Masters of American Garden Design: Fletcher Steele in Cant:exc

The archin§ rails of Steele's Ealue Steps at Naumkeag in Massachusett's Berksnires ecl90 the semi-GirGular vaults, while the grove of Betula papyrifera hi§hlights the white rails.

Landscape architect Fletcher Steele designed more setts. The symposium is being held in concert with than 500 gardens during his long career from 1914 a traveling exhibit on the work of Steele, being shown to 1 g6El. His approach-sometimes playful, often January 1 B through March 30 at the PaineWebber lyrical and dreamlike-was always directed toward Gallery, 1286 Avenue of tne Americas. Both events the creation of powerful, spatial volume. It can be are sponsored by the American HorticultlJral Sm::i­ more fully appreciated when contrasted with the ety, Registration for the 9 a .m . to 4 :30 !=l .m. sym­ differing philosophies of his contemporaries. An all­ posium is $100. For more information, call AHS toll­ day symposium on January 19, 1990, at the free at (80m 777-7931 . Registration deadline is PaineWebber Conference Room in Manhattan will January 5 . explore the artistry of Steele in the context of other landscape designers of the first half of tnis century and their best-known remaining works: Warren Man­ Please send me more information on the ning, a protege of Frederick Law Olmsted who served Fletcher Steele Symposium. as Steele's mentor, and Marming's design of grand vistas and native trees for Stan Hywet Hall in Akron, Ohio; Ellen Bid

ARTICLES The Devoted Volunteers of Cranbrook House by June L. Hicks ...... 16 With eighteen people and seventeen dollars, they set out to save a neglected Michigan garden. A Bountiful Haven on Tortola by Sally Dick-Read ...... 24 Paulina Dean tries to give back as much as she receives from land that she claimed from an island jungle. Ivy: A Symbol of Mirth Emerges from Shadow by Deborah Reich ...... 30 This appealing vine isn't just for covering architects' errors. SHORT FEATURES Personalities/The Eckes Are Always Dreaming of a Crimson Christmas ...... 6 DECEMBER'S COVER History/Remember Me in Flowers ...... 12 Photographed by Jessie M. Harris Plant Proille/Feeling at Home with Hellebores ...... 36 Treasures of River Farm/An All·American Home for American Horticulture ...... 42 There are many horticultural symbols of the holiday season, but non~ so DEPARTMENTS vibrant as the pOinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima). Native to tropical CGmmentary ...... 4 Mexico, it was brought to the United Pronunciations ...... :...... 33 States by botanist Joel POinsett, who Letters ...... 35 served as U.S. ambassador to that Classifieds ...... 38 country in the 1820s. But it owes its Book Reviews ...... 40 wide popularity to Californian Paul 1989 Index ...... 45 Ecke Sf.

EDITOR: Kathleen Fisher. ASSISTANT EDITORS: Peggy Lytton, Marl' Beth Wiesner. EDITORIAl. ASSISTANT: Martl,. Palermo. DESIGN DIRECTO R: Rebecca K. McClimans. MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR: Kathleen B. Amberger. ADVERTISING: American Horticultural Societ)' Advertising Department. 80 South Earll' Street. Alexandri a. VA 22304. telephone (703) 823·6966. COLOR SEPARATI ONS: Chroma· Graphics, Inc. EDITORIAl. ADVISORY BOARD: Dr. Gerald S. Barad , Flemington. NJ ; Dr. Harrison Flint. West Wayette. IN; Peter Loewer. Cochecton Center. NY; Dr El izabeth McClintock. San Francisco. CA; Frederick McGourty. Norfolk. CT; Janet M. Poor. Winnetka, IL; Maire Simington, Phoenix, AZ; Jane Steffel'. Sykesville, MD; Dr. James E. Swasey. Newark. DE; Philip E. Chandler. Santa Monica. CA . Replaceme nt issues of AMERICAN HORTI CULTURIST arc available at a cost of 52';0 per copy. 111e opinions expressed in the articles that appear in AME RI CAN HORTICULTURIST are those of Ihe authors and arc not necessarily those of the SOCiety. Botanical nomenclature in AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST is based on HORTUS THIRD. Manuscripts. art work. and photographs se nt for possible publication will be returned if they are accompanied by a self· addressed, stamped envelope. We Cannot guarantee the safe return of unsolicited malerial. AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST. rSSN 0096·44 17. is the official publication of the American Horticultural Soc iety, 793 1 East Boulevard Drive. Alexandria, Virgi nia 22308. (703 ) 768·;700, and is issued six times a year as a magazine and six times a year as a news edition .. The American Hort icultu ral Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to excellence in horticulture. Membership in the SoCiety includes a subsc ription to AMERlCAl'l HORTICULTURIST. National membership dues arc 530; two years are 5;;. Foreign dues are s40. SJ 2 of dues are deSignated for AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST. Copyright © 1989 by the American HOrticultural Society. Second· class postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia , and at addi tional mailing offices. Postmaster: Please send Form 3579 to AMERICAN HORTI CULTURIST. 793 1 East Boulevard Drive. Alexandria, VA 22308.

AMERICAN HORTfCUL TURIST 3 American Horticultural Society Commentary Officers 1989·1990 Mrs. Carolyn Marsh Lindsay Rochester, New York President Mr. John H. Whitworth Jr. New York, New York n important dimension in our world First Vice Presidell t of choices was brought to the at­ Mrs. John M. Maury tention of members of the Allyn 's Washington, D.C. A SeGond Vice President Creek Garden Club at our last meeting. Mr. Richard C. Angino We met at the home of Helen and Joe Harrisbu rg, Pennsylvania Secretary Taylor in Honeoye Falls , New York, which Mr. Richard J. Hutton is just a few miles from Rochester. Joe West Grove, Pennsylvania has been an avid birder and naturalist all Treasurer his life. He was the very first in North Mr. Everitt L. Miller Kennett Square, Pennsylvania America to record 600 birds, and has Immediate Past President since attained the 700 mark, which dis­ Board of Directors tinguishes great birders and speaks of Mr. Richard C. Angino their keen interest and dedication . Fellow Harrisburg, Pennsylvania club members were all anxious to hear Mr. George Ball, Jr. about the latest developments in his new butterfly garden . West Chicago, iJJin@is Buddleias, Asclepias, Monardas, Dr. Sheeran Blair Joe reported that his and other Columbus, Ohio flowering plants were indeed attracting a number of butterflies, but Mrs. Benjamin P. Bole,Jr. nothing like the quantity he remembered as a child growing up in Cleveland, Ohio Brighton, a Rochester suburb. So he looked up the food of the but­ Mr. J. Judson Brooks Sew i ckl~y , Pennsylvania terflies' larval stage . Caterpillars are very host-specific; among their Dr. Henry M. Cathey favorites are weeds such as thistles, nettles, and milkweed, along with Washington, D.C. some treasured garden plants and trees. He noted that the dedication Me. Russell B. Clark Boston, Massachusetts of gardeners to being weed -free and insect-free means using weed Mrs. Erastus Corning II killers and pesticides that are dramatically reducing the number of Albany, New York butterflies. Mrs. Ann Lyon Crammond Joe's talk made us realize that the relationship between butterflies Atlanta, Ge.orgia Mr. Edward N. Dane and plants is even more intimate and complex than we imagined . We Boston, Massachusetts all knew that henceforth, weeding our gardens would take on a new Mrs. Beverley White Dunn meaning, and holes in foliage would be given better evaluation . The Birmingham, Alabama Mr. K. Albert Ebinger next day, I felt guilty when I went out to do my routine weeding! I Boxford, Massachusetts wondered what "friend" was going to be hungry as a result of my Mr. RichardJ. Hutton tidiness! West Grove, Pennsylvania Mr. Stephen F. Keating The choices are clearly ours. How weed-free do we need to be? Wayzata, Minnesota How much fertilizer does our lawn really need? Do we need routine Mr. David M. Lilly feeding and spraying programs before the problems appear? And what St. Paul, Minnesota about the quality of our soils? Can we afford to part with our leaves Mrs. Carolyn Marsh Lindsay Rochester, New York and grass clippings? We rake the perfect mulch away, to be hauled Mrs. John M. Maury off at huge expense by our cities, then buy another to take its place. Washington, D.C. Are we all using biodegradable garbage bags and paper instead of Mr. Elvin McDonald Brooklyn, New York plastic? Mr. Everitt L. Miller My friends, we have a major role to play in this environmental crisis. Kennett Squ are, Pennsylvania Each of us can make a big difference. Gardeners are the sort of practical , Mrs. Jane Scarff New Carlisle, Ohio sensitive people needed to lead this renewal. Liberty Hyde Bailey, in Mrs. Vtrginia Urschel describing an ideal society in which all people would unite to serve the Montecito, California public interest, proclaimed : " Its principle of union will be the love of Mr. Andre Viette the Earth , treasured in the hearts of men and women." Smart choices Fishersville, Virginia Mrs. Helen Fulcher Walutes need to be shared with our entire membership, both those in this Mount Vernon, Virginia country and those in forty-seven other countries . Will you write me or Mr. John H. Whitworth, Jr. phone River Farm the minute a great idea dawns? New York, New York Mrs. Jean Verity Woodhull This blessed holiday season is a time to rejoice about our beautiful Dayton, Ohio world and renew our commitment to make a difference .. . and to understand the choices that are ours to make. Executive Director Mr. Frank L. Robinson Carolyn Marsh Lindsay President, AHS

4 DECEMBER 1989 Photo by Rick Buettner Is your garden missing jewel-like flowers floating on a one of the most! satisfying forms of gardening. If you shimmering water surface and the darting brilliance of haven't Qne, you) are missing a great deal of satisfaction goldfish? Are you missing the melodic sounds of water from your garden. spilling from a fountain, vessel or waterfall? Let Lilypons and TETRA POND help you to get started What you need in your garden is a water lily pool. A water today by ordering one of our durable TETRA POND 32 mil, lily pool is a garden whose plants like damp tQ very wet flexible 2 ply PVC pool liners. So easy to install and main­ feet. Fish and frogs like to live there and butterflies Will tain you will ask yourself why you waited so long to begin like your garden better than ever. A water garden il,'> simply this adventure. - Choose from the seven sizes listed (sizes are approximate, for depth 1 Vs' tQ 2' "in your own design.): o Lilypons water gru;dening catalogue subscription...... $ 5 \0 8' ox l2' liner m~es 4' x 8' pool ...... $110 o 10' x 16' liner makes 6' x 12' pO€ll...... $165 0 13' i. 13' liner makes 9' x 9' pool...... $185 o 13' x 20' liner makes 9' x 16' pool...... $225 0 16' x 23' liner makes 13' x 19' pooL .... : ...... $335 o 20' x 26' liner makes 16' x 22' pooL ...... $455 0 23' x 30' liner makes 19' x 26' pooL ...... $555 Use your personal check or circle credit card: AE CB CH DC MC VS. Card Number: Exp. pate _____~---~ ___- Name Address __~_~~ ______~ ______

City State Zip Phone ( ) ~ ______Catalogue free with liner order. California (6%), Maryland (5%) and Texas (7%) residents please add sales tax. Lilypons Water Gardens 1526 Amhort Road Suite 1526 1526 LUypons Road P.O. Box 10 P.O. Box 1130 P.O. Box 188 LUypons, Maryland 21717-0010 Thermal, California 92274-1130 Brookshire, Texas 77423-0188 (301) 874-5133 Wasblngton Local 428-0686 (713) 934-8525 Houston Local 391-0076 PERSONALITIES/BY KATHLEEN FISHER The Eckes AreAlways Dreaming oja Crimson Christmas

Above: Paul Ecke Sr. -flanked by son Paul Jr. and grandson Paul /II -proudly displays the Eckes' new 'Pink Pepperminf cultivar. Right: The Paul Ecke Poinsettia Ranch has thirty jive acres of greenhouses, which fairly explode with scarlet when bracts are at their prime.

any of our holiday tradi­ who settled near the Mexican town of its botanical name by a German taxono­ tions are centuries-old Taxco in the seventeenth century. The Az­ mist in 1833 -on a visit to Taxco and sent practices imported from the tecs had cultivated the plant and used it some to his Greenville, South Carolina, Old World by our ances­ to make a purple-red dye and a potion for home. They prospered in his greenhouse tors. But the poinsettia be­ reducing fever. (Some histories say that the and he shared cuttings of this tropical rar­ Mcame the nation's Christmas flower begin­ latex from its stems was also used for poi­ ity with a few privileged friends. ning only seventy years ago, when a soning arrow tips and stupifying fish. But By 1902, when a German immigrant California grower who was not yet 30 growers emphasize that poinsettias aren't farmer named Albert Ecke arrived in hopped a train with a bright red gleam in poisonous; their only "danger" is the pos­ Southern California, poinsettias were a his eye. sibility of a skin reaction to the latex in popular landscape plant there. Struck by In the nursery business, it's doubtful that old, woody plants.) The priests trans­ the brilliant red bracts, he decided to grow anyone plant is as synonymous with any formed this wild bush, which would grow them along with his vegetables, fruit trees, one name as poinsettia is with Ecke. Other up to fifteen feet high in its native setting, and other outdoor flowers. Fields of them breeders have contributed to improving the into a holy plant when they gathered cut­ were planted along Sunset Boulevard, where poinsettia over the years, but it was the tings to adorn the setting of the Nativity his son Paul set up stands to sell the freshly passionate energy and marketing savvy of Celebration. Mexicans elsewhere followed cut flowers to passing motorists. Busloads Paul Ecke Sr. that transformed Euphorbia suit, and the plants became known as Flo­ of tourists would gasp at the masses of pulcherrima from a local curiosity to the res de la Noche Buena-Flowers of the strange and striking flora. number one potted flowering crop in the Holy Night. Afbert Ecke died in 1919 and the busi­ United States today. The Gommon name of the flower honors ness was inherited by 24-year-old Paul, The use of the poinsettia as an advent 'Joel Poinsett, a Southern plantation owner who began looking around for some elbow plant is as old as many of our other Christ­ and botanist who became the first United room for his family and the poinsettias to mas customs. But its admirers were at first States Ambassador to Mexico in 1825. He which he had decided to devote his ener­ limited to a group of Franciscan priests discovered the plant-which would be given gies. He and later, Paul Jr., began buying

6 DECEMBER 1989 Photo s Courtesy Paul Ecke Poinsettia Ranch AMERICAN HORT/CUL TURIST 7 PERSONALITIES

land in Encinitas, where there was an abundance of frost-free land, proximity to Toward Redder Reds, Better Branching rail lines, and, rumor had it, an eventual source of irrigation from the water district A recent issue of Professional Plant that supplied Los Angeles. The father and Growers Association News observes son took a chance that the rumor was trwe that most poinsettias gmwn today (it was), eventually acquired several are sports from one of four groups: hundred acres and had them zoned as an Annette Hegg, from the Netherlands; agricultural preserve to protect it from Gutbier, from Germany; Eckespoint, subdivision. from California; and Mikkelsen, from In 1923, Paul Sr. found a seedling va­ Ohio . riety called 'Oak Leaf' that was to put the Of the four, Paul Ecke Poinsettias Eckes' vegetable days forever behind them. markets three for all North America. The known history of the plant is that it They are the breeders of the Eck­ was being grown by a Mrs. Enteman of espoint group, which consists of Jersey City, New Jersey; Ecke obtained some sports from six different families; co­ cuttings and began selecting and devel­ operate closely with the Gutbier oping their sports. In 1929, he found one breeders and distribute their three that could be successfully grown indoors lines of poinsettias; and market the as a potted plant. The die was cast; most Hegg poinsettia families. Hegg is Marble poinsettias, once a novelty, are now of the rest of the operation was forsaken considered outstanding for its free­ a standard. as he began touting the virtues of this im­ branching habit, while Gutbiers are proved plant across the nation. popular in the American South because of their heat tolerance. Both European At that time the closest thing the rest of lines offer red, white, pink, and marble sports. America had to a Christmas flower was James Mikkelsen bred the 'Paul Mikkelsen' poinsettia that Paul Ecke Jr. the cyclamen, says Paul Jr., who heads the credits with launching a new era in poinsettia breeding in 1963, and which business now that his father is 94. "There also was marketed by Ecke at that time. were others growing and selling poinset­ 'Paul Mikkelsen' is no longer grown, said his son, Ed Mikkelsen, because tias, but not that much interest in the kind it didn't branch well. "We were able to develop plants with the same qualities of business that he wanted to pursU(~ : sell­ that were a little freer-branching." ing mother plants that commercial people Mikkelsen explained that poinsettias are basically of two types. The earliest in the Midwest and East could use as a were all uprights, which had to be pinched to encourage branching, and were source of fr€sh stocks for cuttings. It was usually planted at least three to a pot to give a bushy effect. Then in 1969, a whole new rwist." Hegg developed a self-branching, dark red poinsettia that Mikkelsen said has Paul Sr. hit the road with his new idea, become the current standard. first by train and then by automobile. One This year's most popular color combination appears to be dark red bracts of the nurserymen he called on was Elbert against dark green leaves. Mikkelsen said their 1986 'Merrymaker' was the Bachman, whose family business in Min­ first of these. This year they are offering 'Yuletide', a 'Merrymaker' mutaticn nesota was even older than the Eckes'. Like whose bracts are not as dark a red, but which is free-branching. them, the Bachmans had started growing The Ball Seed Company in West Chicago, Illinois, which does not breed its vegetables before moving on to flowers. own poinsettias but markets a poinsettia family called "Peace," is entering But poinsettias weren't among them, says the dark red-dark green sweepstakes with 'Cheers'. Product manager Mark Todd Bachman, the current president. Chalmers said that compared to older cultivars, it has branches that are more "They are almost impossible to start from upright and stronger and more flowers near the top of the plant. seed, and it wasn't practical for Northern Ecke's poinsettia with bright ruby bracts and dark green foliage is 'Lilo', growers to carryover their own stock. We which their catalog says is alsc the longest lasting poinsettia ever. Also new were without a viable source. The Eckes frorm Ecke, in addition to their yellow, speckled, and pink "novelties," is made it easy and convenient to get the raw 'Celebrate'. It is heralded for bracts that bend slightly upward, giving the plant materials." an airy appearance. 'Celebrate 2', which is expected to be available in 1990, Many others agreed. The plants them­ is free-branching, in addition. A 'Celebrate Pink' is currently under trial. selves were improving, and a cost-dfective New to Mikkelsen's this season are three genetic dwarfs, which means that operation quickly made the Eckes the pre­ subsequent generations won't revert to a taller form. These are 'Mini Minstrel', dominant poinsettia growers in the coun­ a red; 'Mini Mirabelle', a white; and 'Mini Minneken', which Ed Mikkelsen said try, recalls Paul Jr. "Berween the '20s and is the only true genetic pink. Most pink poinsettias appear to be that color '40s, it was a bigger job every year. Nearly because the red of the two internal histogenic layers of the bract are showing all of the crop was produced in the field, through an outer layer, or epidermis, that has no pigment. ~ventually, these and new varieties came from sports or plants may revert to red. The 'Minneken' actually has pink pigment, he said, mutations. " "almost a salmon." All of the poinsettias of any commercial value continued to be sports of 'Oak Leaf',

