NEWSLETTER OF THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF MARYLAND, INC. | MAY 2020
With Maryland and much of the world in lockdown from the coronavirus pandemic, it’s hard to know what lies ahead.
But even with almost everything canceled or postponed, there is no stopping Spring 2020. The flowers are blooming, the trees are leafing out. There is beauty to be seen and what a balm it is in these uncertain times.
We hope for health and normalcy soon. Until then, keep gardening, enjoy the outdoors—and stay safe. Programs & Events A New Vice President for Membership Tool Drive Postponed arah Atherton, a member of the Society for several years, is our The Society’s annual spring Tool Drive Snew vice president for membership. Sarah, who grew up in has been postponed. Members are northwest Washington, D.C., said her love of plants and gardening asked to please keep the Tool Drive in “probably began with a science project on hydroponic gardening” mind for donations of garden tools they no longer use. when she was in the seventh grade. She did her senior internship in the Washington National Cathedral greenhouse and has worked for Annual Plant & Seed Swap other greenhouses and nurseries. She was the volunteer coordinator
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 for the Society’s last three garden tours. Photo: Robin V. Willner 6:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Same night as September lecture, Welcome New Members! details to come. Dorothea Abbott Kate Carski Nicole Haddock Caitlyn Kelley Annual Garden Tour Christina Beneman Rachel Fischer Emily Hanson Chelsea Mahaffey COMING THIS FALL Watch for details. January Plant Forum 2020 Ireland Adventure Trip SEPTEMBER 11-23, 2020 Small-group tour co-sponsored by HSM and the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland. Contact Claire Jones by email at [email protected] or telephone, 443-927-6285, or visit our website.
Fall Lecture Series
Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 8, 7:30 p.m. Left to right: A special thank you to our terrific presenters: Craig Sherman, curator of the Rawlings TERI DUNN CHACE Conservatory’s orchid collection, for his informative talk on Pitcher Plants; Kathy Shea of Green Fields Nursery Seeing Seeds: A Journey into for sharing her passion for Viburnum; and Brent T. Figlestahler, head gardener at Cylburn Arboretum, for sharing new ideas and insights for creating bulb lawns. the World of Seedheads, Pods, Photos: Robin V. Willner and Fruit Tuesday, OCTOBER 13, 7:30 p.m. Home & Garden Show Award MARIANNE WILLBURN collaboration by International Landscaping & Design and the American Landscape Big Dreams, Small Garden: AInstitute won the Society’s “Best Use of Plants” award at the Spring 2020 Maryland A Guide to Creating Something Home and Garden Show. Among the plants used were Lysimachia lanceolata var. Extraordinary in Your Ordinary purpurea, Lanceleaf Loosestrife; Carex plantaginea, Seersucker Sedge; Sedum ternatum Space ‘Larinem Park,’ Three-leaved Stonecrop; and Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina,’ Stonecrop.
Lectures are held in the Vollmer Center auditorium, Cylburn Arboretum, 4915 Greenspring Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21209. Lectures are free for current members; non-members pay $10 at the door. Seating is limited, first come first served.
