On the Road With Sara Stein ~ Collecting to Save Them

A Publication of the American Horticultural Society November/December 1996 $3 .95

L TRULY TWISTED ~ for Small Spaces PORTLAND'S TIMBER PRESS ~ Books for Serious Gardeners MECCA IN OHIO -# Rare Mail-Order Treasures SMART ADDRESSES -# Helpful Sites on the Internet Come Celehrate the American Garaen and the 75th AnniverJary 0/ the American Hortkultural Society in SanFranciJcoApril24-2~ 1997 Our 52nf) Annual Meeting will convene in heautiful San Francuco-the fabled "City by the Bay" wnere the deep voice of foghorns rolling over the seven hills and the clank of (able cars will n~ mind. you that this is a city both new and old, both sopn!istic:aied and fresh, a gateway to fabulous gardens and horticultural surprises. VMit RiilJll with its 16 acres of formal display gardens, and while on the peninsula see several private gardens. We'll cap that day with dinner and a tour of the Thomas Chureh Garden at Sunset magazine headquarters. Next day we'll visit gardens in the hills of the East Bay, including the University of California's botanic garden at Berkeley. We will offer optional visits to the wine country of Napa and Sonoma, as well as a day touring gardens over the Golden Gate Bridge toward the Pacific Coast and then back to the Tiburon area. AJ alwayJ~ our banquet will he a bighligb~ this year featuring a look back at 75 years of the Society's history. COURTESY OF [ !SA GWiTHRIE

.. '.., Circle your caletUJar now and make plans to share a fabulous weekend in ~ 1~1; San Francisco with fellow AHS members. Registration forms will be mailed in January. Our headquarters hotel is the AAA five-diamond Fairmont Hotel, H~n Fra nCiSco high atop Nob Hill. For more information call 1.800. 777. 7931 ext. 24. co n t e n t s

Volume 75, Number 6 November/December 1996

DEPARTMENTS Commentary 4 Killer 18 by Richard Dub€ Members' Forum 5 How to know when big woody friends may be making Invasives, more ground covers for shade. cracks behind your back. Offshoots 7 An indoor ecosystem. Questions of Collection 24 by Sara Stein Gardeners' Information Service 9 Tempted to pluck a rare ((Mist»ery plant, nonflowering gardenias. from the wild? The issue is more Mail-Order Explorer 10 complex than you think. All roads lead to Stewart, Ohio. Sculptural Shrubs 35 Urban Gardener 12 by Adele Kleine Delicious use of a deck. Restrained in size, they're unabashedly bizarre in shape. Planting the Future 14 A worm-hearted project. Tim-ber! 40 by Karan Davis Cutler Natural Connections 16 A refusal to ((dumb down» There's a monster in my mulch! garden books has paid offfor Book Reviews 52 this Portland-based publisher. Wildlife, conifers, and rock gardens. Pronunciations 61 1996 Index 62

Caught on the Web 48 Some hot spots for On the cover: When is a plant rare? When can you horticultural browsers justify collecting it from the lvild? These are questions on the World Wide Web. Sara Stein poses beginning on page 24. Prairie smoke Regional Happenings 58 (Geum triflorum) is endangered in her home state of A rare penstemon, new New York, but becomes increasingly common as one moves USDA research sites. west. Photograph by Don Johnston: PHOTO/NATS. American Horticultural Society 7931 East Boulevard Drive Alexandria, VA 22308-1300 (703) 768-5700 commentary ~ The American Horticultural Society seeks to promote and recognize excellence in hen I was a youngster, a walk through the horticulture across America. Carolina woods with my grandmother, ~ "Miss Nanny," was a visit to hidden plant PRESIDENT W friends. She knew a place of deciduous azaleas­ DR. H. MARc CATHEY each one a different color and size. Near her cider EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT apple orchard we admired the purple "upside­ HELEN FULCHER WALUTES down" of a liatris. At the edge of a straw­ ~ berry patch, a thicket of native blackberries BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers 1996-1997 flourished, while along the stream that divided her WILLIAM E. BARRICK, PH.D., CHAIRMAN property from the woods we fow1d highbush blue­ Pine Mountain, Georgia berries. Hidden behind a neighbor's house on pub­ KAIT MOSS WARNER,FIRsT VICE CHAIRMAN lic land was a clump of American dogwood-with Lake Buena Vista, Florida pink, red, and multiply branching variations-fi.'om NANCY S. THOMAS,SECOND VICE CHAIRMAN which she often collected "switches" that she HOl

4 THE AMERICAN GARDENER N017embe1'/Decembe1' 1996 THE AMERICAN members' GARDENER EDITOR KATHLEEN FISHER

MANAGING EDITOR rum TERRI J. H UCK ASSISTANT EDITOR DAVID J. ELLIS EDITORIAL ASSISTANT SARA EpP REGULATING EXOTICS 'Laird of Skye', 'Ink Blot', or 'Rmming Ta­ I am a real estate broker active in environ­ pestry'. They should do very well for her in DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION JOSEPH YACINSKI DESIGN mental matters in my community and am Virginia, as they are natives of the Ap­ trying to prod the town and county gov­ palachian forest. They have attractive MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR ernments to adopt guidelines regarding in­ and bloom in June with very attractive off­ D ARLENE OLIVER vasive exotics. The public works employees white to pink . ~ could be very helpful in controlling such We use a lot of Lamium 'White Nancy' EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD species if they just had some direction. We and consider it better behaved dun ajuga, NINA L. BASSUK have a terrible problem with Asian privet, which invariably seeds into d1e lawn. Since Ithaca, New York JOHN E. BRYAN wisteria, Japanese honeysuckle, kudzu, and Thea is considering giving up on the lawn, Sf//ttsalito, California other plants that are so common a lot of it might be wise to consider the violet fam­ JOHN L. CREEOH people assume they're native. Town-owned ily. Viola labradorica makes an excellent H endersonville, Nortf, Carolina green ways are a great place to start the ball shade ground cover as long as its neigh­ KEITH CROTZ rolling; awareness can be raised for private bors are large enough to shade out the Chillicothe, Illinois property as well. seedlings. It is bad in la"ms. PANAYOTI KELAIDIS Denver, Colomdo Do you know of any model ordinances I have good luck with Astilbe 'Sprite' as RICHARD W. LIGHTY or regulations that I can bring to the at­ a shade grow1d cover. It spreads well but is Greenville, Delaware tention of my local elected officials? not invasive. It is among d1e best behaved PETER LOEWER Bill Bracey of ground covers. Like most grow1d cov­ Asherille, N01'th Carolina Chapel Hill, North Carolina ers that have attractive flowers , it should be ELVIN MCDONALD hit with a string mower after it blooms. West Des Moines, Iowa The National Association of Exotic Pest 'Darwin's Snow Sprite' (white), 'DW1kel­ ~ Plant Councils (EPPC), an umbrella lachs' (salmon pink wid1 copper leaves), ADVERTISING group concerned about the environmental and 'Inshriach Pink' (pink with bronze AHS ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT damage caused by invasive non-native leaves) are d1e same size as 'Sprite' and are 4350 DiPaolo Center, Suite B Glenview, lL 60025 plants, has such a model law. You may ob­ also A. simplicifolia hybrids. I presume they (847) 699-1707 • FAX: (847) 699·170" tain a copy by writing to Faith Campbell, would behave about the same. Executive Secretary, EPPC, 8208 Dabney Other potential ground covers are the COLOR SEPARATIONS Avenue, Sp1-ingfield, VA 22152. We were Korean goats beard (Aruncus aethusi­ MIDWEST PRE· PRESS SERVICES, ]!NC. unable to determine how many communi­ folius), the bleeding-hearts (Dicentra ex­ PRlNTER ties have passed such laws, although the issue imia and D. formosa), numerous species of BANTA PUBLICATIONS GROUP is considered especially pressing in Florida. Epimedium) and cranes bills such as Gera­ The Amerimn Ga1'de"." (ISSN ~ 087 ·9978) is pub· In our September/October issue ((Out­ nium endressii, G. himalayense) and G. lished bimonthly (JanuaryjFebrul\!)', MaFCh/Apru, lawing Sneeze Trees,>' page 11) we report­ macrorrhizum, all of which will do well in May;0\me, July/August, September/OGrober, No· vember/ Docember) by meAmerican Horticultural ed on severallvestern jwrisdictions that are varying amounts of shade. Society, 7931 East Boull>vard Drive, Alexandria, VA passing ordinances against selling or plant­ Most of these grow a foot tall or more 22308·1300, (703) 768·5700. Membership ifl the SOGi~ty includes a subscription [ 0 The A,me11icmn ing trees that produce copious amounts of and do not like to be walked on, but paths Gardener. Annual dues are $45; wo years, $80. ro· allergy-producing pollens. The nursery in­ through the shaded areas will provide ac­ ternatiopal dues are $60. $10 of annual dues goes teward mag·a,z,ine subscriWaon. Periodicals postage dustry is generally opposed to laws that pro­ cess for needed maintenance and provide a paid atAle!'andtia, Virgirlla, and at additional mailing hibit selling any type of plant. In Sara close-up view of some very interesting offices. P@stmaste.:Please send Form 3579 to The Stein's article «The Weeds of Halloween,» Am,e1"ican GfWdMU;.1j 7931 East "Boul.evard Drive, plants. Kenneth Catchpole Alexandria, VA 22308'1300. also in September/Octobel', she contends Springfield, Illinois B0tanicaJ nemenGlature is based on Horttt-s Third. that creating a nation ofenlightened prop­ Opinions expressed in the articles are those@fthe au· erty owners is the answer. As always, we in­ DEVOTED READER thors and are, net necessarily dlOse Qf the Society. Manuscripts, artwork, and phot@graphssem for pos­ vite letters on both sides ofthe issue. I have saved every issue of your excellent sible publication will be returned if accompanied by magazine that I have received during years a self·addressed, s

November/December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 5 terested to know that as a devoted garden­ vide the very informative articles on spe­ er with a larger-than-usual garden with cific plant types and gardening teclmiques AHS PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL perennial beds, woodlands, ponds, wild­ that have so clearly distinguished you AHSgratefully acknowledges the generous areas, bird sanctuaries, etc., although from the other gardening magazines and financial support of the President's Co~mcit. I receive magazines from a range of orga­ the "shelter" type of magazine. Members' annual c01J.trib~J.tions of $1, 000 nizations-fi'om the American Orchid So­ William H. Mandel 01' more pro'Pide essential funds for the Society's 11J.ission to p1'omote and imp1'ow the a1't, ciety, American Hemerocallis Society, Buckingham, Pennsylvania science, practice, a1J.d enjoyment ofhortic~~tt1we American Conifer Society, Pennsylvania th1'oughout the United States. Horticultural Society, and the list goes Send letters to: Editor, The American

MR. AND MRS. E. DUMONT ACKE&"\1AN on-I find that the magazine I refer back Gardener, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, ALEMNDRIA COUNCIL OF GARDEN CLTJBS to with the most regularity is yours. Alexandria, VA 22308-1300, or e-mail to MRS. ALBERTA WOOD ALLEN MR. TOM ANJELILLO I hope that you will continue to pro- [email protected]. MRS. RUSSELL ARUNDE!;. MRS. SUZANNE FRUTIG BALES WILLIAN! E. BARRICK, PH.D. MRS. JAMES L. BARTLEIT J:!t- Hunting Buffalo Grass MRS. WILLi1I:M BECKETI MRS. KAmERlNE McKA,- BELK JEAN AND DANIEL BELL fter reading Andy Wasowski's isn't hardy very far north." Morris says DR. SHER:RAN BLAIR article about lawn alternatives two other vegetative cultivars-'315' MRS. MARY KATHERINE BLOUNT SARAH S. BOASBERG A ("Beauty Beyond Bluegrass," and '378'-have shown better resnlts M~. Nl\Na H. CALLAWAY May/June 1996), Marciene Hirsch of than '609' in eastern test plots. Both Ms. SUSAN M. CARGILL DR. ANID MRS. H. MARC CATHEY Mount Vernon, Virginia, called to ask cultivars spread quickly from plugs. MR. AND MRS. GLEN G:ffMl.LES about mid-Atlantic sources of buffalo "Two-inch plugs on one-foot centers MR. ~D . MRS. CHARLES W: COKER MR. AND MRS. JAMES L. COM'IBLD grass sod, which she wanted to use in will grow together in about eight MAI!.GERY HALE CRANE place of standard turf grasses. weeks," he says. MS. MAUREEN DE ST. CROIX MRS. BEVERLEy WM!l'E DUNN Finding suppliers of sod in the Still, for Easterners who want a fair­ MR. PAUL ECKE JE.. mid-Atlantic proved difficult. We dis­ ly low-maintenance lawn in full sun or MRS. MAruONE. GREENE MR. GERALD T. HALPIN covered only one company-AIdino part shade, Morrisrecorrunemdsa MRS. RICHARD W. HAi1M«NG Sod Farms, Inc., in Churchville, combination of two fescues-chewing MR. AND MRS. MAx TifA:R"TIL fescue (Festuca rubra subsp. commu­ MR. AND MRS. JOSEPl'l B. HMTMEYER Maryland-that is growing buffalo MRS. ENID A. HAUPT grass sod, and they won't have their tata) and hard fescue (F longifolia). MR. CL.t\!tiDE HOPE first crop available until this spring. "Those are the two that people ought MR. PHILIP Hmr MRS . HEbEN KOVACH AIdino is growing '609', an all-female to be looking at for lower mainte­ ME.. AND MRS. ReBER"F E. KULP cultivar that produces no seed heads nance," he says. The important thing ME.. DAVID M. LILLy MRS. CAROLYN MARSH LINDSAY or pollen. "We are very excited about to remember with fescues, Morris says, tOs ANGELES FLOWER Mf..!'KET its versatility," says Heath Barberry, is that they are cool-season grasses that ()P THE AMERICAN FLOll:IS.S' EXCHANGE sales manager for AIdino. Barberry de­ tend to go dormant if exposed to MRS. TROMAS ~HALL DR. ALFR!ED S. MARTIN soribes '609' as "a low-~rowing, vege­ drought or excessive heat. "There are MRS. FRANCl'S B. McALLrs",R tative turf grass that requires very little times of the year they won't look so MR. JOHN MCD01JGALI'. MRS. MARTYN L. Mi'LLER supplemental irrigation and only good, but you want to let them go at MR. AND ~. EGON MOUM<. modest fertilization." that point and they will reward you MllS. WALTER M. MORGAN JR. Ms. Cf>ROL C. MO"R.RISON The reason eastern sod producers later on." He recommends reducing MR. WILIJIAM G. I?ANNlLL have been slow to offer buffalo grass is mowing fi'equency in the heat of sum­ PATIUCIA L. PIERCE AND OLIVE;R C. SMITH mer to reduce damage to the fescues. MRS. FRANCES JONES POETICER that so far no one has developed a cul­ MR. AND MRS. W:JiU;IAM A. PUSEY tivar ideal for the East Coast climate. RED HILL GA1\DEN CLWB Kevin Morris, coordinator of the Na­ SOURCES AND RESOURCES MRS. 4LFRED RlNDbER HARRy A. RlSSETIO, ESQ. tional Turfgrass Evaluation Program Sponsored by the National Turfgrass Mr,ts. JOSEPJ'l;INE M. SHANKS (NTEP) in Beltsville, Maryland, says Federation, Inc., NTEP is a nonprofit MR. AND MRS. JAMES A. Sf.{IELLENBERGER MR. EMANUEL SIfEM1N buffalo grass "will grow here, but it's organization working in conjunction MR. CHARLES :HIENRY SMI::rf! JR. not the best grass. The big problem is, with the U.S. Department of Agricul­ S()UTHE'RN PROG~S CeJq'ORi\TION MRS. PHER SPALDrNG JR. it's native to tlle plains states where ture. For m.ore information, contact MR. AND MRS. JOHN ThOMAS you are talking about 15 to 25 inches Kevin Morris at (301) 504-5125. NANCY S. THOMAS MRS. RICHARD L. TURNER of rain a year and low humidity as op­ SOD: AIdino Sod Farms, Inc., 3603 MRS. 1:J!AREy, Vf.N DE KAM.!' posed no 40-odd inches of rain and AIdino Road, P.O. Box 218, !vIR. JAMES A. VAN SWFJE>EN !vIR. ANID MRS. ROBERT D. VOLK high humidity here." Churchville, MD 21028, (800) 660- MS. KNIT MOSS WARNER According to Morris, buffalo grass 8309. No catalog. MR. AND MRS. MONROE WHIt:ITON MRS. Mf;RILLl'1:'! B. WILSON also faces unfair competition from SEED: Plants of the Southwest, Agua MR. AND MRS. H. E~ERSON YOUNG bluegrass and fescues that move in Fria, Route 6 Box llA, Santa Fe, NM

~ during the fall when buffalo grass usu­ 87501, (505) 471-2212. Catalog $3.50. Stock Seed Farms, Inc., 28008 Mill AHS AFFILIATE ally starts to go dormant. "Some culti­ vars do better than others in the Road, Murdock, NE 68407-2350, MASTER GARDENERS 1N1'ERNATIONAL CORPORATION East-'609' is great-looking grass but (402) 867-3771. Catalog free.

6 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1996 fshoots

IF YOU HAVE PLANTS, espousing my own philosophy tl1at all living things have a place in THEY WILL COME tlus world , assures me I'm not a bad person because "good gar­ deners must know when to intervene on behalf of their plants." by Betsy Robinson Also, Mellinger's has tl1e cheapest listing for ladybugs, so I order. It's several days later tl1at I calculate the number ofladybugs in a ugsl Being an ardent supporter of animal rights, I am some­ half-pint, and I frantically phone friends . what perplexed by my murderous reaction to a mealybug in­ Bvasion. A judgment call, I christen it-if I do nothing, they NOVEMBER. DAY 1 will desu'oy my plants, so in this instance murder is justified. I dab When my order arrives I carry my 9,000 new pets up the stairs and spray with soap and alcohol, cover my face with a surgical mask with great trepidation, feeling their tiny vibrations against the and dust with diatomaceous earth, and finally resort to bare­ sides of the box. I wonder how my two dogs will react. Despite handed squishing, but still the creatures survive and procreate. tremendous guilt over keeping the ladybugs prisoner following They kill dle begonia, thrive on the coleus, blanket the undersides what was no doubt a harrowing trip from Ohio via the U.S. of the crotons, but when they move onto my heirloom Afiican vi- Postal Service, I follow tl1e directions on tl1e box and put them 0lets' that's the last sU·aw. I'm washing the banana croton, gnash­ in the refrigerator to await evening release. ing my teeth and contemplating toxins, when I notice a strange At 6:30 p.m . I stick scissors lU1der the staples to pry open the dot drop off my plant and slide towards the drain. "Oh no," I box. It occurs to me that I have no idea how these bugs are gasp, rescuing the ladybug just in time. As I gently place her back packed, and I hope I'm not stabbing anyone to death. But, I re­ on her perch, I notice something amazing-not a mealybug in ass ure myself, they've been in the refrigerator and are probably sight-and I have an epiphany. too logy to be clinging to the ceiling of the box. I'll just shake a I dig through my garden catalogs, pulling out tl10se tl1at offer few onto each plant, tl1en close up tl1e rest. beneficial insects. The man at Worm's Way is extraordinatily help­ The first dung I learn about ladybugs is that four hours in a re­ ful. Mealybug destroyers (tiny black lady beetles, or Cryptolaemus fiigerator has no effect whatsoever on their mobility. The second montrouzieriJ credited widl saving tl1e Southern California citrus and tlllid tl1ings are that ladybugs are not dogs (the words "sit" and crop in the early 1900s) would be the best bet, but tl1ey're more "stay" are irrelevant), and tl1ey do not respond well to herding. than $50 for 100. Convergent lady beetles, more commonly At the first crack in me box, there is a mass exodus. Seem­ known as ladybugs (Hippodamia con- ingly millions of frantic, thirsty vergens)J would be much cheaper, ladybugs scurry out like sol­ and no, Worm's Way assures me, diers from the Trojan horse, I'm not insane-plenty of people swarming over the windowsill, use ladybugs indoors. I ponder my onto the floor, up my arms, plight as I wait for the literature and across the walls. The they promise to send me. I'm a water-filled saucer under the firm believer in literature. ivy becomes a camp ground, From the Worm's Way pam­ and in minutes me entire pot is phlet "What's Eating My Plants?" I covered in black-spotted red learn that, although ladybugs clumps as tl1ey su·a.in for a sip of "don't always provide the best pest water. There's no turning them conu'ol expected," they are "fun back, and I call those friends garden pets!" Also, you can who promised to adopt to tell keep them dormant in your _ them it is now or never. refrigerator, ifyou don't freeze ..... They've all changed their them to death. The pamphlet . minds. At 7 p.m., wim one fa­ advises that to keep them from tality, I finally get me box closed flying away, you can spray their and look at me little red hordes wings-which, animal activist orawling across my living room car- tl1at I an1, I pledge not to do. pet. Only one solution, but it's night­ From Mellinger'S I pur­ time in New York City and I'm no fool. chase The GardenerJs Bug Book I call my friend with a German shepherd by Barbara Pleasant, which, while mL'C, and she, I, and our three dogs proceed

November/Decembe1' 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 7 to Central Park to liberate the remaining 8,OOO-odd bugs. DAY 3 We do not sleep easily this night, the bugs and I. The Normally this would be my day to clean the foliage, but I think it Spathiphyll1Jtm and its basket are their preferred seating, and sev­ best to leave everything be. Infested plants touching other plants eral hundred vie for position. Others seem dazed and wander is now fine-it creates btidges for the ladybugs-and vacuuming about the apartment as if trying to find their way back to Ohio. I is verboten. The ladybugs are quite fond of the jade plants and are spend the night imagining things crawl­ making good progress in eating them clean of pests. Same for cro­ ing on me. The dogs sleep fine . Rosie tons, but the coleus looks like a mealybug condo. Sources eats one bug but is otherwise oblivious despite the fact that several have taken DAY 10 MELLINGER'S, INC., up residence in her rawhide chews. Cold morning. I tiptoe over to close the windows and find one 2310 West South tired ladybug staggering across the carpet. The Worm's Way man Range Road, North DAY 2 said you could release them indoors anytime of year, but perhaps Lima, OH 44452-9731, Sharing a two-room apartment with a he assumed I'd keep my windows shut. But I can't trap the poor (800) 321-7444. thousand ladybugs quickly desensi­ things in a hothouse life cycle. What population remains desper­ Catalog free. tizes one to fear of creepy, crawly ately wants to be asleep, but I wake them, pleading "Eat! Eat!" NATURE'S CONTROL, things. After trying to rescue the P.O. Box 35, Medford, stragglers Oft the living roQm carpet DAY 18 OR 97501, (541) 899- from possible starvation, I discover I give up on the coleus. The jades and the crotons are clean, and 8318. Catalog free. that ladybugs are far more timid than the violets are still fighting. Most of the ladybugs are gone-de­ WORM'S WAY, INC., I about contact, and I begin to bond. parted or sleeping in the woodwork-so I might as well close the 7850 North Highway I feel a sharp pang of loss when, later windows. And, as I do, I silently thank my little helpers. 37, Bloomington, IN that day, I discover one drowned in 47407, (800) 274-9676. Rosie's water bowl. JUNE Catalog free. By evming I deal calmly with those Summer. Warmth. Mealybugs! It seems mine was a fleeting cure. that wander up my arm when I'm re- But I have spotted one decrepit ladybug, two healthy adults, and laxing on the couch, and as I transport one infant (the progeny of the radiator frolic?) crawling up from them back to the windowsill, I ftotice one rather huge bug the baseboard. The experiment was a flop, but the ecosystem lives! writhing strangely on the radiator grating. Upon closer exami­ nation, I discover it is, in fact, two bugs vigorously doing what Betsy Robinson, a free-lance writer living in N C"JP York City, has happy bugs do. I smile and return to the TV. written for severalgardening and pet magazines. People Helping People­ No Government Programs. No 1ax Dollars. No Red 1ape. Thirty million Americans-including Americans without any government pro­ children and the elderly-go to bed hun­ grams, tax dollars or red tape. gry each night. Just plant an extra row of vegetables Through "Plant a Row for the and contribute the harvest to local organiza­ Hungry, " a public service program spon­ tions that distribute food. If you want names sored by the Garden Writers Association of of local groups that could use the help, call America, you can help feed hungry Second Harvest at 312.263.2303.

plant a ~o\VFqrTh~ _Hun8!X __ __ Garden Writers Association of America 10210 Leatherleaf Court, Manassas, VA 22111