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most selected and developed by Paul Sr. being grown outdoors and shipped by train Most were as fragile as they were beautiful. as dormant mother plants, most poinset­ All that changed in 1963. The turning point tias are started in greenhouses as small was a cultivar called 'Paul Mikkelsen', bred rooted cuttings and flown to growers. The by Ashtabula, Ohio, nurseryman James Paul Ecke Poinsettia Ranch has thirty-five Mikkelsen from two Ecke selections, 'Bar­ acres of greenhouses. bara Ecke Supreme' and 'Ecke's White'. Where can the Ecke enterprise go from His son Ed Mikkelsen, now president of here? Mikkelsen's, Inc., explains that the cross For franz Fruehwirth, a Hungarian im­ was made to infuse the long-lasting qual­ migrant who has belm the Eckes' principal ities of 'Ecke's White', a tetraploid sport, breeder for a quarter of a century, there with the standard red color of 'Barbara is always the challenge of richer color, bet­ Ecke Supreme', a diploid. A tetraploid has ter branching, improved longevity and form. twice the number of chromosomes as in a Says Paul Ecke Jr.: "The trick is to get normal or diploid cell. The result of this one that's better; that's where the rub is." unusual cross was a dramatically im­ While there is only so much you can do proved plant, says Ecke, "in terms of the to get ~ redder red, there is always the stress and strain it could take. It launched challenge of regional variation. "You might a whole new world of really new varieties have a red that grows well in Miami, but that were totally different in form and it's not the same variety that will do well WEATHERVANES· SUNDIALS color." in Minnesota." While no poinsettia is going WEATHER INSTRUMENTS Mikkelsen said that prior to 1963, the to be hardy outdoors in the North, growers Free Catalog peak of poinsettia color was likely to last there appreciate a cultivar that can tolerate only a few days. Leaves would dull and some coolness, from an energy standpoint, Wind & Weather then drop off, leaving a pathetically bare says Minnesotan Todd Bachman. Like­ stem. "It was a lot like the Easter lily; it's PO Box 2320-AH Mendocino, CA 95460 wise, Florida growers need plants that can (707) 937-0323 not much good if it's not blooming on handle a lot of heat and light. Easter." Thus growing and shipping had And while no one has yet proposed a to be meticulously timed; sellers had to blue poinsettia, each year there seems to pla,n on getting the entire season's supply be a new spin on the basic colors. Today, THATCHED at once. The longer lasting plant sent de­ thirty-five percent of the market consists mand through the roof. "Before, they had of white, pink, and variegated poinsettias. ROOF been sold mainly through florist shops," Ecke has three new "novelty" cultivars: BIRD said Ecke. "Now they were being sold 'Lemon Drop', which is bright yellow; through grocery stores, discount centers­ 'Jingle Bells', which is red with pink flecks; HOUSES unfortunately, too often as a loss-leader­ and 'Pink Peppermint', which is pink softly and virtually all kinds of vendors." Mik­ speckled with red. kelsen's alone couldn't supply the whole The company has re<;ently started grow­ nation with the popular new cultivar, Ed ing New Guinea impatiens, developed by Mikkelsen said, but they could by going Ludwig Kientzler of Germany. They also through the Eckes' well-established net­ grow some spring-flowering plants, such work of growers and sellers. as hydrangeas and Easter lilies, for local One of the biggest improvements in sales. But those are minor sidelines. "There's poinsettias since the early '60s has been no other grower in the world," says Paul the increased sturdiness of their stems. The Jr., "so dedicated to poinsettias." What­ Made in England by " cotta!'je indl!1stry ," older poinsettias, recalls Todd Bachman, ever the future holds, it was the Eckes who The Thatched Roof Bird Houses have the had such weak stems that a standard trick put poinsettias all over the map. charm of Folk-craft .... one of those pleasant among florists was to prop them up with And Paul Jr., who said he was sure by touches that make the English Gardens pine boughs. Today, the peak selling sea­ the age of 20 that he would follow his famous. The house is a rustic hollowed branch with a flat back to hang on a wall , son is between Thanksgiving and mid­ father into this business, already has two fence, or tree. A stub of a stem is the perch. December-a week or ten days earlier for family members following in his own foot­ Twigs are fitted to hold the thatching. 10" commercial buyers who want them to dec­ steps. His son, also named Paul, is in charge high . Easy to clean out. Writes a reordering orate store displays-and a plant given of production for the ranch, while daugh­ customer: " ... my thatched bird house is the talk of the neighborhood." Only $24.95 reasonable care will still be attractive on ter Liz is managing those properties so each. Shipping $2.00 Easter. wisely shielded from subdivision more than The Walt Nicke In the intervening years, the revolution sixty years ago, but no longer used to grow in poinsettia breeding, combined with the Flores de la Noche Buena. Company shift from rail shipping to air freight, has p.o. Box 433A, 36 McLeod Lane turned the Eckes' focus away from those Topsfield, MA 01983 / 508-887-3388 Kathleen Fisher is editor of American once-startling fields of red. Rather than Horticl!J lturist.

10 DECEMBER 1989 An unrivaled celebration of the beauty ofthe iris. ..

THE IRIS The Rainbow Flower Photographs byJosh Westrich Texts by Ben R. Hager The exquisite beauty of the many species of iris are captured here in 73 full-page color photographs. Focusing on the tall bearded varieties, Josh Westrich's seductive photos take you into a "garden" of unsurpassed opulence that will enchant both iris lovers and the uninitiated alike.

The sumptuous portraits are accompanied by detailed descriptions of each iris and an evocative history of the flower by Ben R. Hager, the internationally renowned iris breeder and expert from Melrose Gardens in California.

With 146 illustrations, 73 in color. $40.00

At bookstores or ca1l800 233-4830 THAMES AND HUDSON INC. 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110 HISTORY / BY ROBERT GENEVE

GAULTHERIA Ericaceae. About 100 spp. of evergreen, erect or prostrate shrubs, or rarely small trees, native chiefly to the Andes of £. Amer., but also to N. Amer., and from Asia to Australia. G. procumbens. WINTERGREEN, TEABERRY. Stems creeping, leaves elliptic to narrowly obovate, to 2 in. long, bristly serrate, shining above; flowers solitary and nodding, white, one-fourth in. long; fruit scarlet. Genus name honors eighteenth-centu ry physician Francois Gaultier for helping a student of Linnaeus identify North American plants. The species name procumbens derives from its creeping habit.

mpeloPsis brevipedunculata is botanical name has two parts consisting Plant Names. Both can be found in the one of my favorite plant names. of a genus and species name; this is termed reference section of most libraries. But there It is only slightly easier to re­ a Latin binomial. But the decision about is much that these references leave out. member than Sarcococca hook­ what those names should be has been made A primary means of naming plants has eriana var. humilis. Even avid in a number of different ways. been by commemorating noteworthy fig­ gardenersA cringe after inquiring about an Some names are formed from simply La­ ures from botanical history. In fact, hidden unfamiliar plant only to be informed, "Why, tinizing common or Greek terms that de­ within apparently meaningless plant names, that's Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. scribe particular aspects of the plant. Am­ we have been left a legacy of botanical Beautiful blue flowers ... " Latin names pelopsis brevipedunculata (porcelain berry) history waiting to be discovered. Familiar for plants can be cruel, appearing to be is representative: Ampelopsis is an old name plants like magnolia, forsythia, dahlia, zin­ arbitrary designations conspired as part of for a grapelike vine, and the species brev­ nia, and hosta have all been named for a secret code for a secret society. ipedunculata means short flower or stalk. someone whose life was associated with a The tongue-tied gardener will appreci­ The Greek and Roman mythical gods love for plants. These usually fall into one ate that some plant names actually do not are often remembered in plant names. The of four categories: plant explorers; her­ have any meaning. Although not a com­ genus for milkweed is the difficult name balists; gardeners or directors of botanic mon practice, there are some plants des­ Asclepias. However, Asclepias does not gardens; and patrons or friends of botany. ignated with nonsense anagrams for names. seem quite as obscure when you learn that For anyone investigating plant names, An anagram is produced by mixing or jum­ it commemorates the mythical god of med­ the most fascinating reference material is bling the letters of an already existing plant icine. Other plant names that immortalize that describing the adventures of the plant name. Tellima is an anagram of Mitella. mythical gods include Andromeda, Adonis, explorers. Many of these are firsthand field But there really are good, logical reasons Dianthus, and Narcissus. accounts of plant hunting in exotic, dan­ for a single, worldwide mechanism for A good description of how such Latin gerous places. Many of these adventures naming plants, and fortunately or not, Latin names for plants are derived is found in were life-threatening; indeed, several plant has been chosen as the universal plant lan­ William T. Stearn's Botanical Latin and collectors died from injuries or diseases guage. Most of us know that the basic A.W. Smith's A Gardener's Dictionary of incurred during their explorations. There

12 DECEMBER 1989 Photo by Pamela Harper Just a Few of Those Made Famous in Flora Plant Explorers

Name Date Genus Common Name Comments Clarke Abel 1780-1826 Abelia glossy abelia English , collected in China. George Kamel 1661-1706 Camellia camellia Jesuit, collected in Philippines. William Clark 1770-1838 Clarkia clarkia Lewis and Clark exploration of North America. James Cunningham ? -1709 Cunninghamia China fir English, collected in China. Abbe Armand David 1862-1873 Davidia dove tree French missionary, collected in China. David Douglas 1798-1834 Douglasia douglasia Scottish , collected in North America. William Houston 1695-1733 Houstonia bluets Scottish , collected in Central America. Pierre d'incarville 1706-1757 Incarvillea incarvillea French missionary, collected in China. Peter Kalm 1715-1779 Kalmia Mt. laurel Finnish , collected in North America. Meriwether Lewis 1774-1809 Lewisia lewisia Captain , Lewis and Clark exploration. Walter von Saint Paul-Illaire 1860-1910 Saintpaulia African violet Collected the African violet in East Africa. Herbalists Leonhart Fuchs 1501-1566 Fuchsia fuchsia German herbalist noted for woodcuts. John Gerard 1545-1612 Gerardia gerardia One of the first herbals written in English . Well read . Written material and illustrations mostly plagiarized from earlier herbals. Mathias de !'Obel 1538-1616 Lobelia cardinal flower Flemish herbalist. Adam Lonitzer 1528-1586 Lonicera honeysuckle German herbalist. Nicholas Monardes 1493-1588 Monarda bee balm Spanish herbalist. Gardeners or Directors of Botanical Gardens J. F. Dieffenbach 1790-1863 Dieffenbachia dumb cane Royal Palace gardens, Vienna, Germany. William Forsyth 1737-1804 Forsythia forsythia Royal gardens, Kensington , England . Gottlieb Gleditsch ? -1786 Gleditsia honey locust Botanic garden, Berlin , Germany. Thomas Hoy 1788-1809 Hoya wax plant Syon house, Isleworth, England . Pierre Magnol 1638-1751 Magnolia magnolia Botanic garden , Montpellier, France . Jean Robin 1550-1629 Robinia black locust Royal gardens, Paris, France . Wilhelm Sinning 1794-1874 Sinningia gloxinia University gardens, Bonn , Germany. John Tradescant 1608-1662 Tradescantia spiderwort Royal gardener to King Charles I.

KALMIA Ericaceae. About 6 spp. of evergreen or rarely deciduous shrubs, native to N. Amer. and Cuba. K. latifolia. MOUNTAIN LAUREL. Shrub or small tree, to 10 ft. or more; leaves alternate, sometimes opposite or in 3's, elliptic, to 5 in. long; flowers in terminal , glandular­ pubescent corymbs, rose­ colored to white with purple markings inside. Genus name honors Peter Kalm , a Finnish pupil of Linnaeus, who was sent by the Swedish government to report on the natural resources of North America in the mid-1700's. The species name iatifalia refers to mountain laurel's broad leaves .

Ph oto by John A. Lynch : PH01rO/N/\l§..______== ~~ HISTORY

is a particularly interesting account of the Herbal! or Genemll Historie of Plantes. the work in German. The translator, a Dr. travels ofE.H Wilson (1876-1930) in China Un li ke most of the herbals of that period, Priest, was unable to complete the work by Peter Chvany in the May 1976 Arnol­ which were written in Latin, Gerard wrote because of a fatal illness. Subsequently, dia . The article, "E.H . Wilson, Photog­ his in English. It was very well received by Gerard helped himself to the portion that rapher," is il lustrated with fascinating the general literate populace, allowing The had been translated. However, his book's photographs of people and places of China. Herbal! to go through several editions and success was due largely to his writing style, Other colorful personali ties who have reprints, the most recent in 1975. and he expanded it to include many of his been remembered in plant names were the However, Gerard has been maligned fo r own observati ons and insights. The Her­ early herbalists. John Gerard (1545 -1612), plagiari zing an English translati on of A bal! was fi lled with folklore, but one ac­ who was commemorated in Gerardia, was New Herbal!, or Historie of Plants by D. count does lend some insight into Gerard's an Engli sh herbalis t who compiled The Rembert Dodoens, who originally wrote veracity. He claims to have personally seen

More Botanical Immortals Botanists, Physicians, or Scientists Name Date Genus Common Name Comments Karl von Bergen 1704-1760 Bergenia bergenia Professor, Frankfurt, Germany. Samuel Brunner 1790-1844 Brunnera brunnera Botanist, Switzerland. Adam Buddie 1660-1715 Buddleia butterfly bush Botanist, England . Juan Castillo ? -1794 Castilleja Indian paintbrush Botanist, Spain . John Clayton 1686-1773 Claytonia spring beauty Botanist, Virginia, USA. Anders Dahl 1751-1789 Dahlia dahlia Botanist, Sweden . Antoine Duchesne 1747-1827 Duchesnea . mock strawberry Botanist, France . Father of the modern strawberry. John Fothergill 1712-1780 Fothergilla fothergilla Physician , England . Johann Eschscholz 1793-1831 Eschscholzia California poppy Botanist, Russia . Alexander Garden 1730-1791 Gardenia gardenia Physician, South Carolina, USA. Francois Gaultier 1708-1756 Gaultheria wintergreen Physician and botanist, Quebec, Canada. Joseph Gay-Lussac 1778-1850 Gaylussacia box huckleberry Chemist, France . Conrad von Gessner 1516-1565 Gesneria gesneria Botanist, Switzerland. Credited with introducing the tulip to Europe. Adrian Haworth 1768-1833 Haworthia haworthia Botanist, England . Stephen Hales 1677-1761 Halesia Mt. silverbell Scientist, England . Father of plant physio logy. Johann Heucher 1677-1747 Heuchera coralbells Professor of medicine, Wittenberg , Germany. Nicolas Host 1761-1834 Hosta hosta Physician , Austria. Carl von Linne 1707-1778 Linnaea twinflower Physician and professor, Uppsala, Sweden . Father of plant nomenclature. Latinized his own name to Linnaeus. Bernard M'Mahon 1775-1816 Mahonia mahonia Horticulturist, USA. John Mitchell 1711-1768 Mitchella partridgeberry Physician, Virginia, USA. Olof Rudbeck 1630-1702 Rudbeckia black-eyed Susan Professor, Sweden . William Tolmie 1830-1866 Tolmiea piggyback plant Physician and botanist, Scotland. Caspar Wistar 1761-1818 Wisteria wisteria Professor, Pennsylvania, USA. Christian Weigel 1748-1831 Weigela weigela Professor, Germany. Johann Zinn 1727-1759 Zinnia zinnia Professor, Germany. Patrons or Friends of Botany Michel Begon 1638-1710 Begonia begonia Governor of French Canada - Patron . Henry Compton 1632-1713 Comptonia sweet fern London Bishop - Patron . Johann van der 1743-1788 Deutzia deutzia Dutch patron . Deutz Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790 Fran klinia Franklin tree Politician, inventor, and writer. Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826 Jeffersonia twinleaf Politician , horticulturist, and patron . John Stuart 1713-1792 Stewartia stewartia Politician in England - Patron .

