RICHARD DYSART Gardener, Actor
"Filming can take a lot out of you.
Gardening puts it back. Its rewards are many. Its bountiful
beauty nourishes my body and my soul.
My dad loved his garden. He introduced me to Miracle-Gro
many years ago. I've been using it ever since."
MIRACLE-GRO eric• an Horticulturist Volume 71, Number 8 August 1992
ARTICLES Sex Partners by Richard Devine ...... 12 The marriage between flowering plants and animal pollinators is full of passionate attraction and often, deceit.
Where the Wdd lbings Are by Jane Ware ...... 19 Propagating rare plants in botanical gardens may show how to pn~ s~rve them in their native environments.
Barby Walls by Kathleen Yeomans ...... 26 Here are some sharp ideas for discouraging unwanted visitors to your home and garden. AUGUST'S COVER Let's Hear It for Annuals! by Elisabeth Sheldon ...... 32 Photographed by Gwendolyn]. Brand There's a world of one-season plants beyond marigolds and impatiens. Centaurea cyanus, the beloved cornflower, or bachelor's-button, Taming the Texas Madrone brings a sapphire blue to the summer garden. Many of the truest by Marilyn Haddrill ...... 39 blues, and certainly most of those It survived the Ice Age and tolerates drought, but until recently, that will bloom thFough the heat of was thought too difficult to propagate for the garden. late summer, can be found among annuals. The growing popularity of perennials has put annuals in the shade, but beginning on page 32, Elisabeth Sheldon urges us to take a fresh look at the many varieties that can be grown from seed. DEPARTMENTS Commentary ...... 4
Letters ...... 5
Offshoots ...... 6
Book Reviews ...... 9
Classifieds ...... 42
Pronunciations ...... 46 American Horticultural Society
The American Horticultural Society seeks COMMENTARY to promote and recognize excellence in horticulture across America.
OFFICERS 1991-1992 he call for a return to shared values Mr. George C. Ball Jr. is being heard throughout our President country. After 216 years as a na West Chicago, Illinois T Mrs. Helen Fulcher Walutes tion, we have stopped coming together and First Vice President begun falling apart. Instead of hard work Mount Vernon, Virginia and sacrifice, it seems that everyone wants Mr. Richard C. Angino a bigger share of a shrinking pie. The melt Second Vice President Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ing pot is spllintering into multiculturalism, Mr. Elvin McDonald which, while enriching, means that our Secretary culture has to be constantly reinvented. Houston, Texas Shared values are lost. Restlessmess be Mr. Gerald T. Halpin comes the standard for human behavior. Treasurer Alexandria, Virginia Our towns have given way to enormous, sterile malls or cute retail villages with all the charm of a Hollywood movie facade. These rootless wastelands have BOARD OF DIRECTORS no depth. Is it any wonder that few have parks or public gardens? Mrs. Suzanne Bales Bronxville, New York The values embodied in the American Horticultural Society represent Dr. William E. Barrick many of our country's most enduring. One of the great virtues of American Pine Mountain, Georgia culture is that it has spawned many volunteer and member-based organiza Dr. Sher~an Blair Columbus, Ohio tions. Nonprofit institutions do not supply any of the material goods that, Mrs. Mary Katherine Blount in oversupply and abuse, have been so instrumental in spawning our Montgomery, Alabama current values crisis, nor do they exist primarily to provide services. The Mrs. Sarah Boasberg product of a nonprofit organization, writes management expert Peter Washington, D.C. Dr. Henry Marc Cathey Drucker, "is a changed human being." All of them, no matter who their Washington, D.C. members are or what activities they pursue, have a twofold mission: "to Mr. Russell B. Clark satisfy the need of the American people for self-realization, for living out Boston, Massachusetts Mrs. Beverley White Dunn our ideals, our beliefs, our best opinion of ourselves," and "to give Birmingham, Alabama community and common purpose." Dr. John Alex Floyd Jr. Horticulture can elicit many of the virtues one would hope for in a Birmingham, Alabama citizen: a sense of place, a sensitivity to change, a pride in craft and the Mrs. Julia Hobart Troy, Ohio rewards of hard work, patience, and respect for life. It is both an art, Mr. David M. Lilly encouraging creativity, and a science, eschewing extreme positions in favor St. Paul, Minnesota of careful observations and thoughtful reflection. Mr. Lawrence V. Power New York, New York As the harrowing movie The Handmaid's Tale suggests, the only salva Dr. Julia Rappaport tion for our culture is in our guidance of the future generation. If our Santa Ana, California children learn strong values-honesty, patience, courage, hard work, Mrs. Flavia Redelmeier Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada education, self-control-we have a chance for cultural growth, not just Mrs. Jane N. Searff mere survival. If we nurture our children on such universal values, the roots New Carlisle, Ohio of the tree of knowledge will grow stronger. Mrs. Josephine Shanks Houston, Texas Children learn in a gentle way. Gardens are perfect places for instruction, Mrs. Billie Trump not just in plants but in life. In gardens children learn about themselves-a Alexandria, Virginia ' most crucial subject. 1n gardens they have a chance to develop their own Mr. Andre Viette values. With such a solid foundation, children will be less susceptible to Fishersville, Virginia Ms. Katy Moss Warner the influence of fanatics, or a blind acceptance of ignorance. They will learn Lake Buena Vista, Florida to shoulder defeat, to plan for the future, to nurture other living things. We cannot return to the provincial world of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, or to a nineteenth century agrarian life or even any ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR fantasized semblance of these. But perhaps through our horticultural Mrs. Helen Fulcher Walutes community, we can attain self-realization, and our children can become attuned to the fine balance between choice and obligation, change and tradition, indulgence alld discipline. George C. Ball Jr., AHS President
4 AUGUST 1992 American Horticulturist
Editor Kathleen Fisher LETTERS Assistant Editor Mary Beth Wiesner Editorial Assistant Steve Davolt Design Ditrector Wrong Passionflower several of each in a location fully exposed Joseph Yacinski Oops! The passionflower illustrated on to northwest winds and in full sun, and Designer page 46 of the June issue is not Passiflora directly above an exposed stone wall that Bob McCracken incarnata, but 'Incense', a hybrid of P. in allows maximum freezing of the root zone. Membership Director carnata x P. cincinnata. While P. incarnata I think these two come out of the winter Darlene Oliver has a three-lobed leaf and pale lavender looking better than the "blue" series. color, 'Incense' has a brilliant purple color 'Blue Angel' did not hold up to our Editorial Advisory Board Dr. Gerald s. Barad and five-lobed leaf. P. incarnata and its winters and I do not see it used in our Flemington, New Jersey white cultivar are noxious but lovable area. Robert C. DanikJr. John Bryan weeds in my garden. 'Incense', while lovely, Valencia, Pennsylvania Sausalito, California John Creech does not persist in Zone 7, and is prone to Hendersonville, North Carolina a die-back virus. Arthur o. Tucker More on Osage Orange Keith Crotz Research Professor In your April "Letters" section, it was in- Chillicothe, Illinois Panayoti Kelaidis Delaware State College teresting to read two responses to Susan Denver, Colorado Dover, Delaware Sand's wonderful article on the Osage Peter Loewer orange. I thought readers might be inter Asheville, North Carolina ested in hearing about the Osage orange at JanetM. Poor Meserve Holly Hardiness Winnetka, Illinois Can't imagine how I did it, but I seem to Haverford College. Dr. James E. Swasey have missed reading the February issue of It appeared on the original planting plan Newark, Delaware your excellent magazine until today. In the of William Carvill (c. 1835), at some time article on hollies by Fred Ebersole, he states fell, and has been recumbent for possibly Advertising that Ilex x meserveae cultivars seem con 100 years. It sprawls all over the area, American Horticultural Seciety Advertising Department fined to Zones 6b through 8a. appears to be very healthy, and sends up 2700 Prosperity Avenut:: I am in Zone 5a only a few miles east and new growth continuously. It has become a Fairfax, VA 22031 in fact north of Zone 4b (our temperatures beautiful living sculpture and a car;npus (703) 204-4636 seem tempered by Lakes Michigan and landmark. Generations of children have Color Separations Winnebago). In 1989 I planted two 'Blue climbed upon this tree and its most com Chroma-GraphiGs, Inc. Princess' and one 'Blue Prince' hollies. mon name on campus is, quite naturally, the Printer They have survived three winters and are Climbing Tree. I wonder if your readers William Byrd PFess, Inc. thriving in a shaded area on the west side have seen another with such an unusual Replaoement iss ues of AMERICAN HORTICUL· of my house. A number of them have been form. Florence R. Genser TURIST are available at a cost of $2.50 per copy. The growing at the Paine Arboretum in Osh Director opinions expressed in the articles that appear in AMERICAN HORTICULTtJRIST are those of the kosh for many years. I regard them as a Arboretum Association authors and are not necessarily those of the Society. wonderful alternative to the excessive Haverford College Botanical nomenclature in AMERICAN J,lORTICUL TURIST is based on HORTUS THIRD. Manu5Cr.ipts, planting of yews. Marilyn Dahl Haverford, Pennsylvania artwork, and photographs sent for possible publication Oshkosh, Wisconsin wi.ll be returned if they are accompanied by a self-ad dressed, stamped envelope. We cannot guarantee the And More safe return of unsolicited material. Blue, But Not Frozen In response to your comments about the AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST, ISSN 0096-4417, Somehow when your February issue came dispersal of fruits of honey locust and is the official publication of-the American Horticultutal Society, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA out I missed the article on hollies. Osage orange, I must say they do not just 22308-1300, (703) Y68-5700, and is iss ued six times a At my nursery near Butler, Pennsylvania, lay under the tree. year: as a magazine and six times a year as a News Edition. The American Horticultural Society is a non where we have winter temperatures well I have seen squirrels gnaw on Osage profit organization dedicated to excellence in horticul under 10 degrees below zero most winters, oranges and have often found chewed ture. Membership in the Society includes a subscription to AMERICAN HORTICULTURI5T . National mem we have grown and used the Ilex x meser remains of the fruit. bership dues are $45; rwo years are $80. Foreign dues veae hybrids 'Blue Girl', 'Blue Boy', 'Blue We have a honey locust in our front are $50. $12 of dues are des ignated for AMERICAN Princess', and 'Blue Prince' almost since yard, and when it forms pods-those with HORTICULTURIST. Copyright © 1992 by the American Horticulrural their introduction. They have performed the sweet gel inside-the deer eat every Society. Second-class postage paid at Alexandria, Vir well every winter including in temperatures one. They do not seem to eat the dry pods ginia, and at additional mailing offices. Posrmaster: Please send Form 3579 10 AMERICAN below minus 20. of other locusts, but will paw the sweet HORTICULTURIST, 793 1 East Boulevard Drive, We also have used 'China Girl' and 'China ones from under the snow. Carol Minor Al exandria, VA 22308-1300. Boy' for more than ten years. We planted St. James, Missouri
AM ERI CAN HORTICULTURIST 5 AHS Affiliates
Members of the following institutions are participants in AHS's Affiliate Membership Program, a networking OFFSHOOTS opportunity available to most botanical gardens, plant societies, and horticultural groups.
American Hibiscus Society Coco Beach, Florida
Chattisgarh Horticultural Society Raipur, India
East Tennessee Horticulture and Landscape Association Knoxville, Tennessee
Friends of Longue Vue New Orleans, Louisiana
Friends of Manito Park Spokane, Washington
Friends of the Botanical Garden University of California Berkeley, California
Friends of the Davis Arboretum Davis, Ca,lifornia plum. It usually grows in open, sandy, and Hardy Fern Foundation Plum Jam Time dry areas and does not like extremely cold Seattle, Washington by Bruce Bair climates. The thicket I'm speakitlg of is Master Gardeners International Corporation ust outside Schoenchen, Kansas, is a crisscrossed by deer paths, an.d on muddy Alexandria, Virginia magnificent plum thicket that late each days is thick with the tracks of predators summer, as surely as it is taking over a that drag their dinner into it, leaving be Matthaei Botanical Gardens Jpatch of go-back, takes over the town. hind little piles of feathers and feet. The Ann Arbor, Michigan For city slickers, "go-back" is any patch of plums are the size of a working man's formerly farmed land returning to its na thumb, orange to bright red in color, and National FFA tive state. No one knows how long this hard as rocks. Just before dropping off the Alexandria, Virginia takes because the country hasn't been tree, they soften and take on a flavor that farmed that long. I know of patches that the imaginative can almost call sweet. In Newfoundland Horticultural Society have been trying to go back for 100 years Kansas, nature is stingy with sugar. St. John's, Newfounclland but can still be clearly distinguished. The wild plums annually become the But go-back has its uses. It provides an main topic of conversation in the town. Rare Fruit Council International ideal habitat for the sand hill plum (Prunus Late summer is plum pie, plum ice cream, Miami, Florida angustifolia), whick along with the Ameri and most of all, plum jam time in cam plum (Prunus americana) is really the Schoenchen. Santa Barbara City College only wild fruit that northwest Kansas pro Life in Schoenchen, which in German Environmental Horticulture Program duces in quantities plentiful enough to means "pretty place," follows a strict set of Santa Barbara, California make jam. Yes, I know about ground cher rules. Basically, the men do what they call ries, currents, prickly pears, chokecherries, "farm" and play softball and the women Tennessee Native Plant Society and buffalo berries, but who's going to hold jobs, raise the kids, do the housework, Knoxville, Tennessee collect enough to make a jar of jam? and make plum jam. But even the men are The sand hill plum has a huge range over affected by plum jam time. Only now that it Texas State Horticultural Society the United States, from the East Coast to is 105 degrees can you find a western Kansas College Station, Texas the Rocky Mountains. In the South and male, all his children in tow, picking fruit. East it is known as the Chickasaw plum, Five-gallon plastic buckets of plums are and in New Mexico it is called the sand plunked on Continued on page 8
6 AUGUST 1992 SEND FLOWERS.
AND KEEP SOME FOR YOURSELF.
Pick them at your Post Office, call1-800-STAMP 24: Operator 515, or return
I i !
-.-, .... ,., ••• ia the coupon for 01150 wildflower stamps and a beautifully illustrated wildflower book.
But hurry. Because these flowers won't last forever. ~ UNITED STATES POSTAl SER\IICf Q%) OFFICIAL OLYMPIC SPONSOR
STAMPS VVORTH SAVING 1------1 Send me the 64-page wildflower book with 50 wildflower stamps. Please send me __ copies at I $21.95, plus 504 postage and handling. o Enclosed is a check or money order (payable to U.S. Postal Servicel for $, ______o Please bill my 0 Visa 0 MasterCard 0 Discover.
Card # ______Exp. date ______SIGNATURE ______NAME ______
ADDRESS ______CITY ______,r..:.
