on a regular basis. In 1927 Stories from Our Past.” Donning members with a century’s worth birthday party, members were the club hosted a Zone II meeting costumes from different eras, of community service and club transported into a magical wood- that featured a flower show with Centennial Committee members accomplishments. land-themed world at the Santa 60 arrangements. By 1932 the enacted historical scenes with The earliest civic project was Barbara Botanic Garden. Club club was having flower shows delightful depictions of colorful a 1916 garden fête to benefit member Lenore Hughes and her annually. characters. Among them were Middlesex Hospital. There were enthusiastic team made delectable In the fall of 2014 our history Helen Thorne, who established times when our sights were of luncheon treats, table centerpieces, was captured on storyboards that the GCA’s National Visiting necessity wider. With the entry and a never-to-be-forgotten tiered became part of a month-long Gardens Committee in 1920 and of the US into WWI in 1917 cupcake/rose petal birthday cake. display at the Middlesex County for whom the GCA Oakleigh

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 57 Milestones NewsWorthy NewsWorthy

The Children’s Centennial Maze Zone I garden to see what is new and and the historic Wooded Dell different. The children then rush garden, two community projects Garden Club of to get their gloves and trowels planned and planted planted by Mount Desert and start planting or weeding. GCSB members, were publicly Northeast Harbor, ME Needless to say, watering is always debuted. a favorite activity, and our newest The Club’s third project, addition, a child-size compost bin Since the 1930s the Garden Club Noticias: A Centennial History of for weeds and leftover harvested of Mount Desert has sponsored the Garden Club of Santa Barbara, food, has proven popular with Open Garden Day, highlighting was published in June 2016. the children too. They are quick Maine’s natural beauty. On July Partnering with the Santa Barbara to take ownership of their efforts, 23, 2016, approximately 1,000 Historical Museum, club historian wanting to know where “their” people came to Open Garden Alice Van de Water, assisted by plants are and asking when they Day. This year’s gardens, three in club archivist Gillian Couvillion can start eating them. Bar Harbor and three in North- and Centennial Committee The growth and enjoyment of east Harbor, “reflected Acadia Leslie Fogg, GCMD President members, researched and wrote this educational program are in National Park’s centennial theme Kita Reece, and Ruth Colket at this outstanding 64-page history of large part due to the partnership ‘to celebrate the past and inspire Kenarden Lodge. Photo by GCSB activities. with Greenwich Community the future,’ ” said Leslie Fogg, Meredith Moriarty A gala dinner in October at the Gardens, Family Centers of chair of GCMD’s biennial event. Santa Barbara Biltmore featured Greenwich, and The Town One of the Bar Harbor gardens Dr. Eric Haskell who spoke about of Greenwich Conservation was once owned by George Dorr, Zone II “The Future of Gardens.” The Commission. Additional summer a founder of Acadia National Gala was the culminating event of Greenwich activities include worm bin Park. In Northeast Harbor a Fred our centennial year! Garden Club exploration, pollinator puppets, Savage-designed cottage featured a —Jane Buchanan Greenwich, CT decorating the planting beds, beautifully groomed croquet lawn and more. The summer season where visitors were treated to Greenwich Garden Club’s “Kids concluded with a Veggie Parade a match. in the Garden” program is in and party. Games and activities The evening before the event, its third season of working with enlivened the fall harvest festival, patrons enjoyed a preview four Head Start preschool classes coordinated with the GGC party at Kenarden Lodge, the at Armstrong Court, a local Outreach Committee. magnificent Bar Harbor home public housing complex. The GGC is currently documenting and gardens of Ruth and Tristram season begins in mid-April with the Head Start weekly visits to Colket, Jr., originally built in a seed-starting workshop, and create an informal curriculum 1892 with gardens designed by around Mother’s Day planting that will be available for Beatrix Farrand. After expenses in the garden starts. This year the others considering a similar are met, 100% of the proceeds Head Start beds, in the midst of collaboration. Our club will support almost two dozen Greenwich Community Gardens’ members often remark that horticultural and environmental plot of over 100 raised beds, were they receive much more benefit organizations including Mount planted with lettuce, onions, and satisfaction than they ever Desert Land & Garden Preserve, potatoes, radishes, carrots, pole anticipated. Charlotte Rhoades Park and beans, nasturtiums on a teepee, —Urling Searle GCSB’s January skit paying tribute Butterfly Garden, Wild Gardens beets, sunflowers, and herbs. to Helen Thorne, Pearl Chase, and of Acadia, and the GCA Summer The 30-minute class visits begin Elvira Doolan. Photo by Scholarship Fund. with a stroll through the entire April Riessen —Meredith Moriarty

