TheThe AmericanAmerican ® GARDENERGARDENERTheThe MagazineMagazine ofof thethe AAmericanmerican HorticulturalHorticultural SocietySociety September / October 2008 Species Tulips Offer Perennial Blooms Hardy Orchids for Temperate Regions Letting Plants Drive Garden Design charming Native Magnolias How does your garden grow? Mouthwatering tomatoes. Luscious berries. Vibrant blossoms. That’s just what you’ll get the first time and every time you use Osmocote® Smart-Release® Vegetable & Bedding Plant Food. The secret is in our formula. It balances vigorous top growth with strong root development for four full months. Best of all, you don’t have to worry, because Osmocote is guaranteed not to burn when used as directed. Maybe that’s why passionate gardeners have trusted Osmocote for 40 years — no matter what they’re growing. © 2006, Scotts-Sierra Horticulture Products Company. World rights reserved. www.osmocote.com contents Volume 87, Number 5 . September / October 2008 FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 5 NOTES FROM RIVER FARM 6 MEMBERS’ FORUM 7 NEWS FROM AHS AHS joins No Child Left Inside Coalition, River Farm gets grant from Dominion Foundation, Denver Garden School celebrates natives, AHS Seed Exchange turns 50, Longwood graduate’s research aids planning for future AHS children’s programs, recipients of 2008 Growing Good Kids children’s book awards, Dr. Cathey Day lecture at River Farm in October. 44 ONE ON ONE WITH… Amy Stewart, maverick garden writer. page 28 46 GARDENER’S NOTEBOOK Spray-on frost tolerance invented, 14 GROWING FERTILE MINDS BY DENISE COWIE researchers discover Highlights of the 16th annual National Children & Youth plants can recognize kin, USDA releases Garden Symposium in the Greater Philadelphia area. new Tecoma guarume cultivars, new online ORCHIDS FOR TEMPERATE GARDENS BY BRIAN F. JORG plant collections 18 page 46 Hardy terrestrial orchids add an exotic touch to any garden. database launched, indoor gardens at New Jersey’s Duke Farms close, the cacao tree 24 SPECIES TULIPS BY JOAN DE GREY genome to be sequenced, glyphosate Returning year after year, species tulips are elegant additions to overuse poses risk of resistant weeds. the spring bulb display. 50 GREEN GARAGE® Safely feeding 28 PLANTS WITH PRESENCE backyard birds. BY SCOTT OGDEN AND LAUREN SPRINGER OGDEN In the design process, take into account a plant’s cultural needs, 53 BOOK REVIEWS but also its character and how it reflects a sense of place. A Genius for Place, Growing Trees from Seed, and Herbaceous PROFILE: HOLLY SHIMIZU 34 BY CAROLE OTTESEN Perennial Plants. page 50 As executive director of the U.S. Botanic Garden, Holly Shimizu Special focus: is connecting people to plants in the nation’s capital. Gardening for the greater good. 56 REGIONAL HAPPENINGS 38 AMERICA’S MAGNOLIAS BY GIL NELSON Deserving of more attention, native magnolias range from bash- 60 HARDINESS AND HEAT ZONES ful woodland denizens to bold sun-loving giants. AND PRONUNCIATIONS 62 PLANT IN THE SPOTLIGHT ON THE COVER: Bigleaf magnolia is big in every way: It produces leaves up to three feet long and Viburnum nudum ‘Pink Beauty’. TOP LEFT: SCOTT OGDEN AND LAUREN SPRINGER OGDEN. RIGHT: ALAN W. MEEROW / COURTESY OF USDA-ARS; BOTTOM BACKYARD BIRD COMPANY. flowers up to eight inches across, and it can grow up to 50 feet tall. Photograph by Rob Cardillo September / October 