FREE FREE CATALOG CATALOG 1-800-723. 7667 1-80()' 723-7667 OperatxJr 1526 Operator 1526 Is Something Missing From Your GaFden? Is yOtlJ:" garden !11issmgj€wel-Hke flowers flloating on o{;dedng one of our durable TeiraPend 32 mil, fleX;ible, 2 a shitnme'1'mg wai€r surfaCe and tb.e darttng bi'illiance of ply PVC poollitte:Vs. So €asy tp mstall and maintain you will goldfish? Ate you miSsing the melod~c sounds of water ask yourselfwhyyou wrutedso long to b~g:in this adventure. spilling fi'9ID a fountain, vessd or wat€rfall? Then what Call toll Lr€e to near€St location to order your liner. Please you need 'in your gard€n is a: lily pond. Let Ltlypons W!lIter have credit card iEformation handy. Garcl;~ns and: Tetihl'ond help you 1:? get sU;irted today l>y Choose from the seven sizes listed (siz~ are app:roximatE;.) fOF depth 18" to 24" in your own design. Sale: pFices are gooe;! through 09/08/93. Add $6.95 f@r packing/handling within 48 contiguoas states. Manwactuter's Suggested PMce SALE Manufacturer's Suggested Price SALE o 8' x (13' lii\.er makes 4' x 9' PQol .... g 99 $76.95 "D 13' x 20' liner makes 9' x 16' pool . ~279 $199.95 bJ 10' x 16' lu!-er m .a.kes 6' x 12' p0Gl. .. 169 B9.95 EJ 16' x23' liner IIlllikes 12' x19' pool 349 249.95 o 13' x l3'hner makes 9' x 9' PQol . 1!i}9 138.95 [] 20' x26' liner makes 16' x22' PG0l . 499 359.95 o Hlypons Water Gardens 1,00 page catalog ... FREE o 23' x 30' liner makes 19' x 26' pool . 589 429.95 ,Use yoar pel1sonal cheek or circle ·credit card: ', Diseover MasrerCard VISA Card Number =-",,,.,,;;;--,,,~,,,,,,,,,_~,,,,,,,--,..,......,..,,..=-~.......... ~ ____---,,.--,,,,,,,_~~==~ ___ ~ Expiration Date _=--~.."...,..".....---..,~~ Name Ad.dress -.--.,..,..---. __--",-----,.-- __~_.__-==._..=:::7" ........ ~.Apt.-~=--"...,.....~ City State Zip Phone L..--J:,..~~ _~ __~ California (7.75%), M!!ryland (5%), and TeJql.S (7'.25%~ residents please add sales tax. Lilyp,ons Water Gardens® Dept. 1526 Dept. 1526 Dept. 1526 .' P.O. Box 10 . P. Q. Box 188 P. O. Box 1130 Buckeystown, Maryland 21717-0010 Brookshire, Texas 77423-0188 Therm~, C!l!lifornia 92274-1130 1-800-999-5459 1-800-765-54£9 1-800·365-5459 American Horticulturist Volume 72, Number 6 June 1993 ARTICLES American Roots in British Soil by Joan Hockaday ....................................... 14 England's much emulated borders would be sadly lacking without American native plants. Our array of flora, from spring ephemerals to trees with colorful fall foliage, has been coveted from the first years of colonization to the present day. English Roses-JoUy Good? by Rayford Reddell ...................................... 26 Initial skepticism about David Austin's imports gave way to admiration. Just Dandelions by Marcia Bonta ........................................ 33 This common lawn invader has a vast and complicated JUNE'S COVER family tree. Photographed by Robert Galyean The plump, pink blooms of The Moonlight Garden 'Gertrude Jekyll' are characteristic by Peter Loewer ......................................... 37 of the English rose, which From blood on the moon to honeymoon, there's magic combines the fragrance and in the garden after dark. delicate pastels of old roses with the sturdiness and reblooming ability of modern varieties. Hybridizer David Austin created English roses to reconcile the best DEPARTMENTS of both worlds and, beginning on page 26, California rosarian Commentary ............... ................ .......... 4 Rayford Reddell casts a cool eye on how they fare in the Letters ................................................ 5 United States. Offshoots ......................................... ... 6 Book Reviews .......................................... 10 Classifieds ............................................. 43 Pronunciations .......................................... 46 American Horticultural Society The American Horticultural Society seeks to promote and recognize COMMENTARY excellence in horticulture across America. t is spring, when a young gardener's OFFICERS 1992-1993 fancy turns to bedding plants and sow­ Mr. George C. Ball Jr. ing seeds. June is also the perfect time President I West Chicago, Illinois for releasing the tropical foliage plants Mrs. Sarah S. Boasberg from their winter quarters to the fresh First Vice President breezes and sunshine of the deck, patio, or Washington, D.C. just outside the front door. The mind be­ Dr. William E. Barrick Second Vice President gins to play its seasonal tricks on the new Pine Mountain, Georgia gardeNer, allowing desires to increase in Mr. David M. Lilly volume and intensity. I assume that it does Secretary so in order to leave us in a state by mid­ St. Paul, Minnesota Mr. Gerald T. Halpin summer where we have an enormous gar­ Treasurer den planted, regardless of our ability to Alexandria, Virginia maintain it. However, we enjoy these fleet­ ing moments of horticultural richness before the combined forces of distraction, pestilence, and