Spring 2017 FoRRGS Issue 1 The Reader Rock Garden Email: [email protected] www.ReaderRock.com Spring’s Almost Here? By Diane Dalkin Burr … It’s going to be a late Spring this year with the cold weather lingering longer than we’d like. Yet, planning for the upcoming season needs to be in full gear. Despite still donning our heavy sweaters and winter woollies, Calgarians are usually optimistic souls. So … Let’s stay focused and cheery to welcome the sunshine and warmth when it finally arrives! Plan to visit Reader Rock Garden. Usually, by the end of March, Hepaticas can be found blooming at the garden (perhaps not this year?). In this issue, our featured plant article will give you more details about this delightful harbinger of Spring. Every month awak- ens successive growth as Nature gracefully dances through our gardens. This year, we’re scheduling to Tweet more regularly to share timely “What’s in Bloom”. Come by the Garden at your convenience, drop by our planned events and check-out our website for what’s in-store, like the following: April 29 & 30 - We’ll be at the Calgary Horticultural Society’s Garden Show at Spruce Meadows. Look for our booth and pop in to say “Hello”, support our initia- GARDEN SOCIETY tives and become a member, or simply enter your name for one of the generous draw prizes - like the original art piece donated by the Calgary Sketch Club. May 27th - (Saturday) Annual General Meeting, held at Reader’s Garden Café, low- er classroom a.k.a. Potato Room, noon–2:00 pm. Meet the team in-person and find out what we’ve been up to. All welcomed. July 29th - (Saturday) Annual Garden Stroll, in conjunction with the Chinook Coun- try Historical Society. See www.chinookcountry.org for all the news. Our tour guides will be stationed throughout the Garden to answer questions and provide insights, 1:00- 3:00 pm. Lots more planned too! Besides the above, please note that Reader’s Gar- den Café is still in the leasing process, awaiting new management. We will relay all the details to you once they are finalized by the City, hopefully real soon—fingers crossed! IENDS OF READER ROCK It has been said that “an Optimist is the human per- sonification of spring”, hence ... keep our chins up, spring will eventually get here! Last year, blue-purple Hepatica dotted the base of many trees at Reader Rock Garden—March 2016 FoRRGS Team Inside this Issue President - Diane Dalkin Vice-President - Vacant Spring’s Almost Here? 1 Secretary - Susan Gryzenhout Treasurer - Liz Lunney Reader Rock Ramblings Hepatica - An Iconic Reader Symbol 2 & 3 Membership - Helen Li Newsletter - Marilyn Mayall Announcements 4 Communications - John Percic Directors - Lindsay Orr, Leah Gayle NEWSLETTER OF THE FR Webmaster - Jacob Gryzenhout Past President - Ev Keddie Spring 2017 FoRRGS Page 2 Hepatica - An Iconic Reader Symbol rounded at the tips or longer and rounded at the tips) are not petals at all, but sepals. The individual blooms vary in their number of sepals - between 5 and 12, - but often By Marilyn Mayall about 6. Close up, it is the corolla of stamens laden with Last year the white pollen that give the blooms their star-like quality. hepatica in my gar- Propagation can be by division of clumps or by seed. den appeared on Those fortunate enough to have the right conditions note March 1st. that seedlings appear in their gardens, though the germina- With the late freezes tion rates are far from aggressive. The new seedlings will of February this take a couple of years to bloom and then additional years year, I’m pretty sure to reach full blooming capacity. Seeds are difficult to ger- that I won’t see such minate because of their need for cold moist followed by an early appearance warm moist periods of time. The seed does not remain via- of this lovely spring ble for long and if it is to be stored, requires a cold, moist bloom. environment. But I think that by mid-April I’ll be Photo: Marilyn Mayall Division can be done in Spring or after blooming. Again, captivated once again by this under-utilized woodland spec- patience is required for the new plants to reach their full imen. blooming potential. Both the common (liverwort or liverleaf) and Latin names Hepatica are amongst the first harbingers of Spring at (Hepatica) derive from the medieval Doctrine of Signatures Reader Rock Garden. which noted the liver-like shape of the leaves and deduced Along with the preco- that this plant must be good for the treatment of ailments of cious Scilla sibirica the liver. It may not be toxic in small doses, but it probably and Puschkinia which won’t fix a liver either. carpet the slopes near Although some sources suggest that the