Volume 70 , Number 11 • November 1991 News Edition ures From the Earth

o the uninformed, using served as a powerful argument for plants as medicine may those who want to protect tropical rain conjure up images of snake forests. This fall, the world's largest oil salesmen, overpriced pharmaceutical company announced a healthT food nostrums, or the dying and $1 million agreement with a Costa desperate slipping south of the border Rican conservation group for the right for a potion. to screen plants-as well as insects and Nothing could be further from the microbes-from that country's forests truth. A quarter of U.S. prescription for their potential use in medicines. medicines contain plant-based Plants can help us prevent as well as ingredients. The Natural Products cure serious illnesses. A five-year, $20.5 Branch ofthe National Cancer Institute million "designer foods" project at the has a $2 million annual budget to ex­ National Cancer Institute is investigat­ plore for and test plants that may have ing plants for anticancer properties, potential for treating cancer and AIDS. with the idea that these substances We've come a long way since the could be added to recipes as part of an doctrine of signatures-when it was anticancer diet. assumed that a plant shaped vaguely In this issue, Steven Foster, author of like a human organ would cure whatever numerous works on medicinal plants, ailed that body part. Although we don't describes some plants in current use as understand how premodern healers medicines, and offers a glimpse at why selected their plant cures, we are learn­ their use in the United States lags be­ ing that in many cases, their choices hind that of other countries. We also pass were right on target. Native Americans along recent research on the curative chewed on willow bark to ease pain; the properties of common edibles such as bark contains salicylic acid, a compound onions and strawberries, and neglected chemically related to the active comestibles like the prickly pear. ingredient in aspirin. In other cases, a A word of caution: Many medicinal favored plant has a new use. Derivatives plants are toxic and many foods can be of mayapple, used historically for a liver harmful when consumed in excessive cleanser, laxative, and cure for syphilis, amounts. Most of this research is are now used to treat venereal warts and preliminary, particularly in regard to for testicular and small-celllung cancers. what quantities or concentrations are The potential of plants for curing beneficial without unpleasant or some of our most serious diseases has harmful side effects. In This Issue

Herbs for Health 2 AHS Bulletin Board . 16 Regional Notes . .10 Gardeners' Bookshelf 18 Making a Difference .12 Gardeners'Dateline 20 gz All-America Selections .13 Classifieds 22 o CD W Gardeners' Q&A .14 Try This! 24 a: ~ Ul 5 '" American Herbs for Health Horticultural Society

The American Horticultural Society The United States lags far behind other nations seeks to promote and recognize excellence in horticulture across in tapping the medicinal qualities of plants. America. By Steven Foster OFFICERS 1990-1991 Mr. George C. Ball Jr., West Chicago, IL f most gardeners think of herbs, President most likely parsley, sage, Mrs. Helen Fulcher Walutes, Mount Vernon, VA First Vice President rosemary, and thyme will come Mr. Richard C. Angino, Harrisburg, PA to mind. But would they think of Second Vice President Iwoody ornamentals such as ginkgoes Mr. Elvin McDonald, Brooklyn, NY and yews as herbs? How about Secretary wildflowers such as purple coneflowers Mr. Gerald T. Halpin, Alexandria, VA or passionflowers, or weeds such as Treasurer sweet wormwood and St.-John's-wort? BOARD OF DIRECTORS Broadly defined, an herb is any plant Mrs. Suzanne Bales, Brenxville, NY used for culinary, fragrant, or Dr. William E.Barrick, Pine Mountain, GA medicinal qualities. About one-third of Dr. Sherran Blair, Columbus, OH the more than a quarter million known Mrs. Mary Katherine Blcilunt, Montgomery, AL species of flowering plants have been Mrs. Sarah Boasberg, Washington, DC used for medicinal purposes at some Dr. Henry Marc Cathey, Washington, DC Mrs. Beverley White Dunn, Birmingham, AL point in history. At least 80,000 species Dr. John Alex Floyd Jr., Birmingham, AL can be documented as folk medicines Mrs. Julia Hobart, Troy, OH worldwide. In temperate regions, 20 Mr. David M. Lilly, St. Paul, MN percent ofthe species can be con­ Mr. Lawrence V. Power, New York, NY sidered medici~al plants. Hundreds Passi provides Europeans with a Dr. Julia Rappaport, Santa Ana, CA Mrs. Flavia Redelmeier, serve as important sources of medicine mild sedative. Richmond Hill, ON, Canada in both modern and traditional health Mrs. Jane N. Scarff, New Carlisle, OH care systems. percent of China's rural population-not Mrs. Josephine Shanks, Houston, TX According to Dr. O. Akerele, director as folk medicine, but as primary health Mrs. Donald B. Straus, New York, NY of the World Health Organization's care. Over 500 different plants are "offi­ Mrs. Billie Trump, Alexandria, VA (WHO) Traditional Medicine cial drugs" of the 1985 Pharmacopeia of Mr. Andre Viette, Fishersville, VA Ms. Katy Moss Warner, Lake Buena Vista, FL Programme, up to 80 percent of the the People's Republic of China. world's population relies on various Since East Asia has been a major EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR forms of traditional medicine rather source of ornamental plants for the Mr. Frank L. Robinson than modern Western-style medicine. West, many of our garden favorites and Herbal treatments are as important as noxious weeds are also Chinese medicinal plants. Forsythia (Forsythia AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST acupuncture in traditional Chinese EDITOR: medicine, which serves as much as 60 suspensa) seed capsules, Japanese Kathleen Fisher honeysuckle flowers and stems, balloon ASSISTANT mITORS: flower (Platycodon grandiflorus) roots, Thomas M. Barrett and the flowers of chrysanthemums Mary Beth Wiesner (Dendranthema spp.) are all official EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: source plants of Chinese medicines. Martha Palermo ADVERTISING: While most of us will not use mums American Horticultural Society Advertising to "dispel wind-heat" of an upper Department, 2700 Prosperity Avenue, Fairfax, respiratory tract infection, a trip to an VA 22031. Phone (703) 20446363. American physician or pharmacist may Address all editorial correspondence to: The Editor, American Horticulturist, American Horticultural also result in a plant-derived treat­ Society, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA ment. It is estimated that as many as 22308. AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST, ISSN 0096·4'117, 25 percent of prescription drugs is published by the American Horticultural Society, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308, (703) 768· contain at least one plant-derived 5700, and is issued six times a year as a magazine and six ingredient. A classic example is the times a year as a News Edition. The American Horticultural Society is a nonprofit organization deveted to excellence in heart-affecting glycosides of the highly horticulture. Botanical nomenclature in AMERICAN toxic common foxglove. Vincristine and HORTICULTURIST is based on HORTUS THIRD. National membership dues are $35; two years are $60. Foreign vinblastine, alkaloids from the dues are $45. $12 of dues are designated for AMERICAN Madagascar periwinkle, are used in HORTICULTURIST. Copyright © 1991 by the American Hor· chemotherapy for the treatment of ticultural Society. Second-class postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia, and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Hodgkin's disease and childhood Please send Form 3579 to AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST, American ginseng is one of the few native leukemia. Approximately 40 plant 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308. medicinal plants cultivated in any quantity. species are used to produce prescription It is also collected in the wild. drugs sold on the American market,

2 .. American Horticulturist· November 1991 with a retail value in 1980 of $8 billion. This figure does not include over-the­ counter (OTC) drugs, drugs used Purple Coneflower exclusively in hospitals, and sales of traditional herbal products or products Echinacea products, especially sold as "dietary supplements" in health those derived from the common and natural food markets in the United garden perennial purple coneflower States. The value of OTC plant-derived (E. purpurea), are widely used in drugs is substantial; about one-half of Germany as a nonspecific stimulant OTC laxative products, for example, to the immune system to increase contain plant-derived ingredients. the body's own defenses, such as at Plant-derived drugs would probably the beginning stages of a cold or flu. be even more prevalent if the costs of Externally, products are used to help introducing new drugs were not so stimulate regenerative processes, high. To bring a new prescription drug restore damaged tissue, and for an to the American market costs upwards indirect anti-infective influence. of $200 million (the estimated cost of a According to Dr. Rudolf Bauer and new drug application). To recoup that Dr. Hildebert Wagner of the Institute investment, pharmaceutical companies of Pharmaceutical Biology, are given exclusive rights to market University of Munich, in Germany the product for up to 22 years. There­ there are over 280 Echinacea fore, plant drug research in the United products registered as medicinal States is largely limited to complex herb products or phytomedicines. isolated chemicals or synthesized Currently, the above-ground parts of chemicals based on naturally E. purpurea and E. angustifolia roots the aerial part of the fresh flowering occurring molecules. Pharmaceutical are subjects of official German plant. com panies are interested only in monographs for phytomedicines. While the world's supply of E. plant-derived chemicals or "natural Products include ointments, liquid purpurea is from cultivated material, products" that can be patented. oral extracts, and injectable drugs. most of the E. angustifolia on world Over 600 botanical products are sold E. purpurea preparations are markets is harvested from wild in American herb markets. Primarily composed of the expressed juice of populations in the U.S. Great Plains. sold through outlets such as the more than 7,000 health and natural food stores in the United States, herb mechanism for developing "acceptable $2.2 billion; 70 percent of those sales products are often sold as "dietary health claims" for food products. are in Germany alone. "Herbal supplements." Herb products sold for Currently, if an herb product is sold as medicine obviously belongs in the most health purposes in the United States a "drug"-that is, labeled for medicinal advanced industrialized countries as sit in what might be described as use-it would be subject to a new drug evidenced by its place in modern regulatory purgatory. As dietary application. Europe," says Blumenthal. "In supplements, they are "foods" rather Despite these ambiguities, "the Germany, for example, one-third of than "drugs." Product labels generally future of medicinal herbs in the United graduating physicians have taken do not include information on the States has never looked better," says courses in 'phytomedicine,' as herbal intended medicinal or health uses of Mark Blumenthal, executive director of medicine is known in Europe. It is part the products. However, a new law, the the American Botanical Council, an of mainstream public health care in Nutrition Labelmg and Education Act Austin, Texas-based nonprofit organiza­ Continued on page 4 of 1990, which will change the face of tion whose mission is to disseminate food labels in the United States over scientifically accurate information on the next two years, also institutes a herbs. "Public interest in herbs continues to expand. Consumers are ob­ Saw Palmetto viously interested in natural medicines and in the concept of self-medication. Saw palmetto, know as "sabal" in Chamomile Current FDA policy, whereby drugs are the herb trade, is the fruit of being switched from prescription to Serenoa repens, a member of the Chamomile flower products, from over-the-counter status, supports the ,palm family that is common in the annual herb knOlNn as German idea that consumers obviously know south Florida thickets. Fruit or Hungarian chamomile (Matri­ how to read directions for self-medica­ preparations are used in products caria recutita) are used internally tion. While not sold as 'drugs,' many in Germany, France, and Italy for by Europeans for the treatment of herbal products sold in the American the treatment of benign prostatic inflammatory conditions and market are used by consumers for hypertrophy, a condition estimated spasms of the gastrointestinal tract minor complaints such as digestive to affect 50 percent of men over 50. and peptic ulcers. The tea is upsets, coughs, colds, headaches, The fruits contain a component popularly used as a mild sleep aid, menstrual cramps, and related that helps shrink the prostate especially in children. Externally, conditions. Many medicinal herbs are gland, which can help eliminate the preparations are used for irritations also used in preventive ways." need for transurethral resection and inflammations of the skin, as According to Blumenthal, herbal surgery. The fruit supply is current­ well as the mucosa of the oral medicine is taken far more seriously in ly wild harvested, though one cavity and gums. Most of the western Europe than in the United grower has successfully brought world's supply is cultivated. States. The medicinal plant market in the plant into cultivation. Europe has estimated annual sales of

American Horticulturist· November 1991 + 3 Milk Thistle Medicinal Plant

Milk thistle extract is derived from Organizations the seeds of milk thistle (Si/ybum marianum), a European plant The American Botanical Council naturalized in California and.other (ABC) is a nonprofit edUcational or­ areas of North America. Components ganization headquartered in Austin, that are extracted from the seed and Texas. ABC publishes and dissemi­ known collectively as silymarin are nates factual information on herbs used as "live protectants" for the and herbal research, working to help supportive treatment of chronic increase public awareness on the inflammatory liver disorders historical role and current potential including hepatitis, cirrhosis, and of plants in medicine. It publishes fatty infiltration of the liver by the quarterly HerbalGram in alcohol and industrial chemicals. An conjunction with the Herb Research injectable derivative of the seed is Foundation (see below). For more used in Europe for the treatment of information write to ABC at P.O. Box poisoning from ingestion of the 201660, Austin, TX 78720-1660. death cap mushroom (Amanita ABC's sister organization, the phal/oides). The plant is cultivated Herb Research Foundation (HRF), is on a commercial scale in Europe for a nonprofit educational organization seed production. whose main purpose is to research and disseminate information on medicinal herbs. HRF also sponsors of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), used safety reviews of herbs available on Herbs Continued from page 3 for benign prostatic hypertrophy. American herb markets. Annual dues A matter of growing concern is the start at $35 and entitle members to Gennany. While many herb products in conservation of medicinal plants that scientific information from HRF files the United States are sold in health have traditionally been harvested from and a subscription to the quarterly food stores, in Gennany they are sold the wild. These finite resources may well HerbalGram. For more information through pharmacies." be pushed to their limits by growing write to them at 1007 Pearl Street, Germany's BGA, the equivalent of pharmaceutical markets worldwide, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302. our FDA, has a system of "Standard well-established health food markets for Those interested in the business Registrations" providing fixed rules herb products in the United States, and aspects of herbs may wish to con­ and regulations for single-component the expanding well-developed market for tact the International Herb Growers medicinal plant products as well as phytomedicines in western Europe. A and Marketers Association (IHGMA), medicinal combination teas. This gives meeting on this issue, jointly sponsored a trade organization serving the manufacturers guidelines on labeling, by WHO, the International Union for the needs of herb businesses. They quality control, and safety. The Ger­ Conservation of Nature and Natural sponsor an annual international herb man BGA has also developed a series of Resources, and the World Wildlife Fund, conference in conjunction with Pur­ "Therapeutic Monographs on Medicinal was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in due University's Department of Hor­ Products for Human Use." There are March 1987. A result of the meeting was ticulture. For more information, write nearly 300 such monographs, which the Chiang Mai Declaration: "Saving IHGMA, c/o Stygar ASSOCiates, 1202 are periodically updated as new Lives by Saving Plants," which recog­ Allanson Road, Mundelein, IL 60060. infonnation on any aspect of a plant nized "the urgent need for international -Steven Foster product, its intended medicinal use, or Continued on page 5 its safety, becomes available. In the future, under the unified European Community (EC) economic system, the Gennan phytomedicine Feverfew regulatory system is expected to serve as the primary model for regulating Feverfew preparations from the medicinal plant products throughout whole plant of Tanacetum par­ Europe. EC phytomedicine regulations thenium (formerly Chrysanthemum are expected to have a profound impact parthenium) for use in treatment of on the American herb market, both in migraine headaches have been the the development of new regulations for subject of a number of well-designed product labeling and the use of North clinical trials in England. The American. plants as medicine sources. preparations seem to reduce both Europe is a far larger market for the severity and the duration of numerous medicinal plants indigenous migraines. Excellent improvement is to the United States than is the United documented in patients with a States itself. This is the case with confirmed history of migraine passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), headaches. The commercial supply used as a mild sedative; round-headed of this common ornamental is bush clover (Lespedeza capitata), used cultivated. in diuretic preparations; and the fruits

4. American Horticulturist· November 1991 Mayapple Chinese

Mayapple, including the American Cucumber species Podophyllum peitatum and its Himalayan counterpart P. Trichosanthin is derived from a hexandrum, are sources of toxic Chinese member of the gourd podophyllotoxin, the starting family, Trichosanthes kiri/owii, material for a semisynthetic com­ ambiguously dubbed "Chinese pound known as etoposide. In 1984 . cucumber" by the American press. etoposide became an FDA-approved It is currently a subject of clinical drug for testicular cancer, then in trials as a potential AIDS treatment 1986 was approved for the treatment (not to be confused with a cure). of small-cell lung cancer. A related Early reports call it one of the most chemical derivative, tenipside, is promising drugs for the treatment currently being researched for the of AIDS as it prevents replication of treatment of childhood acute HIV-infected blood cells and lymphocytic 1eukemia. Most of the therefore helps to control the virus podophyllotoxin supply is reportedly in the blood. derived from the Himalayan Also known as "Compound Q)" mayapple, harvested from the wild in the protein trichosanthin is highly Asia. The plant is considered at risk tion on International Trade in toxic. It has been used as a chemi­ of substantial ·decline, and is now Endangered Species of Wild Fauna cal abortive in China. The supply monitored in international trade and Flora in order "to avoid utiliza­ comes from cultivated and wild under the provisions of the Conven- tion incompatible with its survival." plants in China.

country when it comes to medicinal and borders evaporate. A balance will Herbs Continued from page 4 plant research. To get the latest have to be struck between science and scientific information on many pseudoscience, conventional medicine cooperation and coordination to American medicinal plants, one must and traditional medicine, regulation establish programmes for conservation turn to the German literature. The and consumer demands, plus conserva­ of medicinal plants to ensure that world is shrinking as trade expands tion and the need for raw materials .... adequate quantities are available for futUre generations." Approximately 140 species of wild­ harvested American medicinal plants Pacific Yew enter world botanical markets. About 60 species, many from the Eastern Taxol, a drug derived from the bark deciduous forest, are traded in American of the Pacific yew tree (Taxus health and natural food markets. With breviofolia), is currently in clinical the exception of American ginseng, trials as a potential treatment for passionflower, and purple coneflower ovarian cancer. It has also shown (Echinacea purpurea), few American promise in the treatment of breast, medicinal plants are cultivated in lung, and skin cancers. The National appreciable quantities. Very little Cancer Institute has been studying research has been done on population the substance since 1962. It appears dynamics of these plants and virtually to work by inhibiting replication of nothing is known about how many cancer cells. plants of any given species can be taken The yews are scattered throughout each year on a sustainable basis. The the old growth forests of the Pacific need for data on the basic biology and Northwest, which are already a focus Taxol can also be made from the horticultural aspects of wild-harvested of environmental concern because needles and branches of the tree, medicinal plants is acute. they serve as the habitat for the which not only doesn't kill it, but While medicinal plants are certainly spotted ow/. The yews, which grow stimulates new growth. However, the the focus of a great deal of multidiscipli­ slowly to 25 feet, have been routinely federal Food and Drug Administra­ nary research throughout the world, burned as other trees were logged, tion has not approved the purity of the United States is a third world because they were not commercially that form. Scientists hope that they valuable as timber. will enventually be able to produce a Taxol for the clinical trials is sYAthetic form in the laboratory. Yew Steven Foster is the editor of Botanical & obtained by stripping the tree's bark, farms are another alternative; the Herb Reviews, the associate editor of which kills the tree. As many as six Weyerhaeuser Company has begun HerbalGram, published by the American trees are needed to treat one patient. growing the trees on its private land, Botanical Council and the Herb Research No one is sure how many Pacific yews according to the New York Times, Foundation, and is the co-author of A there are, but some conservationists but it will be several decades before Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Foster predict that the supply could be those trees are mature enough to also wrote most of the sidebar informa­ exhausted by the turn of the century. harvest for taxo/. tion on current medicinal uses ofplants.