8 THE AMERI CAN GARDENER November/December 1996 gardeners' rmatlon• service•

Our local historical society is transcribing the and unruly tangle of branches. It is commonly grown as an un­ diaries ofone ofour state's pioneer women, Myra Parsons. She usual ornamental in the Pacific Northwest and has been known to and her husband farmed about 1~OOO a:cres along the shores of survive outdoors as far north as Vancouver Island, apparently be­ Lake Huron beginning in 1876. A mother ofseven children) cause of its maritime climate. It is considered hardy only through she was a gatherer ofherbs and pra:ctitioner ofhomeopathic USDA Zone 7, however, so you could not grow it outdoors there medicine. She mentions a plant called mountain mist~ which in Calgary. While it's not practical as a permanent house guest, we have been unable to identifY. -S.IC) Bay City) Michigan since it can attain a height of more tl1an 50 feet, it's in the same Myra Parsons was certainly remarkable; where did she find time as Norfolk Island pine, which is commonly grown inside. to keep diaries? It appears that mountain mist is a common Seeds must be ripe and separated from the cone. They should name for Pycnanthemum virginianum) more often called be planted about a quarter-inch deep in a sandy peat mixture. mountain mint. A member of the mint family, its leaves and Young plants prefer light shade and, when grown indoors, cool stems give off a minty aroma when rubbed. It has pinkish white temperatures. Plants grown from seed tend to be less shapely than flowers up to one-half-inch in diameter that often form a those grown from cuttings. cymelike cluster. It grows up to two feet high on stiff, erect, many-branched stems. There are actually about 20 species of My office-grown gardenia won~t flower. Pycnanthemum native to North America, but P virginianum What can I do? -A.B.) Allentown, Pennsylvania is one of the most common. Found in upland woods and mead­ Now often listed as G. augusta 'Fortuniana' or ows from Maine to North Dakota and south to Georgia, it is even as G. fortunei, Gardenia fasminoides var. for­ not considered showy enough for most gardens, but can be dra­ tuniana and its cultivars are chiefly greenhouse­ matic if you encounter groupings in the wild. grown for the floral trade and are often not very rewarding when grown in the home or office. For Pve always admired caladiums but nevergrew any success you need to follow the practices of f them until this year. One plant put up two leaves and then a commercial growers. In winter the plant should be strange-looking thing that definiteo/ was not a . It turned kept at 45 to 50 degrees in indirect sun with fair- out to be a spathe with a fat spadix inside. How common is this) ly dry soil to discourage growth. In spring, prune .- and does the spadix contain both male andfemale fluwers? the plant lightly, move it to a warmer and brighter tltlllllll - EM.) Alamogordo) New Mexico location, and resume watering. During the sum- It's not very common for caladiums to form flowers, but apparently mer, feed it regularly with fertilizer for acid-loving plants or with the environmental conditions in your garden were just right for fish emulsion. Ensure your gardenia is exposed to moist air by them. Like the related calla lily and Jack-in-the-pulpit, the flower­ placing the pot on a tray containing pebbles and water. To de­ ing structure consists ofa hooded, petal-like bract called the spathe velop flower buds, gardenias require at least a half-day of sun and a spike called a spadix. The tiny flowers are crowded along the and nights cooler than 70 degrees. Any variation from these spadi'{ with the female flowers on the lower part and the male flow­ conditions is likely to result in bud drop. Therefore, the typical ers above them. Following pollination office environment is not conducive the plant will form white berries. to a flowering gardenia. Camera Clues? A new cultivar developed at tl1e On a visit to Butchart Hampton Roads Experiment Station Gardens on Vancouver Island I WALTER SALMON, an in Virginia Beach, Virginia, should gathered some cones of monkey­ AHS tnember who lives in make it possible to grow gardenias puzzle . Can I start some Yonkers, New York, called to ask if outdoors a bit farther north. A ma­ plants from them? we could recommend a relatively inex­ ture plant is said to produce up to 50 -G. G.) Calgary) Alberta) Canada pensive automatic camera that has a short flowers from late summer into No­ Monkey-puzzle tree (Araucaria enough focal distance to get close-up pho­ vember. But while a cold hardiness araucana) also known as Chilean tographs of flowers. The professional photogra­ rating of Zone 7 makes 'Chuck pine, is a semitropical conifer native to phers who take close-ups for our magazine use Hayes' a full zone hardier than otl1er southern Chile and southwest Ar­ very sophisticated equipment. We would appre­ gardenias on the market, it would gentina. It is said that it was named ciate hearing from any of our members who still need a protected situation where monkey-puzzle tree because it was have had good luck taking close-ups of plants you are in Zone 6. thought that even a monkey would with a midlevel automatic camera. -Neil Pelletietj Director have difficulty climbing its spiny trunk Gardeners} Information Service

November/ December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 9 orer

GLASSHOUSE WORKS: calls the nursery's selection of coleus, wandering jews, and THE SECRET'S OUT other foliage bedding plants "as good as any in the country." Nelson is using Glasshouse Works' Victorian bedding plants to help re-create authentic period plantings. by DavidJ Ellis A GROWING HOBBY ike honeybees flocking to a -laden flower, each spring As graduate students in the English literature deparunent at Ohio and summer busloads of fervid garden pilgrims converge on University in nearby Athens in the early 1970s, Winn and Frieling Ltiny Stewart, Ohio. Located about 12 miles east of Athens turned to growing plants as a way to ease the pressures of gradu­ in the southeastern part of the state, the former mill town is ate school, renting greenhouses to contain their expanding col­ home to Glasshouse Works nursery, the brainchild of Tom Winn lection of tropicals. Once out of school, Winn taught French and and Ken Frieling. German literature, and Frieling taught English. "This is a nursery that grew out of a passion," says Diane Their foray into commercial growing began innocently enough Heilenman, gardening columnist for the Louisville Courier­ when friends opened a plant store and asked Winn and Frieling to Journal and author of Gardening in the Lower Midwest. Heilen­ propagate some of their plants for sale in the store. Soon they were man says Glasshouse Works "has had a cult following for a long selling plants to several small businesses around Athens. time, but I think in the last couple of years they have popped In the late '70s Winn and Frieling began selling plants in over the top from a nursery purely for plant aficionados to a the catalog of Country Hills Greenhouse, owned by Carol Wil­ more popular nursery." Heilenman says the nursery "suits me son. When Wilson retired from mail-order in 1981, they took because I like to try a whole lot of different things. They offer over her mailing list and Glasshouse Works made its formal a lot of collections so you can play around and indulge yourself entry into the mail-order business. They retained the original with different types of plants." name of their hobby greenhouse, which Winn describes as "They are the best," says Patti Lee, a floral designer who lives in New York City. "They have plants no one else can get because they trade with botanical gardens all over the world." Fenner Hughes, an X-ray technician who works for the Fed­ eral Bureau of Prisons in Henderson, North Carolina, says he start­ ed out buying house plants. "Now it's perellllials, shrubs, and u·ees-I got away from indoor plants and began moving into the yard," he says . Hughes says he keeps a few tender plants in a green­ house in winter and moves them outside in summer. "I've bought several varieties of sugar cane because they add a nice touch to the perennial garden." "We were originally pretty much a tropical house plant nurs­ ery through about the middle '80s, when we began importing var­ iegated plants from Japan, many of which were hardy," says Winn. More recently they started reintroducing hard-to-find Victorian bedding plants. Now their main catalog is divided into sections for tropicals and sl1btropicals, succulents, perellllials, and trees, shrubs, and . "The last few years there has been a synergy coming out of that," says Frieling. "People who generally have grown only In one of their display hardy plants look at our collections of Victorian bedding plants houses, right, Glasshouse and tropicals that flourish as annuals and begin ordering those." Works co-owners Ken Among the hottest bedding plants right now are coleus, of Frieling, left, and Tom Winn which Glasshouse Works has more than 100 selections, and par­ are surrounded by a vast rot leaf or calico plants (Alternanthera spp.). "People are search­ array of tropical treasures. ing desperately for different Alternantheras to make foliage clocks The exotic giant jade , and otl1er intricate geometric designs," says Frieling. above, is a favorite with Durrell Nelson, grounds manager for Nauvoo Restoration, visitors to the nursery. Inc., which is rebuilding a frontier town in Nauvoo, Illinois,

10 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1996 "a bauhaus interpolation of the German for 'greenhouse. ", interest to zoos and botanic gardens, such "We had a lot of good people help us get started," recalls Wllm. as tlle cocoa tree (Theob1roma cacao) . To receive a catalog, Early supporters ll1Cluded George Elbert, a house plant expert and Julian Duval, executive director of tlle send $2 to Glasshouse founder of the New York City Indoor Plant Society, who WilUl Quail Botanical Gardens itl Encitutas, Cal­ Works, Church Street, says "was very lllstrumental in gettlllg us to a more national level. " ifornia, says, "Some of the plants I've Stewart, OH 45778-0097. Longwood Gardens horticulturists-includlllg Dutch Huddle­ bought from Glasshouse Works were just ston and Pat Nutt-helped set up elaborate trades for some un­ unavailable anywhere else at tlle time, itl­ The nursery is open usual plants. Winn and Frieling worked closely with the New York eluding pony tail palms [Beaucarneaspp.], to visitors Thursday Botanical Garden for many years. More recently tlley have collab­ fouquierias, and clubfoots [Pachypodium through Saturday from orated witll Bob Hayes at tlle Brooklyn Botanic Garden and con­ spp.]. They have a wonderful collection of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For plants from Madagascar ill general." tinue to learn about new plants tllrough the writings of Elvin directions, call (614) 662- McDonald, former director of special projects at llie garden. Many customers who started out willi 2142, fax (614) 662-2120, Part ofWitm and Frieling's success lies itl tlleir willingness to mail-order now make regular pilgrimages share tlleir introductions Witll ollier nurseries and botanical gar­ to Glasshouse Works. "I used to visit for a or e-mail to plants@ dens. "Like all good growers and collectors, they share new long weekend every year," says Lee, "but glasshouseworks.com. plants ratller tllan trying to be exclusive," says New York floral tlut's not enough anymore. The nursery is You can also vicariously designer Lee. Agrees WirU1, "We've always been very coopera­ so huge it's like a candy store. Everywhere visit Glasshouse Works tive witll everyone else. We learned early on tlut if you have tlle you turn lliere's sometl1illg wldernealli or via its new Web site at only plant willi unusual variegation and you don't pass it on to behind something else. You turn around olliers it can be lost." Frieling does most of tl1e propagating and and it's like, 'Wow, look at tlut!'" A peren­ http://www.glasshouse breeding, while Wirm is adept at spotting new variegated plants. IUal favorite of tll0se who visit tlle nursery works.com . Frieling's breeding efforts illclude the Hocking series-named is tlle giant jade ville ( macro- after llie river lliat runs wough Stewart-of compact, heat-tol­ botrys), wluch Frieling says "knocks people out ofllie water." erant begonias willi brilliantly hued foliage. HeiJenman also recommends visiting llie nursery. "They have monster plants lliat just reach out and grab you-it's a very tac­ SPREADING THEIR WEB tile, personable place," she says. Heilenman adds lliat when Wirm Willi llie illcreased publicity itl tlle last few years, Wirm and Friel­ and Frieling have time-wluch is less often now lliat lliey have so illg have had to make changes to llie way tlley do busilless. Re­ many visitors-"tlley will expend any amount of expertise on you cently tlley set up a World Wide Web site tlut all ows purchasers lliat tlley dunk you can absorb." to browse wough color images ofsome plants and place orders. Visitors to tlle nursery may have a difficult titne finding Stew­ "We used to be able to list tl1illgs we'd have five or 10 of, but art on tlle map, but to Witm and Frieling it's part and parcel of now we don't dare offer our rarest tlllilgS except wough spe­ tlleir success. "There are so few Brigadoons left ill llie world. I'm cialty catalogs or on llie Net," says Frieling. Their specialty lists glad we found one oflliem," says Frieling. often contaill successes from "oddball seeds" acquired from for­ eign botanic gardens, along willi a few plants lliat are mainly of David]. Ellis is assistant editor of The American Gardener.

November/ December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 11 9 a ener

VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS by Linda C. Ballard

ver since I was a small girl I wanted a greenhouse. My grandmother was a wonderful gardener, and I even had a Esmall garden of my own. But I was fascinated by British gar­ dening books, and all of those gardeners always had a green­ house. For my fifth anniversary my husband gave me a card promising "the greenhouse of your choice." Then we found out how expensive they are. Fifteen years later, in September 1994, we finally built a six­ by-nine-foot lean-to greenhouse on our back deck, and we've been happily experimenting ever since. Many people who put up greenhouses do so because they want orchids or some other kind of beautiful tropical plants year-rOlmd. Our goal was to produce our very own favorite vegetables', with­ out pesticides, and have them available every day, even in mid­ winter. Our tomatoes, hot peppers, herbs, radishes, bush , carrots, and potatoes have been fruitful and fantastic. They never seem to know what season it is, and they sure beat the tasteless out-of-season vegetables from the grocery store. With fresh veg­ etables and herbs always available, my cooking style has changed, spend a lot of time in it. I never thought I would enjoy just star­ and I'm convinced we're getting healthier. Even our four sons­ ing at dirt and playing in the mud so much! Maybe this is my ages seven through 16-have joined the fun . They can't eat a fruit second childhood. or vegetable without saving the seeds. Our purchased seeds may do better, but their "free" plants aren't far behind. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED We spent about five years shopping for a greenhouse, and fi­ But the project hasn't been all play. For insulation, since the nally chose one manufactured by the Vegetable Factory. It cost deck is eight feet above ground, we glued Styrofoam strips (two about $3,200 with shipping-more than many others the same feet wide and three-quarters of an inch dlick, purchased at a local hardware store) under the deck, caulking between each strip as well as around the perimeter of the Styrofoam. Direct­ Our goal was to produce our lyon top ofdle deck we laid 18 pieces of treated wood (six inch­ es wide and one-half-inch thick) perpendicular to the deck very own favorite vegetables planking. It looks rustic, is very functional and easy to sweep, and provides additional insulation. We caulked where the green­ and have them available every house abuts the house wall and deck floor so that no drafts, day, even in midwinter. bugs, or snakes can get inside. The nine-foot length of dle greenhouse faces south. Its roof vents are screened and span the entire nine feet, but are only about size, but we liked the fact that the clear plastic sides could be four inches wide and must be manually operated. The all-around opened to screens on all sides, and we would be able to upgrade screens let us open as many windows on the east, west, and south it as much as we wanted. I've looked at a lot of other greenhous­ sides as we like. This provides cross-ventilation so we can take ad­ es since then, and it still seems to be the best engineered. It took vantage ofany prevailing winds and still be completely screened in. about four days for my husband, Lee, and our two older sons, Still it seems that the sun is always pulling tricks on us, so we Marc and Jason, to build the greenhouse, which came in nine have several thermometers throughout the greenhouse; all are well-packed cartons with every part clearly marked and very de­ backed by Styrofoam to keep the readings honest. Lee rigged up tailed directions for assembly. a thermometer that faces the kitchen to sound an alarm if the tem­ The greenhouse can be reached through sliding glass doors perature in the greenhouse exceeds or goes below a preset range. from the kitchen, and since I don't work outside our home, I He attached a wire to dle back of the thermometer and ran it into

12 THE AMERICAN GARDENER Novemb e r l Dec em b e1' 1996 the kitchen to a sLx-volt lantern battery, then to a simple doorbell still flowering and producing with little sign of slowing when we buzzer hanging on the wall. Once a month we test the system by removed them from the greenhouse to make room for different adjusting the settings on the thermometer. varieties-over 10 months oftom-ahh-to heaven! (Our first ac­ The alarm has gone off only once. At 2:30 one morning the tual harvest was a radish, wh.ich we immortalized in a photo la­ outside temperature had dropped rapidly to zero, and we had beled "the $4,000 radish. ") the greenhouse heaters set too low. We have rwo small electric My husband only wanted to try one little pepper seed. His sin­ heaters that are turned on and off by adjustable, built-in ther­ gle plant has since expanded to 27 varieties, at least rwo of each, mostats. Normally one is set for about 60 degrees and the back­ and he longs to try more. Among our other successes have been up at about 55 degrees. potatoes grown in a tub from ones we purchased at tl1e local su­ For ventilation, two small fans are set with a coffee timer to go permarket, contrary to most of tl1e advice I've read and heard. on at 9 a.m. and off at 5 p.m. each day. An oscillating fan is set roughly at plant height, while a second, larger, non-oscillating fan RECORD KEEPING We keep a computer diary of all our successes and our few fail­ ures. Lee devised a data base tl1at includes everytl1ing from tl1e source of the seeds and a control number for each crop (tl1e num­ Sources ber oftl1e planting plus tl1e year), observa­ tions of tl1e plant from seed to harvest, and VEGETABLEFACTOR~ "notes," which include pertinent back­ INC., Dept. FREE, 495 ground information on the plant gleaned Post Road East, fi-om reference books and other resources, Westport, CT 06880. along with page citations. We love to com­ Catalog $2 . pare otl1er people's experiences to our own. SUNGLO SOLAR Keeping a diary is not as tedious as you GREENHOUSES, 4441 might think. Researching information on 26th Ave nue West, plant varieties usually starts with simply Seattle, WA 98199, looking up the basic plant-such as "egg­ (800) 647-0606. plant"-but invariably that sparks deeper Catalog free. and deeper reading on the subject (I now have 88 books on gardening and still have to visit the library now and then) until we have more information than we could ever want. The control number is entered botl1 in the diary and, using a plastic stick-on label-maker, on a five-inch white plastic plant stake. We started with craft sticks when plants were in the seedling stage, but they became difficult to read and rotted near the soil line. With these plastic stakes I can be as sloppy as I want when I water, and the labels don't come off until I peel them off The aut hor gives her to relabel the stakes for the next crops. They're also easy to read lean-to greenhouse and make recording in the diary a snap. Lee will walk in from the its annual scrubdown, greenl10use and aImounce, "I just harvested five peppers from opposite, before 'Giant Thai', number nine." ref illing it , left. We keep a hard copy of the computer Plant File sheet in a loose­ Virginia's brutal 1996 leaf notebook, adding relevant information as needed aI1d print­ w inter, above, made ing a final copy for future reference after harvest. the t hriving plant s This has been both a learning experience and a lot of hill for seem especially us. It was especially rewarding to walk into the greenhouse dur­ miraculous. ing Virginia's blizzard ofl996, surrounded by vegetables almost ready to harvest wh.ile snow fell all around us. We often end up eating tl1e £i'uit right off the plants just as tl10ugh we were in a salad bar line, congratulating ourselves for being so clever. Although we're concentrating on vegetables and just a few flowers, a greenhouse of this size would be ideal for the orna­ mental gardener who wants to get a head start on spring and finds that one grow-light in the basement just isn't enough any more. Gardeners never have enough room, and that's certainly true of every greenhouse grower I've ever talked to. I mentioned tl1at is angled down from the ceiling toward the tomato plants. (The Lee, originally the reluctant gardener, wanted to grow more pep­ fans, coffee timer, and heaters all cost less than $60.) pers: He's now measuring our second deck for a greenhouse three With room or time to grow only one vegetable, most people times as big as this one. I don't mind, just as long as he leaves me plant tomatoes, and we were no different. Cherry and full-size some space for my herbs. tomatoes were our first crop, planted on September 4,1994. We began harvesting them in December. In October 1995 they were Master Gardener Linda G. Ballard lives in Stafford} Vi-r;ginia.

November/December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 13 t futu re

CASTS OF THOUSANDS Even a single worm box in a school can be used to reach a wide audience. David Chi a at Georgian Forest Elementary by Joseph M. Keyser School actually took the show on the road. "After getting my kids worked up for a couple of weeks, I started taking tlle box wenty-five years ago, no one would give Mary Appelhof into the teachers' lounge. Then I was asked to visit otller class­ even five minutes to tell them about using worms to teach rooms." By early March 1996, Chia had visited every classroom Tchildren about composting, recycling, and soil science. Today, the "Worm Woman" is invited all across the country­ and recently to New Zealand and Australia-to share with teach­ ers her special knowledge of worms. "Tens of thousands of teachers," Appelhof says, "and it's not stopping." The worm has definitely turned. Throughout America there are scores of city and county pro­ grams that send agricultural Extension agents, recycling coordi­ nators, naturalists, and otller vermiphiles into classrooms with worm boxes, introducing children to the living, squiggling lab­ oratory of the earth itself. One of the most elaborate initiatives, called VermiLab, was de­ veloped in 1995 by the Montgomery County, Maryland, De­ partment of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with the public school system, and integrated into the schools' science and social studies curricula. VermiLab was created to bring the natur­ al act of composting to children, who then serve as irresistible com­ post emissaries. The program also strives to raise children's awareness and curiosity about the web oflife that surrounds them, including the invisible though vital life of the soil. After its first academic term, VermiLab had provided training for 140 elementary, middle, and high school teachers, who brought that knowledge, along with two-cubic-foot worm boxes holding 1,000 redworms, to more than 60 schools and 120 classrooms. In fact, interest among teachers was so high that a in the school, and he is currently developing a large-scale ver­ micomposting system in the school's courtyard to handle food scraps from tlle cafeteria. lIThe worms are squishy. Like Chia, teachers in other classes have worked with their students to get the word out. Some have developed worm Worms are neat and yucky. newsletters, cultivating young journalists who share their expe­ Worms are nice. Worms riences with fellow students throughout the school. And at least one worm box has gone digital: Frank Sanford's students at are cool. Worms are very, Kensington Parkwood developed a worm site on tlle Internet to

14 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1996 way to turn kids into vvalking advertisements for composting. Students first visit the center's Compost Discovery Garden The reports were interdisciplinary and artful. Elementary sci­ featuring more than 20 back-yard composting systems, where ence classes recorded decomposition rates of various vegetables they learn to "dissect" a pile and look for compost critters-the and fruit, weighed materials, and counted worm populations. fungi and invertebrates that work with bacteria as decomposer Middle school and older science students measured compost pH organisms. Later, the children are taken to the Worm Garden, and tested comparative plant growth rates of potting mixes using where five large worm boxes accommodate the fruit and veg­ worm compost. Maryvale Elementary School, where there is a etable scraps from d1e cafeteria. Students learn they are part of a popular French immersion program, submitted more than 40 big cycle: They generate the food scraps, weigh them, and then colorful fo lders with essays and poems in French, while other add them to the worm boxes; the worms create compost that schools stressed mathematics, grammar, and other disciplines in staff and other youngsters will then add to the gardens to grow the process of data collection. more food. Lindsey Tschida from Judith Resnik Elementary Montgomery County, in addition to coordinating the learned that "you could put food Like banana peels, rotten mel­ classroom-based program in which children take turns feed­ ons, and tea bags in, but no meat." The worms make castings, ing and caring for their growing worm colonies, built a or compost, and "you put it over your soil and it makes plants large-scale worm garden behind the cafeteria of the Lath­ and whatever you are growing healthy." rop E. Smith Environmental Education Center. The center provides several days of training in environmental and nat­ SPOKESWORM ural studies for thousands of sixth-grade students, and its One of tile most conspicuous elements in the VermiLab program curriculum now includes a healthy dose of composting. is Digger Worm, a seven-foot-tall, bright orange and yellow worm mascot, originally developed as a cartoon character to lead kids on imaginative expe­ ditions through their worm boxes. Thanks Resources Opposit e: to high school volunteers, Digger now Composting makes appearances at schools, county fairs, FOR MORE emissaries pose in and even the occasional shopping mall. INFORMATION on the front of Maryvale He-or "it"-acmally receives fan mail Montgomery County Elementary School. from kids, often asking the character to program, write Joseph Left: Digger Worm come visit a particular school. A cuddly in­ M. Keyser at the entertains and troduction to worms for younger children, Montgomery County educates Maryland Digger always u'avels with a worm box-tot­ Department of schoolchildren on ing assistant, eager to show kids some of Environmental the importance of Digger's smaller relations. Protection, 101 worms to soil The future for VermiLab is looking Monroe Street, health. Below: bright. Another 100 teachers will Likely re­ Rockville, MD 20850, or Students at Piney ceive training and worm boxes during the call (301) 217-2361 . Branch Elementary next year, and numerous schools are build­ WORMS EAT OUR School delve into ing large, outdoor worm gardens to GARBAGE: CLASSROOM worm biology. process cafeteria scraps. A recent Wash­ ACTIVITIES FOR A ington Post article on the program gener­ BETTER ENVIRONMENT ated more than 100 calls requesting by Mary Appelhof, information-and worms-for indoor Mary F ~ ances Fenton, composting. Digger Worm has also been and Barbara Loss invited to participate in the National Sci­ ].t arris, Flower Press, ence Teachers Association Global Summit Kalamazoo, Michigan. on Science and Science Education in San Publ ished in 1993, this Francisco in late December. 214-page book The program to date has brought contains more than worm composting to more than 5,000 150 worm-related students, with 1,800 receiving T-shirts in activities that can be exchange for an amazing range of poems, integrated into lessons songs, essays, murals, and science pro­ about gardening, jects. Bnt the appreciation for soil en­ natural sciences, gendered by the worms, large and small, language, and is the greatest payoff for VermiLab. problem-solving. "These worms are good to the worl d be­ Available through the cause they eat u·ash and make rich soil for AH5 book program for us to grow plants," observed fourth­ $19.75, plus sh ipping grader Brian Shorten, who wisely added, and handling. To order, "so if you see a worm don't kill it." call Barbara Cather­ wood at (800) 777- Joseph M. Keyser is an education specialist 7931 ext . 36, or use the with the Montgomer)1 County Department order form on page 57 . ofEnvironmental Protection.