STATE ___ ZIP ------I. ,' Information which you provide will be protected and only disclosed in accordance wilh the Privacy Act of 1974. MAil TO : Offshoots Continued from page 6 UNIQUE kitchen counters with almost as much pride as are stinking messes of fish and HOUSEPLANTS bloody ducks. "Plum jam time," the in trepid forest forager utters. This causes females to place their hands on their hips and regard the bucket with some thing like hate. First of all, the plums must be washed. The fastidious throwaway plums in which there is a tiny bore-hole. Some minute insect lays eggs in the flower, and the resulting larva bores its way to the outside, where it THE PERMANENT presumably metamorphoses and flies away. METAL GARDEN LABEL These tiny holes then provide entry for mil Inhale our Sweet lions of tiny black ants. A - Hairpin Style Markers 30 For $1 0.00 Parma Violets B-Plant or Shrub Labels 100 For $ 7.10 But since the plums have to be boiled ten C - Cap Style Markers 30 For $10.40 minutes anyway, nothing harmful is likely Established in 1892, Logee's is D - Swinging Style Markers 30 For $ 8.60 E - Rose Markers to survive. The plums are boiled enough to one of the country's foremost 30 For $ 9.50 F - Tall Display Markers 30 For $13.05 soften them, then "squoze" through mailorder sources of rare tropicals . G-Tall Single Staff Markers 30 For $10.30 Our color illustrated catalog lists H - Flag Style Markers 30 For $ 8.30 cheesecloth or a sieve until nothing is left J - Small Plant Labels 100 For $ 6.85 over 2,000 of the finest fragrant and K - Tie·On Labels 100 For $10.90 but the pits. The pits are thrown away, and flowering plants. M-Miniature Markers 30 For $ 8.10 wherever they land, new plum trees spring Special Quantity Prices Available up. The goopy, steaming mess of plum pulp Prices Include Prepaid Postage is combined with sugar in about a six to
L08ee's INTRODUCTORY OFFER eight ratio and pectin is added. All this 1 Each: A, S, C, D, E, H, J and K With requires boiling at specific intervals, the use Greenhouses Watarproof Crayon, Only ,$ 3.00 141 North Street of every available kitchen container, and PAW PAW EVER LAST the production of much heat during the Dept. AH LABEL COMPANY most blistering part of summer. Danielson, Conn. 06239 P.O. Box 93-AH Nothing looks hotter than a Schoenchen Catalog $3.00 refundable Paw Paw, Michigan, 49079-0093 housewife in a loose cotton floral print with a wooden spoon in her hand. Probably the women should pitch the plums right out the back door, but they become their own vic tims. Recipes are exchanged, plum pulping methods are discussed, and jars cool while STUDY UNDER AMERIC~S MOST telephone calls on plum jam are made. Finally, getting through plum jam time POWERFUL FIGURES. becomes a matter of pride. Who can make the best plum jam? Men go without supper because the kitchen counters are covered Remington. Borglum. Huntington. Just three of the with the fixin's for plum jam. Socks go unwashed. The expense mounts. Trips to artists whose works grace Brookgreen Hays must be made for more jelling sub Gardens. Where over 500 individual stances, sugar, and jar lids. pieces of figurative sculpture are ideally The women become plum crazy, plum tuckered out, and plum tired of plum puns, sited amid extensively landscaped gar but after a week, things almost return to dens. 18 miles south of Myrtle Beach, normal. The kitchen cools; the jars of plum South Carolina on Hwy. 17. jam are lined up on the basement shelves. Then, with unintentional cruelty, the week Phone 800-849-193J. ly paper will contain a recipe for plum cake Brookgreen Gardens. and start the whole process over again. But at last plum jam time passes. It's a learning Housewives can relax, and when children experience ask, "What's to eat," their mothers say, like no other. "Why, plum jam and toast." And months later, in December, the men will at last recover from their expeditions into the plum thicket by drinking plum wine.
Bruce Bair is a free-lance writer and profes sional weather observer in Schoenchen.
8 AUGUST 1992 BoOK REVIEWS
specialized pruning or "pinching" is used to ~T HE COMPLETE GU I DE TO~ create cascading chrysanthemums, stand ard fuchsias, and more. PRUNING Renewal pruning and spur pruning for fruiting trees and shrubs are well explained. ~TRAINING I Joyce often describes more than one method for training and pruning fruit- and nut-bear PLANTS ing trees, fruiting shrubs, and vines. Renovat ing old trees and shrubs, both ornamental and fruiting, also is covered. This book is indispensable for the gar dener who is confused by pruning require ments for the clematis and the climbing rose or wondering what to do with the Covers trus arId shrubs, roses, climbers, wisteria. And this book also will help the hedgingplants~ topiary, mId tree fr";IS and soft fruits more adventurous, those whose heart's in unpreceJenU:d step-by-step detail with 200 photographs and 300 diagrams desire is to manipulate plants in order to
OAV10 JOYCE achieve outstanding artistic effect. Several r~I.. ~/ C4/1qi{uM: CHRISTOPH ER BRICK ELL pruning art forms (coppicing, pleaching, lJinnH (f_'flhln,,~~lltflIMliI'.J~')
~ 0 1\ t ... 0 • D • Y r: 1 v I II' 101 < f) c) II' .\ I 1.1 pollarding, topiary, and espalier) are covered in depth. The COffiJ?lete Guide to Pruning The book contains an index, a glossary, aesthetic life of western Europe. Kromerf, and Trainmg Plants and an A to Z list of shrubs and trees and in Czechoslovakia, contains a superb ex David Joyce. Simon & Schuster, New how to prune them. -Cass Turnbull ample of a late-Renaissance walled garden, York, 1992. 224 pages. 81/4" x 11". Color such as once existed at the Chateau of Blois photographs and illustrations. Publisher's Cass Turnbull is founder of Plant Amnesty, and Amboise. Polish King Jan Sobieski's price, hardcover: $30. AHS member price: an organization dedicated to ending harm summer palace, Wilan6w, is a major ba $25.50. ful pruning of trees and shrubs. roque garden, replete with formal terraces, allegorical statues, and clipped cones of Joyce's new book on pruning is a welcome Gardens in Central Europe yew. Among the most striking historic gar addition to the serious horticulturist's Patrick Bowe. Photographs by Nicolas dens is Frederick the Great's rococo retreat, library. It was written with the technical Sapieha. M. T. Train/Scala Books, New Sans Souci, constructed at Potsdam in the assistance of Christopher Brickell, the high York, 1991. 215 pages. 93/8" x 121/4". 1740s. While growing grapes behind glass ly respected director general of the Royal Color photographs. Publisher's price, hard was widespread throughout Europe, Horticultural Society and the author of a cover: $55. AHS member price: $47.50. Frederick enclosed a whole vineyard be 1979 book, Pruning. In many ways Joyce's hind glazed doors on south-facing terraces. book expands on Brickell's work and it in While American gardeners have become The English landscape movement was cludes the same expett illustrations. It con increasingly familiar with leading gardens strongly felt in central Europe. Worlitz, in tains a total of 200 photographs and 300 of western Europe, the gardens of eastern Germany, featured artificial lakes, group diagrams. This new book reflects updated and central Europe remain shrouded in ings of specimen trees, and such typical information on the care of trees-e.g., the mystery. Gardens in Central Europe is the landscape-movement structures as a grot scientific research that now precludes the first major and accessible survey of gardens to, a hermit's cave, and a "Temple to use of "flush cuts" and pruning paints. in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Flora." Elsewhere, more indigenous inter Although Joyce discusses the general Yugoslavia, Rumania, and what was pretations appeared. Influenced by the pruning of trees and shrubs, the book is formerly East Germany. Patrick Bowe's nineteenth-century Czechoslovakian Na most useful in explaining the technical lucid text and Nicolas Sapieha's color tional Revival, Count and Countess Arnost aspects of pruning to maximize horticul photographs lift this volume out of the Sylva-Taroucca sought to create a garden tural effect. For example, the hard pruning coffee table category and make it worthy with a wide range of trees, laurels, and needed annually by certain flowering of serious study. rhododendrons. shrubs is excellently described and il Bowe reminds us that central Europe Modernism is represented in central lustrated. On more herbaceous material, once shared fully in the intellectual and Europe by two important exemplars: Mies
AM ERI CA HORTICU LTURI ST 9 van der Rohe's Villa T ugendhat at Brno, written for the upper Midwest, the book is collected are identified," implying that all where white walls and the extensive use of appropriate for USDA Zone 3 and 4 gar other plants can be removed from natural glass serve to frame views of the garden; dens across the United States and Canada. areas with impunity. Not so. Plants should and Constantin Brancusi's memorial park At first glance, this volume has every not be collected from the wild unless they at Tirgu Jih in his native Rumania, where thing Northern native plant fanciers could are common and permission is obtained sculptures aligned on a central axis com want in a gardening book: broad coverage from the landowner. No plant, regardless bine modern abstractions with Rumanian of woody and herbaceous plants, a of how common or rare, should be re folk art forms. regional focus, cultural information, and moved from public lands unless as part of This book does have drawbacks, which an encyclopedic listing of plants. Readers an organized plant salvage activity spon derive in part from its breadth of coverage. familiar with Snyder'S terse writing style sored by a conservation group or native Serious gardeners will want more detail on will find comfort in consistency. New plant society. plantings and more specific identifications readers will find informative though some Difficult-to-grow species with specific than the "pink and white plants" that oc what superficial text presented in an objec soil and moisture requirements such as casionally accompany photographs. Some tive if uninspired manner. trailing arbutus and one-flowered winter will also want, where possible, a plan of the The greatest strength of the book lies in green are given the same casual treatment garden and more information on its public the comprehensive listing of trees, shrubs, as easy-care black-eyed Susans. The same accessibility. As an introduction, however, vines, grasses, ferns, and flowering peren information about some species is repeated Gardens in Central Europe succeeds in nials, annuals, and biennials for Zones 3 in different sections. Cross-referencing informing the reader and whetting the ap and 4. The first eighteen pages are devoted would have been sufficient. petite, and should lure both visitors and to short entries on such topics as nomencla While this book will no doubt appeal to researchers into the gardens of this impor ture, hardiness, identification, culture, regional gardeners and Snyder's devotees, tant region. -Diane Barthel-Bouchier propagation, and types of gardens ap similar information is presented more propriate for native plants. The remainder thoroughly and enjoyably by other Diane Barthel-Bouchier is a writer and of the book is a series of descriptions cover authors. What other authors do not have gardener in Wading River, New York. ing more than 400 species grouped into the is more than fifty years of experience grow following sections: ornamental trees and ing native plants in Zone 4. What other shrubs; shade trees; evergreens (trees and books do not offer is a comprehensive, shrubs); vines; perennials; biennials and concise catalog of plants for Northern gar annuals; prairie plants; ferns; and bog and dens, many of which are unknown or un NATIVE PLANTS FOR water plants. Each section features lists of derused. -CO Colston Burrell NORTHERN GARDENS plants with outstanding attributes or tolerances, such as fall color, showy C. Colston Burrell is a landscape designer, By Dr. Leon C. Snyder flowers, tolerance for wet soil, suitability writer, and photographer who lives and for ground cover, etc. Each species' entry gardens in Minneapolis, Minnesota. includes a description with size, shape, bloom time, native habitat, and ranges, as well as a use and culture section with brief notes on ornamental potential, growth re Book Order Form quirements, and propagation. o The Complete Guide to However, I counted nineteen misiden Pruning and Training Plants $25.50 tified photographs and the overall quality o Gardens in Central Europe $47.50 of the photos is poor. Although homage is o Native Plants for NOFthem Gardeners ...... $29.95 duly paid to Snyder by using his pictures, a disservice is done to the reader who must Postage and handling: $2.50, first book; $1.50 contend with poorly focused, often am each additional book. Virginia residents add 4V2% sales tax. Please allow six weeKs for delivery. Prices biguous, and sometimes discolored images. are subject to change without notice. Better photos are contributed by others, Native Plants for Northern although they often are mislabeled and Enclosed is my check for $ ___---- likewise off-color. An alarming number of Gardeners o Visa 0 MasterCard Exp. Dare: Dr. Leon C. Snyder. Andersen Horticul- images were placed sideways, presumably tural Library, Chanhassen, Minnesota, to accommodate the page layout. This Acct. #: 1991 . 277 pages. 83/4" x 111/4" . Color seems unnecessary, as there is no consistent Signature: photographs. Publisher's price, hardcover: format to the pages. $29.95. AHS member price: $29.95. Perhaps more disturbing is the ill-ad Ship to: vised inclusion of several orchid species in (Note: Our book program was unable to the encyclopedia sections. Although the Street: ______,...,,~.;;----- obtain this title at a discount, but because individual species descriptions state that Ciry: ______~_------it is not readily available elsewhere, we the plants are "protected and should not be wanted to offer it to our readers.) removed from their native habitat(s}," Srare: The long-awaited, posthumous publica these plants are not available unless they Zip: tion of garden guru Leon Snyder's sixth are acquired from the wild. This is alarm book completes the set of volumes devoted ing in light of the statement within the MAlL TO: AHS Books, 7931 East Boulevard to the joys and challenges of gardening in introduction that "in the discussion of in D ~ ive, Alexandria, VA, 22308-1300. AH892 rigorous Northern climates. Although dividual species, those that should not be
10 AUGUST 1992