58 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 NewsWorthy

and his wife established Stonecrop Hortulus Gardens on 60 hilltop acres and Greenwich, CT specialized in seed propagation and alpine plant species. Laura has also volunteered for Hudsonia Ltd., a nonprofit environmental research institute in Annandale- on-Hudson, NY, where her work involved research on Japanese Stephen Wiessner, Flat Rock Brook knotweed, a non-native invasive executive director, accepts a check threatening the rivers and from club president Rose Mahoney. waterways throughout much of the US. Laura will continue her Zone IV education at SUNY New Paltz, where she will manage the The Garden Club of college’s greenhouses as part of a Englewood work-study program. As a future Englewood, NJ plant ecologist, Laura says her mission is “to help connect people This spring the Garden Club of to the natural world that we rely Englewood was proud to present on and specifically introduce them Flat Rock Brook Nature Center to plants.” with a $7,500 grant from the New Enticing goods such as birdhouses made from mosses, seeds, and bark; —Debra Silverman Jersey Committee of the Garden decoupage coasters and trays; a foldaway picnic table; and gorgeous potted Club of America. The Center, plants at Hortulus’s Rustic Garden Club’s “Rustic Boutique.” The June situated on the western slope of preview party of their Flower Show, Fantasia, garnering 17 GCA awards, the Hudson River Palisades, offers raised record funds for continued support of the Greenwich Land Trust, Boys many programs, including nature & Girls Club of Greenwich, The Nathaniel Witherell skilled nursing center, and hikes, bird-watching walks, and The Mews at Greenwich senior living facility. Photo by Rinda Bishop butterfly gardening. The 150-acre Flat Rock preserve is one of the last remnants of the magnificent Zone III Palisades Forest. a deserving student at the local Ulster Garden Club The funds will be used to community college studying restore the five public entrances, Kingston, NY botany, horticulture, conservation, continuing a long-standing landscape design, forestry, or association between our club and Laura Wyeth, the Ulster Garden environmental studies. Flat Rock Brook Nature Center. Club’s 2016 Scholarship recipient, Among Laura’s many In 1992 the GCE won the GCA’s presented a comprehensive and achievements was an internship Founders Fund award for its informative program, “Native at Stonecrop Gardens, the former Laura Wyeth, 2016 Ulster GC “Backyard Habitat for Wildlife” at Plants and Pollinators,” at the home and gardens of The Garden Scholarship recipient and Lorraine the nature center, which showcases March meeting. The scholarship, Conservancy founder Frank Salmon, executive director of Ulster a native plant exhibition along a established in 2014 to honor the Cabot, located in the Hudson Community College Foundation. 900-foot boardwalk. club’s centennial, is granted to River Highlands. In 1958, Cabot Photo by Anne Shultz —Adrienne Anderson

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 59 NewsWorthy

into the décor. True to the theme, Zone V classes included floral-design Garden Club of tablescapes such as “Tail End,” Allegheny County interpreting a tailgate picnic, Pittsburgh, PA and “Off to the Races,” featuring fascinators and other hats decorated with floral materials. The Garden Club of Allegheny Among the photography classes County’s May 2016 flower show, were “Riding to the Hounds” and A Horse of a Different Color, was “Run for the Roses.” just that! The show, co-chaired Receiving rave reviews from all by Debbie Beck and Jennifer nine GCA judges for its setting, Muse, was held in the charming, originality, member participation, historic stables of Hartwood and stunning entries, this show set Acres. Originally a private country a high bar for the club’s upcoming estate, Hartwood and its 600- Zone V Flower Show in 2020. acre expanse is now considered —Carol Weir the crown jewel of the Allegheny County park system (Bulletin, Fall 2015, page 52). The Gardeners GCAC’s new members class Villanova, PA created a festive atmosphere that made full use of the show’s In February of 2016 the equestrian theme, incorporating Philadelphia Inquirer carried a sad historic photos, horse show story about vandals destroying Students showing Gardeners member Liz Mercogliano their new raised-bed ribbons, and riding gear vignettes the gardens at Lankenau vegetable garden. Photo by Barbara Geltosky

Environmental Science Magnet conservation scholarship plant High School in northwest sale. The Gardners also gave Philadelphia. Magnet schools such books and seed-growing trays for as Lankenau are public schools classrooms and a cash grant for with specialized curricula that further rebuilding. Everyone was attract a diverse student body thrilled to help with this uplifting and provide special admissions project to restore and beautify the programs for college. school gardens while helping the After the school’s plight was students learn more about their publicized, community members, environment through the study including The Gardeners, reached of plants. out to Lankenau and their —Barbara Geltosky botany club to help restore the gardens. The Gardeners delivered pollinator flower seeds donated by Select Seeds, vegetable seeds contributed by High Mowing GCAC’s A Horse of A Different Color co-chairs and committee members. Organic Seeds, and an assortment Photo by Marcy Holquist of plants from our student