Novembe1'/Decembe7' 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 15 natural • connections

MUSHROOMS IN MY MULCH Story and photographs by Rob Simpson

e telephone did little to disguise the urgency of the woman's voice, which was tentative with an air of "you're really not T:going to believe this." There was this thing that suddenly ap­ peared in her garden. It was orange, fleshy, stinking, and "well, I don't really want to say what it looks like." Her beloved cat had licked this putrid, unearthly cone. She had gotten my name from the local college and hoped I could provide some answers. Would her cat be okay? And the ultimate question: Could it be spawn from another world? I tried to comfort her, explaining that she had found an armed stinkhorn (Lysurus mokusin), a type of mushroom. A member of the group, this native of Asia is occasionally fOlmd near major metropolitan areas on our East and West coasts. These fungi are saprophytes-nature's recyclers-and this one was simply liv­ ing off the dead wood of her mulch. Even in 1936, long before ecology was a buzzword, Louis Krieger talked about fungi's role in the formation of humus and the importance of this to humans. In The Mushroom Handbook he writes that "they, too, serve man, as without humus the whole biological experiment of nature on this planet would soon come to an end."

ODORIFEROUS EDIBLES There are several other stinkhorn species with a fondness for gar­ den mulch. Your nose may detect them before your eyes do. David Arora, author of Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi, writes: "They are not common in comparison to other fleshy fungi, but they command a degree of attention far disproportionate to their numbers because of their fantastic shapes and repugnant odors." This cow-pie aroma attracts flies to the mushroom's head. The colorful slimy mass has sticky spores that­ if all goes well-will attach to the flies' feet and be transported to mushrooms. Our kids thought they were the best fungi of the your neighbor's garden. The coprophagous-dung-Ioving­ many we sampled that day, so it's possible that many gardeners habits of dogs and cats will frequently compel them to lick could appreciate the multidimensional benefits of these beauti­ stinkhorns, sometimes in an apparent state of ecstasy with much ful but odoriferous fungi. Mycelial spawn taken from one gar­ slobbering and maybe a good roll. The woman's cat would not den to the mulch of another would probably get them growing. die, I assured her, and in fact probably enjoyed the experience. Despite their attraction for pets, it seems wilikely that these foul DON'T BLAME THE DOG! fungi would be human fare, but the Chinese consider them deli­ Gardeners could definitely use more educating about mush­ cacies when they are in the "button" or "egg" stage, before they rooms. In 1973 there was a fungal incident in Texas and here, develop the fetid odor. They are sometimes sold under the name too, exU"aterrestrial origins were suggested. In his book Myxo­ "devil's eggs," and the Chinese believe that they have the capaci­ mycetes: A Handbook ofSlime Molds, Steve Stephenson recounts ty to better an "insufficient" man. They were also nicknamed the horrifying scenario. Large, slowly creeping "pulsating yel­ "Kansas City truffles" after a chef in that city was fowld to have low blobs" were showing up in mulched areas. When blasted unknowingly served them to his customers as French truffles! with water they broke apart and each broken piece grew bigger. It took a mycophilic friend who is also a psychologist to per­ The ensuing panic made national news, and speculation about suade me to try them, during a family foray in search of edible their identi'ty ran from indestructible aliens from outer space to

16 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/ December 1996 menacing mutant bacteria that could take over the earth. A my­ Otller "what is it?" organisms are bird's-nest fungi, a common cologist finally identified the culprits as dog-vomit slime molds, name used with members of several genera, including Crucibu­ sometimes known as scrambled-egg slime molds (Fuligo septi­ lum spp., Nidula spp., and Cyathus spp. Many people can't quite cay. This slime mold usually starts on mulch or compost, where figure out where these small cuplike structures fit in tlle scheme it engulfs bacteria, soil amoebae, and other small organisms. It of things. They look like tiny nests with eggs inside. Inside tlle will move to the highest point to sporulate, sometimes migrat­ "eggs," which are called peridioles, are spores. The nests serve as ing onto living plants. But it won't harm them and will usually splash cups, and raindrops will propel the eggs up to seven feet wash away with the first rain (unless the increased moisture caus­ away. Depending on tlle species, eitller a lasso or sticky globules es it to grow larger). These bloblike masses don't last long, they will help tlle peridiole attach to whatever it hits. The spores are change rapidly in shape and color, and-if you don't mind their exposed when the outer wall of tlle peridiole decays or is eaten by resemblance to something a canine has unswallowed-they can insects. Although many species are found on decaying wood, make an interesting garden conversation piece. some are also found on manure. Some of these dung lovers have an intricate reproductive cycle dming which they pass tl'lrough an animal's digestive tract. A Resources closely related species, the can­ non or artillery (Sphaer­ Top row: Known as obol1lts stellatus), aUcUb ly ejects its destroying angel, far solitary egg up to 17 feet away left. this mulch-dweller from the nest. Olympians is a member of the note-this is equivalent to a deadly Amanita genus. one-mile cUscus wow. Our canine companions In addition to these some­ are not to blame for what bi zarre fungi, garden dog-vomit slime mold, mulch will sprout many others left. Bottom row: that are clearly mushrooms. Raindrops will propel Some of these are strikingly the spores of bird's-nest large, like the Lepiota species. Grainy clubs parasitize fungi out of their cup­ Most of tl,ese saprophytes are underground organisms. shaped receptacles, far getting nutrients from the left. The armed 'vvood chips and won't harm The following books are stinkhorn, left, may plants. Their tangled mats of available through the AHS look repulsive, but mycelium-fibrous rootlike book program. Prices reflect dogs, cats, and flies structures-may actually help an AHS member discount; a are attracted by its keep the garden moister. They postage and handling fee is sewery odor. also help in the decaying additional. To order, call process tllat will produce good Barbara Catherwood at (800) rich humus. 777-7931 ext. 36, or use the Some people fear tlut mere­ order form on page 57. ly touching a mushroom could MUSHROOMS: A QUICK harm tllem. This isn't tlle case, REFERENCE GUIDE TO of course, but eating them MUSHROOMS OF NORTH might. The large Lepiota AMERICA by Alan Bessette and species are mostly edible, but Walter J. Sundberg, 1987, lookalikes in the genus Amani­ Macmillan, New York. $11.50. ta are mostly poisonous. Gale­ MUSHROOMS DEMYSTIFIED by rina autumnalis, an LBM David Arora, 1986, 10 Speed Another small but attention-getting fungus is the caterpillar (little brown mushroom) that Press, Berkeley. Hardcover, grainy club (Cordyceps militaris). This bright orange, pimple­ can grow on wood chips, is $35.95; softcover, $31.50. covered sprite is an obligate parasite of moths and butterflies deadly poisonous. A good rule NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY whose larval or pupal stage develops underground. While of thumb is, if you don't know FAMILIAR MUSHROOMS OF stinkhorns get their nutrients from dead organic material and them by tlleir Latin names, you NORTH AMERICA by Peter help break mulch down into fine soil, grainy clubs grow on liv­ don't know them intimately Katsaros, 1990, Alfred A. ing organisms and eventually kill them. Other fungi then con­ enough to invite them over for Knopf, New York. Softcover, $8. vert the pupal remains into humus. dinner. But instead oflcnocking A PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO Different grainy clubs grow on different hosts. Some them over or fearing that they MUSHROOMS by K. and V. species even grow on underground truffles and could be help­ are harbingers of the aliens in McKnight, 1987, Houghton ful if you are inclined to search for those delicacies. C. mili­ "Independence Day," consider Mifflin Company, Boston. ta1'is often attaches to the buried pupae of sphinx moths. Since their interesting ecological re­ Softcover, $15.25. sphinx moth larvae find loose garden soil easy to dig into, this lationships and enjoy them. particular parasitic fungus is frequently found in flower and vegetable beds. Researchers are looking into the possibility of A free-lance writer and photographe1S Rob Simpson lives and using Cordyceps for biological control of certain insect pests. forages for mushrooms in Stephens City, Vi0inia.

November/ December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 17

Sometimes even the most ardent tree hugger must choose to kiss one good-bye.

b Y R c h a r d Dub e

II Killer trees! Killer trees! II injury or property damage to someone else. was a running joke of the Reagan adminis­ Most tree cases come under tl1e law of neg­ tration. Our former president apparently ligence, which asks whetl1er you have taken confused harmless nitrous oxide, which reasonable care in regard to your property. comes from plants decaying anaerobically, Case law has established a "duty of care," with polluting nitrogen oxides. Trying to meaning that homeowners have a responsi­ make points against environmentalists, he bility to determine iftheir trees could be un­ lost some credibility instead. safe. As with most of the judicial system, Most gardeners are at the other ex­ ignorance of tl1e law is no excuse. treme, revering trees not only for tl1eir tan­ In some instances, a tree itself may be Deformed by bad gible benefits-fruits or nuts to eat or sell, structurally sound but create a danger by pruning, a Siberian elm, cooling in summer, enhancement of real blocking a view of traffic from a corner, an opposite, looms estate value, a buffer to noise and wind, intersection, or a driveway. In these in­ ominously over the refuge for wildlife-but for their beauty stances, the decision to remove or trin1 the landscape. Included bark and longevity. For most of us, losing a large tree is less likely to be between homeown­ in the crotch of this limb tree is a tragedy, and having one removed er and arborist tl1an between homeowner should have been a is an option of last resort, too painful to and local government, which usually as­ warning sign to the consider until a tree is clearly stone dead. sumes the right to remove any tree that is property owner that the But a tree unhealthy from age or disease blocking visibility for drivers. tree was potentially can be hazardous to your health or, more We're going to deal here with tl10se in­ hazardous. likely, to your property and tl1uS your wal­ stances when the decision to cut, or not let. Even ifinsurance will pay for the dam­ cut, is up to you. Given that removal of a age, there is the specter of being sued for large tree will usually involve a bill in four

November/December 1996 THE AMERI CAN GARDENER 19 How Dangerous?

borists are just beginning to sys­ tematically keep records of what A:. ds of trees fail under what conditions. Those ill winds known as hurricanes have blown some good by allowing arborists to collect data on the types and conditions offallen trees. A survey of Dade County, Florida, residents following Hurricane Andrew in 1992-reported in the January 1996 issue of the Journal ofArboriculture­ found that of the trees that fell, 18 per­ cent caused property damage. Native trees such as boxleaf stopper, sabal palm, gumbo limbo, and live oak were figures, homeowners need some realistic Location, location, location the best survivors. Of the natives, 66 guidelines. When can you cling to hope, Give urgent attention to any trees that percent were left standing after the hur­ and when is it time to call in the chain saws? could cause substantial harm to people or ricane, compared to 34 percent of the ArbOlists usually define a hazardous tree property if the tree or major branches non-natives. Among non-natives, as one with both some structural defect or should fall. Even a healthy tree can create a palms were extremely wind resistant, fault and a potential target-people, build­ hazard ifit is in the wrong place. Watch out while fruit trees were poor survivors. ings, or vehicles-if the whole tree or large for branches growing over cbinmeys and, if These native versus non-native find­ branches were to fall. Your choices are to you live where wildfires are fi-equent, even ings do not always hold true, however. remove the tree, to correct the structural touching roofs. If the tree is under power In the Pacific Northwest, arborists say, defect, or to eliminate the target. lines, not only is it in danger of a series of natives tend to be shallow rooted in re­ One homeowner I know has a very bad topping jobs by the local power com­ lation to their towering heights, and are large Norway maple chock full ofindicators pany, but ice or a strong windstorm can pull especially prone to blowdowns where ofstructural defects, exacerbated by the fact lines down on it. If low branches make it there is shallow soil over hardpan or a that it leans over his driveway and an addi­ tempting to climb, it might allow a child to high water table. This is not a problem tion to the house. Will he remove the tree? come into contact with live electrical lines. in dense forests, where trees tend to Despite my recommendations, it doesn't hold each other up, but is worsened seem likely. Can the structural defects be Signs of disease when construction equipment com­ cured? Certainly not to the extent that they Watch for smaller than normal leaves or pacts soil, severs roots, or damages will eliminate the probability of future fail ­ leaves that lose fall color earlier than others. trunks so that they are open to decay. ure. Can the target be moved? No. The in­ Loose bark from a munber of causes can in­ -Kathleen Fisher, Editor evitable outcome is a tree that will fail in the dicate poor health, as can an abnormal' near future and, at the very least, cause ex­ amount of insect infestations. Use binocu­ tensive property damage. The best option lars; if you see woodpeckers working on a in this case is to remove the tree, but be­ tree, it may mean there are a lot of insects cause "nothing has happened so far," emo­ under the bark or in the trunk. tions override logic. As a tree matures, its mass increases through the addition ofleaves and stems and a greater girth of wood on its trunk and limbs. In an already hazardous tree, this steadily increases stress and strain that will inevitably cause problems. It's not a question of whether but when it will happen. A Few Red Flags oW aJ :::> Some signs of hazardous trees are obvious, o o some take closer inspection, and others re­ 0:: :r« quire a trained arborist to uncover. This ar­ u Dead or hanging branches i2 ticle isn't intended to be a comprehensive >­ training guide in identifying these haz­ "Widow makers" is what arborists call aJ ardous conditions, but rather to help raise branches that have broken off and been @ :r your awareness of potential concerns. caught in the canopy. Since we tend not to 0..

20 THE AMERICAN GARDENER Novembe7'IDecember 1996 l

look skyward in our day-to-day journey Root decay through life, we tend to miss these unless This is the biggest cause of tree failure, re­ we take a winter inventory. The term sponsible for tl1e loss of close to 80 percent "widow makers" is also applied to dead of sofuvoods and 60 percent of hardwoods branches that have not broken but hang in urban settings, yet it is largely invisible. precariously over walks, drives, or houses. In some instances YOll may notice fungus­ es growing on or near the tree's base, but a tree with root rot can look completely healtl1yon top. Some species, such as hem­ locks, are especially prone to root rot.

Root decay is the biggest cause of tree failure in urban settings, yet it is largely invisible.

History of poor pruning or injury Look for limbs that bend abruptly or mul­ tiple trunks beginning at ground level. These may result from pruning tlut left a weak branch trying to support new growth, V-crotches or branches that have regrown from roots Branches grow from trunks at different after a tree was cut to the ground. angles, and the most troublesome is me acute or narrow angle sometimes called Leaning a "V -crotch." This branching is part of Pay close attention to a tree that has been the normal growth pattern of some trees, vertical and suddenly starts leaning. This is such as me extremely popular Bradford especially crucial if the crown is asymmet­ pear (Pyrus calleryana 'Bradford') and rical, with both the direction of the lean the otherwise wonderful yellowwood and the heavier side of the crown on the (Cladrast-is kentukea). In the case of the side of the tree opposite prevailing winds. 'Bradford', other cultivars are available; with the yellowwood, the V- crotches can Conks be eliminated when the tree is young. These hard, horizontal fungal growths, Recent research at Ohio State Universi­ which look like they might serve as ty indicates that V-crotches may not nec­ perches for squirrels, are a sign of rot essarily be a problem unless they have throughout that part ofthe tree. One of included bark-bark that has been the worst scenarios is rot occurring from squeezed into the living tissue of the about four feet off the ground up to the crotch. As the trunk and branch grow, first limb. It indicates that the tree may they keep applying pressure to each be hollow throughout that section. (The other, and once enough mass has accu­ tree is actually more stable if the rot is mulated, the branch lets go. The finale near the base. It's like trying to break a can be hastened by ice, snow, or strong strand of dry spaghetti-it breaks most winds. I have sometimes seen branches easily in the middle.) up to two feet in diameter come down.

November / D e cemb er 19 96 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 21 Resources

hen looking for someone to problem down the road. When planting a evaluate your trees, make containerized tree, spread out any roots W sure that they are not only that have begun to grow in circles around licensed by your state, but insured, the container's edge. These can become and preferably a member of either girdling roots that can virtually strangle a the International Society of tree as it matures. Arboriculture (lSA) or the National Prune early and inspect often. Head Arborist Association. If you hire off problems while trees are small. Elirni­ someone who isn't insured, you nate V-crotches, horizontal branching, could be liable for any injury to their limbs that cross or rub, and of course, dam­ employees. Insist on seeing a aged or diseased branches. certificate of insurance, or obtain the Avoid compacting soil. A tree needs name and phone number of their oxygen and oilier gases in order to survive insurance company. Some ISA and to grow. When the pore space in the members are also certified, as the topsoil is compressed, the gas exchange be­ result of taking a lengthy '\:est. tween soil and roots cannot take place. If AMERICAN SOCIETY Of CONSULTING you're lucky enough to have mature trees ARBORISTS. 15245 Shady Grove Road, left when a flew home is constructed, the Rockville, MD 20850, (301) 947-0483. trees may nevertheless die from suffocation l:his grGup will send a free directory within a few years because the heavy ma­ of its members. chinery removes the topsoil and compacts INTERNATIONAl. SO(;IETY OF what remains. The equipment can also scar ARBORICULTURE. P.O. Box GG, Savoy, the tree or leak oil, or the crew may dump IL 61874, (217) 355-9411, FAX (217) Trunk cracks and fissures debris around its roots. Before construc­ 355-9516. Natural phenomena such as frost and tion starts, have an arborist meet with the NATIONAL ARBORIST ASSOCIATION. lightning can leave cracks in bark. These site contractor and discuss how to avoid Rowte 101, P.O. Box 1094, Amherst, may be harmless, but keep an eye on any any damage to trees-perhaps with a re­ NH 03031-1094, (603) 673-3311, FAX that go clear to the ground. Consult an ar­ minder that the Council of Tree and Land­ (603) G72-z613. Those with access to borist immediately if you can see even the scape Appraisers often values a single large the Internet can find a local member smallest hint of daylight through a crack: tree at several thousand dollars. A common firrn of the NAA by visiting their Web These pressure cracks and seams can spi­ solution in such instances is to erect snow site at http://newww.com/org/ naa. ral all the way up a trunk. fencing or string fluorescent flagging at CIiGk on "Your Local NAA Members" least as far out as the drip lines of the trees. and enter your ZIP (Ode. Be cautious with irrigation. Although PbANTAMNESTY. 906 NW 87th Street, An Ounce ofPrevention irrigation is generally good for trees, it is Seattle, WA 9~117, (206) 783-9813. . "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound important to be considerate of their roots This nonprofit organization, whose of cure" definitely applies to avoiding haz­ when installing underground systems. If goals include ending malpruning and ardous trees. There are a number of steps major supporting roots are severed, there improper landscape management of you can take to keep your trees from be­ could be a subsequent dieback in a portion plants, offers a packet of information coming hazards. of the tree overhead. A new irrigation sys­ on hazardous trees for $5.50. Send Select wisely. Not all trees are created tem can also cause "changed water condi­ them a self-addressed stamped equal. Trees that grow fast, such as silver tion." Some trees are prone to root rot if envelope, and they'll send you an maple (Acer saccharinum) tend to have there is suddenly more water than they are order form for all of their weak wood that is vulnerable in storms. accustomed to. This is especially true if tl1e infGrmational packets on such Poplars (including cottonwood) are also soil drains poorly. topics as pruning and planting. known for brittle branches. Every region You can't always control the factors that has its own worst trees to avoid. You can make your tree healthy or unl1ealthy. Given probably obtain free advice £i'om the near­ the relative life spans of humans and trees, est arboretum or your city'S park depart­ we generally inI1erit big trees, afid their risk ment, but given the long-term investment factors, from someone else. And you cer­ that trees represent, it may be worth pay­ tainly can't control tl10se "acts of God" ing a landscape professional or consulting that bring down a beloved old specimen. arborist to recommend trees for planting But perhaps these considerations will help on your site. you prevent a catastrophe--or reassure you Plant carefully. Before you dig your that healthy trees will bring you nothing planting hole, try to visualize what the tree but joy the rest of your days. will look like as it grows and matures. Imagine where the branches will end up Richard Dube operates a landscape design growing. Rotating the tree a few degrees or firm) Environmental Information & De­ moving it a few feet may prevent a costly sign) based in Buxton) Maine.

22 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1996 Don't Fall Prey to Tree Terror by Cass Turnbull

ver the past few years in Seattle, we have experi­ tllis point a good question to ask your arborist is, "What enced three extraordinarily strong windstorms. would you do ifit were your tree?" OAfter each one, local arborists braced themselves for If the tree service you've consulted recommends topping what we call "tlle second storm." Following newscasts the tree, call someone else. Tree topping-tlle severe cut­ showing homes and cars crushed by Douglas firs, panic ting back of the top and major limbs-not only makes trees sets in, and frightened people pay to remove or top per­ ugly, but often causes them to develop dangerous symptoms fectly sound and healthy trees. that may not be obvious for 20 years The sprouts that re­ Once you become familiar witll the signs of hazardous grow from a topping cut are lil

Novemb er/Decembe r 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 23

Those few eastern own state, but in their own county. species whose seeds can be stored dry, most meadow species Other collectors are equally careful. Bob of our native flora are woodland sorts Ahrenhoerster collects seed for his Prairie whose seeds must be planted fresh. Anoth­ that linger in Seed Source in southeastern Wisconsin­ er reason, though, is that there's hardly a not in neighboring Minnesota, Illinois, or scrap of native grassland left to pick from. old fields are Iowa; not even in more western or north­ One notable exception is an endangered ern portions of Wisconsin. He won't mix ecosystem called the Hempstead Plains, sit­ routinely mowed grass seed collected from the dry top of a uated behind a chain-link fence in the sub­ moraine with seed of the same species col­ urbs of Long Island. We have coastal before their lected in the moist dip below. He refuses to grasslands, too-salt marshes. Other than confuse their genes. these, our "meadows" are alien forage seeds can ripen. He refuses to select genes either. He is crops, escaped ornamentals, household against collecting wild seed by machine herbs, and agriculmral weeds with a smat­ the way grain is harvested, all at once and tering of indomitable Americans like com­ all at the same height on the stalk: What mon milkweed and rough-stemmed. about seeds d1at ripen later? What about goldenrod. Even those few natives that plants that grow shorter? He hand-picks linger in old fields are routinely mowed be­ each species high and low and over and fore their seeds can ripen. Sometimes tufts over to be sure his collection represents of this and that are left-around rock out­ the entire gene pool of that stand. He will crops, along thickets, at d1e base of road not sell in bulk outside his own area for signs. But the idea of Easterners arguing fear that a large new population of a the genetic pitfalls of mechanized collec­ species could genetically swamp a rare or tions is absurd. remnant population whose unique adap­ tations would then be lost. Mourning Lost Meadows This attention to preserving the local in­ Yet I am haunted by that ghost of meadow tegrity of genetic information is one form past. I got a glimpse of it on an island in of the collector's obsession. There are oth­ Maine where there had been a blowdown ers. Some collectors gather seed. fl:om many some years before. I had thought I knew locations expressly to broaden the spec­ the growth on the island-Dld hayfield and trwn of genetic information in their stock. sheep pasture, spruce woods, cranberry Some are hooked on rarities regardless of bogs, blueberry flats, scrub growth on old geographic origin or ultimate distribution. quarries, tidal communities around the Others would as soon take seed from a rare shore. But here was something new: a plant as bludgeon their grandmother. sedge and grass meadow made up almost These points of view, seemingly at odds entirely of native species that had been and often expressed with considerable waiting half a century for those spruces to crankiness, are all born from the same pas­ blow down. sion: to preserve the diversity of our native It was not lush, but d1is depauperate flora. Collectors of rarities are expert prop­ sprouting of hair grass and angelica instead agators trying to cultivate vulnerable of quackgrass and sow thistle was like a species as insurance against the present wraith from the past, and I reached to catch Striving to preserve the integrity threat of their extinction in the wild. Those it before it vanished. Thus the sedge seeds of localized plant gene pools, ~ who preserve a specific gene pool wish to that went home with me that fall, and the Bob Ahrenhoerster, above, ~ bank unique traits that may save a species beginning of the addiction that must drive hand-picks seeds sold through Q from disaster in the future. Those who seed collectors of whatever stripe. his nursery, Prairie Seed Source ~ maintain a broad genetic spectrum hope to Back home I began to collect witl1 in­ in North Lake, Wisconsin. ~ arm a species to repopulate locations from creasing seriousness: a woodland golden­ The author learned she was ~ which it was extirpated in the past. rod found on a rocky bank, an growing three species listed as ~ I take no sides in the matter. I'm from anise-scented goldenrod discovered near endangered in New York State. ~ the East. I buy what seeds I can without a dismantled fire tower, an annual called One was prairie smoke, preceding ~ guilt, knowing that none of them origi­ blue curls (Trichostema dichotomum) that pages, whose airy plumes have all ~ nated hereabouts. grows in sandy places, and an unusual but disappeared from eastern ~ My total of native species this morning, milkweed that grows witl1 it. meadows. Among more common ;;: including Southwestern's listing and ones These species, like a northern blazing sJilecies she collected was blue ~ from California, Wisconsin, Missouri, Min­ star said to still exist on New England bar­ curls, right, a striking annual o nesota, and Oklahoma, came close to a rens, are not offered for sale in any catalog. rarely seen in nursery catalogs. ~ thousand. I didn't count eastern meadow They are the genuine article: direct de­ ~ listings because there are none. In contrast scendents of the genetic stock that must 8 to prairie, desert, and mountain grassland have grown in native meadows four cen-