tion-not only bees and butterflies and I nominator among these plants is their ten birds, but beetles and gnats, ants and dency to form large communities of one or wasps. Even slugs, pygmy possums, mice, just a few species. Their flowers are usually bats, and monkeys get into the act. green or nondescript in color, of simple Sexual reproduction and pollination construction, and have neither scent nor have allowed angiosperms to colonize just nectar. Although the quantity of pollen about every environment on earth, from they produce is important to ensuring suc marshes to mountain tops, deserts to arctic cessful reproduction-a hazel bush (Cory tundra, and even the ocean. There are an lus avellana) can produce 600 million estimated 300,000 species of flowering pollen grains-its nonsticky texture is even plants in the world today. more important. The more powdery it is, Angiosperms begam their greatest ex the farther the wind can fling it. Pollen pansion some 125 million years ago, dur from Nothofagus, a Southern hemisphere ing the Cretaceous period. They were able beech genus, has been found 3,100 miles to assimilate advances made by ferns, away from the nearest community; pollen which were less dependent on water than from alder, birch, and oak has been blown earlier plants, and gymnosperms, which halfway across the Atlantic. w(Jre the first plants to cross-pollinate. In angiosperms, the sexual phase of The earliest plants were totally depend reproduction is even further reduced, and ent on water for both growth and repro further removed from a dependency on duction. They reprodhlced by simple cell water. Unlike the naked seeds of the gym division, which offered little in the way of nosperms, theirs are enclosed in a protec the genetic variation that helps ensure a tiv(J ovary. But their phenomenal success species' survival. has been due to a greater extent to their Some 300 million years ago ferns ap expansion on the gymnosperms' use of peared. Their reproductive cycle has two cross-pollination and their enlisting all sorts phases: an asexhlal phase, which can occur of creatures in the pollination process. in dry conditions, and a sexual phase that To help ensure cross-pollination, an requires water but provides for more giosperms have developed safeguards such genetic diversity. as self-incompatibility, spatial separation The gymnosperms (conifers, cycads, and of male and female organs, and time ginkgoes) had no need for a water environ separation between pollen release and stig ment at all during their sexual phase be ma receptivity. cause their sperm was encapsulated within For example, the flowers of foxglove a protective pollen grain and dispersed by (Digitalis spp.) are borne on a spike that wind. A conifer's male (staminate) cones blooms from bottom to top, with flowers are normally borne on lower branches and that are first male and later, female. Bees the female (ovulate) cones on higher are drawn first to the females, which have branches, which encourages cross-pollina more nectar, and work their way up to the Top: The inflorescences of the tion-the transfer of pollen from one plant pollen laden males before flying off to the foxglove are male when they first to another. Pollen from the male cones is female flowers of the next foxglove. Green open and then female, an alternation dispersed by wind in early spring and even dragon (Arisaema dracontium) is usually that helps ensure cross-pollination. tually finds its way to a female cone on a male the first year and female the second. Above: The swamp pink uses distant tree. This alternation not only prevents self-pol deception to lure the Augochlora bee. Conifers aren't exactly the model of lination but makes it more likely that Right: Plants that rely on the wind for speed and efficiency, however, since the females are growing during conditions pollination usually have simple green process from pollination to seed can take ideal for the energy-consuming process of flowers and powdery pollen that will as long as two and a half years. Neverthe seed production. scatter easily. less, cross-pollination gave the gymno In simplest terms, pollination is the sperms access to a mhlch larger gene pool, transfer of pollen from the male anther to allowing them to produce new and more the female stigma. But such a cut-and-dried vigorous varieties. Cross-pollination also explanation fails to reveal pollination's diluted potentially lethal characteristics marvelous complexity. For those who've that self-pollination and its consequent in forgotten some botany basics, a refresher: breeding couldn't overcome. Flowers typically consist of several parts Wind pollination is not restricted to the arranged in concentric whorls. The outer gymnosperms, however. Grasses, rushes, most whorl, the calyx, consists of the sedges, and broadleaf trees such as walnut, sepals. Inside the calyx is the corolla, or oak, poplar, and birch also use the wind to petals, usually the most colorful part of the distribute their pollen. The common de- flower. Within these two whorls-collec-
14 AUGUST 1992 tively known as the perianth-are male plex and interdependent life cycles. Gall point that the male flowers begin to open and/or female sex organs. The male or wasps (Ceratosolen arabicus) and fig and produce pollen. In the female wasps' gans, or stamens, produce pollen in the plants, for example, have developed one of haste to leave the fig, they tramp over the anthers at their tips, which is transported the closest symbiotic relationships known. male flowers and pick up fresh pollen. to the female organs (the pistils, consisting The inflorescence of the sycamore fig Once the female enters another fig, search of a basal ovary, a long neck or style, and (Ficus sycomorus) is a hollow, pear-shaped ing for the right flower in which to lay her a stigma). A pollen grain, once deposited structure with both male and female eggs, the pollen she's carried with her is on the sticky surface of the stigma, ger flowers growing on the inside wall. At the deposited on the fertile flowers. minates and sends a pollen tube down lower end of the fig is a small opening, the The almost limitless combination of through the style and into the ovary, where ostiolum, partly plugged with scales. The flower shapes, colors, and odors is the the ovules reside. Sperm nuclei from the female fig wasp, powerfully attracted to principal means by which angiosperms at pollen grain are delivered to the ovary via the fig, forces its way through the ostiolar tract animal pollinators. the pollen tube and fertilize the egg cell in scales, a feat taking a fair amount of per Flower color is due to pigments found an ovule. Thus a new individual is born to severance and determination. Those that either dissolved or in solid form in various perpetuate the species. break in head straight for the female cell structures. Patterns of color help guide In order to expand their range without flowers, of which there are two' types: one visitors to the pollen. Christian Konrad the aid of water or wind, flowering plants is long-styled and fertile, and the other is Sprengel (1750-1816), the father of floral had to overcome their lack of mobility by short-styled and sterile. The female wasp biology, was one of the first to notice the some other means. Angiosperms took ad can deposit eggs only in the sterile flowers, color patterns on flowers and how they vantage of the mobility of animals to for her ovipositor is too short for the other. were used as homing devices. He called transport their pollen far and wide. The The deposited eggs cause the flower to them saftmale, or nectar guides. Many bee animals that acted as transfer agents fed on develop into a gall, and the first of the eggs pollinated flowers exhibit strongly con the products of the flowers and became to hatch are wingless males (the females trasting color patterns used as nectar ever more efficient grazers, while the plants harch about a day later). With only mating guides. Combinations of yellow-blue (for they visited evolved better methods of dis on their minds, the males search each egg get-me-not), yellow-purple (eyebrights), persing and receiving pollen. Thus the two case, and when they find one with a female, orange-blue (lupines), and yellow-violet adapted to each other in a magnificent they fertilize it. This accomplished, they (pansies) predominate in bee-pollinated co-evolutionary process. then gnaw an escape tunnel through the flowers. Ultraviolet nectar guides, which In some cases this process has been car wall of the fig, completing it just about the are invisible to humans, are used at close ried to extremes, resulting in highly com- time the females hatch out. It is also at this range by hawkmoths (Sphingdae, also
AM ERI CAN HORTICULTURIST 15 THE INDISPENSABLE HONEYBEE
oneybe€s are very likely the most called sphinx moths) for precise alignment important flower pollinators. during their nighttime excursions. H They are perennial, highly sOG:ial An extreme example of shape specificity foragers of nectar and p0llen, with com is the Madagascan hawkmoth, whose foot munication and navigation systems mor€ long proboscis is needed to fertilize the complex than any other invert€brat€. foot-long nectary of an on;hid, Angrae They evolved in the tropical Old World cum sesquipedale. Now a related orchid forests of South€ast Asia and spr€ad with a sixteen-inch long nectary has been morthward and westward if.lto AfriG:a and discovered, implying the existence of a Europe. Their appearance in North America was larg€ly due to Columbus, who moth with an equally long proboscis. brought them along on his voyages to the New W:orld. Odor specificity in angiosperms has Two of th€ three tropical species (Apis dorsata and A. florea) build th€ir n€sts been developed to an even higher degree out in the open, while the third (A. cernana) builds its nest in ~h€ hollows of trees. than has color specificity, and orchids have Although this offers much Reeded prot@ction, it' also allows dangefOldsly high heat refined it to near perfection. It is thought h~vels to build up. The temperate zone honeybee, A. mellifera, which is the most that each of twenty species of the genus widely distributed spe€ies, Idses this heat producu
16 AUGUST 1992
their way out through the tunnel. When the out because of downward facing hairs that bee reaches the end of the tunnel, however, block their escape, they are forced to it is restrained long enough to have two remain in the chamber. During their three pollen packages glued to its back. Once the day stay, the gnats are provided with food glue has set, the bee is "allowed" to fly off. and a carefully controlled environment. It The process is repeated on the next flower is during this time that they will pollinate visited, but this time the pollen package is the fertile female flowers if they had pre removed by a hook projecting from the viously picked up any pollen. After the roof of the tunnel. anthers mature and shower the tenants Not all flowering plants reward their with pollen, the flower rotates horizontally pollinators. Some Iwre them into traps by and the hairs wilt. Undaunted, the gnats fly deceiving them with the false promise of out in search of other flowers. food or sex. For example, the Eurasian What seems to be one of the cruelest, and orchid Cephalanthera longifolia, which at the same time, one of the most remark does not reward its pollinators, imper able pollination mechanisms, is die mim sonates the herb Cistus salvifolius, which icking of a potential mate. Once again, the A white-lined sphinx moth gathers does. In fact, nearly 8,000 species of or orchids are unsurpassed. Not only have pollen from a zinnia. chids contain no nectar whatsoever. One of some orchids been able to duplicate to a these is the swamp pink (Calopogon pul high degree the shape, color, odor, and bloom, plants compete for pollinators by chellus). The lip, or labellum, of this North texture of an insect's sex partner, but they producing the highest quality nectar. As the American nativ ~ is covered with a thick net have been able to present it within the summer progresses and th~ number of in of hairs that resemble pollen-laden anthers. insect's narrowly defined breeding season. sects increases, nectar quality falls. By When an Augochlora bee lands on the During mating time, normally wingless August, when there is little competition labellum, the lip falls forward, causing the female wasps of the family Thynnidae give and the number of insects is enormous, bee to tumble into the column. Here its back off a pheromone that attracts winged nectar quality is at its lowest. is dabbed with glue and pollinia are at males. When a male locates a female, he Almost 2,300 species of plants reward tached. When the bee visits another flower embraces her firmly with his legs and flies their pollinators with fatty oils. Some oil and repeats its tumbling act, the pollinia are off with her, copulating in the air, some collecting bees have co-evolved so closely deposited on the stigma. times for hours. The labellum of the orchid with plants that one or both participants The greenhood (Pterostylis spp.) of New Drakaea fitzgeraldii resembles the female can't survive without the other. One such Zealand mimics the appearance and smell thynnid wasps in both appearance and relationship exists between bees of the of rotting meat to attract flies, gnats, and scent. When the male attempts to fly off species Macropis europea and the garden mosquitoes. By means of a trigger mechan with what he perceives to be a receptive loosestrife, Lysimachia vulgaris. Although ism, it throws its visitors into a chamber female, the hinged joint of the labellum the loosestrife can do very well without the formed by its petals. The only way out causes the male to rotate over and contact bees, the bees are totally reliant on the oil forces the insects to brush past pollinia and the pollinia. The male wasp, finally realiz produced by the loosestrife for the nutri stigma, thus either picking up or depositing ing that he's been tricked, lets go and flies tional requirements of their grubs. pollen. The stench from eight-foot high off-with the pollinia firmly attached to Several orchid species provide oily, fra Amorphophallus titanum, native to the his back. The orchid performs all this grant substances that bees use in their jungles of Sumatra, is so strong that some treachery before females have hatched, and courtship ritwals. The so-called bucket or men who have ventured too close have the males, having hatched first, are so chids of the Central American genus been overcome. This doesn't stop anxious to mate that they don't detect the Coryanthes, pollinated by euglossine bees, Diamesus beetles, however, which find the floral forgery. If they waited a bit longer are among the most complex flowers fragrance of rotting fish and burnt sugar until the real thing appeared, the orchid anywhere. Although the bees can obtain irresistible. would be unable to compete successfully. the raw materials to make pheromones for Orchids aren't the only plants that have Once again, timing is everything. courtship from a variety of sources, they evolved elaborate traps to detain their Plants and animals have not just evolved expend considerable energy getting them visitors while they dust them with pollen but co-evolved, adapting superbly to one from the bucket orchid. and prepare them to pollinate another another. But although extreme adaptation The sepals of the bucket orchid, which flower. The flowers of Aristolochia species is impressive, it is also rare-the danger resemble the bent-back wings of a butter are bent tubes that trap insects, usually being that the disappearance of one can fly, are attached to a bucketlike structure small flies, until pollination is completed. doom the other. The interdependence of beneath. Special glands secrete a clear fluid When the flowers of the birth wort (A. flowering plants and their pollinators has that fills the bottom of the bucket. Just clematitis) first open, the flower is vertical, taken many millions of years to perfect, but above the fluid line on one side is a short with the upper end flanged wide to form a is a model of coexistence we would do well tunnel leading to the outside. Euglossine flag. Ceratopogon gnats ate attracted to to emulate. bees, while collecting oil from the flower, the flag, but in their attempt to land on it, sometimes slip and fall into the fluid. Un they slide down the long tube and into a Richard Devine is a former orchid grower able to climb back out because of the wall's bulbous chamber containing fertile stig who has been a landscape designer in north slippery coating, they eventually make mata at the bottom. Unable to climb back central Florida for fifteen years.
18 AUGUST 1992 Wherethe Wild Things Are The Center for Plant Conservation tracks down rare species to save them from extinction.
B Y JAN E WAR E
rian Parsons grows rare plants. He may have been the first per son ever to cultivate some of them. When he succeeds in growing them, it means that, at Bleast for a few more years, they will not be reclassified from rare to extinct. He's not doing this alone. Parsons and the Holden Arboretum of Mentor, Ohio, where he is natural areas coordinator, are part of the national effort of the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), a network of twenty-five arboreta and botanical gar dens trying to save rare and endangered plants by growing them, preserving their seed, and reintroducing plants back into the wild. Although naturalists believe that the best approach to preserving species is by pre serving the best of their natural habitats, complete and intact, this isn't always pos sible. Habitats are undermined by human intervention or naturally occurring en vironmental changes. In these cases, CPC member institutions like Holden raise the chances of the plants' survival by giving them, in essence, foster homes. But the task is not simple. First, they have to get the seeds. An extreme example of how difficult that task can be is the 300-mile trip Parsons, his assistant Roger Gettig, and interns Cynthia Jensen and Michael Scott George took to southern Ohio's Shawnee State Forest, the only place in tha t sta te where whorled horse balm (Collinsonia verticillata) can be found. None of the four has ever seen the plant growing. They know they are seeking a Brian Parsons, Holden Arboretum's natural areas coordinator, admires the perennial mint that blooms in late May and newly opened blossoms of wild lupine. now, in July, should still be holding seeds.
AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST 19 A forest ranger has directed them to ping. The ground is slippery. It's hot, and miles back to telephone Allison Cusick, Lampblack Run Tributary, which they fol the steamy air draws mosquitos. Everyone state botanist in Columbus, who discovered low uphill into the woods. Almost imme is relieved when they locate a few more this plant here in 1973. Cusick directs them diately, George finds a whorled horse balm whorled horse balm plants that bear a total away from the tributaries, to Lampblack plant. It's a bit bigger than the common of two seeds. Parsons kneels down to check Run itself. At last, late in the afternoon, horse balm, with less serrated leaves that the ground under the plants-a futile when the last traces of rain are almost dried whorl out from the stem like spokes, four search in the wet leaf litter. The whole yield up and sun filters through the tulip poplars at a time-and its seeds have already from this climb is only three round, dark and oaks, the four seed hunters are spread dropped. But George soon finds another, and hairy seeds, smaller than peppercorns, out along the run, stooped over large with a single seed still clinging, and the now snug in a plastic bag. One is white, patches of knee-high whorled horse balm mission begins to look like a piece of cake. which Parsons says may mean that it's and stashing the rare germ plasm into plastic It isn't. For most of an hour the four of immature. And he notes that sometimes, bags. Altogether, they collect 255 seeds, them climb, their eyes scanning the under the last few seeds hanging on a plant may enough not only to sow but to send some growth. They see poison ivy, an orchid, be past their prime. to the National Seed Storage Laboratory in ginseng-but no whorled horse balm. It At the end of almost three hours they have Fort Collins, Colorado. has just rained and the forest is still drip- only about ten seeds. Parsons drives several Parsons also cuts two whorled horse balm offshoots-not mature stems, he em phasizes-primarily to verify the species when the seeds grow and flower. It would be easy to take more divisions for growing the plant, but such destructive collecting makes a rare plant rarer. Because no one has ever grown most of these endangered plants, cultivating them becomes a sort of horticultural pioneering. The se€ds don't arrive with instructions, except those that an informed eye can cull from the natural site. Parsons describes the whorled horse balm's habitat along Lampblack Run: "A nice stream bottom. A fairly rich spring flora. Dwarf crested iris. Foamflower. Ferns. Fairly organic, probably subacid soil, about pH 6. A fair amount of shade." The plant is perennial, so he assumes that it comes up year after year from the same roots and uses seeds to expand its turf. But until he succeeds in growing whorled horse balm, its biology is largely unknown. Parsons will share any thing he learns with the managers at Shawnee State Forest to help assure that the plant can go on evolving in its natural habitat. Parsons stands a burly six feet tall, with a heavy moustache and beard and abundant, wavy hair. His khaki trousers tend to ride down on his hips and often carry telltale traces of the environment he's been explor ing. Ifhe's been inventorying lilies in Holden's ponds, for instance, his pants are wet to the knees. He says he and Holden's plant conser vation program evolved together. He arrived as an intern in 1977, when he had just finished a Beloit College degree in classical literature, plus almost all of a second major in biology. After his intern ship, he was hired as assistant grounds su perintendent, but he volunteered evenings and weekends to work on the arboretum's woodland wildflower garden. When the
20 AUGUST 1992 garden officially became a "collection" in 1980, he was put in charge full-time. After establishing the woodland garden, Parsons began building a whole array of habitats. Within five acres, he now has established the appropriate growing condi tions for short- and tallgrass prairies, bogs, fens, acidic and alkaline rocks and dunes. Opposite: At the Holden Arboretum, These habitats are characteristic of the intern Eric Faber collects data in a Great Lakes region, and almost all of the habitat designed especially for the 550 plants in them are regional. "We study rare northern monkshood. Left: The species associations and cultural require lavender-tinged, late spring panicles ments," Parsons says. "It's like a puzzle. of the whorled horse balm are ample When you try to recreate a habitat, you reward for intrepid plant start plugging in pieces-soil, moisture, conservationists. Below: Spreading sun. If you keep plugging them in, after a globeflower thrives in the fen, while it starts to look like a community." Holden's alkaline bog habitat. Many botanic gardens have developed similar habitats, usually for their own na tive regional flora. Parsons cultivates regional plants in order to save genetic material unique to a given area. The whorled horse balm is a good example. The species is not nationally endangered because it grows in the southeast from Georgia to Mississippi. But in Ohio, not only is it growing in just one site, but it is also disjunct-it's 300 miles north of others of its species. Plant scien tists usually assume that a disjunct plant will have its own particular version of the species' genes. Holden has on display twenty-one plants whose survival is being supported by the CPC, all in the habitats Parsons developed. His first endangered plant, spreading globeflower (Trollius laxus subsp. laxus), is in the fen, or alkaline bog area. (It is less rare than was thought in 1983, when he began growing it, because more have been found growing naturally.) The lakeside daisy (Hymenoxys acaulis var. glabra), whose only natural popula tion in the United States is in an Ohio quarry, grows in crevices on the 100 tons of limestone piled up to make a habitat. The lakeside daisy was originally a shortgrass prairie plant. As prairie was lost to development, the flower moved to the quarry. It is still found in the wild on Canada's Bruce Peninsula. The Pitcher's dune thistle (Cirsium w pitcheri) is planted in the alkaline sand ~ dune habitat. Found only in the Great ~ Lakes basin, Pitcher's dune thistle grows o n ~ beachfront dunes, an uncommon habitat 8 jeopardized by sand quarrying. Parsons set ~ out thirty of these thistles in 1987. Most ~ grew reliably for several years as modest ~ rosettes of silver green leaves. In 1990 more ~
AMERICAN HORTICU LTURIST 21 THE CENTER FOR PLANT CONSERVATION
he Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), founded in 1984, has a small staff been identified. And in the 1988 drought, (twelve), a big computer (with a 10,000-plant database), and an ambitious Holden lost its rare hart's tongue ferns Tpurpose: "to conserve U.S. plant species" (which number over 20,000). The (Phyllitis scolopendrium). When Parsons CPC's crux is the National Collection of Endangered Species, which now includes tried again to grow them from spores, ger 400 taxa preserved from extinction as seeds, rooted cuttings, or growing plants. mination began and then stopped. He Never before have so many species been conserved in so short a time. doesn't know why, but he'll try again. To develop this collection, the CPC has linked up with twenty-five botanical In almost all states, wild plant inven gardens and arboreta, which represent sixteen biogeographic regions of the United tories have pinpointed the locations of rare States. Thus, for example, Ohio's Holden Arboretum cultivates and maintains rare species, and normally this information is plants from the Great Lakes area-Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, common knowledge among state botan Michigan, and Ohio. Prior to 1984, many of the cpe gardens already were working ists and even skilled and dedicated ama with plants native to their regions; about half were already growing some rare plants. teurs. Rare plants on public lands are often The CPC, which in January 1'991 moved from Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, to protected by law, and most are safe from the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, is one of a few outside organizations collectors beca use they are of little or to have an agreement with the National Plant Germplasm System. As a result, rare namental value. But some-notably cacti, plant seeds collected thwugh center efforts are hp~ in the cold-storage facilities at carnivorous plants, and bulbs-have been the U.S. Department of Agriculture'S National Seed Storage Laboratory at Fort raided wholesale. The green pitcher plant Collins, Colorado. (Sarracenia oreophila), a showy insect When possible, the CPC also likes to guarantee each collected plant's future with eater, is so prized by collectors that the sites the income from a $10,000 nest egg; so far more than eighty species have been so where it grows are kept secret. That posed funded. Currently a third of the $10,000 comes from the Andrew W Mellon a problem for Rob Gardner, curator of rare Foundation; the rest is from individual donors, who want to sponsor a plant from plants at the North Carolina Botanical a favorite region or plant group, as was done by the Garden Club of Cleveland, Garden in Chapel Hill, another CPC mem which sponsors Holden's spreading globeflower. ber institution. Before he could begin a There are many lists of rare plants and animals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife program to preserve the green pitcher plant Service, the Nature Conservancy, and the vario\:ls states all maintain their own, by collecting its seeds, it took him two with varying meanings for terms like "endangered" and "th(eatened." In 1987 dozen phone calls to track down someone and 1988, cpe began conducting its own national surveys of field botanists to in Florida who knew where it was growing. identify species in the most imminent danger and has identified more than 700 Gardner also grows Peter's Mountain species that are facing the most immediate threat to survival. mallow (Iliamna corei), a perennial in the A close look at these numbers showed that the threat of extinction is unevenly hibiscus family that can be as tall as six feet, distributed. In 1988, forty-one states had fewer then twenty plants faced with and is known from only a few wild plants extinction and most of those had five or less. These are relatively manageable in the Virginia mountains. But it would not numbers; in most states, most critically endangered plants are already in the CPC grow from seed until researchers dis collection. Three qllarters of the species that may be lost in ten years are in Hawaii, covered that the seeds, which Gardner California, Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. So to save the greatest possible number describes as slightly smaller than a BB, of species, the epe decided to focus its resources especially on these five areas. have an impermeable coating. They could The second policy shift-to a greater emphasis on genetic diversity-is the result be germinated once they were carefully of a 1989 conference on rare plant biology. There's a theoretical correlation scarified with a razor blade so they could between long-term survival of species and their level of genetic diversity. Plants take in water. Gardener says the seeds, have more genetic variation than mammals, which often enables them to adapt to though abundant, do not germinate readily changing conditions. For conservation, the best way to protect the widest possible even in the wild, which may explain the range of plant diversity in native habitats, in gardens, and in seed banks is to collect plant's rarity. One theory is that the seeds seeds from multiple sites in the wild. -Jane Ware may need fire to germinate. Bill Brumback, conservation director of For more information contact the Center for Plant Conservation, Missouri Botani the New England Wild Flower Society at cal Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, Ado 63166, (314) 577-9450. the Garden in the Woods in Massachusetts, another CPC member, has worked with the rare sand plain gerardia (Agalinis acuta), a small annual found at ten places on the than twenty of them flowered flamboyant surviving tree on earth is in Michigan. It's East Coast. Never common, the plant ly, produced thistles, and died. The next something of a freak, Parsons admits, but thrives in disturbed habitats-a horse trail, year, twenty seedlings appeared in their he defends growing it. "Everything," he a golf course, railroad track-where tram stead, and six more rosettes flowered. says, "is worth working with. As long as pling or even herbicides spell doom for Not all of the twenty-seven species that we've taken on this role, who are we to other plants. Parsons cu ltivates with CPC support are decide whether it's worthy or not?" When Brumback tried planting gerardia on display. One, the Murray birch (Betula There are some plants he can't grow. He seeds, they would germinate, grow one murrayana), conserved as cuttings grafted doesn't even attempt terrestrial orchids, inch, and quit. But he knew that the plant's onto the root stock of yellow birch, is still which to germinate from seed require the relatives were often hemiparasites, so he too small. As far as anyone knows, the one presence of mycorrhizal fungi that haven't tried growing the gerardia with little blue-
22 AUGUST 1992 stem grass (Andropogon scoparius), the For five pots of his whorled horse balm, one other plant common to all its natural winter-the refrigerator- starts immedi sites. It worked; the gerardia's roots at ately and will last ninety days before the tached themselves to those of the bluestem. transfer to the warm greenhouse that Now, however, Brumback doesn't grow should seem like spring. Two pots go gerardia at Garden in the Woods, although directly to the greenhouse; after a month he still preserves its seeds. "If you try to one of those will be moved to the grow it every year," he explains, "it could refrigerator. One goes to the pit green become ingrown. It could cross with other house, which is partly underground and species in the garden." reflects the ambient temperature. Sometimes when Brian Parsons sows By trying many options, Parsons hopes rare plant seeds he confidently emulates to hit on the right one. That worked with nature's methods, for instance, coating spreading globeflower, another Ohio na milk vetch (Astragalus spp.) or lupines tive under epe protection. A perennial with inoculates of the bacteria that they buttercup that produces pale yellow flow need to thrive. But much of what he does ers in early April, it proved to have an Top: Interns tally the Berry Botanic is plodding guesswork, such as methodi atypical germination pattern. He collected Garden's reserve of Malheur wire cally offering all new seeds several different seeds in late May 1982 at a swamp forest lettuce seeds. Above: Genninated seed sequences of warm and cold periods in near Youngstown, where he found the lings of the Malheur wirelettuce await hope of hitting upon just the combination plant growing in alkaline soil in light shade the next attempt at reintroduction. they need to germinate. Plants native to the to full sun. A local naturalist had been North usually will not germinate until they monitoring it for years, so Parsons could have been through a long cold period. time his seed collecting precisely. "They 'learn' not to put roots down in fall Trying a wide range of warm-cold cycles, because winter kills," Parsons says. "More Parsons found that the seeds grew best with often than not, all temperate zone seeds a moist summer followed by an equally need a cold period. But I've been doing this moist winter. Although most temperate for ten years, so I'm always open to sur region plants germinate after just a cold prises." Some plants require two periods of period, the globeflower seed contains an cold dormancy, for instance. immature embryo that first needs warmth
AMERICAN HORTICU LTURIST 23 ourselves a plant zoo. We have to identify rare plants and then secure the habitat." Some plant scientists have gone further, taking garden-grown rare species and restor ing them to the wild. A famous example is the Malheur wirelettuce (Stephanomeria malheurensis) in Oregon. Linda McMahan, director of the Berry Botanic Garden, CPe's affiliate in Portland, calls this "one of the rarest plants in the continental United States." The wirelettuce, a small plant with stiff stems that withstand wind, grew naturally in one place only, an arid hillside overlooking Lake Malheur, south of Bums, Oregon. Following a fire in 1972, an intro duced forage plant called cheat grass invaded the site and threatened the wirelettuce. So in 1987,500 wirelettuce seedlings were planted at the original site; most survived. When, after a succession of drought years, none came up in 1990, more seedlings were planted, but rodents ate them and none sur vived. To the jubilation of the Berry staff, S. malheurensis came back on its own in 1991. to develop and then needs cold to over I resist gauging in terms of how valuable Berry has 50,000 seeds in cold storage as a come seed coat dormancy. the plants are to us. I think they're valuable hedge against future catastrophes. Parsons recommended that the state, on their own .terms." Les Gottlieb, the geneticist who favors a which funded his study, manage the site by But Les Gottlieb, a geneticist at the hierarchy for conservation, was the dis keeping back tree cover (many rare plants University of California-Davis, says saving coverer of Malheur wirelettuce. He ac are sun-loving species in habitats made everything may not be practical. "As far as knowledges the lettuce wouldn't meet most shadier by the natural succession of wood I'm concerned, all species are not equal. I'd of the criteria he suggests, but he defends lands) and acquiring the watershed. How like to see criteria, so as to save the most it as "of the utmost scientific interest. We ever, the latter was not a practical option. important, such as crop plants. Or plants can show it's evolved recently as a specie!>. That experience gave Parsons an edge a with beautiful flowers or of horticultural We know about its basic biology. " few years later with another spring-bloom interest. Or species whose relatives pro Another restoration involved northwest ing buttercup, northern monkshood duce pharmacologically interesting com New Mexico's Knowlton's cactus (Pedio (Aconitum noveboracense), which is part pounds. Or species that other species might cactus knowltonii), which became rare of Holden's CPC collection. "A lot of the depend on-the moths and butterflies that through overcollection. Peggy Olwell, now old literature says it's next to impossible to pollinate certain plants." Gottlieb is not CPe's manager of conservation programs, grow," Parsons says. He found that its seed prepared to start naming dispensable plants was a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service south needed a warm moist period-something but says he'd accept consensus decisions. west regional botanist in the mid '80s. She researchers at the University of Wisconsin Recently, the Pacific yew (Taxus brevi describes Knowlton's as "a very small cac at Milwaukee were discovering about the folia), a small slow-growing tree found in tus and so rare that all collectors wanted it. same time. the Cascades and Rocky Mountains, has People came from Japan and Germany to Holden is already growing most en demonstrated dramatically how a pre collect this cactus." When the natural dangered plants from the Great Lakes viously nondescript plant may attain over population dropped to less than 1,000 region. But in the tropical United States, night stardom. Taxol, a compound in the plants, Olwell decided to try establishing Texas, and California, cultivating rare Pacific yew's bark, has shown promise in the cactus at a second, similar site nearby. flora is a finger in the dike against a treating cancer. A few years ago, experts at She planted 150 rooted cuttings in 1985 projected flood of disappearing species. NRDC thought it was endangered because and 75 percent are surviving. However, she Should they all be saved? Some people loggers found it a nuisance. Now it's un notes, while they are flowering and fruiting, would say so; they believe that thwarting dergoing wholesale harvesting for taxol. no one has seen any seedlings. extinction is purpose enough. Faith After a rare plant is saved and is flourish Restoration is most widely supported Campbell, director of plant conservation at ing in a simulated habitat in a botanic when there's clear evidence that a plant the Natural Resources Defense Council garden, what's next? Brian Parsons thinks previously grew at a site and can be (NRDC), says: "I think all species that have the most important step is "to disseminate reintroduced there from local stock. Critics made it through the gauntlet of evolution the knowledge we develop and get it back say that when a plant is introduced to a have a right to be here." North Carolina's to the land managers in a useful form. natural area where it has never grown before, Rob Gardner adds: "I resist giving argu Beyond a collection of rare plants for dis the once natural area becomes a garden. ments like 'It might have medical benefits.' play purposes, we don't want to consider "Johnny Appleseeding," Faith Campbell
24 AUGUST 1992 calls it, "taking the plant out of its evolution ary context and interfering with the ecology at the new site-playing with nature." She cites the transplanting of purple pitcher plants from Northeast bogs to Southern mountain Uncommon plants adapt to bogs, "which were functioning fine without uncommon environments. A wily purple pitcher plants." survivor, the sand plain gerardia (far On the other hand, CPC's executive dir left) loves disturbed habitats, such as ector, Don Falk, sees reintroduction as an golf courses and railroad tracks. important strategy for many rare species. Some CPC-protected plants can be "If genes are an ark," he says, "then even found in one place only: the lakeside tually the ark must land when plants are daisy (left) grows exclusively in an reintroduced into a restoration project or Ohio rock quarry and the Pitcher's protected natural area. Eventually, we dune thistle (below) grows in the want to close the circle and bring these beachfront dunes of the Great Lakes plants back to the land. They can continue basin. to follow their evolutionary paths." In March, when bright sun on the linger ing snow outside looks like a Christmas card, Brian Parsons walks through Hol den's greenhouse and checks his eight little pots of whorled horse balm seeds. Redolent of forced tropical flowers, the greenhouse is an island of lushness amid the wintery world. But the whorled horse balm is not doing well at all. Only one of the eight pots has any signs of life-two pale, spindly seed lings. Even for wild plants, for which Par sons says 50 percent germination is excellent, these results are disappointing. By summer, both seedlings die, though one first develops real leaves and grows in soil. The two cuttings are also thriving, though like many transplanted perennials, they are taking their time. "I guess I was cocky," he laments. If he has to go back to Shawnee, he'll go earlier; the first seed collection must have been too late. Tenacity is basic in this business; tenacity is how he has attained an 80 percent success rate with growing rare plants. Sooner or later, he will grow whorled horse balm. For the time being, it's keeping him humble.
Jane Ware is a free-lance writer living in Columbus, Ohio.
VISITING HOLDEN The Holden Arboretum has 3,100-acres of natural woodlands, fields, ravines, ponds, horticultural collections, and display gar dens. It is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $2.50 for adults; $1.75 for children ages 6 to 15 and senior citizens. Write 9500 Sperry Road, Mentor, OH 44060, or call (216) 946-4400.
AMERI CAN HORllCUL TURIST 25 Barby Walls Need a terrier barrier or a thief thwarter? Pick a plant with prickles.
