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T h e A m e r i c a nGARDENER

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T h e A m e r i c a nGARDENER

colorful and dependable

coneflowers

The Magazine of the American Hort icul tural SocietyThe Magazine of the American Hort icul tural Society May/June 2004May/June 2004

colorful and dependable

coneflowers

Ornamental Legumes for Every Landscape

Expert Tips on DesigningVibrant Borders

Garden Railroads Go First Class

Ornamental Legumes for Every Landscape

Expert Tips on DesigningVibrant Borders

Garden Railroads Go First Class

3May / June 2 0 0 4

5 NOTES FROM RIVER FARM

6 MEMBERS’ FORUM

8 NEWS FROM AHS2004 AHS Children and Youth GardenSymposium at Cornell, successful indoor-plant workshop at River Farm, springtimeblooms and children’s programs at RiverFarm, AHS hosts meeting of nationalPartnership for Plant Based Learning.

11 AHS 2004 BOOK AWARD WINNERSFive exceptional garden books.

47 NATURAL CONNECTIONSThe 17-year cicadas are coming.

48 GARDENER’S NOTEBOOKNew franklinia hybrid developed, firedepartment-approved plants for southernCalifornia, saving the box huckleberry, rust-resistant daylilies, Peter Raven to receive RHSVeitch Medal, chocolate industry could saveBrazilian rainforest, milk as fungicide.

51 EVERYDAY GARDEN SCIENCEUnraveling the mystery of plant dormancy.

52 OFFSHOOTSOnce a gardener, always a gardener.

54 BOOK REVIEWSRestoring American Gardens, The EarthMoved, and Annuals and Tender Plants forNorth American Gardens. Special focus: Regional gardening books.

57 REGIONAL HAPPENINGS

61 HARDINESS AND HEAT ZONES AND PRONUNCIATIONS

62 PERFECT PLANT COMPANIONSA ground cover tapestry.

ON THE COVER: Native to the eastern and midwestern United States, purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is both heat and drought tolerant. Photograph by Rob CardilloT

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D E P A R T M E N T S

Vo l u m e 8 3 , N u m b e r 3 . M a y / J u n e 2 0 0 4

F E A T U R E S

12 TASTEFUL LEGUMES BY PAM BAGGETT

Legumes are not just for the vegetable patch. Find out how manyornamental members of this family are growing in your garden.

18 ARTFUL BORDERSBY KAREN BUSSOLINI

Designer Lynden Miller’sIrwin Perennial Garden atthe New York BotanicalGarden abounds in inspi-ration for home gardeners.

24 THE ALLURE OF LOTUSBY ILENE STERNBERG

Don’t have the space ortime for a full-size watergarden? Growing a lotus ina container can be a satisfy-ing alternative.

28 CONEFLOWERS: AN AMERICAN CLASSICBY KIM HAWKS

Once considered weedy, coneflowers are now the darlings ofplant breeders and mainstays in the summer border.

34 GROUNDS FOR SCULPTUREBY CAROLE OTTESEN

In New Jersey, an artist and alandscape designer have createdan eye-catching synthesis of land-scape and art.

39 GARDEN RAILROADSBY PAT HAYWARD

This fast-growing hobby presentscreative landscaping challenges and a new way to look at plants.

44 WHAT IS A GARDEN? BY TRES FROMME

Why you have to do your homework before you can really designa garden that is both useful and aesthetically fullfilling.

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4 the American Gardener

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

For general information about your membership orto report damaged magazines, call (800) 777-7931.Send change of address notifications to our mem-bership department at the address on the left. Mem-bership questions and change of address notificationcan also be e-mailed to [email protected].

THE AMERICAN GARDENERTo send a letter to the editor, write to the addresson the left or e-mail to [email protected].

DEVELOPMENTTo make a gift to the American Horticultural Soci-ety, call (800) 777-7931 ext. 115.

GARDENER’S INFORMATION SERVICE (GIS)Have a gardening question? Call (800) 777-7931 ext. 131or 124 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time on week-days. Or e-mail questions to [email protected].

THE GROWING CONNECTIONGet your kids involved with this innovative educa-tional program in which they can experiment withseeds that have gone into space in a NASA science bal-loon. Visit www.ahs.org or call (800) 777-7931 formore information.

INTERN PROGRAMTo receive an application for the Society’s Horticul-tural Intern Program, e-mail [email protected]. For in-formation about the Editorial Intern program, [email protected]. Intern application forms can also bedownloaded from the River Farm section of the AHSWeb site (www.ahs.org).

NATIONAL CHILDREN AND YOUTH GARDENSYMPOSIUM (NCYGS)Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, is the settingfor the 12th annual NCYGS, to be held July 29 to 31,2004. For more information, call (800) 777-7931, ext.132 or visit www.ahs.org.

RECIPROCAL ADMISSIONS PROGRAMThrough this program, AHS members receive freeand discounted admission to botanical gardensthroughout North America. Participating gardens arelisted in this year’s AHS Member Guide and also inthe Membership area of our Web site. For more in-formation, call (800) 777-7931 ext. 127.

TRAVEL STUDY PROGRAMAHS members and friends can visit spectacular gar-dens around the world through the Society’s exclu-sive arrangement with Leonard Haertter Travel. Tolearn about upcoming trips, call (800) 777-7931 ext.118 or visit the Events section of our Web site.

WASHINGTON BLOOMS!AHS’s annual celebration of spring was held April1 to 25, 2004, at River Farm. This year featured thedebut of the AHS Garden School, a series of in-depthworkshops on exciting new gardening trends. Lookfor information on 2005 programs later this year.

WEB SITE: www.ahs.orgThe AHS Web site contains information about AHSprograms and activities, gardening events in your area,and links to other useful Web sites. Starting January20, 2004, AHS members can reach the member’s-only area of the site by typing in this year’s password:meadow.

PRESIDENT Katy Moss Warner

BOARD OF DIRECTORS O F F I C E R S 2 0 0 3 - 2 0 0 4

CHAIRMAN Kurt Bluemel Baldwin, Maryland

F IRST VICE CHAIRMAN Arabella S. Dane Boston, Massachusetts

SECOND VICE CHAIRMAN Valerie L. Thomas Alexandria, Virginia

SECRETARY Albin MacDonough Plant Baltimore, Maryland

TREASURER Christine Perdue Middleburg, Virginia

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR Jim Corfield Geneva, Illinois

GENERAL COUNSEL William A. PuseyPRESIDENT EMERITUS Dr. H. Marc Cathey

Leslie Ariail Alexandria, Virginia ■ Allan M. Armitage Athens, Georgia ■ William E. Barrick, Ph.D. Theodore,

Alabama ■ Katherine Bull Washington, D.C. ■ Peg Dunnigan Alexandria, Virginia. ■ Joel Goldsmith Gilroy,

California ■ Brian E. Holley Cleveland, Ohio ■ Natasha Hopkinson New York, New York ■ Robert MalesardiEaston, Maryland ■ Melissa R. Marshall Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ■ Carol C. Morrison Palatine, Illinois ■ DonRiddle Davidsonville, Maryland ■ Felder Rushing Jackson, Mississippi ■ William Seale Alexandria, Virginia ■

Jeanne Otis Shields Greenville, Delaware ■ Steven Still Hilliard, Ohio ■ Howard McK. Tucker Alexandria,

Virginia ■ Susie Usrey Dayton, Oregon ■ Robert D. Volk San Marino, California

CORPORATE PARTNERS

The Care of Trees ■ DK Publishing ■ EarthBox ■ Kurt Bluemel, Inc.Monrovia ■ Thompson & Morgan

AHS HORTICULTURAL PARTNERS

America in Bloom ■ Center for Plant Conservation ■ Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Garden Symposium■ Communities in Bloom ■ Cox Arboretum ■ Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival ■ GreaterGardens of the Washington Area ■ Horticulture Gardening Institute ■ International Master GardenerConference ■ Leonard Haertter Travel Company ■ Morris Arboretum ■ National Cherry Blossom Festival■ Oklahoma Horticultural Society ■ Summer Master Gardener Conference in East Lansing

THE AHS PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL

AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY7931 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

CHAIRMAN'S CIRCLE Mr. and Mrs. John H. Ariail, Jr. ■ Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Bluemel ■ Ms. Claire Burrows ■ Mr. and Mrs. Edward N.

