The JULY/AUGUST 2014 bbgardens.org Antiques at The Gardens | Page 3 Good Things Growing | Page 6 1963 2013 years0 Honoring Louise Wrinkle looking back 5 & Weesie Smith | Page 2 growing forward C ELEBR A TING 5 0 YE A RS FRIENDS OF There is always BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL GARDENS something blooming 2014 BoaRD OF DIRECTORS at Birmingham Hanson Slaughter ������������������������������������President Botanical Gardens. Brian Barr ��������������������������������������President-Elect Tricia Noble ��������������������������������������Past President Scott Walton ���������������������������������������������Treasurer Plan your next visit Barbara Burton ���������������������������������������� Secretary Houston Gillespy..........................VP Development soon! Elizabeth Broughton �������� VP Gardens & Buildings Charles Goodrich ����������������������Governance Chair Visit bbgardens.org & Robert Holmes, Chair of SPACE ����������������� Officer (SPACE- Strategic Partnerships & Community check out what’s new Engagement) at The Gardens. Beverley Hoyt, Chair of Special Events Committee ��������������������������� Officer At Large: Cathy Adams Mary Boehm July Chris Boles Emily Bowron Crape Myrtles Maggie Brooke Clarke Gillespy Tricia Holbrook Daylilies (peak) John Hudson John Hurst Ferns Turner Inscoe Carl Jones Paul Jones Herbs Katy Baker Lasker Kathryn Porter Hostas Jeanie Sherlock OUR MISSION Hydrangeas Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens promotes public knowledge of plants, gardens & the environment; & Perennials receives, raises & administers resources for these purposes. Roses OUR VISION The vision of Birmingham Botanical Gardens is to be one of Southern Magnolias the nation’s preeminent botanical gardens. Summer Annuals STAFF MAIN ....................................................... 205.414.3950 Tropicals Fred Spicer ........................................ Executive Director & CEO Vegetables Stephanie Banks ............................................Director of Finance Dawn Coleman .......................... Education Activities Specialist Ragan Cox .......................................Special Events Coordinator Elizabeth Drewry .............................................................Librarian Ellen Hardy ........................... Education Program Coordinator August Blake Ells.................................... Public Relations Coordinator Jean Frey ............................................. Director of Development Crape Myrtles Henry Hughes .........................................Director of Education ON THE CovER Jason Kirby ....................................Library Assistant & Archivist Daylilies On May 16, more than 300 people Andrew B. Krebbs .......... Director of Marketing & Membership Hope Long ......................................Director of Library Services attended Flicks Amongst the Flowers John Manion ...........................Kaul Wildflower Garden Curator Ferns presented by Lane Parke. Look for more Pam McLeod ..................................Donor Services Coordinator Drew Rickel .........................................Donor Relations Officer Herbs details about the 2015 Flicks Amongst Taylor Steele ............................................Volunteer Coordinator the Flowers schedule in upcoming issues Rona Walters ...............................................Membership Assistant Perennials of The Garden Dirt. Summer Annuals The Garden Dirt is the newsletter of Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The Garden Dirt is published six times a year to foster Tropicals awareness & support events, services, & significant programs of Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens. We welcome Vegetables your comments & address corrections. Please contact: Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens Editor, Andrew B. Krebbs, director of marketing & membership 2612 Lane Park Road Birmingham, AL 35223 205.414.3959 or [email protected] bbgardens.org Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens practices a policy of equal opportunity & equal access to services for all persons regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, orientation or sex. Birmingham Botanical Gardens is a facility of Birmingham Park & Recreation Board. The deadline for the Sept./Oct. issue is July 15. W Dear Friends: Summers in Alabama pose challenges both for gardens Meet our new and gardeners, with unpredictable rainfall (too-much- EL too-fast or not-at-all), often relentless attacks by insects Special Events and fungi and seemingly endless heat and humidity. Now is when we should be especially grateful for Coordinator com the many large trees that grace our neighborhoods, gardens, parks and woodlands. Importantly, these big Save trees, nature’s