60 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 NewsWorthy

neighborhood, has become Wissahickon a wildlife sanctuary and an Garden Club important stopover location for Philadelphia, PA birds migrating along the Atlantic Flyway. The preservation of the The Wissahickon Garden Club’s lake and the new state-of-the- first GCA Flower Show in 25 art education center were made years, Look Both Ways, had a few possible by a historic joint venture heads turning. Co-chaired by between the National Audubon Leslie Purple and Alice Farley, Society (Audubon Philadelphia) the spring show was held at and Outward Bound Philadelphia. Commonwealth Chateau, the Even during this year’s cool restored 1929 Steel-Greenfield and rainy spring, more than 51 mansion at Chestnut Hill horticulture exhibitors entered College, Sugarloaf Campus, in 220 cut specimens and 182 Members of The Weeders and PHS representive with Community Service Philadelphia. container plants. Entries came Award winners. Photo by Nancy Evans A packed preview party opened from all ten local GCA clubs, the show and raised over $6,000 in addition to garden and we honored Ari Rosenberg and for our club’s project to fund horticulture clubs throughout The Weeders Nicole Sugarman of Guild House landscaping of the new Discovery the tri-state area of New Jersey, Bryn Mawr, PA West Farm, Nina Berryman of Center at Strawberry Mansion Delaware, and Pennsylvania, Weavers Way Farm, and Troy Lake, near East Fairmont Park. Working with John Bartram’s making for quite an impressive Johnson of Heritage Farm. The lake, an abandoned century- Garden Farm and Heritage Farm display. —Linda Anderson old water reservoir in northwest has increased our awareness of —Carolyn Adams Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion the importance of urban farming. Each year both farms produce bountiful harvests, which are accessible to many who live in the city of Philadelphia. While there are resources that support the farms, there is little recognition for the hardworking individuals who make urban farming such a success. With this in mind, The Weeders decided to create a Community Service Award in appreciation of outstanding contributions by groups and/ or individuals. Last year we recognized Chris Bolden Newsome and Ty Homberg Best in Show Botanical Arts, of Bartram’s. On a beautiful “Botanical Couture,” won by Emilie afternoon in June, and with Lapham and Leslie Purple, in recommendations from the WGC’s Look Both Ways. Photo by Best in Show Photography “Up Close,” won by Kim DeCamp, GC of Pennsylvania Horticulture Society, Leslie Purple Lexington, in WGC’s Look Both Ways. Photo by Leslie Purple

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 61 NewsWorthy

Zone VIII protection and climate change. He is also a supporter of the GCA The Palmetto and has regularly assisted the NAL Garden Club of Committee. South Carolina The PGC has a strong history Columbia, SC of engagement with Dana, the Executive Director of the Coastal Conservation League (CCL). Last March Senator Sheldon Through Dana’s weekly newsletter Whitehouse (D-RI) met with and CCL updates, our club community and conservation members have gained awareness leaders Dana Beach and Charles in how we can make a difference, Lane, and Palmetto Garden Club as well as assistance in having our members at the home of club voices heard. Proposed by PGC, treasurer Jane Perry McFadden. Dana Beach was awarded the Topics discussed, including efforts 2015 Zone VIII Conservation to protect our natural resources, Commendation. deepened our club’s focus on our We also enjoy an ongoing Hillenmeyer family members at GCL July meeting. Photo by Kim DeCamp coastal environments. relationship with Charles Senator Whitehouse, a member Lane, whose dedication has years. Ten Hillenmeyer women, of the Senate’s Committee on Zone VII helped preserve the Ashepoo, from four generations, have been Environment and Public Works, Cambahee, Edisto (ACE) Basin. or are current members who have plays a key role in crafting Garden Club of Charles received the Frances K. policies addressing environmental Lexington given their time and shared their Lexington, KY knowledge and love of gardening with GCL. Four Hillenmeyer women were GCL club presidents The Garden Club of Lexington whose husbands never hesitated to recognized the Hillenmeyer family assist when called upon for their at their July 2016 meeting by expertise in GCL gardening and presenting Louis Hillenmeyer landscape design projects. III with the club’s Horticulture Louis Hillenmeyer’s Commendation Award. The grandmother, past president Anna meeting took place on the Baine Hillenmeyer, and mother, grounds of Ashland, the once 600- Martha Alexander Hillenmeyer, acre estate of the 19th-century were devoted and active members. statesman Henry Clay, now a Current GCL members from National Historic Landmark the Hillenmeyer family include in Ashland, KY. Hillenmeyer Louis’s wife Betsy and daughter Nurseries, a Lexington institution Amy Kessinger, and Dottie since 1841, was hired by GCL to Cordray and Shannon Totty. install the estate’s formal garden, Palmetto GC conservation meeting. Back row, left to right: Grace Stelling, —Mimi Milward PGC member; Paget Higgins,The Westport Garden Club, Kansas City, MO; which has been maintained by Virginia Lane, architect; Senator Sheldon Whitehouse; Rick Devoe, Executive GCL for over 65 years. Director, SC Sea Grant Consortium; Dana Beach; Charles Lane. Front row: Indeed, the club has shared a Virginia Beach, author and editor; Jane Perry McFadden. Photo by history with the nursery for 100 Barclay McFadden

62 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 NewsWorthy

Hutchinson Medal, one of three national awards for distinguished Little Rock service to conservation, in 2012. Garden Club Our citation read, “For his Little Rock, AR extraordinary commitment to conservation and preservation, As Cathy Crass prepared for especially his leadership in her Little Rock Garden Club preserving the ACE Basin in the presidential term, 2014-2016, she Low Country of South Carolina recognized the use of electronic for future generations.” communication was mainstream —Jane Perry McFadden and that LRGC needed to “get onboard.” Cathy formed a Communications Steering Zone IX Committee (CSC) chaired by Mimi Hurst, who was helped The Garden Club of by club members Cindy Pugh, Sarah Hopkins, LRGC administrator; Olivia Wyatt, editor of In Bud; and Cindy Jackson Andrea Gary, and Becky Scott. Pugh, LRGC webmaster assist members with their GCA website proﬁles. Jackson, MI Three new initiatives were Photo by Mimi Hurst