American Horticulturist· November 1991 + 5 Munch an Onion, Bite a Berry

Strawberry and onion salads may never catch on, but including some of each in your diet may reduce your risk of can­ cer, according to scientists in Maryland and Texas. Consuming the onion and its relatives-garlic, chives, and scallions­ reduces the incidence of stomach can­ cer, while strawberries, true berries, and apples inhibit the start of cancer caused by some chemicals. Dr. Leonard Pike, a horticulturist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in College Station, Texas, and Dr. Michael Wargovich, a cell biologist at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, are collaborating on a study of the onion. "Onions contain sulfur, which has been shown to inhibit certain types of cancer," says Pike. "Researchers have identified the sulfur compounds in In December, Pike began testing Once Pike has identified the sulfur garlic (see page 9) but not in the onion. more than 150 types of onions to find compounds in the onions, Wargovich We believe that since garlic and onion out which sulfur compounds are will determine which of the chemicals are in the same family, the same com­ present in each one. The onion identified are known to inhibit cancer. pounds will be there." Since garlic selection contains commercially Then they will begin making crosses to rarely produces seed, onions will be produced varieties and native species breed that compound into an inoffen­ easier to breed for the trait. collected by Pike in the Soviet Union. sive bulb. Pike estimates that a new It is the sulfur in onions that causes The researchers first treat the onion anticancer onion might take 10 years tears and lingering odors in the air and like it is being chewed and swallowed. to come to commercial production. on the breath. When an onion is sliced or Chunks of onion are whirled in a An investigation conducted by the bitten, the sulfur vaporizes and floats up, blender with a small amount of water National Cancer Institute revealed irritating the eyes. But there are many for a few seconds. A lab technician that people in northeastern China and sulfur compounds and some are more withdraws onion vapors with a syringe. Italy who increased their consumption potent than others. To complicate The gaseous specimen is placed in a of onions, garlic, chives, and scallions matters, each onion variety may contain gas chromatograph which draws a had a lower incidence of stomach different compounds. "It seems that the "picture" of each sulfur compound. This cancer than those who did not. The more pungent an onion, the healthier for graphic description is recorded on a American Cancer Society estimates humans it is," Pike said. "But we want paper printout. The procedure is that there will be 23,800 new cases and an onion that will not make you cry and repeated with the juice from the onions 13,400 deaths from stomach cancer in smell on your breath for six hours." using a liquid chromatograph. the United States this year.

Hoxsey's Hoax?

Harry Hoxsey, a former Appalachian But while the formula didn't work for Scientists are investigating many coal miner, may have been one of the everyone, the Dallas prosecutor who other herbs for their potential to most flamboyant and controversial had him arrested could never find either prevent or cure various types herbalists of the 20th century, anyone who thought they had been of cancer. Anise, apples, and Michael Castleman writes in his book defrauded. Eventually the Food and dandelions have been used in herbal The Healing Herbs: The Ultimate Drug Administration closed down remedies. Other plants being Guide to the Curative Power of Hoxsey's operation for violating evaluated for cancer-curing proper­ Nature's Medicines. Hoxsey, who had fedel:'al drug-labeling regulations. ties include alfalfa, celery seed, no formal medical training and One of those for whom the formula creosote bush, purple coneflower, received his high school diploma didn't work was Hoxsey, who died of feverfew, ginger, ginseng, golden­ through correspondence, claimed prostate cancer. Castleman notes that seal, mistletoe, parsley, psyllium, that his family herbal remedy cured the Hoxsey formula is still available tarragon, turmeric, and valerian. cancer. He began prescribing Hoxsey today at a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, Many herbs have both cancer­ Cancer Formula in the 1930s and by and recent studies show that his causing and anticancer effects, and the 1950s, Castleman writes, "his ideas weren't so far-fetched after all: scientists aren't sure yet if the good Dallas clinic was the world's largest nine of the formula's 10 herbal or bad properties will prevail. Among privately owned cancer center with ingredients-barberry, buckthorn, these are allspice, angelica, basil, branches in 17 states." burdock, cascara sagrada, red clover, blackberry, boneset, clove, comfrey, Hoxsey was arrested for fraud licorice, poke, prickly ash, and cascara sagrada, mate, mullein, tea, more than 100 times in the 1930s. bloodroot-have antitumor action. raspberry, and common bearberry.

6 .. American Horticulturist • November 1991 Meanwhile, in other research, Dr. "Right now, we don't know what John L. Maas, a plant pathologist for dietary intake of ellagic acid is needed the U.S. Department of Agriculture's to be effective," says Maas. ''We know Materia Medica Agricultural Research Service (ARS), that in a strawberry there is a and Dr. Gary D. Stoner, director of significant amount of ellagic acid per Two essential resources for anyone experimental pathology at the Medical gram of tissue, but there's no way yet interested in the use of medicinal College of Ohio in Toledo, are testing to know how much would be needed to plants are Michael Castleman's The strawberries for their potential in produce the beneficial results." He Healing Herbs (Rodale, 1991) and treating chemically induced cancers. estimates that there is about an ounce Steven Foster and James Duke's A Maas and Stoner began working on of the acid in 25 pounds of strawberries. Field Guide to Medicinal Plants ellagic acid- which is found in Purified ellagic acid is used (Houghton Mifflin, 1990). considerable amounts in strawberries­ medically to slow blood clotting. It lhe bulk of The Healing Herbs is at the request of the North American appears to be effective against four an encyclopedia of 100 common Strawberry Growers Association. Dr. classes of chemical carcinogens: medicinal plants. Each entry con­ Gene Galletta, a plant geneticist with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, tains information on historic and ARS, and plant physiologist Dr. Shiow nitrosamines, aflatoxin, and aromatic current uses, how to use the plant, y. Wang are also working with the amines. People are exposed to these safety, and culture. There are also strawberry association. carcinogens through smoking and chapters on the history of herbal Stoner, who has been studying the consuming some cooked meats, moldy healing, safety guidelines, storage compound since 1984, believes it's likely foods, and preservatives. Experimental and preparation, and sources and that the natural acid found in fruits evidence indicates that the acid: resources. This is one of the few could be effective against certain • keeps a hydrocarbon found in such herb books that relay to the chemical carcinogens. The ellagic acid tobacco smoke and in the atmosphere reader relevant research and keeps potentially dangerous chemicals from inducing skin and lung cancer in experiments. The plants described from breaking down into carcinogens, animals and inhibits genetic damage in include both wild and cultivated and may trap carcinogens formed by cultured human lung cells; species, and those that are the body's own metabolism. • inhibits a nitrosamine found in available in some processed form. "We've known for some time that straw­ certain moldy foods from causing Foster and Duke's book is a berry roots, leaves, and fruit contain esophageal cancer in rats and inhibits "Peterson Field Guide" to 500 organic ellagic acid," Maas continues. genetic damage in cultured human species of plants found in the ''We're now determining the genetics of esophagus cells; Eastern United States with historic, the acid to find out how it's inherited so • reduces genetic damage caused by current, or potential medicinal we can breed plants for higher levels." aflatoxins- natural toxins found in value. The size, layout, and use of Maas tested 40 strawberry varieties moldy foods like corn and peanuts- in black-and-white illustrations are at the ARS Fruit Laboratory in cultured human and rat lung tissues; and the same as in other Peterson BeltSville, Maryland. The compound is • reduces the ability of acetylamino­ guides, and bound in the middle also found in blackberries, raspberries, fluorene-a food additive-to induce are 48 pages of color photographs. blueberries, cranberries, and grapes liver cancer in rats. Mostly a guide for identification­ and in various nuts, including Brazil Although the ellagic acid hasn't been with excellent botanical descrip­ nuts and cashews. Maas and his col­ tested in humans, under these tions, drawings, and habitat and leagues are also testing several types of laboratory conditions it shows promise, range information.-Medicinal apples for their ellagic acid content. Maas says. Plants also details plant uses and safety concerns and includes a handy index of medical topiCS. Also excellent is the "Botanicel Chew a Cashew Booklet Series" produced by the American Botanical Council. These There's good news for nut lovers. A eight-page booklets written by research report in the Journal of Foster describe the history, Agricultural and Food Chemistry says nomenclature, trade, use, and that oil from the cashew may be useful research of 12 medicinal plants­ in fighting tooth decay. purple coneflower, Siberian Organic chemists Masaki Himejima ginseng, Asian ginseng, ginkgo, and Isao Kubo extracted and tested 16 milk thistle, peppermint, valerian, compounds from the cashew shell, chamomile, American ginseng, which is a food industry waste product. goldenseal, fev,rfew, and garlic. In the mouth, some of the compounds not only killed Streptococcus mutans, Order The Healing Herbs (hardcover, a bacteria that causes tooth decay, but $22.90) and A Field Guide to also appeared to interfere with the Toothpaste and mouthwash are the Medicinal Plants (softcover, $13.50) microbes' production of enamel-eroding two most promising uses; Kubo thinks from AHS Books, 7931 East acids and to fight plaque, Kubo told the cashew compounds will be safe Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA Science N ews. when mixed with either product. As a 22308. Add $2.50 postage for one The shell oil is nonedible, but the bonus, the cashew is a renewable book or $4 for both. bacteria-fighting components are resource and a potentially important Order the "Botanical Booklet present in the nut and in the juice of product from tropical forests. Series" ($1 each; all for $9.95) from the surrounding fruit. Residents of The substances also showed some American Botanical Council, P.O. tropical countries eat the fruit-called effectiveness against Propionibacterium Box 201660, Austin, TX 78720. cashew apple-with no ill effects. acnes, a bacteria that causes acne.

American Horticulturist · November 1991 • 7 Traditional Foods Combat Diabetes

The Pima Indians of the Sonoran rier between other carbohydrates eaten and were widely used by elderly desert have the highest rate of diabetes at the same time and the digestive people." Dahl also points to a cultural in the world. Type II (noninsulin de­ enzymes that break them down. These pride that makes the food attractive. pendent) diabetes afflicts about half of carbohydrates are also converted into "These are Indian foods, Pima foods, all Pimas over 35; several other Native sugars more slowly, which again means Tohono O'odham foods, Navajo foods ." American tribes have comparable lower glucose levels. A spoonful of tiny To pass on the good word on tradi­ rates. Studies of the Pima during the chia (Salvia columbariae) seeds in a tional foods, Native Seeds/SEARCH past two decades indicate that they glass of water turns into almost solid representatives speak at conferences have a genetic predisposition for Type gelatin. Mesquite pods, cholla buds, and health fairs, visit schools, and II diabetes, which many feel is ag­ prickly pear fruit, Indian wheat (Plan­ have put together an education kit for gravated by the Westernization of their tago insularis and P. purshii), and teachers, health workers, and diet and an increased consumption of tansy mustard (Descurainia tinnata}­ community leaders. They have also as­ sugary and fatty foods. Some scientists all a part of the traditional Pima diet­ sembled an array of relevant scientific believe that the mechanism that leads also contain this gel-forming fiber. articles and produced a video, "Desert to obesity and diabetes with the Pima The greatest challenge of Native Food is Healthy Food." And of course, is a "thrifty gene" that converts excess Seeds/SEARCH's diabetes project is to they've compiled a pantry full of food into stored fat. This genetic adap­ transform the Pima diets. According to tantalizing and potentially life-saving tion was crucial for their ancestors' life Gary Paul Nabhan, project manager, recipes for delicacies such as mesquite in the desert, enabling them to survive the Pimas went off their traditional tea, chia jello, prickly pear juice, tepary' times of drought by gorging on wild diets at the end of World War II. "By beans O'odham style, macaroni with and cultivated food in season. But now, the 1940s, the native foods had really teparies, and cool bean salad with with a nontraditional diet, the same been reduced in the diet and the cholla buds. gene backfires on them. farming abandoned. And the modem Native Seeds/SEARCH, a South­ food came in." Kevin Dahl of Native Standard membership dues for Native western plant conservation organization, Seeds/SEARCH says that so far there Seeds / SEARCH are $18 and include a thinks a solution to the diabetes problem has been a tremendous receptivity to subscription to the quarterly Seedhead may lie in the traditional foods that the diabetes project. "One of the News and 10 percent discount on all many Pimas have forgotten. The Thcson­ reasons we are hopeful is because we items in their catalog. Write them at based nonprofit is in the second year of a are dealing with foods that are within 2509 North Campbell Avenue, #325, diabetes project designed to document the memory of people of middle age Tucson, AZ 85719. the value of native desert plant foods for controlling blood sugar levels and to promote the use of these foods among health professionals and Pimas. Last year they sent six foods traditionally A Prickly Pear a Day • • • eaten by the Pimas-mesquite pods, 'Emory' oak acorns, white and yellow Prickly pear as the healthy edible of tepary beans, lima beans, and 'Tohono the future? Although the fruit (tuna) O'odham 60 Day' flour com-to and flat, fleshy pads (nopales) of nutritionist Janette C. Brand at the Opuntia species are enormously University of Sydney in Australia. She popular foods in Mexico and South prepared traditional Pima dishes and fed America, they have hardly caught on in them to eight healthy nondiabetic the United States. At the beginning of Caucasians and found that they slowed the century, Liberty Hyde Bailey noted carbohydrate digestion and significantly the paradox: "Although extensively lowered insulin production and blood cultivated for their fruit in many sugar levels. Further research showed countries, where they furnish an impor­ that mesquite pods and acorns rank tant article of diet for four to five among the top 10 percent of all foods months each year, they do not as yet ever analyzed for their effectiveness in take a pomological rank with the hor­ controlling blood sugar. ticulturist . . . opuntias flourish best in Studies suggest that the starches in regions where experimental horticul­ traditional Pima foods are slow-release ture receives little or no attention." carbohydrates. These break down into It seems this neglect may soon end. simple sugars in the human body very Donald A Hegwood, professor of agricul­ slowly, which translates into lower ture at Texas A&I University, writes in a glucose levels in the bloodstream. recent issue of HortScience that Opuntia Research has shown that the ingestion Western food staples like potatoes and species hold great potential as a horticul­ of broiled nopales before meals signifi­ white bread, on the other hand, contain tural crop because oftheir great cantly reduced serum total cholesterol, a starch that breaks down relatively adaptability and medicinal uses. beta cholesterol, and triglycerides for quickly. Also, many desert plants have Although the prickly pear has yet to be obese and diabetic patients. Blood an abundance of soluble fibers known fully assessed for its nutrition and glucose levels were also decreased. as gums and mucilages; Brand and human health potential, the nopales of Peter Felker, project leader of the others believe that such fibers are so Opuntia species have been used to treat Center for Semi-Arid Forest Resources viscous that they form a physical bar- diabetes in Mexico for the last decade. at Texas A&I University, says that