For more information, visit mdhorticulture.org
Cover Photo: Paula A. Simon, featuring Cercis canadensis, Red Bud Tree Photos: Peter Bieneman
2 Plant Profile Ginkgo biloba, Ginkgo By Brent T. Figlestahler
ast autumn, I inherited the stewardship conical dense habit of ‘Fairmount’. For those of a grand tree at Cylburn Arboretum: with limited space, dwarf varieties are avail- L the Ginkgo biloba. This is a tree that able such as ‘Gnome,’ ‘Troll’ or ‘Mariken.’ inspires awe and self-reflection. It is a tree Despite our constant attempts at manipula- little changed from the age of dinosaurs, a tion, Ginkgoes are survivors. They appear tree that has been cultivated by humans for to be free of pests and tolerant of air centuries, and somehow a tree we still have pollution. Ginkgo once loomed large in the much to learn about. prehistoric landscape of North America, but Aesthetically, Ginkgo leaves have a propen- glaciation wiped out all in the Ginkgoaceae sity to flutter in the wind. Fall brings about family except the Ginkgo biloba, which was a brief but beautiful golden leaf display. It’s preserved in the temperate unglaciated not unusual to find a golden halo of leaves forests of eastern Asia. The Ginkgo biloba, around Ginkgos as they tend to drop all their the sole remaining genus and species, even leaves in the span of a day or two. With the survived nuclear blasts in Hiroshima. Trade only wedge-shaped leaves of any tree, the Ancient Ginkgo at Cylburn Arboretum eventually returned the Ginkgo to the West Ginkgo stands somewhat awkward on the and in the 18th century became a fashion- landscape. Unique branching habit, plumose foliar pattern able plant with the stateside gardening elite, including and fissured bark give the Ginkgo an uncertain primordial those who helped curate the tree collections at the Tyson beauty, as if one were to put lipstick on a dinosaur. family home, now Cylburn Arboretum. Although I often see ravens atop our tree, I like to imagine Ironically, part of the Ginkgo’s resiliency can be attributed them as pterodactyls instead. to its horticulturally unique mating ritual. The Ginkgo, Unlike the Ginkgo associated with urban streets or dinosaurs, along with cycads, ferns and mosses, relies on sperm to the Cylburn Ginkgo is a great ancient with gawky limbs fertilize the eggs within their seeds. In addition to this and a husky trunk. In the fall, hundreds of malodorous ancient form of reproduction, Ginkgo trees have been fruits litter the ground—it’s a female! These seeds, with known to change sex. Ginkgo are typically dioecious trees, their smelly seed coats, are prized for their perceived meaning that they have male and female reproductive medicinal qualities, but are also structures, occurring on separate trees. However, for yet the main reason why male trees unknown reasons Ginkgo have been developing branches are preferred in most landscapes. of the opposite sex for a complex and culturally sensitive For the Ginkgo, the perceived sex gender reveal. This unique dabbling as a monoecious tree of the tree is the ultimate deter- catches us a little off guard. Not only are we shocked to mining factor in a selection process find fruit where there was none before, but our culturally that favors fruitless, male trees defined categories no longer fit our tree. with a consistent, upright growth Considering the evolutionary history of the Ginkgo reveals for urban streetscapes and our a great deal about ourselves. On one hand, the Ginkgo is gardens. We like predictability in a tree with a solid, literally fossil, record of unflinching our plant material especially identity. On the other hand, the Ginkgo represents an when non-grafted trees can take unknowable future for us to ponder. As we turn to our up to 20 years to reveal their sex. Female tree with fruit surroundings for stability in a turbulent world, consider The typical male Ginkgo has planting a Ginkgo as a symbol of stability and conversely been bred for variegation, tubular and twisted leaf forms, a reminder to contemplate what is beyond our immediate and even leaves without clefts. More predictable growth understanding. After all, what are gardens for? habits have also been achieved. Some notable forms and cultivars include the broad pyramidal form of ‘Autumn Brent T. Figlestahler is the head gardener at Cylburn Arboretum.
Gold,’ the tall columnar form of ‘Princeton Sentry,’ or the Photos: top, Alan Gilbert; bottom, Paula A. Simon
3 Claire enjoying a cascade of Wisteria at Powis Castle in Wales.
Scheme has raised more than 50 million pounds since it raveling to the United began in 1927, and more than a half-million visits occur Kingdom many times each year in more than 3,700 gardens open to the public. over the years and Garden visiting on that scale is unheard of in the rest of avidly visiting its the world, even here in the much larger United States. Tgardens, both grand estates and small allotments, I always Why does Britain have this obsession? Probably climate return home with a renewed plays a large role. The closest comparison of UK weather appreciation for the verve and to U.S. weather would be in the Pacific Northwest. If you passion for gardening that is have ever traveled to that area of the country, you will see encountered only in the UK. extraordinary gardens and plants that you can only Gardening is an obsession with dream about growing elsewhere in the United States. the Brits and since I share that obsession, I can relate to the The hardiness zones determine your frost-free days to culture and the importance that they place on this “hobby.”
Not only is gardening a great practical pastime, but an entire nation engages in the leisure activity of visiting gardens enrolled in the National Garden Scheme. Begun with the aim of “opening gardens of quality, character and interest to the public for charity,” the National Garden
A showy Laburnum arch leads visitors on the Paddock Walk to a wildflower meadow garden in Oxfordshire’s Broughton Grange.
garden and the Pacific Northwest is a temperate zone 8 and zone 9. For comparison here in Maryland, we are a 6b or 7, which means that we get more extremes in weather. Plants don’t like extremes; more moderate temperatures In the Cotswolds, an ancient Cedar of Lebanon tree continues to encourage a wider range of different plants to grow with grace Hidcote’s traditional double herbaceous borders. less effort. The hardiness zones in the UK run the gamut of
4 zone 6 in the Scottish Highlands, to England with the majority in zones 8 and 9. I envy them!