14 DECEMBER 1989 the barnakle or goose tree. This remark­ Linnaeus was a complex individual, self­ able tree produced shells similar to an oys­ conscious and self-important, alternately ter from which emerged a feathered viewing himself as the grea t reformer of hatchling similar to a goose. botanical science, or as an insignificant, There are less familiar figures in botan­ disregarded individual resembling the small ical history who might go totally unnoti ced plant, Linnaea borealis (twinflower). Lin­ without being commemorated in plant naeus chose this diminutive woodland names. For instance, the mountain silver­ wildflower to commemorate himself and bell's genus name, Halesia, commemorates he ca n be seen carrying or wearing it in an eighteenth century scientist, Stephen several of his portraits. Indeed, his selec­ Hales, who is remembered as the "father tion o f hi s contemporaries for commem­ of plant physiology." But his work in that oration in plant names probably reflected ~yside1fqdrdens field is not the only reason his name is hi s own desire to be remembered as a great The Complete 'iJJ Garden Catalog commemorated with this genus. Hales, who botanist. Writing in Critica Botanica in For the discerning and demanding gardener­ America's most diverse and comprehensive cata­ was also an ordained minister in England, 1737, Linnaeus sa id, "Generic names log. You'll find a meticulous, world-wide selec­ became a dedicated member of the board formed to prese rve the memory of a bot­ tion of the finest ornamental garden plants and hardy bulbs - over 1000 varieties! All backed by of trustees for the colony of Georgia in anist . .. I retain as a religious duty." The Ways ide Guarantee. Ask now and this 148 America. The mountain silverbell, an at­ Being commemorated by Linnaeus, page book-style catalog is yours FREE. tractive little tree native to the Southeast­ however, did not necessarily reflect mon­ Send For Your Copy Today! ern United States, was named Halesia in umental botanical accomplishment, but Please DL020 Print: memory of Hales's apparently significant often illustrated the network of historical Name ______work on behalf of colonial Georgia. figures linked by a common interest in and Address ______Commemorative names can also pro­ love of plants. For example, Peter Kalm, ______Apmt. ___ vide insights into the personality of the who was commemorated with Kalmia City ______eighteenth century botanists w ho chose (mountain laurel), was a student of Lin­ State ___ Zip ______them. The earnest work of cataloging the naeus. While collecting plants in North The Wayside Gardens Co. plant kingdom with the binomial system America on a commission from the Swed­ I Garden Lane, Hodges, SC 29695-0001 began in 1737 with the publication by Carl ish government, Kalm met Francois Gaul­ von Linne (Linnaeus) of Critica Botanica tier, physician to the governor of Quebec. and Genera Plantarum. At that time, the At that point in botanical history, the med­ idea of a binomial system of nomenclature ical and botanical fields were still closely for plants was not a new concept, nor was allied; Gaultier helpfully guided Kalm to it universa ll y accepted by Linnaeus's con­ the habitats of native plants around Que­ temporaries. A particularly vocal critic of bec. After Kalm returned to Sweden, he the Linnaen binomial system of nomen­ asked Linnaeus to commemorate Gaultier clature was Johann Sieges beck. In appre­ with the medicinally useful North Amer­ ciation for his critical evaluation, Linnaeus ican plant Gaultheria procumbens, from immortalized his name with the genus Sie­ which the oil of wintergreen was extracted. gesbeckia, a bad-smelling weed in the com­ Because there is no single comprehensive posite family. reference book on the origin of plant names, Despite such criticism, a rational system information is scattered, but the hunt for of class ification was desperately needed and these historical personalities is part of the Linnaeus tenaciously advocated his system fun. For instance, since recently moving to of nomenclature based on the floral char­ Kentucky, I have learned that the genus acteristics of the plants. The eighteenth Shortia (oconee-bells) commemorates century European's world was rapidly ex­ Charles Short, an early nineteenth century panding, and new plants were being in­ Kentucky explorer and botanist. Material troduced from China, North and South on Short is not easy to find, but I am de­ America, and Australia. Europeans devel­ termined that a biographical study is avail­ oped a passion for new plant introduc­ able somewhere. tions; plant explorers, financed by gov­ For others with an easy-chair interest in Please send your value·packed • r------• catalog. I enclose $2, deductible .. ernments a nd wealthy patrons, were this area, I suggest searching for a rare • on my first catalog order. • dispatched throughout the world. Even­ book collection that contains many orig­ tually, Linnaeus received a professorship inal botanical works and illustrations. Rare • Name • at the University of Uppsa la in Sweden, book collections can be found at many • St.lRFD • where he developed a reputation as a teacher university libraries, botanical museums, and • City State----..Zip_ • and lecturer. Linnaeus established corre­ some botanic garden libraries. II send to: • spondences with botanists throughout the • GILBERT H. WILD &. SON, INC. • world, and plant collectors se nt him ne w Dr. Robert Geneve is assistant professor of AH-1289 Joplin St. • Sarcoxie , MO 64862 • plant species for cataloging. horticulture at the University of Kentucky. ..••••••••••

AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST 15 The Devoted VO TEERS of Cranbrook House

STORY AND PHOTOS BY JUNE L. HICKS

Imagine how much gardening you could accomplish with an extra 17,000 hours each growing season. That is the amount of time lavished by volunteers on the forty acres surrounding magniffcent Cranbrook House in Bloomffeld Hills, Michigan. Without that measure of devotion, the gardens would probably no longer exist.

16 DECEMBER 1989 esigned by Albert Kahn, Cran­ The idea appalled George Booth's son Top le~ : The west terrace garden receives the brook House was built in 1908 by Henry, who, while he now lived in another, special attention of Gardens Chairman PolI~ D George Gough Booth, publisher nearby Bloomfield Hills estate, had after Spaulding. Above: The sunken garden was used of The Detroit News and his wife, Ellen all grown up at Cranbrook House. In 1970 as a kitchen garden between 1911 and 1921. Scripps Booth. Upon their deaths, it was he called together a group of local garden Now it features a spectacular summer displa~ of willed to and became part of the surround­ writers and garden club members and ex­ annuals in a serpentine pattern; spring finds it ing Cranbrook Educational Community, plained how everything was deteriorating. which includes Cranbrook Schools, Cran­ What to do? filled with tulips. Bottom left: Longtime volunteer brook Academy of Art and Museum, and The next year, a nucleus of eighteen en­ Patt~ Ta~lor shows off a hosta recentl~ planted the Cranbrook Institute of Science. thusiastic volunteers, mainly from Bloom­ near the entr~ trail. While the Booth family lived on the es­ field Hills and Birmingham garden clubs, tate, they employed eighteen gardeners. The formed the Cranbrook Auxiliary to main­ staff was drastically cut after World War tain, preserve, and improve the grounds II when the Booths died. By the late 1960s, around the house. the gardens surrounding the house were Patty Taylor and the late Virginia Ber­ neglected. Since there was no endowment ridge became cochairs to draw up the by­ left for either house or gardens, they proved laws. "When we passed a hat around for too costly for the other Cranbrook insti­ money, we ended up with $17," recalls tutions to maintain, and thought was given Taylor, "enough for our first mailing." to tearing down the house and subdividing Sally Riemenschneider recalls being ap­ the property. pointed as the first chairman directly in

AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST 17 charge of garden work. "I had my hands mingham and Bloomfield and used to ride visit. Now the group had a small source full, since I had six young children at home by Cranbrook House on her bike. One day of revenue. when I took on this job." she had even hopped the wall and met the In the second year volunteers continued Her qualifications? Not many, she's head gardener, Englishman Alger Munt. to clean up and weed the beds. There still willing to admit, except that she did have " Emphasis here is on natural beauty," she wasn't much money, but local gardeners one summer horticultural course while she says, " although the statues in the gardens began offering them choice plants. was a student at Michigan State University. are fabulous, too." A renowned plantswoman and hybri­ It taught her what was good in landscaping The volunteers' first year was less than dizer, Lee Armiger of Southfield, died in and what was not so good, and glamorous. Cranbrook had just one full­ 1972. When her lawyers called and asked to appreciate vistas. "And that's what we time gardener and helper. Volunteers had if Cranbrook would like some of the plants, excel in here at Cranbrook-wonderful their hands full just mowing lawns and the answer was an immediate "yes." When vistas!" watering the beds. So that summer they the volunteers arrived the next spring at When Booth bought the property in 1904 mainly pulled weeds. the Southfield garden they found wonder­ he was attracted by the rolling hills. They The first fall, they replaced many daf­ ful daylilies plus other useful perennials reminded him of Cranbrook in Kent, Eng­ fodils on Daffodil Hill, which originally waiting for them along with Armiger's for­ land, where his family came from. He had was planted in 1954 as a surprise gift to mer gardener extraordinaire Rudy Fedus, a vision and was willing to spend money the Booths on the fiftieth anniversary of who announced that everything dug that to create it. While he called in technical their purchase of the property. day would have to be replanted by night­ experts to guide him in fulfilling his dream, As soon as everything started to look fall. "When do we start?" asked Fedus. He he was his own primary landscape architect. presentable, the auxiliary began selling has been working at Cranbrook as a vol­ Riemenschneider had grown up in Bir- tickets at the gatehouse so the public could unteer ever since that day when he came

18 DECEMBER 1989 to help replant his former employer's bo­ garden in the brick-walled area that had Opposite, top: Olga Omelianoff (/e~) and Eva tanical bequest. been the drying yard for clothes. The Proudfoot work in the perennial beds around the Soon after, Armiger's estate also do­ brickwork that edges the beds and pro­ west terrace pool. Opposite, le~: Spring blooms in nated a collection of some 100 choice ever­ vides walkways around them has just been the library garden, also known as Ellen's garden greens. Old stock could now be discarded redone. in honor of Ellen Scripps Booth. Opposite, right: and replaced with the best plant materials. In 1972, Dorothy Moroff was walking A della Robbia pot of bright flowers bids a Volunteers started redoing the grounds one her champion flatfoot retriever on a corner welcome at the entrance to Cranbrook House. garden at a time. Through the years, they of Cranbrook and stumbled across an Ori­ kept finding gardens they didn't know they ental garden so choked with weeds it Above: For the first nine years that the Booths had; in other cases, new ones have been couldn't be seen. Reclamation was started owned the property , this view was unobstructed created. immediately on the -area, which George lawn. It became the west terrace in 1913, when One summer day in 1971, Riemen­ Booth's father had built in 1931. the addition of the long, perennial-bordered pool schneider spotted stepping stones and went In 1973, Maja Schjolin, a Cranbrook made it one of the most dramatic vistas at down to investigate. She found a bog gar­ neighbor, began designing a wildflower Cranbrook House. den completely hidden in overgrowth. That garden in the woods behind the sunken fall, workers pulled out ten truckloads of garden. Schjolin has since died, but her material. garden has been an ongoing project. That same year there was also a major In 1980 when Phyllis McLean was gar­ addition, when the Herb Society of South­ dens auxiliary president, a program was ern Michigan, under the direction of the started to clean up as many of the statues late Mary Gerathy, established an herb and ornamental urns as possible. Some 200

AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST 19 items were inventoried. Under the direc­ success that now plant sales take place in Booth), the promenade, the west terrace tion of professional artisans, volunteers spring and fall, raising a great deal of money with its dramatic rectangular pool, the north cleaned many of the marble pieces with for the auxiliary. terrace, the circular terrace, the old north mudpacks. To remove fertilizer salts that Although George Booth's son Henry died terrace, the north garden, the wishing well, had accumulated on the large terra cotta in February 1988, he lived tG> see his dream the herb garden, the east terrace and fi­ pots over the years, they were given what of refurbishing the house and gardens come nally, after a complete circle, the spectac­ amounted to a whirlpool bath for pottery . true. Today, when visitors enter by the ular sunken garden, glowing with tulips in by being soaked in circulating hot water. ticket house at the south gate, they are the spring and annuals in the summer. The bronze statues, too difficult for am­ likely to lose count of the gardens they will In 1974 a second auxiliary was formed ateurs to clean, were sent to the Detroit pass through before they exit. to serve and improve Cranbrook House as Institute of Arts laboratory. They walk up an inviting winding trail a cultural center. Among the events that In 1984 the boathouse on Kingwood to the pillar entrance at the top of the take place there are five to six concerts Lake was restored, and three years later, meadow, then cross the bridge to the each year by the Cranbrook Music Guild, the greenhouse, built in 1910, received a "mountain," a lovely knoll shaded by performances by the Saint Dunstans Thea­ new skin when a firm in southern Ohio evergreens that stars a weeping Zeus and ter of Cranbrook, and a series of evening that specializes in antique greenhouses put a scaled-down version of the famous Bocca classes, such as art appreciation and writ­ in new glass. The resuscitation of the della Verita statue of Rome. ers' workshops, sponsored by a commu­ greenhouse enabled volunteers to work Then down the steps they come, into the nity group called Cranbrook P.M. In early year-round. Many of them participated in circular side court of the house and through 1977, the two auxiliaries joined to become growing 1,000 geraniums that they sold at a side gate to see the library terrace (also Cranbrook House and Gardens Auxiliary, their first spring plant sale. It was such a known as Ellen's garden, in honor of Mrs. which now has more than 500 members.

20 DECEMBER 1989 However, the groups still have separate plant sales. But since most of these activ­ Le~: Daffodil! Hill was created in 1954 to mark officers. The current gardens auxiliary ities lead to raising money to buy and the golden anniversary of the Booths' acquisition chairman is Kathleen Sheean; the house maintain plants on the grounds, it seems of the property. Right: The old north terrace auxiliary president is Mary Root. fair enough to count them all. provides a peaceful view of Kingswood Lake. The president of the Cranbrook Edu­ There are about thirty volunteers who cation Community, Lillian Bauder, and her work in the gardens three times a week or administrative staff now have offices in more during the growing season. (That's Cranbrook House. Nevertheless, the vol­ not counting those who lend helping hands unteers continue to provide the lion's share to plant in the spring but don't come back of the labor. In 1988, the house auxiliary for maintenance.) Usually there are two donated some 5,000 hours. When gardens full-time paid gardeners on the Cranbrook chairman Polly Spaulding hears the esti­ House staff year-round, with two more mate of 17,000 volunteer garden hours during the summer. They do most of the bandied about, she gets a bit nervous, and mowing and edging, hauling and fixing hastily notes that this includes not only things, and watering. time laboring in the gardens but also tak­ "We get to do the fun stuff in the gar­ ing ticket money at the gatehouse, tending dens," says Spaulding, who's been doing plants in the greenhouse and selling them this for ten years. In the spring there's a at the semi-annual sales, and attending lot of cleaning up to do, dividing of per­ board meetings and craft workshops, where ennials, and planting of annuals. For that they make items to be sold at the benefit reason, most redesign goes on at this time.

AMERICAN HORTICUL TURIST 21 Top le~: Betty Trost adds a splash of bright pink The summer is devoted primarily to before she became overall gardens chair­ chrysanthemums to Ellen 's garden. Ellen Scripps maintenance. Although weeding and man, and if you want to find her, that is Booth preferred flowers in shades of lavender, deadheading of flowers take up most of still the first place to look. purple, and pink. Top right: Dogwood blooms in their time, during the summer of 1987 the "Our goal," explains Spaulding, "is to the Oriental garden, which was buried in weeds drought had volunteers hauling buckets of have an area chairman for each garden when a volunteer walking her dog discovered it in water where sprinklers didn't reach. around the house." That would be about In the fall more redividing of perennials twenty, who would then be given volun­ 1972. Above: The turtle fountain in the circular and some redesigning take place. Volun­ teers to help maintain and groom it weekly. terrace was one of the numerous sculptures teers can also be found planting some 6,000 The area chairman can initiate changes, cleaned and restored around 1980. The fountain tulips in the sunken garden and 3,000 daf­ but must have her plans approved by the is a copy of the Fontana della Tartarughe, which fodils on Daffodil Hill. Since the hill is overall design committee. stands in a small piazza not far from st. Peter's covered with grass and can't be dug up, Current gardens chairman is Jane Clark, in Rome. Opposite: Frothy pink redbud trees rim full-time Cranbrook staff members drill who won the Golden Bee in 1988 with the upper north garden in the spring. holes and volunteers drop in the bulbs and 800 hours. This pin is one incentive for cover them up. volunteers, but there are others. Each year the auxiliary gives a "Golden "We have so much fun!" explains Clark. Bee" award to the volunteer with the most On Henry Booth's birthday each August hours. In 1985, Spaulding's 627 hours won 11, a workday is scheduled in the tiny gar­ her the award. den that honors him. Twenty to thirty vol­ Spaulding was area chairman of the dra­ unteers appear to sweep, prune, weed, visit, matic lower west terrace and reflecting pool and partake of the annual buffet. "Some

22 DECEMBER 1989 probably come mainly for lunch," the gar­ was asked to put an English border in what on the development of what is called El­ dens chairman admits. is now referred to as the north herbaceous len's Garden-three strip gardens just in In late May, when tulip bulbs are lifted border. She struggled at first without funds, back of the library. She knew that Ellen to make way for planting of annuals, bulbs inviting everyone to bring plants from their Scripps Booth had preferred blooms of lav­ are sold at a reasonable price to any vol­ own gardens (and bringing many from her ender, purple, pink, and gray. This was unteers who come to help with that chore. own) and with woodchucks that moved in another new challenge for Troost, who had For one volunteer, Cranbrook is an out­ to devour half of that garden every year. never worked with those colors. She pulled let for her love of gardening, now that she Having prevailed and produced stun­ it off beautifully with giant alIi urns, pink and her husband have given up their house ning results, Troost was then asked to take yarrows, perennial salvi as, pink and pur­ for an apartment. Clark has a garden of ple petunias, along with dusty millers and her own at home, but comes for the com­ artemisias. raderie and the sense of history. "I love all Visiting Cranbrook Riemenschneider suggests that Cran­ those people," she says. "It's rewarding. I brook House and its gardens contain the feel like I'm helping preserve something The Cranbrook gardens are open daily three ingredients that great gardens re­ important." from 10to 5 p.m., May through Sep­ quire: mature trees, rolling terrain, and "It's a horticultural education," says an­ tember. In October, the gardens are water. "It takes 400 years," she says, "for other volunteer, Betty Trost, who has been open 1 to 5 p.m. weekends only. a great garden to evolve. We're some eighty working in the gardens since their reju­ Children are free; admission is years toward that." venation began. ''I'm a dyed-in-the-wool charged for adults. For more infor­ June L. Hicks retired two years ago after dirt gardener and welcome a challenge." mation call (313) 645-3149. thirty-two years with The Detroit News , That's why, back in the early '70s, she where she was garden editor.