introduced: an LRGC website, together to start an electronic email invitations, and two digital archiving system and photography publications—email blasts called repository. At our February “Fast Facts” and a quarterly 2016 meeting, further digital newsletter, In Bud. How did the information on the process steering committee accomplish of archiving was presented this? By stirring up the usual by outside IT consultant Lea alchemy that results in “gold”—a Whitlock. Throughout all of last mix of talents plus some “real year members of the Archives magic” from computer gurus subcommittee, using Google Cindy and Andrea. Drive, developed an electronic In 2014 and 2015, meetings filing system and labeling were scheduled to help make nomenclature to be used going the initiatives a success. Among forward. these were demonstrations of In less than two years, LRGC the new website and teaching reached its goals. Cathy’s members how to enhance their leadership, along with the CSC GCA profiles and upload their Committee, helped shepherd us Garden Club of Jackson members Sheila Palmer, Frances Morse, Joanne photos. Olivia Wyatt became the on our “electronic journey” into Cheek, Carmel Lopez-Lampton, and Linda Lambeth at Central Mississippi Daffodil Society’s annual A Host of Golden Daffodils event. A sea of daffodils In Bud editor and also undertook the digital age with impressive and 40 still life photos of spring-blooming plants greeted guests at the the task of making “Fast Facts” a results. For any club that is successful ﬁrst-time partnership for GCJ and the Daffodil Society. The show monthly one-pager enlivened with curious, we would gladly share the comprised ten classes, including four student-designated ones. “Members inviting graphics. In late spring details of our experience! enjoyed getting out in early spring to photograph and welcomed the valuable 2015 the Archives subcommittee, —Mimi Hurst practice of running a photography show,” said GCJ President Cheryl Welch. the CSC committee, and club “Many had never entered a photography show before, and some learned historian Charlotte Brown came they had a newfound talent.” Photo by Cheryl Welch

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 63 NewsWorthy

Zone X Bainie truly embodied the spirit by Frank Lloyd Wright. (The of the GCA by stimulating the house was moved from NJ and Lake Minnetonka knowledge and love of gardening reconstructed at the museum in Garden Club Cincinnati Town & Wayzata, MN Country Garden Club for all who knew her. Her 2015.) Cincinnati, OH passion for flowers undoubtedly Our travels then took us to came from her family’s nursery Moss Mountain Farm, the garden The Lake Minnetonka Garden in Lexington, KY, and its once and home of P. Allen Smith, Club gathered for our first The Cincinnati Town & Country extensive flower gardens with public television host, designer, meeting of 2016-17 on July 21st Garden Club’s May 25th flower more than 300 rose bushes. and gardening expert. The farm’s to hear Dr. John O. Anfinson, show used items from a silver Climbing roses she started still 600 acres of hilly pastures, gardens, superintendent of the Mississippi collection donated by the family grace Cincinnati fences. and house overlook the Arkansas National River and Recreation of Bainie Hillenmeyer Earls, —Sara Geier River. And who would believe it? Area (MNRRA), speak about seventh president and beloved One of our group members found the often overlooked National club member. With no rules, P. Allen Smith working behind a Park right in the heart of the and creativity highly encouraged, Zone XI boxwood and invited him to join Twin Cities. Established in members selected a silver piece as our table for lunch! 1988, the MNRRA is a new a vessel for their arrangements. Ladue Garden Club Before returning to St. Louis, type of National Park known The stunning creations were a St. Louis, MO Little Rock Garden Club’s Visiting as a “partnership park,” and is testament to Bainie’s love of flower Gardens chair Anne Ward and one of five National Park units arranging and entertaining; the In April eight members of Ladue member Ann Gornatti invited in Minnesota. Partnership club dedicated the show to her Garden Club and one former us to their lovely gardens. We parks are comprised of city and memory. member (now with Garden Club departed with a great appreciation regional parks, a state park, a of Denver) drove to Arkansas for the beauty and hospitality of wildlife refuge area, and private to visit five gardens, an outdoor Arkansas. homes and businesses. Only chapel, and a museum. Our first —Frances Gay 64 of the MNRRA’s 54,000 stop was the Mildred B. Cooper acres are owned by the National Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista, designed by renowned architect E. Fay Jones, a Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice. This magnificent structure, with enormous doors and towering Gothic arches, is transparent, allowing patterns of light and shadow to intersect and create a feeling of peace and serenity. The next morning we had a guided tour of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. The museum’s stunning architecture, by Moshe Safdie, features a series of pavilions nestled around two spring-fed ponds. Our group toured the TCGC May arrangement in silver museum gardens and visited the goblet. Photo by Vallie Geier Bachman-Wilson house designed LGC members with P. Allen Smith at Moss Mountain Farm. Photo by Carol Armstrong