Dane ■ Mr. Mark Garrison ■ Ms. Jill Hamilton ■ Mr. and Mrs. James S. Hutchinson ■ Mr. Robert E. Malesardi ■ Ms. Nancy

Petersen ■ Mr. Phil Synder LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY ASSOCIATES Mr. A. Michael Gelman ■ Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Lynch ■ Mr. and

Mrs. Joseph L. Manson, III ■ Mr. and Mrs. Ken Mountcastle ■ The Honorable Lauralee M. Peters ■ Mr. W. R. Pickering ■ Jeanne

Otis Shields ■ Ms. Katy Moss Warner ■ Ms. Donnan C. Wintermute HAUPT ASSOCIATES Mrs. Lynda A. Bachman ■ Dr. and Mrs.

William E. Barrick ■ Mr. and Mrs. C. William Black ■ Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Bogle ■ Mr. Richard C. and Mrs. Katherine Stark Bull

■ Dr. and Mrs. H. Marc Cathey ■ Mr. and Mrs. Louis Cordia ■ Mrs. Elisabeth C. Dudley ■ Mrs. Richard W. Hanselman ■ Ms. Minako

Henderson ■ Mrs. Carole S. Hofley ■ Col. and Mrs. Freeman E. Jones ■ Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Kulp, Jr. ■ Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm

Matheson, Jr. ■ Mr. and Mrs. Harold McClendon, Jr. ■ Mr. and Mrs. Tom McGlade ■ Ms. Michele Richardson ■ Mr. Harry A.

Rissetto, Esq. ■ Dr. and Mrs. George E. Staehle ■ Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Steiner ■ Mr. John Wm. Thomas and Mrs. Valerie Thomas ■

Mr. Howard McK. Tucker and Ms. Megan Evans ■ Mr. and Mrs. W. Bruce Usrey ■ Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Volk

PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Angino ■ Nancy J. Becker, M.D. ■ Mrs. Katherine McKay Belk-Cook ■ Mr. Phillip

Bermingham ■ Mrs. George P. Bissell, Jr. ■ Ms. Sylvia Black ■ Dr. Sherran Blair ■ Count and Countess Peder Bonde ■ Mrs. Anne

Bucher ■ Mr. and Mrs. Cason Callaway, Jr. ■ Mrs. and Mr. Charles E. Carr ■ Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Chandler ■ Mr. and Mrs.

James L. Corfield ■ Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Crawford ■ Mr. and Mrs. Edward Daisey ■ Mr. and Mrs. James F. Delano ■ Mr. and Mrs.

Nicholas Demisay ■ Mr. and Mrs. Michael D. Dubke ■ Mrs. Beverley W. Dunn ■ Mrs. Maureen Ecke ■ Ms. Anita Ellis ■ Mr. and

Mrs. John H. Fitzpatrick ■ Dr. and Mrs. John A. Floyd, Jr. ■ Ms. Marguerite Peet Foster ■ Mr. Thomas B. Gentry ■ Ms. Dorothy

Gillespie ■ Mr. John Sward Gleiber ■ Mr. and Mrs. Joel Goldsmith ■ Mr. and Mrs. David B. Gray ■ Mr. and Mrs. John H. Guy, IV

■ Mr. Gerald T. Halpin ■ Mrs. Richard W. Hamming ■ Dr. and Mrs. William O. Hargrove ■ Mr. and Mrs. Max Hartl ■ Mrs. Enid

A. Haupt ■ Mr. and Mrs. Brent Heath ■ Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Hohlt ■ Mr. and Mrs. Brian Holley ■ Mr. and Mrs. Allan L.

Holmstrom ■ Mrs. Elizabeth Hooff ■ Mr. Ross Hotchkiss ■ Mr. Philip Huey ■ Mr. and Mrs. Waldo Hutchins, III ■ Mr. and Mrs.

Robert B. Lindsay ■ Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Marshall ■ Mrs. Dorothy Marston ■ Mrs. Rachel L. Mellon ■ Mr. and Mrs. Egon Molbak

■ Mrs. Carol C. Morrison ■ Mr. and Mrs. William J. Moss ■ Mrs. Shirley Ann Nicolai ■ Mr. and Mrs. William G. Pannill ■ Ms.

Christine Perdue ■ Mr. and Mrs. Albin MacDonough Plant ■ Mr. and Mrs. William A. Pusey ■ Mr. and Mrs. Don E. Riddle, Jr. ■

Mr. and Mrs. Alfred G. Rindler ■ Mrs. Diana Carter Samples ■ Mrs. Deen Day Sanders ■ Mrs. Josephine M. Shanks ■ Mr. Bob Sierralta

■ Mr. and Mrs. Charles Henry Smith, Jr. ■ Ms. Vandy Solomon ■ Mrs. Juliet Sproul ■ Mr. Harold Stahly ■ Miss Jane Steffey ■ Ms.

Lida M. Stifel ■ Mr. and Mrs. John B. Strasenburgh ■ Mrs. Benjamin W. Thoron ■ Mrs. Mary Ann Tucker ■ Dr. and Mrs. Peter Van

Dyke ■ Mr. Joe Viar ■ Ms. Angela M. Vikesland ■ Mr. and Mrs. Harvey C. White ■ Mr. and Mrs. John W. White, Sr. ■ Mr. and

Mrs. D. Anderson Williams ■ Mrs. Marilyn B. Wilson

5May / June 2004

T h e A m e r i c a n

GARDENEREDITOR

David J. EllisMANAGING EDITOR AND DESIGNER

Mary YeeASSOCIATE EDITOR

Carole OttesenEDITORIAL INTERN

Jessie Keith

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

CHAIR John Alex Floyd Jr.Birmingham, Alabama

Allan M. ArmitageAthens, Georgia

Nina L. BassukIthaca, New York

Richard E. BirBrevard, North Carolina

John E. BryanSan Francisco, California

John L. CreechColumbus, North Carolina

Keith CrotzChillicothe, Illinois

Panayoti KelaidisDenver, Colorado

Richard W. LightyGreenville, Delaware

Elvin McDonaldWest Des Moines, Iowa

ADVERTISING The American Gardener7931 East Boulevard DriveAlexandria, VA 22150(703) 768-5700 ext. 120E-MAIL: [email protected]

The American Gardener (ISSN 1087-9978) is published bimonth-ly (January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, Septem-ber/October, November/December) by the American HorticulturalSociety, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308-1300,(703) 768-5700. Membership in the Society includes a subscrip-tion to The American Gardener. Annual dues are $35; two years,$60. International dues are $50. $10 of annual dues goes towardmagazine subscription. Periodicals postage paid at Alexandria, Vir-ginia, and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Please sendForm 3579 to The American Gardener, 7931 East Boulevard Drive,Alexandria, VA 22308-1300.