26 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1 996

Property owners turies ago. We will never see the ghost full­ endangered and threatened species. in New York face, but some portion of that natural her­ The federal list was relatively easy to itage is in the seeds that can still be found, find. But when I called the New York State State can dig and I never go walking any more without Department of Environmental Conserva­ packets to collect them. tion, Doug Schmid, senior forester in the protected plants Native plant societies and conservation Division ofLands and Forests, told me that groups warn never to collect in the wild. while a revised list had been prepared, DEC for sale or even Native plant nurseries are expected to state didn't have the money to print it. Thus, I that they never do so-and if they do, we dealt with what I had at hand. herbicide them; are expected to boycott them. Among the Ten federally endangered or threatened plants whose choicest species have been lo­ species were listed as naturally occurring in or they can cally collected to extinction for their curious New York. Only three were also listed by behavior or sheer rarity are sundews and the state. That might reflect the age of the allow anyone pitcher plants, orchids, ferns, alpines, and list, or it might mean that the other seven cacti. Lycopodium obscurum) a club moss species were already extinct in New York. else to do so. commonly called princess pine, has been None of the 10 was in my field guides. I pulled to the brink to make Christmas ropes guess there's no sense describing what one and wreaths. Sea lavender (Limonium car­ isn't apt to find. olinianum) used in dried arrangements, There was no hint in either the state or seems likely to follow. Ginseng has been col­ federal publication ofwhat sorts of habitats lected to near oblivion for its reputed med­ extant populations might occupy. The Nat­ icinal properties; the latest panacea is ural Heritage (in some states, Natural Echinacea) the genus of coneflowers disap­ Areas) Program, which maintains a data pearing now from road sides at the hands of base of rare species and communities in collectors who believe its roots cure even every state and all the Canadian provinces, the common cold. Commercial mushroom does not make its detailed maps available to hunters in Northwest forests pluck every the public. I heartily agree with that policy: salable one they find, leaving none to waft Tell people where the last remaining stand their spores to new locations. of prairie smoke exists in New York State, The consequences of unscrupulous and some fool will rush to dig it. But greed and ignorant consumption have shouldn't novices be taught how, in gener­ stained all plant collecting with moral op­ al, to recognize a rare community? probrium. Yet it's hard to see a clear rela­ The three endangered species growing tionship between collection and on our property are sideoats grama protection. Ginseng is not protected in (Bouteloua curtipendula) prairie smoke my state. Mountain laurel, which clothes (Geum triflorum) and stiff goldenrod oak woods for miles, is protected as an (Solidago rigida) . Traveling west toward "Exploitably Vulnerable" species, mean­ the Ohio River, all three become increas­ ing that it could be collected to extinction ingly common until, at their homeland on ifonly those nursery-grown types weren't the plains, plants can be purchased by the At the site of a blowdown on an so readily available. Nobody protects hundred or seed by the pound. I happen to island in Maine, Stein found such mushrooms: They're fungi, not plants. know of a remnant natural stand of stiff remnants of bygone meadows as Such seeming irmtionality does not sit goldenrod at a preserve nearby, but who hair grass (above, a cultivar, easy with me, and I set out a winter ago to needs to steal a plant that's cheap and can Deschampsia caespitosa find some reason in it, driven by a spur of be charged on Visa? 'Goldgehaenge') and angelica guilt: Thirty-five of the species we grow on The New York list is intended to edu­ (Angelica atropurpurea, right). our property are on the list of protected cate citizens about the species they should plants in New York State. Three of these have special respect for. Presumably, such _ are accorded the direst classification, "En­ knowledge would prevent foolishness like ~ dangered." Some we grew from seed; that of the woman I came upon years ago ~ some we bought as seedlings of plants col­ picking a bouquet of pink lady's-slippers. ~ lected in the wild; some are the wild-col­ But how is such a woman to learn anything ~ lected plants themselves. fi-om a booklet that lists species by botani­ ~ The list of New York State-protected cal and common name, but offers no clue ~ species had arrived the previous summer, about how to identifY them? There was ~ brand new and already five years out of only one illustration, a lady's-slipper on the ~ date. The first step in understanding this cover. Even ifthe woman learned from that ~ business of protection, it seemed to me, picture that the flowers she found were or­ ~ was to get the updated version of that chids, she still would not have known that ~ list, as well as the latest list of federally she was not allowed to pick them on some-

28 THE AMERICAN GARDENER No 'Vem b er/D ecem b e1' 1996 one else's property (mine, as it happened): or even herbicide them; or tlley can allow plants and seeds of federally protected The booklet failed even to state the lavv. anyone else to do so. Even rare plant com­ species in one's own state as long as they are I thought I knew the law-that it was il­ mlmities such as tllose tllat grow on lime­ taken from private property with the per­ legal to distribute plants or seeds of plants stone outcrops in mis otllerwise granite mission of the owner. So, on one's own listed as endangered by the federal or state state can't be protected iftlley are on pri­ property, one can destroy at will any feder­ government. There is no such law in New vate land. The only real protection is ally protected species that grow mere. York, however. It is perfectly legal to dis­ through purchase as public parkland or by tribute bOtll plants and seeds of even tlle conservation groups. Cultivating Wildness most endangered species. And not just Even on lands set aside as preserves, At me dark end of our terrace, below a "distribute," as in giving a friend a fern: tllough, no law requires mat active mea­ birdbath and in tlle shade of the oak, grows One may also sell them. The law says one sures be taken to save diminishing species. a collection of alumroots, naturally occur-

may do so from one's own land, or from For all its potential genetic uniqueness here ring varieties of Heuchera species. The pic­ others' land with the owner's permission. at me edge of its natural range, mat rem­ otee leaves of one are royal purple Property rights, not plants, are protected. nant stand of stiff goldenrod I found at a underneatll. Anomer has pale, almost pa­ Senior Forester Schmid explained to me local nature preserve is rapidly dying under pery leaves, more starry in shape. The fo­ a fundamental difference in the legal status a blanket of alien vines. liage of a third is meat red. A few are of plants and animals. Animals move freely I hoped that federal regulations would mottled; on others only the veins are picked across state boundaries, and therefore are prove to be more stringent. The U.S. gov­ out in color. They all come from the Great under the aegis of the federal government. ernment says one cannot transport endan­ Smoky Mountains of North Carolina Plants are rooted in the ground, and there­ gered or tl1reatened plants or seeds across where their parents were collected. fore are private property. Property owners state lines. Omerwise, the federal law is the When I was traveling in the South I vis­ in our state can dig protected plants for sale same as in New York: One can distribute ited We-Du Nurseries, where the alum-

NovemberlDecembe1' 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 29

No plant community is roots were grown. The nursery's founders, ton and Brown's three-volume set, An Il­ Dick Weaver and Rene Duval, have ex­ lustrated Flora of the Northern United forever. plored the surrounding mountains, States and Canada, last updated in 1913. searchers for the variegated leaf, the un­ Its venerable age, combined with 20 years Conditions common color, the dwarf, the sport, and of notations by local naturalists, gives me the species seldom offered by other grow­ strong clues: If the natural distribution of change, and ers. Their catalog spilled jewels: a copper­ Heuchera americana extended to southern red iris, a bell-flowered clematis, marsh New York fourscore years ago, and it was the species must pink, hoary skullcap, and starry can1pion. found in just one location a decade ago, The Appalachians are said to contain a chances are it's sequestered too far up the move on to the greater diversity offorest species than any­ mountains to return except via UPS. where outside the tropics. I listened to their But the morality of moving woodland next opportunity. tales of discovery with wonder but, like a plalltS makes me more uneasy than truck­ child living the Arabian Nights, in full ing meadow species. No one covets or knowledge that my world has no such collects native grasses or goldenrods; any­ magic. The Heuchel'a americana that way, anyone can raise them from seed. Of grows on my terrace-those alumroots of our state-protected Exploitably Vulnera­ the mottled and vein-su'uck leaves-is na­ ble species, most are woodland plants, in­ tive here. Yet I could search our forested cluding all club mosses, all orchids, all hills and rocky gorges for years and never trilliums, and all but two ferns. These are spot a glint of red or purple, or even the notoriously difficult to raise from seed or plain green foliage of the common sort. spore, or to grow to salable size in culti­ Local amateur naurralists last saw an alum­ vation-or, in the case of orchids, to prop­ root growing in the wild in 1986. agate at all. One result has been that most The plight of that last alumroot is in ­ commercial offerings are of wild-collect­ dicative ofwhat really is threatening our na­ ed plants, the ones you're morally pro­ tive species. The county park where it was hibited from buying because they can't be sighted is Marshland, a nature preserve certified "nursery propagated." bounded by Long Island Sound on one The prohibition did not arise in genera side and by highway, shopping malls, and like Heuchera, which is easily raised from residential neighborhoods on the others. A seed alld as easily cloned by division. If the lone persin1mon grows there at the limit of last alurnroot at Marshland had been col­ its northern distribution. Its sweet gums lected, a hundred plants could soon have are separated from sin1ilar woodlands far­ been returned. This is the service that col­ ther south by many nUles ofc ity streets and lectors like Weaver and Duval provide. suburbs. Marshland is a "preserve" in the They don't even try, though, to raise sense that it is a fossilized habitat that is trilliums from seed. The seed must be slowly eroding, immobilized by the matrix fresh . Germination outdoors in flats takes of inhospitable land arow1d it. four years or more. Few seeds sprout at all. Regardless of the government's insis­ Those that do behave in the most desul­ tence that plants are rooted, and therefore tory mal1l1er, each year putting out a sin­ Sea lavender, above, commonly permanent attributes of "property," mo­ gle leaflet until, by the third year at a used in dried flower arrangements, bility is critical to their survival. This need minimum, the plant has stored enough and princess pine, left, a club moss explains the astonishing ingenuity by which nutrition in its root to produce the typical 12 used to make Christmas ropes and plants disperse their seeds by wind and three-part u'illium leaf. Time from germi- d wreaths, have been COQllected to water; by ants, mice, birds, and bison. No nation to flowering is at least four years ~ near-extinction in some locations. plant community is forever. Conditions and often six, making the total from seed ~ change- hepaticas are overshadowed by to salable plant 10 years. Using growth ~ hemlocks, wood lilies overgrazed by deer, hormone, Ohio seed expert Norman ~ trilliums overrun by the wild and aggressive Deno has managed to cut that time in ~ leek called ramps (Allium tricoccum) - al.d half. But a plant that has been tended for ~ the species must move on to the next op­ five years costs five times as much as one ~ portunity. Potential mobility is still intact. collected in the wild alld still is not a fea- ~ It's just that there's no place to go. sible proposition for growers whose plalltS ~ The alumroot's actual existence in the usually require no more than one year 6 I wild has become theoretical here, and this from seed to shipment. ~ is true of most of the species I've purchased Weaver and Duval take a middle road. ~ from We-Du Nurseries and from other They grow collected trilliums in a nanrral ~ sources of woodlalld plants. I look up cat­ woodland setting. The oldest plallts, which ~ alog offerings in the Dover reprint of Brit- develop several buds at the crown, Call be Q

November/December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 31 cloned by careful dissection of the root­ tell whether the wUformity of color is grain stock. As these older plants are harvested or grass. The western mountains or deserts for propagation, young seedlings fill the ex­ may appear ravaged from the ground, but cavated gaps, and eventually the open-pol­ from an airplane they look like a geophysi­ linated youngsters also reach salable size. cal map, suitably green, tan, gray, or white All the trilliums that now grow in my according to their elevation. In the East the woods, and most of their woodland com­ land looks flayed. panions, were shipped from growers who It was my misfortune, I suppose, to sur­ can't state in their catalogs that their stock vey this side of the continent first from the is "nursery propagated." The plants prop­ air in late winter, when plowland is bare dirt agate themselves by seed or rhizome in and the pale membrane of grass over fields woodland managed by the grower. The and lawns seems a f!in1sy tissue compared grower crops the stands-digs individual to the thick forest hide that once covered plants or plugs of spreading species-and the East, and now is cut to pieces. The lets the gaps refill before cropping the same pieces, richly textured even from the air but stand again. Growers may reseed gaps, oddly shaped, reflect the luck of their flood marshes, burn clearings, thin trees, topography. Rounded fragments are tops cull deer, weed ramps. Certainly they do of hills too steep to cultivate or live on; sin­ not let vines smother their flowers, or mow uous strips run along rocky ridges. The their income down before the seed is ripe. largest pieces-whole mow1tains dark with Wild -cultivated collection is perfectly legal: conifers among the hardwoods-are skirt­ All applicable state or federal permits and ed by square fields cut into their easier inspections are duly noted on the plants' slopes, or irregularly notched and gouged shipping cartons. as though whittled by a child feeling for the One New England source I use has soft spots. I felt in my own skin the scalp­ been cropping his 40-acre woodland for ing of the land as though I were a burn vic­ ~ tllfee decades now. He thins and sells the tim aware that what remained of my hide g oldest specimens from his trillium colonies might never stretch to cover the thin, bare £ at intervals ofseveral years. The gaps mean­ expanse of my terrible injury. ffi while fill with seedlings that would other- On the first of these trips I met Jeane 5 wise not have found space to germinate. Reeves, a surgeon of sorts who was in­ ~ Germination and growth are better than in volved in a grafting operation. The work ~ cultivation because the woodland soil nat­ sounds ghoulish: Reeves had collected in ~ urally harbors the necessary fungi: The the wild some 100,000 native plants ofl04 ~ seedlings mature to salable flowering plants species including just about every eastern 8 in about four years. The method may seem rarity a woodland gardener might covet. ~ unconventional to those who think of She had, in fact, cleaned out acre after acre 2 "growing" as something done in pots or of unspoiled forest, taking ferns, orchids, ~ beds, but this "collector" is propagating club mosses, even flowering shrubs, chest­ Cl ~ trilliums much as We-Du does, although nut trees, and the aquatic green dragon ffi on a larger scale and thus at a lower cost. that I long to find someday grovving in a f- iE Of course there are still those who rape wild and forgotten marsh. She did so u ~ the wilderness, who deserve whatever morally, legally, wisely, and successfully­ ~ shunning we dish out. But my suggestion though the operation was futile in a way. ~ to conservation moralists is to hone their Reeves collected from 5,000 acres in the iE language: The woodland plants I buy from foothills of the Smoky Mountains: densely Jeane Reeves, right in top photo ~ this source are properly described as ,,.,ild­ wooded, strewn with mossy slabs of gran­ with Germaine Baxter, organized a ~ cultivated. The person who grows them is ite, washed by creeks, cut by deep ravines­ rescue of native plants near I.:J ~ properly described as a plant disperser. and about to be peeled for development. Atlanta. Some went to a nearby '" The land is in a Georgia county within Montessori school, above. ~ Saving Plants from Development commuting distance ofAtlanta. The coun­ Wildflower gems such as marsh §" This year I flew south wee times over our ty sold the forest tract to a large corpora­ pink (Sabatia angularis), center, f- lD skinned land. I flew west, too-over the tion, which in turn parceled out to smaller and hoary skullcap (Scutellaria ~ Central Plains and the deserts and mOW1- development companies portions planned incana), right, are preserved through the offerings of nurseries z~ tains beyond tl1e Continental Divide-but for subdivisions. The hills have since been ~ that was not as painful as flying south over graded to fill ravines; the creeks run under­ such as We-Du in South Carolina. (; the eastern forests. One knows, of course, ground in pipes; the valleys are paved roads; ~ that the prairies were peeled away by plows, the forest soil is scraped to clay. The entire ~ but Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas look sim- area is now a platmed community of shop­ 8 ply green from such a height, and one can't ping centers, mwucipal buildings, schools,

32 THE AMERICAN GARDENER Novembe r/December 1996

and churches that serve vast residential successful, though of course tl1e patient rock or down on hands and knees search­ tracts oflarge houses on small lots. from which the grafts were taken died. ing a pool for tadpoles. The same thing is happening here in I traveled south again later to see tl1e The children were neither excited nor New York-is happening everywhere, I dead development and a woods that had subdued as they explored, but somewhere guess-and it had never occurred to me received many of its rescued plants. In the in between: engrossed, but easy; not indif­ that one could do anything about it but meantime, I had sent for and received an ferent to me woods-not awed either-but get mad, write letters to county officials, interesting document: a master's tl1esis by ratl1er awaiting the small adventures that vent steam at zoning board meetings­ a graduate student in landscape architec­ came their way. This is what is nllssing in and learn how little one's feelings matter ture at the University of Georgia who at­ most children's lives, this lifting of stones to commerce. I tempted to measure in monetary terms the and poking at soil to see what goes on in had never imag­ loss of forest to development. Calculating me real and living world. The children of Sources ined you could at current retail prices the replacement cost me Montessori woods will not lay waste me just pick up tl1e of canopy trees, understory species, and a land. Andrew, cradling a baby cornsnake in PRAIRIE SEED SOURCE, telephone, as sample of ferns and wildflowers, she had his open palms, will not grow up to bash it P.O. Box 83, North Reeves did, and come up with a figure just short of a quar­ wim a shovel. Lake, WI 53064-0083. assemble crews ter of a million dollars per quarter-acre. Yet this half-acre woods had barely es­ Catalog $1. of vol un teer This figure is wildly underestimated, and caped demolition. The area had been cor­ SOUTHWESTERN NATIVE diggers tha t not just for the obvious reason that large doned off for years while school and town SEEDS, P.O. Box 50503, eventually in­ canopy trees aren't replaceable at any price. battled over the raw ditch whose roaring Tucson, AZ 85703. cluded grounds Dollars can't be assigned to unknown floods and crumbling banks were haz­ Catalog $1. crews from col­ quantities and qualities of soil, seed, polli­ ardous to children. The town wanted me WE-DU NURSERIES, lege campuses, nators, dispersers, diversity, or age. The waterway contained within a buried cul­ Route 5, Box 724, nature centers, value of an ecosystem is inestimable. The vert, no matter that the trees would also Marion, NC 28752, and botanical master's student knew that; so does Jeane have been removed in me regrading. It had (704) 738-8300, fax gardens; Master Reeves and so do 1. We are all groping for taken the school and Paula years to con­ 738-8131. Catalog $2. Gardeners; gar­ a guiding etillc. vince the town mat natural woodland veg­ We-Du Nurseries is den clubs; horti­ On this visit a good deal of my survey­ etation had held waterways against erosion being sold and its culture ing of the cow1tryside was by car. I found in me past and could do so again. When owners are retiring students; con­ it difficult to recapture the pain I felt view­ pernlission to restore finally was granted, it from the nursery servation orga­ ing the forest from the air. Things are big­ had taken plenty of rocks and rescues, too, business. The transition nizations; ger at ground level-or one can imagine and monms of the parents' work. is expected to be schoolchildren; that they are: The wooded ridges that ap­ Or I should say, that's all it took: no complete in December, and even the pear as slivers from an airplane seem from powerful machines, no grandiose engi­ and selection and unlikely North the road to be the edge of a forest that neering-nothing approaching the half­ policies may be Georgia Bonsai nlight extend beyond the horizon and all million -dollar price tag the graduate changing. The Study Group. the way to grassland on the plains. Surely student had placed on such an ecosystem­ information above was Nor had it oc­ tl1e little woodlot I visited would not have to bring back frogs and phantom crane cu~rent as of this fall. curred to me been visible from the air. Driving by on me flies , to have bellworts and mayflowers that a plant res- road could not have revealed its singulari­ bloom, to open me doors and let the chil­ cue project on ty. Even a morning's moseying around dren out into their natural habitat. such a scale could be activated by a com­ barely hinted at the riclmess ofa woodland I can't find as many answers to ques­ mon citizen, without official sanction, ecology in willch children can be counted tions of collection as I can raise. But be­ under no auspices, belonging to no among the indigenous fauna. tween me two perspectives, me brutal aerial group, and lacking any training in botany, The site was a Montessori school on a view and the ground-hugged intimacy of ecology, conservation, or law. narrow lot "landscaped" (if mat's me right the Montessori woods, I sense an ethic word) by Reeves' fellow collector Paula growing. Refurnishing an Ecosystem Refi. It didn't look landscaped; it didn't I like my Smoky Mountain alumroot; I The law was as simple as I've said: Reeves look like a school. Azaleas were in bloom like my New England trilliwn and my Wis­ had only to get the developers' permis­ when I arrived. Seedlings of beech, tulip­ consin goldenrod. I think it is both impor­ sion to dig all the species on their prop­ tree, and maple leafing out in the little tant and moral to rescue, collect, erty, regardless of the plants' state or woodland showed that here in this subur­ propagate, distribute, transplant, and in federal status. She was able to get per­ ban oasis me forest ecosystem was renew­ every other possible way give back to our mission to collect on about 1,250 acres. ing itself as it is failing to do on less loved native vegetation me mobility mat has been She scouted each area ahead of time (in and nurtured tracts. Above the brook, lost on this skirmed and butchered land. order not to lose diggers in the forest). which once had been a drainage ditch, But I think me purpose ofmese endeavors Plants were collected in the morning and phantom crane flies appeared like bits of ought to be to reassemble plant communi­ transplanted the same afternoon into lace in spots ofswilight, and as quickly dis­ ties, not merely to collect plants. habitats similar to those where they had appeared in shade. The children came and grown. The grafts took well in other went in much the same way, first weeding Sara Stein)s previous books include My woodlands: The rescue operation was among yOW1g vegetables, men climbing a Weeds and Noal1's Garden

34 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1996 Sculptural . --lilow hrub Once scorned, these smaller willows offer four­ season interest in today's more natural gardens.

b y A d e e K e n e

With their tactile catkins and romantic branches sway­ ture is the catkins that on inclividual plants are either staminate ing against a cloudless sky, willows seem determined to make their (male) or pistillate (female). presence known to gardeners and nongardeners alike. So the first The owner of a small garden will find tlle pussy willow, drag­ tree a new homeowner plants in a barren subclivision is often the on's-claw willow, and fantail willow to be well-mannered shrubs rapidly growing weeping willow, a tree that drops leaves month­ witll0ut the bad habits of their larger relatives. When these are deft­ ly, whose branches crack in the slightest breeze, whose roots de­ ly sited, their sculptural branches justifY a featured role in the land­ vour sewer pipes in a relentless search for water. The once-smitten scape, and cutting their branches for indoor bouquets actually homeowner lives to regret a lack of arboreal knowledge. helps maintain their shape. With the But -which also includes poplars-is a big fanilly. growing popularity of water gardens, Goat willow, above, The genus Salix has about 400 species and 200 hybrids. The these willows' moisture-loving nature is also known by the generic name is derived from a Celtic word meaning "near water," suggests additional possibilities. more melodic "French which indicates their preferred habitat. For centuries they've been The soft silvery catkins that give pussy willow." a valuable source offlexible branches for making baskets and wat- pussy willows their enchanting common if] tle fences. The sap ofyoung stems contains salicin, a bitter-tasting name, with their texture like kitten fur, have made them end­ ~ glucoside once extracted to relieve fevers and now supplanted by lessly fascinating to generations of children. To adults, tlle sight ~ syntlletic salicylic acid, the active component in aspirin. Like most of a few branches in the florist shop brings assurance tl1at spring ~ fast-growing trees, willows are soft-wooded; their most salient fea- will indeed eventually return. Yet in gardens tlley are often rele-

