BOLD AND BRASSY YUCCAS For East and West ERICAN A Publication of the American Horticultural Society November/December 1997 $3.95 '\ CELEBRATING OUR DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY With Some Past AHS Award Winners H. MARC CATHEY Horticulture's Showman KEN DRUSE His Favorite Photographs a FRED GALLE Mr. Azalea Writes a New Chapter American lIorlicullural Sociely invi1es you 10 Celehrate the American Garden lIislory ani) lIorHcullure with a Tennessee Spirit NashviHe. Tennessee April 30 - May 2. 1998 'ii! Join fellow gardeners al our conference headquar­ 'ii! Vidit Cheekwood RohuucJ Garden with .us lers a11he Opryland lIo1el, wuh more 1han four acres of wildRower, perennl.J, herb, and Japanese gardens. indoor wa1er gardens, 15 restauranh, and 22 retrul shops 'ii! Take a spedJ dag trip 10 renowned plan!sman Don under one roof. Shadow's nursery 10 learn aboul new varieties of woody 'ii! Hear informative leckres by ouh1anding horHcul­ planls and h ees, wuh 11 side h ip to the famous Jack lurMs and meel1998 national award winners. W e'll Daniel's disullery in cl,armlng lynchburg. Jso honor the top three garden books of !he year. 'ii! Enjoy priva1e garden lours in !he Relle Meade 'ii! Tour the house and gardens of !he lIermHage, section of Nashville. Andrew Jackson's 191h-cenkry home. For more information~ call tbe conference coordinator at (800) 777-7931 ext. 24. Watcb for program detail! and regidtration information in tbe Directory ofMember BenefiU mailed in January. co n t e n t s Volume 76, Number 6 November/December 1997 DEPARTMENTS Commentary 4 Yuccas!!! 14 by Gary and Mary Irish Members' Forum 5 Pand01'a )s daylily, monarch eggs, a quiz. In a landscape, Adam's-needle and its relatives almost stand up and shout. Offshoots 7 Rot~t's only nat1Jt1'al. Beau Beau's Next Gig 20 by Kerry Hart Mail-Order Explorer 8 Talting a cue from Mark Twain, the AHS president PU1'veyors of tropicals. eme1'itus says 1'umors of his reti1'ement have been Conservationist's Notebook 10 gnatlyexaggerated. The Case of the Disappea1'ing Bog. The Gifted Mr. Galle 26 Gardeners' Information Service 11 by Kathleen Fisher A myste1,), vine, exploding ba1,k, wortderbe1'ries. Yes, M,'. Azalea's a holly expert, too. And clethra. Planting the Future 12 Andginger ... Houston youngsten get a taste of C01Jtnt1')'. A Sensuous Delight 32 Book Reviews 49 by Linda Marx Pennnials, natu1'al design, Texas natives. A FI01'ida couple were inspi1'ed by the Chinese to design their lakeside garden. Regional Happenings 56 Soda apple is micked and ha1'dy, too . A Winner's Winners 37 1996-1997 Contributors 58 by Ken Druse This amard-winning photographer tells us the tales Pronunciations 65 behind some of his favorite plant and garden portraits. 1997 Index 66 On the cover: This photog1'aph, of an old bam on the site of Towe1' H ill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts, is a favorite of photog1'aphe1' and book auth01' Ken Druse. R ead the story behind this and other D ruse photos beginning on page 37. American Horticultural Society 7931 East Boulevard Drive Alexandria, VA 22308-1300 commentary (703) 768-5700 ~ The American Horticultural Society seeks to prom ote and his issue of The A merican Gardener brings this recognize excellence in momentous 75th anniversary of the Am erican horticulture across A merica. TH orticulmral Society to a close. We hope you've helped us celebrate-by attending one of our 75 spe­ ~ cially designated events around the country, by plant­ PRESIDENT/CEO ing one of our 75 great plants, or by reading one of LINDA D. HALLMAN our 75 great books. It's time to focus on an AHS event that has been BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers 1997-1998 a highlight of each year throughout our history-the W ILLIM1 E.BARRICK, PH.D. , CHAIRMAN AH S Awards Program . The Liberty H yde Bail ey Pine M 0''''' tam!!; Gemgia Medal is the highest award the society gives, and its KATY Moss WARNER, FmST VICE CHAIRMAN recipients must have made significa nt contributions La I" Buena Vista, Florida in three of the following areas of horticulture: teach­ NAl"lCY S. THOMAS, SECOND VICE CHAIRMAN ing, research, wri ting, plant exploration, administra­ Houston, Texas tion, art, business, and leadership . Although many of W ILLiAM A. PUSEY, SECRETARY W",hingt01>, D. C. these award winners have been fea tured in the pages of our magazine over the years, CaARL~HENRYSNITrH J~, TREASURER one who has not until now is Fred Galle. Gall e was for many years the curator of hor­ Middleb,t1g, Vi'lJi11-ia ticulture at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain , Georgia, and is nationally known fo r his book, Azaleas. Now he has written an