Botanical nomenclature is based on The American HorticulturalSociety A–Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, on A Synonymized Check-list of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada and Greenlandand on the Royal Horticultural Society Index of Garden Plants. Opinionsexpressed in the articles are those of the authors and are not necessar-ily those of the Society. Manuscripts, artwork, and photographs sent forpossible publication will be returned if accompanied by a self-addressed,stamped envelope. We cannot guarantee the safe return of unsolicitedmaterial. Back issues are available at $8 per copy.

Copyright ©2004 by the American Horticultural Society.

Printed in the U.S.A. on recycled paper.

SO OFTEN I have been encouraged to stop and smell the roses. And, dutifully,I would slow down for a few minutes…sniff sniff…and then back to business!But over the past few months, while I have been on sabbatical, I have had many

an opportunity to stop and smell the roses and enjoy the beauty of life around me.Most of my time off was time spent with my family—lots of brothers and sis-

ters, nieces and nephews, and, of course, my incredible parents. However, as I trav-eled around the country, I also enjoyed visiting many of you, our AHS members.It was so nice to be able to sit down and chat about AHS, and wherever I went, Iwould see a copy of The American Gardener sitting on the kitchen counter or cof-fee table. From Florida to New York, Colorado, and California, the beautifulcolumbines on the cover of the last issue greeted me—and, of course, I would hear how the articles in the mag-azine are inspiring people to search out good plants,look for new ways to combine them, be attentive to en-vironmental practices, and then pick up a trowel andget gardening!

Last month, I was fortunate to visit New Zealandwith 25 AHS members as host of an AHS Travel/StudyGarden Tour. In 12 days, our adventurous group visit-ed more than 20 incredible gardens and met the re-markable people who created them. In addition, we experienced the outstandingnatural beauty of thermal geysers and hot bubbling mud pools on the north is-land, and snow-capped mountains—think Tolkien’s Middle Earth!—and brilliantturquoise glacial lakes on the south island. In between, we marveled at the amaz-ing flora and fauna endemic to that beautiful island nation.

These Travel/Study Garden Tours are truly one of AHS’s hidden gems. Eachyear, 10 to 12 tours take gardeners to destinations ranging from New Zealand toTuscany, California, and Maine. Each one offers once-in-a-lifetime opportunitiesto visit unique private and public gardens, and to comprehend the delicate bal-ance between man and nature in these beautiful locations. These tours highlightgardens that are an intrinsic component of artistic expression in the cultures wevisit. This is no small message. I cannot encourage you enough to treat yourself toone of these tours if you love travel and love gardens.

To celebrate 20 years of these outstanding programs, the AHS President’s Coun-cil Dinner, being held on May 14 in St. Louis, Missouri, will honor Leonard Haert-ter, who has creatively packaged these tours for the AHS since 1984. In that time,Leonard has taken nearly 3,000 AHS members to 200 destinations and some 4,000gardens worldwide, so you can understand why we celebrate.

And now I am back at River Farm with spring bursting out of the ground andWashington Blooms! in full swing. The River Farm meadow will have 40,000 newnative plants in place by the end of April… The Master Plan for River Farm willbe complete in June…the 2004 National Children and Youth Garden Symposiumis on schedule for July 29 to 31 in Ithaca, New York. Your AHS is moving ahead,and we are so glad you are along for the ride!

Happy Gardening!

CNOTES FROM RIVER FARM

—Katy Moss Warner, AHS President


PEAR WARNINGRita Pelczar’s article on vintage pears in theSeptember/October 2003 issue was great,but I would like to caution readers aboutSouthmeadow Fruit Gardens, which waslisted in the article as a source for pear trees.This nursery was also featured last year ina National Geographic article on heirloomapples and pears, and I ordered more thana dozen trees from them in January 2003.The check was cashed within a day of re-ceipt, but the trees were never sent. My at-tempts to contact the company and get arefund or an explanation have failed. Now,more than a year later, I have still to receivemy trees, a refund, or an explanation.

While this nursery may have skill anddedication to rescuing vintage fruit trees,it seems to lack the most basic ability tomanage its business. I have ordered nurs-ery stock, seeds, and garden supplies

from dozens of companies for more than20 years and have never had a problemlike this. It is disturbing to see this nurs-ery repeatedly featured as a source in na-tional magazines.

John ReillyNewton, Massachusetts

Editor’s note: We received letters from twoother readers who described similar expe-riences with Southmeadow Fruit Gardens.We contacted Southmeadow to ask aboutthese reported problems and were told bya staff member that the nursery is nowunder new ownership and is trying to re-solve previously existing complaints aboutorders. We asked them to investigate JohnReilly’s order and were assured they woulddo so. However, as of the time this issuewent to press, Reilly still had not receivedany communication from the nursery.

WHY WITCH HAZELS?I enjoyed the article on witch hazels (No-vember/December 2003) by Chris Strand.But why are they called “witch hazels?” Idon’t think it was mentioned in the article.

John BryanSausalito, California

Chris Strand’s response: It is not clear howHamamelis received the common namewitch hazel. Some have attributed thename to the Colonial practice of using itstwigs for water divining, just as the hazel(Corylus sp.) is used in Europe. Another ex-planation is that the name is derived fromthe Old English word wice and refers to theplant’s pliant branches. �

CMEMBERS’ FORUM

PLEASE WRITE US! Letters should be addressed to Editor, The

American Gardener, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA

22308, or you can e-mail us at [email protected]. Letters we print

may be edited for length and clarity. �

The American Horticultural Society’s annualgala event will be held September 25 at its

River Farm headquarters overlooking the PotomacRiver. This year we highlight the restoration ofhistoric gates from the White House that have hungat the entrance to River Farm since the 1930s. Thegates will be reinstalled in a prominentspot in River Farm’s gardens. Plan tojoin us at the gala for a sneak peak andto enjoy an evening of dinner and liveand silent auctions under the stars. Formore information call (703) 768-5700.

2004 ANNUAL AHS GALA

Through the White HouseGates to River Farm

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© M o n r o v i a 2 0 0 4 04-0752L

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“IT WAS a treat to be involved with the AHS indoor plants garden course,” says Mari-anne Polito, coordinator of Washington Blooms!, “because the speakers were all expertsin the field.” This new AHS Garden School program, held April 1 and 2, boasted an im-pressive line-up of indoor plant specialists that included Holly Shimizu, director of theU.S. Botanic Garden (USBG); Byron Martin of Logees Greenhouses in Danielson,Connecticut; author, horticultural consultant, and educator Steve Frowine; gardenwriter and AHS Board member Felder Rushing; interior plantscaping expert LindaWiseman; Smithsonian orchid specialist Tom Mirenda; AHS Horticulturist PeggyBowers; and AHS President Emeritus Dr. H. Marc Cathey.

