Erlcan Horticulturist Volume 74, Number 8 August 1995
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American Horticultural Society The American Horticultural Society seeks to promote and recognize COMMENTARY excellence in horticulture across America. BOARD OF DIRECTORS ne of my first gardens involved OFFICERS 1995-1996 planting a dozen each of several Mrs. Sarah S. Boasberg O cultivars of tulips. One day, as I Chairman was preparing to paint watercolors of the Washington, D.C. various flowers, a strong wind, followed Dr. William E. Barrick by a brief downpour, swept through my First Vice Chairman Pine Mountain, Georgia Carolina garden. On returning to the gar Ms. Katy Moss Warner den I found that stems of nine of the 12 Second Vice Chairman double-flowered 'Mount Tacoma' tulips Lake Buena Vista, Florida had snapped, while all of the turban Mr. William A. Pusey shaped 'Clara Butt' were intact. Even as a Secretary teen-ager, I was learning that different Washington, D.C. plant varieties have differing abilities to Mr. Gerald T. Halpin Treasurer survive the elements. Alexandria, Virginia Two feature articles this month describe the impact of violent storms on plants and people. In one, Michael Hayman tells how his life changed when a windstorm struck his bedroom commu Mr. Shennan Adler nity of Seneca Gardens, Kentucky, leaving trees more than 60 years old Hobe Sound, FloFida smashed and mutilated in its streets. Although employed full-time as a news Dr. Thomas G. Amason Jr. paper photographer, he was appointed by the mayor to lead an all-volun Birmingham, Alabama teer project and given partial funding to replant the 300-home suburb. The Mrs. Nancy H. Callaway only requirement was that the trees restore the peaceful feeling of the neigh Pine Mountain, Georgia borhood. What could have been a chore became an education when Hay Mr. James L. Corfield Downers Grove, Illinois man, who says he didn't know an oak from a maple, began reading basic Mr. Paul Ecke Jr. books, then consulted local experts, and finally traveled to meet national Encinitas, California authorities. Just as in a traditional barn-raising in rural America, knowl Mr. William R. Marken edge and material-scions, cuttings, and seedlings-flowed in, transform Menlo Park, California ing the community into an arboretum of new and rare cultivars. Enjoy his Mrs. Martyn L. Miller Silver Spring, Maryland story and wonderful photographs, and know that our spirit of volunteerism Mrs. Walter M. Morgan Jr. is still working in America. Nashville, Tennessee In our second storm article, we hear about the rllstoration of two gardens Mr. William G. Pannill in Florida. The two couples, both sensitive to the natural environment and Martinsville, Virginia interested in wildlife, nevertheless took very different approaches to the way Dr. Julia W. Rappaport that they rebuilt after the devastation of Hurricane Andrew. One took ad Santa Ana, California vantage of increased sun to add a pond and plants for butterflies, while the Mr. Geoffrey L. Rausch Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania other is trying to restore the original pinelands. Knowing the site, and know Mrs. Josephine M. Shanks ing what plants will survive there, is extremely valuable, yet the possible Houston, Texas combinations of the right plant in the right location are almost endless. Mrs. Sellers J. Thomas Jr. From Kentucky and Florida we go to Colorado, where Robert Nold sug Houston, Texas gests some shrubs that will succeed in the cold, dry conditions of our Amer Mr. Robert D. Volk ican West. California bulb expert John Bryan tells us about Scadoxus, a San Marino, California South African plant unknown to most of us. Also unknown to most as a Mr. Monroe Whitton Alexandria, Virginia plantsperson is Roger Tory Peterson. His field guides to birds were daily companions for me when I was a teen-ager in North Carolina, and like him, my love of plants and art began at an early age. Like most of us, his love of PRESIDENT nature embraces both flora and fauna. Dr. H. Marc Cathey Common threads of expressing our love of plants in art-whether in writ ing, painting, photography, or the art that is landscape design and horti EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT culture itself-and choosing those plants that will survive our climatic Mrs. Helen Fulcher Walutes conditions-from Colorado drought to Florida hurricane-bring us all to gether as gardeners, again and again. H. Marc Cathey, AHS President 4 AUGUST 1995 American Horticulturist Editor Kathleen Fisher Assistant Editor OFFSHOOTS TerriJ. Huck Assistant Editor David J. Ellis Editorial Assistant Nikole Williamson Design Director Joseph Yacinski Designer Pam Johnson Membership Director Darlene Oliver Editorial Advisory Board John E. Bryan Sausalito, California John L. Creech Hendersonville, North Carolina Keith Crotz Chillicothe, Illinois Panayoti Kelaidis Denver, Colorado Richard W. Lighty Greenville, Delaware Peter Loewer Asheville, North Carolina Elvin McDonald