equally authoritative book on hollies. Read SHERMAl"l ADLER Hobe So.md, Florida our story to find out why this esteemed horti culturist isn't "Dr." Galle' L.M . BAKER JR. Amazingly, another Li berty H yde Bailey Medal winner we've overlooked was right Winston ·Salem, North CMolina in our own backyard-or rather, at our own River Farm. H . Marc Cathey, for four years KATHEIUNE M CKAY BELK president and CEO of AHS and now president emeritus, will continue to represent us Chm'!otte, Nm·th Carolina throughout the country as only this raconteur/scientist can . JAlI·n's L. CORFIELD DowneY>' Grope, Illinois T he gorgeous photography of Ken Druse appeared on last month's cover because ARABELU S. DANE one of his books made our li st of 75 Great Ameri can Garden Books and another was Boston, Massachusetts among the fi rst to receive our new Annual Book Award. We asked him to come back PAULECKE j R. to our pages this month because he's also a pas t award winner, of our 1993 H orticul­ Encinitas, California tural Writing Award. We asked him: What are his 10 favo rite photographs among the D OROTHY T. fRELAND thousands he has taken? H e tells us the assignment was fun but diffi cult- he couldn't Birmingham, Alabama get the number down to fewer than 14 and neither could our editors! We kn ow you'll WlLLlAl\Il R. MARKEN Los Altos, Califomia enjoy looking at the results. THEODORE R. MARsTON Our awards process is important to us because recognizing horticultural excellence Ki"kland, Washington has always been part of our mission. As members ofAHS , you can help us fulfill that IruS­ GENE M. M ILLER sion by suggesting worthy recipients for om 1998 awards. To receive a list of the AHS Sil",.,. Sp"ing, Maryland Annual Awards and nominating criteria, call us at (800) 777-7931, or visit om Web site EGON MOLBAK at http://members.aol. com/gardenal1s. Seattle, Washington DUDDEY M ORGAN N fls/""ille, Tennessee GEOFFREY L. RAUSCH Pittsbmgh, Pennsylvania VALERIE L. THOMAS Ak~,"''''ria, Vi'lJini« -Linda D . Hallman , AHS President/CEO R OBERT D . VOLK SM' Maril1o, Califon,ia PRESIDENT EMERITUS DR. H . MAR,C CATHEY 4 THE A MER I CAN G A RD ENER November/ D ecember 1 997 THE AMERICAN members' GARDENER EDITOR KATHLEEN FISHER MANAGING EDITOR ru m TERRI J. HUCK ASSISTANT EDITOR D AV ID J. ELLIS EDITORIAL ASSISTANT SARA Err DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION JOSEPH YA CINSKl D ES IGN MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR D ARLENE OUVER ~ EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD N INA L. BASSUK Ithaca, Ne", York JOHN E. BRYAN SallSfl.lito, Califm->!ia JOHN L. CREECH Hemicrsonviti" Nurth CMolina KEITH CROTZ Cbi/ticothe, JIIinais PAl'lAYOTI KElAIDlS DenJ'.'; Colomio RI CHARD W. LIGHTY Greenvilte, Delaware PETER LOEWER Asheville, North Carolilla HEMEROCALLIS 'PANDORA'S BOX' Box', when they appear in June, are made ELVIN M CDONALD West Des Moi.,"s, IOIVa As already enthusiastic gardeners, we striki.ng by a dark purple eyezone. We may didn't foresee the significance of buying appreciate it even more for its vigor. It's fast ~ o ur first registered daylil y, 'Pandora's growing, producing multiple fa ns and a ADVERTISING AHS ADVERTISING O FFICE Box'. Tvvo years later, o ur gardens in ­ proliferation of blooms on a single clump. 4350 DiPaolo Center, Suite B clude mo re daylily cultivars than any And the blooms don't fade, even when the Glenview, IL 60025 other perennial. Like the woman of heat index reaches 120 degrees plus. Like (847) 699-1707 ' FAX: (847) 699-1703 Greek myth, we couldn't have begun to most daylilies, it's trouble free and will take COLOR SEPARATIONS imagine all that was awaiting us. But part shade as well as full sun, although it FILM GRAPHICS while Pandora unleashed a world oftrou­ won't produce as many blooms. PRINTER ble, we discovered a world of plants that No matter how many other great cwti­ BANTA PUBLICATIONS GROUP are virtually no trouble at all. va rs we coll ect in the future, 'Pandora's The Am.,·iean Gm'de"er (ISSN 1087 ·9978) is pub­ We were first drawn into the daylily Box' will always be one of our favorites­ lished bimonthly (January/February, March/April, world through a lecture by Andre Viette at for opening the dayWy world to us. May/June, July/August, September/October, No· vember/ December) by the Am erican H orticul tural his Fishersville, Virginia, nursery. We be­ Cynthia and Steve Johnson Society, 7931 East Boul evard Drive, Alexandria, VA came acquainted with some of the peren­ Richmond, Virginia 22308-1300, (703) 768·5700 . Membershi p in the Society includes a subscription to The American Gar­ nial's other alluring qualities through dcue1: Annual dues are $45; two years, $80.