The Urban Rock Gardener

THERBAN U ROCK GARDENER T M

A NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY THE

MANHATTAN CHAPTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY

Volume 24, Issue 5 www.mcnargs.org November/December 2011

~ MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT ~

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2011 @ 6 PM THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

JANE MCGARY will speak on

B ULBS IN THEIR HABITATS

Jane McGary works as an editor of scholarly books and also edited the Rock Garden Quarterly for ten years, as well as compiling and contributing to three volumes co-published by Timber Press and NARGS, including "Bulbs of North America." She has been growing hardy bulbs since the late 1980s and now cultivates about 1300 species and subspecies in her garden and bulb house near Portland, Oregon. She has traveled to many parts of the world to see and photograph wild plants and to learn more about their natural habitats.

The talk will concentrate on hardy and near-hardy bulbs as they grow in the wild, presenting plants from different parts of the world, including western North America, southern South America, around the Mediterranean, and from a variety of habitats such as beaches, meadows, woodlands, and alpine zones. The special challenges of cultivating bulbs from each type of habitat are discussed.

Arum creticum

th Please join us for our November meeting at The Horticultural Society of New York, 148 West 37 Street, 13th Floor, between 7th Avenue and Broadway, near the 7th Avenue #1/2/3 lines and the 6th Avenue B/D/F subway lines. It is three blocks north of Macy’s and not far from Grand Central, Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

~ MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT~

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1 2TH , 2011 @ 6 PM THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

KEAN TECK ENG will speak on

THE ALPINE GARDEN IN FORT TRYON PARK

Kean Eng grew up in a family with a farming background in Malaysia. He was trained as an agronomist in the tropics and graduated with a Bachelors (Honors) Degree in Agricultural Science from Putra University in Malaysia. He worked in food crop production and in the floriculture industry focusing on post-harvest physiology to extend the shelf life of cut flowers for export. He also worked for Dupont on field trials of warm temperate crops and ornamental plants in high altitude cultivation. In

New York, he was an intern at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden where he obtained his Certificate in Horticulture. He is currently working in the Alpine Garden in Fort Tryon Park with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, where he has been since 2008.

His topic, “Restoring the Alpine Garden at Fort Tryon Park” will address the history of the garden,

originally designed by the Olmsted Brothers, changes effected since 1935, and challenges presented in the restoration work he’s spearheading.

A view of the Alpine Garden at Fort Tryon Park

2 ~NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING~

The Annual Meeting of the Manhattan Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society will take place at 6:00 pm on Monday, November 14th, 2011, during which time we will conduct a short business meeting, pursuant to our Bylaws, for the purpose of electing Directors for the following year. The slate nominated for election is as follows:

Judith Dumont Lola Horwitz Zabel Meshejian Michael Riley Abbie Zabar Kean Teck Eng Brendan Kenny Gelene Scarborough Steven Whitesell

Nominations will be open to the floor, but the candidate must have accepted his or her nomination prior to the meeting. Please advise Secretary Judith Dumont of any additional nominations in advance. [email protected]

Michael Riley, Chairman

~ RILEY ON THE ROCKS ~

Seasonal tasks are usually the topic of the Editor’s that they are sustainable. Many among us are hardcore erudite column, WHY DON”T YOU? - which you will landscapers who need to plan for hurricanes and floods read elsewhere in this newsletter, but ... this has been and errant snowstorms and this season has made that one HECKOFASEASON, and the “tasks” have been point very clearly. Because of their diversity and monumental. I only had to worry about a few snowflakes ruggedness – perhaps rock gardens (and rock gardeners) on my orchids and tomatoes, when Steve has been are the answer for TUFF terrains in every season. Stick through a flood, a hurricane, an October snowstorm and around and we will see?