Nov e mber/ December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 35 Downy catkins adorn gated to the backs of borders where, after Sally' in a bed underplanted with dwarf the weeping branches the spring fling, they are all but invisible azaleas and summer annuals, while a more of 'Pendula', above, a among ostentatious summer flowers. natural setting would be a water garden cultivar of goat willow Sited correctly elsewhere, tl1ey can serve with grasses, irises, and ground covers. often listed as the as workmanlike hedges, windbreaks, and These cultivars have arching, pendulous Kilmarnock willow. screens in summer, and their strong roots branches-they can even be used as ground ~ Prized for red stems help reduce soil erosion all year long. But covers ifnot grafted onto straight rootstock I u ::> whose color is some will do much more. to give them additional height. Even so, <1: a: intensified by frost, Planted near a door, Salix caprea, the they will remain at six to eight feet high "''" Salix'Scarcuzam', goat willow or, as I prefer, French pussy with a full, graceful top that can spread to .; I Q. above right, willow, can be one of the best indicators of four or five feet wide. (Any lateral branch- w trademarked Scarlet the changing seasons. In fuhl sun its catkins es that arise from the trunk should be re- Q :ij" Curls, is believed to be can grow to three inches long, turning pink moved to preserve the weeping habit.) !:;: a hybrid between as they develop and giving a rosy glow to Winter hardy to USDA Zone 5, they do t.!) ili ...J S. alba 'Britzensis' and tl1e shrub in early spring. Its soft green, el- best in full sun and medium to wet soil. <1: t.!) the dragon's-c::Iaw lipticalleaves add a cool note to stronger S. gracilistyla var. melanostachys (some- z· willow (5. matsudana SUll1ffier colors. And as its leaves drop in au- tin1es listed as S. melanostachys) is the very ~ Q. :2' 'Tortuosa'), opposite. tumn, the branches darken, lightening striking black pussy willow, with deep black Q I again as days lengthen. catkins and red anthers that turn yellow as f- vi The graceful form of S. caprea 'Weeping iliey are fully exposed. Christopher News- ...J ~ I Sally' is an ideal accent for a Japanese gar- holme, in his book Willows: The Genus u den, rock garden, or pond side. This shrub Salix, writes that "tl1e appearance of the ~ r-: ;r: is the female form of S. caprea 'Pendula'- black male catkins on the naked stems in t.!) Ci' sometimes known as tlle Kilmarnock wil- March, with the subsequent revelation of 0 f- low-which has less flexible branches. A tl1e anthers, is spectacular." The cadcins are t;: UJ formal planting might center 'Weeping smaller than those of the French pussywil- ...J

36 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1996 Propagating Willow Shrubs

most valuble characteristic of willows is the ease with which they can be propagated A from cuttings. A French pussy willow cut­ ting that I rooted as a beginning gardener launched my interest in shrubs, and I have rooted many dragon's-claw and fantail willows since. Choose tip cuttings at least eight inches long, on which you can see severalleafaxils. When the grOLmd is wet in spring, a willow cutting will some­ times root on its own In moist clay soil. I start mine in water, where they root easily, but when feeder roots develop off the main roots, I put them in a coarse mix of sand and peat moss or in sterilized potting mix, until they make strong root and top growth. Keep them moist by covering them with a plastic bag, and feed them with a weak solution of balanced fertilizer. When the weather is warm enough, harden them off and plant them in your desired location. The se­ cret to keeping them alive at this point is constant attention to their water needs for the rest of their first season. If they dry out, they will quickly wither. If the willow is to playa major role in your land­ scape, it's probably best to buy a plant and practice taking cuttings from it to create more for yourself or your friends. - A.K.

low and closer to those of the true pussy bouquet to lend airy height and eye-catch­ willow, S. disco/OI', common to wet areas ing lines to flowers. throughout eastern North America. Bur its Dragon's-claw willow will reach 20 or delicate cut stems are works of art, espe­ 30 feet if left w1pruned. It is winter hardy cially in a floral design that allows its un­ to Zone 5. In Zone 4 it is often winter­ usual color to be admired up close. In fall, killed to the grow1d, but will quickly grow its oblong green leaves turn yellow. back. Its heat tolerance is also linuted, ac­ Site this tree where its rich purple-black cording to Michael Dirr, who notes in his stems can stand out in winter against the Manual of Woody Landscape Plants that it snow. Try underplanting it with the mois­ is particularly short-lived in Zone 8. Be­ ture-loving ground cover Houttuynia cor­ cause of its rapid groWd1, you can cut data 'Chameleon', whose leaves of scariet, branches for indoor decoration at any time, cream, gold, and green add excitement to ald10ugh in summer you'll want to strip off the willow's summer foliage. d1e leaves because they don't absorb water Dragon's-claw willow, Salix matsudana well and will simply dry up. 'Tortuosa', makes an arresting sculpture A dragon's-claw willow dominates with zigzag lines that follow their own ge­ one side of my wild garden, where it netic road map. Other common names in­ waves nonchalandy among liriope, lily­ clude curiy willow or corkscrew willow. Its of-the-vall ey, and European ginger smooth, catkinless, green and tan branch­ (Asarum europaeum). In sprin g they are es vary in thickness and grow upward with joined by woodland wildflowers, while in an exotic twist. These sinuously contorted summer gooseneck loosestrife (Lysi ­ branches have been appreciated for many machia c!ethroides) bobs its white flowers years by flower arrangers, who passed them in a rhythmic counterpoint to the wil­ to each other for rooting. Now it seems low's wayward branches. that florists poke a branch into almost every Two colorful dragon's-claw hybrids are

Nov e mb er / D e cembel' 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 37 Sources

APPALACHIAN GARDENS, Box 82, Waynesboro, PA 17268-0082, (717) 762 -4~12 . Catalog free. Salix matsudafla 'Toftuosa', S. 'Golden Curls', S. 'SGarcuzam' (Scarlet (uris), S. udensis 'Sekka'. FORESTFARM, 990 Tetherow Road, Willialll1s OR 97544-9599, (541) 846- 7269. ( atal@g $3. Salix 'Golden Curls', S. 'Searc:;uzam', S. 'Snake', S. caprea, S. caprea 'Pendl!Jla', S. gracilistyla var. melanostar;hys, S. Iddensis 'Sekka'. GREER GARDENS, 1280 Goodpasture Island Road, ~ugerile, OR 97401-1794, (541) 686-8266. Catalog $3. Salix 'Golden Curls', S. cap rea 'Pendula'. MELLINGER'S, INC., 2310 West South Range Road, North Lima, OH 44452- 9731, (800) 321-7444. Catalog free. Salix gracilistyla var. melanostachys, S. mat5IJdafla 'Tortuosa', S. 'Snake', S. udensis'Sekka'. becoming more widely available. Salix between the dragon's-claw willow and S. ROSLYN NURSERY, 211 ffiurrs Lane, 'Golden Curls', whose other parent is the alba var. argentea. The most cold hardy Dix Hills, NY 11746, (516) 643-9347. golden weeping willow, S. alba 'Tristis', is of this group, to Zone 2, it is a pyramidal Catalog $3 . Salix Gaprea 'Weeping golden barked with curly leaves and the shrub or tree that grows to 12 fee t tall,' Sally', S. gracilistyla var. dragon's-claw's zigzag branches. S. 'Scar­ with fine hairy leaves that give it a silvery mefanostaGhys. cuzam', apparently the result ofa cross with white aura. The catkins appear when the S. alba 'Britzensis' and trademarked as leaves do. Scarlet Curls, has red stems emerging from The most curious and sculptural of the its golden branches. The scarlet becomes willow shrubs is the fantail willow, S. sacha­ more intense after tiost but, like the drag­ linensis-now listed more often as S. uden­ on's-claw willow, Scarlet Curls can be killed sis- 'Sekka', a male clone ofa species native to the ground north of Zone 5. to Japan . This wide shrub has broadly Either of these cultivars can be focal rounded and recurved stems tllat are flat, points in a landscape. Dragon's-claw wil­ or fasciated, at tlle tips. It seems to change low hybrids tolerate drier soil than pussy directions at will, occasionally throwing willows, and because they like full SWl they short, straight stems like antlers offits curv­ can be underplanted with a wider range of ing, paddle-shaped tips while spreading its plants. Nevertheless, they will need some one-and-a-half- inch-wide, flattened ma­ watering during drought or extreme heat. hogany branches. In fall , tlle fa ntail wil ­ Another eye-catcher, even more con­ low's glossy green, lance-shaped leaves turn torted than the dragon's-claw and these a rich, buttery yellow. relatives, is the somewhat unfortunately The time to cut its branches for indoor named S. 'Snake'. It is variously listed as a use is spring, when it sports small silvery cultivar of S. alba or of S. matsudana. catkins. Ifleft out of water, the catkins will N ewsholme indicates that the truth is dry and remain on tlle branch. somewhere in between-that it is a h.ybrid H ardy to Zone 4, the fan tail willovv

38 TH E AME R ICAN GARDE NE R November/December 1 996 I

grows quickly to 10 to 15 feet with an tions: ajuga cultivars, Euonymus fort~tnei In fall, the dangling equal spread. Mine was small when I 'Coloratus', Lamium maculatum 'Beacon foliage of golden bought it, and I misjudged its growth rate Silver', B1'unne1'a) or Aegopodium poda­ weeping willow, Salix so that after two years it was threatening to graria 'Variegatum' (bishop's-weed, which alba 'Tristis', forms a take over my hosta bed-a typical case of can become invasive). For additional spring gilded curtain at right plant, wrong place. A friend who interest, depending on li ght conditions, water's edge, above started hers from a cutting has grown it in you can underplant with early small bulbs left. In addition to full sun in a bed surrounded by walkways such as scillas, winter aconites, and fiittilar­ black catkins with red for 25 years. Each spring she cuts it down ias. Other good companions for shade in­ anthers, S. gracilistyla to six inches to encourage new growth­ clude ferns, hellebores, astilbes, tiarellas, var. melanostachys, saving the fasciated cuttings for indoor dis­ epimediums, and bleeding-hearts. above, features purple­ play-and has maintained it at six feet. Sculptural wi ll ow shrubs can playa black stems in winter. Since the cause of this plant's fasciation dual role in your landscape and indoors. is obscure, it is always propagated vegeta­ Although frequently scorned by land­ tively to keep that quality. Still, plants can scape architects, their reputation and via­ vary, so ifyo u're going to buy one, pick the bility as "pass-along plants" has kept plant with the most heavily fascia ted these curiosities in demand. Now, with branches. Fasciation can also vary from year the advent of new cultivars and the em­ to year; it may be encouraged by mild swn­ phasis on natural gardens, interest in mers and unusually rapid growth. Fantail them has broadened. Winter, spring, willows make choice plants for a Japanese summer, and fall they wil l draw your eye garden or near a window where their curv­ as living sculptures that can't be matched. ing lines can best be appreciated. In most gardens, the informal growth Adele Kleine is a free-lance writer living in of willow shrubs can use a bit of taming by Winnetka) Illinois) who teaches flower ar­ grow1d covers that appreciate moist condi- ranging at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

November/December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 39 When Timber Press came up for sale, Bob Conklin, above, jumped at the chance to leave his corporate law practice and pursue a career connected with gardening. Opposite: Timber Press founder Richard Abel. (Photo courtesy of Richard Abel.)

40 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1996 Everything is falling into place for America's premier publisher of gardening books.

When you talk to people at Timber Press, the leading garden-book publisher in this COWltry, you talk to people who love what they do. The book, not the bottom line, is critical. Money is not LUumportant, owner Bob Conklin emphasizes, but "our real concern is quality. We want every Timber book to be the best, to be authoritative, to be definitive." That commitment to selious horticultural wliring has charac­ terized Timber Press since it was founded by bookseller/supplier Richard Abel in 1976. Failing to find a good book on timber man­ agement, he spent 11 years wading through journal articles, sym­ posia papers, and government docLU11ents to learn how to manage his 160 acres offorest. His mission was to create thoughtful, sys­ tematic books for people who, as he put it, "are prepared to spend perfectly good money on books when most people want to spend it on everything else under tlle SLill." If conswners were problematic, Abel believed publishers were committing me real sins, mat tlley were downgrading me books memselves. Most, he observed in 1991, were interested solely in formulated garden books written on a beginner's level. "A designer and an editor sit down togetller and say, 'Hey, we're going to have a 96-page book .... It will have X-nLU11ber of color photographs, ... Y-number of black-and-white photo­ graphs .... ' When they get all tllat done, mey go to some hack and say, 'We want precisely 33,750 words on the subject of how to grow plants.' Ifmere's a word more, it gets chopped out." Refusing to follow tllat blueplint, Abel might have been a pub­ lishing flash-in-the-pan if it weren't for Japanese maples. More by Karan Davis Cutler photos by Owen Carey

November/December 1996 Left: The building housing Timber Press is a rehabbed warehouse built in 1893. Right: Timber staff (left to right) Neal Maillet, acquisitions editor; Jackie Thompson, sales manager; Conklin; Michael Fox, marketing director; Debby Garman, pUblicity manager; and Dale Johnson, editorial director. Maillet and Thompson, Fox and Garman are two of the company's three married couples.

specifically, for entomologist J. D. Vertrees' book on Japanese ed States. By 1990, an average of75 million maples, Timber's first book. Released in 1978 and priced at a hefty households were participating in lawn and $40, it sold. And it's kept selling. Now in a second edition-and garden activities annually, making gardening still $40-more than 28,000 copies ofJapanese Maples have gone the most popular leisure-time activity in the out the door, making it the company's best money-maker. COW1try. Moreover, Tin1ber's start-up coin­ The success of Vertrees' monograph-which had been re­ cided with the growth of more sophisticated jected by a dozen other publishers before Timber accepted it­ gardening-an interest in perennial borders, rock convinced Abel that there was an audience for specialized gardens, heirloom roses, ornamental grasses, and horticultural books and that he could turn an avocation into a dwarf conifers. business . In his words, "Enough people could be found to buy Conklin, who bought the company in 1989 enough copies of a really first-rate book to sustain Timber Press after Abel's health declined, was one of those from a financial point of view." sophisticated gardeners. His large peremlial gar­ dens had been featured in a special issue of Bet­ Grist for the Cognoscenti ter Homes & Gardens, and he maintained two While Timber's approach hasn't been imitated by other publish­ greenhouses filled with 600 orchids. Over six ers, it hasn't gone unnoticed. Steve Frowine, vice president ofhor­ feet tall with blond-gray hair, Conklin still ticulture at White Flower Farm, is one of many professionals who dresses like the early-1960s Dartmouth lm­ laud Timber books. "They're invaluable references, unlike the dergraduate he once was: khakis, button­ TIfF. fluffy volwnes published by the popular press. The books on prirn­ down shirt and crewneck sweater, loafers. GRAHAM ST UART THOMAS ulas and orchids are my personal favorites, but we have most of Half-frame glasses hang around his neck, Rose Book their titles here at tl1e Farm." Arme Raver, garden colunmist for giving hi m a bookish air that conceals his The NelP York Times, is even more succinct: "For a good book on previous life as a corporate lawyer. a particular plant, I turn to Timber Press." "When I turned 50, I realized I wasn't In a nice bit of horticultural serendipity, Abel's publishing vision happy practicing law. I wanted a real coincided witl1 the increased populality of gardening in the Unit- change," Conklin recalls. He toyed with

42 THE AMERICAN GARDENER Left: Maillet reviews slides for inclusion in an upcoming book with Susan Applegate, art director. Right: Johnson consults with James Eckenwalder, author of a forthcoming manual on conifers. Timber is rare among publishers in keeping its now almost 300 titles in print indefinitely. Those books in the middle row below are new this year.

buying a nursery. "Frankly, I didn't know a shipping warehouse, was built in 1893 by merchant-politician enough to start one, and me nurselies I could James Haseltine. The neighborhood-Portland's "Old Town"­ afford weren't going to make a profit, and is currently w1dergoing gentrification. Trendy restaurants serving the ones that made a profit I couldn't af­ salmon and cilantro, art galleries, and white-collar businesses like ford." When he learned mat Timber Press Timber fill tl1e turn-of-tl1e-century structures as quickly as mey was for sale, he didn't hesitate. "It gave me a are rehabbed. change, and it provided me witl1 a business tlut Inside me Haseltine Building, brick walls and old-growili Dou­ had a connection witl1 gardening. It's me best de­ glas fir beams have been exposed. The 16-foot ceilings make me cision I ever made, a perfect opportunity," he says. 10-by-12-foot half-walled offices seem expansive. The atmosphere The word "perfect" comes to mind as you is subdued and efficient but not cold. "We're really a family com­ look out anyone oftl1e five 10-foot windows in pany," Conklin says wim pleasure, pointing to wee husband-and­ Conklin's office. In tl1e distance, snow-topped wife teams, a pair of sisters, -and his daughter Cluisty, manager of Mount Hood stretches two miles into tl1e sky. In international sales, as proof. "We're noiliing if not nepotistic." me foregrow1d are me Willamette River, where Nepotism hasn't hurt business. Under Conklin's direction, sternwheelers compete wim small boats, log traf­ Timber has grown from six to 24 full-time employees (a handful of fic, and Navy vessels; and me lively streets of Port- fi'ee-Iancers work off-site) and increased me number of books pub­ land, where fountains and outdoor sculptures lished each year from 15 to 35 or more. 1995 was an especially fer­ nearly outnumber parking meters, and im10- tile year, wim48 new titles; a.1U1Ual sales total nearly $5 million, up vative restaurants and brew pubs appear to £i.-om $1.5 million in 1989. Among me new books in 1996 are The outnumber everyiliing. Portland's amenities Gardener)s Guide to Growing Iviesj me long-awaited second vol­ include a mild climate and plentiful rainfall ume (on shrubs) in tl1e Garden Club of America's series Plants mat make it a paradise for gardeners. That Merit Attentionj me monumental tVv'o-volume Conifers: The Timber Press is on me fourtl1 floor of an IlluSIlrated Encyclopediaj and Plants for the Future, subtitled "A Gar­ historic building, part of Portland's hurly­ dener's Wishbook," by Jerome Malitz, a professor of matl1ematics. burly fi'ontier past. The structure, originally When he bought Timber, Conklin took a hard look at the

THE AM E RIC A N GAR DEN E R 43 company's editorial direction. "If Abel became fascinated with to Abel's influence and Conklin's focused hand, but to the cur­ some project, however arcane, he'd pursue it," Conklin says. "I rent owner's collaborative management style. "I guess I have a thought it vital to sharpen our focus to ornamental horticulture veto," he says, "but I can't imagine using it. We have a highly com­ while retaining his commitment to quality and seriousness. We petent group of people, and they have more experience in pub­ didn't want to compete with large publishers doing coffee-table lishing tl1an I do. I have complete confidence in their judgment." or watered-down books." Most crucial are Neal Maillet, acquisitions editor, and Dale Timber's bimonthly book catalogs reflect that honing, though Jolmson, editorial director. Johnson, age 47, is the in-house schol­ its listings are sufficiently broad to justifY its slogan, "Better Books ar, having earned a Ph.D. in botany at the University of California at Berkeley in 1978. Unassuming and soft-spoken, he's been at Timber the longer of the two, arriving in 1991 after stints at the Whatever the topic, Timber Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation and the Missouri approaches gardening as Botanical Garden. His editorial bailiwick includes the more scientific titles and ref­ an intellectual activity, not erence works; he also supervises project editors as they work on individual books. Under his direction, Timber takes on the same a lifestyle. subjects that a university press might publish-topics as specific as South African gasterias, for instance-but handles tl1em in a more for Gardeners, Horticultwists and Botanists." In addition to main­ approachable and attractive way. "I especially like monographs, stream garden topics, such as roses and garden design, there are books about specific plants," he says. "These' books show that what books about micropropagation, the orchids of Kenya, pollination, one person grows is only a tiny segment of what he or she could forestry ethics, medicinal plants of the Amazon, and botanical grow. The books are missionaties for the plant." Latin. There are 22 books on orchids, an equal number on trees Johnson, who often serves as plant consultant for gardening and shrubs, and twice that number on perennials-290 titles in all. colleagues, is modest about his own woodland garden. "Much of Whatever the topic, Timber approaches gardening as an intel­ my time is spent hacking out English ivy, which is a menace here," lectual activity, not a lifestyle. The editOlial quality is due not only he says. "I'm interested in reestablishing native plants, things that

Anatomy of a Book

The road from idea to finished book is a long, arduous one, usually four years or more. This chronology of The Year in Trees) finished in less than three years, suggests how complicated even a "quick" project can be.

June 1993 September 1993 A query letter is received from The authors submit a formal IC Raulston ofthe North proposal. Publisher Bob Con­ Carolina State University Ar­ klin approves the project; a con­ boretum about several (

from a plant-collecting trip to rev~szons. for more information. Mexico) and asks for a formal book proposal. They agree on a September 1994 ((best plants» approach. Maillet Photographs are selected at then rethinks the project and Timber and sent to the authors asks the authors to organize the for caption writing. Addition­ book by seasons. al photographs are requested.

44 THE AMERICAN GARDENER Novembe r/December 1996 were here 200 years ago. But I can only grow a small number. The coming-is anodler example of Timber's midlevel books. fact is," he smiles, "dle very best gardens are always in books." New are what Maillet calls "beginner's books"--short, liberally 100hnson is me primary keeper of Abel's flame, Neal Maillet, illustrated introductions to gardening and plants. Subtided "Prac­ 32, lights dle way to dle future. An English major at Columbia tical Gardening Guides," each will rWl arowld 100 pages, widl an University, he graduated in 1986, dlen joined a New York pub­ eq ual number of color photographs, be published in paperback, and lishing company. "I was happy to drop out of the New York be priced at $20. The first d1fee books in me series---on irises, Vireya scene," he says. "It was increasingly clear to me dlat dle mass mar­ rhododendrons, and dle succulent garden--debut in 1997. keting of books meant dle dumbing-down of books." No one appreciates mese practical tides more man Maillet, who never gardened before he came to work at Timber. His pride is a Branching Out 50-foot-long soudl-facing rock garden. "I lifted every rock-two Hired in 1993, Maillet hasn't done any dumbing-down at Tim­ tons oflocally quarried basalt-and dlen planted wim a trowel in ber, but he has helped to expand its editorial scope. "Abel always one hand and H. Lincoln Foster's Rock Gardening, which we insisted on doing dle biggest, weightiest book he could," he says. reprinted in 1982, in me odler." Maillet's wall now contains more "We still do comprehensive reference works, like dle new 1,234- than 1 00 taxa, and he's moved on to designing his front yard. "Its page Index ofGarden Plants, but we also offer books 011 t\vo odler purpose is to screen, so it will include a grove of paperbark maples levels: dle mid.level gardener's guide and me short treatment." and many broad.leaf evergreens, such as Magnolia grandiflora, Today, only about 20 percent of Timber's books are dle "heavy­ which do well here." duty" sort; at least 60 percent faJ.l in dle midlevel category. Maillet is also enmusiastic about Timber's foray into publish­ The Hosta Book, now in its second edition and one ofTimber's ing classic garden literature, such as its reissue of Gertrude Jekyll's best sellers, is a good example of a mid.level tide. Generously il ­ Colo'l!tr in the Flowe1' Garden and dle quirky We Made a Garden lustrated, it includes basic information about cultivation, design, by Margery Fish. He's looking for more titles to reprint. E.A. even using hostas in flower arrangements, but doesn't scrimp on Bowles' My Garden in Sp1'ing is tentatively pi

The Year in Trees by July 1995 J.e. Raulston, far left, Revised plates arrive from and Kim Tripp, left, printer and are forwarded to was considered a quick the autho7'S. More errors are project at 28 months discovered. from proposal to printing. August 1995 Final revisions made and sent to printe1'. P1'inter informs Timber that it will be unable to print book until early Septembe1'.

May 1995 September 1995 Auth01's retuJ'n page proofi Books printed. Six hundred and index. Typesette1' makes copies air freighted to Raleigh, Decem ber 1994 Februar 1995 final corrections. Text and North Carolina, for authors' Timber editors, pubiishe1S and Dust-jacket design approved. photographs are sent to Hong signing and launch at local marleeting staffwrestle with a Kong. Timber publicity direc­ bookstore. rubtitle, finally choosing «Su­ March 1995 tor sends page proofi to book perb Woody Plants for Fo'l!W­ Page proofi received from type­ reV1;eWe7'S. October 1995 'season Gardens." Edited setter; copies sent to authors for Books arrive in Portland ware­ manuscript is received from review and p1'00freading. Bids June 1995 house and are offered for sale. copy editor and fonvarded to solicited fro'/'/lt printers. Printer's proofi arrive from -ICD.C. imber's production manage1'. Hong Kong for checking by Tentative printing date set for A ril1995 Timber production depa1't­ Aug'l!tst 1995. Page proofi sent to authors for ment. Colm' proofi ofthe 206 final approval. Auth01's pre­ photographs are sent to authors b.... flMIiPF pare index. Timbe1' accepts bid for checking. All cor1'ections, 1J300le design completed. Edited from Hong Kong p1'inte1'. including misplaced captions anUScriPt sent to typesetter. and faulty color, a1'e sent to printe1'.