64 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 NewsWorthy

the Big River Journey science Mentored by member Barbara biological research facility; and river cruises. Henward, the two energetic chairs setting up a barbeque at the show. This very informative after- led the way by inspiring, guiding, The judges enjoyed our C’s noon helped us understand and comforting, feeding, and cajoling. of Arizona theme and departed appreciate the history of this Monthly newsletter articles also with a greater understanding of lesser-known part of the encouraged members to partici- our state, the desert, and its flora. NPS in our own backyard. pate, and each received a detailed “There was so much enthusiasm —Holly Adams manual and gardening apron. and positive feeling surrounding We showered the judges with the show that we are planning southwestern hospitality, hosting another within the next year and a Zone XII them in our desert homes; leading half,” said incoming CGC a tour of the 140-acre Desert president Mona Smith. Columbine Botanical Garden, which encom- —Carol Schilling Garden Club passes a notable conservation and Paradise Valley, AZ

“Don’t worry, be happy,” was LMGC President Kathy Coward and Dr. John Anfinson. Photo by President Carrie Hulburd’s motto Andria Fullerton for the Columbine Garden Club in Phoenix when she took over Park Service (NPS). “No other the reins two years ago. Under National Park runs continuously that cheerful mantra, our small through an entire metropolitan club created a flower show that area,” Dr. Anfinson explained as brought us together on a big he detailed the efforts being made project and won praise from during the centennial celebration national GCA judges. year to connect the NPS with The theme celebrated the the public. famous “Five Cs” of Arizona: MNRRA recently opened St. cotton, copper, cattle, citrus, and Anthony Visitor Center at St. climate. Loving our state as we do, Anthony Falls, views from which we added five more Cs: cactus, take in the falls, the Upper St. canyons, cooking, conservation, Anthony Lock and Dam, and and Columbine. the surrounding mill district in “Our goal was to involve downtown Minneapolis. The everyone, all 35 of us, from the Mississippi River Visitor Center, very beginning, and it worked. located in downtown St. Paul at It was also a huge learning curve the Science Museum of Minne- for us,” said Kathy Ritt, flower sota, is also being remodeled with show co-chair along with Lenni new exhibits. LMGC members Griego. Indeed, Lenni had never learned about the various exciting attended a GCA flower show and educational and recreational had no idea what a schedule was! opportunities available in the Undaunted, she found major Needlepoint entry, designed and created by Heidi Riggs, celebrating park, including Urban Wilder- flower show schedules on the Arizona’s five C’s won Peoples Choice Award at CGC’s flower show. Photo by ness Canoe Adventures and GCA website and emulated them. Anne Christensen

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 65 NewsWorthy

Nearby, at Humboldt Red- Woodside-Atherton woods State Park Visitor Center, Garden Club an exhibit explains the grove’s Woodside, CA roots in the early 1930s, noting that the old-growth coast redwood In early summer members of the (Sequoia sempervirens) forest, Woodside-Atherton Garden Club unique to northern California and drove 220 miles north from San nearly decimated by unchecked Francisco to explore the majestic lumbering in the 19th and early Garden Club of America Redwood 20th centuries, “will stand forever Grove and review its history. The as a monument to the vision and feeling was pure awe as we drove generosity of a group of women down the Avenue of the Giants, from all over the United States.” turned into the GCA grove, and The Save the Redwoods read the sign: “This grove was League’s dedication to the park purchased to provide inspiration to dates back to 1921, only a few unborn generations.” years after its founding in 1918. After participating in the GCA A decade later, GCA members GCH members at Chihuly Garden and Glass. Photo by Jan George 2013 Bridge the Gap campaign to got involved, donating a dollar raise money to restore and improve each, then larger amounts through Friendships flourished amid public access to the grove, we finally energetic fundraising in a joint The Garden Club of the stunning colors, flora, and found the right time to cross the partnership with the League. Honolulu landscapes of an environment so Eel River and walk a couple of The initial 2,552 acre purchase Honolulu, HI different from subtropical Hawaii. miles on the River Trail, led by Save in 1931 has doubled in size, and —Sarah Richards In June a group of 22 members the Redwoods League guides. today is 5,130 acres. Open to the from the Garden Club of public, the GCA Grove is the Honolulu enjoyed a delightful second largest memorial grove in week-long holoholo (Hawaiian a park; and features the biggest for “journey”) to Seattle, visiting expanse of ancient coast redwoods private gardens, a nature preserve, in existence—some are believed and the famous Glasshouse at to be 2000 years old. It is hard to Chihuly Garden and Glass. imagine the size of these precious The beautiful gardens visited giants: Founders Tree, for exam- belonged to Garden Club of ple, is 346 feet tall and 40 feet in Seattle members Diana Neely, circumference. Sally Nordstrom, and Pam Green; Breaking news: GCA members and the Japanese-inspired estate will be able to experience the thrill of Barney Ebsworth was another of this magical setting on the trip gem. The ferry ride to Bainbridge being offered after the Annual Island revealed the scenic beauty Meeting in 2018. of this part of Washington, and —Kate Daly a tour of the forested 150-acre Bloedel Reserve inspired awe as we took in the magnificent cultivation of the landscape before us. WAGC members at GCA Grove. Photo by our Save the Redwoods guide

66 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Late Bloomers Late Bloomers and Sage Advice