2008 3 AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 7931 East Boulevard Drive Alexandria, VA 22308-1300 (800) 777-7931 fax (703) 768-8700 www.ahs.org Making America a Nation of Gardeners, a Land of Gardens American Horticultural Society President’s Council EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Tom Underwood CHAMPION’S CIRCLE Mr. and Mrs. John H. Ariail, Jr. ■ Mr. Franklin Y. Hundley Board of Directors ■ Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Kulp, Jr. ■ Ms. Melissa Marshall ■ MTR Landscape Architects, LLC ■ Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Rissetto, Esq. ■ Mr. Arnold Steiner ■ CHAIRMAN Susie Usrey Dayton, Oregon Mr. and Mrs. W. Bruce Usrey ■ Mrs. Pauline E. Vollmer FIRST VICE CHAIRMAN Don E. Riddle, Jr. Davidsonville, Maryland SECOND VICE CHAIRMAN Leslie Ariail Alexandria, Virginia CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE Mrs. Susan M. Cargill SECRETARY Albin MacDonough Plant Baltimore, Maryland TREASURER Arnold Steiner Birmingham, Alabama LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY CIRCLE Mr. Gerald T. Halpin ■ Ms. Minako Henderson ■ Deane H. Hundley ■ Ms. JoAnn Luecke ■ Mr. and Mrs. J. Landon Reeve IV ■ Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Zech Allan M. Armitage Athens, Georgia ■ Suzanne Bales Oyster Bay, New York William E. Barrick, Ph.D. Theodore, Alabama ■ Kurt Bluemel Baldwin, Maryland HAUPT CIRCLE Ms. Lynda A. Bachman ■ Mr. and Mrs. Carter Bales ■ Nancy Carole Hofley Wilson, Wyoming ■ Margaret Kulp Louisville, Kentucky ■ Caroline Lewis Coral Gables, Florida J. Becker, M.D. ■ Mr. and Mrs. C. William Black ■ Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Bluemel Melissa R. Marshall Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ■ Shirley Nicolai Fort Washington, Maryland ■ Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Bogle ■ Mr. Richard C. and Mrs. Katherine Stark Bull J. Landon Reeve IV Woodbine, Maryland ■ Harry A. Rissetto, Esq. Falls Church, Virginia ■ Mr. and Mrs. Edward N. Dane ■ Ms. Judy Daniel ■ Mrs. Richard W. Michel Sallin Groveland, Florida ■ Steven Still Hilliard, Ohio Hamming ■ Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Hanselman ■ Mrs. Carole S. Hofley ■ Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Matheson, Jr.* ■ Mrs. Rosalyn Milbrandt ■ Dr. and Mrs. David E. Morrison ■ Mr. and Mrs. James T. Norman ■ Ms. Katy Moss Warner PRESIDENT EMERITUS Katy Moss Warner COUNCIL MEMBER’S CIRCLE Mrs. Katherine Belk ■ Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Bigos ■ Mrs. George P. Bissell, Jr. ■ Dr. Sherran Blair ■ Count and Countess Peder 2008 Advisory Council Bonde ■ Mr. and Mrs. William L. Carr, III ■ Anne S. Chatham ■ Mr. and Mrs. Beverly Hanselman, Nashville, Tennessee – Chair Nicholas Demisay ■ Mr. and Mrs. Robert Duemling ■ Dr. and Mrs. John A. Floyd, Jr. ■ Mrs. Carolyn V. Foil ■ Ms. Marguerite Peet Foster ■ Ms. Amy Clarissa Bonde, Washington, D.C . Barbara McClendon, Alexandria, Virginia Goldman ■ Mr. and Mrs. Joel Goldsmith ■ Ms. Ingrid A. Graham ■ Dr. and Walter Bull, Columbia, South Carolina Stu McMichael, Falls Church, Virginia Mrs. William O. Hargrove ■ Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Hohlt ■ Mr. Brian Holley Anne Bucher, Silver Spring, Maryland G. Ray Miller, Brandon, Florida Mr. and Mrs. Allan L. Holmstrom ■ Mrs. Elizabeth Hooff ■ Mr. Philip Huey Elaine