B Y KAT H LEE N YEOMANS
_IIIIIIII here was a day not long ago that I seriously considered surrounding my yard with barbed wire. It wasn't a very neighborly attitude, I know. Still, one has limits. I had just finished repairing the damage done to my perennial bor der by the neighbors' collie when there he was, rolling around in it for the third time. As I went to the shed to get my garden tools, I noticed the path that the neighborhood children, short cutting home from school, had worn through my front lawn: time to replant the grass-again. Then, more charitably, I remembered just how many times my own pets had made ruinous dashes through the vegetable garden. I was fed up, but I couldn't envision standing guard every day, on the alert to shake my hoe and screech at every passing child and wayward mutt. Fences that are halfway attractive are expen-
26 AUGUST 1992 deterrent to both two- and four-legged intruders. Above: While a holly won't notify the police if someone tries to break into your home, law-enforce ment officials say planting thorny plants under windows may bring a halt to an attempted illegal entry.
AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST 27 sive, and in my neighborhood, not allowed of any type, there are no miracle cures. in the front yard. Gardens on the edge of suburbia have espe Then as I was pruning some roses and cially persistent problems with marauders pulling yet another thorn out of my finger, hardier and hungrier than poodles. Un it occurred to me what effective natural domesticated animals, particularly rabbits, deterrents some plants have against bodily have been known to eat a season's harvest contact by humans and animals. I began to overnight. Racoons, while no threat to study plants with thorns, spikes, and spines greenery, are absolutely mad about corn, that I might use to erect barriers around berries, and fruit, especially grapes. There those plants less able to defend themselves. are those who say we should just plant This idea is of course not an original one. some extra endive for our furry friends and The "ha-ha" wall that was prevalent in learn to live cheek-to-jowl with nature. England until the end of the seventeenth There are others, however, who have dis century was a sunken wall or walled ditch covered that Thumper and Bambi have no that obstructed the travel of deer, livestock, clear understanding of where their crop and rabbits not only by being on a different ends and ours begins. level than the landowners' vegetable or Rabbits can be especially pesky, because ornamental gardens, but often by being brambles that hinder most small mammals -"'"' planted with brambles or small trees to i": ..~ provide homes and hiding places for these form an impenetrable thicket. In England, ;. . ". A,t!C ~ '(' lettuce thieves. Remember Br'er Rabbit? '1,• , • , ~, the sweetbrier rose (Rosa eglanteria) is .. ;;It~~;",c. • Some gardeners have despaired of all other :' ' ,'... 4 • used to keep cattle in the fields. ~ .: ' , ' deterrents and begun "marking" their ter • .~ . . " In the Southwest United States, it is not ., ritory, much as an animal does, with human ." . •.~~. / uncommon to see contemporary homes ... 28 AUGUST 1992 ing them from view. However, an Ameri can who lived in Venezuela for a short time noticed that many yards were completely bordered with a tall native cactus. Her own home there, surrounded by a six-foot con crete wall, was broken into a number of times, but those of her neigh bors, protected by their spiny barriers, were left alone. One of them told her that the cactus fences seemed equally effective against both humans and animals. It doesn't seem that a holly shrub could hold a candle to a high-tech security sys tem, nor will it alert the fire department if your fried chicken sets the kitchen ablaze. But law-enforcement officials say any measure that limits the movement of a potential offender is worth considering. Will Wood, community relations officer for the Santa Barbara Police Department, says thorny shrubs planted under windows are such an effective deterrent to illegal entry that they are frequently planted for that purpose in commercial landscaping. Thus the natal plum or pyracantha that you admire outside a hotel window may have been put there as much for security as aesthetic reasons. Burglars are creatures of expediency, apparently. Most of them look for an easy entry, and a few thorns may be just what it takes to make them decide that your home might be more trouble than it's worth. Wood suggests that bougainvillea and pampas grass, because it tends to in flict injuries similar to paper cuts, also make outstanding plant barriers. It may be unnecessary and even unwise to fence your entire yard for security pur poses. Law-enforcement officials say it's smart to concentrate on keeping prowlers out of your back yard, where surreptitious doings may not be as readily apparent to watchful neighbors as in your front yard. A four-foot hedge between the back and front of your lot might be ideal, since in truders can't easily step over it, and if they do succeed in getting inside it, it won't conceal them if they're standing upright. The spiny stems ofFouquieria splendens have earned it the common name of And much like the rabbits and deer you coach-whip. This native shrub can grow to twenty feet tall. hope to keep out of your vegetables, poten tial burglars don't want to get in a situation and ground-cover types are relatively the season with a winter display of bronze where they can't escape; they will avoid an maintenance-free. "Meidiland" roses are colored branches and orange-red hips. enclosure that gives them no clue as to hardy and thrive in almost any sunny, well Others that have gained popularity in the what lies on the other side. Even open drained location, including slopes. Alba landscape include Bonica ('Meidonac'), fences, such as chain-link, can be made Meidiland ('Meiflorpan') is a sturdy plant with ever-blooming pink blossoms, and the more attractive, mysterious, and threaten with white, continuously blooming spreading Pearl Meidiland ('Meiplatin') ing when covered with thorny vines such flowers, and its dark green foliage turns a that has lovely pastel blossoms and deep as bougainvillea and climbing roses. colorful yellow in autumn. Red Meidiland green foliage. As plant barriers, roses are among the ('Meineble') creates a beautiful carpet of Opinions are mixed as to whether roses most friendly to the eye. The modern shrub deep red throughout the summer, and ends will deter deer, however. Some say that AM ERJCAN HO RTICULTURI ST 29 A GUIDE TO GUARDIAN PLANTS rugosa roses and others of that type planted in a dense thicket will keep deer S H RUB S out, although the deer will munch off all the buds. Others say the deer will eat all of BOTANICAL NAME COMMON NAME ARMOR the shoots before the plant forms thorns. Hollies are another visually appealing, Acacia armata kangaroo thorn thorny branches tactily hostile alternative to fencing. Their Acacia constricta white thorn spmes spiny leaves provide natural traffic control, while the bright berries offer all-season Agave americana century plant spiny l€aves beauty. They are vigorous, compact, and Aloe spp. aloe spiny-edged leaves there are many hardy ones for Zones 4-9. Berberis SI'p. barb€rry spiny leaves The blue Meserve hollies include both upright and low-growing cultivars. The Carissa grandiflora natal plum spiny branches slow-growing, less hardy 'Blue Angel' has Chaenomeles speciosa flowering quince thorns a deep blue-green leaf that in winter turns Crataegus spp. hawthorn a dramatic blue-purple. The taller 'Blue t1wrny bran.ches Maid' is considered the hardiest of these Echinocactus grusonii gold€n barrel cactus thorns hollies and can be used as a privacy hedge Euphorbia milii crown-of-thorns thorny stems as well as an attractive barrier. 'Golden Girl' is a blue holly with yellow berries. FC 1-tquieria splendens ocotillo, coach-whip thorny st€ms Also ideal hedge plants are 'China Boy' and Ilex spp. holly spiny-toothed leaves 'China Girl', which are easily sheared. Lantana spp. shrub verbena prickly leaves Junipers and other prickly evergreens can form nearly impenetrable thickets. The blue, Mahonia spp. Or€gon grape spiny-toothed leaves yellow-green, gray, and gold foliage of Opuntia spp. prickly pear thorns modem cultivars can be combined to create Poncirus trifoliata trifoliate orange SPiNY shoots and stems dramatic year-round interest. Most ever greens are disease- and insect-resistant. Pyracanth a sI'p. fire thorn thorns Choose carefully, however, since some Ribes s.peciosum fuchsia-flowered gooseberry thorny stems junipers can grow into mighty trees- far rose thorns taller than anything you might need to deter Rosa spI'. the neighbor's dachshund or Little Leaguer. Yucca aloifolia Spanish bayonet sharp-pointed leaves Low-growing evergreens suitable for ground cover and small hedges include Juniperus p(itzeriana 'Gold Lace'; ]. procumbens 'Nana', 'Sargentii', and 'Sea Green'; and]. V I N ES horizontalis 'Blue Chip' and 'Wiltonii'. Shrubs of varying heights, ground covers, vines, trees, and even some plants bearing Bougainvillea spp. bougaiNvillea thorns edible fruits make good defense plants. Pyracantha spp. fire thorn thorns Raspberry brambles can keep nosy dogs Rosa rugosa Turk€stan rose prickly stems and cats out of the flower beds, and a blackberry hedge will discourage any num Rubus spp. raspberry thorny stems ber of varmints. Planted closely, artichokes form a terrific child- and dog-proof perimeter around a vegetable garden. Austrian brier (Rosa foetida) or Asparagus T R E E S falcatus can also be used to impede traffic. A few words of caution are in order. Citrus spp. citrus thorns and prickly leaves Do plant your defense garden with a great deal of forethought, because you will x Cupressocyparis leylandii Leyland cypress prickly needles need to cross its barriers occasionally for Crataegus spp. hawthorn thorny branches upkeep chores. You will minimize the stiff thorns amount of time you spend fending off your Crataegus crus-galli cockspur thorn own guard plants if you select varieties that Maclura pomifera Osag€ orange thorny branches will naturally grow to the height and width Pinus spp. pme prickly needles you desire with little clipping. If you are planting around a children's Pseudotsuga menziesii Douglas fir prickly needles play area, remember that your intent is to Taxus spp. yew prickly needles subtly deter little darlings from trampling 30 AUGUST 1992 your prize dahlias, not to cause permanent LOW-GROWI NG PLA NTS AND GROU ND COVERS bodily harm to your own or anyone else's progeny. Avoid plants with sharp-p'ointed BOTANICAL NAME COMMON NAME ARMOR spines and thorns, and use plants like lan tana or juniper that have prickly but not Argemone spp. prickly poppy prickly leaves and stems harmful foliage . Asparagus densiflorus Sprenger asparagus needlelike leaves and A manageable bed width is vital. A bed that is five feet wide can be reached easily 'Sprengeri' prickly stems from either side, so that no one will have Asparagus falcatus sickle thorn thorny stems to thrash through a thorny thicket for Echinops exaltatus globe thistle prickly leaves seasonal cleanup. Consider using weed controlling fabrics when preparing the !lex cornuta 'Rotunda' Chinese holly spiny leaves planting bed, or pre-emergent weed con Juniperus horizontalis creeping juniper prickly needles trol chemicals in areas where they are con sidered safe. Mulching around plants is an Lantana montevidensis weeping lantana prickly leav€s and stems environmentally friendly way to reduce Pyracanth a cultivars fire thorn thorns weeding chores. And when pruning, don't Rosa foetida Austrian brier prickly stems be macho. Wear leather gloves, long sleeved shirts, and long pants. Nothing Rosa rugosa prickly stems Turkestan rose delivers as nasty a bite as a bougainvillea, Silybum marianum St. Mary's thistle barbed bristles except perhaps a yucca. Goggles to protect Taxus baccata 'Repandens' spreading English yew prickly needles your eyes are also a prudent idea. In addition to the threat to your own skin, there are a few other disadvantages to using plants to protect either your car rots or your karats. If the spinach will be EDIBLE PROTECTOR S up next week or a cat burglar has hit everyone on the block but you and you'd Cucurbita spp. squash, pumpkin prickly leaves like some extra protection before you bed Macadamia integrifolia Queensland macadamia spiny leaves down this evening, a living fence won't quite do the trick since it will take months Punica granatum pomegranate spiny branches or years to establish. Nor will plants stop Rubus spp. blackberry, raspberry prickly branches a determined professional burglar, al though they will discourage vandals and other less intent trespassers. Wood, stone, or metal fences won't need trimming, watering, or pruning, nor are they subject to drought, root rot, insects, or fungal and viral scourges. But the rela tively low cost and the variety of plants that will grow in less than ideal situations far outweigh the disadvantages. Thanks to my newly established rose fence, romping children and roaming pets have stopped frequenting my flower bed this season. My neighbor the collie owner, who'd been having trouble with squirrels in her outdoor containers, borrowed a few clip pings from my living fence to keep those fluffy-tailed rodents out of her nasturtiums. But she reports they've had no effect on keeping her pesky dog out of her hosta bed. Kathleen Yeomans is not normally in the business of inflicting injuries. The Santa Barbara, California, freelancer is a regis tered nurse with a book on garden tips for Don't be fooled by the benign-looking red blossoms of the fuchsia-flowered people with disabilities, The Able Gar gooseberry-they camouflage the plant's bristly spines. dener, to be published by Storey Com munications, Inc., this winter. AMERI CAN HORTICULTURIST 31 Let's Hear It for Annuals! If you think they're too '"'"common," think again. B Y E L S ABE T H SHELDON oone could be more pleased marigolds. I have nothing against petunias. than I that perennials are I try not to hold red salvia's violent redness attracting more enthusiasts against it. And the only things with which every year. It's satisfying to one could reproach marigolds is their rub grow plants that reappear bery texture and objectionable odor. But everyN spring like old friends. It's fun to why don't we plant anything else? True, work out color combinations and bloom some people put alyssum or blue lobelias ing periods to have blossoms spring, sum next to their marigolds and red salvia. mer, and fall. And it's reassuring to find Some people even have zinnias and for the that there are perennials for almost any shade, impatiens. It is possible to encounter site, whether dry or wet, shady or sunny. calendulas, nicotiana, snapdragons, and But even a perennials devotee can some nasturtiums. Even so, that is a very limited times use a few annuals here and there, to repertoire. fill in gaps in permanent plantings, to lend One supposes that the residents of these some color in late July or August when it's homes feel limited to the few varieties of hard to keep the pe!