COMING IN THE NEXT ISSUE Author Ronald Meyer will tell you everything you need to know about growing bonsai chrysanthemums-from nurturing the plants from seed to choosing an appropriate bonsai container once the plant has been trained. Dr. James E. Klett will write about cutting blooming shrubbery to force indoors; Martma Prince will write about ferns; and Jane Pepper will take you on a guided tour of the Winterthur Gardens' in anticipation of the Society's Spring Seminar in the Brandywine Valley. Finally, Alvin W. Mosher and Dr. Dan Milbocker will discuss the Chinese gooseberry, or kiwi, an exotic fruit you may soon be able to grow in your own garden. Illustration by Mary Jourdan DeWalt VOLUME 58 NUMBER 6 Judy Powell EDITOR Rebecca McClimans .;..:..::; r"·­ ART DIRECTOR ~t Jane Steffey , EDITORIAL ASSISTANT . _ t .. ( .' H. Marc Cathey Gilbert S. Daniels Donald Wyma n HOR TICUL TURAL CONSULTANTS ..... ...... ' ;..;; Gilbert S. Daniels BOOK EDITOR PAGE 18 May Lin Roscoe BUSINESS MANAGER FEATURES Florence Bay li ss EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS COORDINATOR Chelsea 14 Judy Canady Text by Lorraine Burgess MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION Photography by Guy Burgess SERVICE The Art of Dye ing Wool 18 Cindy Weakland Dorothea Thomas ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR In Praise of Geraniums 22 John Simmons Anthony J. DeBlasi PRODUCTION COORDINATION A Townhouse Garden 27 Chromagraphics Inc. Pamela Harper COLOR SEPARATIONS Publisher Services, Inc. A Maintenance Guide for Perennial Herbs 32 621 Duke Street Betty Ann Laws Alexandria, Virginia 22314 ADVER TISING REPRESENTATIVES Saintpaulia Species 35 Tex t by Helen Van Pelt W ilson Replacement Issues of AMERICAN Photography by Margaret H . Stone HORTICULTURIST are ava ilable at a cost of $2.50 per copy. The opinions expressed in the articles COLUMNS which appear in AMERICAN HOR TICUL TURIST are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of President's Page Gilbert S. Daniels 3 the Society. They a re presented as Country Gardens-An Endangered Tradition David E. Starry contributions to contemporary thought. Manuscripts, art work and photographs Letters 5 sent for possible publication will be returned if they are accompanied by a Strange Relatives: The Rue Family 8 self-addressed, stamped envelope. Jane Steffey AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST is the Contributors 11 official publication of Thll American Horticultural Society, 7931 East Book Reviews 12 Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, Virginia 22308, and is issued in February, April, Gilbert S. Daniels June, August, October and December. Index 42 Membership in the Society automatically includes a subscription to AMERICAN Gardener's Marketplace 44 HOR TICUL TURIST. Membership dues start at $15.00 a year, $9.00 of which is designated for AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST. Copyright © 1979 ON COVER: Nancy Wilson, a floral designer from Alexandria, Virginia, works by The American Horticultural Society. THE ISSN 0096-4417. Sllcond-dass postage best when she's given a fr ee rein. Our only instructions to her were to use her imagination paid at Alexandria, Virginia and at to create a holiday arrangement for our cover. The result includes many unusual items: additional mailing offices. Postmaster: birch branches, bittersweet, heather, Nerine lilies, an ornamental pineapple, mushrooms, Please send Form 3579 to AMERICAN a bird's nest, dogwood berries, am autumn orchid (Cattleya labiata), Freesia, mid-century HORTICUL TURALIST, Mount Vernon, Virginia 22121. lilies, a polypore fungus, pomegranates and Euphorbia. Cover photograph by Susan Bennett-Ha ttan. American Horticulturist 1 Once again ... Armstrong offers you more. Over 250 Rose and Fruit selections are available in this beautiful 40 page 1980 full color Catalog. Including ... New roses for 1980 3 MRS winners 3 Exclusive Fruit Introductions Annstrong's • "Black Beauty" Seml-dwarf Mulberry • "Young Quinn" • "Black Jack" Dwarf Fig • "Deep Purple" • "Champagne" Peach New Miniature Roses Champagne Peach If you want the dependability of a long-established nursery, a wide choice of classic favorites and fine new introduc­ tions, order the best guide today... Armstrong's 1980 Rose and Fruit Tree Catalog. All this ... and it's absolutely FREE! Deep Purple Young Quinn World's Leading Developer OJ New Rose And Fruit Tree Varieties Dept. 215 • P.O. Box 4060, Ontario, CA 91761 Address ____....,.....