8 .. American Horticulturist • November 1991 The Ginkgo: An Ancient Remedy

The medicinal uses of ginkgo have stood .. macular degeneration, an age­ the side effects of Alzheimer's and the test of time. "Good for the heart and related deterioration of the retina and other major diseases. lungs" is how Shen Nung described a leading cause of adult blindness; Ginkgo is also used to treat asthma, ginkgo in China's first herbal, Pen Thao .. cochlear deafness, believed to he says, and has been effective in Ching ("the classic of herbs"), said to date result from decreased blood flow to the treating arthritis, airway hyperactivity, from between 2800 B.C. to 250 A.D. Al­ nerves involved in hearing. thrombosis, endotoximia, gastrointes­ though Shen's observation lacks precision, Traditional Chinese physicians have tinal ulcers, and various eye, ear, and it has been known since the late 1980s used ginkgo leaves to treat asthma and skin diseases. Studies indicate that it that ginkgo interferes with a substance chilblains-swelling of the hands and may be successful in preventing organ called platelet activation factor (pAF). feet caused by exposure to damp cold­ rejection and for treating allergies, PAF is involved in many physiological and the ancient Chinese and Japanese high blood pressure, and kidney processes, but particularly those related used the roasted seeds as a digestive problems. But since the extract doesn't to degeneration caused by aging. aid and to prevent intoxication, meet the purity standards of the Food In a spring 1990 article in The Herb according to Castleman. and Drug Administration, it is only Quarterly, Michael Castleman reported Peter Del Tredici, writing in the available in the United States as an a number of studies showing that summer 1991 Arnoldia, says that herbal remedy. ginkgo "increases blood flow to the ginkgo leaf extract is often prescribed The fruit of the ginkgo is notoriously brain, speeds recovery from stroke, im­ today in Asia and western Europe to foul-smelling. But the nut, while con­ proves memory and mental functioning treat minor symptoms of aging­ sidered toxic to humans, is the part in the elderly, and may be of value in dizziness, ringing in the ears, and used in traditional Chinese medicine, treating Alzheimer's disease." short-term memory loss-and to treat says Del Tredici. A research review published in Germany shows ginkgo effective for: .. improving blood flow to the heart and helping prevent heart attacks by Glorious Garlic reducing the risk of blood clotting in the coronary arteries; Garlic has been used as both a food and smelling bad, feeling hot, a burning .. intermittent claudication, which is medicine since the days of the sensation when urinating, flatulence, pain, cramping, or weakness in the legs pharaohs and the early Chinese and belching. Aged garlic extract may caused by narrowing of arteries; dynasties, according to the American produce the same results as the fresh Botanical Council, and in the past 20 bulbs without these unpleasant years, its clinical applications have symptoms. But using these different been the focus of more than 1,000 forms of garlic has made it hard for Mexicans are already processing prick­ scientific papers. Pliny the Elder (23-79 scientists to compare studies. Scien- ly pears into pills to treat diabetics. A.D.) said the plant was tists hope eventually to Prickly pear has recently attracted useful for treating develop garlic-derived the attention of U.S. researchers, animal bites, asthma, substances without which Hegwood says may be due to the and toothaches. In A what Foster calls "the popularity of nopales and tunas among Field Guide to Medicinal odiferous antisocial side the rapidly increasing Hispanic Plants, Steven Foster effects." population. Felker became aware of the and James Duke list Many studies have plant's medical potential when a more than 20 folk suggested garlic com­ Mexican who had seen him making medicine uses, ranging pounds for treatment of repeated collections of the fruit in the from the treatment of various circulatory wild inquired if he had diabetes. Why coughs to diarrhea to system problems: high haven't more scientists studied the pinworms and snakebite. blood pressure, throm­ prickly pear? "We have an enthno­ Garlic contains 33 bosis, and myocardial centric bias-it hasn't been in our sulfur compounds, and it infarction. Ajoene, it ap­ mindset. Scientists have lacked the is believed that some of pears, can reduce blood cultural sensitivity to plants that those compounds, as well clotting more effectively aren't in the mainstream," says Felker. as ajoene, which is a com­ than aspirin. Garlic has There are some 300 species of bination oftwo ofthe also been shown to Opuntia native to the Americas, from compounds, are reduce cholesterol and Massachusetts and British Columbia responsible for garlic's triglyceride levels in to the Strait of Magellan. They thrive healthful effects. Yet blood. in arid and semiarid regions and are scientifically, garlic is in "its early In addition to its potential for lower­ found in the greatest quantities in the adolescence," Dr. David Kritchevsky, a ing stomach cancer risk (see page 6), southwest United States and scientist with the Wistar Institute in laboratory studies have shown garlic to northwest Mexico, where they are Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recently inhibit the growth of mammary cancers often trees. The nopales are consumed told the New York Times. It has been in rats and slow melanoma cell growth fresh, added to cooked dishes, and used difficult to conduct "blind" controlled in culture. In a very limited 1989 study in salads. They are often peeled, cubed, studies of garlic because of its charac­ of AIDS patients, Foster reports, garlic and cooked like green beans. Tunas are teristic strong taste and smell. Some extracts appeared to increase immune eaten fresh or dried and are processed coronary patients who drank fresh system activity and to alleviate some of into candies and fermented drinks. galJicjuice with milk complained of the symptoms of AIDS.

American Horticulturist· November 1991 .. 9 Regional Notes Organic Trials in Florida

Gardeners trying to switch to organic methods are often faced with a bewilder­ ing jumble of suggestions, superstitions, family remedies, and complications (plant onions near carrots, and carrots near bush beans, but keep all beans away from onions). How to sift what's effective from what's simply eccentric? Help is on the way from the University of Florida, where results are beginning to come in from the four-acre Organic Research and Education Center, established in February 1990. Several trials are running in a year­ round model organic garden, in several five-by-lO-foot organic growing boxes, and in an organic field section. These include tests of soil-enriching materials, companion plantings to repel and attract insects, succession planting, cover cropping, insecticidal oils and soaps, Looking across Dream Lake from Stone Mountain, visitors to the Montreal Botanical and mulching and other weed-inhibit­ Garden can see the Pavilion of Infinite Pleasantness and Friendship Hall. ing cultural practices. One-half acre is devoted to variety trials in which researchers will try to determine which Montreal's Dream Lake varieties adapt best to organic cultural methods, and which are the most After more than three years of planning From the pavilion, guests can see the disease and insect resistant. and construction, the Montreal Botanical 30-foot Stone Mountain-fashioned So far, they have determined that Garden this summer opened a six-acre from 3,000 tons of rock quarried from poultry manure is one of the best Chinese garden, Meng Hu Yuan, or the Ile Ste-Helene and featuring a stone animal waste fertilizers, that the Dream Lake Friendship Garden. stairway, cave, and waterfall-and optimal rate of manure application is a Cooperative efforts between Shanghai other pavilions, such as the Stone Boat, half pound to a pound for each square and Montreal began in 1980, when the Thwer ofthe Condensing Clouds, and foot, and that composted crab waste Canadian city hosted the Floralies the Lotus Pavilion. may not be as effective against international flower exhibition, and the Plants chosen for this garden had to nematodes as has been claimed. They Chinese city presented the botanical gar­ reflect the Chinese horticultural have also found that composted oak den with several penjing-the Chinese philosophy while being hardy in leaves make one ofthe best soil version of bonsai-to mark the occasion. Montreal's climate. For this reason, amendments, producing yields The garden replicates a style popular there are many conifers, such as black comparable to manure-amended soil. during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). pine, Chinese juniper, creeping cypress, "This is the first effort by the Univer­ A focal point is the "Dream Lake," and yews. Deciduous trees, intended to sity of Florida to hone in on organic which is 780 feet by more than 500 feet emphasize the passing of the seasons, gardening as a cultural practice. We're and from certain angles, reflects include birch, magnolia, elm, flowering learning and we're teaching at the same Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Plants plum, ginkgo, golden rain, maple, oak, time," says Jim Stephens, extension around the lake include azaleas, irises, willow, and thorny elaeagnus. There vegetable specialist at the University of daylilies, peonies, and rhododendrons. will be three types of bamboos-black, Florida's Institute of Food and Agricul­ Visitors will enter the $6 million fernleaf, and henon-and a number of tural Sciences and one of the directors garden through a courtyard enclosed by tender plants, such as banana trees, of the Organic Research Center. .The a whitewashed wall that is punctuated sweet osmanthus, camellia, and center plans to follow through on the by half-moon and floral-shaped windows. nandina, which will winter in the research in progress, but there is also a A central pavilion, "Friendship Hall," botanical garden greenhouses. bevy of future possibilities including was a half million dollar gift from the Wendy Graham, landscape architect research on recycled tire scraps as city of Shanghai. It was prefabricated at the garden who served as the project mulch, wood pulp by-products as a soil there and erected on the Montreal site by coordinator, said its most rewarding amendment, vegetable response to Chinese technicians. Forty-eight Chinese aspect was the cross-cultural sharing of different types of homemade compost, craftspeople lived on the garden grounds ideas-"the sharing of different and dead-chicken composting. for the last six months of 1990. techniques, traditions, and expressions."

10 + American Horticulturist • November 1991 IPM Center Set Up in Texas

Texas A&M University has set up a new research unit to study biologically based forms of pest control. The Center for Biologically Intensive Integrated Pest Management will research the effectiveness and the feasibility of IPM and facilitate cooperative research between scientists at Texas A&M and others around the world. ''We are not giving up on pesticides," says Dr. Ray Frisbie, director of the cen­ ter, ''but we will assume as a research hypothesis that we have no chemicals. Then we will exhaust all biological alternatives fIrst." There is a need for more IPM, says Frisbie, not only because pests have be­ come increasingly resistant to chemical A formal daisy garden is one of the many features of Chicago's new English Walled Garden. pesticides and because of public con­ cern over unsafe use of pesticides, but also because chemical pesticides are be­ Chicago Opens Walled Garden coming less available. Costs to register new products and legislation requiring In September, the Chicago Botanic Gar­ "rooms," each with a distinctive feature the reregistration of existing pesticides den opened an English Walled Garden, or purpose. The largest and most open have become prohibitive for many a $2.8 million expansion designed to garden room is the vista garden pat­ manufacturers. About $50 million is demonstrate the different forms of terned after the garden at Great Dixter spent to bring a new product from dis­ English garden design. "This garden will in Northian, Sussex, England. A check­ covery to market, says Frisbie, and the give us another landscape setting to erboard garden, with silver artemisia average reregistration costs $7 million exhibit the best plants for the Chicago and boxwood, leads to the 19th-century per. product. ''We believe there will be area," says Kris Jarantoski, assistant cottage garden replete with fruits, even fewer pesticides in coming years." director of the botanic garden. ''The vegetables, fruit trees, flowers for cut­ One of the first projects proposed for English Walled Garden is another style ting, and scented flowers for potpourri. the center would test a method used in oflandscape with formal design, lush The most intimate garden is the court­ India to control the diamondback moth plantings with many flowers, perennials yard garden, which showcases a by planting one row of mustard for each and mixed borders. It is something bluestone and brick floor and an 18th­ 25 rows of cabbage. The technique, uncommon in Chicago where flowers and century lead cistern donated by the Art called trap cropping, would have two shrubs aren't usually mixed together." Institute of Chicago. The English gar­ variations: stocking the mustard with Designed by English landscape den also features an allee, a pergola, a parasites to eat the moths or spraying designer John Brookes, the garden is formal daisy garden, and an extensive only the mustard with insecticide. divided into a variety of garden perennial border.

Atl~nta's Tropical Collection Grows

The Atlanta Botanical Garden's Fuqua According to Ron Determann, superin­ Conservatory has announced a major tendent of the conservatory, the plants expansion of its tropical collection. collected are highly endemic to one region Some 300 species of plants representing in northwest Ecuador, some occurring more than 50 different families were only in a single valley. "Ecuador is one of brought to the conservatory by Mindy the most richly diverse plant habitats on McGovern, former curator of tropical Earth," he says. McGovern's collection is collections, after a plant collecting trip especially important because of the to Ecuador. Although many ofthe pressure put on the flora by development. species have not yet been identified, Determann predicts that many of the " included in the cache are Guzmania, species will vanish within the next decade. ~ Aechmea, and other Bromeliaceae, The Fuqua Conservatory features . ~ Araceae, and Gesneriaceae. more than 6,000 species of tropical and ~ McGovern was struck by the urgency desert plants from around the world. ~ and importance of collecting as many McGovern was one of 20 plant en- ~ species as possible. "I left all my clothes thusiasts on a trip organized by Betty ~ .,,\ there, so I could fill my suitcase with Feurstein of Memphis, Tennessee, ~ ~ .- plants," she said. "Their native habitats whose company, Adventures Unlimited, 8 are being clearcut faster than the plants has hosted plant-collecting expeditions Mindy McGovern, left, with Fuqua can be inventoried and researched." to Ecuador for the last 10 years. greenhouse manager Becky Brinkman.

American Horticulturist· November 1991 .. 11 Making a Difference A Tree 'Exhibit'

A Boston civic group and the Arnold Arboretum have cooperated in bringing a collection of unusual trees to the heart of the city's financial district. Bob Weinberg, president of the Friends of Post Office Square, felt that a park the group had developed above a parking garage needed some mature trees. Arboretum director Bob Cook, asked if he would make some available on "permanent loan," was intrigued by the idea of extending a small part ofthe arboretum into the city. Each year the arboretum removes some trees from its collection. A tree may not meet the arboretum's current scien­ tific standards; its origin might not be substantially documented; its parentage might be in question; or the tree may be an unnecessary duplicate taking up much needed space. "Although falling short of our scientific standards, they may still be exceptional trees, truly works of art," Cook wrote in Arnoldia, the arboretum's quarterly magazine. In April the arboretum planted six trees in the park. They were chosen by Gary Koller, the arboretum's assistant director of horticulture, and Craig Halvorson, a landscape architect with the Halvorson Company and designer of the park. The trees include: • a 40-foot Norway spruce that was a duplicate in the arboretum's collection; • a 35-foot Eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) that doesn't conform to the published description­ it was originally described as the dwarf cultivar 'Filiformis'; • a 25-year-old hybrid Quercus rubra grown from seed from an uncertain parent-the mother is Q. rubra'Maxima' but the father is unknown and probably not a red oak; • two giant arborvitaes that came from undocumented wild sources; and • a downy birch (Betula pubescens) A downy birch on permanent loan from the Arnold Arboretum is moved to Boston's Post grown from seed collected in Poland in Office Square Park. 1964 that came to the arboretum under an incorrect name. (Hydrangea anomala var. petiolaris)­ individuals. The group was formed in The 1. 7-acre park is above a 1,400-car, were first introduced to the American 1983 and contributed $1 million to seven-level underground parking garage landscape by the arboretum. launch the park. Proceeds from the and features 112 trees and over 125 The 119-year-old Arnold Arboretum parking garage are given to Boston's species of plants. Several ofthe plants­ was the first in North America and is a park trust fund and used to maintain including Sargent crabapple (Malus leader in exotic plant introductions. the city's neighborhood parks. sargentii), hardy kiwi vine (Actinidia Post Office Square Park is a project kolomikta), China fleece vine, witch of the City of Boston and the Friends of For more information write Friends of hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold's Post Office Square, a civic corporation Post Office Square, Inc., 50 Federal Promise'), and climbing hydrangea composed of 20 Boston firms and other Street, Boston, MA 02110.

12 + American Horticulturist • November 1991 A Report to Members & Friends of the American Horticultural Society m 1990-1991 Contributions 1990-1991 Contributions The Development Office of the American Horticultural Tour Participant Support, Membership Support (including Society is pleased to present this report of Annual Giving to President's Council, as well as additional gifts made at the the Society, which covers the fiscal year, July 1, 1990 to June time of member renewal), AHS Volunteers, and In-Kind Sup­ 30,1991. On behalf of the Board of Directors and Staff of the port for the National Backyard Composting Project and other Society, we gratefully acknowledge the many gifts and con­ in-kind donations.- tributions totaling $326,193 that enabled the Society to meet For all these outstanding gifts of support, our sincere its budgetary needs for operating expenses, programs and thanks. Your contributions have truly made a difference in services during a period of national economic recession. our ability to continue the proud tradition of the American This report lists Special Gifts, 1990-1991 Annual Appeal Horticultural Society~to educate, inform and inspire gar­ Gifts (including the Board Challenge), Matching Gifts, Intern deners throughout the world to become better, more Program Support, Memorial Gifts, Garden Club Support, successful, more environmentally responsible gardeners.