-"ennial garden looking annuals offered in flats at their local garden cheerful, or to fill containers with plants centers. Commercial growers have got that will flower all summer. onto five or six annuals that are easy to Most perennials, despite the claims of propagate and sell well. The breeders con Above: Old-fashioned sweet peas are plant catalogs, bloom-for only several weeks centrate on them, inventing new colors, a tempting choice for the annual (there are some notable exceptions), while doubling and tripling them, ruffling and garden although they don't grow well many annuals, once they starr to bloom, go fringing them, making giants and dwarfs everywhere. Here they grow on a on nonstop until the frost kills them. Annuals out of them, and no one seems to object. fishing net with nasturtiums. Right: might be the answer, too, for flower lovers Gardeners who like to plant annuals The blooms of red flax seem to float too transient to put in perennials. should start clamoring for more variety. Or on the air. Perennial gardeners may feel it is cheat they might get hold of some seed catalogs ing to plug holes in their borders with and start raising their own. A whole world annuals, but they may rid themselves of of annual treasures is at hand. their guilt. The best gardeners have done it, For example, have you ever tried red flax including all the saints in the gardening (Linum grandiflorum var. rubrum)? Blue calendar, such as Jekyll and Sackville-West. flax is one of the delights of the perennial Given the many interesting annuals that garden, not that it's terribly perennial. But can be grown from seed, it is astonishing red flax doesn't even pretend to be peren that, in my part of the country at least, one nial.lts brilliant blood red flowers have the rarely sees anything growing in people's same satin sheen as the blue ones and, since gardens except petunias, red salvias, and flax plants are feathery, without much 32 AlJGUST 1992 A TALL COOL ANNUAL FOR AUGUST UguSt means agony everyone except a few Southerners who say "kle-om" to rhyme for most American with home. Either way, it is a charming name for a sweet, A .gardeners. Over old-fashioned flower that will make airy balls of pink, white, powering heat, inevitable or rose purple flowers during the garden's awkward stage. droughts, and local water A few old garden books briefly dismiss the deome with one restrictions play havoc line, typically describing it as a "tender annual from South with the sweet, orderly America, sow in the greenhouse in early spring," but this is one calm that gardens offer time when the old books aren't entirely right. their creators during the A lovely variety is C. hasslerana, originally from South other eleven months of the America and offered for sale as C. rosea in the Flanagan and year. August is when wilt, Nutting catalog published in London in 18.35. The old books mildew, and black spot are right that it is a tender annual, but there is absolutely no take a nasty turn through need for greenhouse sowing. In fact, Hortus Third recom the foliage, and listless mends that the seeds be sown where the plants are to stand, plants hang limply above and the best time to do this is after the last frost. It is much the sunbaked earth. easier to scatter seeds than to sow indoors and transplant, and It's a time when the done in this way the flowering period hits just when the garden gardener'S best intentions seem to count for naught. August is needs it most. the one month out of the whole year that the usually cheerful, Cleomes germinate freely, and the sprouts are easy to recog indefatigable gardener comes close to ripping out flower beds nize. They look exactly like the little marijuana -leaf earrings and and pouring concrete. Many who could not bear to leave their brooches that otherwise perfectly nice teenagers wear to tor gardens for even a weekend in Mayor June simply toss in the ment their parents. But almost before you can chant "Just say trowel and pack their bags for two weeks on the beach, in the no" 100 times, these little sprouts reach an impressive height of mountains, or "anywhere away from here." three to five feet and begin producing airy flower dusters, six This annual exodus from the garden actually does have its to eight inches across. The first flowers appear at the top of the positive side. First of all, it gives one the satisfaction of seeing plant, with later ones sprouting from side branches. that everyone else's garden looks fairly awful, too. Misery-does As the long blooming period progresses, spent blossoms love company. Second, keeping away from weeding and dig transmogrify into funny little seed pods that stick straight out ging for fourteen clays allows even the most ground-in dirt from the plant like tiny flying green beans. Some say that these under your fingernails to slowly but surely disappear. This pods are the origin of the plant's nickname "spider flower" means you can eat in a restaurant without hiding your hands because they look like arachnid appendages. For all with a low under the tabledoth each time a snooty waiter comes around. spider gross-out quotient, I'm happy to say that flying green But the best part of escaping during the garden's annual beans are more like it, and deome sounds prettier than spider droopy days is that, if you have taken the proper steps, you can flower any day. return refreshed and renewed in time to enjoy the long, spec Like most of us during the most oppressive days of the eighth tacular display of deomes that takes the well-planned American month, deomes tend to droop slightly at midday. However, garden from the dog days right into an altogether better time of once the sun begins to fade, they will quickly recover to the year. A big, fluffy display of five-foot-tall deomes makes the shimmer under a summer moon. They also look wonderful garden, and the gardener, feel fresh and alive again. early in the morning. Celia Thaxter (1835-1894), author of An Cleomes are one of the best things going for August, yet no one Island Garden, especially liked the way "deome rises all over seems to have written much about their use. It is a puzzle why ... in rosy purple douds. " annuals-those eager-to-please, quick-to-the-rescue flowers It is good to remember that the simplest old annual can don't receive the cheers and love the biennials and perennials restore the wish to wander in the garden and thus refresh the inspire. They grow quickly, flower like crazy and, since their life soul of the summer-weary gardener. -Katherine Whiteside cyde is limited to one summer, have no off-season requirements except a respectful cremation on the autumn bonfire. Katherine Whiteside is the author of Antique Flowers and Cleome is pronounc::ed "kle-O-me" with long vowels, by Classic Bulbs. bulk, the flowers seem to float on the air. cross. The tall P. somniferum 'Danebrog' pet', along with pinks, lilacs, salmons, and They are lovely with the sunlight shining produces large fringed single blossoms whites. These flowers, which grow in low through them. either of peach or bright red, stamped with compact mounds, can be found single and Other wonderful reds are found in an a white cross in the center. Annual poppies double, bicolored (D. chinensis 'Snow nual poppies. Shirley poppy (Papaver will seed themselves around your garden. fire') and fringed (D. chinensis 'T & M rhoeas) mixes contain all shades of pink, If you want them to grow in a particular Splendour Mixed'), and many are fragrant. white, rose, and a fine crimson. P. som spot, gather the dry pods and sprinkle the Salvias needn't be red. The closely pack niferum has wide glaucous leaves and seeds there in the fall. ed purple spires of the ordinary Salvia fari comes in solid pinks, reds, and white, single Annual Dianthus include some gorgeous nacea are very effective in the summer or double, and some are marked with a true reds, such as D. chinensis 'Fire Car- garden. (It is often misleadingly described 34 AUGUST 1992 as blue and it does dry imo a Wedgwood and an indescribable, deep wine red. There perennials. (Editor's note: Katherine blue; people who see it in winter bouquets is a new form, 'Double Dwarf Mixed', said Whiteside, another cleome admirer, pays think it is dried lavender.) There is a white to confine itself to eighteen inches. homage to this flower on page 34.) one offered now as well, but I think it's Something else that grows too tall and Some people grow everlastings as garden dingy. A better choice would be S. viridis, broad to use in most perennial gardens is plants but I prefer to keep them separate. whose tall stems bear interesting bracts of the ordinary cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus). They do come in wonderful colors but several subtle colors-rose, a greenish It does produce an endless supply of cut many of them tend to be tall and awkward, white, and lavender. Since sa lvia means flowers, however. The small er C. sul and one wants to cut and hang statice sage and these plants are close relatives of phureus 'Klondike' would go well in any (Limonium spp.) as soon as it begins to our seasoning herb, S. atropurpurea, they garden of hot colors, as it usually grows no open. Helipterums have good blue gray, are pungent as well as pretty. higher than rwo feet and has flowers of succulent fo li age and pink, salmon, or Because most annual Scabiosa grow to vivid shades of yellow and flame. It doesn't white flowers but don't bloom forever, three or four feet tall, they are not easy to make a good cut flower and is to be en even when regularly cut. I might be willing use as fillers in a perennial border. But they joyed as it stands. to allow the bright red Gomphrena glo are wonderful for a garden of a nnuals or for Spider flower (Cleome hasslerana) is bosa 'Strawberry Fields' into a garden of a cutting garden, if you are so lucky as to another tall one at three to five feet, impos hot colors, but I consider Celosias, both C. have space for one. Scabiosa need to be ing in spite of the lacy quality of its blooms. cristata and C. piumosa, utterly revolting staked, but you'll be glad to have gone to Compact and straight, it could be used in either fresh or dried, with their horrid the trouble when you see the pouffy round ·the border, and its shades of pink, rose, colors and textures. There will be those blossoms in shades of lavender, pink, white, lilac, and white harmonize well with most who disagree, but surely all of us gardeners Above: Verbena bonariensis will reseed and create a forest of small lilac-colored flowers. Right: The electric blue flowers of Salvia patens are no doubt responsible for its common name of gentian sage. It is grown as an annual in the North. AMERI CAN HORTI CULTUR IST 35 should be allowed our little prejudices? would take care of my complaints. feet (L. trimestris 'Loveliness'), and all For the Northeast I would not advise Annual or China asters (Callistephus have trumpet flowers in white or shades of trying to grow sweet peas (Lathyrus odor chinensis) look splendid in seed catalogs. pink. L. trimestris 'Mont Blanc' and 'Mont atus), although they are hard to resist. No With regret I admit being unable to grow Rose' are twenty-one-inch, compact plants doubt I am underrating the skill of others; them. My lusty plants keeled over one after that help out tremendously in July and the fact that I have tried and failed doesn't the other just as they were beginning to August and go on blooming until frost. prove the thing is impossible. My father, flower. A fungus often found on the seeds One good reason for growing annuals is who adored their fragrance, used to grow and roots causes them to wilt. They are also that they provide us with most of the true them in the Midwest. As I recall he planted troubled by many insects, which must be blues available for a summer garden. Many his seeds in a trench and gradually filled it sprayed or otherwise dealt with. Even if perennials described as being blue are ac in during the summer as the bottoms of the they retain their health they bloom for only tually lavender, mauve, lilac, violet, or just stems began to yellow from the hot dry five to seven weeks, so one must plant plain purple. There's nothing wrong with weather. Sweet peas really perform best early, midsummer, and late cultivars in that-but they're not blue. And many of while it's still a bit cool and moist and they order to have flowers all summer long. The the really hardy true blue perennials have don't seem to like the heavy clay in my newer China asters are said to be wilt-resis finished blooming by late spring. garden, where their seeds rot during the tant, but you're nevertheless cautioned not The blue pimpernel (Anagallis monelli long spring rains. to plant them twice in the same place. subsp. linifolia) is about the same size as Verbena will thrive here, however. There One of the annuals I do use a lot is the little annual blue lobelia and has flat are dazzling collections offered in white Lavatera, one of the mallows. Some are one-inch, five-petalled flowers. It looks its and almost every shade of the pink-red two to three inches high, some go to four best making dazzling low ultramarine violet range. V. hybrida grows as high as twelve inches, has attractive, long, op posite, blunt-toothed leaves, and each blos som stem bears a cluster of small flowers that looks like a tiny individual bouquet. You can root cuttings of your favorites and keep them indoors for setting out in spring. The last couple of years I've been growing V. bonariensis, a great find, as it seeds itself generously-not to say frantically-so that even after scratching up most of the babies in the spring you're bound to have a jungle of them all during late summer and fall. Imagine three feet or more of tall slim stems with widely spaced, opposite, pointed leaves, topped by clusters of small blue purple flowers. Singly, these plants wouldn't mean much, but a forest of them is most satisfactory. One year I grew Heliotropum 'Hybrid Marine' and was tremendously impressed by its thick, ribbed, deep green leaves and immense purple heads. They looked like Victorian greenhouse plants, but in spite of the catalog description, had no discernible fragrance. I've heard that the species, H. a: arborescens, actually is scented although ~ less flash y. ~ In myoid-fashioned garden period I tried ~ mignonette (Reseda odorata), another plant ;f. renowned for its aroma. I knew it wouldn't Top: The dazzling Mexican tulip be splendid looking but it was even less poppy grows no more than two feet showy than expected. The plants were tall. Above: Gomphrena globosa greenish pink nondescript individuals and, 'Strawberry Fields' is a welcome worst of all, I couldn't detect the famous addition to a hot-colored garden. perfume. The bees did, being more sensitive Right: Heliotropium arborescens has than I, and had a mignonette festival that been used in making perfume, but it's summer. I may try again with the one called not as showy as some of its cultivars. Reseda 'Fragrant Beauty'. Its allegedly "haunting-sweet fragrance" sounds as if it 36 AUGUST 1992 mounds against the gray rocks of the sis) is famous for its color. I grew a group Larkspur (Consolidaambigua), as we all Kabylie Mountains of Algeria, but is very of them that kept me happy all one sum know, comes in a light blue as well as in pretty indeed in our lowland gardens. mer. They grow to only twelve inches so white and shades of pink and violet. Here Centaurea cyanus, the well-loved corn they are easy to place. I was unable to keep it from mildewing, but flower, comes dwarf, medium, or tall, in Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) a fungicide could prevent that. several colors including blue. One catalog comes in what is called the 'Persian Jewels' Cynoglossum amabile 'Firmament', offers a double one, 'Blue Diadem', which mixture-mauve, lavender, rose, white, called Chinese forget-me-not by some it describes as "intense deep blue." Very and blue. There is also one called N. people (as is the perennial Brunnera mac tempting. damascena 'Miss Jekyll' that is bright blue, rophylla) , has gray green foliage and Next summer I mean to grow Phacelia semidouble, and charmingly reticent. The clouds of delicious small sky blue flowers. campanularia, the California bluebell. I've "mist" is the feathery, ferny leaves that This is a great joy when well grown. As been reading long enough about its "up surround the flower. Interesting, round, each plant finishes blooming, I pull it up, turned, bell-shaped, gentian blue flowers." striped seed pods are a bonus, and it self saving the seed-covered branches. In the That's a short one-only nine inches. sows, which is another. autumn I shake these along the front of the Another small charmer is baby-blue-eyes An almost startling turquoise blue is border so that I'll have blooming plants all (Nemophila menziesii), which has, just as the found in Oxypetalum caeruleum. I grow it during the following summer. catalog says, "glorious sky blue" blooms. in the garden and pot up the plants to winter The last and perhaps the most divine You will hate to see it go when the frost over in the parlor window. They make blue of all is that of Salvia patens. It will comes. N. menziesii prefers part shade. clusters of half-inch stars, which are real grow to a floppy twenty-four inches and The Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texen- jewels and well worth a little trouble. carries startling, almost electric blue AMERI CAN HORTICULTURIST 37 A MALIGNED PERENNIAL FOR SEPTEMBER ity the poor goldenrod. Since the middle dragon's-head flowers. The plants can be of the sixteenth century this tall, sunny lifted after the first frost, and the roots kept Pnatured country bumpkin has been al in buckets or boxes of slightly damp sand ternately welcomed by and spurned from and peat until spring. I put them in the cool refined garden society with heart-wrenching basement and add some water two or three regularity. However, despit~ the vicissitudes times during the winter. They should not of border fashion, goldenrod has retained its be made soggy. You can plant them out as innocent appeal. With the current trend in soon as there is no further danger of frost. meadow gardens on the rise, this