In addition to learning about indoor plants from the industry’s finest, attendeesalso enjoyed behind-the-scenes guided tours of some of Washington, D.C.’s bestinterior plantscapes and the production greenhouses at the USBG. “The orchidgreenhouses were particularly fascinating,” says Marianne. “We learned so much

News from AHS May/June 2004PROGRAMS • EVENTS • ANNOUNCEMENTS

SINCE THE INCEPTION of the AHS National Children andYouth Garden Symposia 12 years ago, children’s gardens and ed-ucational programs have become integral elements in schools andpublic gardens. Horticultural professionals, educators, and par-ents all recognize the magical effect gar-dens have on children, often becausethey can relate to their own childhoodexperiences harvesting garden vegeta-bles with mom or dad, helping a grand-mother tend her roses, or simplyclimbing trees. Because it is often infor-mal learning experiences like these thatinfluence us the most, this year’s sym-posium, titled “Branching Out: BeyondFormal Garden-based Education,” willfocus on less structured approaches tochildren’s garden education.

The symposium, to be held fromJuly 29 to 31 on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, NewYork, will feature two prestigious keynote speakers who offer freshperspectives on children’s garden education. Roger Hart of theCity University of New York’s Children’s Environments Researchgroup will discuss the importance of “un-designing” children’shorticultural programs, and Frank Rossi, an assistant professorof turfgrass science at Cornell, will share success stories about hisamazing teaching tool—turf.

“We are so excited about this year’s keynotes,” says Nancy Bu-sick, AHS youthprograms coordina-tor. “Roger Hart was

a keynote speaker during the first AHS symposium in 1993, wherehe gave a memorable presentation on the message of earth-stew-ardship that gardens can instill in youung people. And Frank Rossiis a real innovator who is well known for his enlightened and en-

tertaining presentations.” In addition tothe keynote presentations, attendingsymposium participants will be able tosign up for 12 idea-filled sessions givenby noted youth gardening experts.

Throughout the symposium, atten-dees will enjoy a variety of field trips andworkshops that will highlight Cornell’swealth of garden-related opportunitiesfor youth, including the Ithaca Chil-dren’s Garden and Garden Mosaics.There will also be plenty of time for net-working and informal exchanges ofideas. Cornell Plantations—the arbore-

tum established by the legendary Liberty Hyde Bailey—will bethe site of the first symposium dinner, which will feature a per-formance by the Compost Theatre of Tompkins County. A sec-ond dinner, held at Baker’s Acres herb and perennial farm, willfeature a signature New-York-style summer barbeque.

Located in the scenic Finger Lakes region of Upstate NewYork, Ithaca offers visitors many things to do and places to see.Symposium attendees may want to plan for some extra time toexplore the surrounding region.

To learn more about the 2004 symposium, contact NancyBusick at (800) 777-7931 ext. 132; e-mail: [email protected], orvisit www.ahs.org. A registration form is now available online.

The herb garden at Cornell Plantations in Ithaca.

2004 Children and Youth Gardening Symposium at Cornell University

Indoor Plant Experts at Washington Blooms!

André Viette, center, receives AHS’s Lib-erty Hyde Bailey Award from AHS Pres-ident Emeritus H. Marc Cathey and AHSPresident Katy Moss Warner at the GreatAmerican Gardeners Award BanquetApril 2 at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City.

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9May / June 2004

about correct techniques for orchid care." During the USBGtour, Holly Shimizu shared with the group her experiencesduring the renovation of the conservatory.

Participants in the garden school left not only with lastingmemories, they took home an African violet, a topiary they cre-ated in one of the workshops, and a copy of Passalong Plants,co-authored by Felder Rushing and Steve Bender.

Spring Bulbs Light Up River FarmPEAKING AT THE perfect time for the events and programsduring Washington Blooms!, the spring bulb display at RiverFarm was really something special this year. More than 13,000daffodils, tulips, crocuses, and other bulbs wowed visitors every-where they looked. “This year, we also planted dozens of con-tainers with tulips and daffodils and used them to decorate theentrances to buildings and in a few key locations on thegrounds,” says AHS Horticulturist Peggy Bowers. “Groupingseveral containers at each location really created a dramaticshow of color.”

Among the tulips, Peggy particularly likes early-flowering Tuli-pa praestans ‘Van Tubergan’s Variety’, a low-growing scarlet speciestulip that she massed in a perennial border, and ‘Monte Carlo’, adouble-flowered yellow that she interplanted with purple and yel-low pansies in several locations. Her favorite daffodils include ‘Sa-lome’, which has white petals and a salmon-colored cup, and‘Accent’, which has white petals backing a pink cup.

River Farm shines with spring color in April thanks to a variety of bulbs.Top: Yellow ‘Monte Carlo’ tulips. Above left: ‘Washington’ tulips and‘Salome’ daffodils. Above right: ‘Van Tubergan’s Variety’ species tulips.

STARTING AT $399*TWO-NIGHT PACKAGE INCLUDES:• Luxurious Accommodations • Breakfast & Dinner Daily• Garden Luncheon, Seminars and Demonstrations• Book Signing • 10% Off Purchases in

the Cottage Gardener Shop• Traditional Afternoon Tea• Nightly Movies• Use of Indoor/Outdoor Pools and

Fitness Center, Hiking and Biking Trails

IN THE GARDEN WITH THE EXPERTSAugust 13-15, 2004

Join us for a weekend filled with fascinating seminars anddemonstrations given by famed speakers in the field of

horticulture and landscape design, including Andre Viette,well-known horticulturist and author.

Hot Springs,VA1.800.838.1766www.thehomestead.com

*Rates are per person, based on double occupancy.Rates for single occupancy and suites available uponrequest. Two night stay required. Price does notinclude service fees and tax. Subject to availability.

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Mother Nature, with an assist from the AHS horticulturalstaff, gets credit for the glory of this year’s show, but none of itwould have been possible without the generous bulb donationsfrom K. Van Bourgondien and Sons, Old House Gardens,and C.J. Zonneveld and Sons of the Royal Dutch Wholesaler’sAssociation for Flowerbulbs and Nurserystock.

Spring Kid’s Gardening Programs a Success! F O R T H E S E C O N D Y E A R of Washington Blooms!, AHSboosted its spring celebration with four new programs designedspecifically for ouryoungest visitors andbudding future gar-deners. Each Saturdaythroughout the monthof April, children fromacross the Washingtonarea joined AHS staffmembers and volun-teers at River Farm fordown-in-the-dirt gar-den fun.

AHS Youth Pro-grams Coordinator Nancy Busick organized and facilitated theSaturday programs, which ranged from making flower arrange-ments in tuna cans to seed-picture painting and making mudpies. “We really had an impressive turnout and it was great towatch the children let loose and have fun in the garden,” saysNancy, who admitted the grown-ups had fun, too.

The success of these programs would not have been possi-ble without the dedication and resources of volunteers fromAlexandria-area garden clubs. Special thanks go to MaryWright of the Dominion Valley Garden Club, Jo Sellers of theFort Belvoir Garden Club, and Babs McClendon of the YachtHaven Garden Club.

If you’re interested in getting involved with next year’s chil-dren’s programs, please contact Nancy Busick at (703) 768-5700ext. 132 or by e-mail to [email protected].