Mrs. Vivian Elledge Ball 1922 Founders Associates Mr. George Cawman Gifts of $500 to $999 Mr. Fred Cazel Special Gifts Liberty Hyde Bailey Mrs. Andrea Stolz Clark Associates Mrs. Fuller E. Callaway Ms. Debra Clark Mr. Richard C. Angino, Gifts of $5,000 to $9,999 Mrs. E. Eisenhart Ms. Eunice deW Coe support for operations Mrs. R. G. Kennelly Mrs. Murdoch Davis Mr. George C. Ball Jr., Anonymous Laird Norton Foundation Ms. Juliana Delrosario support for operations Mr. George C. Ball Jr. Mrs. Pendleton Miller Mrs. George Doolittle Mrs. Vivian Elledge Ball, Dr. Sherran Blair Ms. Carol Morrison Mrs. Troy W. Earhart support for operations Mrs. Mary Katherine Blount Mrs. Hildegard Sorenson Mr. J. Howard Flower Mrs. Beverley White Dunn, Clark-Winchcole Foundation Mrs. Martin B. Foil Jr. support for Annual Meeting Mrs. Beverley White Dunn The Garden Classics Club Mrs. John T. Gibson Geo. J. Ball, Inc., Mr. . & Mrs. Gerald T. Halpin Gifts of $250 to $499 Mrs. Emily P. Gilbert support for operations Mrs. Enid A. Haupt Mrs. R. Girdler Kraft Foods Foundation David Goodstein Foundation Mrs. George Greenhalgh Mr. David Lilly Mr. J. Baxter Gentry Mrs. J . A. Hendrick Mr. Gerald L. Hempt Mr. Rich.ard J. Hutton Haupt Associates Mr. Walter Leinhardt Mr. Michael Italiaander Annual Gifts of $2,500 to $4,999 Mrs. Maryl Levine Mr. Robert S. Jackson Ms. Lynne A. Redmond Ms. Alice Karpik Appeal Mrs. Sarah Boasberg Mrs. Stanley Stone Mr. Ben King Mrs. Benjamin W. Thoron Mrs. J . K. Knorr III October 15,1990 to June 30, Morrison Associates Ms. Joanne S. Lawson 1991. Honorary Chair­ Gifts of $1,000 to $2,499 The Garden Friends Club Miss R. Marchetti persons: Richard C. Angino Gifts of$100 to $249 Mrs. Edmund V. Mezitt and Russell B. Clark Ms. Susan M. Cargill Mrs. Christopher L. Moseley Mr. Russell B. Clark Mrs. Carl Arnold Dr. & Mrs. Grover E. Murray George Washington Mrs. Pendleton Miller Mrs. S. C. Baron Ms. Alice C. Nicolson Associates Mr. Lawrence V. Power Mr. Harold Boeschenstein Jr. Mrs. J . E. Norwood Gifts of $10,000 or more Mrs. Josephine Shanks Mrs. B. P. Bole Jr. Mr. Richard Osborne Mrs. Harry J. Van de Kamp Miss Juanita Carpenter Mr. C. W. Eliot Paine Mr. & Mrs. Richard C. Angino Mrs. Marillyn B. Wilson Mr. W. C. Carson Ms. Lisa W. Parker

2 + 1990-1991 Contribution Report American Horticultural Society Mr. & Mrs. Francis M. Mrs. Robert W. Duemling Ms. C. G. Moulton Mrs. Donald F. Wallace Rackemann Jr. Mrs. H. M. Durham Ms. Dorothy Muhlhauser Mr. & Mrs. Edward J . Ward Ms. Deborah Rider Mrs. Phil Duryee Mr. Frank Myers Mr. Guy S. Warner Mrs. L. E. Sauer Ms. Elizabeth Edward Mr. Nels P. Nelson Mrs. O. Whiteside Mr. V. Kenneth Schendel Mr. Robert H. Elliott Mr. Robert Nesbitt III Ms. Hazel A. Wiggins Mrs. Edwin A. Seipp Jr. Mrs. Mildred Feinbloom Dr. & Mrs. John Newdorp Mr. Bruce Wilamowski Mrs. W. N. Sumerwell Mr. David J . Frank Mr. Matthew Odom Mr. Lloyd L. Willis Mrs. William G. Tower Mr. George M. Garcia Mrs. Cordell P. Olson Mr. Ramsay Wilson Mr. John L. Werner Mr. John H. Gayden Mrs. H. W. Olson Ms. Diane H. Woollett Ms. Bethany Good Ms. Mary Opalak Other Gifts Mrs. H. F. Gramstorff Mrs. Don Osborne Gifts under $99 Mr. Louis Guidetti Mr. Roger Owen Mrs. Theresa M. Hamas Mrs. W. Parsons Mr. James B. Abshagen Mrs. John Hanes Ms. Beatrice A. Pask Matching Mrs. Janet C. Acord Ms. Vicki Harbers Ms. Karen J . Petrey Ms. Anita Alic Ms. Lynda Heise Col. & Mrs. W. M. Pickard Gifts Mrs. Bruce Angus Mr. Joseph Henderson Mrs. Vernon W. Piper Ms. Jeanette Lee Atkinson Mrs. Edmund H. Henderson Mrs. Eleanor D. Popper These corporations matched, Mrs. John W. Aull Mrs. James Herbert Ms. Patricia J . Posey and in some cases, doubled Mr. Donald L. Ayres Ms. MaIjorie Hiatt Mr. Thomas Pugh or tripled the gifts of their Mr. R. A. Banks Mr. & Mrs. Edward L. Hicks Mr. William K. Quick employees. Ms. M. B. Barrett Mrs. Barbara K. Hopper Miss Barbara Ramming Mr. & Mrs. John Barton Mr. Todd Horn Ms. Mary C. Reynolds American Express Ms. Elsa Beardsley Ms. Anita F. Hulley Mr. & Mrs. Frank L. Minnesota Fund Mrs. Stephen Bechtel Mrs. Kenneth W. Hume Robinson Applied Energy Services, Inc. Rev. Tom Beebe Mr. Al H. Huntington Mrs. Rowland Robinson BP America Mrs. Peter A. Bergsten Mr. Lewis J. Hutchinson Mrs. M. Romano Digital Equipment Mr. James R. Blackaby Mr. James H. Jones Ms. Nancy Jacobs Roney Corporation Mr. & Mrs. Ed Bonds Mrs. Carol Kellermann Dr. & Mrs. Barry Rosenberg Exxon Mr. William R. Boone Jr. Mr. Chessman Kittredge Mr. Ellis J. Rosenblatt IBM Corporation Mrs. Judith A. Borden Mr. Peter Kosiba Mr. Clifford H. Routh IDS Financial Services Ms. Janet Bosshart Mrs. Donald Krueger Ms. Edith Schafer Johnson & Higgins Mrs. Robert Brawley Mr. & Mrs. H. M. Kuhlman Mrs. August H. Schilling of Ohio, Inc. Mrs. Louise Brown Miss Jeanne E. Leeds Mrs. Donna Sekhon Eli Lilly Foundation Ms. Joyce Browning Ms. Taina Litwak Mr. John Shaffer PPG Industries Mr. & Mrs. Walter Bull Mr. & Mrs. T. Rudd Loder Ms. Elizabeth D. Smith R. J. Reynolds Mrs. Anne W. Burke Mr. Clarence Loomis Mr. & Mrs. L. Bradley Mr. E. N. Camden III Miss Carol Loucks Stanford Mr. Brian A. Carlin Mrs. Bruce Loughry Ms. Ellen Stortz Ms. Rose Marie Casale Mrs. Sara Lynn Mrs. J . W. Streeton Mr. & Mrs. Henry T. Mrs. M. MacDermott Ms. Frances Streett Intern Chandler Mrs. D. L. Madison Mr. Bart Stuart Ms. Brenda K. Colasanti Ms. Harriett Marple Mr. Thomas Tankersley Program Mr. Victor W. Coleman Mrs. Emilie D. McBride Mr. Ted Tawshunsky Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas Combs Lady Anne Kerr McDonald Mrs. William Tedards Mr. E. Dumont Ackerman Mrs. Anne Corbett Ms. Louise McLott Ms. Anne Terborgh Mrs. Susan Addison Mrs. Anne G. Crane Mrs. Oliver E. Meadows Mrs. L. D. Thompson Ms. Anita Alic Dr. Harriett Creighton Dr. Ralph H. Meng Mrs. Claude Threlkeld Mr. Thomas W. Andrews Ms. Margaret E. Cummins Mr. Randy Meyers Mr. H. W. Thttle Mrs. Vivian Elledge Ball Mrs. Evelyn M. Dent Mr. James T. Morton Ms. Donna L. Vaughan Mrs. Alfred Bissell

American Horticultural Society 1990-1991 Contribution Report . 3 Mrs. George P. Bissell Jr. Mrs. James A. Simpson Mrs. Roberta Seipp Miss Dorothy Blankenburg Miss Jane Steffey Mr. & Mrs. Reginald Smith Mrs. Mary Katherine Blount Mrs. William S. Weedon Mrs. Helen Spalding Tour Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs Mrs. Erna C. N. de Vegvar Miss Jane Steffey Mrs. B. P. Bole Jr. Mrs. Edward C. Sweeney Participants Mr. J. Judson Brooks Mr. & Mrs. Bronson Tweedy Mrs. Sonya L. Burgher Mrs. Harry van de Kamp Mr. & Mrs. E. Dumont Miss Juanita Carpenter Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Walutes Ackerman Mr. & Mrs. Glen Charles Mary Stuart Mrs. Joe V. Williams Jr. Mrs. Rebecca Adcock Mrs. Lammot du Pont Mrs. James L. Wiley Mr. & Mrs. Richard Aeck Copeland Maury Mrs. Ellis Wisner Mrs. Frances J. Ames Mrs. Erastus Coming II Mrs. Jean Verity Woodhull Ms. Eleanor L. Andre Mrs. E. Andrew Deeds Memorial Rare Plant Group-Garden Mr. & Mrs. Richard Angino Mr. & Mrs. James F.Delano Club of America Mr. & Mrs. William J. Ash Mr. James K. Downs Fund Dr. & Mrs. Reid Bahnson Mrs. H. B. du Pont Ms. Christopher L. Bakke Mr. William Egan In memory of Mary Stuart Mrs. Wanton Balis Mr. Bnidford M. Endicott Maury, AHS Board Director Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Baron Ms. Eleanor Guse from 1973 to 1982 and 1983 In Memory of Mr. & Mrs. James Bartlett Mrs. Samuel M. V. Hamilton to 1990 Mrs. Wood Beasley Mrs. Richard W. Hamming Mrs. Edward E. Campbell Mrs. William Beckett Mrs. Julia DeCamp Hobart Mrs. Charles W. Allen Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Oliver E. Mr. & Mrs. George A. Bender Mr. Philip Huey Mrs. Howell Baker Meadows Dr. & Mrs. H. Russell Bernd Mr. L. A. Hymo Mrs. Alfred Bissell Mr. Paul Howell Mr. & Mrs. Edward C. Berry Mr. Robert S. Jackson Mrs. Dorothy B. Black Mr. Rodney Kleinfelter Mr. & Mrs. Bob Bickelhaupt Mrs. Bruce Jolly Mrs. B. P. Bole Jr. 7 East Pediatric Staff, Ms. Carolyn BlanGhard Mrs. Doris B. Katz Mrs. A. Smith Bowman National Naval Medical Dr. & Mrs. James W. Bland Mrs. Randolph A. Kidder Mr. J . Judson Brooks Center Mrs. Mary Katherine Blount Mr. E. L. Klema Mrs. Reeves Brown Mr. & Mrs. Michael Mr. & Mrs. Robert Bogle Mrs. William C. Knox Mr. & Mrs. W. G. Claytor Delfosse Mrs. Benjamin P. Bole Jr. Mr. Peter Kosiba Mrs. Lammot du Pont Mr. Ted Muller Mr. Ray R. Boltz Ms. Clare LeBrun Copeland Mr. & Mrs. Walter Bull Mrs. Betty Branch Mr. & Mrs. T. Rudd Loder Mrs. Nicholas du Pont Hannah Simon Mr. & Mrs. Terry Britt Mrs. John E. Lutz Mrs. W. Jeter Eason Mr. & Mrs. William C. Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Brown Mr. John R. Mayor Mr. William B. Foster Jr. Carson Ms. Eloise P. Brown Mr. S. Charles Melton Mr. & Mrs. Harris Green Mrs. Courtland Smith III Mr. & Mrs. George B. Brown Ms. Rebecca A. Muenchen Mrs. Barbara Guvernator Anonymous Mrs. Catherine B. Browning Mr. Albert N erken Mrs. Lawrence Reid Houston Mr. Ronald Walutes Ms. Elizabeth Carruthers Mr. Melvin R. Noll Mrs. Martha L. Isaacson Mrs. Mary Katherine Bruce Mrs. Walter H. Page Ms. Nina M. Jensen Blount Mr. & Mrs. William Mr. H. D. Peterson The Sam Reynolds Family Mrs. Sarah Boasberg Buchanan Mrs. Henry H. Pierce Mrs. Pendleton Miller Mr. & Mrs. Irvin E. Mr. & Mrs. Walter C. Bull Miss P. M. Porter Mrs. John Milne Boyles Jr. Ms. Marilyn Burba Ms. Patricia J. Posey Mr. & Mrs. Clark H. Mrs. Beverley White Dunn Mrs. David C. Burton Mr. Stephen J . Purtell Mochwart Mrs. Dorothy P. McGahey Mr. & Mrs. Spottswood B. Miss Barbara Ramming Mrs. Daniel Pierce Dr. Werner Weihe Burwell Dr. Julia W. Rappaport Mr. & Mrs. Frank L. Mrs. Preston E. Baustian Mrs. Carol E. Caldwell Mr. Daniel R. Rice Robinson Margaret McCracken Mr. & Mrs. Cason J . Mrs. Fred F. Rogers Mrs. Donald P. Ross Yates Callaway Jr. Mr. Adolf Schoepe Mr. S. B. Rymer Anonymous_ Mr. & Mrs. Clifton Camp

4. 1990-1991 Contribution Report American Horticultural Society Mr. & Mrs. C. Case Jr. Ms. Carolyn 1. Goodyear Mrs. Ruth Lydon Mr. & Mrs. G. Kenneth Mrs. Sally Cashel Mrs. Helen J. Gordon Mrs. Edgar J . Mack Robins Ms. Cathy M. Chernoff Mrs. Robert Greninger Mrs. Frances B. McAllister Mr. & Mrs. Walter Robinson Mr. & Mrs. Steven Clark Mrs. Margaret Griffin Mrs. Sidney M. McGough Mrs. Barbara Rogers Mrs. Bill Clark Mrs. Loring Griggs Mr. & Mrs. Floyd McGown Ms. M. Elois Rogers Mrs. Roberta Clarke Mr. & Mrs. Henry Ms. Gloria McGowan Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Rosenthal Mr. Allen W. Clowes Gronendahl Dr. & Mrs. Robert L. Means Mr. David Rust Mr. & Mrs. John E. Mrs. John Hammond Mrs. Charles Melhorn Ms. Shirley W. Sarver Coleman Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Richard Mr. & Mrs. Thomas N. Mrs. Freddie Sauer Ms. Sally Cook Hanselman Metcalf Jr. Ms. Kathy Sauer Mrs. Betty Corneliussen Mr. & Mrs. Ernest Hanson Mrs. Wally Mezitt Mrs. Viorica Schauf Mrs. John Corpening Mr. & Mrs. John M. Mrs. Jean Michels Mr. & Mrs. Frank C. Mrs. S. M. Cozart Harbert III Ms. Sally Mikulastik Schroeder Jr. Ms. Jane Sloan Cranz Cpt; & Mrs. William T. Mr. & Mrs. Everett Miller Drs. Gordon & Sarah Sell Mis~ Vivian Cunningham Hardaker Mr. & Mrs. John Mitchell Ms. Sally Shore Dr. & Mrs. John E. Cushing Mrs. Fred T. Hamed Mr. & Mrs. John Morelli Mrs. Gene Sieck Mr. & Mrs. Brian Davies Mr. & Mrs. Max Hartl Dr. & Mrs. John Morrison Ms. Elaine Siegal Mrs. Barbara Davis Mrs. Sarah H. Hays Mr. & Mrs. John Morrison Mr. & Mrs. Bill Sigerson Mrs. Isabella Davis Mr. & Mrs. Henry Heinz Mrs. Margie Motch Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Silber Mrs. Doris Deal Mrs. Vincent Helm Ms. Olivia Motch Mrs. Michale A. Slote Dr. Natalie J. Deyrup Mrs. Edmund Henderson Mr. & Mrs. George Muller Ms. Kathleen Smith Mr. & Mrs. Edwin Doty Mrs. Dorothy Hirshon Mr. Wendell Mullison Ms. Ruth Smith Mrs. Claude Douthit Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Clinton Hobbs Ms. Georgia D. Munday Mr. & Mrs. Malcolm A. Mr. & Mrs. Robert Dowlen Mr. Bill Hoffman Mrs. Joan Murphy Smook Dr. & Mrs. Donald M. Mr. & Mrs. W.R. Hollomon Mr. & Mrs. Barry Musgrove Mrs. Anthony Solomon Dubrasich Mrs. Paul E. Hollos Mrs. Dorothy Musser Mr. & Mrs. Richard Solomon Mrs. F. George du Pont Mrs. Elizabeth Hunt Ms. Nancy Nelson Mrs. Corinne Hubbard Spoo Mrs. James M. Easter Mr. & Mrs. Robert J. Mr. & Mrs. Max Nigh Mr. & Mrs. Edward Stall Mr. & Mrs. Roy H. Elliott Jr. Hussey Jr. Dr. Margaret S. Norris Ms. Josephine Stallings Mr. John L. Enterline Mr. & Mrs. Robert D. Hutton Mr. & Mrs. Sidney R. Orem Mrs. Paul Steer Mr. & Mrs. Charles A. Mrs. Barbara J . Hyde Mr. & Mrs. Michael Panas Mr. & Mrs. David Stiel Ernst Jr. Mrs. M. Lois Jackim Ms. Evelyn Partridge Mr. & Mrs. Frederick W. Mr. & Mrs. Kingsley Evarts Ms. Berit Helene Jansen Ms. Eleanor Paton Stolz Ms. Catherinke P. Fels Mr. & Mrs. William Jaques Mrs. R. A. Pierce Ms. MargaretM. Stover Mr. & Mrs. Clayton W. Ferry Ms. Patricia Jeremiah Mr. & Mrs. Vernon Piper Ms. Judith Streett Mr. & Mrs. Arnold Finck Mrs. Mrs. Elizabeth John Mr. & Mrs. Charlton 1. Mrs. Frances H. Streett Mrs. Elise D. Fish Ms. Melanie E. Johnston Prince Mrs. George t. Stronach Mr. & Mrs. Ed Fitzgerald Mrs. Clara C. Kuenzel Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Purtell Ms. Nancy Q. Stuck Mr. & Mrs. Edward C. Mr. & Mrs. James Kuhns Mrs. Martha Rainer Mr. & Mrs. William J. Suitts Fogg III Mrs. Frances Kunkel Mrs. Rita Ramsay Ms. Patricia J. Sullivan Mr. & Mrs. Stephen C. Mr. & Mrs. Robert Laney Mr. & Mrs. Rudolph S. Rasin Mr. & Mrs. Billy Sumner Frobouck Mr. & Mrs. John Lansdale Ms. Ann 1. Reilly Mrs. Tom B. Swann Mrs. Leila Fuqua Mrs. Louise D. Larson Mrs. Thomas J. Reis Dr. & Mrs. George S. Switzer Mrs. Jack C. Fuson Ms. Mary C. Larsen Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Rienkhoff Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Taplin Dr. & Mrs. Harry S. Galblum Mr. & Mrs. Gordon Ledbetter Mr. & Mrs. William Mrs. Carole A. Taylor Mr. & Mrs. Gary J. Mrs. Anne Lescault Richardson Mrs. Pat Taylor Gallagher Mr. & Mrs. Harlan Lewis Mrs. Jane D. Ritter Mr. & Mrs. Neil Tennis Dr. William G. Gambill Mr. & Mrs. John B. Little Mrs. Alfred Roberts Dr. Paul W. Titman Ms. Carol Gardiner Mr. & Mrs. William R. Ms. Louise S. Roberts Mrs. Millicent Thckerman Mrs. Anne C. Gilliam Lummis Mr. & Mrs. Roger Roberts Mr. & Mrs. Albert Thrner