thoroughly An alternative to preserving the roots is to reliable plant is finding itself, once again, in gather the seeds every fall and start them vited into all the best gardens. indoors in early spring. British botanist William Turner (1508-68) Leaving the blues for the opposite side of was one of the first to write about goldenrod. the color wheel, there is a yellow that can't Tumer, who also exp~rienced alternating be recommended highly enough-Hun periods of popularity and ~xil~ according to nemannia fumariifolia, the Mexican tulip the whims of Henry VIII, extolled the plant as poppy. Try it if you would like to dazzle one of the very best healing herbs. yo urself with the sight of glistening two- to In Turner's final edition of a A New Herball, published the year of his death, h€ three-inch golden cups dancing above reported its almost magical restorative effect on both external and internal wounds. ferny glaucous foliage. They will grow at He also recorded the exorbitant prices commanded for dried specimens of this the most to two feet, so you can tuck them highly valued plant, noting that it had to be imported to England at enormous cost. in anywhere. There is one called 'Sunlight' Right after this authoritative herbal was published, goldenrod was discovered that may be even better than the species I growing wild in Hampstead, at the edge of London, and imm~diately the cachet have grown, although it is hard to believe of the plant plummeted. Even its h€aling properties came under dispute. Too much it possible. All poppies, of course, should of a good thing was simply not profitable. be sown either where they are to grow or John Gerard (1545-1612), never one to hold back his opinions, let the botanical in peat pots so that they can be set out world know exactly what he thought of the inelegant manner in which goldenrod without disturbing the roots. had been ousted: "I have known the dry herb which came from beyond the sea As r have noted, some of these annuals sold in ... London for half a crown an ounce. But since it was found in Hampstead will seed themselves, so if you keep them wood ... no man will give half a crown for a hundredweight of it ... This verifies weeded the first year and watch out for our English proverb 'Far fetched and dear bought is best for ladies.'" seedlings the following spring you won't So there it begaN. The debate over goldenrod's suitability for the garden still is have to buy seeds but once. Simply lift the divided between the" darned upstart weed" and the "beautiful wildflower" teams. seedlings and plant them where you want It needs to be said that goldenrod is simply one of those pretty, robust flowers that them-or leave them where they are, if gardeners of accepting character consider a welcome member in informal situations. there's room. Self-sown seedlings are al There are over 130 species of goldenrod (Solidago), and although some are ways much sturdier than seedlings raised found in Euwpe, Asia, and South America, most are native to North AmeIica. The under glass or in the house. first American species to go to England, S. canadensis, was collected by John In discussing-for the most part--{)nly the Tradescant the Younger in 1648 and grown in his fashionable London garden. annuals I have grown, r have but scratched Undoubtedly the plant enjoyed at least five minutes of fame from this exposure. the surface of what is available; there are The Latin name solidago is from solidare, to unite, and recalls the plant's once countless fascinating plants to experiment stellar reputation for healing properties. All this reference to the healthy aspects of with and a prowl through the seed catalogs goldenrod might seem odd to those who still mistakeAly hold to the ugly rumor will arouse your spirit of adventure. that the fluffy yellow flowers of this plant are responsible for the agonies of hay r never cease to marvel at what one can fever. This refutable gossip persists, despite complete exoneration from the medical bring forth by cooperating with one-six world. The rumor holds no more truth than the ancient belief that goldenrod held teenth of a teaspoon of tiny grains found in the hand will lead one to hidden treasure. in the bottom of a seed packet. There are no tricks to growing this guileless perennial. Simply plant seeds or plants where they can feel comfortable at their full height-up to six feet-and do Elisabeth Sheldon is the author of A Proper not expect absolutely perfect manners from them. They will sprawl gracefully at Garden. the back of a border or send up golden sprays among the tall grasses of a wild garden. They will spread copiously, so it is impossible to have "just one or two": They look best as they grow naturally, in great golden waves. I SOURCES There is nothing better thaA enjoying a September sunset surrounded by the hum of bees fumbling in the goldenrod. One of the twentieth century's great plant Geo. W. Park Seed Company, Inc., connoisseurs, Graham Stuart Thomas, magnanimously included the goldenrods in Cokesbury Road, Greenwood, SC 29647, his selective work Perennial Garden Plants and wrote that these plants "give gaiety (803) 223-7333. Catalog free. to the sere touch of the waning year." -Katherine Whiteside Thompson & Morgan, P.O. Box 1308, Jackson, NJ 08527, (201) 363-2225. Catalog free. 38 AUGUST 1992 Tamingthe Texas Madrone Thought to be dwindling in the wild, it's now being propagated for gardeners. BY MARILYN HADDRILL s a relic of the Ice Age, the Texas rna drone tree (Arbutus xalapensis) learned harsh sur vival lessons as it evolved through the millenia. This Adurable evergreen member of the heath family (Ericaceae) manages to thrive on the sparse moisture of its arid native habitat. Yet it retains a striking beauty common to the flora of more lush, tropical regions, with its clumps of white to pink urn-shaped flowers, red to orange berry clusters, and deep green leaves. Its twisting, bare trunks earned it the nicknames "lady's legs " and "naked Indian" from early settlers who first encountered the tree's reddish tan bark. Its natural range is limited to a small area of southeast New Mexico and isolated locations in Texas, then extends through Mexico and Guatemala. The common name "madrone" probably evolved from the Spanish name for the tree, madroiio. This possibly comes from madre, which means mother or root. Madroiio also refers to a berry-shaped tassel used to decorate Spanish military uniforms. The madrone produces deep green, oval leaves, which by the end of the tree's second or third year begin falling off to be replaced with new growth. Through the year, the tree's smooth bark changes color from pink to red to white and splits and sheds in thin layers, almost like the shell of a shrimp. The root system resembles that of a blueberry bush, with large primary roots, many secondary roots, and no hair roots. Like other Arbutus species, the Texas madrone produces a relatively hard wood, The bare, reddish tan bark of the Texas madrone led early settlers to nickname which is tight-grained and useful for the tree "lady's legs" and "naked Indian." AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST 39 Protects plants from transplant shock and drought. Arbutus xalapensis produces clusters of red to orange berries that are sweet but not as flavorful as more popular fruits. making furniture, tools, handles, and moisture is abundant. It can also be found cylinders. The wood is also burned for fuel in British Columbia and in cultivation in and to make .charcoal, which in turn has Juneau, Alaska. A. menziesii can grow to been used to make gunpowder. In Mexico, more than twice the size of A. xalap ensis the bark and leaves are sometimes applied and its fruit is dark red. Probably the as an astringent. The berries of the Texas closest relative of the Texas madrone is A. madrone are sweetish when ripe but not arizonica. This tree's range extends south nearly as tasty as blueberries, for example. from Arizona into Mexico; it also can be In southern Europe and Ireland the native found in isolated areas of western New and smaller A. unedo produces similar ber Mexico. A. arizonica tends to be slightly ries that are used in preserves and alcoholic taller than Te xas madrone, growing to drinks. forty-five feet, and produces flowers two to The largest known Texas rna drone tree three months later, in May. Leaves, can be found in Big Bend National Park in flowers, and fruits are basically the same southwest Texas; the evergreen measures for both trees. thirty-two feet tall and has a trunk circum For decades admirers of Texas madrone ference of 112 inches. (While other Texas have been frustrated in attempts to trans madrones have been known to grow plant the stubborn plant from the wilds Sprayed on plant surfaces, Wilt-pruf® taller-exceeding forty feet-the record into gardens and yards. One notable ex forms a protective coating that slows down moisture evaporation from leaves size is determined by the American ception can be seen on West Riverside and stems. Use for: Forestry Association on a point system that Drive in Carlsbad, New Mexico. There, • spring and summer transplanting also considers trunk diameter and branch Stanley and Glenda Doyle own a large, • protection from summer heat spread.) Typically, the trees grow to twen spreading Texas rna drone that was success and drought ty-five to thirty feet in the wild. Texas fully transplanted about fifty years ago. It • fall transplanting madrones thrive in limestone soil along has become a celebrity of sorts, attracting • winter windburn protection arid hillsides and in canyons, although they tourists and researchers with its displays of • Christmas trees, wreaths and greens have been found growing in acid soils in creamy white to pink flowers in the spring Organic and biodegradable, Wilt-Pru f® the Davis Mountains of Texas. Texas and clustered berries that lure birds to its is the safe way to guard madrones are particularly abundant on the branches in the fait. against moisture loss north slope of South McKittrick Canyon Now the Carlsbad Rotary Club wants to year 'round. WllT0 of Guadelupe Mountains National Park in make the madrone a more familiar sight in Ask for Wilt-Pru f® at west Texas, where the more protected soil the community, which is near the Guade your garden supp ly PRUf® retains moisture. lupe Mountains where the trees flourish. store today. ,NTI·__ A cousin, A. menziesii, prefers West After finding a Texas nursery that has P.O. Box 469, Essex, CT 06426-0469 Coast habitats such as the acid soil and learned to cultivate the madrone, the club 203(767-7033 forest slopes of southern California where has been swamped with hundreds of orders 40 AUGUST 1992 in an ongoing fund-raising project that in perienced losses of less than 10 percent. volves selling madrone seedlings for "That's not a whole lot different than a lot transplant. of nurseries produce," according to Dorothy Mattiza, owner-operator of Lownds. Gunsight Mountain Ranch Nursery in Mattiza advises people buying seedlings Tarpley, Texas, near San Antonio, supplies to make sure the trees have proper drain the seedlings. She has noticed in recent age, since the evergreens are harmed by too years a sharp increase of public interest in much standing water. And since the plants the seedlings developed at her native plant are adapted to an arid environment, they nursery. "People who have seen them have don't adjust well to sprinklers. She suggests almost instinctively wanted them. They are burying a plastic milk jug with a slit in the a distinctive tree. They're probably Texas's bottom alongside seedlings. Water and fer showiest evergreen," Mattiza said. tilizer can be poured into the jug to allow "They're what has given us a little status as seepage below-but not above-the plant. a nursery. We started out doing native The roots should never be allowed to dry plants, but no one paid any attention to us out, nor should they be overwatered; a until they knew we had madrones. It was good mulching will help keep the soil moist a unique idea." She says she knows of no enough. The plant also grows much better other commercial operation selling Texas in a location providing afternoon shade. madrone seedlings, although potential Mattiza says it's best not to try planting competitors might now be entering the madrones in a location with high humidity, field. where they will be susceptible to fungi. Guadelupe Mountains National Park Once planted, their growth rate depends officials are enthused about the prospect of on how suitable their habitat is. In the first more widespread cultivation of the tree. few years, the seedlings might double or They have noticed in recent years that the triple, depending on genetic structure and number of Texas madrones in native how well the roots set. habitats seems to be declining, apparently The unusual, colorful bark of this showy because of environmental disturbance evergreen provides year-long interest in the brought about by development. home landscape. The tree has few insect The tree is uncommon in nurseries be problems, unless you count the butterflies cause it has an undeserved reputation for that flock en masse to the nectar of its being difficult to cultivate, according to spring blossoms. Madrone berries are a Texas A&M University horticulturist winter food source for migrating birds-, and Benny J. Simpson, soil scientist Billy W. in the summer, its large, leathery leaves Hipp, and New Mexico State University create a refuge of cool shade that should woody plant physiologist Norman Lownds. attract most humans. Hardy to USDA Zone 7b, the plant is known to survive even when temperatures Marilyn Haddrill is the southern New drop to near zero for several days. Because Mexico correspondent for the EI Paso o Please send me a free catalog. the madrone is drought-resistant, it is ideal Times and a free-lance writer living in Las o Please send me 100 Mammoth Darwin Hybrid Tulips for $19.95. for helping property owners to conserve Cruces, New Mexico. o Payment enclosed: ____ water. Hipp and Simpson concluded from Charge to: 0 Master Card 0 VISA their research that A. xalapensis "should o be a premier landscape tree for Texas" in SOURCES Acct. No.: ______areas as diverse as San Antonio and Corpus Exp. Date: ______Christi. Gunsight Mountain Ranch & Nursery, Name: Not only is it unethical to dig up wild P.O. Box 86, Tarpley, TX 78883, (512) Mailing Address: ______trees, but nursery owner Mattiza says wild 562-3225. Catalog free. trees are almost impossible to transplant Other Arbutus species are a vaila ble Shipping Address: ______from their rocky soil because the roots from: don't adjust well to the disturbance. The Greer Gardens, 1280 Goodpasture Is seeds don't store well, but if" they are land Road, Eugene, OR 97401, (503) 686- City: ______planted soon after harvesting, they have a 8266. A. menziesii seedlings. Catalog $2. State: _____ Zip: _____ germination rate of better than 80 percent. Southwestern Native Seeds, P.O., Box Phone Number: ______Seed-grown trees transplanted to a proper 50503, Tucson, AZ 85703. A. arizonica location when only two feet tall, Mattiza seeds. Catalog $l. VaM €MSdcM lMe. says, thrive with little care after they be Thompson & Morgan, P.O. Box 1380, Stillbrook Farm come established. She sells her seedlings at Jackson, NJ 08527, (201) 363-2225. A. 313 Maple Street, Litchfield, CT 06759 six to eighteen inches tall and has ex- unedo seeds. Catalog free. (203) 567-8734 AMERI CAN HORTICULTURIST 41 ~,,~r';I::r:X7.:,\ ~. -"Y , \_. -_ ~ '~ , BEAUTY FROM ~.~~:~::.~~;,-,~:.~,.:~>,.. .~>. -. - ~ BULB~ CLASSIFIEDS Classified Ad Rates: $1 per word; mIni CACTI AND SUCCULENTS mum $20 per insertion. 10 percent dis FLOWERING JUNGLE CACTI catalog for count for three consecutive ads using same 1991-1992 including 4-page 1992 plant adden copy, provided each insertion meets the dum now available. 190 color photos of Orchid $20 minimum after taking discount. Copy Cacti (Epiphyllums), Hoyas, Rattail Cacti, XmaslEaster Cacti, Succulents, more! 77 page and prepayment must be received on the plant/cactus bookshop catalog, all only $2. 20th day of the month three months prior Hurry! RAINBOW GARDENS, 1444 (AH) to publication date. Send orders to: Taylor St., Vista, CA 92084. American Horticultural Society Advertis CARNIVOROUS PLANTS ing Department, 2700 Prosperity Avenue, Carnivorous (Insectivorous) Plants, seeds, sup Fairfax, VA 22031, or call (703) 204-4636. plies, and books. Color brochure free. PETER PAULS NURSERIES, Canandaigua, NY 14424. THE AVANT GARDENER DAYLILIES FOR THE GARDENER WHO WANTS MORE AWARD-WINNING DAY LILIES-direct from FROM GARDENING! Subscribe to THE grower! Beautiful catalog featuring 195 color AVANT GARDENER, the liveliest, most useful illustrations: $3 ($5 coupon included). DAYLI of all gardening publications. Every month this LY DISCOUNTERS, Rt. 2, Box 24AH, unique news service brings you the newest, most Alachua, FL 32615. practical information on new plants, products, techniques, with sources, feature articles, special EXOTIC PLANTS issues. 