------"--------~----.! City ______-- State,____ Zip ~ __ J!ESIDENT~_G_E ___ concrete and tarmac, while indiscriminate applications of insecticide have unwit­ AMERICAN tingly reduced the sounds of nature to a HORTICULTURAL minimum. And as for grandmother's SCXIEIY kitchen garden, it survives only on the shelves of the nearest supermarket. Go ne indeed are the days when country gardens OFFICERS not only gave sustenance to both body and soul, but also offered a wealth of herbal Dr. Gi lbert S. Daniels abracadabra reputed to effectively combat PRESIDENT the witchcraft sti ll lurking in the dark cor­ ners of our folklore. Mrs. Erastus Corning, II Ah yes, these are the days of stan­ FIRST VICE PRESIDENT dardization w hen we are cajoled into thinking that expensive artificial settin gs Dr. Harold B. Tukey, Jr. and arty co ntrivances can improve on the SECOND VICE PRESIDENT unregimented beauty of nature. But can they? Are we not trading the natural har­ Mrs. John M. Maury mony of creation for the boredom of ce­ SECRETARY ment blocks, a yardstick and a draftsman's compass? Edward N. Dane David Starry submitted the article whi ch Sadly, vi ll age or suburban gardens no TREASURER follows several months ago. It is so similar longer have the romantic persuasion of the to my own feelings that I wanted to run it days when songs of the "Come Into the Thomas W. Richards as this issue's President's Page with my Garden, Maude" vi ntage were popular. In EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT blessing and concurrence. Mr. Starry, fact, they are now more commonly known thank you. I'm delighted to know you feel as "yards," and certainly "Come Into the Dr. Henry M. Cathey this way about gardens and gardening, and Yard, Maude" does not lend itself to IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT I hope other members of the Society will poetry. An acceptable garden now consists agree. of a neatl y mowed expanse of lawn, with BOARD OF DIRECTORS all the charm of a putting green, primly TERMS EXPIRING IN 1980: Country Gardens- edged with petunias or geraniums, while An Endangered Tradition the foundations of the house are obscured J. Lyle Bayless, Jr. by a well-disciplined parade of evergreens. Mrs. George P. Bissell, Jr. By David E. Starry One gets the impression that the gardener Mrs. Benjamin P. Bole, Jr. Everett Conklin What has happened to the days when the is at war with nature rather than trying to Mrs. Nicholas R. du Pont term "country gardens" was the ve ry complement or cooperate with it. Can we Alfred M. Hunt not take a lesson from the peculiar beauty Mrs. William Wallace Mein epitome of nature's yearly fulfillment? Mrs. Pendleton Miller Where are those sultry, star-studded nights of the temple gardens of Japan, or the Captain Walter W. Price, Jr. when you could relax in the coolness of studied informality of certain famous your dooryard and savor all the scents and European gardens? Perhaps it might be TERMS EXPIRING IN 1981 : sounds of summ€r? When the atmosphere wise to recall the words describing the gar­ J. Judson Brooks was heady with the aroma of thriving flow­ den of England's Hon. Sackville-West at Dr. Gilbert S. Daniels ers and vegetables, and fireflies lifted in South Cottage, in Kent: "planting ar­ Harold Epstein ranged with great artifice in a 'natural' Mrs. Howard S. Kittel flight from patches of greensward to flicker Mrs. Joseph G. Poetker through the shrubbery like airborne mini­ way." Dr. Harold B. Tukey, Jr. atures of Diogenes looking for an honest Should you speak with many house­ Theodore Van VeeN James W. Wilson man? In such idyllic settings, the silent holders about the naturalness of a garden, they would probably regard you with sus­ rhythm of growing things was punctuated TERMS EXPIRING IN 1982: only by the plop-plop of a toad foraging for picion. I have heard comments that a truly insects, or the soft scuttle of a box turtle informal garden indicated that the owner Richard Both enroute to grandmother's strawberry bed. was too lazy to pull the weeds or keep his Edward N. Dane borders straight. This is a thought process Jaokson R. Eddy And occasionally the distant rumble of Mrs. A. Lester Marks thunderheads, or the flicker of heat light­ that reaches a ludicrous climax when we Mrs. John M. Maury ning along the horizon gave promise of a are treated to the sight of a host of pathetic Mrs. Edward C. Sweeney Mrs. William C. Weaver, Jr. refreshing shower before morning. pansies imprisoned within the circle of a Dr. John A. Wott But alas! In today's gardens most of the discarded rubber tire, or a defunct bathtub stands of flowers and shrubs have been brimming with marigolds and forget-me­ pushed to the background by stretches of nots. I know of one woman who planted American Horticulturist 3 PRESIDENT'S PAGE CONT'D her sweet peas in an old porcelain com­ my own rece nt efforts at ga rdening have mode and was always slightly offended at been disastro us si mply because I didn't pay the mirth whi ch this spectacle so metimes heed to a bi t of local gardening lore. They provoked. And heaven help the natu ral told me not to pl ant anything in the shade grace of a shrub w hen it is attacked by an of a walnut tree, but I did and the plants over-zealous gardener with the new pair of Increase your growing pruning shea rs Aunt Minnie gave him fo r space with a Christmas.