American Horticultural Society 1990-1991 Contribution Report. 5 Mr. & Mrs. Clarence Vaughn Mrs. Helen Fulcher Elmer & Julia Frasure Mr. G. Carl Ball Mrs. Stephen B. Vernon Walutes, restricted Gift CathyGau Mr. George C. Ball Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Oswald G. for Grounds Maintenance Charles Gobin Mrs. Vivian Elledge Ball Villard Jr. Leslie Hall Dr. Gerald S. Barad Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Walter Unrestricted Gifts Larry Hill Mrs. Alfred Bissell Ms. Avis Ward Chevy Chase Garden Club Joyce Howard Dr. Sherran Blair Mr. & Mrs. Williamson Watts of Maryland Sallie S. Hutcheson Mrs. Mary Katherine Blount Mrs. Ruth Wender District II, National Patricia Jones Mr. W. H. Blount Mrs. Robert J. Wert Federation of Garden Peaches Joyal Mr. & Mrs. Winton Blount Mr. & Mrs. Harry Wetzel Clubs Pat Kranz Mrs. Sarah Boasberg Mrs. James W. Wilcock Hillsborough (California) Del Marbrook Mrs. Elspeth Bobbs Mr. & Mrs. William E. Winn Garden Club Kathy Mortenson Mrs. B. P. Bole Jr. Mrs. Gertrude Wright Hunting Creek Garden Debbie Mutter Mr. Robert O. Breitling Mr. & Mrs. Emerson Young Club Louise Ott Mr. J. Judson Brooks Rock Spring Garden Club E. Neil Pelletier Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan Yacht Haven Garden Club Annette Pigott Bryan III Mary Reynolds Mrs. Helen W. Buckner Joan Rhodes Mr. & Mrs. Walter Bull Garden Maura D. Schubel Ms. Susan M. Cargill Maureen Sullivan Mr. & Mrs. Glen Charles Clubs AHS Margaret Tessier Mr. Russell B. Clark Suong N. Thomas Mrs. Sidney L. Clinkscales Support Volunteers Pearl Thompson Mrs. Lammot du Pont Suzy Vincent Copeland Alexandria Council of With grateful thanks to those Jo Cisarik Walker Mr. & Mrs. Edward N. Dane Garden Clubs, project to dedicated volunteers who Helen Fulcher Walutes Mr. & Mrs. James F. Delano restore the foundation work tirelessly in the AHS Mrs. Nicholas R. du Pont plants by the main house gardens and grounds, And, a very special thanks to Mr. & Mrs. James C. Dudley at River Farm Gardeners' Information the hundreds of Birming- Mrs. Beverley White Dunn November 1990-July 1991 Service, administrative ham, Alabama, volunteers Mr. Paul Ecke Jr. Participants: offices, and during special who assisted Beverley White Mr. & Mrs. Edward C. Beverley Hills Garden events at R iver Farm. Dunn and Mary Katherine Fogg III Club Blount, Chairpersons for the Mr. J. Baxter Gentry Marguerite Burman Janet C. Acord 1991 April Annual Meeting, Mr. William H. Greer Jr. Garden Club of Alice & Bob Bagwill in Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. & Mrs. Gerald Halpin Waynewood Kathleen Bayer Mrs. Samuel M. V. Hamilton Hunting Creek Garden Kathy Bedford Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Harris Club Lillian Bistline Mrs. Enid A. Haupt Mount Vernon House & Flo Broussard Mrs. Julia DeCamp Hobart Garden Club Anna M. Carroll Membership Mr. Philip Huey Pohick Garden Club Debbie & Henry Carter Mr. Richard J. Hutton Riverwood -on-the Tula Connell Support Mrs. Paul Kammerer Potomac Garden Club Judy Culley Mrs. Robert E. Kulp Jr. Stony Brook Garden Club Susan Dawson July 1, 1990 to June 30, 1991 Mr. David M. Lilly Anita Stribling Delores Diekemper Mr. & Mrs. Robert B. Villamay Garden Club Priscilla Ditchfield President's Council Lindsay Helen B. Dodge $1,000 Mrs. A. Lester Marks Red Hill Garden Club, Carole Dunaway Mrs. Frances B. McAllister Restricted Gift for River Sally Foley Mr. Richard C. Angino Mrs. Ellice McDonald Farm S ignage Jackie Foster Mrs. Suzanne Bales Mr. Everitt L. Miller

6 + 1990-1991 Contribution Report erican Horticultural Society Ms. Sharon Mills Ms. Jacqueline A. Cohn Ms. Clara Y. Hoffman Mr. Kazuhiko Nakamura Mrs. Thruston B. Morton Ms. Dana B. Cook Mrs. Jean 1. Hoffman Mrs. J . H. Neuhaus Mrs. Jane N. Scarff Mr. W. J. Cooke Mrs. Ludwig Hoffman Mr. Charles G. Norrington Mr. & Mrs. Richard Schissler Mrs. Erastus Corning II Mrs. Audrey B. Jeffery Ms. Dimity L. O'Neil Mr. Otto B. Schoepfle Dr. Armando J . Coro Ms. Halina K. Herardi Ms . Mary Opalak Mrs. Arnold Schwartz Ms. Barbara Costello Ms. Dorothea Johnson Mrs. Shonsaya Owen Mrs. Peter Spalding Ms. Genola B. Cox Mr. Morse Johnson Ms. Natalie Owings Miss Jane Steffey Mr. C. E. Crookshanks Mr. David Karall Mr. Gregory Palermo Mr. Howard A. Van Vleck Mrs. Rae W. Daniel Mr. A. Katz Mr. George B. Park Mrs. Harry J. Van de Kamp Ms. Dixie Daymont Mrs. David Keller Mr. C. Gordon Peattie Mrs. Helen Walutes Ms. Doris P. Deal Ms. Nancy Nasset Kersch Ms. Melissa Perkins Mr. John H. Whitworth Jr. Ms. Peggy Demott Mr. Richard Kilberg Ms. Karen Piassick Mrs. Marillyn B. Wilson Ms. G. M. Depker Ms. S. M. Kindig Dr. William H. Preston Mrs. Jean Verity Woodhull Mr. J. C. Donahue Mr. W. G. Kirchner Ms. Bonnie Priebe Mrs. B. J. Donnelly Mrs. Edith M. Klimitas Mrs. Robert Quinnell Additional Membership Ms. Sheila L. Dougan Mrs. Gustav Koven Mr_ W. A. Raab Contributions Mrs. J . C. Duran Mrs. Danuta Krawczyk Miss Stephanie Radzay Mr. Bradford M. Endicott Mr. William Paul Kubartch Sister M. Helen Regine Ms. Mary Ackerly Dr. Wilbur Enns Mr. Timothy Kuchta Mr. Gerald Remme Mrs. Patrica Adonetti Mrs. K. N. Espenak Ms. Marguerite Labouisse Mr. Randolph E. Richardson Mrs. Charles B. Ames Mr. & Mrs. W. J. Farrington Ms. Beatrice Lake Mr. Robert Rimol Mrs. Dani Bustanil Aritin Dr. Joaquin M. Fiol Mr. Jack Lancaster Mr. Blair Ritter Mrs. Margery E. Arnold Ms. Betty Flanagan Mr. Henry N. Lee Ms . Sarah W. Rollins Ms.M. M.Asher Mrs. A. Ross Fleck Mr. Sterling M. Leisz Ms. Lynn Ann Rubendall Mrs. Anna R. Bach Miss Linda Freeman Mr. Thomas R. Lindsey Mr. V Kenneth Schendel Ms. Joyce Barnes Ms. Charlotte C. Frost Ms. Carol Loucks Mr. Peter R. Scherer Mrs. Dorothy Bayerle Mrs. Katherine E. Gannett Mrs. R. C. Lydon Dr. Everett A. Schneider Mrs. William Beckett Ms. Marie-Elena Garzilli Mrs. J. F. Magale Ms. Kay C. Schroeder Ms. Erma A. Bell Mrs. John T. Gibson Ms. K. L. Magraw Ms. Ann M. Seeger Mr. Tom Berke Mr. Lee D. Gillespie T. Mandel Mrs. B. F. Sherman Mrs. Diane Bernstein Mrs. Ellen J. Gilreath Dr. Toni Martin Mr. R. C. Shumaker Mr. Larry Bierlein Dr. J . Goerner Capt. W. G. Matton Jr. Ms. Virginia M. Shuster Mrs. E. S. Bischoff Mr. Walter J. Golba Jr. Ms. Roberta K. May Dr. Richard Siegel Mrs. Nancy Blake Mr. Charles Goodwin Ms. Elizabeth A. McAvoy Mrs. James A. Simpson Mr. Harold Boeschenstein Jr. Ms. Marlea A. Graham Ms. Karen McCann Mrs. Robert K. Smither Mr. R. Bond Mr. Neil G. Grant Dr. Morton McMichael Mrs. Harold Speck Mr. J. G. Boswell Mr. S. Greene Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Metcalf Mrs. J. R. Stephens Ms. Blanche Bradley Ms. Mary M. Grula Mr. Ken Meusburger Ms. Ann Stevens Ms. Carol A. Brinkman Mrs. Frank Guest Mr. & Mrs. Charles Miller Mrs. George Stevens Mr. William H. Bromley Mr. Kurt Gumbrecht Ms. Irene E. Miller Ms. Barbara Stonecipher Mrs. Harriet C. Brown Mrs. Annie R. Hafele Mr. & Mrs. John F. Miller Mrs. V P. Stoykovich Mrs. Lark Brown Ms. Pentti Hallapera Ms. Kim L. Miller Ms. Carolyn Summers Mr. & Mrs. Walter Bull Mr. Gerald Halpin Mrs. Joan H. Milligan Mr. Franklin P. Sweetser Ms. Terry Cabana Mr. & Mrs. Ernest A. Hamill Mr. Norman J . Mittleider Mr. Ted Tawshunsky Mrs. Les Calkins Mr. Kenneth Hawkins Ms. Berthe P. Moglen Ms. Anne Terborgh Ms. Susan Chambers Mrs. Edmund H. Henderson Mr. Graham Morrison Mr. Bobbie Tew Mr. Thomas Chappell Ms. Ursula M. Hentschel Mrs. John Morrison Mr. Andy Theo Mr. Douglas S. Clausing Ms. Shirley M. Hess Mrs. Faye Motley Ms. Beverly J. Thiede Mr. Donald E. Coates Mrs. M. Hicks Mrs. Alfred E. Munier Mr. & Mrs. D. H. Ms. Amelie Cobb Ms. Beverly Higa Mr. Joseph A. Myers Thomson Jr.

American Horticultural Society 1990-1991 Contribution Report. 7 Mr. E. D. Tremmel The Perennial Plant Society, Ringer Corporation We have attempted to Mrs. Diane Tuska contributions of plants for Smith & Hawken accurately report and give Mr. Henry E. Twitty a new perennial border Suncast Corporation proper credit for each gift. If Ms. Susan Ulanoff The Natursoil Company you find a mistake, please Mr. Valdis Upmanis AHS Annual Meeting The Philadelphia Worm accept our apology and call Ms. Evelyn Urrere Company the Development Office so Mr. Charles Vegilante Birmingham B0tanical The Plow & Hearth that we may correct our Ms. Collette Ventrone Gardens The Toro Company records. Ms. Holly von Bernuth The Daniel Foundation of Troy-Bilt Mr. Charles Wagner Alabama Unique Insect Control Ms. W. Wainwright Dunn Construction Company We Recycle Corporation Miss Elise Wedemeyer Southern Progress West Bay Forest Products Ms. Isabel D. Whiting Corporation Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Mr. Jack H. Wiggins Mr. & Mrs. William M. Wilmarc, Inc. Ms. Claudia Wiley Spencer III Mr. Richard N. Willett Nikon Photography Ms. Judith 1. Wilmarth National Backyard Exhibit Mrs. Ellis Wisner Compost Park Nikon House, Rockefeller Mr. Hans Witt Plaza, New York City, Mrs. Isabel Sellers Womble A-Kobak Recycling April 1991 Ms. Dorothy M. Woodcock Ames Lawn & Garden Tools Ms. Ruth L. Woodford Barclay Recycling, Inc. Mr. Elvin McDonald Bio-Dynamic Farming & McGrath Power Associates Gardening Association Ms. Mimi Hartzell Biolndustry, Inc. Miss Sharon Kim Bonar, Inc. Mr. Lawrence V. Power In-Kind Bookworm Publishing Pan American Seed Company C2S2 Support Crary Company Special Holiday Davidson Designs Membership Promotion Mr. George C. Ball Jr., Dirt Cheap Organics special holiday gift Eco-Atlantic, Inc. Smith & Hawken membership promotion Evergreen Bins Mr. Russell Clark & Gardener's Eden Symposium. on Mr. Edward Dane, Gardener's Supply Landscape Design hosts for an AHS dinner, Heritage Products New York City, March 1991 Myopia Hunt Club, K-D Wood Products, Inc. Hamilton, Massachusetts Kemp Company PaineWebber, Inc. Mr. K. Albert Ebinger, l\1acKissic, Inc. sponsor, Holiday Open Mantis Manufacturing American House, River Farm Nature's Way, Inc. Note: We gratefully acknow­ Mr. Andre Viette, Necessary Trading Company ledge members who joined Horticultural coordination of con­ Nitron Industries, Inc. the Society as Patrons ($500) tributors and editing of North States Industries, Inc. and Benefactors ($250) Society Simon & Schuster book to Outdoor Power Equipment during fiscal year 199()- be released in January Precision Marketing, Inc. 1991. Their names will be 1992 and generous con­ RC Wiggle Worms published in a subsequent 7931 East Boulevard Drive tributions of plants to RPM issue of American Alexandria, VA 22308 River Farm Reotemp Instrument Horticulturist News Edition. (703) 768-5700 Corporation (800) 777-7931

8. 1990-1991 Contribution Report American Horticultural Society Seven AAS Winners Named for '92

The seven plants named to wear the wide with overlapping petals. 'Pretty All-America Selections (AAS) label in In White' is supposed to be heat, 1992 include one herb, one vegetable, drought, and severe weather tolerant and five flowers. All trial entrants must and fairly free of disease and insect be grown from seed. problems. It needs full sun and warm soil and air to grow, so AAS warns Flower Award Winners gardeners not to rush transplanting it into the garden. Plants will reach Flowers are tested at 32 outdoor about 12 inches tall and a foot wide. gardens across North America and are judged on their beauty and color. Vegetable Winners • Canna 'Tropical Rose' is the first canna grown from seed that is Vegetables and herbs are tested at 27 genetically similar to canna from roots outdoor locations. Plants are judged on or rhizomes. The two-and-a-halffoot garden performance and the quality and plant features pastel rose blooms and quantity ofthe edible portion of the plant. wide, arching leaves. 'Tropical Rose' is • The round-rooted carrot a perennial, but in Zone 9 or higher it 'Thumbelina' is easily grown from seed. can be treated as an annual. It produces sweet carrots within 60 to • AAS recommends Salvia coccinea 70 days from sowing. 'Thumbelina' is 'Lady in Red' "for people who enjoy the 'Thumbelina' carrots. easily grown in a window box, hanging concept of a wildflower meadow garden, basket, or patio container as well as in but do not have two acres ofland." Its Bedding plant winners must be durable the traditional vegetable garden. muted red, tubular flowers are similar and flower vigorously. Entrants are • Most dill plants can reach four to six to those of S . splendens, but are tested at 20 locations. feet tall and tend to fall over in severe arranged in separate whorls on the • Dianthus 'Ideal Violet' comes in weather. Since 'Fernleaf dill grows only flower spike. violet and deep purple, shades rare for 10 to 14 inches tall it is suitable for small • Verbena 'Peaches & Cream' flowers this genus. Each blossom is one inch to gardens or patio containers. 'Fernleaf is in unusual shades of apricot and one-and-a-halfinches wide with a small easy to grow from seed. white center. This annual is both heat and cold tolerant. AAS says that with proper nutrients and water, 'Ideal Violet' will spread 12 to 14 inches and • LANDSCAPE reach 12 inches tall. • DESIGN Bedding Plant and Flower Winner • IN AMERICA This is the last year plants will be able On Nature, Mystery and to win both the bedding plant and Classic Order flower awards. New AAS rules will Dan Kiley allow plants to be entered in only one Thomas Jefferson and the Southern category beginning with the 1993 trials. Garden Heritage • Vinca 'Pretty In White' features John Fitzpatrick glossy leaves and white blossoms that are one inch to one-and-a-halfinches In Context: Fitting Design to the Land Isabelle C. Greene Regionalism and Restoration: A Prairie Perspective Title Withdrawn Darrel Morrison Building Upon the Delicate Balance Canna 'Tropical Rose'. Vil'lca 'Pretty In Pink' has lost its Richard Haag title as a 1991 All-America salmon. This verbena is said to be Selections winner because of a New York NYBG heat tolerant and to flower all summer production problems. The grower, Botanical Garden symposium without pinching or pruning. AAS Denholm Seeds, has been unable Tuesday, November 12, at The New York warns that growing this 10- to 12-inch to germinate enough of the plants Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York tall verbena from seed may present a to meet AAS qualifications. Seed Thursday, November 14 at the National challenge to the home gardener. companies must be able to Wildlife Federation, Vienna, Virginia produce a specified quantity of Saturday, November 16, at The Arnold Bedding Plant Award Winner seeds with a minimum germination Arboretum of Harvard University, rate. A 1990 winner, Cosmos Cambridge, Massachusetts Bedding plants are first tested in the 'Ladybird Scarlet', also lost its AAS Call (212) 220-8720 or FAX (212) 220-6504, greenhouse and then planted outside designation because of production Attention: Education Department for evaluation all summer. Flowers are problems. New York Botanical Garden judged again at the end of the summer. Bronx, New York 10