To protect tulip bulbs from Always use warm water to mix shelled nuts, and brightly can be more objectionable squirrels and chipmunks, fertilizer for houseplants. colored leaves. Cobs of Indian than the cause would justify. surround each bulb with a Mrs. Bill Andrews, corn and pumpkins, as well as There is such a simple remedy: piece of hardware cloth before Greenville GC, Zone IX bittersweet, are also effective. Apply Simoniz paste (car care planting. Keep top and bottom November 1983 Members of the product) with a soft cloth, and open so bulb can send down Greenwich GC, Zone II a mere fleeting brush of the roots and growth can come up A grandmother’s advice, never November 1983 cloth will see the end of it. (I do through ground. throw banana peels away. not know whether any allergic Jodie Ferguson, Little GC of Bury the peel a foot deep To store dried plant materials reaction can be anticipated Columbus, Zone X and near a lovely piece of for flower arranging, use a by this product to an ardent April 2001 horticulture. Roses especially cardboard box from a case of pruner. Perhaps this should be love this yummy treat. wine. You can separate and given consideration by those Keep rodents and squirrels Susie Keough, store 12 different stems in susceptible to allergies.) away from tulips and other GC of Halifax Country, Zone VII the compartments where the Mrs. Pendleton Miller, bulbs by sprinkling cayenne April-May 2003 bottles were. Seattle GC, Zone XII pepper all over the bulbs. Lucy Day, Hortulus, Zone II February 1966 Also, use Coast of Maine bulb A horticulturalist advised, April/May 1992 fertilizer, crushed mussel shells, at a bulb-planting lecture, “Thoughts on an Old compost, and kelp fertilizer— always wearing gloves when Crushed eggshells saved from Gardener’s Birthday” a great gritty mix makes it planting. Squirrels associate our food preparation may be used I’m aware I look more than my unappetizing for intruders. scent with food so will dig up in the garden around alkaline- seventy-four Diana Metcalf, GC of whatever smells ‘human’. loving plants such as cherry or And I shun every mirror with Philadelphia, Zone V Betsy Bosway, laurel trees, hellebores, roses care, October 2003 Indianapolis GC, Zone X and most primulas. Allow the I must summon up nerve and August 2016 empty shells to dry out for my once-youthful verve Plant your chrysanthemums a week, then crush to a fine To face one while brushing my in partial shade rather than full I use golf tees to mark the place consistency with a rolling pin. hair. sun. They will bloom over a of winter-hibernating plants. If Scatter the particles around the But give me a lawnmower, a rake period of months rather than you are a perfectionist, you can plants and work into the soil. or a hoe just in the fall. even color code these spots! Mrs. Julian Z. Millar, I know I lack glamour, but boy Denny Bellingrath, Hawsie Nash, Summit GC Zone IV can I go! Little Rock GC, Zone IX Georgetown GC, Zone VI October 1974 And youngsters with many fewer October 1991 August/September 2001 years to their credit You rarely hear a gardener May find themselves (muscle- Save all of your melon and In the fall, for a special apologize for the appearance wise) high on the debit. squash seeds and dry them in a occasion, run a centerpiece the of his or her seasoned hands. Mrs. Edward H. McKeon, Green slow oven. The birds love them! full length of an oblong table. They are more apt to be Spring Valley GC, Zone VI Mrs. James H. Childs, Jr., GC of Use all fall vegetables such somewhat proud of them. July 1956 Allegheny County, Zone V as squash, gourds, eggplants, However, tree-wound stains April 1974 grape clusters, figs, mixed are something else again and

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 67 Online GCA www.gcamerica.org Head to the web for news, information, discoveries, and resources

Visiting Gardens From palace gardens in Indochina to the seaside landscapes of Newport, Rhode Island, the GCA’s Visiting Gardens trips offer adventures all over the world for garden enthusiasts, horticulturists, and landscape designers. The committee also facilitates club member visits to special gardens across the globe. www.gcamerica.org/members/ visiting-gardens

Horticulture The GCA’s Partners for Plants is a guaranteed prescription for community engagement. A joint habitat restoration program of the Conservation and Horticulture Committees, P4P facilitates projects between local GCA clubs and public land projects. www.gcamerica.org/members/ partners-for-plants

Conservation Chronicle your club’s conservation project or get plenty of Position Papers inspiration on Conservation Showcase located on the Club Learn more about the GCA’s Member Showcase page. From pollinator projects to club- positions on hot-button issues! community initiatives and how-to’s, you’ll ﬁnd hints galore to get From clean air and water to your ideas off the ground. Then take some time off to just read. environmentally responsible The History of Conservation in The Garden Club of America 1913- transportation legislation, read all 2013 is a book that will give you a deeper understanding of the eight of the GCA’s 2015 Position GCA’s activist legacy. And ConWatch is the committee’s quarterly Papers. Together we make newsletter informing club members about current research and a difference. conservation news from clubs across the country. www.gcamerica.org/members/nal www.gcamerica.org/members/committees-conservation