Advancing the Causeof Youth Gardening in AmericaI N L A T E A P R I L , members of the Partnership for PlantBased Learning (PPBL), a national initiative of five organiza-tions with a vested interest in youth gardening in America,hosted a meeting at River Farm to discuss goals, identify need-ed resources, and establish a common vision. The meeting in-cluded some 60 stakeholders from across the nation. The PPBLhosts are the AHS, the Chicago Botanic Garden, the UnitedStates Botanic Garden (USBG), the National Gardening As-sociation, and the National Wildlife Federation. The meet-ing was held April 29 and 30, after this issue of the magazinewent to press. “This initiative is in its earliest stages,” saysChristine Flanagan, the USBG public programs manager. “Itis our hope to generate ideas and cooperation that will advanceplant-based education across the United States. All childrenshould learn through first-hand experience that our well-beingand survival are critically dependent on plants.” �

Articles in this section are by AHS Editorial Intern Jessie Keith.

American Horticultural Society’s 2004 National Children & Youth Garden SymposiumIthaca, New York July 29–31, 2004

The AHS, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the Horticulture Department of Cornell Universityinvite you to join us for three days of inspirational keynotes, informative sessions, idea-filled field tripsand workshops, friendship, networking, and much more…

■ Hear from Dr. Roger Hart on “Un-Designing for Children and Youth: Rethinking HorticulturalPrograms for Young People in an Increasingly Programmed World”■ Discover “Two Keys to Success with Children’s Gardens” and find out about “Plants that Dazzleand Delight Kids”■ Visit the nationally renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology, climb a six-story treehouse, and seehow community spirit is blooming at the Ithaca Children’s Garden project■ Enjoy an evening at Cornell Plantations, explore the gardens, have dinnerwith new and old friends, and be treated to an entertaining and informativeperformance by the acclaimed Compost Theatre of Tompkins County■ And much more! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to experience thenatural beauty, wonder, and richness of the Finger Lakes Region!

For more information and to register for the symposium, visit www.ahs.org,e-mail [email protected], or call (703) 768-5700 ext. 132.

Children making mud pies at River Farm.

11May / June 2004

FIVE GARDENING BOOKS published in 2003 haveearned the American Horticultural Society’s AnnualBook Award. The winning books, profiled below, are An

Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms by Robert Lee Riffle and PaulCraft, The Passion for Gardening by Ken Druse, Time and theGardener by Elisabeth Sheldon, Tropical Flowering Plants byKirsten Albrecht Llamas, and Your House, Your Garden by Gor-don Hayward.

The award winners were selected by the AHS Book AwardCommittee, chaired by Dick Dunmire of Los Altos, California,a former editor of the Sunset Western Garden Book. The othermembers of the committee are Linda Askey of Birmingham, Al-abama, formerly senior writer for Southern Living magazine;Keith Crotz, who owns American Botanist Booksellers in Chill-icothe, Illinois; Laurie Hannah, a horticultural librarian at SantaBarbara Botanic Garden; Rommy Lopat of Richmond, Illinois,editor of weedpatch.com; Lucinda Mays of Chadron, Nebraska,a garden writer and former host of the Southern edition of PBS’sThe Victory Garden; and Ray Rogers, an author and book edi-tor from North Brunswick, New Jersey.

Books that have received the AHS annual award can be dis-tinguished by a gold seal embossed with the Society’s name.Seek out these books in your local bookstore or order themthrough a link to amazon.com posted on the AHS Web site(www.ahs.org).

An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms by Robert Lee Riffleand Paul Craft. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon. Publisher’sprice, hardcover: $49.95.

“AS A HORTICULTURAL librarian,I am constantly looking for good bookson palms,” said Laurie Hannah, “and Ican tell you that this book is top of thelist. Not only is it useful, accurate, andauthoritative, but the authors’ poetic lan-guage brought life to the book.” RommyLopat agreed, noting, “For an encyclope-dia, I found it very readable. The authorsare opinionated and offer interestingstories and history along with the plant descriptions.”

The Passion for Gardening by Ken Druse. Clarkson Potter,New York, New York. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $50.

“ K E N D R U S E continues to put outspectacular garden books,” said RayRogers. “Everything about this one is topnotch.” Lucinda Mays praised it for of-fering such a wealth of inspirational ideasand photographs for gardeners at all lev-els of experience. “Books like this makegardening information accessible and en-

courage more gardeners to be successful,” she said. “It’s a splen-did book,” added Dick Dunmire, “really informed by passionand from the heart.”

Time and the Gardener by Elisabeth Sheldon. Beacon Press,Boston, Massachusetts. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $25.

“ I C O N S I D E R this one in a distin-guished line of classic American gardenbooks,” said Keith Crotz. “Sheldon is oneof those writers, like Elizabeth Lawrence,who takes you on a personal tour that isamazingly close to a garden stroll or arm-chair chat,” said Linda Askey. LucindaMays said she had trouble putting thebook down. “It combines high-qualitywriting with good advice on how to thinkabout plants and use them in particular settings,” she said.

Tropical Flowering Plants: A Guide to Identification andCultivation by Kirsten Albrecht Llamas. Timber Press, Port-land, Oregon. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $69.95.

“THIS ENCYCLOPEDIC book cov-ers a very large variety of plants that arebecoming widely popular in this coun-try,” said Dick Dunmire. “I was im-pressed with its authoritativeness,” saidLaurie Hannah, “particularly that theauthor took so much time to update thenomenclature and went out and mea-sured the plants herself.” Ray Rogerssaid the book is “top-shelf from a pro-duction standpoint and from an information standpoint—Ilike everything about it.”

Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Gar-den Design by Gordon Hayward. W. W. Norton & Compa-ny, New York, New York. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $39.95.

“I REALLY LIKED that the voiceof the book assumes you are a capablehuman being but might never haveset a stone before,” said LucindaMays. “There are too few books thathelp us as gardeners put it all togeth-er to make it work.” Keith Crotzpraised the illustrations, particularlythe aerial plans of each garden. “Theauthor provided examples from manydifferent residences and discussedideas that usually don’t get covered in design books, such as howto garden over a septic tank,” said Laurie Hannah. �

2004 AHS Book Award Winners

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SAY THE WORD “legume,” and it’slikely that images of peas, sugarsnaps, and green beans will be the

first things that spring to mind. And, in-deed, several of our most important foodcrops—including soy beans and peanuts—are legumes. Reach beyond the veg-etable patch, though, and you’ll find awealth of leguminous plants for the orna-mental garden, no matter where you live.

A botanical success story, the legumefamily (Fabaceae, formerly Leguminosae)is the third-largest family of floweringplants, comprising more than 600 generaand nearly 20,000 species of annuals,herbaceous perennials, shrubs, vines, andtrees. As a testament to their success,legumes are found all over the world grow-ing in every imaginable habitat fromdeserts to tropical rainforests and fromtemperate meadows to alpine screes.

Most legumes share one or more ofthe following common characteristics:pealike flowers, compound leaflets, andelongated seedpods that dry and split atmaturity. Many also have a uniqueswollen leaf joint, known as a pulvinus,that enables the plants’ leaflets to fold upand reopen in response to stimuli such aslight changes or touch—the best knownexample of this is sensitive plant (Mimosapudica), which enthralls children of allages by magically folding up its leaveswhen touched.