[ November/ DecembC1' 1996 THE AM E RI CAN G A RD E N ER 45 don't read it. The company's sally into less technical titles has given gardeners plenty of well-turned prose for bedtime reading. Gra­ ham Stuart Thomas is in top form in The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, where he writes, "A visit to the Royal National Rose So­ ciety'S Gardens ... is almost painful to the eye: the blatancy and vividness of the dazzling scarlet, orange and flame tones predom­ inate to an overwhelming degree. Surely the rose has become bright enough?" And in the wings is Nichols, famous for such views as, "The seed of a blue lupine will usually produce a blue lupine. But the seed of a blue-eyed man may produce a brown­ eyed bore .. . especially ifhis wife has a taste for ." Nurturing the Authorities Whether a book is encyclopedic or more informal in approach, Timber insists that all its authors be authorities. "Not all of them are superior writers," Conklin admits, "but all of them are ex­ perts." That, too, is a legacy from Abel, who lamented that the real horticultural experts-scholars-had abandoned writing books for writing narrow, technical articles for academic journals. His solution was to seek out authorities and give them substantial help in getting their knowledge into print. "Experts often don't realize how valuable what they know is," Maillet says. "My role is to find and nurture them. We've always given as much assistance as is necessary, but rather than wait for a completed manuscript, which happened in the past, now we work actively with authors from tl1e start. We want to avoid having to rewrite entire books." In some cases, authors approach Timber; in others, Timber seeks out an author for topics it would like to do (the genera Viburnum, Prunus, and Cornus top Maillet's cur­ rent list). In either case, producing a book is a slow process, four or five years on average (see "Anatomy of a Book," page 44). Timber attracts experts, Maillet says, because it is the only mar­ ket for their information. "No one else publishes these books be­ cause the one-year sales aren't large enough." While its advances to authors are smaller than those from trade publishers, Timber volume German classic Hardy Herbaceous Perennials, and done gives standard royalties-and keeps books in print indefinitely. revised editions ofits own books; for instance, a second edition of Keeping books in print-which is not standard practice among Father John Fiala's definitive Lilacsis planned for 1998. Publish­ major publishers-is one way Timber makes money. Botany for ing paperback editions of hardcover titles, such as Rosemary Gardeners, published in 1990, is one example of a title that sells Verey's The Garden in Winter or Eric Grissell's Thyme on My Hands, is another good-for-business tactic. The company has made some concessions to costs--clustering "Experts often don't realize color photographs rather than spreading them through a book, for how valuable what they know example, and using printers in Hong Kong, who do first-rate work for less money. And the staff works hard to choose subjects with is," Maillet says. "My role is to broad appeal and durability. Some topics, such as orchids, sell "no find and nurture them." matter what," Conklin says. "Both our books on hostas are doing very well. We did books on water gardening, Siberian iris, and flower arranging this year, and we expect good things from all three." well year after year. "Selling well" at Timber means 5,000 copies over two years, compared to a large publishing house, which Top-selling Subjects would consider 10,000 copies in one year a modest success. Only Unlike most trade publishers, Timber emphasizes direct, or re­ about 35 percent of Timber's sales are from its frontlist (books tail, sales, which means it receives the full $35 or $40, the aver­ published in the current year); 65 to 70 percent of business comes age cost of a Timber Press book. (Prices range from $17.95 to from its 290-title backlist. $150; the latter is the price tag for Japonica Magnifica, a collec­ How else does Timber keep the bottom line black? By reprint­ tion of Raymond Booth's exquisite paintings, followed closely ing books that other publishers have permitted to go out of by The Grevillea Book at $149.85.) Selling wholesale, the usual print-The Pruning of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers; Grals Manu­ publishing practice, means selling more copies but receiving as al ofBotany; Gardening in the Shade; and Beth Chatto's The Damp little as half the price of the book. Garden and The Dry Garden are five-which is less expensive than While its wholesale business has been increasing, Timber con­ starting from scratch. It has published translations, such as the two- tinues an aggressive mail-order business, sending free catalogs six

46 THE AMERICAN GARDENER No ve mb er/D e cemb er 1996 An avid gardener, Conklin enjoys maintaining the smallest, but "most challenging," garden he's ever had.

Sources

Readers can order Timber Press books by e-mail (orders@timber­ press.com) or through a year to a list that nwnbers more than 140,000. And the haven't done especially well. Nor company's home page company is now on-line. Readers can order books bye-mail or has the series for professional (http://www. timber­ through the company's home page, which features the complete growers, so next year's volume on press.com/). Traditionalists catalog plus excerpts from its books (see "Sources"). pot roses is dle last." can write to 133 S.W. Crucial, too, are Timber's alliances with odler organizations As publisher, Conklin is always Second Avenue, Suite 450, and companies, such as Kew Gardens and the German publisher thinking ahead, though he isn't fix ­ Portland, OR 97204, or Ulmer. These cooperative arrangements make it possible to take ated on growth. "This is a business call (800) 327-5680. on large expensive projects, such as Color Encyclopedia ofGa1'den where there are advantages to being Plants and Habitats with its 1,160 color photographs; Rhodo­ small. I'd like to sustain growdl at dendron P01'traits) billed as "the ultimate picture book for rhodie 15 percent armually." At the same time, Timber wants to increase lovers" and priced at $75; and William Robinson's Gravetye library sales and convince bookstores, even chain stores, that there Manor, or Twenty Yean) W01'k Round an Old Manor H ouse) which are buyers for substantial and substantially priced garden books. was copublished with Sagapress, a small New York publisher spe­ "And we've got to keep rethinking our focus," Conklin says . "We cializing in landscape history. may take a serious look at field guides and textbooks, and we'll Finally, the company is frugal. Compared widl larger pub­ have to think about electronic publishing at some point." For dle lishers, the size of the staff is modest, and the staff members time being, dle company is concentrating on the 40-plus tides themselves are modest-brown-bag lunches are standard. Liv­ scheduled for 1997, which include books about salvias, moss gar­ ing in Pordand is less cosdy than in New York City, and salaries dens, perennial ground covers, trilliums, hollies, ornamental herbs, are correspondingly smaller; moreover, overhead is low-$10 and carnations. a square foot, about one-fourth of what a similar space would As for Bob Conklin, gardener, he moved a couple of years ago. cost in Manhattan. "It's all new. It's the smallest garden I've ever had but the most There have been some missteps, Conklin admits. "We did a challenging." In gardening, as in publishing, bigger is not always book on indoor plants, and it bombed. Our book on purpleleaf better. And in both, it's fortuitous to love what you do. plums is excellent, but the subject is so narrow that it isn't going to sell many copies. Roses, oddly enough, have been weak for Karan Davis Cutler is a former magazine editor currently writing us. Except for dle Gralum Stuart Thomas book, our rose books a book on vegetable gardening.

Novembe1' I December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 47 focus n ovem berl decem ber caught on the web

IT'S A WILD, WILD WEB OUT THERE, as those ofyou who have browsed the garden and horticulture sites on the Internet already know. Hundreds of World Wide Web sites offer information ranging from mail-order nursery cata­ logs to plant lists to complex mapping features that allow you to explore the natural dis­ tribution of a given plant. Here are some pointers on how and where to find garden­ ing information. In making our choices) we looked beyond the reams of basic information and sought resources that would help the more advanced gardener. We gateway: also searched for more than just a pretty face: Behind all those fancy graphics) there had to be the next Hortus Third? some substantive information. The sites described here ne of the most powerful and inno­ detailed, and mont versatile on-line version vative sites for horticulturists and of Hortus Thilrd. should help you get started­ Ogardeners is the Flowering Plant "The 'gateway' site brings together in­ or send you in a new direction. Gateway at Texas A & M University in formation from diverse Internet sources Don)t be afraid to stray from College Station (http://www.isc.tamu.edu/ ­ and places this within a taxonomic frame­ FLORAIcronang.html). A joint project of work by using automated systems," says the path and explore on your the universitry's herbarium and its Bioin­ Hugh Wilson, a professor in the biology own. That)s half the fun. formatics Working Group, this site offers department at Texas A & M and one of access to an interdisciplinary blend of in­ three principal investigators on the Web formation on nomenclature, phytogeog­ project. "It currently draws from 17 data raphy (geographic distribution of plants), bases to produce 2,586 links for 389 flow­ biodiversity, and ethnobotany. ering plant families, and these numbers in­ Although the site is still under develop­ crease witl1 each update." ment, it contains a medley of selection op­ "I think this is going to be the site for tions that-among other things-provide nomenclature, , and phyto­ cOlmty-levei data on individual taxa in geography in the future," says John T. Texas, Arkansas, and Utah. As information Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Check­ is added and search techniques refined, this list of the Vascular Flora of the United site could develop into an updated, more States, Canada, and Greenland. The

48 TH E AMERICAN GARD ENER November/December 1996 gateway uses Kartesz's data base, origi­ nally developed as part of the Biota of North America Program (BONAP) of the North Carolin a Botanical Garden, to fuel several of its mapping and nomen­ clature features.

QUICK CLICKS Browsing in the gateway involves clicking the mouse on highlighted words. Wilson explains, "What we've focused on is in­ dexed searching, which allows you to move through the files fairly quickly without in­ tervention of data base software." The gateway's organization is based on the plant classification in Arthur Cron­ quist's Evolution and Classification of Flowering Plants. Users may be intimidat­ ed by having to begin their browse through the plant kingdom at the class and subclass levels, where the choice is be­ rween Magnoliopsida (dicots, or plants with two seed leaves) and Liliopsida (monocots, or plants with one seed leaf). Once you click on a subclass, however, the data base breaks down to the more famil­ iar family level. T he gateway can also be entered through the university herbarium's home page (http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORAI biolherb/tamuhome.htm), where a more user-friendly alphabetical search feature is available. Wilson says this feature, which al­ lows searches by both common and scien­ tific family name, will soon be available at all entrances to the site. "What we're look­ ing at now is setting up a system that will include all families, other tax­ onomic 'frameworks' or systems of classifi­ cation, and methods that allow entry by users with varying experience." Movement through the various sites is The Flowering Plant Each family listing includes the num­ generally swift, although image files can Gateway maintained by ber of genera and species-if any-found be slow to download-some of the images Texas A & M University in Texas. Listings of the resources avail­ from the University of Wisconsin took up features a Vascular Plant able are posted under each family name. to rwo minutes to appear on screen. Gallery of images. For example, complete family descriptions Included are Liatris derived from DELTA (Description Lan­ FORMATIVE STAGES cymosa (top), Arbutus guage for Taxonomy), generated at the Wilson acknowledges that the site con­ texana (above left), and University of Kansas, are available, as are tinues to be upgraded and errors correct­ Sabatia campestris scanned images of plants from the botany ed, and he encourages users to report (above right). department at the University ofWiscon­ errors to project staff. E-mail links to Wil­ sin. Other resources available for certain son and other project staffers are available families include complete taxonomic by clicking the mouse on underlined e­ checklists from BONAP data; scanned mail addresses. For sites such as Texas En­ plant images in the Vascular Plant Gallery; demics, taxonomic specialists are invited endangered and threatened species listed to apply to become registered authorities by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; eth­ who can amend and update information. nobotanical data from the Agriculture "I don't think there is anything out Genome Information Service data base there comparable to the gateway," says Wil­ maintained by the U.S. Department of son, who believes the site is underused at Agriculture; and accessions from the flo­ only about 40 "hits" a day. ras of Costa Rica and China in the collec­ Another useful gateway, created by the tion of the Missouri Botanical Garden. herbarium staff as an aid for botany stu-

NovembC1'/ D e cember 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 49 dents. is Plant Systematics and Evolution Uniform resource locators Links (http://www.isc.tamu.edu/FLORAI definitions (URLs): Basically, addresses ofWeb sites­ tfplinks.html). This innovative site links to mose strings of characters starting with more than 90 wide-ranging home pages http://. Fortunately, you don't have to and Web sites of interest to botanists and he Internet and World Wide Web understand how dlese addresses work or to keen horticulturists and gardeners. have spawned their own vocabulaties, even what tlley stand for to use tlle Web. Subgroups within this site include Texas Tand even computer books have a hat-d World Wide Web: An at-ea of the In­ floras; North American floras; interna­ time keeping up with new terms. Here are ternet explored or navigated using brows­ tional floras, including Peru, China, and some basics. ers. The Web popularized use of the vast Madagascar; national and international Browsers: Programs designed to resources of the Internet by average users. botanical gardens and museums; U.S. make the Internet more accessible (ex­ government agencies; and biodiversity amples include Mosaic and Netscape). and conservation groups. Also available Those who are comfortable with the are three botanical search engines Wilson Macintosh operating system or Microsoft pointers for says provide access to "broader, more ex­ Windows will find World Wide Web tensive realms." browsers fairly intuitive. surfers Gopher: A system for retrieving infor­ mation using menus or directOlies. Favored by many wuversities, tlus approach is use­ espite all the media hype, the Inter­ new ful for cataloging large amounts of infor­ net remains atl wrtatniliar, intinudat­ mation but lacks tlle grapluc appeal of the Ding place for matlY computer users. frontiers World Wide Web. Here are a few pointers to help alleviate LlSTSERV: Programs designed to hatldle some common frustrations. large mailing lists of subscribers interested ., Keep in mind that me Internet thrives or the adventurous browser, a happy in a specific topic. Subscribing to a list in­ on a sort of friendly anarchy. Many sites hour or week can be spent exploring volves sending a message tlut reads "sub­ are maintained entirely by volunteers dri­ Fthe many-faceted realms opened up scribe [list natne your name]." (Leave out ven to share tlleir passion for wildflowers through a Web site called "What is New the punctuation.) Most users spend some or palms, and a site that is "up" one day in Botany" (WNB) (http://herb.biol. time becoming familiar with tlle group be­ may be gone or rerouted the next. Site lo­ uregina.ca/liu/bio/bot-new.html). fore sending messages that will be distrib­ cations can be frustrating in meir lack of Maintained by Anthony R. Brach of tlted to all subscribers. Some gardening hierarchy. For example, the umbrella site Harvard University, the WNB site links to LISTSERVS include [email protected] of the AmeriCatl Association of Botanical botany- and horticulture-related informa­ (for general gardelUng; send message "sub­ Gardens and Arboreta is actually part of tion and Web sites around the world. List­ scribe Gardens & Gardening"), listserv one of its member's sites. ings are organized by the date they were @Wsuvml.bitnet (for Master Gardeners ., While a uniform resource locator ad­ added to the Web site, with the most re­ atld Extension agents; send message "sub­ dress (see "Defuutions") will get you di­ cent at the top. Current postings go back scribe M Garden"), and listproc@opus. rectly to a site, it's often more useful to about three months, but older listings can hpl.hp.com (for cactus lovers; send mes­ keep track ofaddresses to broader sites and be accessed at the bottom of the page. sage "subscribe cacti_etc. "). "point and click" your way to more specif­ The site also updates uniform resource lo­ Newsgroups: Bulletin boards for ic sites. Of course, just about all tlle brows­ cator addresses (see "Definitions") for posting

50 THE AMERICAN GARDENER No ve mber/ Decembe r 1996 Other Web Sites of Interest to Gardeners

BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETA HerbNet (http://www.herbnet.com) AmericanAssociatWn ofBotanical Gardens andArboreta This site mainly feaUlres retail and wholesale sources for herbs (http://cissus.mobot.org/AABGA/aabgal .html) and herbal products, but it also has articles on particular herbs, This site contains a list of member organizations with infonna­ a resource List, and fulks to other herbal sites on the Net. tion on hours and directions, as well as links to more compre­ hensive sites. Many botanical gardens and arboreta can also be Orchid Web (http://pathfinder.com/vg/Gardens/AOS) visited through Texas A & M University's site, described in the MaUltaUled by the American Orchid Society, this site includes article on page 48. articles from the society's magazule, a calendar of events, or­ chid sources and references, and a question-and-answer area. GENERAL GARDENING The Cmnplete Guide to Garden Stuff Perennial Plant Association (http://www.btw.com/garden_archive/toc.html) (http://Garden.cas.psu.edu/PPA.html) Created by the computer software company Books That This site includes uuormation about the association, an index Work, this site contains brief summaries and explanations of of recent articles Ul the association's journal, and descriptions garden terms and concepts ranging from fertilizers and of the association's past and present "plants of the year." mulches to tools and seed starting. Rhododendron Page GardenWeb (http://www.gardenweb.com) (http://haven.ios.com/-mckenzie/rhodoOS.html) This site offers gardening discussion groups, garden tips, a This site contains descliptions and Ul1ages of rhododendrons, page for posting seed requests, links to international botanical culnu"al tips, and information about the Amelican Rhododen­ gardens, and an online magazine called The Cybe1,·-Plantsman, dron Society. compiled by nurseryman Barry Glick. The Seed Guild (http://www.gardenweb.com/seedgd!) Horticulture In the Virtual Perspective This site desClibes how to join the Seed Guild, an organization (http://hortwww-2.ag.ohio-state.edu/hvp/HVP1 .html) that offers members access to W1llsual seeds from botanical Maintained by Ohio State University, this site includes the gardens around the world, with a list of recent offeritlgs. WebGarden, a searchable data base of more than 3,000 gardening fact sheets. WUdfluwers (http://rampages.onramp.netl-garylipe/index.htm) The Horticultural Web (http://www.horticulture.com!) A menu of wildflowers by state, wildflower identification, mail­ This is a more commercialized site, but it offers links to other order sources, and listings of wildflower and native plant horticulturally oliented sites, as well as information about new events are available here. horticultural and gardening products. RESEARCH AND UNIVERSITY SITES PLANTS AND PLANT SOCIETIES Biological Control: A Guide to Natural Enemies in North The American Gloxinia and Gesneriad Society America (http://www.nysaes.comell.edu/entlbiocontroi) (http://aggs.org!) This Cornell University site provides uuormation about bene­ This site includes information about the society, cultural in­ ficial organisms for use by growers and home gardeners. structions, and a reference list. National Museum of American Iris Society Natural History, (http://wwwisomedia.com/homes/AIS!) Department ofBotatry Information on the society and its local chapters, growing ad­ (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/ vice, iris classification, and descriptions of the most popular botartl) uises are offered here. Here you can find 500 botanical illustrations Ul the The Arisaema Page Smithsonian collection, Ul­ (http://www.mdc.netl-rrh/arisaema.html) clUditlg iluormation on the Devoted to the exotic 100kitlg members of the genus Arisae­ artists. Above is Neomam­ ma, this colorful site includes itnages, plant descriptions, mail­ milla1'ia hemisphaerica (now Mamillaria heyderi var. hemis­ order sources, and organizations for other aroid enthusiasts. phaerica) first published in The Cactaceae by Britton and Rose.

Bu~ Web Site (http://mgfx.com/butterfly!) u.S. Forest Service (http://www.fs.fed.us!) Maintained by a butterfly enthusiast, this colorful site includes An information-packed site that includes lists of Forest Service information about butterfly gardening, a listing of butterfly­ publications, research, and data bases; a clickable map of l1a ­ related events, and a discussion page. tional forests; and links to other Forest Service sites.

Novembe1' / December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 51 ea.. wildlife gardening ea.. conifers ea.. rock garden plants

GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE Craig Tufts and Peter LoeJver. Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pennsylvania, 1995. 192 pages. 7 3/ 4 X 9 'i8 " . Publisher's price: hardcover, $29.95. AHS member price: $26.95.

THE WILDLIFE GARDEN: PLANNING BACKYARD HABITATS Charlotte Seidenberg. Univenity Press of Mississippi, 1995. 322 pages. 6 x 8". Pub­ lishe1" s price: hardcover, $30; softcover, The Cloister Garden Series $15.95. AHS membe1' price: hardcover, $27; February 27 .. March 2, 1997 softcover, $14.35.

ome glean from the in Woody Plants, Sense and NATURAL GARDENING Cexperts in the Mobil Simplicity, Entertaining Jim Knopf, Sally Wasowski, John Kadel Bor­ Five-Star elegance of Sea with a Mediterranean Flair, ing, Glenn Keator, Jane Scott, and Erica Island's world-class resort. Wildflowers in the Landscape Glasmer. A Nature Company Guide pub­ lished by Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Vir­ Nationally recognized garden World Wide and Homage to ginia, 1995. 288 pages. 6 3/ 4 X 111/4 " . authorities bring their rich the Earth. Publisher's price: hardcover, $29.95. AHS diversity of specialized Tours of a private Sea Island member price: $26.95. knowledge to this exceptional residence and beautifully summit of gardening enthusiasts. landscaped gardens are among hese books relate as well to "land­ The Cloister's carefully highlights. Please join us. Call scaping" as they do to "gardening." Historically, landscaping in North nurtured grounds provide a 800-SEA-ISLAND to reserve. T America has tended to follow d1e English fertile setting for three For in-depth information ask tradition of intensively managed and tidy stimulating days of horticultural for ext. 5165. formal plantings of mosdy exotic species presentations including Not and close-mown grass. Since d1e 1970s, All Annuals Are Bedding Plants, however, there has been increasing inter­ Lasagna Soil, Growing Modem est in more natural landscaping, pio­ neered in the Netherlands as "ecological Roses for Pleasure, New Horizons landscapes." Ecological processes such as Co-sponsored by the American Horticultural Society plant succession, and concepts such as the linking of diversity and stability, are adopted as bases of design. Increased llse

52 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1996 good reference for the wildlife gardener. Natural Gardening emphasizes planting to attract wildlife, suggesting, for instance, that a more natural look can be achieved by using odd numbers of plants of different sizes and spacing them irreg­ ularly when they are planted in small groups. For six regions of the United States and Canada (West Coast, Moun­ tains and Basins, Desert Southwest, Prairies, Northeast, and Southeast), 144 native plants with wildlife value are high­ li ghted. The book also discusses the wildlife value of some non-native plants, but limits those mentioned to ones the authors consider "well-behaved." This book covers a great diversity of animal wildlife, both vertebrate and in­ vertebrate. "Wildlife Mischief Manage­ ment" addresses those that cause damage or create a nuisance, discussing such op­ tions as fences, plant cages, and repel­ lents. It treats natural processes like There are a number of instances where predation in a nonsentimental manner the authors present an incomplete mes­ and calls for a balanced community of sage that I believe is a disservice to the plants and animals. reader. For example, they state that "cats Sometimes multi-authored books, chase birds." In reality, cats kill birds in willie they bring together considerable ex­ large numbers. Research in England esti­ pertise, drive the reader to distraction with mates that some 70 million birds and varied writing styles and levels of coverage. small mammals are killed by cats each I did not find that the case here, which re­ year. The authors also say that rock gar­ flects a combination of disciplined writing dens will attract many harmless garden and good editing. The inclusion of fine snakes, but no mention is made of color photography makes this book an ex­ poisonous copperheads, rattlesnakes, cellent value for the price. or others, which are common in -Lowell W. Adams some areas of the country. Like­ An urban wildlife biologist, D r. Lowell W wise, in discussing water features, Adams is the author of Urban Wildlife they state, "Even beautiful snakes like Habitats: A Landscape Perspective, pub­ the rough green snake will be drawn to lished in 1994 by the University of Min­ the water's edge .... " Such partial images nesota fress. may cause readers to develop an unreal ­ istic sense of nature (and security). These less appealing aspects of nature do not, CONIFERS: THE ILLUSTRATED however, diminish the need for its con­ ENCYCLOPEDIA servation and management. D.M. van Gelderen and ].R.P van Hoey The Wildlife Garden focuses on na­ Smith. Timber Press, Inc., Portland, Oregon, tive fl ora and fauna and the restoration of 1996. Two volumes; 706 pages. 8 3/ 4 X their original communities. The author 11 1/4". Publisher's p"ice: hardcover, $125. stresses the detrimental effects of exotic AHS member price: $112.50. plants, including their frequent tenden­ cy to replace native plant communities. pening the new two-volume edition As a foundation for wildlife gardening, of this classic reference is akin to the book presents a firm scientific base Oopening a box full of many multi­ through discussion of food webs and faceted jewels---each more fascinating and ecological balances. It includes extensive spectacular than the one before. This feast lists of native plants and native plant for the eyes is a must for anyone remotely communities, and discusses soil and soil­ interested in conifers, as it goes well beyond dwelling organisms such as earthworms. the confines ofw hat one would expect from Black-and-white illustrations and dia­ a pictorial dictionary. grams are used instead of color photo­ More than twice the size of the first edi­ graphs but the information is solid, and tion, published in 1986, the new edition in­ there is an extensive list of resources-a cludes a more diverse offering of nonhardy

