PREMIERE ISSUE: For Avid, Earth-Conscious Gardeners ERIC A Publication of the American Horticultural Society MaylJune 1996 $3.95 A If'I 0 PERMACULTURE , Gardening in Concert With Nature '" NATIVE GROUND COVERS ' Kick the Lawn Habit ~ If'I I"- ..j HEDGES AND EDGES ' Ways to Mark Your Boundaries -0 ~ If'I 00 AMERICA'S CLEMATIS ' Discovering Our Delicate Climbers ..j I"- SCANNING FLOWERS ' Images From Your Computer 0 co n t e n t s Volume 75, Number 3 May/June 1996 Commentary 4 High Desert Permaculture 16 by Linda Thornton Members' Forum 5 This low -impact approach lets gardens flourish News Edition lament) defending lawns. in a land of limited resources. Offshoots 7 Recycling dud decoys. Beauty Beyond Bluegrass 24 Gardeners' Information Service 8 Water-loving house plants) thorny hedges. by Andy Wasowski Consider native Conservationist's Notebook 9 ground covers for A rich refuge in Nevada. your «lawnscape.)) Natural Connections 10 Your oaks may be galled) but don)t be appalled. Life Beyond the Urban Gardener 12 Leyland Cypress 29 Yesterday)s news- tom01'1'oW)S vegetables. by THE AMERICAN GARDENER staff Mail-Order Explorer 14 Need a hedge? Don)t A collector)s paradise in Washington state. choose the trite when Book Reviews 52 so many others are true. Crabapples) native plants) and herbs. Coy Climbers 40 Pronunciations 62 by Carol H owe From coast to coast) our often ignored • native clematis combine airy beauty The Name Game 46 with a cast-iron constitution. Getting a grip on taxonomy: great gaffes) reliable 1'eferences) a revised code) and the brouhaha over trademarks. Plus) scanning On the cover: In permaculture) plants with your computer. most plants serve dual roles. Regional Happenings 58 Daylilies have edible tubers Nebraska community landscapes and and can help reduce erosion. upcoming events a1'ound the nation. Photo by Lee Klopfer American Horticultural Society 7931 Bast Boulevard Drive Alexandria, VA 22308-1300 commentary (703) 768-5700 ~ The American Horticultural Society seeks to promote and elcome to The American recognize excellence in Gardener. It was input W from you, our members, horticulture across America. more than a year ago that steered us ~ in a new direction for OW" publica" tions to make them more inspiring PRESIDENT DR. H. MARc CA'fWE¥ and your gardening experiences more successful. We are all the EXEClJTIVE VICE PRESIDENT American Horticultural Society, HELEN FULCHER WALlJT-ES but it is our individual readers who ~ are the gardeners-the American BOARD OF PIRECTO~S gardeners- we serve. Officers 1995-1996 If you have been a member for a WjLLIAM ~. BAR!RIOi<, PH.!El., CHAIRMAN decade or more, you will know that this is not our first change in style and concept. And Ri.,,>Mountain, Geor,gia while some may believe the name change means we are abandoning our history-the So­ Kl\:1'Y Moss WARNER, VICE CHAIRMAN Lake Buena Wsta, Florida ciety will celebrate its 75th anniversary next year-American Horticulturist is omy 22 WJiLLMM A. POSEY, SEGRBTAltY years old, having been preceded by The National Horticultural Magazine and then The Was!;ington, Ji2. C. American Horticultural Magazine. All you have to do is find an old copy of your home­ GERALD'!. ~l?~N, TREASURER town newspaper in the attic or review other long-time favorite magazines to realize that Atexamb:ia, Vir,gi"ia change-orderly change to a newly defined goal-is part of our age of communications. ~ I urge you to let us know what you think. Only together can we serve your best interests. S];FERiVJAN ADLER (Note: Although this issue was printed in April, we are calling it May I June so that we will 1!obe Sou"d, FI01ida end the year without overlapping a calendar year. This year as always you will receive six 'fH'OMAS G. AMASON J;R., M .D. issues of our color magazine-but five of them will be bigger and better!) Birmingham, Alabama The American Gardener has been designed "vith more prominent captions, sidebars, XATIlB)UNE McKAy BELK Charlotte, North Ca'l'olina source boxes, and other features to help you obtain information more quickly. You will NANCY H. CALJ;.AWAY find all of the features you are used to seeing in both our magazine and News Edition. Pine Mountain, Geoygia The feature section of the News Edition, highly praised for stories on such topics as in­ J~ 1... COJlPIiELD vasive non-native plants, is now called Focus, and can be found this month beguming on Downers Grove, Illinois page 46. News Edition departments such as the popular Mail-Order Explorer are here as P~lJL ECKE fR. well, now with color photographs. In most issues, you will find a short feature on USU1g Encm.itas, California that most modern tool, the computer, in your gardening. WJj"LMMR.