Dig a little deeper into the culturalhabits of ornamental legumes and you’llfind another shared trait: They tend totolerate—and even thrive in—infertilesoils. Why? Because legumes haveevolved symbiotic relationships withbeneficial soil bacteria (Rhizobium spp.),which establish themselves in the plants’roots, converting—or fixing—atmos-pheric nitrogen into forms that can betaken up by the roots.

So legumes have a lot going for them.The diversity within this enormousfamily guarantees there’s a legume thatwill thrive in any garden, while theiradaptability to a wide range of condi-

tions—including poor, and often dry,soils—make them sought-after plantsby savvy gardeners.

LUPINE ENVYMy interest in the legume family was firstsparked by an unfulfilled love affair withperennial lupines (Lupinus spp.)—inparticular, the Russell hybrids. Just pic-turing those great packed spires of per-fect pealike blossoms, in a royal range ofcolors from purple to canary yellow,made me weak at the knees. Alas, theRussells, bred in England, melt in sum-mer heat south of USDA Zone 6 and arebest grown as fall-planted, spring-bloom-

tastefulLegumesIf you think legumes are just

for the vegetable patch, you

may be surprised to learn how

many ornamental members of

this family are growing in your

garden.

the American Gardener12

BY PAM BAGGETT

This page: The upright yet loose indigo-blueflower spikes of Baptisia australis make ashow in the early-summer garden.Opposite page: Lespedeza thunbergii bearsbright magenta-pink blossoms that contrastbeautifully with its silver-edged leaves.

ing annuals. There are true annuallupines that would have been better suit-ed my North Carolina garden (USDAZone 7, AHS Zone 8)—in particular,Texas bluebonnet (L. texensis), whichshowers the Texas countryside with spiresof deep blue blossoms each April. Butback then, I wanted reliable perennials,which is why I turned, instead, to bap-tisias, a genus of lupine lookalikes nativemostly to the eastern United States.

Sometimes called wild or false indigo,baptisias are tough, long-lived herbaceousperennials that offer years of carefreebloom. Though some baptisia species areindigenous to dry soils and others to wet-

ter areas, they have proven adaptable to arange of soil types and moisture levels.The best known is probably Baptisia aus-tralis (Zones 3–9, 9–1), which is native tomoist woodlands and prairies from NewYork to Texas. Before the sturdy stemshave finished unfurling their blue-greenleaves in late spring, spires of violet-blueblossoms emerge, eventually reachingthree to four feet tall. A more compact va-riety, B. australis var. minor (Zones 4–9,9–1) is similar to the species but onlygrows to two feet.

Three-foot-tall Baptisia alba (Zones4–8, 8–1), native from Virginia to Florida,has smoke-gray stems that offer sultryL

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13May / June 2004

ECONOMIC ANDCULTURAL CONNECTIONSOver the course of human history,legumes have played an integral rolein agriculture and been used as asource of many other products of cul-tural or economic importance.

Soybeans (Glycine max), peanuts(Arachis hypogaea), peas (Pisumsativum), and beans (Phaseolus spp.)are major food crops that serve as im-portant sources of protein for peoplearound the world. Legumes such asalfalfa (Medicago spp.) and clover (Tri-folium spp.) are used as cover crops or“green mulch” to prevent erosion andreplenish soil nutrients. Licorice root(Glycyrrhiza glabra) is the source ofthe authentic licorice flavoring (as op-posed to anise, which is more com-monly used in North America) used insome candies and liqueurs. Truelicorice root also has a long history ofherbal and medicinal uses.

Other commercial products de-rived from legumes include the botan-ical insecticide rotenone, which isproduced from plants in the generaDerria and Lonchocarpus. The tropi-cal rosewood tree (Dalbergia spp.) isthe source of wood used for fine cab-inetry. American legumes such asmesquites (Prosopis spp.) and locustare also valued for their wood, which

has traditionally been used, respec-tively, as firewood to add flavor tocooked foods and as fence posts. Ablue dye may also be produced fromthe genus Indigofera. —AHS Staff

The wood of mesquite is commonlyused to provide flavor for grilled food.

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contrast to its milky white blossoms. Amature plant can produce 30 floweringstems, each displaying dozens of blossoms.Midwestern gardeners may want to try B.alba var. macrophylla (Zones 3–9, 8–1),which reaches five feet in height and flow-ers in midsummer.

Or consider B. bracteata (Zones 6–9,9–7), the creamy false indigo, which pro-duces short clusters of cream-colored flow-ers that look rather like bunches of sweetpeas on 18- to 24-inch stems.

For a change of color pace,use two-to-three-foot-tall B.sphaerocarpa (Zones 5–9,9–5), native from Missouri toLouisiana, whose dramaticspikes of acid-yellow flowerslight sparks in the spring gar-den. The North CarolinaBotanical Garden in ChapelHill has introduced two mag-nificent hybrids: ‘PurpleSmoke’, a chance cross be-tween B. alba and B. australis,bears charcoal-gray stemstopped with dusky grape flowers; and‘Carolina Moonlight’, which comes by itssoft yellow flowers from its parents, B. albaand B. sphaerocarpa.

If you like the sturdy look of baptisias,you may also enjoy the genus Senna(sometimes listed as Cassia), which in-cludes more than 500 species, many ofwhich are grown as ornamentals in sub-tropical regions. Two similar perennialsnative to the eastern United States, Sennahebecarpa (Zones 3–10, 10–4) and S. mar-ilandica (Zones 4–9, 9–1), form stout,shrublike, four- to six-foot-tall plants thatflower in summer with clusters of chrome-yellow blossoms.

If you’re searching for red flowers, tryeastern coral bean or cardinal spear (Ery-thrina herbacea, Zones 7–10, 10–8). Na-tive from North Carolina to Florida andwest to New Mexico, cardinal spear sendsup spikes of rich red, tubular blossomsthat resemble a lobelia. Dark stems con-trasted with bright green foliage enhanceits good looks, as does its tendency to drop

its flowers before they’ve withered, thuspreserving a fresh appearance throughoutits several weeks of bloom in midsummer.Even better is E. ✕bidwillii (Zones 7–12,12–8), a hybrid between E. herbacea andthe South American E. crista-galli. Thissix-foot-tall coral bean looks magnificentwaving its lipstick-red spikes against a bluesky from June to October.

SHRUBBY LEGUMESAmong the shrubby legumes, lacy-leavedbush clover (Lespedeza thunbergii, Zones6–8, 8–6), a Japanese native, is a star ofthe late summer garden. Pest-free anddeer-proof, its cultivars coast through hotsummers looking crisp and fresh beforebursting into bloom in the cooler days ofearly September. Custom-made for thebusy gardener, lespedezas remain happyfor years on minimal care, accepting dryor moist, sandy or enriched soils. Al-though they’re considered woody plants,bush clovers behave like herbaceousperennials in most of the United States—

the stems die over winter and can be cutback so that new ones emerge from thecrown in spring.

Lespedeza thunbergii ‘Gibraltar’ is thelargest selection I grow, its branches arch-ing up and out to six feet tall by 10 feetwide, bedecked in September with vividrosy-purple blossoms. A single stems bearsmore than 100 flowers spikes—so justimagine the magnificent sight of a maturemulti-stemmed plant in full bloom!