American H orticulturist· November 1991 • 13 Gardeners' Q&A

garden tasks. The extended-handle Q: Can you tell me how to dry tools help people who have difficulty Q: Several of my conifers suf­ gourds so the color and design can bending; attaching a dibble allows fered winter damage last year. 1 be preserved? When 1 have tried them to make seed or bulb holes in would like to try using an this in the past, they have only outdoor beds. There are also extended­ antidesiccant spray this year to shriveled and turned brown. reach flower-cutting tools that allow a protect them. Can you give me some B. P., Seattle, Washington gardener to cut a flower and retrieve it information on antidesiccant from several feet away. Hand forms, applications? A: Gourds dry best ifleft to fully which are bicycle-type grips, can be J. L., Newburgh, NY mature on the vine. Mature gourds are purchased separately and attached to dry to the touch and hard, and the the handles of extended-reach or , A: Antidesiccants are emulsions of attached stems will appear brownish regular tools. either wax, plastic, or latex that are and withered. Leave the stem on the For gardeners who can bend, but sprayed on the above-ground parts of a gourd after picking. It will stay need help getting up and down from the plant to form a protective film. This attached if you cut the stem rather ground, there is the "Easy Kneeler." film seals the plant's pores and than try to twist it offby hand. This device has a padded flat surface prevents excessive moisture loss from When gourd colors begin to fade, that rests on the ground with easy-to­ drying winter and early spring winds place them in a dry, well-ventilated grip handles extending up on either or sun. Many evergreens suffer area for about two to three weeks. side. There are also kneeler-type aids desiccation damage when roots-are Check each day for any sign of mold, with wheels, often referred to as "garden unable to supply moisture to the plant and wipe it off with a dry rag. scoots." These enable the gardener to because the ground is frozen or very When the gourds feel lighter and move along the side of a bed without dry. Broad-leaved evergreens such as their seeds rattle, the next step is to standing up to move the kneeler. boxwood and holly are especially soak them in warm water until their For people with arthritis or who for vulnerable. Others that frequently skin is softened. other reasons can't lift much weight and sustain cold-weather damage are The softened skin can be scraped off need a wide gripping area, a soup spoon junipers, pines, yews, and hemlocks. with a knife. After the skin is removed, or larger serving spoon with its handle Damage or death can frequently rub a steel wool pad over the gourd to wrapped in pipe insulation can be used occur in the spring when air smooth the surface and remove any to pot plants. The foam padding is simply temperatures begin to warm, but the remaining skin. Place the gourds in a wrapped around the spoon handle and at­ ground is still frozen. Those living in dry, well-ventilated area for another tached by duct tape on either end. Zone 7 and north may want to consider two to three weeks. When dry, they will A brand of tools called German Hand using anti desiccants which, by be ready to be shellacked, waxed, Tools have bright orange polyethylene reducing stress to plants in the winter, carved, or painted. If waxing gourds, "dimple grip" handles that are easier to are felt to make them stronger and use ordinary floor wax to apply a light grip than most, and the bright colors healthier year-round. In addition, finish. Waxing will not change the make them easier for a visually impaired having their pores sealed minimizes appearance of the gourd as much as person to see. These come in three salt damage to evergreens planted shellac will. Some craftspeople use extension sizes of 15, 30, and 38 inches. along highways and streets where road woodburning tools to make decorative For people who are unable to reach salt is applied. patterns on the gourds. hanging baskets, pulley systems Antidesiccants should be applied available from garden centers or home before the onset of severe winter Q: Are there any special kinds of improvement stores allow them to be weather. They can be reapplied about gardening tools for handicapped raised and lowered like window shades. once or twice more throughout the or elderly gardeners that would be Write to the following sources for winter at monthly intervals, especially easier for them to use than regular more information: if snow cover is light, since snow acts tools? Ifso, what companies supply Walt Nicke Company, P.O. Box 433, as a protective covering. The initial them? 36 McLeod Lane, Topsfield, MA 01983, spray should be given in late November L. T., Boulder, Colorado (508) 887-3388. German hand tools and or early December (depending upon hand forms. geographic location) and then again in A: Karen Smith-Haas, a registered Gardener's Supply Company, 128 late January and February if severe horticultural therapist and director of Intervale Road, Burlington, vr 05401, weather persists and the ground is horticultural therapy at the Holden (802) 863-1700. Easy Kneeler, enabling excessively dry. The protective coating Arboretum, recommends a number of tools, and cushioned knee pads. will disappear in the spring when new special tools and devices that can make Alsto's Handy Helpers, Route 150 growth resumes. Burlap wrappings can gardening accessible, easier, and safer East, Galesburg, IL 61401, (800) be used along with anti desiccants for for people with disabilities. 447-0048. Easy Kneeler, Garden Scoot, maximum winter protection. The For people who must garden in and knee pads. sprays are available in aerosol cans for wheelchairs or seated positions, there Enrichments for Better Living, 145 smaller plantings, and in gallon are lighter weight "enabling tools" with Tower Drive, P.O. Box 579, Hinsdale, concentrates to mix with water to extended reach handles. Often this IL 60521. Foam padding and pipe spray larger areas. Wilt-Prufis the kind of tool will have an interchange­ insulation wrapping for building up trade name of one of the most widely able end so it can be used for different tool handles. used antidesiccants.

14 + American Horticulturist· November 1991 Another way to minimize desiccation in a sunny windowsill as long as the leaf segments, while Thanksgiving damage to evergreens is to plant wind­ room temperature stays above freezing. cactus has much more clawlike or saw­ sensitive junipers, yews, pines, and Sources for oriental vegetables for tooth points on the leaf segments. hemlocks near a wind-protected area winter gardens include: It is easy to propagate the Christmas like the east side of a building or fence. Kitazawa Seed Company, 1748 Laine cactus. Prepare a rooting medium by Antidesiccants can prolong the life of Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95051. mixing equal parts coarse builder's Christmas trees if the trees are Catalog free. sand (not beach sand), peat, and sprayed before they are cut. Sunrise Enterprises, P.O. Box perlite. Take cuttings anytime after the 330058, West Hartford, CT 06133- plant has finished flowering. Using a Q: Can you suggest some dif­ 0058. Catalog $2. clean knife, take a tip cutting of two to ferent kinds of greens to grow this three leaf segments in length. Stick winter for winter salads? I have a Q: How can I make sure my these cuttings in the well-moistened cool greenhouse with a southern Christmas cactus will bloom by rooting medium, and make a plastic exposure. Christmas, and not earlier? When "tent" for the cuttings by placing K. H., Bardstown, Kentucky and how can I root cuttings of this straws or sticks in the container and plant? then covering it with a plastic wrap. A: You may want to try growing P. K., Wichita, Kansas Place the cuttings in a warm bright various oriental salad greens that grow area, but not in direct sunlight. Keep quite well even during the winter as A: To make sure your Christmas the medium well moistened. After two long as greenhouse temperatures do cactus blooms by Christmas, it should to three w~eks, give the cuttings a not go below freezing. Chinese mustard be left outside as long as possible in the gentle tug. If there is some resistance, greens (Brassicajuncea) are delicious fall before there is danger of a frost. a root system has formed, and it can be greens with a less pungent taste than Leave it outside until night tempera­ repotted to its permanent container. most American mustard greens. They tures begin to drop below 40 degrees. Repot the cutting in a growing medium can be eaten raw for a salad or cooked Once the plant is brought back inside, of equal parts peat, perlite, garden soil, like spinach. it will develop flower buds that should and a soilless house plant mix. Water Chrysanthemum greens (Chrysan­ bloom around the holiday season. only when the soil surface is dry. themum coronarium) are a type of If your cactus plant is blooming a -Maureen Heffernan garden vegetable that looks like a month or so before Christmas, your Gardeners'Information Service chrysanthemum flower plant. The problem may be that you have a young, tender shoots are cooked and Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera Need advice? Call the AHS Gardeners' served as a side dish or combined with truncata) and not a Christmas cactus. Information Service toll free at (800) other greens in a salad. The true Christmas cactus is S . 777-7931 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. EST Ornamental cabbage (Brassica bridgesii. Christmas cactus has rounded Monday through Friday. oleracea var. capitata) has been known to tolerate temperatures as low as 14 degrees although it can't take many consecutive nights below freezing. It becomes more beautiful when exposed to cold weather, turning lovely shades of pink, red, and green. The cabbage leaves can be used for shredding, boiling, or as a decorative salad green. Pak choi (B. rapa var. chinensis), a white cabbage, also tolerates tempera­ tures well below freezing. Its leaves can be used for cooking and salads. Headed Chinese cabbage (B. rapa var. pekinensis) is a cooking or salad green that has a mild mustard flavor. Mizuna greens (B. rapa var. nipposinica) are similar to endive and are a delicious addition to other greens Featuring 112 full color pages, this catalog is a complete garden guide for the beginner in a salad. and the professional. This catalog lists over 2,500 varieties of vegetables, flowers and To maximize the sunlight received by herbs including more than 90 delicious tomatoes, 43 sweet com, 15 cantaloupe, 90 your winter greens, space out the marigolds, and over 250 Stokes Exclusives. plants more than you would in the Quality Stokes seeds are noted for their high germination, excellent vigor and top spring and be sure to remove all dirt or productivity. For your best garden ever, plant Stokes seeds this year! film from the greenhouse glass. You may want to add a layer of poly­ STOKES SEEDS 1712 Stokes Bldg., Box 548, Buffalo N.Y. 14240-0548 ethylene over the greenhouse for better --- -- insulation. A styrofoam curtain or ,------o Send my Free 1992 Stokes Catalog to: I blanket can be placed over the plants on particularly cold nights. Seeds I STOKES SEEDS Name I should be started indoors and then I 1712 Stokes Bldg., I moved to the greenhouse after they are Box 548 Address established. I Buffalo N.Y. I People without greenhouses or grow 14240-0548 Zip Code frames can grow all of the above plants L ------=-J

American Horticulturist· November 1991 + 15 AHS Bulletin Board

Welcome Winter Challenge Update

When the River Farm gardens have session is $75 and includes supplies In the past two months, four individ­ lost their summer splendor, it's time to and lunch. Call for reservations . . uals and two organizations have come inside and use their bounty to • December 7. Back-yard Compost­ contributed $2,250 in response to the celebrate the holidays, and learn skills ing Lecture. 10 a.m. Admission: $5. challenge issued by Board Member to make your next growing season Call for reservations. Mary Katherine Blount. She has more rewarding. Join us in November • December 7. ARS Holiday Open pledged $25,000 to the Society if an and December for any or all of the House. The Alexandria Council of equal amount is raised by members and following special events. To learn more Garden Clubs will sponsor the annual friends. Blount's contribution will be about our flower arranging classes, holiday sale of Christmas trees, poin­ used to hire a horticulturist who will compost lectures, or holiday open settias, and boxwood wreaths at River oversee, develop, and beautify the house, call or write ARS. Farm from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Trees, gardens and grounds at our River Farm • November 2. Joe Keyser, American poinsettias, and wreaths must be pre­ headquarters. The matching funds will Horticultural Society director of ordered; local members will receive an be used to purchase much-needed programs, continues his series of Back­ order form in the mail. Proceeds will be gardening supplies and equipment. yard Composting Lectures held the used for the grounds at River Farm. Contributions have been received first Saturday of each month. 10 a.m. Holiday crafts and refreshments will from Board Members Josephine Admission: $5. Call for reservations. also be available for purchase. Free. Shanks, Billie Trump, Helen Fulcher • November 12 and 13. ''Woodland • December 10 and 11 . "Christmas Walutes, and Katy Moss Warner and Wonders," a class sponsored by Interna­ at Home," a flower arranging workshop from the Friends of River Farm and tional Design Symposium (IDS) and sponsored by IDS and ARS. "Arrange­ the Pohick Garden Club in Mount ARS. "Traditional Designs Using ments and Decorations for a Country Vernon, Virginia. Natural Materials" will be presented House" will be presented both days. A resident of Montgomery, Alabama, on November 12; "Natural Materials Each class includes a lecture, Blount received the Women of Achieve­ for a Contemporary Setting" will be demonstration, and workshop. Each 10 ment award there in 1988 and the First presented on November 13. Classes a.m. to 4 p.m. session is $75 and Friend of the Montgomery Council on include a lecture, demonstration, and includes supplies and lunch. Call for Aging award in 1989. Blount also serves workshop. Each 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. reservations. on the boards of the Landmarks Histori­ cal Foundation, Auburn University School of Nursing, Judson College, and Poster for Sale the Board of Regents of Kenmore in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Ohio artist Carol Happ's exhibit of To contribute to the challenge grant wildflower paintings at River Farm has please send your gift to M. K. Blount come to an end, but members and Challenge at the ARS address. friends may still purchase the exhibit's commemorative poster. The poster features a print of Happ's Mrs. Benjamin P. Bole Jr., watercolor of Peter's Mountain mallow 1909-1991 (Iliamna corei), a symbol of all of America's endangered native plants. Nancy A. Bole, an ARS Board Peter's Mountain mallow is a Member for 13 years, died of cancer perennial, 20 to 36 inches tall with September 14 at her summer home in hollyhock-shaped rose or light pink Maine. She was Board Member from flowers. The blossoms are one to two 1975 to 1983 and was chairman of the inches across and appear in late July Horticultural Awards Committee. She and August. Peter's Mountain mallow, AMERICAN ENDANGERED WILDFLOWERS rejoined the Board in 1985 and served which has been listed as endangered until her term expired this year. She since 1986, is found in a single AMERICAN !! OImC ULTURI\ r , SOC 1~;n' grew vegetables and ornamentals at population of four plants near the RlVERF'AR.M . AI£KAN UkiA. VII{CINIA her home, Hanging Rock Farm, in summit of Peter's Mountain in Mentor, Ohio. She was a long-time Virginia. The site is now owned and their natural settings and uses thin member of the Garden Club of protected by the Nature Conservancy. glazing coats of various oil colors mixed America and served as its vice Happ became fascinated with in a beeswax medium to achieve her president from 1974 to 1976. Bole American endangered wildflowers after effects of color, light, and shade. initiated ARS's Bole Memorial reading Where Have All the Wildflowers To order the poster, send $15.00 plus Medals. The gold and silver awards Gone? by Dr. Robert H. Mohlenbroch. $3.75 for shipping and handling to: have been given to exhibitors at Shortly after that she began to Mallow Poster, American Horticultural regional plant society shows in specialize in painting endangered Society, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, recognition of horticultural excellence. plants. Happ paints the wildflowers in Alexandria, VA 22308.

16 • American Horticulturist· November 1991 Letters Help AHS Grow

In your September issue, you wisely excuse is laziness, "too busy," or ypur As a nonprofit organization, the point out the futility of trying to desire to show your independence by American Horticultural SOCiety legislate lawns in or out offashion. The being the neighborhood oddball. truly needs the energy, time, and sensible compromise is social pressure My condominium association has commitment of its valued members to adhere to a community standard of converted much of our common front to help it grow and succeed. acceptability. lawn into flowering shrubs as a water If you would like to work with If community consensus holds that conservation effort. Most of us have AHS on a project within your state, there must be at least a small lawn out gradually reduced the lawn area ill our please check your area of interest at the sidewalk, homeowners who hate back yards to gain more space for flowers below. In the coming months, we lawn work can comply, with the rest of and shrubs. Today, in our case, there is will contact you to arrange a meet­ the front yard in well-eared-for trees, no lawn left at all. But these changes ing and outline tasks that you and shrubs, perennials, or annuals. The key have come about as a community­ others in your area of interest can is "well-cared-for": There is no excuse for accepted change, not by legislation. undertake. A modest commitment demanding that you be allowed to offend Dr. Joseph E. Howland of 10 to 20 hours of your time the community standard whether your Reno, Nevada during a year will strengthen AHS enormously. With your help, AHS will bring more public awareness of the importance of horticulture to our nation, forge a strong network with other horticultural entities, and assist you to implement sound horticultural programs in your community.