So, mild climate, regular rainfall and a very long growing season: It is no surprise that England has fantastic gardens. When I take visitors to gardens there, they are often surprised when they see flowers that are blooming together, like a Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis) and a tea rose side by side. At home this would not be possible, especially in our unforgiving mid-Atlantic climate. Or you will see palm trees and other tropicals that stay outside all year. Tree Echium (Echium pininana), a native of Spain’s Canary Islands, is a plant that can naturalize in southern Horticultural expertise and creativity meet at England’s fantastic flower shows. Above is a view of the David Harber and Savills Garden at the 2018 Chelsea show.
gardens like Hidcote, East Ruston, Great Dixter and Sissinghurst are trying all kinds of new ideas such as integrating wildflowers and meadows into their formal gardens and borders, an acknowledgement that attracting pollinators is as important as beauty. Beneficial insects are “in” in the UK and you see evidence of their importance everywhere. It could be native bee houses tacked up everywhere, native grasses overtaking tombstones in a graveyard, or lawns converted to native plantings and meadows. Stumperies, naturalistic plantings and a There are always new things to see and new horticultural passion for North American plants are seen in almost methods to discover at one of England’s most acclaimed southern every major garden. gardens, Great Dixter Gardens in East Sussex. Flower shows celebrate the pinnacle of gardening California, and you see it planted extensively in southern achievement and draw hordes of visitors to Chelsea England. An exotic that will merit lots of admiring or Hampton Court to admire perfect examples of pretty comments, this is a favorite plant of many English gardens. much every type of growing thing. Leading tour groups of like-minded gardeners to the UK (but not this year, I gave up long ago looking for gardening on HGTV at alas) has become a ritual as I like to immerse myself home. But in the UK, gardening shows run constantly in the enthusiasm and passion that the British have for with every subject under the sun discussed. Planting seed such a rewarding hobby. I find that American gardeners potatoes? Yes! there will be several shows on that in the can be just as passionate about gardening and am always spring getting you up to speed. And on the subject of gratified when I travel with colleagues who are as excited potatoes, the English are mad about growing and eating as I am about English gardens. potatoes. It is one crop that I viewed everywhere outside my coach window zipping by. And it is the main crop that Most years, Claire Jones, a garden designer and writer, leads tours the English grow on their “allotment,” a large plot of of gardens overseas co-sponsored by the Society and the Federated common ground where they grow all types of “veg.” Garden Clubs of Maryland. Follow her blog on the “ups and A potato exhibit has won the Gold Medal at the Chelsea downs of the gardening world” at TheGardenDiaries. Flower Show for five years running. photos: Claire Jones Cutting-edge garden trends still originate with our friends and allies across the pond. Private and public gardens have Tree Echium (Echium pininana) changed their focus from sustainability to earth stewardship also known as Giant Viper’s-bugloss and regeneration. Progressing far beyond sustainability, Illustration above: Diviant Art
5 Spring Forward By Ann Betten
Editor’s note: As many Maryland gardeners There are Daffodils that bloom at know, Ann Betten, owner of Betten various times during the season. Go Landscape Design, offers wise counsel on to brecks.com, just one of the many her website, bettenlandscapedesign.com. excellent sites for ordering bulbs. Galanthus nivalis, Snow Drops The following is adapted from her Timely There you can select Daffodils, and There are quite a few Galanthus sp. Tips for April. then narrow your search by color, available, but this is the typical plant height, bloom time, etc. I like to that is readily available. At about 6 to 8 inches tall this cute white flower usually s of today, we’re still in business. spread my selections over early, appears in late February/early March. The governor has exempted mid and late spring. When grouping the landscape industry from an your bulbs, I recommend keeping A the bloom time the same within a imposed shutdown, so for now, spring cleanup, spring plantings and lawn group. Group your Daffodils with a care can continue as long as supplies minimum of seven bulbs per group, last. Know that your landscape