68 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Dig Deeper: Resources

DigDeeper: Resources

Smithsonian Gardens the integration of wind energy Partners for Plants Bella Italia pages 12-18 into the grid here and around the pages 38-39 pages 48-52 Learn more about the Smithsonian world. Another source is Public Partners for Plants is a joint habitat For more information about La at www.gardens.si.edu. For updates Radio International (www.pri.org). restoration program of the GCA Foce and the Origo family during on the status of the Enid A. Conservation and Horticulture WWII, look for Iris Origo’s 1984 The case citation for the decision Haupt Garden and the petition Committees. Its purpose is to book War in Val d’Orcia: An Italian of the US Court of Appeals for the referenced on page 16, go to facilitate projects between local War Diary, 1943-1944. The book District of Columbia, referenced www.committeeof100.net. The GCA clubs and land managers of chronicles wartime life at La Foce, on page 27, is Union Neighbors Committee of 100 on the Federal significant public lands. Projects in what was then the remote United v. Jewell, No. 15-5147 City was founded in 1923 to may include the monitoring and countryside of Tuscany. It’s a story (D.C. Cir. Aug. 5, 2016). safeguard the historical integrity of protection of rare, endangered and of bravery in daily life, as the author our nation’s capital. STEP UP! Conservation and medicinal plants; the propagation and her Italian nobleman husband NAL Initiative and replanting of native plants; sheltered scores of refugee children Where the Wind Blows: pages 36-37 Powering the Future and the removal of invasive plants. and Allied prisoners of war while There is more information about pages 26-28 Detailed information about also helping local villagers and Step UP! on the Conservation To consult a white paper P4P projects, including funding tenant farmers. Committee’s webpage on the GCA addressing the 15 most asked grant guidelines, is located on the website, including why stepping up questions about wind energy, Horticulture Committee’s webpage now is important, ideas for stepping Big Hug go to www.awea.org. Based in on the GCA website under Partners Remembrance Gifts up, resources, and Conservation Washington, DC, the American for Plants. Offering a unique Showcase stories about what other Wind Energy Association and fanciful array of club members are doing to Step Philipstown GC (AWEA) is a national trade group page 40 customized tree and UP! and a source for updates regarding To learn more about Riverkeeper’s garden markers, perfect work, go to www.riverkeeper.org. for dedications and/ or fundraising. Info: Riverkeeper is a 50-year old www.bighugllc.com watchdog organization dedicated to TechTip: Basic Call or email for more protecting the Hudson River and ¤ information: Logging On for Beginners. It’s Username is the email address its tributaries. Its website contains easy! With just your email address you gave to the GCA. [email protected] or comprehensive (248) 594-1560 you can log on and begin ¤Password help is available if information about the risks exploring the GCA website ﬁlled you don’t know your password, associated with the transport of with information, resources and just click Forgot Password. Then crude oil, water pollution, river stunning pictures. You can still type in your email address and ecology, and public policy solutions. explore the website if you don’t Scarf Crazy? Available click Send Password. have an email address. Just GCA Scholar now are the gorgeous Cassandra Quave 100% silk scarves call GCA Headquarters at ¤Password Email will be sent pages 43-44 from the GCA’s New (212) 753-8287 during ofﬁce hours to you with your password Read about Dr. Quave and the Orleans, Rochester, and you will be walked through information. Now you can log on. Quave Research Group in the and Minneapolis Annual the steps. ¤Check the Remember Me box September 18, 2016, issue of the Meetings. Priced from ¤Open your internet browser and so you don’t have to do this again. New York Times Sunday magazine. $100 to $115. Info: Call type in gcamerica.org. The GCA (212) 753-8287 or ¤Begin exploring the GCA [email protected] homepage will load. website. ¤Click the green Members Area ¤Note that you can do this on in the upper right corner of the your smart phone as well. page. A new page will come up.

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 69 Book Review BookReview

their tales. Motivations vary, of intensive logging, fires, and The Wild Trees but he focuses closely on those the effects of climate change, by Richard Preston who are determined to find the survival of this rare and Random House, 2007 and measure the biggest of the endangered species is even more seriously big trees. Most, but fragile. Fortunately, Preston and For fans of narrative nonfiction not all, of the dedicated climbers his co-climbers are careful to never (think of John McPhee, Susan are botanists and researchers publicly identify the locations of Orleans, Michael Pollan), The studying the forest ecology; the the champion trees they climbed Wild Trees is a book to be savored, temperate rain forests in which and measured. Still, the sad reality and even shared with friends. For coast redwoods grow being rich is that our species may prove fatal lovers of nature, adventure, and in epiphytic plants, ferns, and to these oldest and largest of all especially of trees, The Wild Trees especially in the multitudinous life forms. may be too precious to ever lichens that flourish there. —Jane Harris lend out. The Wild Trees can be GCA Library Committee Chairman As is the case with the best appreciated on many levels— Middletown GC, Zone II of the genre, The Wild Trees in addition to explaining the pairs breath-taking action with Among the things a reader will biology and structure of the coast Note: Be sure to read our feature scrupulously-researched science, learn from The Wild Trees is a redwoods, Preston devotes many article “Life at the Top of Earth’s enriched with intricate character vocabulary unique to tree-climbers pages to lichens and the temperate Tallest Forest” by Emily Burns, descriptions. The difference and arborists—even the term rainforests in which these species Director of Science, Save the between this book and, say, The “wild tree” has a special meaning, thrive. But as fascinating as these Redwoods League Orchid Thief is that Richard being a tree no one has previously topics are, his character studies Preston masterfully orchestrates a climbed. A coast redwood can dominate the book, contrasting handful of life stories that revolve grow to fifty feet tall in its first the brief lives of humans with around a common passion for twenty years after germination. the millennial spans of these Sequoia sempervirens, the coast The really big trees that these majestic giants. redwood native to Northern climbers quest after have no And now, after a massive California. Yet, although the branches for the first one to two wildfire consumed thousands of book is packed with fascinating hundred feet, so even getting a forested acres near Big Sur, coast and complex characters, the coast preliminary rope into the tree is redwoods are facing yet another redwood is the dominant player in an exhilarating challenge. man-made threat. After decades his narrative. Once into the old trees’ Remarkably, the author himself canopies, the climbers find plays an active role, as he grows entire ecosystems of both from dabbling in backyard tree- flora and fauna: salamanders, climbing to mastering intricate flying squirrels, slugs, spiders, knots and rope wizardry that allow huckleberry bushes, and what him eventually to climb to the tops Preston calls “bonsai trees” of of 360-foot trees with botanists many species that have rooted Stephen Sillett and Marie Antoine. themselves in fern and moss mats (Dr. Sillett is the first scientist to and actual soil nestled in the enter the redwood forest canopy. crotches of the redwoods. He is the Kenneth L. Fisher Chair Preston’s human characters in Redwood Forest Ecology at sacrifice greatly for their passion, Humboldt State University.) and a few do not survive to tell