leaves persist the waterfall, clumps throughout the year, this is not generally the case in Calga- of blue hepatica gener- ry. The first indicators that life is returning to the garden are ally appear throughout the single blooms which are borne on pubescent stems and the gardens in April. which appear amongst the debris of last season’s leaves. A These days, some de- palette of pinks, blues, whites and mauves/purples defines bate about taxonomy Photo: Karel Bergmann , April 2015 the colour range of the hepatica. seems to be the norm and The daisy like bloom is followed by a tidy clump of leaves hepatica has not escaped classification complications. I which emerge af- spent a happy afternoon going down many rabbit holes ter flowering and which left me totally confused about the correct botanical which continue names (note the plural) for this specimen. But after a good throughout the night’s sleep I think the following are the important points season ... some for me. changing colour as Contrary to the norm, where common names are generally the season pro- unreliable, the common names of round-leaved hepatica gresses. and sharp leaved hepatica are descriptive, stable and gen- Some leaves are erally useful for ID purposes. variegated, but As an amateur I need to know that this specimen may have these plants have many synonyms….mostly depending on factors such as not proven to be as how recently the article was written. Current thinking is vigorous as other that hepatica belongs to the genus Anemone and conse- hepatica in my quently is identified as Anemone hepatica with an addi- garden. tional identifying variety (e.g. var japonica). However, as Hepatica clumps this is a relatively recent change I can expect to find some spread slowly to a of the older botanical names such as Hepatica nobilis or width and height Hepatica transsilvanica still in use. of approximately Bringing the varieties of Hepatica under the umbrella of 15cm. - 20cm. Anemone underlines the similarities between the Europe- an, Asian and North American species as well as establish- Photo: Marilyn Mayall The deceptively simple looking petals (blunt and ing the relationship with other members of the Anemone Spring 2017 FoRRGS Page 3 genera … and an opportunity to introduce some of the es- For those seeking the expen- tablished kin in the genus. sive, rare and exotic, there are some double cultivars. One of Anemone nemorosa is a these Hepatica nobilis ‘Rubra woodland perennial which Plena’ is described as a red spreads by rhizomatous hepatica. To my eye, it ap- rootstocks. pears to be a deep pink/ ‘Vestal’, a white cultivar magenta rather than red, but with a cluster of central its beautifully layered sepals staminoides, has palmately could make an anarchist be- lobed leaves, which often lieve in order. become dormant as the sea- It is rare to find many named son progresses. cultivars in North America, Its cultivation requirements but in Japan breeding pro- are similar to liverwort…well-drained but moist, humus- grams have been in existence since Photo: Marilyn Mayall rich, fertile soil. Part shade is essential as the season pro- the mid-18th century and many named cultivars are availa- gresses but the early light provid- ble to the connoisseur in Japan….for a generally extrava- ed by planting under deciduous gant price. The Japanese hepaticas featured in catalogues trees is a plus. such as Fraser’s Thimble Farm on Salt Spring Island are indeed magnificent and attest to the patience that is the For those seeking a colour out- hallmark of plant breeders. But as Hepatica nobilis var. side the pastel range of hepatica, japonica is less hardy than the hepatica we typically grow Anemone ranunculoides provides in Calgary it may be that we should stick to the hepatica a yellow contrast in the Spring which we know will grow here. garden. Cultivation requirements are so similar to A.nemorosa that Generally not for sale in most nurseries, you are able to I will not repeat them here. obtain hepatica at Rundlewood Gardens and at the CRAGS plant sale in Spring. For those seeking natives, there is A. Canadensis and for those wanting to fill a space with a There is some interest in the development of new cultivars not-too-fussy specimen there in North America. The Northwestern Chapter of NARGS is A.sylvestris ….but do read (North American Rock Garden Society) has formed a he- up a bit on this one ….some patica study group. A visit to their site (www.nargsnw.org/ gardeners find it has wander- hepatica-study-group) may be interest to those who would ing ways. like to know more about recent developments in the field of hepatica cultivation and breeding.