Burden, Middleburg, Virginia Egon Molbak, Bellevue, Washington ■ Mrs. Deborah Kern ■ Ms. Mary A. Lambert ■ Mrs. Marta Lawrence ■ Mrs. Patty Bush, St. Louis, Missouri Dean Norton, Mt. Vernon, Virginia Carolyn M. Lindsay ■ Mrs. Dorothy Marston ■ Mrs. Barbara McClendon ■ Skipp Calvert, Alexandria, Virginia Nancy Keen Palmer, Nashville, Tennessee Mrs. Paul Mellon ■ Mr. and Mrs. Egon Molbak ■ Mr. and Mrs. Ken Dr. H. Marc Cathey, Davidson, North Carolina Bob Patterson, Washington, D.C. Mountcastle ■ Mrs. Shirley Ann Nicolai ■ Ms. Patricia Painter ■ Mr. and Mrs. Russell Clark, Boston, Massachusetts Dr. Julia W. Rappaport, Santa Ana, California Albin MacDonough Plant ■ Dr. Julia Rappaport ■ Mr. and Mrs. James A. Bartie Cole, Owings Mills, Maryland Deen Day Sanders, Norcross, Georgia Runde ■ Mrs. Deen Day Sanders ■ Mrs. Josephine Shanks ■ Mr. and Mrs. Jim Corfield, Geneva, Illinois Josephine Shanks, Houston, Texas Emanuel Shemin ■ Jeanne Shields ■ Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Smith, Jr. ■ Mr. Lucinda Crabtree, Falls Church, Virginia Barbara Shea, Owings Mills, Maryland R. P. Simmons ■ Mrs. P.M. Spreuer ■ Dr. and Mrs. George E. Staehle ■ Mr. Ginny Hill Daisey, Dedham, Massachusetts Holly Shimizu, Glen Echo, Maryland Harold Stahly ■ Mr. Donald B. Stott ■ Mr. and Mrs. John B. Strasenburgh ■ Edward N. Dane, Center Harbor, New Hampshire Charles Henry Smith, Jr, Middleburg, Virginia Mr. and Mrs. Russell Terry ■ Dr. Sarah K. Thomson ■ Mr. Howard McK. Ben Griswold, Glyndon, Maryland Tom Szaky, Trenton, New Jersey Tucker and Ms. Megan Evans ■ Mr. Joe Viar ■ Ms. Angela M. Vikesland ■ Mr. Henry Jameson, Kula, Hawaii Nancy Thomas, Houston, Texas and Mrs. Robert D. Volk ■ Mrs. Enid N. Warner ■ Mr. and Mrs. Dennis White Richard W. Lighty, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania Bryan Thomlison, Haddonfield, New Jersey ■ Mr. and Mrs. Harvey C. White ■ Mr. and Mrs. John W. White, Sr. Carolyn Marsh Lindsay, Ponte Vedra, Florida Pauline Vollmer, Baltimore, Maryland Mickey Lynch, Dunmore, Pennsylvania Joyce and Harvey White, Nashville, Tennessee HONORARY PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL Mrs. Enid Haupt* ■ Mrs. John A. Lutz* ■ Bob Malesardi, Easton, Maryland Joannah Williams, Sebring, Florida Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Miller* Robert and Joanna Martin, Menlo Park, California Sheryl Wood, Middleburg, Virginia *In memoriam Education Sponsor OXO International Corporate Partners The Care of Trees ■ Chapel Valley Landscape Company Homestead Gardens ■ Monrovia ■ Osmocote ■ TerraCycle, Inc. To access the members-only Horticultural Partners America in Bloom Symposium & Awards Program ■ Bellingrath Gardens and Home ■ Colonial portion of the AHS website at Williamsburg Foundation Garden Symposium ■ Cox Arboretum MetroPark ■ Epcot International www.ahs.org, the username is Flower & Garden Festival ■ The Gardeners of America/Men’s Garden Clubs of America ■ The ahs and the password is sprout. Homestead in the Garden Symposium ■ Inniswood Garden Society ■ Morris Arboretum Oklahoma Botanical Garden & Arboretum ■ Oklahoma Horticultural Society 4 the American Gardener The American NOTESC FROM RIVER FARM GARDENER EDITOR David J. Ellis MANAGING EDITOR AND ART DIRECTOR Mary Yee ASSOCIATE EDITOR N OUR GARDENS, the onset of fall offers a wonderful time to take stock of Viveka Neveln our successes,