24th year. Awarded Garden Club of FREE PLUMERIA PLANT with mInimum America and Massachusetts Horticultural order!!! Easy-to-grow Tropicals. 300+ varieties! Society medals. Curious? Sample copy $l. Plumerias, Hibiscus, Bougainvilleas, Gingers, Serious? $12 full year (reg. $18). THE AVANT Flowering Vines and Shrubs, Bulbs, Jasmines, GARDENER, Box 489M, New York, NY Fragrant Plants. Books. NEW! Super Flower 10028. producing specialty fertilizers. NEW! Plumeria Handbook (color), $10.95. Beautiful descrip AZALEAS AND RHODODENDRONS tive catalog, 100+ color photos, $2. PLUMERIA FOR GARDENERS WHO CARE WHAT PEOPLE, Box 820014-AH, Houston, TX GOES WHERE: Carlson's Catalog and Color 77282-0014. Cue Cards help create year-round, low main tenance Azalea and Rhododendron gardens. GARDEN FURNITURE Serving America's frnest Two-year subscription: $3. CARLSON'S GAR ENGLISH REGENCY STYLE. Carefully hand DENS, Box 305-AHC, South Salem, NY 10590. forged. Entirely hand-riveted. Direct from black gardens for over 80 years. (914) 763-5958. smith. Legal SASE for brochure to EB. ODELL, John Scheepers, Inc. offers the most 6209 Upper York Rd., New Hope, PA 18938. spectacular collection of flower bulbs BOOKS TROPICA 4th edition, 1992, 7,000 color to enhance your garden's beauty. HELP WANTED photos, 1,156 pages, $165. Exotic House Send for FREE catalog Plants, 1,200 photos, $8.95. HORTICA, pic We at the American Horticultural Society are torial cyclopedia of Garden Flora and Indoor often asked to refer individuals to significant Send for your free color catalog Plants, 8,100 color photos scheduled for Fall horticultural positions around the country. We featuring Holland's largest selection 1992. Shipping additional. Circulars gladly sent. are not in a position to offer full placement and finest quality of flower bulbs. ROEHRS COMPANY, Box 125, E. Ruthedord, services to candidates or employers. However, NJ 07073. as a service to our members-jobseekers and Name: ______employers alike-we would be very glad to BULBS receive resumes and cover letters of individuals Street: ______South African Gladiolus, Ixia, Babiana, seeking job changes and employers seeking can Lachenalia, Amaryllids and other seeds and didates. All responsibility for checking refer City: ______bulbs. Write for catalog to RUST-EN-VREDE ences and determining the appropriateness of NURSERY, P.O. Box 231, Constantia, Republic both position and candidate rests with the in State: ____ Zip code: ____ of South Africa 7848. dividuals. AHS's participation in this activity is only to serve as a connecting point for members Dutch bulbs for fall planting, 12CM Tulips, of the Society. Inquiries and informational John Scheepers, Inc. DNI Daffodils, Hyacinths and Miscellaneous. materials should be sent to: Horticultural ~fwl' P.O. Box 700 Catalog Free. Paula Parker DBA, Mary Mat Employment, American Horticultural Society, Bantam, Connecticut 06750 tison van Schaik, IMPORTED DUTCH BULBS, 7931 East Boulevard Dr., Alexandria, VA ~~~ (203) 567-0838 P.O. Box 32AH, Cavendish, VT 05142. 22308-1300. 42 AUGUST 1992 Give yourself extra clout with the American Horticultural Society MasterCard ® Carry the credit card that gives you the recognition of being a caring, active member of the American Horticultural Society. This is the only card that enables you to add your support to your favorite non-profit organization! Accepted at 9 million locations worldwide, the AHS Gold MasterCard® card gives you unmatched traveling, shopping and entertaining con venience. Get these extra advantages at NO RISK! - No annual fee for the first year ($40 for the Gold card, $20 for the Silver card thereafter; 17.9 % Annual Percentage Rate)t - Up to $50,000 I ine of credit -Immediate cash ava ilability -Toll free access to 24-hour Customer Service department -Credit card registration service Extensive travel benefits and services including"; - Up to $1 ,000,000 Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance" -Supplemental Auto Rental Collision/Loss Damage Insurance - Up to $3 ,000 Supplemental Lost Checked Luggage Protection - Emergency Cash & Ai rl i ne Tickets This plastic passport, recognized around the world, is being offered exclusively to AHS members and their families. "AHS is making this card available because it has the power, practicality and prestige of a premium MasterCard," explained Darlene Oliver, AHS Director of Membership. "And, each time you make a purchase with your AHS MasterCard, you add support to AHS programs - at no cost to you!" Why not make this card the one you reach for when shopping for gardening supplies, dining at a favorite restaurant, purchasing travel tickets or checking into a hotel ? Choose the card that makes a difference. CALL NOW TO APPLY 24 hours a day, 7 days a week t-SOO-847-7378, ext. 5000 Be sure to use the priority code when calling : PXKK. 'TransacllOn fee for Bank and ATM Cash Advances: 2% of each Cash Advance IS2 Minimum. $25 Maximum): Transaction fee for Premium Access Chec~ Cash Advances: I % of each Cash Advance 1$2 Minimum. SIO Maximum). Lale Paymenl fee: SIS. Over-the·CrediHimit-fee: SIS. ' Ce~ain restrictions apply to these benefits. The summary of credit card benefits accompanying the credit card Premium Access Check~ describes coverage terms. conditions and limitations. MBNA America· and Premium Access Check~ are federally registered SelVice Marks of MBNA America Bank. NA. The account is issued and administered by MBNA America Bank. NA. MasterCard· is a federally registered SelVice Mark of MasterCard IntematlOnal.lnc" used pursuant to lICense. The mformation about the cost of the card deSCribed above IS accurate as of 5/92. to find out what may have changed call J.8oo·84]')378 ext. 5000. HOUSE PLANTS RARE AND EXOTIC TROPICALS ORCHIDS, GESNERIADS, BEGONIAS, RARE & EXOTIC TROPICALS for home and CACTI & SUCCULENTS. Visitors welcome. garden. Plant collector's paradise. 84-page 1992-1993 catalog $2. LAURAY OF SALIS colorful catalog $5. SOUTHERN EXPOSURE, BURY, 432 Undermountain Rd., Salisbury, CT 35 Minor-AH, Beaumont, TX 77702-2414. 06068. (203) 435-2263. ROSES ORCHIDS-for windowsill, under lights or LARGEST ASSORTMENT OF ROSES to be greenhouse. Affordable $12-$20. Blooming found anywhere, at reasonable prices: HT, size! Listings w/cultural info. $2 refundable. climbers, antiques, English Garden Roses, Palestine Orchids, Rt. 1, Box 312A, Palestine, Rennie's miniatures, Cocker's introductions, WV 26160. etc. A superb collection. Most orders shipped in our refrigerated truck to USA UPS depots for FREE "The Five Professional Secrets of Healthy distribution. Catalog $2. HORTICO INC., Fax House Plants." A Walsh Report Newsletter. (416) 689-6566. Write Edward Walsh Professional Horticul VIBURNUMS turist, P.O . Box 430, Lansdowne, PA 19050. VIBURNUMS FOR PATIO OR PARTERRE. PERENNIALS Large selection of these and other ornamental trees and shrubs. Please send $2 for descriptive DISTINCTIVE, FIELD-GROWN PEREN catalog. FAIRWEATHER GARDENS, Box 330- NIALS-" Simply the Newest & Best Cul Greenwich, NJ 08323. tivars!" Specializing in Japanese & Siberian Irises, Uncommon Hostas and Choice Daylilies. FREE Fall Sales Listing. YORK HILL FARM, 271 N. Haverhill Rd., Kensington, NH 03833. CREATIVE GARDEN TOURS An unforgettable experience awaits! PLANTS (UNUSUAL) We custom-design unique flowet and OVER 2,000 KINDS of choice and affordable garden tours worldwide for Horticultural plants. Outstanding ornamentals, American na Societies, Garden Clubs, professional and o Choice of stunning Opal White or Bronze-Tint tives, perennials, rare conifers, pre-bonsai, non-profit organizations. Call us now to glazings on white or bronze framework 0 aWIK'" plan a special trip for your group. window/screen change system 0 Do-it-yourself wildlife plants, much more. Descriptive catalog assembly 0 America's # 1 value. $3. FORESTFARM, 990 Tetherhasl, Williams, 1-800-262-9682 Send $2 for Color Catalogues, Prices, OR 97544. X.O. Travel Consultants Ltd. TRAVEL 38 West 32nd Street, Suite 1009 SENT FIRST CLASS MAIL. Rocky Mountain and Great Basin native plants, X,Q. Dealer Inquiries Welcome New York, NY 10001 cold hardy eucalyptus, and Australian plants. CoNSULTANTS, LTD. Telephone: (212) 947-5530 VEGETABLE FACTORY, INC . For current Plants Price list send SASE to l!iaII!a_~ Telex:4955784 P.O . Box 1353, Dept. AHO AUSTRA Flo.RA OF UTAH, 3816 Highland .,~ FAX: (212)971-0924 Stamford, CT 06904-1353 Dr., Holladay, UT 84106. ~ JUST ARPUVED! THE NEW RHS DICTIONARY OF GARDENING ANTHONY HUXLEY, EDITOR·IN·CHIEF One of the most important horticultural reference works pub lished in decades, with four volumes and 3,000 pages, The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening describes over 50,000 plants from around the world and contains 4,000 original illustrations and extensive cultivation notes accompanying the botanical = and taxonomic data. Also included are 180 essay-length ar ticles covering garden history, garden design,gardening tech niques, and special interest topics such as ethnobotany and xeriscaping. The dictionary features such special reference = sections as a glossary of pests, diseases, and disorders, an Illustration of Acer species from The New RHS Dictionary index of popular names; a glossary of horticultural terms and of Gardening, a four-volume, illustrated reference guide with plant taxonomy; and an illustrated botanical glossary. extensive cultivation notes and 180 garden essays. Now available from the American Horticultural Society for $745-$50 off the regular retail price-plus $20 shipping for all four volumes, To order The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening, fill in the coupon below and mail it to: AHS (Books, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308-1300. Or call toll-free: (800) 777·7931 . o Check enclosed Name: o Charge my: Address: ______o Visa 0 MasterCard Exp. Date: City: Account#: ______State I ZiJil: ______ Signature: Daytime Phone: 44 AUGUST 1992 PRONUNCIATIONS Acacia annata ak -KA Y -see-uh ar-MA Y -tuh Cleome hasslerana klee-OH-mee Maclura pomifera mak-LURE-uh pom-IF-er-uh A. constricta A. kon-STRIK-tuh hass-Iee-RA Y -nuh Mahonia mah-HOE-nee-uh Aconitum noveboracense ak-oh-NYE-tum Collinsonia verticillata kol-in-SO-nee-uh Nemophila menziesii nee-MOF-il-uh no-vee-bore-ass-EN-see ver-tih-sih-LA Y-tuh men-ZEES-ee-eye Aesculus turbinata ESS-kew-lus Consolida ambigua kon-SOL-ih-duh Nigella damascena nye-JEL-uh tur-bih-NA Y-tuh am-BIG-yew-uh dam-ass-SEE-nuh Agalinis acuta ag-uh-LIE-niss ak-KEW-tuh Coryanthes ko-ree-AN-theez Nothofagus noth-oh-FA Y-gus Agave americana uh-GAY-vee Corylusavellana KOR-ih-liss av-e1-LAY-nuh Opuntia oh-PUN-tee-uh uh-mer-ih-KAY-nuh Cosmos bipinnatus KOZ-mose Oxypetalum caeruleum oks-ee-PET -uh-Ium Aloe al-OH-ee bye-pin-NA Y -tus see-REW-Iee-um Amorphophallus titanum C. sulphureus C. sul-FEW-ree-us Papaver rhoeas pah-P A Y -ver REE-us uh-mor-foe-FAL-us tie-TAN-urn Crataegus crus-galli krah-TEEG-us P. somniferum P. som-NIF-er-um Anagallis monelli subsp. linifolia KREWS-GAL-Iee Pediocactus knowltonii peh-dee-oh-KAK-tus an-ah-GAL-iss moe-NEL-ee subsp. Cucurbita kew-KER-bit-uh nol-TOE-nee-eye lie-nih-FOE-lee-uh x Cupressocyparis leylandii Phacelia campanularia fas-EE-Iee-uh Andropogon scoparius an-dro-POE-gon x kew-press-oh-sigh-PAIR-us lee-LAND-dee-eye kam-pan-yew-LAIR-ee-uh sko-PAIR-ee-us Cynoglossom amabile sin-oh-GLOSS-um Phyllitis scolopendrium fil- LIE-tiss Angraecum sesquipedale an-GREE-kum uh-MAB-ih-Iee sko-Iow-PEN-dree-um ses-kwih-ped-DA Y-lee Dianthus chinensis die-AN-thus chih-NEN-sis Pinus PIE-nus Arbutus arizonica arb-YEW -tus Digitalis dih-jih-TAL-iss Poncirus trifoliata pon-SIGH-rus ar-ih-ZON-ih-kuh Drakaea fitzgeraldii DRAK-ee-uh tIy-foe-lee-A Y-tuh A. menziesii A. men-ZEE-see-eye fits-jer-A WL-dee-eye Prunus americana PRUNE-us A. unedo A. ew-NEE-doe Echinocactus grusonii ek-ih-no-KAK -tus uh-mer-ih-KA Y-nuh A. xalapensis A. zal-uh-PEN-sis grew-SONE-ee-eye P. angustifolia P. an-gus-tih-FOE-Iee-uh Argemone ar-JEM-oh-nee Echinops exaltatus EK-ih-nops eks-al-TA Y -tus Pseudotsuga menziesii soo-doe-TSOO-guh Arisaema dracontium ar-ih-SEE-muh Euphorbia milii yew-FORB-ee-uh MIL-ee-eye men-ZEES-ee-eye dra-KON-tee-um Ficus sycomorus FYE-kus sik-oh-MORE-us Pterostylis ter-oh-STY -liss Aristolochia californica ah-ris-toe-LOW-kee-uh Fouquieria splendens foo-key-AIR-ee-uh Punica granatum PEW-nik-uh gra-NAY-tum kal-ih-FORN-ih-kuh SPLEN-denz Pyracantha pie-ruh-KAN-thuh A. clematitis A. klem-uh-T1E-tiss Gomphrena globosa gom-FREE-nuh Reseda odorata reh-SEE-duh oh-doe-RA Y-tuh Asparagus densiflorus ass-PAIR-uh-gus glow-BO-suh Ribes speciosum R YE-beez spee-see-OH-sum den-sih-FLOR-us Gongora gon-GO-ruh Rosa eglanteria ROW-suh eg-Ian-TARE-ee-uh A. falcatus A. fal-KA Y -tus Heliotropium arborescens R. foetida R. FEE-tid-uh Asternovae-angliae ASS-ter NO-vee-AN-glih-ee hee-Iee-oh-TROW-pee-urn ar-bo-RESS-enz R. rugosa R. rew-GO-suh Astragalus ass-TRA G-uh -ius Helipterum hee-LIP-ter-um Rubus REW-bus Berberis BER-ber-iss Hunnemannia fumariifoli4 Salvia atropurpurea SAL-vee-uh Betula murrayana BET-yew-luh hun-eh-MAN-ee-uh foo-mar-ee-eye-FOE-Iee-uh at-row-per-PEW-ree-uh mew-ray-A Y -nuh Hymenoxys acaulis var. glabra S. farinacea S. far-ih-NAY-see-uh Bougainvillea boo-gun-VIL-ee-uh high-men-OKS-iss uh-KA WL-iss vaL S. patens S. PA Y-tenz Brunnera macrophylla BRUN-ai~-uh GLAY-bruh S. viridis S. VIH -rid -us mak-roe-FIL-uh Iliamna corei il-ee-AM-nuh KOR-ee-eye Sarracenia oreophila sar-ah-SEN-ee-uh Callistephus chinensis kal-LISS-stef-us Ilex cornuta EYE-leks kor-NEW-tuh or-ee-oh-FIL-uh chih-NEN-sis Juniperus horizontalis jew-NIP-er-us Scabiosa skab-ee-OH-suh Calopogon pulchellus kal-oh-POE-gon hor-ih-zon-T A Y -I iss Silybum marianum SIL-ih-bum mar-ee-AN-um pull-KEL-us J. pfitzeriana J. fits-zer-ee-A Y-nuh Solidago canadensis sol-ih-DA Y -go Carissa grandiflora kuh-RISS-uh J. procumbens J. pro-KUM-benz kan-uh-DEN-sis grand-ih-FLOR-uh Lantana montevidensis lan-T A Y -nuh Stanhopea stan-HOE-pee-uh Catasetum kat-uh-SEE-tum mon-teh-vih-DEN-sis Stephanomeria malheurensis Celosia cristata sel-OH-see-uh kriss-TA Y -tuh Lathyrus odoratus LA TH-ir-us oh-doe-RA Y -tus stef-an-oh-MEER-ee-uh mal-hewr-EN-sis C. plumosa C. plew-MOE-suh Lavatera trimestris lav-ah-TEER-uh Taxusbaccata TAKS-us bak-KAY-tuh Centaurea cyanus sen-taw-REE-uh try-MESS-triss T. brevifolia T. brev-ih-FOE-Iee-uh sigh-A Y-nus Limonium lih-MOE-nee-um Trollius laxus subsp. laxus TROE-Iee-us Cephalanthera longifolia Linum grandiflorum var. rubrum LIE-num LAKS-us subsp. LAKS-us sef-uh-Ian-THAIR-uh lon-jih-FOE-Iee-uh grand-ih-FLOR-um va~. ROOB-rum Verbascum ver-BASS-kum Chaenomeles speciosa kee-NOM-el-eez Lupinus texensis lew-PIE-nus teks-EN-sis Verbena bonariensis ver-BEE-nuh spee-see-oh-suh Lysimachia vulgaris lie-sih-MA Y-kee-uh bo-nar-ee-EN-sis Cirsium pitcheri SIR-see-um pih-CHAIR-ee vul-GA Y -riss V. hybrida V. HIGH-brid-uh Cistus salvifolius SIS-tus sal-vih-FOE-Iee-us Macadamia integrifolia Yucca aloifolia YUK-uh al-oh-ih-FOE-Iee-uh Citrus SIH-truss mak-uh-DA Y -mee-uh in-teg-rih-FOE-Iee-uh 46 AUGUST 1992 • When it comes to making a garden tractor tough, nothing beats cast iron. That's why we build every Toro Wheel Horse garden tractor with a cast-iron front axle, cast-iron transmission housing and cast-iron cylinders. Not to mention case-hardened steel gears and III a steel beam frame . So before you choose your next garden tractor, I • I ~d~® test ride this one. It'll make a tough decision a lot easier. Is your garden missing jewel·like flowers floating on a shiIiunering Ifyou haven't one, ypu are missing a great deal ofsatisfaction from your water surface and the darting brilliance of goldfish? Are you tnissing garden. ~. themelodicsounds ofwater spi.llitigfromafountain, vessel orwaterfall? Let Lilypons and TetraPond help you to get statted. today by ordering What you need in yOl:U' garden is a water lily pool. A water lily pool is one of our durable TetraPond 32 mil, flexible, 2 ply PVC pool liners. So a garden whose plants like damp to very wet feet. Fish and frogs like easy to mstali and mamtainyou will askyourselfwhyyou waited so lopg to live there and butterllies Will like your garden better than ever. A to begin this adventure. Call toll free to nearest location. Please have water garden is simply on", of the most satisfying forms of gardening. credit card Information handy. Choose from the. seven sizes listed (siZes are approximate) fo.r depth 18" to 24" in your oWn design. Lilypons eatalegue subserlptien.