AMERICAN HORTICUL TURIST 23 ABountiful Haven on

By Sally Dick-Read

The British Virgin Islands are a haven of tranquil beauty, washed by the clear turquoise waters of the Atlantic and Caribbean, warmed by the sun, and cooled by the friendly trade winds. Visitors come to sail, to dive, or just to laze in the sun. Some fall so deeply in love with the islands that they return again and again until they conclude that this is where they want to be for the rest of their lives. Not everyone can just pull up stakes and go. But one who did was Paulina du Pont Dean, who, in 1965, made the big decision to leave the rolling hills of Wilmington, Delaware, where she grew up, for the warmth and beauty of the Caribbean island of Tortola. Gardens and gardening had been very much a part of Dean's early upbringing. The rich and humid smell of the earth after a heavy tropical downpour is to her reminiscent of longwood Gardens, planted by her uncle, Pierre du Pont, originally as a pleasure garden for him and his family and now one of the country's major public display gardens and botanical resources. Her uncle had a tall and splendid greenhouse at longwood in which he grew rare fruit trees espaliered on wires stretched across the building. Dean's mother loved to garden too, and Dean remembers that du Pont would send her mother the most exquisite apricots, peaches, grapes, and bananas in flower boxes packed in pale green tissue. So it's not surprising that Dean should have inherited a love of horticulture. But when she moved to Tortola, she did not find a ready-made paradise. The point of jungleland she bought took seven years to clear to her satisfaction, so persistent were the vines, wild tamarinds, and undergrowth fighting back against men that were employed to bring order out of chaos with machetes, diggers, and stumpers. It was not until 1976 that she was able to move into the barely finished "Meown," whose main house consists of three separate buildings: a kitchen, a library, and a bedroom­ dressing room. Each has its own view and is surrounded by covered terraces connected by covered walkways. This has made Meown a house within a garden and a garden within a house, each encroaching on the other to create a wonderful airy environment sheltered from the island's fierce sun, drenching downpours, and occasional gales.

Photo by Dougal D. Tho rnton

A M E M ,8 E R ' S GAR 0 E N

oth house and gar­ , den were designed for shade, with ar­ bors that catch the , gentle breezes and cool sun-speckled terraces and decks shaded by flowering trees: the poui (Ta­ bebuia serratifolia); the tree called ashanti blood (Mussaenda frondosa) , which has strange white bracts among the green leaves and tiny brilliant orange flowers; and the Moringa pterygosperma, a graceful small tree with delicate racemes of white flowers, known locally as the horseradish tree be­ cause of the flavor of its roots. It is the poui tree that shades the hammock where Dean often has lunch. Two pearly-eyed thrashers-known locally as trashie birds­ sit on the hammock waiting patiently for her crumbs. It is a favorite spot, over­ looking a small velvety lawn of golf-course smoothness-no mean achievement in the tropics-sown with zoysia grass and cooled by a bronze fish fountain. When guests join Dean for lunch, they often sit around the blue-tiled swimming pool, flower-fringed and tranquil beneath its spectacular backdrop. Here a cascade of red and white bougainvillea, columns of petrea (Petrea volubilis), pink and white Mussaenda erythrophylla, and delicate blue plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) plunge down tier upon tier from a series of stone and concrete planters. It was originally in­ tended that the height of this bank should be about ten feet, but when the bulldozer had finished, to Dean's surprise the bank was thirty feet tall. Undeterred, she got on with designing what has turned out to be one of the most stunning features of this incredible garden. She turned the cliff into a series of tiered planters big enough for trees and bushes. During the construction she was there all the time, instructing the masons when to heighten and when to lower the walls until she was satisfied that every­ thing was just right. The masons consid­ ered her pretty picky and demanding at the time, but when one of them came to the house recently, he couldn't get over the brilliant results of Dean's directions and his blocklaying! Dean freely admits she is no botanist, and that she doesn't by any means know all the names, Latin or otherwise, of all her plants. But she clearly has a great feel for growing things and says she has dis­ covered in herself, "rather late in life," a gift for garden design. Sometimes she sketches out her ideas, but more often she uses her enviable ability to visualize how things will look in a certain setting and just goes ahead and puts them in. She's

26 DECEMBER 1989 Opposite: Brilliant red bougainvillea cluster around the gazebo. Left: The flower·fringed pool is often a semng for the lunches and dinners that Dean makes from her garden produce. Above: The point gets its official name from its numerous dildo cacti. never afraid to admit that she's made a superior to store-bought brooms. mistake, and is quite prepared to dig some­ Below the house, th~ garden is divided thing up and move it elsewhere if it hasn't into the working area-consisting of the worked or just doesn't look right. vegetable garden and the chicken and rab­ The main house rests on a level area bit hutches-and the flower garden. Here roughly dividing the property into two parts, are terraces of hybrid hibiscuses in a myr­ the top half a buffer zone of cultivated rare iad of colors, a large collection of heli­ fruit trees, a collection of many years. They coni as with an underplanting of asparagus will give fine protection from any future ferns, and a bed of flowering bushes, many building on the land above. Also in this of which have a delicious scent. As you area are indigenous trees: mampoo (Pi­ pass under a ylang-ylang tree that per­ sonia sucordata), genip (Genipa ameri­ fumes the whole area, you can take a stone cana), and the copper-trunked turpentine path leading to an arbor thickly planted (Bursera simaruba), known locally as the with every conceivable shade of bougain­ tourist tree because it is red and peels. villea: snowy white through all shades of A few dildo cacti (Cephalocereus royenii) pink to magenta, red, and orange, all cas­ have escaped the machetes. When Dean cading down the hill. The path winds down first bought the land there were so many the hill and ends at a delicate white gazebo in the area that its official name is hanging fifty feet out over the water. Sun­ Dildo Point. sets are apt to be spectacular in the Virgin These are all interspersed with palms. Islands, and this is certainly the ideal place Among them is a cahune palm (Attalea to view them. amygdallina), the seed of which the ad­ A path trails around from the gazebo venturous Dean collected while in Belize past a sudden tumble of rocks planted with on an archaeological dig. The cahune boasts succulents, their soft grays, pinks, and the longest fronds in the palm world. Also greens blending harmoniously with the in the collection is a fishtail palm (Caryota grays of the boulders. As the path winds urens) and many tyer palms (Coccothrinax along up the hill toward the house you argentea), which grow wild on the western pass a large bed of ixora (Ixora coccinea) end of Tortola but not here on its eastern in all its lovely colors of pink, yellow, coral, end. The locals make brooms from the tyer and red. Between the path and Dean's bed­ fronds and so does Dean. They taught her room window she has planted jasmines, how to bunch them together and sew them lady of the night, and other fragrant plants; with a strip from the center part of the the scents waft in on the gentle breezes palm frond. The local people think them each night.

Photos by Miguel Nichols: COCONUT GRAPHIX AMERICAN HORTICUL TURIST 27 efore arriving at the also compost bins, which are why the rab­ of the circle. She is far from self-sufficient, arbor, you may in­ bits and chickens were installed in the be­ but she finds it most satisfying to live lightly stead take a path that gInnIng. off the land, all the while ~nriching it. follows the cliff The vegetable garden is protected from She is not alone in this difficult enter­ down to the rabbitry predatory birds by an enclosure of netting. prise. Her head gardener is Nathaniel Isaac, and the chicken A recent interest of Dean's is open-polli­ her "greatest treasure," who has worked coops, which are nated seed and heirloom varieties of veg­ for Dean for ten years. Besides Nathani~l painted various pastel Caribbean colors. etables. Her favorite tomato is Homestead she has three undergardeners. Neverthe­ Dean's latest "working fantasy" are the 500, an open-pollinated variety that bears less, she plants all seeds, takes cuttings, beds, just now being planted with a mix sweet fruits with a soft skin, which is rare and does the potting, which usually takes of flowering tropicals, intended to sur­ in this hot, dry climate. place under a canopy of passion fruit vines round the hutches in a riot of bloom. But tropical greens do well here, and (Passiflora edulis) that are at times heavily The path then takes you to the vegetable Dean grows several, including leaf amar­ laden with shiny yellow fruit. She also takes garden. It's a serious vegetable garden, since anth and an African spinach tree called care of the drip irrigation, which is needed most of the vegetables on Tortola are challa, which is very rich in iron. There daily most of the year. shipped in from Florida and leave a great are eggplants, many varieties of pepper, In the long, hot, and dry summer, the deal to be desired. The plot is on a reef both sweet and hot, and seven kinds of vegetable garden rests and Dean, flowing with extremely sandy, highly alkaline soil. sweet potatoes, the result of a visit to the with the slower rhythm of the season, con­ To shield it from ocean waves, Dean has Puerto Rican Department of Agriculture, centrates her activities more in and around erected an undulating "tropical Jefferson where she learned what a wide variety of the house, tidying up the flower garden. wall" that she copied from Monticello's. those vegetables could be grown in the This is the time, if any, that she might Jefferson built his of brick, which is im­ tropics. travel. Dean has collected the plants in her possible to come by on the islands, so hers There are about fifty coconut trees on garden over the years with the help of many is of concrete blocks painted white. She the property, which allows Dean to sac­ friends. Paula Beaubrun, who lives in St. left holes in it so that the strong sea breezes rifice two or three of them a year to treat Lucia, has taken her plant hunting all over would filter through instead of roaring over guests to that salad delicacy, hearts of palm. the Caribbean for many years. Beaubrun the top. It takes the palm five or six years to become has family and friends on most of the is­ Outside the wall are coconuts, both green big enough to harvest for this purpose. lands, and without her,'says Dean, the fruit and golden. On the inside of the wall are Sprouted coconuts are immediately planted tree collection would not exist. Margaret many kinds of oranges and grapefruits. in their place. Barwick, the wife of former Tortola Gov­ Inside of that are many varieties of vege­ Dean envisions her land as a circle. Her ernor David Barwick, has travelled with tables, since Dean constantly experiments, garbage is fed to the laying hens. Manure, Dean throughout the Caribbean, Puerto trying for the best vegetables for the tropics. leaves, grass, vegetable, and other waste Rico, and Florida to collect rare plants and At the far end of the garden are cisterns go into the compost. That rich mix goes trees. But Dean is always overjoyed to get fed by a desalination plant, which allows onto the vegetable garden and the fruit back to Meown to see what has grown or the adjoining ocean to meet the water needs trees, which provide Dean with nine dif­ fruited while she was away. of this ambitious landscape. A pump brings ferent kinds of mangoes and thirty-four The Tortola garden brings her the ob­ the water up the hill to a small cistern on different kinds of bananas, to mention just vious and immediate satisfaction of having the top. The water flows from there down a few of the fresh fruits she enjoys. She created it, and of the continual process of the hill through a drip system. All the fruit also makes pickles, chutney, and what may production, planting, growing, recycling, trees, flowers, and vegetables are watered be the best of all, ice cream flavored with and growing again. A few years ago Dean in this manner. Back by the cisterns are exotic fruits. Her kitchen is very much a part Continued on page 34

28 DECEMBER 1989 Photos by Miguel Nichols: COCONUT GRAP.;,;H;,;,;IX ____

A Symbol of Mirth Emerges from Shadow

By Deborah Reich

vy, that elegant and adaptable vine, has acquired something of a shady reputation. Most people depend on I "plain English ivy" to cover a brick wall or fill in shadowy spots near foun­ dations and under trees. But the ivy clan includes hundreds of unusual and trust­ worthy plants suitable for a host of indoor and outdoor garden situations. Most ivies raised in the garden are cul­ tivars of English ivy (Hedera helix), but exotic species from Spain, the Canary Is­ lands, and Japan also can be used suc­ cessfully for home and garden planting. All belong to the genus Hedera, part of the ginseng family. A noble plant, with a history dating back to ancient Rome, ivy is fami.!iar yet exotic, traditional but evocative. Poets have re­ vered ivy for thousands of years, linking it to the gods and eternity. In Greece, ath­ Hedera helix, 'Gold Heart' (above) letic prowess was rewarded with a crown has broad leaves with bright yellow of laurel, but Horace rhymed: "An ivy splashes of color while 'Helena' wreath, fair learning's prize, Raises Mae­ (right) has a more delicate, white cenas to the skies." In chronicling the dark marbling and deeply-incised leaves. others, such as 'Harrison', develop con­ poverty of Victorian England, Charles trasting white veins. Dickens rejoiced that "Whole ages have torical and sentimental associations, ivy Ivies can be divided roughly into three fled and their works decay'd, And nations adds an air of charm and antiquity to any groups according to their growth habits, have scattered been; But the stout old Ivy planting. which make them suitable for a range of shall never fade, From its hale and hearty There are hundreds of cultivars to choose purposes. One group grows flat, clinging green." from; some have ruffled, pointed, or heart­ closely as it climbs. This type is usually Historically, ivy also has been associated shaped foliage, others are bordered in white trained into patterns to decorate walls or with merrymaking. Bacchus, the Roman or splashed with gold. Some ivies, like 'Itsy fences or forced over wire supports for god of wine and good times, is often de­ Bitsy', grow in small, refined mounds, with topiary. Others are rampant growers that picted wearing a wreath of ivy and holding leaves no bigger than a dime, while vig­ offer quick coverage on vertical surfaces an ivy-twined staff. In England an alestake orous types such as 'Hibernica' have leaves or over large areas as ground cover. Mem­ or ivy-topped staff is the traditional sign the size of butter plates and quickly cover bers of the third group tend to remain in for a pub. Folklore repeatedly prescribes entire buildings. Unlike other common tidy mounds, making them useful for edg­ ivy as a cure for hangovers. As a symbol vines, ivy is evergreen. Many cultivars add ing, rock gardens, or small patches of of fidelity, ivy tendrils are frequently in­ to their four-season appeal by putting on ground. cluded in wedding bouquets and other flo­ a colorful display in cold weather; some, Ivies are also classified according to their ral decoration. With such a wealth of his- such as 'Woerner', blush deep burgundy; leaf shape. The American Ivy Society has

30 DECEMBER 1989 Photos by Pamela Harp er those grown in full sun will need more water and fertilizer. Light requirements vary according to the cultivar. Generally, white­ variega ted types do better and show stronger colors in partial shade situations; they tend to become less distinct in deep shade, and may burn in strong afternoon sun. On the other hand, those with yellow highlights like 'Gold Heart' or a gold hue like 'Buttercup' show better color in sun. Ivy is most often seen in its eXl!lberant adolescence, when it climbs by supporting itself with aerial roots that cling to wood, stone, brick, and masonry. Some gardeners may mistakenly blame these rootlets when masonry deteriorates. Evidence to the con­ trary is supplied by experienced gardeners like Gertrude Jekyll. In Gardens for Small Country Houses, she called ivy "a precious and beautiful climbing plant," observing that where mortar is loose in the joints of old masonry, ivy shoots may pen€trate and hasten the separation of the stones or brick, but "In the case of a new bare wall where the joints are sound and level with the face of the brickwork, there is no danger, and the ivy is even protective, the leaves throw­ ing off the wet." Because it "attaches" rather than rwines, ivy branches must be tied to or rwined around metal surfaces or wire. Adult ivy, known as "tree ivy," has simpler leaves and bears flowers and berries much favored by birds. It is frequently seen where juvenile ivy reaches the top of a wall or other support. In this stage, ivy is self­ supporting. It is used as an evergreen shrub in Europe, a use that deserves to be ex­ plored in this country. What to do with this abundance of choices? There are almost as many uses for ivy as there are ivies. Because it is so tolerant, it is dependable for difficult lo­ cations. Many problem spots around the gard€n can be handsomely filled with ivy. The dappled foliage of 'Gold Heart' gives the illusion of sunshine under mature shade adopted the Pierot Classification System ter at least as far north as Ohio and Penn­ trees, while sliperhardy and salt-resistant for sorting out cultivars of Hedera helix, sylvania. Hardiness also is determined by 'Thorndale' would be a good choice along dividing plants into eight categories: var­ a plant's ability to survive heat and drought; a road or driveway. Take advantage of the iegated, curly, bird's foot, ivy-ivy, minia­ trial plantings in Florida and California exuberant growth of Persian ivy (Hedera ture, oddities, heart-shaped, or fan. All ivies reveal ivy's ability to stay handsome de­ colchica), canary ivy (Hedera canariensis) , tend to be true to the old gardener'S saying spite a heat wave or water shortage. The or Hedera helix cultivars such as 'Woer­ that the first year it sleeps, the second year use of ivy to clothe city walls and cover ner' or 'Harrison' to create a vertical screen it creeps, and the third year it leaps. Re­ highway embankments attests to its re­ that can increase privacy on a porch or gardless of the ultimate habit, most plants sistance to pollution, a necessary attribute hide the garbage cans. Chain-link fences spend an initial period getting established in many modern garden situations. are transformed into hedges when ivy is and increasing their root systems, and The trick to successfully establishing ivy trained to cover them. If a dead tree stump gradually regain their growth rate. outdoors is to plant deep: burying several is prominent, a cloak of ivy changes it from Ivy is remarkably adaptable, and grows inches of stem in the soil creates a larger an eyesore to an instant shrub. in an astonishing range of environmental root system. As anyone who has stuck a Don't overlook ivy for center-stage conditions. While it was once believed that few sprigs in a glass knows, ivy roots quickly plantings. It is a refreshing and elegant only a few cultivars were winter-hardy, and easily. Regular, thorough watering will edging for annual beds or perennial bor­ extensive trials conducted by the American encourage sturdy plants. Ivy can be grown ders, where a solid green can offset and Ivy Society show that many thrive in win- in either sun or shade. As with any plant, complement colorful flowers. Many of the