Yes, I'd like to work to help AHS grow within my community or home state area. My area of interest is:

D Recruiting AHS members D Contacting media or conduct­ ing public relations for AHS D Contacting gardening or horticultural groups and companies to introduce AHS Lilypons Water Gardens D Organizing fun and creative fundraising projects !BEgin !J0u~ wal:e.~ gau/En today with a 1H!Jpon~ catalogUE D Organizing and planning an AHS educational program fEatu~ing pagE afl:e.~ pagE of bEautiful wal:e.~ IJi£~ , lotu~ , bog D Participating in AHS Annual or plant~, (iJ!z, ~tatua~, and thE EH£ntial~ fo~ kEEping it all wo~ing Regional Meeting planning Working on projects to restore tOgEflu.~ . D and preserve River Farm Becoming an active member in ...No pool? Ch.oo~ a (ibE~gfru~ o~ rPtVc pool foom thE man.y ~i=~ D an AHS members' forum group J!zown in flu. .£J!Jpon~ catalogUE. that works to keep AHS vital D Other (please name your interest) ______o Please send the new Lilypons catalogue plus informative newsletters with seasonal sales. Enclosed is $5.00. California (30<1). Mary/and (25<1) and Texas (35<1) residents please add tax. Name: o Please rush my catalogue by first class mail. Enclosed is $6.75. Address: City: o 1500Dept. o 1500 Dept. o 1500 Dept. P.O. Box 10 P.O. Box 188 P.O. Box 1130 StatelZip: ______Buckeystown, MD 21717 Brookshire, TX 77423-0188 Thermal, CA 92274 (301) 874-5133 (713) 934-8525 Daytime Phone: Houston local (713) 391-0076 Return this form to: Frank L. Robinson 1'\ arne Address Executive Director American Horticultural Society City State Zip 7931 East Boulevard Drive -~------~ Alexandria, VA 22308

American Horticulturist· November 1991 + 17 Gardeners' Bookshelf I

cucurbits evolves into an outstanding explains the workings of chlorophyll explanation ofthe different species. I and the nitrogen and carbon cycles. was particularly pleased to fmd the But one can open the book at random various species of squash carefully and discover writing of the sort that described since I have always had makes you want to ring up a friend and trouble distinguishing Cucurbita pepo read passages out loud. Favorites from C. maxima and C. mixta from include his descriptions oflooking C. moschata. Each of the species is through a microscope for the first time further divided into cultivars. There and seeming to descend into a forest of are more than 35 different types of algae "as a falling aviator must"; and of acorn squash listed and the same is the sleeping seed, which he compares true of crookneck and scallop. to "the fabulous mystics of India who The David Cavagnaro photographs swallow their tongues and so by add great depth and dimension to the ceasing to live with any show oflife, text, though I've seen a number of live on for years as men dead." them in color and was a little An afterword by Peattie's son Noel disappointed that all of the photos in describes what it was like to live in the this work were black-and-white. The incredible California garden, Quien bibliography offers a well-rounded Sabe, that the family rented by sheer introduction to the literature. accident, and how even that paradise Seed to Seed is an invaluable was touched by the events of war. The reference for the beginner or the introduction by Charles Heiser, experienced saver of seeds. distinguished professor emeritus at - Keith Crotz Indiana University, comments that some aspects of the book are out of Seed to Seed Keith Crotz owns and operates date: Plants are no longer collected in American Botanist Booksellers in vascula, for instance, but in plastic Suzanne Ashworth. Seed Saver Chillicothe, Illinois. bags. More noticeable than any Publications, Decorah, Iowa, 1991.222 antiquated science, however, is the lack pages. Black-and-white photographs. Flowering Earth of botanical names. At least twice, Publisher's price: softcover, $20. AHS Peattie makes reference to fear of member price: $17. Donald Culross Peattie. Indiana Univer­ Latin; such a popular, adept writer sity Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 1991. could have done a lot to dispel that fear. Seed to Seed: Seed Saving Techniques 260 pages. Black-and-white engravings. That Peattie walked such a fine line for the Vegetable Gardener has one of Publisher's price: hardcover, $27.50; between botany and sentiment without the most attractive covers I have ever softcover, $10.95. AHS member price: seen- a colorful collage of corn, bean, hardcover, $23.40; softcover, $9.30. squash, and pumpkin seeds. And it only gets better inside. This book will Nature lovers of a generation previous to encourage everyone with a favorite my own probably need no introduction to type of vegetable to try saving seed Donald Culross Peattie, who served as a from year to year. roving editor for Reader's Digest and The first part discusses technical wrote articles for such popular publica­ aspects of seed saving. Pollination and tions as Atlantic Monthly and Sunset. flower structure are explained with easy­ But while his last two books, on the to-follow directions. The differences natural histories oftrees, are still in wide between self-pollinated, insect­ circulation, this gem, first published in pollinated, and wind-pollinated plants 1939, has long been out of print. are expertly covered. Instructions on how Its rescue is timely. Environmen­ to artificially pollinate each type of plant talists may doomsay and scientists may are included along with tips on plant terrify, but Peattie evokes awe of what isolation and hand-pollination. Finally, he calls "the green kingdom"-including seed harvesting, cleaning, and storage its algae, lichens, and fungi-and a techniques are outlined and sources of fierce desire to protect it. seed-saving supplies are listed. The publishers describe this book as Over 150 pages are devoted to 160 part natural history, part biography, different vegetables, arranged by and part philosophical reflection. It family. Included are botanical relation­ begins with his entry into the world of ships and specific details for success botany at Harvard, and ends with his with each of the plant families. The reflections on death. It traces the seed storage viability information is evolution of plants from micro­ most welcome. The section on organisms to angiosperms, and

18 + American Horticulturist· November 1991 tottering over the edge into mawkish­ this is only a vague clue to the ness is a marvel; in only a couple of identities ofthe authors (and the instances does he lose this balance. reference to Henry Mitchell's essay, "A Perhaps his style could be compared Garden in the City," doesn't mention to that of the late movie director Frank that it originally appeared in American Capra, who was making his best Horticulturist). I would like to know movies when Peattie was writing his more about Nuese, who begins by books. Even contemporaries made fun writing: "When I am an old, old woman of what they called "Capracorn," and with long grey moustaches, a baggy it's a rare artist who unleashes such tweed suit, stout boots and a cane, unabashed sentiment into today's (what do you mean, when?) I shall have cynical world. a whole garden of primroses. All But in proofreading Peattie's last kinds." She ends with the advice, "Buy chapter for the October American just a few to start with, then begin Horticulturist, I reread his prose raising your own from seed, and before repeatedly, and like the fmal scene in you know it you will be launched upon Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," it never the primrose path which, as everyone failed to move me, with its reminder of will tell you, leads to the skids." how short a time is allotted to each of Cook's illustrations are based on us in which to enjoy the simple those appearing on the covers of pleasures of the flowering earth. garden books published between 1894 - Kathleen Fisher, Editor and 1930. She includes the history of Botanical art from the early 1900s inspired these illustrations and the artists who Ferris Cook to create the illustrations in created them, and a source list. I wish Garden Dreams. This vase of flowers il­ she had included as much information Trees for American Gardens lustrates an essay by Louise Beebe Wilder. about the authors of the essays. -Mary Beth Wiesner, Assistant Editor Donald Wyman. Macmillan Publish­ Garden Dreams ing Company, New York, 1990.501 pages. Black-and-white photo­ Illustrated and edited by Ferris Cook. graphs and illustrations. Publish­ Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York, Book Order Form er's price: hardcover, $50.00. AHS 1991. 103 pages. Color illustrations. member price: $42.50. Publisher's price: hardcover, $19.95. Please send me these books at the AHS member price: $17.50. special AIlS member prices. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants Within the pages of Garden Dreams, D Seed to Seed · ... $17.00 nine garden writers, both famous and D Flowering Earth D Hardcover Michael A. Dirr. Stipes Publishing obscure, share their visions of the ... $23.40 D Softcover · ...... $9.30 Company, Champaign, Illinois, perfect garden. Vita Sackville-West D Trees for American 1990. Black-and-white illustrations. yearns for a "courtyard flagged with Gardens ...... $42.50 Publisher's price: hardcover, huge grey paving stones . . .. In this D Manual of Woody Lahdscape $43.80; softcover, $32.80. AHS courtyard should grow all kinds of low Plants member price: hardcover, $37.20; plants between the flags, encouraged to D Hardcover ...... $37.20 softcover, $27.90. seed themselves freely." Louise Beebe D Softcover · ...... $27.90 Wilder reminisces about a white D Garden Dreams ...... $17.50 Two classics on woody plants have garden she happened upon in Wales: I would like to order books. been updated and should be on the " . .. it has lingered in my mind as "must" list for your reference library. Postage and handling: $2.50, first book; indeed 'such stuff as dreams are made $1.50, each additional book. Virginia Donald Wyman has added 200 on,' and one of the loveliest gardens I residents add 41;'2% sales tax. Please species and cultivars to his 1951 ever saw." And Allen Lacy describes his allow six weeks for delivery. Prices are standard Trees for American dream garden- Root Glen, the real life subject to change without notice. Gardens. One of the most useful garden of Grace Root, in Clinton, New D Enclosed is my check for $ _ _ _ aspects of this volume is the 39 lists York-and recounts his first encounter identifying trees with unique charac­ with the "dowager empress": "Some­ D Charge to: teristics, or which are adaptive to where in the middle of our fourth o Visa o MasterCard Exp. Date ___ specific growing environments. vermouth, Grace was no longer 'Mrs. Acct. # ______Michael Dirr's fourth edition of Root,' and she was telling me about the Manual of Woody Landscape Plants time she and her late husband went to Signature ______is a meaty exploration of several Thrkey and collected wild tulip seeds thousand taxa, full of significant for the Glen.'" Ship to ______data, personal observations, and I am not familiar with some ofthese Street ______clear illustrations. The chapters on writers, including Samuel Parsons, City ______plant morphology and the glossary Marion Cran, and Josephine Nuese, of taxonomic terms are handy and and since Cook doesn't include State ______Zip __ thorough. His work is a vast biographical information, they remain Daytime phone number ______resource. just names on a page. The copyright -Frank L. Robinson information at the beginning of the MAll.. TO: AHS Books, 7931 East Executive Director book offers the sources of the essays Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308. and the years they were written, but

American Horticulturist· November 1991 • 19 Gardeners'Dateline

Mid-Atlantic necticut. Cosponsored by Connecticut ''Tree Selection and Maintenance." College Arboretum and Wilcox Park, Longue Vue House and Gardens, New .. Nov. 14. Landscape Design in Westerly, Rhode Island. Information: Orleans, Louisiana. Cosponsored by America. Symposium. National (203) 439-2140. the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Wildlife Federation, Vienna, Virginia. Service and the New Orleans Metro Sponsored by the New York Botanical .. Nov. 12. Landscape Design in Area Horticulture Committee, Inc., Garden. Information: Education Depart­ America. Symposium. New York Foundation. Information: Dan Gill, ment, New York Botanical Garden, Botanical Garden, New York City. Louisiana Cooperative Extension Bronx, NY 10458-5126, (212) 220-8720, Information: Education Department, Service, P.O. Box 24006, New Orleans, or Fax (212) 220-6504, Attn: Mr. Katz. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, LA 70184-4006, (504) 482-9081. NY 10458-5126, (212) 220-8720, Fax .. Nov. 15. Tour of the Annual (212) 220-6504, Attn: Mr. Katz . Southeast Chrysanthemum Show: "Autumn Follies." United States Botanic .. Nov. 16. Landscape Design in .. Nov. 7-9. Third Annual Fall Garden, Washington, D.C. Lecture by America. Symposium. Arnold Orchid Show: "Orchid Harvest." Wayne Amos. Information: Public Arboretum of Harvard University, Winter Park, Florida. Cosponsored by Programs Office, (202) 226-4082. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sponsored the Central Florida Orchid Society and by the New York Botanical Garden, the National Bank of Commerce. .. Dec. 27. Tour of the Annual Bronx, New York. Information: Information: (407) 876-2625 . Poinsettia Show: "Whistle Stop Education Department, New York Holidays." United States Botanic Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458- .. Nov. 9. Garden Design Series. Garden, Washington, D.C. Lecture by 5126, (212) 220-8720, or Fax (212) Walking tour ofVieux Carre Gardens. Kathe Koumoutseas. Information: 220-6504, Attn: Mr. Katz. Crosby Arboretum, Picayune, Public Programs Office, (202) 226-4082. Mississippi. Tour leader: Christopher Northwest C. Friedrichs, New Orleans landscape North Central architect. Information: (601) 261-3137, .. Nov. 19-20. Alaska Greenhouse (601) 799-2311, or (601) 798-6961. .. Nov. 23-Jan. 5. Holiday and Nursery Conference and Polar Poinsettia Show: "Christmas Grower Trade Show. Fairbanks, Alas­ .. Nov. 17-21. Landscape and Delight." Foellinger-Freimann ka. Information: Cathy Wright, Alaska Grounds Management Annual Botanical Conservatory, Fort Wayne, Division of Agriculture, SR Box 7440, Conference. Wyndham Harbour Indiana. Information: Foellinger­ Palmer, AK 99645, (907) 745-4119. Island Hotel, Tampa, Florida. Freimann Botanical Conservatory, Cosponsored by the Professional 1100 South Calhoun Street, Fort South Central Grounds Management Society and the Wayne, IN 46802, (219) 427-1267. Associated Landscape Contractors of .. Nov. 7. Ninth Annual New America. Information: PGMS .. Nov. 27-Dec. 8. Wonderland of Orleans Horticultural Symposium: Headquarters, 10402 Ridgland Road, Wreaths. Exhibit. Foellinger­ Freimann Botanical Conservatory, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Information: Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conser­ Millions of Mums vatory, 1100 South Calhoun Street, Fort Wayne, IN 46802, (219) 427-1267. The ninth annual Chrysanthemum Festival at Cypress Gardens near .. Dec. 5-7. Tree Care Industry Winter Haven, Florida, will feature Expo '91. Trade Show. Ohio Center, more than two million blooms: 620 Columbus, Ohio. Information: TCI, P.O. cascades, 30 poodle baskets, three Box 1094, The Meeting Place Mall, bonsai mum trees, 42 basket-and­ Route 101, Amherst, NH 03031, (603) ball forms, 48 columns, 18,000 673-8952, Fax (603) 672-2613. potted mums, and an arch over the entrance to the festival. Some Northeast blooms will drape the ledges of a 40-foot waterfall, and others will .. Nov. 5-8. New York State Turf cascade over the walls of an Italian­ and Grounds Exposition. Rochester style fountain. Cypress Gardens Riverside Convention Center, personnel spend seven weeks Rochester, New York. Information: transferring the chrysanthemums (800) 873-TURF or (518) 783-1229. from the greenhouse to the site of the festival, which is being held .. Nov. 9. Color in Your Garden. November 16 to 30. For more infor­ Symposium. Cummings Arts Center, mation, call (800) 338-MUMS. Connecticut College, New London, Con-

20 " American Horticulturist • November 1991 Suite 4, Cockeysville, MD 21030, (301) Garden Center, Albuquerque, New .. Dec. 5. Behind-the-Scenes Tour 667-1833. Mexico. Sponsored by the Uptown and Plant Sale. Huntington Botanical Garden Club of Albuquerque, New Gardens, San Marino, California. .. Nov. 18-21. Professional Lawn Mexico. Information: Petra Himes, Information: (818) 405-2282 . Care Association of America's 12th 8423 Menaul N.E., Albuquerque, NM Annual Conference: "Meet the 87112, (505) 298-0832. .. Dec. 7-8. Camellia Show. Los Challenge." Tampa, Florida. Informa­ Angeles State and County Arboretum, tion: PLCAA, 1000 Johnson Ferry West Coast Arcadia, California. Sponsored by the Road N.E., Suite C-135, Marietta, GA Pacific Camellia Society. Information: 30068-2112, (404) 977-5222, Fax (404) .. Nov. 9-10. Japanese Flower (818) 821-3222. 578-6071. Arrangement Show. Los Angeles State and County Arboretum, Arcadia, .. Jan. 14. Landscape and .. Nov. 21-24. Landscape California. Sponsored by the Los An­ Nursery Expo '92 Trade Show. Maintenance Association Seminar: geles Branch of the Sogetsu School of Sacramento Community Convention "Great '90s-91." Holiday Inn, Sabal Ikebana. Information: (818) 821-3222. Center, Sacramento, California. Park, Tampa, Florida. Keynote Speech Cosponsored by California Landscape by Katy Moss Warner, Walt Disney .. Nov. 10. "Mr. Huntington's Contractors Association/Sacramento World Horticulture, on "Creating Garden: Present State and Future Valley Chapter and California Associa­ Magic: Maintaining the Gardens at Plans." Lecture. Huntington Botanical tion of NurserymeniSuperior Chapter. Walt Disney World." Information: Gardens, San Marino, California. Information: Landscape and Nursery Landscape Maintenance Association, Lecture by James Folsom, director of Expo, P.O. Box 160244, Sacramento, P.O. Box 728, Largo, FL 34649, (813) the Huntington Botanical Gardens. CA 95816-0244, (916) 442-4470, Fax 584-2312, Fax (813) 581-4341. Information: (818) 405-2282. (916) 442-4564.