I’m thinking that the title of his column this month might November is the month for our board to get organized be “Why Don’t You ...Just Throw In the Towel?” and look ahead to the next year. We will elect directors, Aside from all of this, he once again did a superb job some new and some old (long-standing) who have done with the Tri-State Meeting at Lyndhurst with Don a fine job for our chapter in the past. Our former Dembowski, Don Ohl and many other volunteers – Program Chairs – Lola Horwitz and Mary Buchen are THANK YOU ALL. It was a terrific meeting and just retiring from that position and we thank them prolifically when I thought my roof wouldn’t hold one more pebble for their fine job in planning. Programming is a complex – I came home with four new troughs, several hunks of job for any one or two people, so we are going to morph tufa and a few more plants (actually Francisco bought it into a committee including Abbie and Brendan and a those darned plants). It was an exciting meeting with few other people. It is complicated because of the many Malcolm and Monica McGregor, lots of good plants and elements involved in planning, extending invitations, friends, and ... our Manhattan Chapter members made up arranging hardware/software compatibility, hosting, a HUGE percentage of the audience, it made me very honoraria, participating with other chapters, etc. If any of proud that many of you made this very worthwhile you have an interest in helping with this task, you would effort. be most welcome to join the committee – there is plenty to do. Zabel would welcome help in arranging tours, Now, about those seasonal tasks, which this year, for our Gelene would like help in collecting dues (like ... pay friends and members in the Parks Department and Public now?). None of these positions, or offices, or Gardens, represent a year or so of work in repairing and committees are singular in their planning or execution so removing damaged trees and other “bones” in the garden please step up and offer your services to help your – you have our heartfelt commiseration and gratitude for fellow chapter members. the work you do. Perhaps the most seasonal task that we I am really looking forward to hearing our former Editor, face is in planning and planting sustainable landscapes Jane McGary in November, and then in December, our and sustainable gardens. I loved the description Malcolm own Kean Teck Eng. I’m sure that his Alpine Garden in McGregor gave of his “prairie garden in northern Fort Tryon Park has a few seasonal tales to tell. See you England” which resulted from his trip to the NARGS there Annual Meeting in Colorado 2010, because I too came home and planted a “prairie trough in Manhattan” as a result of the same inspiration. We do (or try to do) such frivolous things because we can; but not with the idea

3 ~A NEW METHOD OF CREATING RAISED BEDS~

Stepped planting arrangement, Gilboa, New York

Tony Robbin and Rena Kosersky have created an interesting and original hillside garden feature adjacent to their farmhouse on the northern edge of the Catskills in Gilboa, NY. The cascading, cubic forms are executed in locally quarried bluestone slabs each approximately 18” x 18”, a manageable size for most people to handle. The forms relate to the explorations of four-dimensional space seen in Tony’s paintings and sculpture currently on view at the Orlando (FL) Museum of Art http://tonyrobbin.net The space was formerly the site of an aging wood deck that was removed.

The sawn edges of each slab, with a natural cleft face on both sides, are bonded together with a two-part epoxy adhesive product called Akepox, manufactured in Germany by Akemi. The slabs were epoxy bonded and held in place with clamps for a day, then placed in their final positions. The slabs are arranged in near-cubic units that step down the hillside, with a change in grade from the kitchen doorsill to the toe of the slope of approximately three to four feet. Each cubic bottomless unit is placed against the next to form a monolithic open grid, with about 6-8” of vertical slab face showing. The garden was inaugurated with a ‘cube party’ and cube-shaped food was served – cheese cubes, bread cubes, cubic baklava.

Each unit is planted to a single species, often with colored foliage and special attention is paid to foliar texture, Bronze-leaved Ajuga reptans, silver reindeer moss, an unnamed hybrid Heuchera with amber foliage, Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’, and soft gray Antennaria dioica are among the plants selected for display. Non-living materials also occupy some of the units and the grid alternates living and non-living materials in checkerboard formation. Non-living materials include black river stones, crushed brick, charcoal gray gravel, and black shot sand. A row of slab-covered units act as a staircase to the herbaceous borders, turf paths, pergola-shaded dining terrace, and a large pond stocked with bass that lie below.