Houston, Texas Advertising AHS Advertising Department 506 Russell Road Plant Societies ed to know, " How big a city is N ew Jer Alexandria, VA 22301 sey?" When I told her New Jersey was a (703) 549-2112 by Christine M. Burton state, not a city, she said I must be mistak Color Separations en. Ann Landers, in her advice column a Heartland Separations, Inc. avid gardener once told me that few years ago, printed a letter from the Printer as f~r as she was concerned, plant then-governor of New Mexico, who com William Byrd Press, Inc. ~OCletieS serve no purpose, Since plained of the grief he'd been subjected to they exist to teach you more than you need by the Internal Revenue Service fo r failing Back issues 01 AMERICAN H ORTICULTURIST are to know on a single subject and less than to report the part of his income earned in a available at a cost of $5 per copy. The opinions express ed in rhe articles that appear in AMERICAN HORTI you need to know about everything else. foreign country, i.e., New Mexico. CULTURIST are those 01 the authors and are not That is far from the truth. Plant societies If your geographical knowledge isn't all necessarily those of the Society. Botanical nomenclature in AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST is based on HOR have taught me a lot-and not all of it is it could be, don't despair. Join a plant soci TUS THIRD. Manuscripts, artwork, and photographs about plants. Better yet are all the things ety and learn geography for the first time sent for possible publication will be returned if they are accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. We that plant societies inspired me to learn on or all over again. All plant societies have cannot guarantee the safe return of unsolicited material. my own. members from around the world. Volun At one time, I knew next to teer to help maintain society AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST, ISSN 0096-4417, is the official publication of the American Horticultural So nothing about geography. Sure, I records or join a robin-a group ciety, 7931 East Boulevard Drive., Alexandria, VA 22308- had studied the subject in grade participating in a round robin let 1300, (703) 768-5700, and is issued 12 times a yeu Tbe American Horticultural Society is a nonprofit organiza school and was even good at it ter. You'll get to know people in tion dedicated [Q excellence in horticulture. Membership then, but by the time I was out of all or as many different states as in the Society includes a subscription to AM ERICAN HORTICULTURIST. National membership dues are school the entire global map had your time and interest allow. Peo $45; two years are $80. International dues 3re $60. changed-even the boundaries of ple in robins have found such Copyright © 1995 by the American Horticultural Soci ety. Second-class postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia, my own country had expanded to include contacts invaluable when they are trans and at additional mailing offices. Posnnaster: Please send two more states. ferred from one state to another or when Form 3579 to AMERICAN H ORTICULTURIST, 793 1 Since then it seems schools have given up they retire to another, warmer state. It is a East Bouleva rd Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308-1300. teaching geography. A friend of mine called great comfort to know that where you're one evening to tell us that her husband had going, you'll find someone with common Produced in U.S.A. been transferred to New Jersey. She want- interests. One woman I know has found AMERICAN HORTI CULTURIST 5 erlcan Horticulturist Volume 74, Number 8 August 1995 ARTICLES A Canopy for Connoisseurs by Michael Hayman ............. ................. ... 18 Eight years after a vicious windstorm, the front lawns of Seneca Gardens, Kentucky, boast a tree collection that any horticulturist would envy. Their Piece of the Rock Ridge by Linda Thornton ........ .. ................. .... ... 26 Even before Hurricane Andrew, there was little left of south Florida's rock ridge pinelands. Here's how owners of two properties responded to the storm's devastation. Roger Tory Peterson: A Birder Looks to the Ground by Lauren Brown ........................... ......... 32 The man who taught the country how to watch birds without collecting them has always been a plant lover. AUGUST'S COVER Photographed by David Cavagnaro Tough Shrubs The swallowtails are the largest by Robert Nold ................... ........... .... 38 of our American butterflies and In our desert West, a plant may be cold hardy and still not among the most striking in pass muster. appearance. They can be found Scintillating Scadoxus throughout most of the eastern half of the country, into southern by John E. Bryan ..................................... 44 Arizona and Mexico. Here a Their glowing stamens and bold foliage make these South African giant swallowtail, Papilio bulbs worth growing indoors or out. cresphontes, feeds on a swe€t William, Dianthus barbatus.