and space them 3 to 6 inches apart contractors are attempting to main- to allow room for expansion. The tain healthy social distancing when flowers will fade long before the possible. You may want to limit foliage, yet you want the foliage to communications to phone and email remain until it turns yellow so that Chionodoxa forbesii, Early Snow while we attempt to navigate this the maximum amount of energy goes Glories new normal. We are fully aware that back into the bulb for next year. You These petite blue flowers this status could change. have no time to police aging foliage? always make me smile as I pass on my Simply place your Daffodils where morning walk. They have no trouble On a more pleasant note, what a joy other plants will grow later in the moving about and eventually filling to see our gardens coming back to season to hide the leaves. up a space. At only 4 to 5 inches tall, life. If you are lucky enough to have somehow they manage to show up Edgeworthia chrysantha, Paperbush, even in the woods, above a blanket of you have been treated to a wonder- leaves. They can easily be tolerated in fully fragrant few weeks. the middle of lawn areas, since the flowers are almost always finished Spring Flowering Bulbs before the lawnmowers need to arrive. and Ephemerals
Now is the perfect time to plan for the spring-flowering bulbs you’ll want to plant in October. Walk Eranthis cilicica, Winter Aconite around your property. Put some This small ground-hugger-type plant brightly painted small stakes in the is only about 3 inches tall, but with a ground where you think you’d like to bright yellow flower that stands out see flowers next year. Color code the when all around is a drab, winter stakes so you’ll remember what you gray. The foliage will disappear by Leucojum aestivum, Summer had in mind. For instance, use yellow mid to late spring, and doesn’t seem Snowflakes The foliage for this for Daffodils, white for Snow Drops, to bother most other plants in the Leucojum appears at the same time as and blue for Chionodoxa. vicinity. This is one of the first flowers the Daffodils, but the delicate, white, to appear. bell flowers usually wait until most of the Daffodils are finished before they appear.
Photos: All WikiCommons; above, Geolina163; right top, HZell; right middle, MagnusHagdorn; right bottom, HZell 6 Editor’s note: This article first appeared in a 2002 issue of the Society newsletter, not Early June yet known as The Hort Report. Jean and Aconitum carmichaelii, Monkshood: Sidney Silber maintained a spectacular Cut in half. garden in Baltimore County for many Boltonia asteroids, False Aster: years. When Jean Silber closed the garden Cut back one-third. in 2015, after her husband’s death, many Chrysanthemum ‘Hillside Sheffield of its plants were sold for the benefit of Pink’: Shear in half. the Horticultural Society of Maryland. Salvia yangii, Russian Sage: Cut in half when one foot tall. utlined below is a schedule Solidago, Goldenrod: Cut in half. that we developed for the O Trollius europaeus, Globe Flower: perennials we grow. We have Cut back to basal foliage and feed. detailed when and to what degree each of our perennials is cut back. Veronica, Speedwell: Shear back after flowering. This list is limited to the plants we grow and is by no means complete. June Modification of this schedule will Baptisia australis, False Indigo: result from your own experience along Cut back one third after flowering. with unusual weather conditions. Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower: Geum coccineum, Avens: Cut back to I recommend an outstanding book on Prune-cut foreground back about half. basal foliage when finished flowering. this subject for your further edification: Eupatorium maculatum ‘Gateway,’ Joe Pye Tracy DiSabato-Aust’s The Well-Tended Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’: Weed: Cut in half when two feet tall. Perennial Garden (Timber Books, 1998). Cut back old stems, when finished Filipendula rubra ‘Venusta,’ Queen of flowering, to basal foliage. Early May the Prairie: When foliage declines, cut Salvia x sylvestrus ‘May Night,’ back to ground. Wood Sage: Shear to basal foliage after Digitalis purpurea, Foxglove: Deadhead Geraniums: Except for G. macrorrhizum, initial bloom. when three-fourths of the flowering Bigroot Geranium, and G. x cantagbrigiense spike is finished. Then cut back to Valerian officinalis: Valerian: Cut back ‘Biokovo,’ Hardy Geranium: Shear to basal foliage. to ground after flowering. basal foliage after bloom finishes. Nepeta sibirica ‘Souvenir d’Andre Vernonia noveboracensis, New York Chaudron,’ Nepeta: Cut in half. Heliopsis helianthoides ‘Summer Sun,’ Ironweed: Cut back by 2 feet. Oxeye Sunflower: Cut in half. Dead-head to reduce seeding. Phlox paniculata, Garden Phlox: Cut in half. Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Becky,’ Shasta Daisy: Cut in half in irregular Phlox carolina ‘Miss Lingard’: Cut in half. Mid-June sequence in May. Asters: Cut in half. Physostegia virginiana, Obedient Plant: Rudbeckia nitida ‘Herbstonne,’ Autumn Cut in half. Asteromea mongolica, Japanese Aster: Sun Coneflower: Cut in half. Cut in half. Hylotelephium herbstfreude ‘Autumn Joy,’ Thalictrum rochebrunianum, ‘Lavender Stonecrop: Pinch back one-third to Mist’: Pinch or cut back in half. control height. July Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’: Pinch back Tradescantia virginiana, Virginia Achillea fillipendulina ‘Coronation Gold’: one-third to control height. Spiderwort: Cut back in half for more Cut back to basal foliage after bloom. compact plants. Then cut to basal Achillea millefolium ‘Moonshine’: May foliage when flowering finishes. Cut back to basal foliage after bloom. Veronicastrum virginicum, Culver’s Digitalis purpurea, Foxglove: Deadhead Echinops ritro, Small Globe Thistle: After Root: Cut plants back by half before when three-fourths of the flowering flowering cut back to basal foliage. bloom for more compactness. Cut old spike is finished. Then cut back to blackened foliage to new basal growth. basal foliage. Illustration: VectorStock
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2020 Winter Seminar Highlights
OFFICERS Peter Bieneman, President Paula A. Simon, Vice President for Programs Sarah Atherton, Vice President for Membership Bill Yonkers, Secretary / Treasurer
BOARD MEMBERS Helene Clapperton Catherine Cook Jennifer Forrence Nancy Raskin Pat Sherman Mary Jo Sherrod Lenel Srochi-Meyerhoff Marilyn Vantosh
HONORARY MEMBERS Leigh Barnes Max Bloom Muffin Dell Clockwise from top left: Presenters Barbara Katz, Gregg Tepper and Hanna Packer; attendees Caitlin Anderson, Wendy John T. Fitzpatrick, Ph.D. Brister, James Watkins and Alex Wiitala; presenter Jared Barnes and Janet Draper; attendees mingle during a break; Bridget Maginn Cavano’s artful display of Hellebores and ferns; speaker Ethan Kauffman with Taylor Pilker of Cavano’s Perennials, the Pauline Vollmer current PPA Mid-Atlantic Region Director. Rose Wolford
NEWSLETTER he Society’s 2020 Sidney Sustainable Horticulture Harry Merritt, Editor Silber Scholarship winner program at the Community Paula A. Simon, Designer Twas Alex Wiitala, a student College of Baltimore County. VOLLMER CENTER GARDEN in the American Landscape She was to graduate with a Peter Bieneman, Manager Institute program. certificate in horticulture at the Jackson Lehman, Gardener end of May. MEMBERSHIP The Silber honor, named in For information about memory of one of the Society’s She also worked at Hampton membership or to join, please staunchest supporters, pays the National Historic Site, a job that email Sarah Atherton at entrance fee to the annual Winter ended just before the seminar. [email protected]. Seminar co-sponsored by the The following week, Alix started Benefits of Membership Society and the Perennial Plant a new job at Lauren’s Garden Newsletters, admission to the Association. Service and Native Plant Nursery spring and fall lectures and Scholarship winner, Alex Wiitala the annual garden tour; and in Howard County. Her goals Alex, who is from Forest Hill in discounts on workshops, include working with native plants and Harford County, earned a degree in history, trips and special events. pollinators and designing gardens. then worked at Best Buy. After some time working in retail, “I realized I really wanted a “I have a fierce determination to learn all I © THE HORTICULTURAL big change,” she said in a brief interview the can about each type of plants, whether it be SOCIETY OF MARYLAND, INC. day of the seminar. “I saved up a lot of money trees, shrubs, perennials or annuals,” Alix Mailing address: P.O. Box 4213 and traveled the United States” in 2018. When wrote in her application for the Silber honor. Lutherville, MD 21093-4214 she returned to Maryland, she began looking “… I love the drastic differences between Telephone: 410-821-5561 at career options. She had a strong interest in all the plants that fit into the perennial www.mdhorticulture.org plants and in the outdoors. She heard about category. Some of my favorites are grasses, The Horticultural Society of Maryland, Inc. ALI and signed up, taking courses in the ferns and flowering pollinators.” is a 501 (c) (3) educational organization. Photos: Paula A. Simon
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