70 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 Bulletin Board BulletinBoard: Cuttings from the Calendar

October 2016 26 Judging Workshop (V) March April 11 GCA Flower Show (VI) Photography at Sunnybrook 28-29 GCA Flower Show (IX) 25-26 GCA Flower Show (IX) Paint it Autumn, Golf Club, Plymouth Greenville GC, Florescence Waves at the Talbot County GC, Meeting PA Greenville MS Museum of Fine Arts, River Easton MD Info: Nancy Heckscher Info: Hebe Splane Oaks GC/GC of Houston, Info: Bobbie Brittingham [email protected] [email protected] Houston TX [email protected] November 3-28 GCA Flower Show (XII) Info: Carole Bailey to 11-12 [email protected] GCA Flower Show (IX) 1 Judging Workshop (IV) 4-1 Woodside-Atherton GC, Masterworks-Art from Nature’s Horticulture and Floral Design Woodside CA May 2017 Bounty at Knoxville Museum at Baltusrol Golf Club, Info: Heidi Johnson 3-5 GCA Annual Meeting in of Art, Knoxville GC, Springfield NJ [email protected] Baltimore MD Knoxville TN Info: Lynn Filipski 3-27 Visiting Gardens Trip 13 Garden Tour (VI) Info: Melynda Whetsel to [email protected] to Portugal: Quintas, Gardens, Georgetown Gardens, [email protected] 4-7 3-4 Judging Workshop (VII) & Azulejos Georgetown GC, 11-13 GCA Flower Show/Zone Patsy Smith in Winchester Washington DC Info: Meeting (VII) Views from VA Info: [email protected] georgetowngardentour.com the Mountaintop at Boar’s 17 Judging Workshop (V) Head Inn, Albemarle GC, Floral Design and Horticulture Charlottesville VA at Longwood Gardens Info: Kim Cory Kennett Square PA [email protected] Info: Nancy Heckscher 11-14 Photography Study [email protected] PartingShot: Group Workshop December Last Dance of the Season Info: Leslie Purple 8 House Tour (VIII) [email protected] Photo by Mary Turner, Seattle GC, Zone XII Christmas Home Tour, (See photo on following page) 19-20 GCA Flower Show/Zone Peachtree GC, Atlanta GA Meeting (V) Right on Track: Info: www.peachtreegarden Competition: focus Special Issue: Paintings to Pixels, a GCA Online Conservation and Preservation club.org; peachtreegardenclub@ focus Competition, Winter 2015 at Philadelphia Country peachtreegardenclub.org Awards: Creativity Award; 2nd Place Club, Garden Workers, Class: “Class 5-Creative Techniques-Color-Vincent Van Gogh” January Philadelphia PA Statement of Intent: “I like to pan in the camera during Info: Mary Ho Strawbridge 1-31 FASG International Floral to fall color. Then I layer in Photoshop another photo with a [email protected] 2-2 Design in Toronto Ontario, Canada sharper focus”. 24-30 FASG Fall Workshop Voters’ Comments: “I am in awe as to how this photo captures February Krewe in New Orleans LA the quiet dance of the falling of leaves in Fall”. 26-28 NAL Conference, 26 Lecture/Floral Washington DC “The composition is whimsical—the juxtaposition of the leaves and Demonstration (VII) Info: Linda Fraser the background’s blur gives movement that is hard to depict in Gracious Living & Stylish [email protected] a photograph”. Entertaining with Danielle “The bold colors and movement of the falling leaves is both playful and Rollins at Norfolk Yacht 26-27 Judging Workshop (IX) uncomfortable at the same time capturing the feeling found & Country Club, GC of in Nashville TN in many of Van Gogh’s works.” Norfolk, Norfolk VA Info: Lisa Snowden Info: Jane Edwards [email protected] [email protected]

The Bulletin :: Fall 2016 71 Photo by Mary Turner We thank our 2014-16 committee chair Ann Price Davis, a true force of nature, for a job superlatively done. —the Bulletin Committee

72 The Bulletin :: Fall 2016

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