AMERICAN HORTICUL TURIST 31 IVY

restrained growers, including heart-leaved creations are ul'liqu@ly portable, and may mond' for a panda's chest. Cultivars with 'Garland', lacy bird's foot 'Needlepoint', be moved around the house and garden to leaves closely set along the stem give the and the variegated, star-shaped 'Helena', dress up the dinner table or adom a sum­ best coverage for topiary. The foliage should merit a place within mixed plantings among mer terrace. Traditional shapes include be in keeping with the scale of the topiary: hostas, astilbes, and other shade lovers. geometries, regal peacocks, and aristo­ delicate 'Fleur de Lis', 'Shamrock', or 'Ju­ More vigorous cultivars are excellent com­ cratic swans, but it's possible to create any bilee' would be appropriate for a small panions for spring bulbs, since the lush creature or whimsical form that captures tabletop figure, while 'Ritterkreuz', 'Cal­ growth of late spring and early summer the gardener'S fancy, including initials, teddy ifornia', or 'Gertrud Stauss' can be enlisted soon conceals dying bulb foliage .. Box­ bears, dinosams, and cirws animals. Dif­ to quickly cloak larger shapes. Simple wood is the traditional plant used to edge ferent ivies evoke the oharacteristics of the wreath forms filled with damp sphagnum formal beds or outline knot patterns on subject - for instance, the pointed leaves moss create a base that can be planted with the ground, but ivies like 'Lustrous Carpet' of 'Needlepoinu' for a bird's feathers or a ivy. These living decorations can hang on or 'Dragon Claw' are a faster, hardier, and white-marked variety like 'Little Dia- a door or be placed on a dining table. They less expensive alternative. Using such bor­ can be additionally adorned for the holi­ ders to separate crops would tum a veg­ days and filled with a punch bowl, floral etable plot into an old-fashioned kitchen centerpiece, or candles, but their decora­ garden. Wall patterns-or espalier-add The American Ivy Society tive function is ytlar-round. interest to vertical surfaces without ob­ Bonsai is yet anether possibility. SI!lC­ scuring the architecture. Old favoFites like cessful bonsai requires a plant that displays 'Deltoidea' or 'Pedata', or new ultrahardy great character both in habit and leaf, and introductions like 'Harrison' are all ap­ ivy offers an assortment. 'Spetchley', which propriate for horticultural murals. While means gnome in German, has a slow, ir­ topiary carved from yew or boxwood will Fegular growth habit and leaves in scale take years to achieve its ultimate shape, with smaller bonsai, while the thick, con­ ivy trained over a wire framewOFk will torted stems of 'Conglomerata' make a nice instantly establish garden focal points. start for a larger form. Ivy is equally useful as a house plant. In 1969, the late California landscape From tiny terrariums accented with architect Thomas Church wrot@ in Your 'Spetchley' or 'Duck Foot' to flowing Private World: A Study of Intimate Gar­ hanging baskets of curly, vigorous 'Manda dens that" ... for year-in year-out green, Crested', its dependable color and texture 'Buttercup' for either sun or shad@ and under all condi­ complement any decor. Because cut stems Founded in 1973, the American Ivy tions from excellent to marginal, there is root easily, a small plant purchased at the Society operates as the International an ivy for every purpose." Recent research supermarket or garden center can quickly Registration Authority for the genus has shown that there are a wealth of va­ supply enough material to fill a larger pot Hedera . In order to reduce confusion rieties that will thrive in growing condi­ or start a topiary project. Cut stems add among the tantalizing array of ivies, tions all over the country. Hostas and day­ balance, line, and elegance to flower ar­ the society has devised a classifi­ lilies are shade-tolerant plants that are avidly rangements, and a house plant guarantees cation system and operates an iden­ collected rather than taken for granted, a ready source. Many Victorian gardening tification service. Members include and ivies can playa similar role. It's time manuals illustrate parlors draped in ivy both professional and amateur plant that ivy wound its way out of the shadows vines. These bowers are perhaps even better enthusiasts from throughout the and basked in the glow of appreciation. suited to the modern sunroom or green­ world . Besides clarification of no­ house, whertl the water they need is less menclature, the society is dedicated 'Sources for Ivies likely to damage furniture or floors. Such to promoting the greater use of ivy Angelwood Nursery, 12839 McKee School Rd ., foliage screens could hide pipes or shade in the house and garden through a Woodburn, OR 97071, catalog free. delicate plants such as orchids or gesneriads. variety of research projects, display Gilson Gardens, P.O. BQx 277, US Rt. 20, Perry, Ivies will grow readily indoors in a win­ gardens (one can be seen at the OH 44081, catalog free. Homestead Division of Sunny brook Farms, 9448 dow, greenhouse, sunroom, or even under American Horticultwral Society's River Mayfield Rd., Chesterland, OH 44026, artificial light. A weekly spraying in the Farm headquarters), and publica­ kitchen sink with a weak solution of liquid catalog $1. tions. Ivy is inextricably linked to the Ivies of the World, P.O. Box 408, Weirsdale, fertilizer or fish emulsion helps them thrive. development of various topiary forms, FL 32695, catalog $1.50. All indoor ivy plants would benefit from so the American Ivy Society also col­ Merry Gardens, P.O. Box 595, Camden, ME this treatment, which feeds them and washes lects and distributes information about 04843, catalog $1. off dust, mites, amd insects in one easy step. all manner of topiary techniques. For More unusual indoor art forms, such as information about membership and topiary and bonsai, can also be achieved AIS display collections, contact: The Deborah Reich is a topiarist and landscape quickly-and economically-with ivy. Be­ American Ivy Society, P.O. Box 520, and party designer in New York City and cause ivy is so willingly trained and shaped, the Berkshires. She coauthored The West Carrollton, OH 45449-0520, Complete Book of Topiary and edits the Ivy it brings topiary within the realm of any (513) 434-7069. Journal, a publication of the American Ivy gardener. Trained over a wire frame, these Society.

32 DECEMBER 1989 Photo by Dick Keen Pronunciations

Adonis ah-DON-is Ceratostigma Ampelopsis brevipedunculata plumbaginoides's am-pel-OP-sis brev-ih-pe-dunk-yew­ self-descriptive name LATE-ah refers to the stigma's Asclepias as-KLEEP-ee-us hom-like growths Attalea amygdallina and the flower's ah-TALE-ee-ah ah-mig-dah-LEEN-ah remarkable Bursera simaruba similarity to BUR-sir-ah sim-a-ROOB-ah plumbago flowers. Caryota urens kah-re-OTE-ah YEW-renz Cerato comes from Cephalocereus royenii keras, the Greek seph-a-Io-SEAR-ee-us ROY-en-ee-eye word for hom. Ceratostigma plumbaginoides cer-at-oh-STIG-mah plum-bag-in­ oh-IDE-ezs Coccothrinax argentea KOK-ko-thry-nax are-JENT-ee-ah Euphorbia pulcherrima yew-FORB-ee-uh pull-CARE-im-ah Gaultheria procumbens gaul-THEER-ee-uh pro-CO ME-benz Genipa americana JEN-i-pah ah-mer-ih-KANE-ah Halesia ha-LEEZ-ee-uh Hedera canariensis HEAD-er-ah can-ai-ree-EN-sis H. colchica H. KOL-chi-kah H. helix H. HE-licks Helleborus foetidus hell-eh-BORE-us FET-i-dus Award An AHS Medal At H. lividus var. corsicus H. LIV-ih-dus var. CORE-sih-kus H. niger H. NY-jer Your Next Plant Show H. orientalis H. or-ee-en-TALE-is H. purpurascens H. pur-pur-AS-enz Ixora coccinea icks-OR-ah kock-SIN-ee-ah Kalmia KALM-ee-uh Latania loddigesii lah-TANE-ee-uh lo-dih-GEZ-ee-eye Linnaea borealis LIN-ee-ah bore-ee-AL-is Mitella my-TELL-ah Moringa pterygosperma more-RING-ah ter-ee-go-SPERM-ah Mussaenda erythrophylla mew-SEEN-da er-RITH-ro-fill-ah M. frondosa M. fron-DOZ-ah Passiflora edulis pass-ih-FLOR-ah ED-yew-lis Petrea volubilis PET-ree-ah vol-yew-BILL-is Pisonia sucordata pi-SONE-ee-uh suh-core-DATE-ah The American Horticultural Society offers the Bole Memorial Medals, Plumbago auriculata designed by Victor Schreckengost, a nationally known sculptor and industrial plum-BA Y -go aw-rick-yew-LATE-ah designer. These medals are awarded to individuals for horticultural excellence Pulmonaria angustifolia at regional shows put on by plant societies who are members of AHS. The pul-mon-AIR-ee-uh an-gus-tih-FOL-ee-uh gold medal requires 15 species or cultivars of blue ribbon quality; the silver Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis medal 8 species or cultivars. These need not be all of the same species. The medal measures one and a half inches across with a ring attached so it can be sar-ko-KOKE-ah hook-er-ree-AIN-ah worn on a chain or ribbon. The date and the recipient's name can be var. hue-MILL-us engraved on the back. Shortia SHORT-ee-uh Requests for applications, which must be made three months in advance of Siegesbeckia sig-es-BECK-ee-uh the event, can be obtained from Mrs. Benjamin P. Bole, Jr., Chairman, 1 Tabebuia serratifolia Bratenahl Place, Cleveland, OH 44108. tab-bee-BEW-ee-uh sir-rat-ee-FOL-ee-uh

Photo by Jessie M . Harris AMERICAN HORT/CUL TURIST 33 LEYLAND CYPRESS TREES TORTOLA Long-living, fast-growing evergreens Specially grown for thick, flexible foliag@ and extra wide­ Continued from page 29 shape. Trees retain their branches to the groul'ld and grow began to wonder for various reasons if she 3 to 5 feet a year. Ideal windbreak when planted 8 feet apart should leave the British Virgin Islands. She Trees are in pots and can be planted now. Instructions considered long and hard and deeply: Where else on earth could she find a place where • Grows in marshy or dry soil she could be as happy as she is here? She '.,., • Not affected by salt spray eventually concluded that this is where she Rated for Zone 7 wants to btL She is constantly amazed at her good Prices From $ 5 00 fortune in being surrounded by so much Lots of 100 or more: $4 ea. beauty. She loves the way the house wraps Larger sizes available around the point so troat the vistas are so many and so constantly changing with light 8eautiful Leyland Cypress Trees and shade, weathH and winds that there's Make INonderful Holiday Gifts! never a chance of becoming surfeited. She MAIL ORDERS: Six (20") Trees loves the sounds: the whispering of the UPS Delivered $51.00 trade winds, the lapping of the ocean, the Toll Free: 1-800-673-8514 tree frogs calling to each other, nickets We Accept VISAIMastercharge and peepers, terns and murmuring doves, the "ladies" clucking-a peaceful caco­ Open Daily: phany in contrast to the dead quiet of her Wilmington house. She loves the smells: eatal-;; ' ~~~~~~y salt air, jasmine, baking bread. She loves Retail7f:holesale the feelings: sunshine on one's skin, and P.o. Box 1599 Easton. Md. 21601 all the different textures underfoot-grass, Screens • Windbreaks 1-800-673-8514 warm brick, cool tile. (She thinks people WE'VE MOVED--Same Road-New Location: US Rt. 50 to Easton By-Pass (Rt. 322) to who wear shoes all the time miss a great Oxford via Rt. 333. Nursery just past Otwell Rd. - 5 Y. miles from By-Pass. deal. ) And she loves the sights: all the bril­ liant, basic colors of this land, the glimpses of precious vignettes suddenly seen through a shift in the light. Most of all she feels GARDEN that she gains a kind of energy from her plants: a very real communication and ACCENTS connection with the land that she misses very deeply when she goes away from this haven, which she has made into a pleasure garden in the truest sense of the word.

Sally Dick-Read is a free-lance writer who has lived in the British Virgin Islands for twenty-five years.

Tell Us about }bur 'Petticoat Flounce' Garden Estate Peonies • Tree Peonies Fancy Hosta • Tetraploid Hemerocallls American HorticulturistwQuld like to Siberian Iris. Pulmonaria • Achillea As direct importers we offer over 100 feature more of our members' gar­ personally selected. handcrafted items Asarum. Ferns. and many others. from foreign countries: powerful bronze Send $4.00 for your 1989 Color Calalog dens in its pages. Your garden doesn't and marble animals, Chinese relics, (refundable with flrsl order) have to be huge or contain rare plants. porcelain fishbowls. planters. pottery. stone lanterns and garden stools. If you have solved a unique space or Call !'low I Our catalog Is FREE. soil pmblem or found a way to come to grips with your region's hostile east/westin weather, we would like to hear about GARDENS. it. Descriptions of your own garden Call: 415 / 321·2571 or a fellow member's should be sent Write: 1259 EI Camino Real to Editor, American Horticulturist, Suite 196. Dept. 51 Roule 5, Box 197 Penny Road Menlo Park. CA 94025 Soulh Barrlnglon, illinois 60010-9555 7931 E. Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, Call Toll Free 1-800-553-3715 VA 22308.

34 DECEMBER 1989 Letters

The Amazing B.Y. Morrison zine of the 1930-40 era, the difference in see pitcher plants in one of the arrange­ style is not only apparent but reflects the ments pictured. This letter is about your fine article on fact that a "catchy" title is an absolute Pitcher plants, like many other native books at AHS, and in particular the ref­ today. This is the trend in modern mer­ wildflowers, are commerciall y exploited erence to B. Y. Morrison. While accurate, chandising, is it not? plants. Thousands are taken from the wild I was sorry that there was no reference to Have you ever considered occasionally each year to supply the home gardening his role in the AHS. For years, he was AHS selecting a choice article from the old Na­ and florist trades. and The National Horticultural Magazine, tional Horticultural Magazine and repub­ Coll ecting has already done tremendous [the forerunner of American Horticultur­ lishing it in view of the fact that the average damage to our native flora, and it should ist] . Not only did he keep both alive during member does not have access to these be discouraged as often as possible. I hope the war years both financially and ed ito­ "oldies?" We often did that when a subject floral designers, as well, will look else­ rially, but you will find that many of the was covered by a contemporary author. where for inspiration. books in the library are due to his efforts. Might make an interesting contrast. Liz Dolinar He secured most of the articles in the early John Creech Murrells Inlet, South Carolina days, often wrote many of them himself, Hendersonville, North Carolina and you will admit the quality of the con­ tents was pretty solid stuff; so much so (Editor's note: John Creech is a former Great 'Defense' that many of the articles are timeless. Un­ president of AHS.) " In Defense of Modern Roses" (August) fortunately, gardeners and readers today by Rayford Reddell was excell ent. just do not accept that style and depth of Please keep up such knowledgeable, coverage. When I look at the titles of the lively, and thought-provoking articles. contemporary articles (not just American Arranging the Endangered Horticulturist) and then go back to an is­ Although Leonard Tharp's fl oral designs Christopher Menkin sue of The National Horticultural Maga- are beautiful Gune), I was disappointed to Los Gatos, California

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AMERICAN HORTICUL TURIST 35 PLANT PROFILES/BY MARK REEDER Peeling at Harne with Hellebores

hen I arrived in this coun­ Both of 1!hese species grow successfully try to work at the William in the Annapolis area of Maryland (Zone Paca Garden in Annapo­ 7). Other hellebores that grow in the Paca lis, Maryland, I was Garden are the stinking hellebore (H. foe­ pleased to see that my fa­ tidus) and the Lenten rose (H. orientalis). voriteW genus was thriving. I had studied The stinking hellebore comes from Eu­ Helleborus as a part of my training at the rope and dwells in Galcare0us woodlands. Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and it made It is S0 called because of the fetid smell me feel at home when I saw Helleborus given off by all its parts. Its dark evergreen species in this restored eighteenth century leaves are finely filigreed and divided; the garden. flowers are edged with a line of reddish I think that this genus is underused. Its brown on the outer rim of the sepals. values should be more widely realized: the The species H. orientalis, or the Lenten plants flower at a time of year when few rose, covers a host of varients. The com­ other herbaceous perennials are in bloom; mon forms have creamy flowers suffused they are relatively pest- and disease-free; they are easy to propagate; and they are long-lived and can be grown in a variety of situations. The genus can be divided into two groups, caulescent and acaulescent. Caulescent plants are those with a stem: the leaves and flowers are produced on a semi-woody stem that carries the cluster of flowers at its apex. One example is H. lividus var. corsicus. This plant comes from Corsica and Sardinia and produces thick, leathery leaves with toothed leaflets. The flower is borne on a much-branched stalk and there are many nodding flowers that are yellow­ green with yellow nectaries. The effect is one of strong structure in the landscape, The William Paca Garden, 1 even when not in flower. Martin Street, Annapolis, An example of the acaulescent group is Maryland, is a walled garden Helleborus niger. It comes from the Eu­ on the grounds of the restored ropean Alps and thrives in woodlands on townhouse of William Paca, a limestone formations. The leathery, blue­ signer of the Declaration of green leaves are attractive, and the pale Independence. The garden is rose-colored bloom i6large and somewhat open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. nodding. The petals and seed pods often weekdays and Saturdays afld persist for many weeks after flowering, first noon to 4:30 p.m. on Sundays. with a pink coloration, later turning pa­ From November through April the pery brown. It is called the Christmas rose gardens close at 4:00 p.m. The because it blooms early in the year, som(l­ garden is closed Thanksgiving times during Christmas week. In the Paca and Christmas. Left: Helleborus orientalis (foteground) Garden, those that grow against the north Admission is charged . For provides year-round interest in the William wall bloom ml!lch later than those that are more information, contact Paca Garden. Top: Named for its blooming more protected under the shade of coni­ William Paca Garden (301) period, the Lenten rose provides winter color. fers. Therefore site is a factor in time of 267-6656. Above: The stinking hellebore atones for its blooming. odor with lacy, delicate flowers and leaves.