A trough created and planted by Malcolm McGregor mimicking the Czech crevice rock arrangement method

~ SEEDS ARE COMING!!! ~

The NARGS seed exchange donations are due to arrive at the end of November. There are 200 sleeves to process, the same as last year, but different genera, so please plan to set aside some time to help. If you're not familiar with the donor list, seed volunteers could be processing taxa from a single popular genus like Aquilegia, whose small black seeds tend to roll around unnervingly or fairly easy to grow Allium seeds, which are typically offered in great number. The final selection remains to be seen, but your participation in packaging would be most welcome..

A dedicated core of MC-NARGS members are old hands at this process and can help train newbies, so you, too, can enjoy the challenges of this annual seed processing season. No size, shape, or quantity of seed is beyond our capabilities! We can even hold our breath when it comes to fern spore or minute Ramonda myconi seed. Try to join the crew one, two, or more evenings, whether you’re a returning or new volunteer. Tentative dates are Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 7pm to 9pm, beginning on Thursday, Dec.1 and continuing until the work is finished. As always, volunteers enjoy the benefit of ten additional taxa added to their NARGS seed order. Two visits or a total of four hours are required to earn volunteer status with the Seed Exchange. Those unable to attend with experience can also take ten to twenty sleeves home to be returned by Dec. 22nd to qualify for donor status. Some volunteers in recent years were not chapter members at the time, but joined thereafter, the highest recommendation for an activity that is only one of the many perks our chapter and NARGS offer.

The camaraderie and pleasure of getting to know more about the sources of some of our favorite plants are reward enough to warrant participation. Please e-mail Lola at [email protected] or call 718 788 5340 if you can take seeds home or volunteer time on Tuesday or Thursday evenings, so she’ll know whom to contact in the event a date is changed or a Saturday afternoon is added. LOLA HORWITZ

5 ~ WHY DON’T YOU? ~

~ Make notes about changes, additions, or subtractions you’d like to make in your garden next Spring, while the ideas are still fresh. They may not be when it comes time to implement them. Materials you need to order, plants you’d like to try, areas that need rethinking, and seeds you’d like to find on the various seed exchange lists are all happy Winter occupations.

~ Clean up and dispose of leaves with mildew, blackspot, or other fungal diseases to help prevent introduction of the spores again next Spring. If the infestation was serious or if next Spring is cool and wet, apply a fungicide early in the season.

~. Brace brittle shrubs and tree branches with arbor tape to prevent winter breakage. The recent heavy, wet snow is just the start of a potentially damaging Winter. Be prepared.

{STEVE WHITESELL is still planting bulbs and cleaning the garden before Winter. You probably are as well?}

~ HELP JUDGE THE NARGS QUARTERLY PHOTO CONTEST ~

Malcolm McGregor, the Editor of the NARGS Quarterly, has asked the Manhattan Chapter to judge the annual photo contest. A group of chapter members, which could include YOU, will meet in mid-November to review the various submitted images and select winners in each of the categories listed below. The session should take around two hours, so please contact Steve Whitesell for more information: [email protected] A time convenient for all participants will be determined when the group has self-identified. Please write today. Your good eye is required for a pleasant evening looking at plant and landscape images.

Classes

Class 1: Portrait of a plant in the wild. Image focuses on a single plant in its native habitat. Ideally, the entire plant should be visible, not just a flower, which is more appropriate to class 5.

Class 2: Natural scene with plants. Image includes both wild plants and their surrounding habitat and scenery. Please identify the site. Hint: This is not the same as class 1, and should not foreground a single plant specimen; the emphasis should be on the general scene. Depth of field is a strong consideration.

Class 3: Portrait of a plant in cultivation. Image focuses on a single plant or small group of the same plant in the garden.