frustration begin to wear down both garden BOARD OF DIRECTORS and gardener, the former to a more manageable size, the latter to a more Mrs. Suzanne Bales sustainable energy level. Bronxville, New York The answer to this boom and bust approach is the creation of a plan. Dr. Sherran Blair Columbus, Ohio Admittedly, planning takes much of the fun out of gardening. Remember, Mrs. Mary Katherine Blount however, that the notion of unadulterated fun is an illusion. Furthermore, Montg0mery, Alabama if you plan for the unexpected, leaving gaps here and there or leaving an Mr. William F. Brinton MO]'lDt Vernon, Maine entire section for last-minute, chaotic overflow, you will get what you Mrs. Beverley White Dunn deserve: a garden that has a proper balance of order, whimsy, and neglect. Birmingham, Alabama The influential art critic Bernard Berenson advised artists who aspired Dr. John Alex Floyd Jr. Birmingham, Alabama to greatness to "vary the line." Emphasize one part of your garden each Mrs. Julia Hobart year. Or indulge your taste for one group of plants by reading about them Twy, Ohio and learning them extremely well through visits to gardens and nurseries. Dr. Richard L. Lower Then, when you plant your garden, your love will have been sated, and Madison, Wisconsin Mr. Elvin McDonald your tendency to go overboard muted-or rather, you will have gone H0ustom, Texas overboard with a limited group of plants. Mr. William G. PannilJ For all of those whose spring plans have been inspired by admiration of Martinsville, Virginia Mr. Lawrence V. Power the British gardening style, this month's magazine turns the perspective New York, New York around-the envy the British feel for our wealth of natives and their Dr. Julia Rappaport admi,ration of American-introduced varieties. Nothing could be more Santa Ana, California appropriate to June than moonlight and roses, and other articles in this Mrs. Flavia Redelmeier Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada issue look at both of those topics, as well as one about which most of us Mrs. Jane N. ScarH are far less romantic-dandelions. New Carlisle, Ohio Make sure that teachers in your area, from kindergarten through eighth Mrs. Josephine Shanks Houston, Texas grade, know about our National Children's Symposium, coming up August Mrs. Billie Trump 12 to 14 at the 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland. We'll have almost Alexandria, Virginia seventy speakers and presenters on topics ranging from using the garden as a Mr. Andre Viette Fishersville, Virginia living classroom for interdisciplinary education, to building collaborative Ms. Katy Moss Warner relatioflships between schools, public gardens, businesses, and community Lake Buena Vista, Florida groups, to developing horticultural programs for children with special needs. It will include a tour of wonderful new children's gardens at our River Farm EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR headquarters. We urge you to come and join us in a great summer celebration Mrs. Helen Fulcher Walutes of horticulture. See you there! -George C. Ball Jr., AHS President 4 JUNE 1993 American Horticulturist Editor Kathleen Fisher LETTERS Managing Editor M ary Beth Wiesner Assistant Editor Chris Bright Editorial Assistant Steve Davolt Sycamores and More special. California artists are fon d of our Design Director I enj oyed B. C. Cherry's etymological di s­ syca more beca use of its wonderful shape. I Joseph Yacinski course on the sycamore (February), but it is don't know the simil ar Arizo na sycamore, Designers not complete. Referring to th e genus Morus P. racemosa var. wrightii, but it sounds Bob McCracken Reg Perry does not full y explain the origin of "syca­ wonderfu l, too. Priscilla Roth Feigen Mem bership Director more." Sycon is Greek for fig, w hile Palo Alto, California Darlene Oliver sycomoron is Greek for mulberry. With a Editorial Advisory Board touch of Latin it becomes sycomorus. Not So Heavenly Dr. Gerald S. Barad The Europeans did not have to wait "a few I read with interest Richard Peigler's article Flemington, New Jersey ce nturies" to find another sycamore in the "A Defense of Ai lanth us." There is a large John Bryan American wilderness. They already had their ma le tree-of-heaven g rowing in o ur Sausali to, California John Creech own-Platanus orientalis, the o r ie nta l neighbor'S yard not ten feet fro m our prop­ Hend ersonville, North Carolina plane-in southeast Europe and Asia M in or. erty, but it is not the flowers' unpleasant Keith Crotz Both it and the America n plane, P. oc­ odor to which I object. Chill icothe, Ill inois Panayoti Kelaidis cidentalis, were named by Lin naeus. Every year from May through August, Denver, Colorado In regard to the article o n Ailanthus, thousands of ti ny shoots sprout from the Peter Loewer w hi ch I enjoyed very much, there is another tree's root system, which reaches twenty Asheville, North Carolina Janet M.