.. Nov. 23. "20th Century Gardens." .. Nov. 12-17. Fifth National International Lecture. Atlanta Botanical Garden, Urban Forest Conference. Biltmore Atlanta, Georgia. Cosponsored by the Hotel, Los Angeles, California. .. Nov. 7. Gardens for Peace. Royal Oak Foundation. British land­ Organized by the American Forestry Dedication Ceremony. Royal Botanical scape designer John Brookes will present Association, USDA Forest Service, Garden, Madrid, Spain. Dedication of the lecture and sign books. Information: California Department of Forestry and the third garden in the international Atlanta Botanical Garden, Piedmont Fire Protection, and TreePeople. Infor­ network of Gardens for Peace. Park at the Prado, Box 77246, Atlanta, mation: Fifth National Conference, Information: Nancy Wood, (404) GA30357, (404) 876-5859. P.O. Box 2000, Washington, DC 20013. 355-2197, Fax (404) 351-6918 .

.. Dec. l.Jan. 15. First Annual Poinsettia Festival: "Color It Crimson." Cypress Gardens, Florida. Information: (800) 237-4826 (outside Florida) or (800) 282-2123. TRAVEUSTUDY TRIPS FOR THE AHS GARDENER .. Dec. 7-8. Joseph Manigault House Tour. Charleston, South Carolina. House decorated by the Garden Club of Charleston. JANUARY 25-FEBRUARY 1, 1992 Information: Mrs. Charles T. Brown, GARDENS OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS An exceptional exploration voyage to the British and U.S. Virgin Islands on board 112 Waterfront Plantation Drive, the Nantucket Clipper. Ports of call include SI. Thomas, SI. John, Tortola, Virgin Charleston, SC 29412, (803) 795-1865. Gorda, and Peter Island. This unique program is being led by former AHS President Carolyn Marsh Lindsay and Bob Lindsay and AHS Board Member .. Dec. 7-29. Trees of Christmas: Andre Viette and Claire Viette. Participants will see the gardens of the Lindsays = "Hark the Herald Angels." Exhibit. and the Viettes' parents and private homes and gardens oftheir personal friends, Tennessee Botanical Gardens and Fine including the spectacular gardens of AHS member Paulina du Pont Dean, whose Arts Center, Cheekwood, Nashville, gardens were featured in the December 1989 American Horticulturist. The small ~ Tennessee. Sponsored by the Horticul­ size of the yachtlike Nantucket Clipper makes it possible to sail into isolated tural Society of Davidson County and bays, quiet anchorages, and deserted beaches known only by experienced Third National Bank. Information: yachtsmen who are intimate with these waters . Carol, (615) 353-2150. FEBRUARY 19-MARCH 3,1992 .. Dec. 8-29. Festival of Trees. EGYPT AND NILE CRUISE ~ Explo.re the earlies~ ?f the Western civilizations and the life-giving influence of Massee Lane Gardens, Fort Valley, the Nile River. The Itinerary Includes Cairo, Luxor, and Abu Simbel as well as a Georgia. Sponsored by the American five-day cruise on the Upper Nile from Luxor to Aswan on board the Nile Camellia Society. Information: Michelle Goddess. Visit numerous historic gardens, including the Manial Palace Gardens H. Allen, Massee Lane Gardens, One in Cairo and the botanical garden on Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener Island at Massee Lane, Fort Valley, GA 31030, Aswan . Program leaders are AHS Board Members Helen Fulcher Walutes and (912) 967-2358 or (9 12) 967-2722. Mary Katherine Blounl.

Leonard Haertter Travel Company. 7922 Bonhomme Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63105, (800) 942-6666, (314) 721- Southwest 6200 (in Missouri) .. Nov. 16-17. "Home for the Holidays." Flower Show. Albuquerque

American Horticulturist • November 1991 • 21 Classifieds

Classified Ad Rates: $1 per word; CAROL DIDRICK'S LITTLE RED BOOK ON EXOTIC PLANTS minimum $20 per insertion. 10 percent OLD GARDEN ROSES. Where to get them THE EXOTIC PLUME RIA (Frangipani) discount for three consecutive ads and where to plant them. An introduction to Revised and Expanded by Elizabeth and OLD GARDEN ROSES. Each book signed and using same copy, provided each Sharon Thornton. Cultivation, propagation, numbered. Send $14.95 postpaid. CAROL insertion meets the $20 minimum after fertilization and storage covered. Cultivars DIDRICK, 1535 Willard Dr., Orrville, OH taking discount. Copy must be received identified in color. Send $13 PLUMERIA 44667. *Please add $2 for out-of-country mail­ on the 20th day of the month three SPECIALTIES, 4110 Spyglass Hills Dr., Katy, ing. months prior to publication date. Send TX 77450. orders to: American Horticultural Books Available. Horticulture, Botany, Land­ Society Advertising Department, 7931 scaping, Flowers, Fruits, Herbs, Rural Mat­ GARDENING PRODUCTS East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA ters, published 1550-1990. Catalog free. POMONA, Rockton, ON, Canada LOR lXO. DROUGHT BUSTER CONTROLS. Dis­ 22308, or call (703) 768-5700 or (800) tributes scarce water most effectively. 777-7931. GOOD GARDENING BOOKS, also garden (Brochure $1 ). AQUAMONITOR, Box 327, history, landscape architecture. FREE Huntington, NY 11743. (516) 427-5664. catalog. BOOK ARBOR, Dept. Ml, P.O. Box AFRICAN VIOLETS 20885, Baltimore, MD 21209. AHS now carries a full line of unique compost America's Finest-177 best violets and ges­ bins, tumblers, and accessories-all on dis­ neriads. Color Catalog and Growing "Tips" 50 BULBS play in our National Compost Demonstration Park-and all significantly discounted (for cents. FISCHER GREENHOUSES, Box H, Dutch bulbs for fall planting. 12CM Tulips, Linwood, NJ 08221. members only). Call for a free price sheet: DNI Daffodils, Hyacinths and Miscellaneous. American Horticultural Society, (800) 777- Catalog Free. Paula Parker DBA, Mary Mat­ 7931 or (703) 768-5700 (in Virginia). THE AVANT GARDENER tison van Schaik, IMPORTED DUTCH BULBS, P.O. Box 32AH, Cavendish, VT DIFFERENT, EXCITING, GREAT FUN TO GREENHOUSE ACCESSORIES READ! Subscribe to the unique news service 05142. (802) 226-7653. that brings you the most useful information COMPLETE MIST PROPAGATION SYS­ on new plants, products, techniques-with CARNIVOROUS PLANTS TEMS. New Advanced "MISTOSTAT" gets phenomenal results. Free brochures. sources. 23rd year. Curious? Sample copy $1. Carnivorous (Insectivorous) Plants, seeds, Serious? $12 full year (reg. $18). THE AVANT AQUAMONITOR, Dept. 5, Box 327, Hunting­ supplies, and books. Color brochure free. ton, NY 11743. (516) 427-5664. GARDENER, P.O. Box 489M, New York, NY PETER PAULS NURSERIES, Canandaigua, 10028. NY 14424. HELP WANTED CHESTNUTS AND KAKI PERSIMMONS BED AND BREAKFASTS We at the American Horticultural Society are Heavy-bearing Dunstan Chestnuts, new often asked to refer individuals for significant Historic Fordhook Farm, home of pioneering hardy Kaki Persimmons. CHESTNUT HILL horticultural positions around the country. We seedsman W. Atlee Burpee, is open as a Bed NURSERY, Rt. 1, Box 34IAH, Alachua, FL are not in a position to offer full placement and Breakfast Inn. Reserve for Philadelphia 32615. services to candidates or employers. However, Flower Show Week. THE INN AT FORD­ HOOK FARM, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. (215) 345-1766. AHS MEMBERSHIP SERVICES BOOKS 1985 Edition EXOTICA4, with 16,300 photos, 405 in color. 2,600 pages in 2 volumes, with Your satisfaction with our member service is very important to us. If you have a question or problem concerning your Addenda of 1,000 updates by Dr. A. B. Graf, memberShip, please contact the Membership Department for assistance. $187. TROPICA 3, revised 1986, 7,000 color photos, now 1,156 pages, $125. Exotic House You can help by giving complete information when you call or write. Please refer to the five-digit number that is on the Plants, 1,200 photos, $8.95. Shipping addi­ mailing label on your magazine or News Edition. The number helps us to identify quickly your membership record for tional. Circulars gladly sent. ROEHRS COM­ corrections. PANY, Box 125, E. Rutherford, NJ 07073. CHANGING YOUR ADDRESS? Please allow 6-8 weeks advance notice. Attach a current mailing label in the space provided (or write in your old address) then fill in your new address on the lines below.

OLD ADDRESS: MEMBER#:

NAME : ~ ______ADDRESS: TREES • SHRUBS • PERENNIALS CITY/STATE/ZIP: NEW ADDRESS: 2951 Curve-Nonkipoo Rood NAME : ~ ______Route #3, Box # 158-A ADDRESS: Ripley , Tennessee 38063-9420 CITY/STATE/ZIP: Catalog $2.00 Mail to: Membership Services, AHS, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA223OS.

22 + American Horticulturist • November 1991 as a service to our members, bothjobseekers and employers, we would be very glad to receive resumes and cover letters of individuals seeking job changes and employers seeking candidates. All responsibility for checking references and determining the appropriateness of both position and candidate rests with the individuals. AHS's participation in this activity is only to serve as a connecting point for members of the Society. Inquiries and informational materials should be sent to: Horticultural Employment, American Horticul­ tural Society, 7931 East Boulevard Dr., Alexandria, VA 22308. Greenhouse Manager-ambitious, hard-working individual needed to run I-acre retail/wholesale growing operation. Duties include-production planning, growing, taking charge of physical facilities, supervising and training employees, developing cultural information for new plants. Coor­ dinate growth activities with management staff. Research programs in­ clude phalaenopsis, paphiopedilum, cymbidium, cattleya, vanda orchids. A candidate for this position should have a B.S. in horticulture with 5 years experience, at least one internship in European horticulture business. Job and interview Lansing, Michigan--40 hrs/wk. 8 a.m.-5 p.m., $20Klyear. Send resumes to 7310 Woodward Ave., Room 415, Detroit, MI 48202. Reference No.4 7491. No later than 12/10/91. HOUSE PLANTS ORCHIDS, GESNERIADS, BEGONIAS, CACTI & SUCCULENTS. Visitors welcome. 1990-1991 catalog $2. LAURAY OF SALISBURY, 432 Undermountain Rd., Salisbury, CT 06068. (203) 435-2263. LANDSCAPING LEARN LANDSCAPING AND THE GROWING OF PLANTS AT HOME. Start business or hobby. Free booklet. LIFETIME CAREER SCHOOLS, Dept. A-591, 101 Harrison St., Archbald, PA 18403. MINIATURE ROSES Award-winning varieties from America's top miniature rose breeder and grower. Over 75 varieties for garden or container growing. Send for FREE color catalog: NOR'EASTMINIATURE ROSES, INC., Box 307AC, Rowley, MA 01969. Miniature roses are our only business and we do it right! NURSERY STOCK Enormous Selection of over 1,800 Hardy and Choice Plants, Rhodo­ dendrons, Azaleas, Laurels, Camellias, Conifers, Trees, Shrubs and Peren­ nials. Descriptive mail-order catalog $2. ROSLYN NURSERY, Dept. AH, Box 69, Roslyn, NY 11576. Get rid of leaves fast ... ORGANIC INFORMATION powerful vacuum draws Organic Pest Remedies Chart--comprehensive instructions on product raked leaves into chute. application and rates-$1.95; Organic Maintenance and Installation Pro­ Stop the back breaking job of cedures-ideal for homeowners, landscape contractors, landscape main­ stuffing leaves into bags. Powerful, tenance companies, growers and farmers (2 years of research data)-$1.95; aerodynamic impeller action Organic Manual by Howard Garrett-complete instructional and reference garden vacuums leaves right into hopper for guide to landscaping and gardening organically, 20 reference charts (104 valuable fast, triple-action shredding into pages), resource list with addresses and phone numbers- $14.95. Order compost. super-fine pieces. Entire unit lays separately (or all for $17.95) payable to: LAMBERT'S, Attn: Barbara, 7300 down on ground for easier raking Valley View Ln., Dallas, TX 75240. (214) 239-0121. into hopper. PLANTS (UNUSUAL) Chips and shreds OVER 1,000 KINDS OF CHOICE & AFFORDABLE PLANTS. Outstand­ eyesore junk ing Ornamentais, American Natives, Perennials, Rare Conifers, Pre-Bon­ Hardened steel blade chips sai, Wildlife Plants, much more. Descriptive catalog $3. FORESTFARM, branches up to 3" thick into crisp, 990 Tetherah, Williams, OR 97544. uniform landscape chips. EXOTIC ever-changing Earth Stars, Staghorns, Bromeliads, Philo­ 5 h.p, Briggs & Stratton engine dendrons, Rhipsalis, plus. 64-page color catalog $5. SOUTHERN EX­ hand~toughest ~, POSURE, 35 Minor, Dept. AH, Beaumont, TX 77702. Eyesore piles of branches are turned into decorative PUBLICATIONS landscape chips. 1ilKiliaicInC HORTUS-a quarterly gardening journal from Britain, addresses itself to Migll\'l P.o . Box 111 , Parker Ford, PA 19457 fo! inlotllla\iO Phone: 215-495·7181 Fax: 215-495·5951 intelligent and literary-minded gardeners whose interests extend beyond Mac sllrellll 01 ~OU! the garden wall. $50/year. For information, write GREEN SHADE, INC., anll \lie loc Ie!, senll r------MacKissic, Incorporated Desk C, P.O . Box 547, Cape Neddick, ME 03902. nea!b~cOU\lon \olla~, Dept. AH111 , P.O. Box 111, Parker Ford, PA 19457 Mighty Mac is sold by your o Rush details on Mighty Mac Shredder-Chippers ROSES local lawn and garden and location of nearest dealer. LARGEST ASSORTMENT OF ROSES to be found anywhere, at equipment dealer. He'll let you kick the tires and show My phone number is ______reasonable prices: HT, climbel's, antiques, English Garden Roses, Rennie's you how ~ works before you buy. Don' be fooled by Name ______miniatures, Cocker's introductions, etc. A superb collection. Orders shipped those "Try it" offers made Address ______with our refrigerated truck to USA UPS depots for distribution, in most by mail order manufacturers that sell City cases. Catalog $2. HORTICO INC., 723 Robson Rd., Waterdown, ON LOR equipment sight unseen. State ______Zip ____ 2H1. (416) 689-6984 or 689-3002, Fax (416) 689-6566.

American Horticulturist· November 1991+ 23 early September to be ready for Cascading • Cypress Gardens' November festival. Gardeners in more temperate zones Chrysanthemums will want to stop pinching the plants considerably earlier. Fertilizing can If this fall's chrysanthemum festivals cease when colors begin to show. have you hankering for pots of cascading mums, the October issue of Greenhouse Manager shares some tips for growing Ginger Shoots them from Gary Smith, nursery manager of Cypress Gardens in Florida. For an interesting addition to your Smith warns that his timetable must be windowsill herb garden, Chip Tynan of interpreted very broadly, since growth the Missouri Botanical Garden and bloom time will be affected by many suggests ginger root. Buy a plump root climatic factors. from the produce section of your Smith chooses his cultivars in March, grocery, and plant it just under the and provides those plants with at least surface of a well-drained soil mix in an Tagetes lucida in bloom. 16 hours of light per day to halt early eight-inch pot. Keep it slightly damp blooming; a grow light set to come on at until shoots appear, then water and from the African or French marigolds 10 p.m. and go off at 2 a.m. is ideal. As fertilize along with the rest of your grown in the garden. Except for the plant grows, the main stem should herbs. You can harvest the root when serration along the edges, they look be tied to a stake, and any lateral shoots the shoots die next fall. like those of tarragon. "To me, the taste pinched out every 10 days. Water is virtually identical," says McDonald. moderately, and feed each week with a Both Tagetes and true tarragon, liquid 20-10-20 fertilizer. Tarragon Taste-alike Artemisia dracunculus, are members of Smith repots his plants every four to the composite family. Tagetes lucida six weeks. When the stems are two to Love the taste of fresh tarragon? Want bears small, marigold-type flowers, so three feet long, he plants three in a row to have it available on your kitchen sill may provide blooms indoors as well as at the edge of a seven-gallon container, all winter long? flavorful foliage. bends them down, and ties them to a Tarragon isn't easily grown indoors, McDonald made seeds available to WIre frame with twist ties. (The pots but there's a substitute that is. Elvin his readers, and still has some avail­ need to be elevated, of course.) McDonald, secretary of the American able for members of the American At this point, the days will be long Horticultural Society who writes a syn­ Horticultural Society. For seeds and enough that the chrysanthemums dicated column on indoor gardening, instructions for growing them indoors, don't need night lighting and can be suggests that gourmet gardeners try send $1 and a stamped, self-addressed moved outsiqe. Keep pinching lateral growing Tagetes lucida. That's right, a business-size envelope with "Tagetes shoots until about eight weeks before marigold. Called "pericon" by the lucida" written on the back flap to you want the mums to bloom. Smith Zapotec Indians of southern Oaxaca, Elvin McDonald Reader Service, ;225 continues pinching until late August or Mexico, its leaves are very different East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022.

2ND CLASS POSTAGE PAID AT If~1 ALEXANDRIA, VA AND AT ADDITIONAL American Horticultural Society MAILING OFFICES 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308