36 DECEMBER 1989 Photos by Lucy Coggin lected to start up new plants. In the Paca Garden these spring up like mustard and cress, and we grow them for our plant sales. Because of the seedlings, excessive weeding and cultivation shotlld not be car­ ried out close to the plants. In the spring, the plants should be given a balanced garden fertilizer or liquid feed. During summer, if the weather is dry, the soil probably will need to be soaked at weekly intervals. (We do this in Annapolis; the leaves flag when dry, and we know that a drink is required.) The leaves of the acaulescent types, like H. orientalis, can be removed during the autumn. This elim­ inates the overwintering source of a fun­ gus, helleborus leaf spot, before it can rein­ fect the newly produced spring leaves. It also serves to tidy up the plants before they flower. To improve the appearance of the caulescent types like H. lividus var. cor­ sicus, the old flower stems are best re­ moved as they die down. Staking may also be necessary with this plant, especially to­ ward the end of the season. H. niger and H. purpurascens are re­ luctant to form good-sized clumps and re­ sent root disturbance. To protect the early white' flowers of H. niger from mud splash, it is a good idea to scatter grit or sand round the plants. Availability of these plants is sporadic. Some suppliers are mentiom~ d below, and with green, sometimes with a pinkish eye. to preserve these plants. it is worth pestering your local nurseryman There are other forms with pinkish purple My favorite hellebore, which we do not to get him to grow some for you. flowers and fine speckling. In gardens the grow in Annapolis, is H. purpurascens. I Helleborus is quite a fascinating genus different forms have naturally crossed or remember it on the order beds at Kew, and has been used in gardens since early hybridized with other species. This has oc­ where plants are laid out according to fam­ times, which is why we grow them in this curred in the Paca Garden, where we have ilies. The backs of the sepals are covered pre-Revolutionary garden in Annapolis. our own cross, possibly from the H. niger. in a beatltiful gray, grapelike bloom. The H . foetidus was illustrated twice by John The Lenten rose is so called because it flbwers are a deep plum color. Gerard in his Herball of 1597, once in flowers during the Lenten period-Feb­ Cultivation of hellebores is very easy. flower as "The Great Ox-heale" and in mary to April-somewhat later than the They will tolerate a wide range of soil pH, fruit as "Setter-wart" or "Bear foot." We Christmas rose but often overlapping, from acid to alkaline. Hence they thrive display the live plant in our visitor's center making promiscuity possible. Our H. niger on the soil of the William Paca Garden, along with copies of old woodcuts. In and H. orienta/is cross grows, in three lo­ which once had a hotel on it. The presence drawings of my own, I am trying to record cations: shady woodland beds, under the of limey mortar from this former structure the same details about Helleborus five cen­ light shade of a tree of heaven, and under makes the growth of acid-loving plants dif­ turies later. Nothing changes. the heavier shade of an atlas cedar. The ficult, but why bother to try when the Sources for Hellebores clump under the cedar works well com­ hellebores perform so well? bined with periwinkle and cyclamen and All hellebores benefit from a mulch of Appalachian Wildflower Nursery, Rt. 1, Box if mulched with weed-suppressing cedar leaf mold during the autumn or spring, 275A, Honey Creek Rd., Reedsville, PA 17084, catalog free. needles. which will help to control weeds, conserve Carroll Gardens, 444 East Main Sr., West­ H. Many old cultivars of orientalis have moisture, and improve soil structure. A minster, MD 21157, catalog $2. been lost to cultivation. One example is mulch of stone chippings has a similar ef­ Thompson & Morgan, P.O. Box 1308,Jackson, 'Ellen Terry', which still exists at the Royal fect, also giving better drainage round the NJ 08527, catalog free. Botanic Gardens, Kew. It is listed in the crown. Barrs of Covent Garden catalog of 1929 The clumps are best left undisturbed, Mark Reeder is director of the William and 1937 but is no longer available in the and in time they will form large plants Paca Garden and is in charge of its trade. Thank goodness botanic gardens exist from which self-sown seedlings can be col- ongoing restoration.

AMERICAN HORTICUL TURIST 37 Classifieds

Classified Ad Rates: $1 per word; min­ CAROL DIDRICK'S LITTLE RED BOOK ON GROUND COVERS imum $20 per insertion. 10% discount OLD GARDEN ROSES. Where to get them QUALITY GROUND COVERS AND PER­ for th ree consecutive ads using same and where to plant them. An introduction to ENNIALS. Aeg0podium, European Ginger, Ivies, copy, provided each insertion meets the OLD GARDEN ROSES. Each book signed and Lamiums, Wardy Cactus, Plumbago, Sweet numbered. Send $14.95 PQst paid. CAROL $20 minimum after taking discount. Copy Woodruff, Sedums, Vincas. Over 100 varieties. DIDRICK, 1535 Willard Dr., Orrville, OH GILSON GARDENS, INC., Dept. H, P.O. Box must be received on the first day of the 44667. *Please add $2 out of country mailiI'lg. 277, Perry, OH 44081. month two months prior to publication date . Send orders to : American Horti­ BOTANICAL CRAFTS HELP WANTED cultural Society Advertising Depart­ PRESSED FLOWERS and Potpourri available We at the American Horticultural Society are ment, 80 South Early Street, Alexandria, for your botanical crafts. Call or write today: often askecl to refer individuals for significant BLOSSOMS & BEVELS, 6326 Corinth Rd., horticultural positions around the CO\!lntry. We Virginia 22304. Or call (703) 823-6966. Longmont, CO 80501. (303) 772-5818. are not in a position to offt::r full placement services to candidates or employers. However, BROMELIADS as a service to our members, both individuals AFRICAN VIOLETS TILLANDSIAS-EASY TO GROW WITH­ and employers alikt::, we would be very glad to America's finest -177 best violets and gesner­ OUT SOIL! Largt:l selection available on our receive resumes and cover letters of individuals iads. Color Catalog and Growing "Tips" $.50. retail and wholesale lists. HOLLADAY JUN­ seeking job changt::s and employers seeking can­ FISCHER GREENHOUSES, Box H, Linwood, GLE, Dt::pt. B, P.O. Box 5727, Frt::sno, CA93755. didates. All responsibiJ.ity for checking refer­ NJ 08221. (209) 229-9858. ences and determining the appropriateness of both position and candidate rests with the in­ THE AVANT GARDENER BULBS dividuals. AHS's participation in this activity is DIFFliRENT, EXCITING, GREAT FUN TO Bulb0us Plant Journal, I1ERBERTIA and Quar­ only to serve as a connecting point for members READ - for the gardener who wants to get more terly Newsletter. Color-filled articles on bulbs, of the Society. Inquiries and informational ma­ out of gardening! Subscribe to THE AVANT corms and tubers of Amaryllidaceae and related terial should be sent to: Horticultural Employ­ GARDENER, the most useful, most q\!loted of families. $20Iyr. APLS-AH, P.O. Box 985, ment, American Horticuluural SOGiety, 7931 East all gardening publications. Every month this National City, CA 92050-0241. Boulevard Dr., Alexandria, VA 22308. unique news service brings you the newest and most practical on-going information - new CACTI & SUCCULENTS HERBS plants, products, techniques, with sources, plus HERBS - Annual/perennial; extensive collt::c­ feature articles, special issues. 20th year. Awarded FLOWERING JUNGLE CACTI catalog for 1989-90 available-including 4-page 1990 plant tion. Perennials - Large selection for sun/shade. Garden Club of America and Massachusetts Sedum-Tall, medium, carpeting; many vari­ Horticultural Society Medals for outstanding addendum. Orchid Cacti (Ephiphyllums), Rat­ tail Cacti, Hoyas, Haworthias, Xmas/Easter eties. Visit Living Room Gift Shop for herbal contributions to horticulture. Curious? Sample treats. Display gardens. Retail catalog $1.50; copy $1. Serious ? $10 full year (reg. $15 ). THE Cacti, more! 71-page plantlbookshop catalog (186 color pnotos) all only $2. RAINBOW Wholesale list (Business SASE). WRENWOOD, AVANT GARDENER, Box 489M, New York, RT. 4, BOX 361, Berkeley Springs, WV 25411. NY 10028. GARDENS, 1444 Taylor St., Vista, CA 92084. HOSTAS CARNIVOROUS PLANTS BONSAI Latest Hybrids from Paul Aden. High quality Carnivorous (Insectivorous) Plants, woodland BONSAI TREES, pottery, books, tools, trays, containerized plants for safe all season shipping. supplies, and soils. Catalog $2.50. BONSAI terrarium plants, supplit::s and books. Color Expertly packaged. Professionally grown. Send brochure free . PETER PAULS NURSERIES, CREATIONS, P.O. Box 7511AH, Ft. Lauder­ $4 (fw lly refundable) for yo ur 1989 Color Per­ Canandaigua, NY 14424. dale, FL 33338. ennial Catalog. KLEHM NURSERY, Rt. 5, Box 197 Penny Rd., Barrington, IL 60010-9555 (1- BONSAI, dwarfed conifers, pines, maples, trop­ DAYLILIES 800-553-3715). icals, stock, and cuttings. Catalog $2. MATSU­ Tetraploid Hybrids, Reblooming Miniatures, MOMIJI NURSERIES, P.O. Box 11414, Phil­ Dwarfs and Eyed varietit::s. All are hardy dor­ HOUSE PLANTS adelphia, PA 19111. (215) 722-6286. mant nomegrown in central Illinois' rich prairie ORCHIDS, GESNERIADS, BEGONIAS, CACTI soils. All orders are freshly dug and well pack­ BOOKS & SUCCULENTS. Visitors welcome. 1988-89 aged. Send $4 (fully refundable) for your 1989 catalog $2. LAURAY OF SALISBURY, Rt. 41 842 Enjoyable, Useful, Quaint books on Plants. Color Perennial Catalog. KLEHM NURSERY, (Undermountain Rd.), Salisbury, CT 06068. Current $l-Sale Catalog Spans 450 Years from Rt. 5, Box 197 PeNny Rd., Barrington, IL 60010- (203) 435-2263. Estienne's GardenilClg Dated 1539 to O'Keeffe's 9555 (1-800-553-3715). Flowers Dated 1989. POMONA BOOKS, Exotic Houseplants, Delivered to Your Door­ Rockton, Ontario, Canada LOR IXO . ALSO JAPANESE AND SIBERIAN IRIS, step. Our 1988-90 color catalog lists 2,000 va­ HOSTA AND PliONIES. RESERVE YOUR rieties of rare indoor plants. 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38 DECEMBER 1989 PEONIES Recent graduate British horticultural college now FROM THE WORLD WIDE. Including wild­ flower, native orchids and fern plants. Barn­ Estate, Hybrid, and Tree Peonies. High quality caring for 20-acre estate desires position in U.S. All aspects of gardening including design, con­ haven Silver Dollar Primroses. Extensive Col­ plants, freshly handled and expertly packed. lector's Seed List! Catalog $2 (deductible). FAR Family owned company for 137 years. Send $4 struction, and maintenance. Resume and ref­ erences sent on request. John Srudey, 41B High NORTH GARDENS, 16785-AH Harrison Li- (fully refundable) for your 1989 Color Perennial vonia, MI 48154. ' Catalog. KLEHM NURSERY, Rt. 5, Box 197 St., Sutton Courtenay, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England OX14 4A W. Penny Rd., Barrington, IL 60010-9555 (1 -800- Exotic TROPICAL and TEMPERATE PLANT 553-3715). RHODODENDRONS SEED - Rare and common species from trees to annuals, FREE catalog. JUNGLE FEVER, PERENNIALS RHODODENDRONS for Eastern Gardens. Free P.O. Box 130315, Birmingham, AL 35213. NEW, INEXPENSIVE way to buy perennials. descriptive listing. CARDINAL NURSERY, Rt. 1, Box 316M, State Rd., NC 28676. (9 19) 874- Specialists in growing and improving perennials TILLANDSIAS/AIR PLANTS guarantee you the finest plants ever offered­ 2027. TILLANDSIAS - Beautiful tropical plants 30 same as by professional nurserymen. Send for ROCK GARDEN PLANTS va rieties - suited for disp lays and floral ar­ free Bluestone Catalog; lists more than 300 va­ Rare Alpines, Wildflowers, Dwarf Conifers, rangements-call or write GUATE IMPORTS rieties, plus information on care and growing. Ground Covers, co lorful Rock Plants, hardy (703) 967-0836, Rt. 2, Box 190-A, Louisa VA BLUESTONE PERENNIALS, 7201 Middle Rhododendrons, Bonsai Books. Catalog $2. 23093. ' Ridge, Madison, OH 44057. RICE CREEK GARDENS, 1315 66th Ave. NE, Minneapolis, MN 55432. (6 12) 574-1197. TREES PLANT SOCIETIES Trees, shrubs, perennials. Conuainer grown, SEND $1 for 24-page illusrrated newsletter fea­ SEEDS outdoors. Catalog $2. OWENS FARMS, Route ruring citrus and tropical fruits, indoors and THOUSANDS OF RARE FLOWER SEED 3, Box 158-AAH, Ripley, TN 38063-9420. out. INDOOR CITRUS AND RARE FRUIT SOCIETY, Dept. AHN, 176 Coronado Ave., Los Altos, CA 94622. The one and only Indoor Garden Society of America Inc. Bi-monthly publication, the In­ door Garden, Round Robins, Seeds, Literature. For all who grow indoors. Send check for dues only $15 to Robert Morrison, 5305 S.W. H a m~ ilton St., Portland, OR 97221. m PLANTS (UNUSUAL) AHS Distinctive plants for your garden and land­ scape. Scarce, unusual and many old favorites. Well established in 4" pots, ready for you to Membership grow on. FREE catalog. APPALACHIAN GAR­ DENS, Box 82-A, Waynesboro, PA 17268. (717) 762-4312. Services We hope you are enjoying being a RARE SUCCULENTS, CAUDICIFORMS, EU­ member of the American Horticul­ PMORBIAS, SANSEVIERIAS, LOW LIGHT PLANTS, OTHER EXOTICS. Catalog $2 de­ tural Society. This is your organiza­ ductible from first minimum order. SINGERS' tion and we want to make everything GROWING THINGS, 17806 Plummer St. A, run as smoothly as possible. Northridge, CA 91325. But when you do have a rroblem or a question, give us a cal at 1-800- 1990 SEED EXOTIC CALADIUM BULBS produce the most CATALOGUE popular foliage plants for outdoors. Their col­ 777 -7931 or write to the: Member­ orful leaves (in variegated, beautiful patterns) ship Department, American Horti­ am 'TlLompsoTL add splashes of colors where many other plants cultural S0ciety, 7931 East Boulevard (f>GMorgaTL may not thrive. Many varieties to choose from Drive, Alexandria, Virginia 22308. THOMPSON &MORGAN INC. including new and exciting sun-loving dwarf OEPT.20-0 JACKSON, NJ 08527 varieties. HORTIGIFTS, Box 31073, #300AH, Tampa, FL 33631-3073. POSITIONS AV AILABLE PHOTOGRAPFfERILIBRARY CURATOR .. . needed by major horticultural printing com­ C;REER C;~RDENS pany. Strong plant taxonomy background re­ quired. Must have good organizational skills. 1280 Goodpasture Island Rd., Eugene, OR 97401-1794 Able to produce top quality work in srudio and outside siruations. Needs to work well with clients Specializing in -- and possess a creative flair. Send resume to: EXOTIC Rhododendrons AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST, P.O. BOX UNUSUAL Japanese Maples 180218, Dallas, TX 75218-0218. RARE Trees & Shrubs SPECIAL Bonsai Materials POSITIONS WANTED EXPERT PROPERTY CARE. Land, Flora, Strucrures, Administration, all capably handled. Permanent position sought with responsibili­ ties. Will live on site. L.S., P.O. Box 761 Ojai CA 93023. ' ,