Another cultivar, ‘Pink Fountain’ issmaller and produces bright rose-pinkblossoms. In my garden it reaches six feettall and slightly wider, with a somewhatless arching form than ‘Gibraltar’. If thatsounds like too much space to give over toone plant, think seasonally: Since bushclovers go dormant in autumn, the bareground beneath their branches makes aperfect home for winter annuals like pan-sies and spring-blooming bulbs.

If you’re partial to white flowers, con-sider the hybrid bush clovers ‘WhiteFountain’, which produces a ‘Gibraltar’-sized plant dripping with elegant pearl-white blossoms, and the tidier ‘Albiflora’,which forms a compact five-foot shrubby-looking plant with milky white blooms.Don’t be alarmed if ‘Albiflora’ occasional-ly produces a few pink or pink-stripedflowers as well—this unpredictable trait isnatural to the plant.

Despite its bold, tropical looks, Sennahebecarpa, right, is native to North Americaand is hardy to Zone 3.Below: Eastern coral bean bears scarlettubular blooms throughout the summer.

Twelve years ago, I began growing awoody relative of the lespedezas, Campy-lotropis macrocarpa (Zones 7–9, 9–7), andI recommend it. It forms an open, airyshrub six feet tall and eight feet wide. Thestems do not die back in winter like bushclover; instead it behaves as a permanentwoody shrub, assuming a neat vase shapethat allows underplanting with low-grow-ing plants. It blooms three to four weeksearlier than the bush clovers, with two-tone reddish purple-and-white flowers.

Summer-blooming Himalayan indi-go (Indigofera gerardiana, Zones 6–9,9–6), looks almost like a lespedeza inminiature, sending out stem after stemof rosy-purple flowers from the leaf axilsand growing only two to four feet tall.Surprisingly, I’ve had no trouble grow-ing it in the steamy Southeast, thoughit’s native to the northwest Himalayas.Equally lovely is Chinese indigo (I. kir-ilowii, Zones 6–8, 9–5), with its brightpink, six-inch flower clusters danglingfrom 18-to-36-inch-tall stems. Best of thebunch may be lofty I. amblyantha(Zones 7–9, 9–7), which shoots up toeight feet tall and produces pink blos-soms from March to October.

Heavy clay soil has kept me from tryingleadplant (Amorpha canescens, Zones 2–8,8–1), though perhaps I’m being too timid.It’s prairie-tough but visually delicate, withthree-foot stems bearing fernlike silveryleaves, crowned in summer by spikes oftiny red-purple blooms. Native from cen-tral Canada to Texas, leadplant is drought-resistant and grows best in sandy or loamysoils—its powerful taproot can plunge sixto 16 feet deep. Let leadplant reach its fullheight, or treat it as a cut-back shrub.

TREESThere are few pleasures that equal seeinggreat clouds of redbud blossoms in glo-rious spring bloom. The chubby, heart-shaped leaves of eastern native Cerciscanadensis (Zones 4–9, 9–2) appear aftertight clusters of petite rosy-purple flow-ers bloom along the stems just prior todogwood season. I covet, but don’t grow,the lovely purple-leaved selection, ‘For-est Pansy’, and stunning ‘Silver Cloud’,which has white-splashed leaves.

The JC Raulston Arboretum inRaleigh, North Carolina, is home to astudy collection of the world’s best red-buds. My favorite there is Texas redbud(C. canadensis var. texensis, Zones 6–9,9–6), native to Oklahoma, Texas, andMexico. I love its leathery deep greenleaves, rippled along the edges and shiny,making an attractive feature long after itsspring-blooming, red-purple flowers have

fallen. ‘Texas White’ is a popular white-flowered selection.

Silk tree or mimosa (Albizia julibrissin,Zones 6–9, 9–6) is an Asian native thathas naturalized across the Mid-Atlanticand South. Although it is sometimes con-

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Thanks to a taproot that can grow 16 feetdeep, leadplant is highly drought resistantand well suited to low-maintenance gardens.

The striking purplish leaves of Cerciscanadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ make it one of themost coveted redbud cultivars.

May / June 2004 15

ResourcesThe Desert Legume Program, BoyceThompson Southwestern Arboretum,37615 U.S. Highway 60, Superior, AZ 85273. (520) 689-2723. ag.arizona.edu/BTA.

SourcesArborvillage Farm Nursery, Holt, MO.(816) 264-3911.www.arborvillagellc.com. Catalog $1.

Forest Farm, Williams, OR. (541) 846-7269. www.forestfarm.com.Catalog $5; online catalog free.

Phoenix Perennials Ltd., 4153 YucultaCrescent, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6N4A9. www.phoenixperennials.com.Catalog $4; online catalog free.

Plants of the Southwest, Santa Fe, NM.(800) 788-7333. www.plantsofthesouthwest.com. Catalog free.

Yucca Do Nursery, Hempstead, TX.(979) 826-4580. www.yuccado.com.Catalog $3; online catalog free.

sidered weedy, I enjoy its pincushion clus-ters of showy, peachy-pink stamens andthe wonderful sweet honey scent thatwaft over the garden for weeks in sum-mer. All season long, I love how its deli-cate leaves etch a distinctive traceryagainst the sky. A healthy tree can growswiftly to 20 feet or taller; unfortunatelysilk trees are prone to a disease called vas-cular wilt. Despite this problem, I intendto try the gorgeous new purple-leavedform, ‘Summer Chocolate’, which ismuch too handsome to be without.

Locusts are tough trees often reservedfor the worst sites. They tolerate salt ex-posure, drought, and nearly any soil but asoggy one, though best growth is achievedin rich loam or limestone-based soils.

Both the black locust (Robiniapseudoacacia, Zones 4–9, 9–3) and thethornless honeylocust (Gleditsia triacan-

thos var. inermis, Zones 3–7, 7–1) are na-tives of the eastern United States, withranges extending from Pennsylvania southto Oklahoma (Robinia) and Texas (Gled-itsia). Both produce intensely honey-scented flowers. Those of black locustform dense racemes of white blossomsthat hang in four- to eight-inch chainsfrom the tree. Honeylocust’s two-inchracemes of greenish-yellow flowers are notnearly as sexy, but they have a heavenlysmell. Numerous cultivars of each areavailable. Robinia pseudoacacia ‘PurpleRobe’, which offers pretty, dark pinkflower chains and bronze-red new growth.I’m partial to the chartreuse-leaved selec-tions: Gleditsia ‘Summergold’ and ‘Sun-burst’; Robinia ‘Aurea’ and ‘Frisia’.