November/ Decembe1' 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 53 often found that many people, however CONIFERS knowledgeable, have preconceived notions THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA about conifers or shy away from them be­ Wlumel: A- J( O,Jv\. v"nGeldctcn cause they are unfamiliar with them. I feel I,R. P. van Hot)' Smith strongly that this publication will shatter those notions and become a daily reference for anyone who works with or loves plants. -Susan Martin Susan Martin is curator of the Gotelli Conifer Collection at the U. S. National Ar­ boretum in Washington) D.C. Lilypons Water Gardens@ Your Source for Water Gardening

.CALL TODAY for your FREE copy of the most comprehen­ sive and informative water gar­ and lesser-known genera, as dening catalog you may ever well as many new cultivar selections that find. have been introduced into the nursery trade in the intervening y€ars. 1-800-723-7667 The photographs, numbering well over Operator: AMHTS 2,000, were taken by J.R.P. van Hoey Smith, director of the Trompenburg Ar­ Maryland Texas California boretum in Rotterdam and president of the P. O. Box 10 P.O. Box 188 P.O. Box 1130 International Dendrology Society. His Buckeystown Brookshire Thermal MD 21717 TX 77423 CA92274 wife, Reit, is a great sport, standing in many of the photographs to provide the neces­ sary scale. Her husband's lifelong love of and dedication to photographing conifers More Than lust is clearly evident in the exceptionally high quality of the photographs. My only com­ ROCK GARDEN Y( r Garden Variety plaint is that occasionally the subject ap­ PLANTS OF NORTH AMERICA pears too small. Edited by Jane McGary. Timber Press) Inc.) The text, compiled by D .M. van Gel­ Portland) Oregon) 1996. 459 pages. 6 1/ 2 X deren, a well-known nurseryman and an 9 1/4". Publisher)s price) hardcover: $49.95. officer of the Dutch Royal Boskoop Hor­ AHS member price: $45. ticultural Society, has also been expanded. A list of individual genera appears at the n 1990 a compilation of articles on rock beginning ofvolume one, followed by de­ gardening in the East by Linc and scriptions of natural distribution ranges, ITimmy Foster was published as Cutt-ings economic importance, cultural tips, and from a Rock Garden. Taken from the landscape uses. These write-ups are ac­ quarterly Bulletin of the North American companied by spectacular photographs of Rock Garden Society, the articles in the the plants in their native habitats. book left many captivated readers won­ From these general descriptions the dering what other jewels lay hidden in book moves into a pictorial display, "the back issues of the Bulletin) which last year jewels" of most, although certainly not all, was renamed Rock Garden Quarterly. of the many, many conifer cultivars that Happily, a partial answer to that ques­ Est. 1855 Over 200 pages of Rare exist. Each photograph has a caption iden­ tion has appeared in this wonderful new CZ"1-Lompsoll and Unusual Varieties, tifYing the plant and highlighting its out­ anthology from the Bulletin )s first 50 with hundreds of standing characteristics. years of publication. Edited by Jane Mc­ &'-> 'Morgart color photos inside Rounding out the book are hardiness Gary, this book focuses on the native Reserve Your FREE Copy Today! maps, a suggested reading list, and two use­ rock garden plants of North America and ful new indices, one ofcommon names and their ClJltivation. Not surprisingly-since ~~tt 800-274-7333 the other of synonyms. you rarely find alpines below 5,000 For those not familiar with the variety of feet-three-quarters of the articles de­ l~~ 888-466-4769 ..... colors, forms, and textures found in this di­ scribe species found from the Rockies to TO Thompson & Morgan Inc. verse group of plants, prepare YOl!ll'self for the West Coast. The articles are supple­ Dept. 417, PO Box 1308, Jackson, NJ 08527 a feast! In the course of my teaching, I have mented by 59 color photographs and

54 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/Decembe1' 1996 numerous line drawings of select rock garden plant species. T he authors of the articl es are the cognoscenti of the American rock gar­ dening scene, including such luminalies as Wayne Roderick (California wildflowers and li liaceous bulbs), Edith Dusek (west­ ;:.: ern trilliums), Margaret Williams (plants of the Sierra Nevada and Northern Cali­ fonua), B. Leroy Davidson (West Coast irises, lewisias, penstemons, Eriogonum, and Synthyris), Panayoti Kelaidis (sand­ stone barrens, dryland bunneries, physarias, and western phlox), Claude A. Barr (Astragalus, Oxytropis, and asters), Edgar T. Wherry (eastern phlox), Freder­ ick W. Case Jr. (eastern trilliums), and last but not least H. Lincoln Foster, who is represented by his fascinating tale of the Don't let moisture loss ruin your broad-leaf evergreens. elusive Sho1,tia. Protect them each season with a spray coating of If there is a shortcoming to the an ­ thology, it is the paucity of articles on the Wilt -Pruf® anti-transpirant. eastern flora of North America, although there are two interesting articles on the THE PROVEN ANTI· TRANSPIRANT FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS. New Jersey pine barrens by G.G. Nearing and Rick Darke. Written some 40 years Write for free literature apart and from different points of view, the two articles provide a thoroughly WILT ·PRUF® PRODUCTS, INC. row1ded picture of that important eastern ecosystem. There are also articles on the P.o. Box 469· Essex, CT 06426 Virginia shale barrens, on the granitic flat rocks of the Southeast, and on plants na­ tive to the Carolinas. Eastern readers should also be warned that most of the plants described are the creme de la creme of the western moun­ tains and require exacting cultural condi­ tions. It takes years of experience and an Hortico appropriately salubrious climate and set­ ting to grow and keep western rock gar­ den plants east of the Mississippi. ROSES The anthology will be helpful, howev­ DIRECTLY FROM THE GROWER er, to those in search ofwes tern wildflower habitats as well as to those seeking to TO YOUR GARDEN broaden their knowledge of North Amer­ Hybrid Teas, old and new (360 varieties), Hybrid Perpetuals (25), Flori­ ican native plants in general. For the aspir­ bundas (170) , Grandifloras (35), Dwarf Polyanthas and Miniatures including ing rock gardener, there is no better way Rennie roses, Climbers (120), hardy shrubs (130) including Ottawa Explor­ to be exposed to the wisdom embodied in ers and Manitoba Parkland Roses, Austin's English Garden roses (100), the specialist growers, or to the exquisite Antiques (200), Rugosas (60), Species varieties (30), Ground Covers (70) beauty of these unusual plants, than to including hardy disease-free Pavement varieties, rose understock (10) , Tree sample the best articles from the Bullet-in. Roses (60). We sell roses developed by Austin, Beales, Kern, Perry (Astor), For those eager to read more about Rennie, Viraraghavan, Weddle, Williams (Ben). A superb collection. Come eastern rock gardening, the good news is see our crop through Oct. 15. that Cuttings from a Rock Garden is to be Our fields are known to be virus-free. Orders shipped republished by Timber Press in 1997. To­ with our temperature-controlled truck to UPS gether, the two books will give readers a depots for local distribution. comprehensive view of these exciting Catalog on request: $3.00. North American natives. -Francis H. Cabot An avid rock gardener and former t1'ea­ HORTICO, INC., 723 Robson Rd., surer ofthe North American Rock Garden Waterdown, ON LOR 2Hl Society, Francis H. Cabot is founder and 1-905-689-6984 or 689-3002 Fax: 689-6566 chairman ofthe Garden Conservancy.

Novembe r/December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 55 is a perfect child's introduction to the gar­ breathtaking photographs by some of the den. It describes many child-size projects most renowned garden photographers, gardeners' from planting bulbs and tidying the spring as well as techniques for creating and garden to creating a windowsill herb gar­ nurturing each type of garden. den. The text and charming illustrations Book code: STC 002 books leave room for notes. This book is en­ chanting enough to keep in mind for the A PHOTOGRAPHIC Books are chosen for the AHS Horticultur­ teachers, parents, and journal writers on GARDEN HISTORY al Book Service based on perceived reader your holiday gift list. Book code: DRG 004 Roger Phillips and Nicky Foy. 1996. 320 interest, unusual subject matter, or sub­ pages. Publisher)s price: hardcover, $55. stantive content. The following descriptions AHS member price: $49. are not intended to be critical reviews, but FOR BEGINNING GARDENERS Roger Phillips, co-author of The 3,000 Mile are written to give an overview ofthe books' Garden, traces the history of gardening contents. For further information about THE FIRST-TIME GARDENER NE· from ancient Rome and China to 20th­ these or other gardening books-or to order Pattie Barron. 1996. 144 pages. Publisher's century California. This is a grand tour of books-please call Barbara Catherwood at price: softcover, $20. AHS member price: the world's most beautiful, innovative, and (800) 777-7931 ext. 36. $18. influential gardens. Visually sturming, with The subtitle reads: "An inspirational and more than 900 color photographs. instructional guide to every aspect of gar­ Book code: RAN 016 FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES dening for the neophyte gardener." This is a charming and useful book for friends or CHRISTOPHER LLOYD;lt..::i relatives who have been threatening to get i~ tl1eir hands dirty. It contains guidance on OTHER P E OPL E 'S 'l~ selecting plants and how-to's on everything GARDEN S '8, f?"" from preparing beds to planting contain­ ers, growing edibles, and pruning, as well as common problems. The book is full of color photographs, but even better are the delightful color illustrations. Book code: CRN 005

FOR TRAVELERS & DREAMERS

OTHER PEOPLE'S GARDENS Christopher Lloyd. 1995. 211 pages. Pub­ THE SECRET GARDEN lisher's price: hardcover, $40. AHS member Frances Hodgson Burnett. Illustrated by price: $36. Graham Rust. 1987. 224 pages. Publisher's This well-known British gardener and price: hardcover, $18.95. AHS member writer chronicles his visits to gardens all price: $17. over Great Britain and the rest of the A truly exquisite edition of the classic world. With an impeccable eye for detail story of children discovering a garden and and a sharp wit, he tells the stories of the life's potential on the English moors. This plants, the gardens, and the gardeners he edition is beautifully illustrated by Gra­ finds most stimulating. Includes more ham Rust and would be a welcome addi­ than 150 superb photographs. tion to a child's bookshelf or to any book Book code: VIK 002 and garden lover's collection. GLORIOUS GARDENS Book code: DRG 003 Jacqueline Heriteau. 1996. 248 pages. Pub­ THE GARDEN TOURIST 1997 lisher's price: hardcover, $50. AHS member Lois G. Rosenfeld. 1996. 224 pages. Publish­ THE SECRET GARDEN NOTEBOOK: price: $45. er's price: softcover, $15.95. AHS member A FIRST GARDENING BOOK From small gardens to hillside gardens, price: $14.25. Text by Breslich and Foss. Illustrated by kitchen, water, xeriscape gardens, and Plan your vacation in advance using this Graham Rust. 1991. 57 pages. Publisher's more, Heriteau chooses the finest gar­ handy guide to garden tours in the United price: hardcover, $12.95. AHS member dens in the world to illustrate the philos­ States and Canada. Listed by state and date price: $11 .50. ophy and reality of different types of are garden days, shows, and special events. Together with the novel, or on its own, this gardening. The book contains 250 Book code: GTP 001

56 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/December 1996 TITLE, AUTHOR BOOK CODE AHS PRICE

GREAT REFERENCE BOOKS AHS Encyclopectia of Garden Plants MAC 001 $42.50 AHS Encyclopectia of Gardening DK001 $49.95 AHS PrwUng and Training: A Fully illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual NEW DK 011 $28.00 Botany For Gardeners, Brian Capon HARDCOVER TIM 009A $25.95 Botany For Gardeners, Brian Capon SOFTCOVER TIM009B $15.95 First Book of Grasses: The Structure of Grasses Explained for Beginners, Agnes Chase NEW SMI003 $15.25 The 400 Best Garden Plants, Elvin McDonald NEW RAN 017 $36.00 Hortus Third BACK IN STOCK MAC011 $135.00 Native Plant Primer, Cal'ole Ottesen RAN 016 $45.00 New RHS Dictionary of GardelUng, four-volmne set 25% OFF STK001 $595.00 Plants and Their Names: A Concise Dictionary, Roge1' H)lam and Richal'd Pankhurst OXF001 $28.50 CHILDREN'S GARDEN BOOKS Blue Potatoes, Orange Tomatoes: How to Grow a Rainbow Garden, Rosalind Creasy SIE 001 $14.25 The Garden of Happiness: An Urban Garden Story, Erika Tamal' NEW HCB001 $13.50 Ready, Set, Grow: A Guide to GardelUng with Children, Suzanne Frutig Bales NEW MAC 021 $16.25 Where Do Ants Live?: Questions Kids Ask About Backyard Nature, Neil Morris RAN 018 $7.25 Wild in the City: A Peek at the Hidden Life Around Us,Jan Thornhill NEW SIE 002 $15.25 WATER GARDEN BOOKS Low-Maintenance Water Gardens, Helen Nash NEW STE 030 $22.45 Water Features for Small Gardens, Francesca Greenoak NEW TRA008 $20.50 Water Gardening in Containers, Helen Nash and C. Greg Speichert NEW STE 031 $22.45 WINTER GARDEN AND PROJECT BOOKS The Backyard Bird -Lovers Guide, Jan Mahnken NEW STOO44 $22.45 Bulbs for Indoors, Brooklyn Botanic Gal,den NEW STO 043 $7.15 A Guide to Wildflowers in Winter, Carol Levine YAL001 $17.00 The Living Wreath: Create Unique Wreaths, Teddy Colbel't NEW PSM 001 $17.95 The Unslmg Season, Sydney Eddison HOU 008 $26.95 Winter Garden Glory, Adrian Bloom HAR004 $22.50 FOR A GOOD READ ON A COLD WINTER DAY All My Edens: A Gardener's Memoir, Pat Welsh CHR 001 $22.45 The Gardener's Eye and Other Essays, Allen Lacy HOL005 $13.45 Home: Chronicle of a North COW1try Life, Beth Porl7ning STC 001 $20.25 Insects through the Seasons, Gilbert Waldbauer HUP003 $22.45 Life at Ravenhill Farm, Noel Richardson wrC001 $13.45 The Natures ofJohrt and William Bartram, Thomas P Slaughter KNOO02 $24.75 One Man's Garden, Henry Mitchell HOU 005 $16.95 Why We Garden: Cultivating a Sense of Place, Jim NoUman HOL004 $12.60

AHS HORTICULTURAL BOOK SERVICE ORDER FORM SHIP TO: Name ______CHOOSE PAYMENT METHOD: Address o Check enclosed. Amount: $ City State Zip o Charge to: 0 VISA 0 MasterCard Daytime phone ( Account # ______

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POSTAGE & HANDLING U.S. Mail Order Amount UPS Book Rate $1.00 - $20 $4.25 $2.00 Subtotal $20.01 - $40 $5.00 $3.00 Virginia residents: Add 4.5% sales tax $40.01 - $60 $5.75 $4.00 Postage & Handling (see chart) $60.01 - $80 $6.50 $5.00 $80.01 - $100 $7.25 $6.00 Total $100.01+ add $.75 for each additional $20.00 Mail completed form to: AHS Horticultural Book Service, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308-1300. Or call toll-free (800) 777-7931 ext. 36. Pri ces in effect until December 31,1996. After expiration date, orders will be filled pending avai lability. Please allow four to six weeks for delivery. Pr ices subject to cha nge without notice.

November / December 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 57 New Plant Research Sites

wo new plant research facilities ~filiated with the USDA Agricultural Research ServICe (ARS) and the U.S. Nauonal Arboretum have been opened at the Uni­ Tversity of Missouri and at Tennessee State University. The U.S. National Arboretum Midwest Plant Research and Education Site was es­ tablished at the University of Missouri Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Cen­ ter in New Franklin. The principal role of the facility, which currently occupies two acres but will be expanded over the next several years, is to identifY and evaluate se­ lected plants hardy in USDA Zone 5. The site will also be home to a germplasm repository and national evaluation plots. In McMinnville, Tennessee, the Otis T. Floyd Nursery Crops Research Station was opened on 87 acres at tl1e university. The facility is tl1e latest "center of excel­ lence" supported by USDA and 16 historically black land-grant wuversities. The sta­ reg i 0 n'a I tion will i.tutially be staffed by two ARS scientists and two university researchers, who will concenU'ate on breeding new varieties of landscape trees and shrubs, developmg happenings bioconu'ols for insect pests, and testing new techniques for propagating, irrigating, and storing nursery crops. According to Thomas S. Elias, director oftl1e U.S. Na­ tional Arboretum, one research project will involve evaluating dogwood trees cross­ a look at wha~s bred for resistance to aniliracnose, a fungal disease that is devastating both cultivated and wild dogwood trees through much of the East and Midwest. happening around the nation Help from Holden Arboretum he Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio, is now offering a landscape consult­ MID-ATLANTIC mg program designed to help i.t1dividuals, communities, orgaruzations, and Tcommercial enterprises preserve tl1e natural integrity of sites where construc­ NOV. 2 • How to Prepare Your tion is plarmed. Garden for Winter. Workshop. Services offered by tl1e arboretum staff include plant health evaluations, plant Hillwood Museum and Gardens, identification and inventories, horticulnlfal recommendations, landscapi.t1g assess­ Washington, D.C. (202) 686-8500. ments, site analyses, master plar1 consultations, on-site tree protection, and educa­ NOV. 1S-DEC. 31 • Children's Art tional workshops ar1d trammg sessions. Exhibit. AHS's River Farm, Alexandria, For more information or to receive a fee schedule, call Roger L. Gettig at Virginia. (703) 768-5700. (216) 946-4400 or write to him at the Holden Arboretum, 9500 Sperry Road, Kirtland, OH 44094-5172. NORTHEAST

THROUGH NOV. 24 • The Wonderful Display. Longwood Gardens, Kennett SOUTH CENTRAL Garden of Oz. Chrysanthemum festival. Square, Pennsylvania. (610) 388-1000. Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, DEC. 6-8 • Festival of Trees. Tower NOV. 9 . Butterflyscaping. Seminar. Pennsylvania. (610) 388-1000. Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, NOV. 1-3 . Herbal Christmas Massachusetts. (508) 869-6111. Harlingen, Texas. (800) 531-7346. Dreams. A weekend of Christmas DEC. 7 • Open House and NOV. 28-JAN. 1 • Crystal Bridge workshops, revelry, food, and stories. Orientation Day. Conway School of Holiday Display. Myriad Botanical Blueberry Hill Inn, Goshen, Vermont. Landscape Design, Conway, Gardens, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (800) 448-0707. Massachusetts. (413) 369-4044. (405) 297-3995. NOV. 2 • The Arboretum in Late Fall. Guided tour. Scott Arboretum of NORTH CENTRAL SOUTHEAST Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. (610) 328-8025. NOV. 3 • Types of Botanical and NOV. 2 • Louisville Perennial Plant NOV. 7 • Blooming Where You Are. Horticultural Literature. Class. The Holden Symposium. Sponsored by Botanica Greenhouse grower meeting and trade Arboretum, Kirtland, Ohio. (216) 256-1110. and the Perennial Plant Association. show. Cook College Campus, New NOV. 17-21 • Green Industry EXpo. Executive West Hotel, Louisville, Brunswick, New Jersey. (908) 932-9271. Cincinnati Convention Center, Kentucky. (502) 222-5791 or 267-5074. NOV. 17 • Fall Open House. Tower Cincinnati, Ohio. (800) 395-2522. NOV. 6 • Totally Trees. Brown bag Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, NOV. 28-DEC. 31 • Christmas Around lecture series. Memphis Botanic Garden, Massachusetts. (508) 869-6111. the World. Display. Frederik Meijer Memphis, Tennessee. (901) 685-1566 NOV. 23 • Constructing a Grapevine Gardens, Grand Rapids, Michigan. (616) ext. 106. Arbor. Workshop. Rhode Island Wild 957-1580. NOV. 10 • Water Gardens Tour. Plant Society. Usquepaug, Rhode Island. DEC. 6-31 • Holiday Flower and Crosby Arboretum, Picayune, (401) 949-0195. Train Show. Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Mississippi . (601) 799-2311, ext. O. NOV 28-JAN. S • Time for Christmas. Madison, Wisconsin. (608) 246-4551. NOV. 13 • Decorating for the

58 THE AM E RIC A N GAR DEN E R November/December 1996 Nebraska Penstemon Restoration ursery-propagated seedlings of the blowout penstemon (Penstemon haydenii)-clle only Nebraska wildflower on the federal endangered species Nlist-are being transplanted back into the wild by conservati onists fro m clle University of Nebraska at Lincoln . The penstemon is known for showy heads offra­ grant blue, lavender, or rarely, white tubular flowers on 18-inch-tall stems. As part of a three-year restoration effort by clle LU1i­ versity's Insti tute of Agri cul ­ ture and Natural Resources, more than 20,000 seedlings are being transplanted into suitable habitat in clle Ne­ braska sandhills. Blowout penstemon's principal habitat h -, \, ! ' is bare, rounded depressions "'vYoateyeoyoUJple , I of in dunes clut have been int.e ~~Sl ,~. '~ !Jrj ~SJty~ scooped out by wind erosion. Va 'na~ rp l UIS · Ironically, it was erosion provid2d th~ ·in~. rma- heightened by intensive graz­ tipn ~f~lJurther~xl?lora ~ in g, wildfires, and droughts­ tion " )i> all factors cllat usually have a r '·r' '1~li!sSiOf} \ FI'(J)we ~s is'the,most negative effect on plants­ increased clle penstemon's habitat earlier clus century. Since cllen, however, bet­ 'bit1 pr;~he.nSi:ve "w6rk range management has reduced erosion to me point that fewer man 7,000 plants ~ n ~ the ~ubjeqt 1~ ~ ore than fifty years." '~ . in seven main population centers. The species is also plagued by fuucky seed gem1.ination. The presence of chemical Arr;eric~n HorticultJ~ist (review6of tl)e ~first\ .~. IUUUV.' LV .' J means dut seeds require extremely wet spring weacller. Because the plan ts edition) ii' ~ in almost pure sand, well-timed rains are critical to survival . l ' • J "Our goal is to reach 15,000 plants," says James Stubbendieck, a range ecolo- This 'edition adds 53 wim clle university. "rfwe can get clu t many it would move me blowout pen­ new species, pringing from endangered status to threatened status." The researchers also plan to the total ,l1 umber of dle range of me species by transplan ring seedlings to widely separated loca­ species lIocumented each year. to over i50, and includes new;color 41 ·1.,'¢,l pt;1Otograpbs. TOe ,book Holidays. Wing Haven Gardens, WEST COAST .~ ,t' n~w~ illu ~trates ~flearly Charlotte, North Carolina. (704) a qu ~ rte! of al '~ known 331-0664. NOV. 4 . Dividing Perennials. First sPEtcies ,"ln NOV. 16-17 . New Plant Medicines Saturday talk by Mary Brosius. Descanso ad ,~itio from Old Cultures. Symposium . Gardens, La Canada Flintridge, thel:t , ar~ 50. ~~Y' ,J Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, California. (818) 952-4401. drawlDgs" all sh · , Georgia. (404) 876-5859 ext. 226. NOV. 7-10 • Fall Plant Festival. The cased) fl' ~ ,;. . ·'>~r"~ DEC. 7 . Holiday Decoration Huntington, San Marino, California. fo rm ,\t,"'}' , Workshop with Kathleen Thompson. (818) 405-2141 . Johl1 ~ de North Carolina State University NOV. 30 . Children's Gardens. owne· p~f :: . ' '~J~{~$ Arboretum, Raleigh, North Carolina. Lecture. The Huntington, San Marino, Nursetie T (919) 515-7641 . California. (818) 405-2141 . leadrn~ a DEC. 8-MAR. 1997 • Splendor DEC. S • The Living Wreath. Garden ~~ ~ . ':-'i-f (\.-y' pa · tOi'!t. d Under Glass. Orchid display. Atlanta talk and sale featuring Teddy Colbert. , '.,(jY. "', • or 'ot iopal Botanical Garden, Atlanta, Georgia. The Huntington, San Marino, California. R~'~'$iJloJa (404) 876-5859. (818) 405-2141. lIectlo. fv:P,1·"f ,. ,.". . .. at KjngstonS~ym(f ' ' DEC. 7 • Holidays in the \, -.::~"" ~r;: ,1''' .. t.~.!:.(". SOUTHWEST Garden. Herbal crafts demonstra­ " 224 pp., Z57: iIIl!s ..\ ~01 · co tions. The Arboretum of Los $40 I l·· ~rd NOV. 8-9 • Old City, New Adventure. Angeles County, Arcadia, To order call 8

November / D ece mber 1 996 TH E AM ER I CAN G A RD ENER 59 HOUSE PLANTS ORCHIDS, GESNERIADS, BEGONIAS, CAC­ T I AND SUCCULENTS. Visitors welcome. 1996-1997 catalog, $2. LAURAY OF SALIS­ BURY, 432 U ndermountain Rd., Salisbury, CT 06068, (860) 435-2263.