AMERICAN HORTICUL TURIST 39 Book Reviews

The Flower Arranger's Garden what was supposed to please Victorian Rosemary Verry. Color photography hy Linda tastes. While the English were the great Burgess. Little, Broum & Company, New York, innovators, Americans eventually learned 1989. 144 pages. Publisher's price: hardcovet; to force bulbs, especially hyacinths in $29.45. AHS member price: $23.60. glasses, and began to grow carnations and pelargoniums and all the rest. "There should never be a moment when Indoor plants became a virtual craze with you are without flowers to pick." the novelty-loving Victorians. For a time, So says Rosemary Verey, great garden ivy invaded the front parlor, actually cov­ lady, lecturer, author of The Garden in ering the walls. A demand for foliage Winter and Classic Garden Design, and plants-suitable for Victorian sensibilities coeditor of The Englishwoman's Garden, because they seemed unconcerned with The New Englishwoman's Garden, and sex- brought rubb@r trees and sanseverias The American Woman's Garden. into the parlor. (Plants, by the way, were Verey is a dedicated hands-on gar­ considered clean and healthy - another dener-one of taste, ability, and creative reason for their popularity.) imagination. (See American Horticultur­ There was a period of Pteridomania when ist, June 1989.) She shares her knowledge ferns, particularly the Boston fern-a ma­ and expertise freely, through her writing miniature arrangements so beautifully jor contribution from the New World to and speeches, and in her own gardens at photographed here may not be the favor­ England-were the rage. The palm phase Barnsley House, Gloucestershire, which she ites of the Japanese design schools, nor of came at about the same time, and potted has developed over thirty years and opened contemporary flower stylists. Everyone, trees took over Victorian interiors. Finally, to the public. however, will enjoy Verey's textural com­ the introduction of exotic flowering plants This excellent book begins with fifty­ binations, and the colors of her palette, brought color and considerably more in­ five pages that are absolutely remarkable and may even be inspired to amplify their terest to windowsills. Abutilon, hibiscus, for the amount of material they condense gardens accordingly. and allamanda (a special favorite for bay without ever seeming hurried. Verey speaks - Faith Jackson windows) were among the favorites of the to gardeners who are equally interested in late nineteenth century. horticulture and arranging what they grow, Once Upon A Windowsill: A The story goes on, even if the average not to designers who would rather pick History of Indoor Plants plant fancier today is less apt to let his from the resources of the florist shop. Tovah Martin. Timbet· Press, Portland, Oregon, hobby run away with him. But, as the au­ Verey gives a precis of esthetics, ele­ 1988.303 pages. Black and white drawings. thor makes clear, house plants had their ments of color and design, the bare bones Publisher's pril e: hardcovet; $29.95. AHS membet· heyday in Victorian times. swept clean of extraneous matter. There price: $25.45. While some grammatical errors both­ are plans and colored illustrations for sunny ered me-where were the editors when and shaded borders, islands planted to hot Everything about the Victorian era was "infer" was used for "imply"?-and while and to cool colors, and photographs of conducive to the introduction of house I wondered why no mention was made of gardens in all seasons, so profuse with plants. Improved transportation and com­ bromeliads, this was an instructional and bloom that cutting can never ravage them. munication, practical inventions that gave entertaining book to read. The section on gardening techniques is the housewife more leisure, and-above -Adelaide C. Rackemann a veritable tour de force, with excellent all-the Victorian love of excess were all drawings and a text that has been pared factors. Moreover, this was the age of plant The Scented Garden down to all a novice would really need to explorers who brought back new and ex­ David Squire with Jane Newdick. Rodale Press, learn or the accomplished gardener would citing plants from far-flung places. Emmaus, Pennsylvania, 1988. 205 pages. Color enjoy reviewing. (Bite the bullet! There's Plants were first used in middleclass Vic­ drawings and photographs. Publishet·'s price: no way to get around double-digging. But torian houses to grace the formidable front hardcovet; $24.95. AHS member price: $19.95. I, for one, can't wait to try throwing out parlor, a room apart from the warm in­ that long rope and pegging it to make a terior where the family gathered. Later, as The Scented Garden is an expression of free-form bed.) heating and lighting improved, and as glass high romanticism that explores the plant The illustrated short list of sixty-four became a cheaper commodity, house plants world from an aromatic perspective. It goes "Essential Plants for the Flower Arranger" entered the bosom of the Victorian home. beyond lavender and herbs, emphasizing doesn't include peonies, phlox, and other All of this and much more is related every landscape possibility through which indispensable favorites for American gar­ rather amusingly by Tovah Martin, gen­ one's olfactory thirsts might be quenched. dens, but perhaps this is because Verey erously helped by many illustrations from While its main concern is in the outdoors, knew you'd think of them. nineteenth century garden books, maga­ every aspect of fragrance is explored, from The natural, seemingly artless mass and zines, and seed catalogs, showing exactly floral waters to perfumed papers.

40 DECEMBER 1989 Horticulture writer and photographer calls attention to a multitude of outstand­ David Squire takes the reader on an en­ ing evergreen conifers-varieties of Thuja chanting tour through his ideal aromatic occidentalis, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, abode. He leads you along scented path­ and similar nonpareils. ways, into the herb garden, past window Roses receive their due share of atten­ gardens, beside borders, throughout the tion. Old rose groups are described with house, stopping to admire hundreds of fra­ the aromatic forerunners of each group grant plants along the way. listed. Several dozen cultivars are en­ Most of all, this epic menu of plants is dorsed, many accompanied by photo­ a realization of form serving content. Not graphs. Squire clearly favors old rambler a centimeter is wasted in this lavish visual roses, a class well deserving of a comeback feast. Exceptional photography, illustra­ and particular attention. The rose's long tion, and design are perfectly orchestrated rival for human affection, the lily, is also in a most alluring book. represented by dozens of its sweetest smell­ Each section-these include scents for ing species and cultivars. day or night, pathways, rock and water This pageant of plants seems endless; gardens, borders, and indoors, among other little has been omitted. You may discover topics-is supported with charts listing a favorite that has been snubbed, but most plant varieties appropriate for that use. likely you'll discover something new. Many Each chart is divided into scent categories. uncommon species are detailed, especially o Bron.ze aluminum 0 Shatter-resistant 1" thick Vines, for example, are divided into six in the section on rock and water gardens double-wall glazing 0 Do-it-yourself assembly aromas: cowslip, hawthorn, honey, jas­ and that on trees and shrubs. o Ideal greenhouse, spa/hot tub room, entry way. mine, vanilla, and sweet. Each entry de­ The Scented Garden is a fit winter com­ Send $2 for Color Catalogues, Prices, scribes a plant's habit and the situation where panion for every gardener and will pro­ SENT FIRST CLASS MAIL. it will thrive and be most effective. voke ideas for even the most advanced. Dealer Inquiries Welcome America's long custom of importing -John Babich VEGETABLE FACTORY. INC. P.O. Box 2235, Dept. AHO British gardening references is justified with New York, NY 10163 work such as this. It is their taste, not technique, that we continue to observe. Faith Jackson, former book editor for the Squire's plant selections represent this Miami Herald, is a Master Gardener who stream of British gardening tradition and writes frequently about garden matters. aesthetic discernment. Oane Newdick, a Adelaide C. Rackemann is a Baltimore free­ Sussex free-lancer, wrote the last section lancer and gardener who serves as librarian on "Working with Scented Plants" to make for the Cylburn Arboretum and with her toiletries, teas, tussie-mussies, and other husband, Frank, edits its newsletter. items to perfume the indoors.) We Grow One strong suit of this text is its chron­ John Babich is a free-lance writer living in Beautiful Perennials southwestern Pennsylvania who has grown At A Price You Will Like!!! icle of trees, shrubs, and evergreens of great roses and other ornamentals from the age importance to the landscape artist. Squire of eleven. The plants that return to bloom season after season for years of easy pleasure, our specialty .. . Perennials. Book Order Fonn White Theris for early spring, summer's perky Shasta Daisies and Please send me the following books at the specially discounted AHS member prices. fall for blooming Chrysanthemums o The Flower Arranger's Garden .. $23.60 I would like to order _____ books. ... Perennials beautify your home. LIT 655 Please add $2.50 per book for postage and Bluestone grows over 300 varieties o The Scented Garden ...... $19.95 handling. Virginia residents, also add 4 V2% ROD 665 of perennials which are shipped in sales tax. Please allow six weeks for delivery. full growth - easy to plant and o Once Upon a Windowsill ...... $25.45 Prices are subject to change without notice. TIM 666 each plant guaranteed. o Enclosed is my check for $, ____ Send for our free catalog or call 800-852·5243. Ship to: ______Charge to: We will be pleased to hear from you. o VISA 0 MasterCard Exp. Date ____ Street: ______Name ______Acct. # ______Ci ty: ______Address ______

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AMERICAN HORT/CUL TURIST 41 TREASURES OF RIVER FARM/BY PEGGY LYTTON AnAll-American Harne for American Horticulture

n a perfect spring day in 1974, an impressive line-up of dig­ nitaries met on the banks of the Potomac River south of Alexandria, Virginia. They in­ cludedO then-First Lady Patricia Nixon; philanthropist Enid Haupt; David Leach, president of the American Horticultural Society; and O. Keister Evans, the Society's executive director. They and some 300 guests had gathered to dedicate the Amer­ ican Horticultural Society's greatest treas­ ure: the twenty-seven acre riverside prop­ erty called River Farm that was to be the society's new headquarters. Formerly housed in the District of Co­ lumbia and then in Alexandria, the Society had been growing by leaps and bounds as the public became more interested in the pleas mabie aspects of private gardening and in the environment. Already the So­ ciety's staff of twenty was separated; some were based at the PlaNt Records Center in Pennsylvania. Surveyed by the general himself, this 1793 map depicts all of Washington's property: River Farm, In 1971, the Soviet Embassy had tried Dogue Farm, Union Farm, Muddy Hole Farm, and the Mansion Mouse Farm. AHS headquarters are to buy the property as a summer retreat located on what was portion E. for its employees. Local residents were outraged, as was Enid Haupt, then sec­ The kNown history of River Farm began the name of his son, Giles Brent Jr. Giles retary of the AHS board. She tried to tele­ some 300 years ago when the Dogue (Doag) Jr. grew up to marry Mary, sister of Vir­ phone the State Department to protest, but Indian tribe inhabited the Virginia side of ginian George Brent, a distant relation, but couldn't get through because so many other the Potomac, the Piscataway Indians lived Giles Jr. died young and the land reverted people were calling to voice opp0sition. directly opposite in Maryland, and British to George. When the State Department vetoed the sale, colonists were arriving on both sides­ When George Brent's other sister, Eliz­ it didn't put an end to Haupt's concern; sometimes living in peace with the Indians abeth, married her new husband, William she knew that developers also were eyeing and sometimes fighting against them. In Clifton, Clifton bought the two tracts from the grounds. Determined that the public 1638, Margaret, Mary, and Giles Brent Brent and named the property Clifton's must not lose access to such beautiful arrived in Maryland from Gloucestershire Neck. Between the 1740s and the 1760s, property, she made it the society's new and befriended the chief of the Piscata­ he built on the 1,800-acre lot a brick house home via a one million dollar donation ways. A Catholic convert himself, the chief now used as the parlor of the AHS head­ through the Enid A. Haupt Charitable persuaded the Brents to take in his eldest quarters. Although the house today has Trust. Haupt's only stipulation was that daughter, Mary, to raise as an English lady. been renovated many times, the old hand­ the property remain open to the public. Giles Brent eventually fell in l0ve with the made bricks still exist under the white paint Because while the parcel was clearly an Indian maiden, marFied her, and together and one can see the original narrow doors, invaluable piece of real estate, River Farm they moved aHOSS the river to the Virginia typical of colonial architecture. has a value that transcends dollars: a star­ colony. Clifton was not an able manager and he spangled history that encompasses George Giles realized the value of the riverfront soon found himself in financial trouble. Washington, a devoted servant, families property and purchased two important These woes did not go unnoticed by George anguished by early deaths, generous ges­ tracts just immediately north of the Dogue Washington who, from his nearby Mount tures, a mysterious suicide, and a cast to Indian tribe, one of 800 acres and one of Vernon farm, had kept his eye on Clifton's rival any television mini-series. 1,000, both of whtich he registered under land for quite some time. The Garden Club

42 DECfMBER 1989 Courtesy of the Menry E. Huntington Library the land south of Section E where he har­ vested grains and kept orchards. Wash­ ington had four cultivated farms: Dogue Farm, Union Farm, Muddy Hole Farm, and River Farm. Each was a complete unit with overseers, workers, livestock, equip­ ment, and buildings. The Mansion House Farm, now known as Mount Vernon, had considerable acreage but was left uncul­ tivated in order to frame the estate with natural beauty and scenery. When Johnston'S lease expired, Wash­ ington advertised for another renter. But soon after, his nephew George Augustine Washington married Fanny Bassett, Mar­ tha Washington'S niece, and Washington decided to make the land a wedding gift. He even offered to pay for building a new home, in addition to the one already stand­ ing on the property. Construction was underway when, in 1793, George Augus­ tine died and Washington suspended the building. In the spring of 1786, Tobias Lear, a Harvard graduate from New Hampshire, was hired by Washington to be his per­ somal secretary and tutor to his adopted children. In a letter dated February 6, 1786, Washington wrote, "Mr. Lear ... will sit at my Table, will live as I live, will mix with the Company which resort to the House, and will be treated in every respect with civility, and proper attention. He will Above: Visitors are always have his washing done in the family, and drawn to the view of the may have his linnen and Stockings mended Potomac River through the by the maids of it." Lear grew to love the picture window in the parlor. Washington family and the agricultural life Part of the original house, the at Mount Vernon. He became an invalu­ parlor was refurbished with able asset to Washington, corresponding antiques appropriate to colonial times. left: The main with figureheads, keeping accounting building at River Farm is both ledgers, ordering supplies from England, an office serving Society and coordinating trips, meetings, and travel members and a living legacy arrangements for the general. that all the public can enjoy. The sociable young bachelor chose for his bride another Mary, nicknamed Polly, a childhood sweetheart from New Hamp­ shire. But Polly soon died, leaving him with a small son, Benjamin Lincoln. Lear had of Virginia pulled together some of this leased a portion ("E" on the map) to Sam­ always admired Fanny, George Augus­ history in Homes and Gardens of Old Vir­ uel Johnston "for the annual rent of three tine's widow, and felt responsible for her ginia: "By 1757 William Clifton had built thousand pounds of Crop tobacco in three affairs and her three children. In 1795, he a brick house and Washington's diary is casks qualified recording to law to be paid asked for her hand. Washington, pleased much occupied with its purchase, there yearly by twenty fifth of December." The with the marriage, offered the Lears a lease being some twenty-odd references as well 300-acre tract included what is now the to the same land that he had promised to as many letters before the sale was con­ Society'S headquarters. Fanny and George Augustine. While it is summated and deeds recorded." Eventu­ Although Johnston's tract is included in unlikely that the two ever lived together ally, after "considerable dickering," what is called River Farm by historians, it on the property-Lear already had a home Washington purchased the entire 1,800 was not always thought of as River Farm in Georgetown and Fanny had her town­ acres for 1,250 pounds and named it River by Washington. According to Washing­ house in Alexandria - Lear liked the prop­ Farm. The following year, Washington ton's 1793 map, River Farm proper was erty, which he called Walnut Hill Farm

Top photo by: Ri ck Buettner: Bottom photo from: AHS Slide Library AMERICAN HORT/CUL TURIST 43 NDW ••• BY MAIL! TREASURES OF RIVER FARM UNUSUAL, HARD­ TO-FIND FLOWER ARRANGING SUPPLIES: (sometimes Walnut Tree Farm) because of into a two-car garage and workshop. Later, the abundance of black walnut trees. TOOLS, TECHNIOUES, TRICKS OF servants quarters were added and Mathe­ THETRADEI Lear's second marriage was tragically son's office built above the garage. An en­ short; Fanny died of tuberculosis and left thusiastic boatman, Matheson built a dock, SPECIAL Lear with her three children, in addition swimming pool, and tennis courts. to his own son. His mother arrived from New Hampshire to take care of the brood ROSE KIT and lived with them and their father at In 1816 Tobias Lear stunned TO add longer life to roses, Walnut Hill Farm in the house that Clifton we have put together a his friends by fatally built (by this time, additions to the original DELUXE ROSE KIT which includes: house had been constructed). Lear, trying shooting himself in the 1 Stem Stripper his hand at farming, cultivated wheat on gardens of his Georgetown 1 Swiss "Section E" and was interested in leasing Rose Scissor all of River Farm but Washington had other townhouse. 1 Dozen offers and declined. However, on Wash­ Florever Rose ington's death in 1799, his will entitled When the Mathesons first arrived, most Preservatives Lear to live on Walnut Hill Farm rent-free of the land was overgrown with brambles ONLY until Lear's own death, when the land would and weeds. They cleared the brush and 24.95 revert to Washington'S descendents. added a vegetable garden, rose garden, INClUDING POSTAGE The property was to receive yet another perennials, and shrubs. The family enjoyed & HANDLING (( II Resiclel1ts ac id name. Lear, on a trip back to America from the property for many years until Mathe­ 6r'h sal es tilxl the Barbary Coast where he had been ap­ son retired to Coral Gables, Florida, and The Keth Company pointed general consul, spent the Christ­ put Wellington on the market. Haupt re­ po. BOX 645 mas of 1812 in Cadiz and met Arthur named Wellington "River Farm" to revive Corona del Mar, CA 92625 Wellesley, Lord Wellington. He greatly ad­ its connection to the first president. But mired Wellington, perhaps seeing in him Lear's name for it lives on; the surrounding OUR LATEST CATALOGUE 1 .00 the same remarkable character as in his neighborhood is called Wellington today. former master. Lear returned to Virginia Now this beautiful, historic site is open and named Walnut Hill Farm "Welling­ to AHS members and to visitors who want TROPICAL HUMIDITY! ton," a name that stuck until the Society to learn its history, explore its gardens, or bought the property. just enjoy the view during a family picnic. • A Humid Climate for Healthier Planta In 1816, Tobias Lear, happily married An attempt has been made to maintain a • A Size for Every Greenhouse once again and more financially secure than colonial atmosphere using both reproduc­ • Professional Quality, De pendable ever in his life, stunned his acquaintances tions and antiques on the lower level of Performance • Fully Assembled -- Easy to Install by fatally shooting himself in the gardens the main house. • Completely Automatic Operation of his Georgetown townhouse. True to When visitors first enter the parlor, they • New, Improved Design Washington's will, "Wellington" passed are always drawn to the huge picture win­ Grow beautiful tropical pla nts, down the Washington family until it was dow that Matheson installed. Gazing out flowers, orchids with Standard sold to a family of New Jersey Quakers: at Washington's ancient walnut trees and Humidifier's uniform, fog-like Stacy, Isaac, and William Snowden. The the lazy Potomac River, one can almost va por. Wall bracket , ceiling Snowdens subdivided the land and sold a see the general on his horse, inspecting his hung or free-standing tract containing Wellington to a group of fields of wheat, corn, and rye and con­ models install quickly, operate on hou se three people: Valentine Baker, David Frost, versing with the overseer about the weather. current a nd water and Daniel Smith. They in turn subdivided From upstairs in the former bedrooms, now supply. and sold the property to Theresa Thomp­ an office area closed to the public, visitors Dependa ble 24- son, a member of a prominent local family. may be slightly aware of the hum of mod­ hour opera tion In 1919, Malcolm Matheson purchased ern business - computers, fax machines, with newly improved a utoma tic what was left of Wellington-twenty-seven and copiers - keeping track of the Society's controls. Compact, acres of riverfront property-and im­ members and their special requests. lightweight, trouble­ proved the estate tremendously. The orig­ One day just last September, a storm free. Write or call inal downstairs was transformed into the toppled one of the venerable walnuts be­ with greenhouse parlor and a large picture window was lieved to have been planted by George size for a free installed, offering a spectacular view of the Washington. It was a sad day for the AHS illustrated br o­ chure, prices a nd Potomac. The upstairs became the master family, but a poignant reminder that, how­ r ec omm e nd a tion ~ . bedroom and an additional wing was added ever remarkable our past, we can't keep it to provide more bedrooms for the children with us, but must focus on our future as STANDARD HUMIDIFIER and a ballroom downstairs. Also added the National Center for Horticulture. Division of Humi -Temp, Inc. were a backporch and a large, modern 87 Tiogue Avenue, West Warwick, RI 02893 Tele: (401) 823-1776 FAX: (401) 823-3111 kitchen, complete with dumbwaiters. On Peggy Lytton is an assistant editor of the grounds, the old barn was converted American Horticulturist.