Class 4: Rock garden scene. Image of a rock garden (general view or isolated vignette). Please identify the owners of the gardens. Hint: Frame your image carefully to exclude unattractive and unintended objects.

Class 5: Macro photograph. Close-up images of single flowers or other plant parts. Photographers often do not actually follow the guideline here.

Class 6. Plant in container. Images of single or multiple plants in pots, troughs, or other containers. The container should be at least partially visible.

~ ERRATA ~

The article on Dr. Nina Lambert in the last issue incorrectly stated her maiden name as Weinberg. It is correctly Weingarten. Thanks to Sarah and Jack Lambert for noticing the error.

~ NORTH AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY ~

Join today. NARGS is for gardening enthusiasts interested in alpine, saxatile, and low-growing perennials. Annual dues in the U.S. and Canada are $30, payable in U.S. funds. VISA/Mastercard accepted.

Benefits of membership include: Rock Garden Quarterly with articles on alpines and North American wildflowers, illustrated in color photographs and pen and ink drawings; annual seed exchange with thousands of plant species; study weekends and annual meetings in either U.S. or Canada; and book service to members.

Join on-line at www.nargs.org Or write: Bobby J. Ward, Executive Secretary NARGS, P.O. Box 18604, Raleigh, NC 27619-8604, USA

2012 National Meeting & 37th Annual Western Winter Study Weekend: Stop the car...... NOW! Roadside Botanizing East of the Cascade Mountains Everett, WA March 9-11, 2012 Hosted by The Northwestern Chapter Visit the website: http://nedm.drizzlehosting.com/2012/2012.htm

~ MANHATTAN CHAPTER NARGS ~

2012 Membership Form

Individual $20 Student $15 Individual 3 years $50 Gift membership* $15 (When renewing, you may give a Gift Membership to a new member.)

Members’ dues status is indicated on this months’ mailing label. Membership renewal is usually due in January, but taking the time to renew now would be a big help to our Membership Secretary and confirm your membership through December 2012 for $20, or December 2015 for $50.

Send your check with this form to:

Gelene Scarborough, Membership Secretary 103 West 105th Street #5B New York NY 10025

7 OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS, 2011 NEWSLETTER EDITOR Steve Whitesell [email protected] CHAIRMAN Michael A. Riley PRINTING AND PRODUCTION 212.666.2395 [email protected] Michael Riley

PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS CONTRIBUTORS to the Nov/Dec 2011 Issue Mary Buchen Michael Riley, Lola Horwitz, Gelene Scarborough, Kean 212.982.1743 [email protected] Teck, Eng, Steve Whitesell Lola Lloyd Horwitz 718.788.5340 [email protected] CHAPTER WEBMASTER Benjamin Burr [email protected] TREASURER Kean Teck Eng THE MANHATTAN CHAPTER of NARGS, founded in 646.379.5274 [email protected] 1987, is a group of gardening enthusiasts who are dedicated to the propagation and promotion of an eclectic range of plants, SECRETARY with emphasis on alpine and rock gardening selections. Our Judith Dumont [email protected] Chapter Programs, designed for a sophisticated mix of professionals and amateurs, cover a broad spectrum of special MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY interests such as rock and alpine, woodland, bog, raised bed, Gelene Scarborough [email protected] planted walls as well as trough and container gardening.

TOUR DIRECTOR The yearly membership fee of $20 entitles members to five Zabel Meshejian informative copies of THE URBAN ROCK GARDENER, to attend all meetings and field trips, as well as tours of unique NEWSLETTER FOUNDING EDITOR and private gardens; plus participation in our much-anticipated Lawrence B. Thomas Annual Plant Sale. If you are not already a member we invite you to be a guest at one of our upcoming meetings.

~ JOIN US IN JANUARY. PROGRAM DETAILS IN THE NEXT NEWSLETTER ~ {Submission Deadline for the January/February Newsletter: January 3, 2012}

MANHATTAN CHAPTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY 101 West 104th Street, New York, NY 10025

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