~N Menlo Park, California In our feature section, Texas writer Andy Wasowski describes alternatives to the tra­ MRS. MART¥N' 1... Ml~LER ditional turflawn, including natives seldom used for that purpose. And in response to a Sitver Spr.ing, Maryland reader's request, we share ideas from three experts about a wide array of plants for hedges. DUDLEY MORGAN Both stories are intended to open your eyes to many more possibilities. Vines are just one NaShville, Tmnessc< way to create a landscape screen, and a third feature highlights some little-known ones: WI1.IJMM G. PANN~L1. M'fwtinsville, Tti'i!finia our native dematis, with delicate flowers and delightful persistent seed heads. FU1ally, we visit two gardens designed around the philosophy called permaculture, DR. JmIA W. RN.'J'AP(l)l,\.T Santa Ana, California which uses terracing, harvesting of rainwater, drought-tolerant plants, and other tech­ GEOFFREY L. MOSGr! niques to create gardens in concert with the envU"onment. Pittsb«rgh, Pennsytvania We hope this magazine shows how AHS has accepted your challenge: to gather as JOSBPHINE M. SHlANKS much information as possible and give it back to all sections of our cow1trY. F!ou.ston, Texas NANCY S. THOMAS Houston, Texas ROBERJi D. YOLK San M'arino, California MONROE WBIlTON H . Marc Cathey, AHS President Alexal1ldria, Virgi"ia 4 THE AMERICAN GARDENER May/J~tne 1996 THE AMERICAN members' GARDENER EDITOR KATHLEEN FISHER MANAGING EDITOR rum TERJU J. HUCK ASSISTANT BDI'1'OR DAVID J. ELLIS EDITORIAL ASSISTANT LOSS OF A GOOD THING partiall)1 supported by advertising, and re­ NIKOLE WILLIAMSON The decision by the Board of Directors to cent increases in paper and postage b1,ought DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION incorporate the News Edition into the "'£5 to the decision point, as they have many JOSEPH YACTNSKI D ESIGN others. Had a maJ01'ity ofour members said magazine halves the primary benefit of my MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR AHS membership and is contrary to "our they pnfe1'1'ed the News Edition, or if the DARLENE O LIVER mission (which) is to supply information­ prefermce had bem 50-50, our resulting ~ publication line-up might have bem jewel' al resources within the expanding horizons EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD of horticulture ... " (H . Marc Cathey, magazines and more News Editions, which NINA L. BASSUK American H01,ticulturist, December wel'e much less expensive to produce. B~~t most Ithaca, New York 1994). Nor is it what I was led to expect to membe1's,foned to choose, clea1'ly like a color JOHN E. BRYAN be the outcome of the September 1994 magazine. B)I eliminating the red~mdan­ Sa1/falito, California member survey in which no forthright cies- covers, contents pages, classified ads­ JOHN L. CREECH statement of intent to go bimonthly was we have been able to give nade1's only 24 H enderson11ille, North Carolina KEITH CROTZ presented, so no feedback on this topic was fewer pages a )'ear, plus what 1l7e hope is a Chillicothe, Illinois honestly elicited. more nadable publication. PANAYOTI KELAIDlS Most bimontllly publications cost less We were pretty fond ofthe News Edition D en'Pe,; Colorado than half AHS dues. Hmmm. I was not o~£1'selves, and we hope that you see some of RICHARD W. LIGHTY given a choice to save the News Edition by its spirit 1'eflected in OU1' Focus section. Gree»ville, Delawe/II'e increasing my dues or cutting back else­ PETER LOEWER Asheville, North Cm'olina where (e.g., River Farm). Nor was a fund­ BIASED REVIEW? ELVIN MCDONALD raising campaign attempted. Why not? You have done the American H orticultur­ We ...t Des Moines, IOlVa The manner in which this decision was al Society and its members a disservice ~ made disenfranchises me and tlle entire when you allow someone as biased as Sara ADVERTISING membership. It also reflects badly on tlle Stein to do your book reviews (The Wild AHS ADVERTISING D EPARTMENT leadership of a society whose basic nature Lawn Handbook by Stevie Daniels, De­ 506 Russell Road, Alexandria, VA 22301 is nurture-a society of gardeners who I cember). I'm not sure where she obtains (703) 549-2112 • FAX: (703) 684-3595 believe generally attempt to save and pre­ the figure of"10,000 gallons a season for serve a good thing. Chris M. Smith an average lawn," but did she realize that COL(')R SEPARATIONS Newburgh, New York lie trees in tlle lawn usually "drink" (lose H EARTLAND SEPARATIONS, INC. through evapotranspiration) a lot more PRINTER Your letter illustrates OU1' «split personali­ water than tlle lawn does? I have photo­ BAl'ITA PUBUCATIONS GROUP ty." R eaders wouldn't expect publishers of graphs of turf thriving without water when T7,. America" Gardener (ISSN 1087·9978) is pub­ other garden magazines to consult them lie invading roots of trees and shrubs are lished bimonthly (January!fellnlary, March/Ap.fil, MayII une, Jul y/August, September/Oetober, N,,­ about plans to change formats (which many cut.