free air conditioners, live for multiple human generations; the ones we enjoy the most today th e started life before we were born. It reminds me of the Chinese proverb that asks: When is the best time to E plant a tree? The answer: Twenty years ago (although D a te for large canopy trees I would say forty or fifty)! So make yourself a note for later this fall or winter to Alabama Orchid plant a tree to benefit future generations. Society Show In this issue, you’ll meet The Gardens’ 2014 summer September 20-21 interns and the partners that make them possible: Friends of Birmingham Botanical Shades Valley Rotary Club, Little Garden Club and Gardens is pleased to announce Birmingham Southern College. We pride ourselves on Antiques at The the hiring of new Special Events partnerships like these and many others. Without them Gardens Coordinator, Ragan Cox. and the volunteers, members and donors that often October 2-5 Ragan comes to The Gardens accompany them, it would be more difficult to meet from Sight Savers America, where our science-based mission and to work with the city she was a KidCheck Plus Program of Birmingham – our most consistent and important Gala in The Coordinator, planning nearly partner for fifty years – to make Birmingham Gardens one hundred events each year. A Botanical Gardens the essential community resource October 2 graduate of Auburn University, it is. We offer our thanks to these and all our partners. with a Bachelor of Science degree Finally, I know it’s hot outside, but you’re missing a in Business Administration, she also lot if you haven’t seen us in the summer. The Herb Shane Connolly worked as an Auburn Special Events Terrace and Bruno Vegetable Garden are positively Lecture Assistant, planning and facilitating overflowing. Did you know that we donate an average October 2 events for the University President, of 3,000 pounds of fresh produce to Magic City First Lady and Board of Trustees. Harvest every year to feed Birmingham’s hungriest? Ragan was born and raised in And that our children’s programs include a focus on Mario Buatta Birmingham and “some of my healthy plant-based foods? Our container plantings Lecture fondest childhood memories are and annual displays are also hitting their stride, rife October 3 of visiting The Gardens with my with lush tropical plants that revel in our summers, grandmother, a Master Gardener,” proudly boasting their bold flowers and foliage. she stated. You just can’t see these important elements of The Fall Plant Sale Gardens in any other season – so come on out! October 18-19 “We are thrilled to welcome Ragan and have her on board as we See you in The Gardens, continue an exciting year of events th Dirt Dash celebrating the 50 Anniversary of The Gardens,” said Jean Frey, November 15 Director of Development. Fred Spicer We encourage you to reach out Executive Director & CEO to Ragan and welcome her to the team. You can reach her at rcox@ bbgardens.org or 205.414.3965. 1 H Honoring Weesie and Louise ac by Fred Spicer, Executive Director & CEO The Little and Red Mountain Garden Clubs, Birmingham’s local chapters of the Garden Club of America (GCA) and their members have been important sources of funding, volunteers (including numerous board members), advocacy and new plants for our living collections since The Gardens’ beginning. We take great pride in UTRE highlighting some recent work on the part of these clubs to honor two of their luminaries. Last November The Gardens offered special O tribute to Louise “Weesie” Smith. So more people could learn about her, a biography was prepared in which she was described as “a tireless champion on behalf of the natural beauty and diversity of... Alabama...[a] community volunteer for over 40 years...a self-taught botanist and consummate gardener; a generous plant sharer; [and] a humble, bighearted teacher and willing L-R: Virginia “Becky” Smith, Louise “Weesie” Smith mentor.” Read the full biography here: www. bbgardens.org/central-south-honoree.php. and use in the landscape. It is fitting that the award criteria Early this year, honors for Weesie continued, as include a willingness to mentor and share knowledge GCA announced The Weesie Smith Horticulture generously. The first such award may be given as early as Award, to be administered by the Red Mountain 2015. Congratulations, Weesie, for this singular honor! Garden Club, Weesie’s club and the award’s sponsor. The recipient must be within GCA’s As described elsewhere in this issue, The Gardens has Zone VIII (AL, FL, GA, SC) and will have received the gift of a three-year internship from the Little shown leadership concerning and knowledge Garden Club of Birmingham. The Louise Agee Wrinkle of native plants, their protection, propagation Native Plant Internship is named for and given in honor of one