HYDRANGEAS a look at current offerings EXCEPTIONAL AND BEAUTIFUL HY­ DRANGEA species and cultivars. 'Grayswood', from the marketplace 'Lil acina', 'Veitchii', 'Beni Gaku', 'Ami Pasquier', 'Madame E. Mouillere', 'Preziosa', Schizoph,'agma spp., Decumaria spp. Many oth­ ers. Catalog $2 (refundable "vith order). WILK­ CLASSIFIED AD RATES: All classified adl'e1'­ Hortica: Color Cyclopedia of Garden Flora ERSON MILL GARDENS, 9595 Wilkerson with Hardiness Zones and Indoor Plants, tising must be prepaid. $2 pel' word; minim~tm Mill Road, Palmetto, GA 30268. 8,100 color photos by Dr. A. B. Graf, $238. $50 pel' insel,tion. Copy and prepayment must T1'opica 4: 7,000 color photos of plants and be l'eceived on the 20th of the month three PLANTS (UNUSUAL) trees for warm environments, $165. months pl,io1' to publication date. Send O1'del's JOY CREEK NURSERY perennials and native Exotic House Plants: 1,200 photos, 150 in to : AHS Adlle1'tising Office, 4350 DiPaolo plants. Catalog $2, refundable. JOY CREEK color, with keys to care, $8.95. NURSERY, Bin 2,20300 N.W. Watson Rd., Center, Suite B, Glenview, IL 60025, 01' call Shipping additional. Circula1'Sgladvy sent. Scappoose, OR 97056. (847) 699-1707. ROEHRS CO., Box 125, East Rutherford, NJ NATIVE PLANTS-nursery-propagated and 07073. (201) 939-0090. FAX (201) 939-0091. THE AVANT GARDENER grown in containers! Also hostas, water-loving DON'T MISS THE BEST! Subscribe to Ameri­ plants, and unusual perennials. Catalog $1. ca's liveliest gardening publication. Every month PINE RIDGE GARDENS, 832AG Sycamore "the unique horticultural news service" brings Road, , AR 72847-8767. Plant Trees for America N you the latest on new plants, products, tech­ To receive 10 free Colorado blue spruces, niques' with sources, feature articles, special is­ TRAVEL send a $10 membership contribution to: sues. 28th year. Curious? Sample copy $2. COSTA RICA FLORA AND FAUNA-Small Serious? $ 14 full year (regularly $20). THE groups with bilingual naturali st guide enjoy ~ The National }­ AVANT GARDENER, Box 489M, New York, ~ Arbor Day Foundation ., spectacular biodiversity in rain forests, gardens 100 Arbor Avenue, Nebraska City. NE 68410 . NY 10028. and coasts. January or March 1997. COSTA RICA NATURALLY, (617) 934-5200. CACTI AND SUCCULENTS RARE AND EXOTIC PLANTS from around ~ Save the Manatee®Club the world. Catalog $2, refundable. ABBEY 500 N. Maitland Ave. GARDEN CACTUS, P.O. Box 2249, La The Gardens of Europe ~ Maitland, FL 32751 Habra, CA 90632-2249, (3 10) 905-3520. FAX Visit Europes jilles! gardens (md a riclJ llarie!), ofc u/luml (lnd 1-800-432-JOIN (5646) bisloric siles. TOll r ((/ a civilized pace wit/) (I small group. ~ (3 10) 905-3522. http://www.objectlinks.com/manatee Holland in Springtime.ntlips at Keukenhof· Windmills, CACTUS-I0-inch GOLD BARRELS potted countryside and canals · TIle Hague, Amsterdam and shipped UPS in the USA for $35. Includes Villas and Gardens of Italy. The llIkes • Renaissance care instructions and list of other specimen cac­ villas • Medireval tOll11S of'fuscany . Venice, florence, Rome tus we have. Ideal for landscaping, sun room, Provence and Cote d' Azur. Meditemlll C'dn gardens lobby, etc. Aloe vera free, ask. SOUTHWEST­ • Roman and Medireval towns . Monaco , Cannes, Nice ERN CACTUS GROWERS, #19 Havasu Chateaux and Gardens of France. Castles of the Loire Heights, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86404. (520) • Countryside of Normandy· Giverny • Pmis 764-3845. Gardens of Paris. Bagatelle · L'Hay-les-Roses • Versailles · Malmaison • Giverny COMPUTER SOFTWARE Callfor a brocbure (800) 505-2505 ENTER THE PERENNIAL, software for IBMs and compatibles. Describes and sorts over 5,000 lL~~&~ perennials by color, height, bloom time, Sl1l1 and soil requirements. For FREE demo diskette Are you looking (specify 3 1/2" or 5lj4"), contact: THE DE­ for a rare gift this SIGNING GARDENER, P.O. Box 837, Dept. holiday season? For A, Harrison, NY 10528, (914) 698-7425. "MR. BUD" THE WONDER $20, you can adopt a GARDEN TOURS manatee for someone you NEW ZEALAND GARDEN TOUR with Vic­ love. Your contribution tory Garden host Jim Wilson, January 1997. Pri­ will go toward efforts to vate gardens. Scenic highlights. KIWIPAC protect endangered manatees TOURS, (415) 595-2090. and .. . For Serious Gardeners Native and Exotic Plants Love Comes in Ferns, trees, shrubs, palms, perennials, vines, yuccas, grasses. Many hardy northward. 1,000 Pound Packages Catalog of more than 1,000 plants: $2.00 Woodlanders, Inc. (No Batteries Needed) 1128 Colleton Ave. Aiken, SC 29801

60 TH E AM E RIC A N GAR DEN E R November/December 1 996 Bouteloua curtipendula boo-teh-LOO-uh kur-tih-PEN-dyew-lull Cladrastis kentukea kla-DRAS-tis ken-TUK-ee-uh Deschampsia caespitosa deh-SHAMP-see-uh sez-pih -TO H -suh Euonymus Jortunei yew-ON-ill-mus for-TEW-nee-eye Gardenia augusta gar-DEEN-yuh aw-GUS-tul1 G. jasminoides var. Jortuniana G. jaz- mill-NOY-deez var. for-tew-nee-AN-ull Ge'l-tm triflorum JEE-lun try-FLOR-W11 Heuchera americana HYEW-ker-uh ul1 -mair-ill-KAN-uh a simple speaking guide to Lamium maculatum LAM-ee-um mak-yew-LAY-tum plants found in this issue Limonium carolinianum lili-MO-nee-lU11 Acer saccharinum keh-ro-lin-ee-AN-nwn AY-sur sak-uh-RYE-nwn Lycopodium obscurum Aegopodium podagraria ly-ko-PO-dee-wn ob-SKYUR-W11 ee-go-PO-dee-lun Lysimachia clethroides po-duh-GRAR-ee-uh liss-ill-MAHK-ee-lll Allium tricoccum kleth-ROY-deez AL-ee-um tri-KOK-um Pachypodium Alternanthera pak-il1 -PO-dee- WTI al-tur-NAN-thur-uh Pycnanthemum virginianum Angelica atropurpurea pik-NAN-thull-mwn an-JEL-ih-kuh vir-jin-ee-AN-lU11 at-ro-per-PER-ee-uh Pyrus calleryana Asarum europaeum PY-rus kal-lur-ee-AN-uh uh-SAR-wn yew-ro-PEE-lun Sabatia angularis Araucaria araucana suh-BAY-shull ang-yew-LAIR-iss ah-raw-KAIR-ee-uh ah-raw-KAN-uh Salix alba var. argentea SAY-liksAL-bull var. ar-JEN-tee-uh bo-KAR-nee-uh S. caprea S. KAP-ree-ull S. discolor What's in a Name: S. DIS-kul-ur Scutellaria incana S. gracilistyla var. melanostachys S. grull-sil-ili-STY-lull cutellaria incana is native to var. mel-an-o-STAY-kiss northeastern North America from S. matsudana 5Ontario south to Virginia and S. maht-soo-DAH-nuh west as far as Missouri. The genus S. sachalinensis name is the dirnil1utive form of the S. sal1-kah-lili-NEN-sis Latin word scutellus) which means flat S. udensis dish or saucer, apparently in reference S. YEW-den-sis to the shallow pouch formed by the Scutellaria incana £i:uiring calyx of most members of the skoo-tul1-LAIR-ee-uh il1-KAN-uh genus. The species name, derived £i:om Solidago rigida a Latin word meaning hoary or gray, sol-ili-DAY-go RIJ-ili-duh refers to the pubescent, gray flower corolla. Members of the genus are stron-GEE-lo-don mak-ro-BOT-ris commonly known as skullcaps beCatlSe Theobroma cacao of the resemblance of the inverted thee-o-BRO-mul1 kuh-KAY-o calyx to a helmet. Trichostema dichotomum try-ko-STEE-mul1 dy-KOT-o-mlU11

Novemberl D e ce mb el' 1996 THE AMERICAN GARDENER 61 Front-Yard Makeover," Feb., 41. Robinson, Betsy, "If You Have Plants, "Outlawing Sneeze Trees," They Will Come," Nov/Dec., 7. Sept./Oct., l 1. Rossi, Gail, and Judith Meyer, "Where Foster, Steven, Review: The H erb Society There's a Will ... ," Sept./Oct., 61. ofAmerica Encyclopedia ofHerbs and Simpson, Rob, "Mushrooms in My Their Uses, May/June, 54. Mulch," Nov./Dec., 16. France, Joan, "Legacy," Feb., 6. Skaggs, Kevin, "Growing Herbs with Geneve, Robert, "Desperately Seeking Hydroponics," Feb., 9. AUTHOR Cerulean," July/Aug., 39. Stein, Sara, "Questions of Collection," Adams, Lowell W., Reviews: Gardening Green, Thomas L., Proven Performers: Nov./Dec., 24. "The Weeds of Hal­ with Wildlife, Natural Gardening, "Crabapples," Feb., 19. loween," Sept./Oct., 16. and The Wildlife Garden: Planning Hageman, Marie D. and Anna R., Sternberg, Guy, "Quirky Galls," Backyard Habitats, Nov/Dec., 52. "Using Rock for a Hard Place," May/June, 10. Archuleta, Lori S., "Making Those Sept./Oct., 12. Thornton, Linda, "High Desert Perma­ Owl Decoys Work For You," Henning, Jack, "Just Green," culture," May/June, 16. May /June, 7. July/Aug., 32. Tucker, Arthur 0 ., "Great Taxonomic Ballard, Linda G., "Vegetables Under Hill, Bob, "Don Shadow Knows," Gaffes," May/June, 46. "Putting Glass," Nov/Dec., 12. Sept/Oct.,44. Plants in Their Place," May/June, 47. Batdorf, Lynn R., Proven Performers: Hinkley, Daniel, Review: The Year in Wasowski, Andy, "Beauty Beyond Blue­ "Boxwood," Feb., 24. Trees, July/Aug., 56. grass," May/June, 24. Boasberg, Sarah S., Review: The Collec­ Hodel, Donald R., Proven Perfomers: Williamson, Nikole, "A Ranch Retreat," tor's Garden: Designing with Extra01'­ "Palms," Feb., 32. Feb., 11. "Outer 'Sanctums," dinary Plants, July/Aug., 54. Houk, Rose, "Cactus Chronicles," July/Aug., 12. Brown, Kyle E., Review: Palms Through­ Sept./Oct., 24. Wynn, Kimberly, "Not Your Father's out the World, July/Aug., 57. Howe, Carol, "Coy Climbers," Hazelnut," Feb., 42. Bryan, John E., "Dietes, the Peacock May/Jlme, 40. Flower," Sept./Oct., 31. Huck, Terri J., "Robots in the Flower Cabot, Francis H., Review: Rock Garden Bed," July/Aug., 52. "Landscaping SUBJECT Plants of North America, Nov/Dec., Nebraska Communities," May/June, Blue Flowers: "Desperately Seeking 54. 58. Review: Kate Furbish and the Cerulean," July/Aug., 39. Christenson, Eric A., Review: Manual of Flora ofMaine, Feb., 15. Book Reviews: Adventures ofa Gardener, Orchids, Sept/Oct., 54. Iverson, Richard R., "Tradescantias Un­ Sept./Oct., 54. The Collector's Gar­ Creech, John L., Review: Adventures ofa bound," July/Aug., 44. den: Designing with Extraordinary Gardener, Sept./Oct., 54. Keyser, Joseph M., Review: The Native Plants, July/Aug., 54. Conifers: The Cutler, Karan Davis, "Tim-ber!," Plant Primer, May/J une, 53. Illustrated Encyclopedia, Nov/Dec., Nov./Dec.,40. "Worms in the Classroom," 53. The Herb Society ofAmerica Ency­ den Boer, John H., Review: Flowering Nov/Dec., 14. clopedia ofHerbs and Their Uses, Crabapples: The Genus Malus, Kleine, Adele, "Sculptural Willow May/June, 54. Flowering Crabapples: May/June, 52. Shrubs," Nov./Dec., 35. The Genus Malus, May/June, 52. A Dub€!, Richard L., "Killer Trees," Klemmer, Cynthia Davis, "Ecosystems on Gardener Obsessed, Feb., 17. Garden­ Nov./Dec., 18. Reviews: The Inward Wheels," July/Aug., 10. ingf01' Wildlife, Nov/Dec., 52. Kate Garden and The Outdoor Room, Kvaalen, Ruth, "Help for tl1e Binomially Furbish and the Flora ofMaine, Feb., Feb., 15. Challenged," May/June, 48. 15. Manual of Orchids, Sept/Oct., Dufresne, Richard, "Scanning Flowers for Lee, Rand B., "Moon Pie," July/Aug., 7. 54. The Native Plant Primer, Fun and Profit," May/June, 50. Loewer, Pet er, "From Seed to Shining May/June, 53. Natural Gardening, Ellis, David J., "Avent Gardeners," Seed," Sept./Oct., 34. "The Yucca Nov./Dec., 52. The Outdoor Room, Sept/Oct., 14. "Avoiding Wild-Col­ Moths," July/Aug., 11 . Feb., 15. Palms Throughout the World, lected Bulbs," Sept./Oct., 8. "Flights Martin, Susan, Review: Conifers: The Il­ July/Aug., 57. Rock Garden Plants of of Horticultural Fancy," July/Aug., lustrated Encyclopedia, Nov./Dec., 53. North America, Nov/Dec., 54. The 14. "Glasshouse Works: The Secret's Martin, Tovah, Proven Performers: "Vio­ 3,000 Mile Garden, Sept./Oct., 56. Out," Nov./Dec., 10. "Haute Cou­ lets," Feb., 29. The Wildlife Garden: Planning Back­ ture Horticulture," May/June, 14. Meyer, Judith, and Gail Rossi, "Where yard Habitats, Nov./Dec., 52. The "Hornet Bite is Bad for Bark," Feb., There's a Will ... ," Sept/Oct., 61. Year in Trees, July/Aug., 56. 13. "New Elms Show Promise," Minnich, Jeffrey, "Good-bye, Yellow Botanical Nomenclature: "Cultivated July/Aug., 15. "An Oasis in Nevada," Brick Road," Sept./Oct., 7. Plant Code Revised," May/June, 49. May/June, 9. "Short-Season Special­ Nixon, Will, "Garden Jekyll, Forest "Great Taxonomic Gaffes," ists," Jan., 6. "Taking the Sting Out Hyde," July/Aug., 49. May/June, 46. "Help for the Binomi­ of Nettles," Sept/Oct., 10. O'Brien, Bart, Review: A Gardener Ob­ ally Challenged," May/June, 48. Feeney, Stephanie, Review: The 3, 000 sessed, Feb., 17. "Much Ado About Tms," May /Jlme, Mile Garden, Sept./Oct., 56. Pascaris, Peter A., "Cheaper Than Dirt," 50. "Putting Plants in Their Place," Fisher, Kathleen, "The Bear, the Beans, May/June, 12. May/June, 47. "Utter Nonsense," the Compost Queen," July/Aug., 26. Ramirez, Alice L., "Firescaping," May/June, 47. "By Plants Possessed," Feb., 37. "A July/Aug., 17. Boxwood: "Boxwood," Feb., 24.

62 THE AMERICAN GARDENER November/ December 1996 Cacti: "Cactus Chronicles," Sept./Oct., 9. Tweedia, May/June, 49. "Living Mulch," Sept./Oct., 53. Sept./Oct., 24. 8. Voodoo Lily, Sept./Oct., 9. Water­ "Love Thy Enemy," Sept./Oct., 51. Children and Gardening: "A Ranch Re­ Loving House Plants, May/Jlme, 8. "New Mulch is Old News," treat," Feb., 11. "Ecosystems on Yellowwood, Jan., 5. Sept./Oct., 51. Wheels," July/Aug., 10. "Worms in Gardening Resources: "Found: The Seed Native Plants: "Cactus Chronicles," the Classroom," Nov./Dec., 14. Guild," July/Aug., 62. "Gardener's Sept./Oct., 24. "Coy Climbers," Chl:J rch Gardening: "Outer Sanctums," Source Guide," July/Aug., 61. May/June, 40. "An Oasis in Neva­ July/Aug., 12. "Guides to Germination," Jan ., 9. da," May/June, 9. "New Stokes' Clematis: "Coy Climbers," "Magnolia List," July/Aug., 62. Aster," Sept./Oct., 59. May/June, 40. "New Andersen Sonrce List," Nebraska: "Landscaping Nebraska Com­ Community Gardens: "The Bear, the July/Aug., 61. "Nortl1ern Rose munities," May/June, 58. Beans, the Compost Queen," Grower Guide," July/Aug., 62. Nevada: "An Oasis in Nevada," July/Aug., 26. "Landscaping Nebras­ "Ornamental Grasses for Cold May/June, 9. ka Communities," May/June, 58. Climes," Jan., 35 . New York: "The Bear, the Beans, tl1e Computers: "Flowering Plant Gateway: Green Flowers: "Just Green," Compost Queen," July/Aug., 26. the Next Hortus Third?," Nov./Dec., July/Aug., 32. North Carolina: "Stowe Botanical 48. "New Frontiers," Nov./Dec., 50. Ground Covers: "Beauty Beyond Blue­ Garden Implements Master Plan," "Pointers for Surfers," Nov./Dec., grass," May/June, 24. Jan., 34. 50. "Robots in the Flower Bed," Hazelnuts: "Not Your Father's Hazel­ Palms: "Palms," Feb., 32. July/Aug., 52. "Scanning Flowers for nut," Feb., 42. Pennsylvania: "By Plants Possessed," Fun and Profit," May/June, 50. Health: "Outlawing Sneeze Trees," Feb., 37. Conservation Efforts: "Avoiding Wild­ Sept./Oct., 11. "Taking the Sting Penstemons: "Nebraska Penstemon Collected Bulbs," Sept./Oct., 8. "An Out of Nettles," Sept./Oct., 10. Restoration," Nov./Dec., 59. "Pen­ Oasis in Nevada," May/Jw1e, 9. Hedges and Screens: "Life Beyond tl1e stemon Cultivar 'Plant of the Year, '" "Questions of Collection," Leyland Cypress," May/Jw1e, 29. Jan., 40. Nov./Dec., 24. Herbs: "Growing Herbs with Hydropon­ Permaculture: "High Desert Permacul­ Crabapples: "Crabapples," Feb., 19. ics," Feb., 9. ture," May/June, 16. Dietes: "Dietes, the Peacock Flower," House Plants: "IfYou Have Plants, They Pollination: "Pollinators at the National Sept./Oct., 31. Will Come," Nov./Dec., 7. "Trades­ Zoo," July/Aug., 60. "The Yucca Earthworms: "All Washed Up," cantias Unbound," July/Aug., 44. Moths," July/Aug., 11. July/Aug., 52. "Earthworm Fac­ Insecticides: "Will Rotenone Bite tl1e Private Gardens: "By Plants toids," July/Aug., 53. "Garden Dust?," Jan., 40. Possessed," Feb., 37. Jekyll, Forest Hyde," July/Aug., 49. Insects: "Hornet Bite is Bad for Bark," Seeds: "From Seed to Shining Seed," "Killer Worms," July/Aug., 51. "No Feb., 13. "Ladew Battles Woolly Sept./Oct., 34. "Guides to Germina­ More Tills," July/Aug., 52. "Why Adelgid," Jan., 33. "The Yucca tion," Jan., 9 . Encourage Earthworms? ," July/Aug., Moths," July/Aug., 11. Shadow, Don: "Don Shadow Knows," 50. "Worms in the Classroom," Integrated Pest Management: "Biodiver­ Sept./Oct., 44. Nov./Dec., 14. sity in me Orchard," Jan., 40. Shrubs: "Bc£ore the Joneses Get One," Endangered Plants: "An Oasis in Neva­ Invasive Plants: "No Ivy League," July/Aug., 61. "Life Beyond the da," May/June, 9. "Questions of July/Aug., 61. "Weeds of Hal­ Leyland Cypress," May/June, 29. Collection," Nov./Dec., 24. loween," Sept./Oct., 16. "Sculptural Willow Shrubs," Fire: "Firescaping," July/Aug., 17. Landsca'ping: "By Plants Possessed," Nov./Dec., 35. Fungi: "Construction Spreading Oak Feb., 37. "Firescaping," July/Aug., Tradescantias: "Tradescantias WilL," Jan., 34. "Mushrooms in My 17. "A Front-Yard Makeover," Feb., Unbound," July/Aug., 44. Mulch," Nov./Dec., 16. 41. "Using Rock for a Hard Place," Trees: "Biodiversity in tl1e Orchard," Galls: "Quirky Galls," May/June, 10. Sept./Oct., 12. Jan., 40. "Construction Spreads Oak Gardeners' Information Service: Ameri­ Lawn: "Beauty Beyond Bluegrass," Wilt," Jan., 34. "Crabapples," Feb., can and English Hollies, Feb., 8. Bird May/June, 24. "Lawns with Less 19. "Hornet Bite is Bad for Bark," Sanctuary, May/June, 8. Buckeye Water," July/Aug., 60. Feb., 13. "Killer Trees," Nov./Dec., Trees, Feb., 8. Caladiums, Mail-O ~der Nurseries: "Avent Garden­ 18. "Ladew Battles Woolly Adelgid," Nov./Dec., 9. Dead Nettles, Jan., 5. ers," Sept./Oct., 14. "Flights ofHor­ Jan., 33. "Life Beyond the Leyland Fasciation, July/Aug., 9. Gardenias, ticultural Fancy," July/Aug., 14. Cypress," May/June, 29. "New Elms Nov./Dec., 9. Gorminating Pecan "Glasshouse Works: The Secret's Show Promise," July/Aug., 15. Nuts, July/Aug., 9. Hyacinth Beans, Out," Nov./Dec., 10. "Haute Cou­ "Outlawing Sneeze Trees," )ian., 5. Japanese Persimmon, ture Horticultu];e," May/June, 14. Sept./Oct., 11 . "Palms," Feb., 32. July/Aug., 9. Malanga and Yu.ca, "Short-Season Specialists," Jan., 6. "Quirky Galls," May/June, 10. July/Aug., 9. Marionberry, Maine: "Where There's a Will ... ," Vegetables: "Vegetables Under Glass," May/JURe, 8. Monkey-Puzzle Tree, Sept./Oct., 61. Nov./Dec., 12. Nov./Dec., 9. Mountain Mist, Mulch: "After Mulch Refl ection ... ," Violets: "Violets," Feb., 29. Nov./Dec., 9. Sawdust Mulch, Feb., Sept. /Oct., 52. "Cheaper Than Western Gardening: "Cactus Chroni­ 8. Southern Magnolia, Jan., 5. Sow Dirt," May/June, 12. "The Cypress cles," Sept./Oct., 24. "Firescaping," Bugs, Sept./Oct., 9. Spittlebugs, Controversy," Sept./Oct., 50. July/Aug., 17. "High Desert Pwna­ Sept./Oct., 9. Spruce Trees, "Homemade Mulch," Sept./Oct., culture," May/June, 16.

Novembe1'/Decembe1' 1996 T H E AMERICAN GARDENER 63