44 DECEMBER 1989 1989 Index

Author Christmas, The. Dec., 6. Anderson, Leslie. Proven Performers - Plant Feeling at Home with Hellebores. Dec., 36. Societies Name the Best: Daffodils. Fun Art of Seed Gathering, The. Oct., 25. Feb.,2I. Horticulture and History: Liberty Hyde Al7Onovitz, Avis. The Summer Delight of Bailey. Feb., 8. Daylilies. Aug., 17. In Defense of Modern Roses. Al!lg., 32. Busse, Ainie. Proven Performers - Plant Inspiration to Installation of a Winning SOGieties Nam~ the Best: Daylilies. Feb., 26i. Exhibit. Oct., 12. Dick-Read, Sally. A Bountifiul Haven on levy: A Symbol of Mirth Emerges ftom Tortola. Dec., 24. Shadow. Dec., 3I. Dobbs, Rosalyne. Thousands of Roses Dazzle lens jensen's Beloved Midwestern Vistas. the Eyes at Shreveport's Ameri c;an Rose Oct., 7. Center Gardens. Jun., 24. Lamium and Lamiastrum: Each Has a Place. Ducsik, Andr~w M. Achieving That Aura of Aug., 44. Age. Jun., 12. Lighter Look in Peonies, The. jun., 36. Fadeem, K. Mose. Monterey's Mistoric Adobe Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, The. Apr., Gardens. Aug., 26. 10. Fisher, Kathleen. Donald Egolf's Viburnums. Rhododendron 'Lem's Cameo' was a Monterey's Historic Adobe Gardens. Aug., Oct., 31; 1f:he Eckes Are Always Dreaming "Proven Performer" (February). 26. of a Crimson Christmas. Dec., 6; Not Mouth-Watering Dry Garden, A. Oct., 17. Every Library Has a 1586 Edition. Aug., 6; Hellebores. Dec., 36. My Garden. Apr., 24. Two Arts Meet in Needlepoint Cushions. Reich, Deborah. Ivy: A Symbol of Mirth Not Every Library Has a 1586 Edition. Aug. , Oct., 46. Emerges ftom Shadow. DeG., 3I. 6. Gainey, Ryan. A Dream of a Garden. Reilly, Ann. Special Spaces. Feb., 4. Other Side of the Cascades, The. Feb., 14. Aug., 22. Richardson, Hope S. A Thyme Collection Plantings Enliven Minneapolis Parks. Genev~, Mark. Rem~mber Me in Flowers. Finds a Home. Apr., 4. jun., 42. Dec., 1;1. . Rogers, Allan L. The Lighter Look in Peonies. Plantswoman's Oasis in Suburbia, A. Greer, J,·J:a,rold E. Proven Performers-Plant Jun., 36. jun., 28. SOGieties Name the Best: Rhododendrons. Rogers, George and Peggy Wilmes. The Proven Perform~rs-Plant Societies Name the Feb., 19. Alabama Snow Wreath. Apr., 40. Best. Feb., 18. Hicks, June L. The Devoted Volunteers of Ruffin, Lisa. Classics with American Style. Put Lavenders in Your Garden Palett~. Cranbrook House. Dec., 16. Jun., 32. Jun., 7. Hockaday, Joan. A MOl1th-Watering Dry Scott, George Harmon. Some Cutting Remember Me in Flowers. );)ec., 12. Garden. Oct., 17. Remarks About Your Plants. Aug., 13 . Rosemary Verey's Imaginary Kingdom. Honey, Thelma E. You Can Conquer Sheldon, Elisab~th . Tne Fun Art of Seed Jun.,l6i. Withol1t $t(')oping. Oct., 42. Gathering. Oct., 25; PI!lt Lavemlers in Your Some Cutting Remarks About Your Plants. Kieft, Janis. The Minnesota Landscape Ga,rden Palene. Jan., 7;, There's an Aug., 13. Arboretum. Apr., 20. Anemone for You. Apr., 15 . Special Spaces. feb., 4. lerman, Mary Maguire. Plantings Enliven Springflr, Lauren. A Plantswoman's Oasis in Start Bulbs Now for Winter Bloom. Aug., II. Minneapol:is Parks. Jun., 42. Suburbia. Jun., 28. Summer Delight of Daylilies, The. Aug., 17. Loewer, Peter. Jens Jensen's Beloved Verey, Rosemary. Rosemary Verey's There's an Anemone for You. Apr., 15. Midwestern Vistas. Oct., 7; Trials of a Imagina, y Kingdom. Jun., 16. Thousands of Roses Dazzl,e the Eyes at Zone 5 Gardener with a Zone 10 Dream. Weinberg, Ruby. Tne Other Side of the Shreveport's American Rose Center Feb., 29. Cascades. Feb., 14. Gardens. jun., 24. Lytton, Peggy. An All-Amflrican Home for Wilmes, Peggy and Gflorge Rogers. The Thyme Collection Finds a Home, A. Apr., 4. AmeriGan Horticulture. Dec., 42. Alabama Snow Wreath. Apr., 40. Train Your Own Mini-Orchard. Apr., 10. Machulak, Audrey. Proven Performers-Plant Woodham, Tom. InsFiration to Installation of Trials of a Zone 5 Gardener with a Zone 10 Societies Name the Best: Irises. Feb., 23. a Winning Exhibit. Oct., U. Dream. Feb., 29. McEwan, Barbara. Train Your Own Mini­ Two Arts Meet in Needlepoint Cushions. Orchard. Apr., 10. Title Oct., 46. McGourty, Frederick. Horticultare and Achieving That Aura of Age. Jun., 12. You Can Conquer Without Stooping. History: Liberty Hyde Bailey. Feb., 8. Alabama Snow Wreath, The. Apr., 40. Oct., 42. Mum, Thomas J. Nati,ve Americans: Bog All-American Home for American Beauties. Feb., 10. Horticulture, An. Dec., 42. Subject Page, Russell. My Garden. Apr., 24. Bountiful Haven on Tortola, A. Dec., 24. American Daffodil Society. Proven Pardue, Ruth. Start Bulbs Now for Winter Bog Beauties. Feb., 10. Performers-Plant Societies Name the Best: Bloom. Aug., II. Classics with American Style. Jun., 32. Daffodils. Feb., 21. Rackemann, Adelaide. Lamium and Devoted Volunteers of Cranbrook House, American Horticultural Society. An All­ Lamiastrum: Each Has a Place. Aug., 44. The. Dec., 16 American Home for American Reddell, Rayford. In Defense of Modern Dream of a Garden, A. Aug., 22. Horticulture. Dec., 42; Not Every Library Roses. Aug., 32. Donald Egolf's Viburnums. Oct., 3I. Has a 1586 Edition. Aug., 6; Two Arts Reeder, Mark. Feeling at Home with Eckes Are Always Dreaming of a Crimson Meet in Needlepoint Cushi ons. Oct., 46.

Photo by Harold E. Greer AMERICAN HORTICUL TURIST 45 1989 INDEX

Need some gardening tips Name the Best. Feb., 21. Jensen, Jens. Jens Jensen's Beloved Daylilies. Proven Performers - Plant Societies Midwestern Vistas. Oct., 7. from a past issue? Here is our Name the Best. Feb., 26; The Summ€r La Mirada. Monterey's Historic Adobe Delight of Daylilies. Aug., 17. Gardens. Aug., 26. annual year-end index to Dean, Paulina du Pont. A Bountiful Haven on Lamiastrum. Lamium and Lamiastrum: Each help you find them. Tortola. Dec., 24. Has a Place. Aug., 44. Design. Achieving That Aura of Age. Jun., Lamium. Lamium and Lamiastrum: Each Has 12; A Dr€am of a Garden. Aug., 22; a Place. Aug., 44. American Hemerocallis Society. Proven Inspiration and Installation of a Winning Larkin House Garden. Monterey's Historic Performers-Plant Societi€s Name the Best: Exhibit. Oct., 12; Jens Jensen's Beloved Adobe Gardens. Aug., 26. Daylilies. Feb., 26. Midw€stern Vistas. Oct., 7; Special Spac€s. Lavender. Put Lavenders in Your Garden American Iris Society. Proven Performers­ Feb., 4; A Thyme Collection Finds a Palette. Jun., 7. Plant Societies Name the Best: Irises. Feb. , 23. Home. Apr., 4. Leonard Tharp Conservatory of Floral Art. American Ivy Society. Ivy: A Symbol of Mirth Dream Gardens. A Dream of a Garden. Aug., Classics with American Style. Jun., 32. Emerges from Shadow. De~., 31. 22; My GardeN. Apr., 24; Rosemary Library. Not Every Li1DFary Flas a 1586 American Rhododendron Society. Proven V€rey's Imaginary Kingdom. JUH., 16; Edition. Aug., 6. Performers-Plant Societies Name the Best: Trials of a Zone 5 Gardener with a Zone Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The Rhododendrons. Feb., 19. 10 Dream. Feb., 29. Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Apr., 20. American Rose Center Gardens. Thousands Ecke, Paul Sr. The Eckes' Are Always Native Plants. The Alabama Snow Wreath. of Roses Dazzle the Ey€s at Shreveport's Dreaming of a Crimson Christmas. Dec., 6. Apr., 40; Bog Beauti€s. Feb., 10. American Rose Cent€r Gardens. Jun., 25. Egolf, Donald. Donald Egolf's Viburnums. Needlepoint. Two Arts Meet in Needlepoint American Rose Society. Thousands of Roses Oct., 31. Cushions. Oct., 46. Dazzle the Eyes at Shreveport's American Espaliers. Train Your Own Mini-Orchard. Nomenclature. Remember Me in Flowers. Rose Center Gardens. Jun., 25. Apr., 10. Dec., 12. Anemone. There's an Anemone for You. Floral Design. Classics with American Style. Ohme Gardens. The Other Side of the Apr., 15. Jun., 32. Cascades. Feb., 15. Arboreta. The MimJesota Landscape Fruit. Train Your Own Mini-Orchard. Peonies. The Lighter Look in Peonies. Arboretum. Apr., 20. Apr., 10. Jun., 36. Bailey, Liberty Hyde. Honi

46 DECEMBER 1989 Send for FREE Heritage Gardens catalog We cater to cultivated tastes.

-our landscape selection will please the PLUS A Free Gift with every order. most discerning grower. Browse through 56 , pages of our full color catalog. Choose from over 350 varieties - single specimens to whole 1 Meadow Ridge Road, gardens, pre-planned for you by our designers. Dept. 72-3114 At Heritage Gardens- Shenandoah, IA 51602 -we help you plan your plantings with helpful tips drawn from almost 100 years of landscaping , experience. Personal service is only a phone r------i ...., ,I call away. CUp aDd Mall Today I I Heritage Gardens, I Meadow Ridge Road, Dept. 72-3 114. Shenandoah, Iowa 51602 At Heritage Gardens- I 0 Yes. Please send my FREE Heritage Gardens catalog. I -we ship only select grade, top-quality plants. We're so sure I Name I of our quality that we offer the best guarantee in the business: I Street I You must be satisfied or we'll refund your money. I P.O. Box Rt. Box I We'd like to add your name to our list of Heritage growers, I~ ~ ~ I whether you're an experienced gardener or a novice. Just clip the I FREE Gift wUb ' Every Order-A special growing surprise accompanies every Heritage I coupon at the right to receive your FREE catalog. LG~e~ r~. ~ :: way ~ ayi n g-.:'re happy ~h:: you ~ .:.t~r~ _ ~ Enloy the beauty of the Caribbean during our horticultural voyage to the Windward Islands. AHS STUDY TOURS I way to go!

January 14-2 I and April I -May 6, 1990 September 12-23, 1990 January 21-28,1990 Belgium and Holland Castles and Gardens of Scotland Gardens of the Windward Begin in Brussels by viSiting its botanical garden, In the Western Highlands of Argyll, see Culzen Park Islands of the Caribbean arboretum and the University Herb Garden. Other Castle and Crarae Woodland Gardens. Spend two stops in Belgium include the Floralies of Ghent, a days at the Isle of Skye's Clan Donald Center, forty Explore tropical orchid collections, magnificent flower festival that occurs every five years, and the acres of woodland gardens and nature trails on the rainforests, historic sugar plantations, sparkling Royal Botanical Garden in Bruges. In Holland, spend grounds of Armadale Castle. Visit the highland gar­ beaches and beautiful Caribbean homes. Highlights seven days cruising its canals with stops at Boskoop, dens at Inverewe before traveling on to Inverness are the oldest botanical garden in the Western the largest nursery in the Netherlands; the world's and Edinburgh. You'll be welcomed by the castles' Hemisphere in Kingstown, St. Vincent (1765) and largest flower auction at Aalsmeer; and the mag­ owners and guided by Everitt Miller, former director jean-Philippe Thoze's Balata Gardens on Marti­ nificent Keukenhof Gardens. The tour will be led of Longwood Gardens and past AHS president. nique. AHS President Carolyn Lindsay and Bob by Richard Hutton of Conard-Pyle/Star Roses . Lindsay will guide both voyages. Former AHS board Passages Unlimited Passages Unlimited member Roy Thomas and current board member Andre Viette provide additional tropical gardening November 10- 17, 1990 expertise on the respective sailings. June n-July 3, 1990 Gardens of the Colonial South Leonard Haertter Travel Company Natural Gardens of Alaska Board the Nantucket Clipper in Florida and travel north join the adventure aboard the I 38-passenger York­ to old Southern gardens on Sea Island; private gar­ March 28-April 8, 1990 town Clipper as she sails between juneau and Ket­ dens in Savannah and on Hilton Head; the beautiful chikan in search of natural wonders including wild­ Brays Island Plantation; the significant gardens of Botanical Paradise of Costa Rica life as well as spruce forests, fields of lupines and Charleston; Drayton Hall, a 1738 plantation; and Costa Rica is known for its beautiful tropical gar­ giant ferns. See, up close, Tracy Arm, Glacier Bay Middleton Place, site of the oldest landscaped gar­ dens, spectacular wildlife and fascinating culture. and Le Conte Bay as you cruise along the sheltered dens in America, dating back to 1741. join Carolyn Stops on this tour include CATIE, the largest tropical inside passage of Alaska . Then enjoy a post-cruise and Bob Lindsay on board this luxury yacht cruise. research center in Latin America; Monteverde Cloud stay in Vancouver to enjoy Nitobe japanese Gar­ Mrs. Lindsay is the current AHS president. Forest Reserve ; Marenco Biological Station near dens and VanDusen Botanical Gardens as well as Leonard Haertter Travel Company Corcovado National Park; and a visit to Linda Vista, private gardens and the famed Butchart Gardens Leonard Haertter Travel Company, 7922 Bonhomme Ave., Claude Hope's 200-acre flower seed farm. Atlanta on Vancouver Islands. join AHS President Carolyn st. Louis, MO 63105 (8001 942-6666 (in Missouri, 314- Botanical Garden's Ann L. Crammond, also an AHS Lindsay and Bob Lindsay on board this luxury yacht 721-62001 board member, is tour leader for this adventure. cruise. Passages Unlimited, 2 Oliver Street, Eighth Floor, Boston, Leonard Haertter Travel Company Leonard Haertter Travel Company MA 02109 (8001232-2939.