LEGUMES FOR THE WESTGardeners west of the Rockies will findplenty of good options among legumes.An excellent resource for desert garden-ers is the Desert Legume Program at theBoyce Thompson Southwestern Arbore- M

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MORE ORNAMENTAL LEGUMESName Height/width Flower color/ Other features Origin USDA Hardiness/

(feet) Bloom time AHS Heat Zones

SHRUBS AND SHRUBBY PERENNIALS

Caragana arborescens 5–7/3–5 yellow/spring tough shrub for Russia, China 2–8, 8–1‘Pendula’ and ‘Walker’ mountain or desert sites(Siberian peashrub)

Dalea capitata Sierra Gold™ 1/3–5 yellow/spring evergreen ground cover Mexico, SW U.S. 8–10, 11–8(Yellow trailing dalea) and fallDalea frutescens Sierra Negra™ 3/4 purple/winter evergreen, silvery foliage Mexico, SW U.S. 8–10, 11–8(Black dalea) to spring

Genista pilosa ‘Vancouver Gold’ 1–2/5-7 bright yellow/ low-growing shrub W and Central 9–11, 12–9(Broom) spring Europe

Petalostemon purpureus 1–2/1–2 rosy purple/ drought tolerant W Canada to Texas 6–11, 12–9(Purple prairie clover) summer

TREES

Acacia baileyana 25/30 yellow/mid-winter thorny evergreen Australia, New 10–11, 12–10(Bailey acacia) South Wales

Acacia greggii 5–25/15 pale yellow/spring spreading shrub SW U.S. 10–11, 12–10(Catclaw acacia) to small tree

Cladrastis kentukea 30–50/40–50 white/late spring fragrant flowers Central/South U.S. 4–9, 9–1(Yellowwood) to summer yellow fall foliage

Parkinsonia Desert Museum™ 20–25/20 yellow/spring long-flowering SW U.S. 9–11, 12–10(Palo verde) to summer shade tree

Sophora secundiflora 10–20/10–15 violet/late winter multi-trunked evergreen SW U.S. 7–11, 12–7(Texas mountain laurel) to spring fragrant flowers

In late spring, Robinia pseudoacacia ‘PurpleRobe’ is covered with magnificent racemesof rose-pink blooms.

tum in Tucson, Arizona. This program,a joint project with the University of Ari-zona, collects, evaluates, and displaysleguminous plants suited to cultivationin arid areas (see “Resources,” page 15).

If you’re in search of shrubs, considerbush lupine (Lupinus arboreus, Zones8–9, 9–8), native to coastal California andbedecked with its huge trusses of yellow orlilac-blue blossoms on four- to eight-footstems. Or if you’re like me and cravelupines, try L. polyphyllus (Zones 5–8,8–5), a colorful parent of the Russell hy-brids with blue to reddish summer flow-ers. It thrives in moist sites from Californianorth to British Columbia.

Tree-size legumes include naked coraltree (Erythrina americana, sometimeslisted as E. coralloides, Zones 10–12,12–10), which hails from Mexico andthrives in southern California and Ari-zona. Spectacular fat cones of fiery coralred flowers bloom in spring before leafemergence on this 25-foot tree. Theleathery leaves yield yellow fall color andthe contorted leafless stems provide tex-tural interest in winter.

Desert ironwood (Olneya tesota, Zones9–10, 10–9), is another architecturally in-teresting small tree suited to southwesterngardens. It bears racemes of pink or softpurple blossoms in spring, as well as deli-cate blue-green leaves. Even finer foliagecan be had with blue palo verde (Parkin-sonia florida, formerly Cercidiumfloridum, Zones 9–11, 12–10). Besides its

dainty blue-tinged leaves, it has gorgeousyellow spring blooms and green bark.Both desert ironwood and blue palo verdeare native to the American Southwest.

There is also a redbud adapted to west-ern gardens. Cercis occidentalis (Zones9–10, 7–9), native to California, bears ma-genta-rose blossoms in spring.

Desert locust (Robinia neomexicana,Zones 9–11, 12–9) and Idaho locust(Robinia ✕ambigua ‘Idahoensis’, Zones6–10, 10–7) are well adapted to dry andmountain climate gardens, respectively.Desert locust can take the form of a shrubor small tree, growing anywhere from sixto 30 feet tall and is distinguished by clus-ters of dangling pink flowers in spring toearly summer. Idaho locust grows to 40feet tall and spreads slightly less with strik-ing clusters of rose-pink flowers.

LEGUMES FOR SUBTROPICAL GARDENS If you live in a region where winters aremild, such as southern Florida or south-ern California, consider growing theroyal poinciana or flamboyant tree (De-lonix regia, Zones 11–15, 12–8). Native toMadagascar, the tree is crowned in springwith profuse clusters of brilliant red flow-ers. Growing to 40 feet, it is often used asa street tree in the Caribbean and insouthern Africa.

Closely related are the shrubs andsmall trees in the genus Caesalpinia,sometimes called poincianas or bird-of-paradise shrubs. Native to regions of

South and Central America and theCaribbean, they are often evergreen inmild climates and produce attractiveclusters of yellow to reddish flowers withcontrasting stamens that attract hum-mingbirds. Red bird of paradise (Cae-salpinia pulcherrima, Zones 9–11, 12–10)is a fast-growing 10 foot shrub with or-ange or red flowers; Mexican bird of par-adise (C. mexicana, Zones 9–11, 12–10) ishardier and has bright yellow flowers.

Another legume suited to mild cli-mates is fairy duster or powder puffs (Cal-liandra spp.), a genus of evergreen anddeciduous shrubs that produce daintyglobular pink to red flowers. Most are na-tive to areas from South and CentralAmerica up to California and the South-west. Good options include Baja fairyduster (C. californica, Zones 13–15, 12–1)and Brazilian flame bush (C. tweedii,Zones 11–12, 12–10).

Even though these tender legumeswon’t survive in my temperate garden, Ireally can’t complain because the list oflegumes I can grow grows longer by theday. I’m almost to the point that I nolonger sulk when spring seed catalogs ar-rive and taunt me yet again with thosedarn Russell hybrids. �

Garden writer Pam Baggett owns SingingSprings Nursery in Cedar Grove, NorthCarolina, which specializes in uncommontender plants and choice perennials andtropicals (www.singingsprings.com).L

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Desert ironwood, left, is a tough evergreen tree for arid gardens. For subtropical gardens, red bird-of-paradise, right, attracts hummingbirds.


NO M A T T E R what the season,every time I visit the Jane Wat-son Irwin Perennial Garden at

The New York Botanical Garden(NYBG), I come away thinking that avisit once a week for a whole year wouldreveal just about everything there is toknow about combining plants. Thisdensely planted half acre of themed gar-den rooms contains an extravagant vari-ety of plants, yet manages to be alwaysboth cohesive and exciting.

A stroll through the gardens revealsmixed borders with small trees, shrubs,perennials, annuals, biennials, and bulbsarranged in one appealing vignette leadingto another. Nearby plants seem to speak toeach other and to connect with othersacross the way. Certain plants are repeat-ed, but never in quite the same way. The

effect seems casual, yet every plant is clear-ly there for a reason once you study why itall works so well. It’s as though a talentedartist painted her way through the garden,carefully composing each scene, thenpainted out all signs of her efforts withloose brushstrokes.

An artist is, in fact, responsible for thevisual intelligence and artistic quality ofthis garden. Lynden Miller, instrumentalin the renaissance of public gardens inNew York City, designed and has contin-ued to shape this private-feeling publicgarden since 1986.

Her gardening career began in the late1970s when, after studying at NYBG, shewas living and painting in London. Shewas bowled over by the way English gar-deners were painting with plants. “I hadnever seen that before,” she recalls.

After moving back to New York City,she began restoring the Conservancy Gar-den in Central Park—which she still over-sees—and after 1982, she never went backto the studio. “When I left, I became a gar-dener who paints; before, I had been apainter who gardens,” she says. “Now Ipaint with plants.” The elements ofputting together a garden, she explains, areexactly the same as those of putting to-gether a painting.

NYBG’s teaching mission allowsMiller to use a tremendous palette ofplants and experiment endlessly. “Thepoint of the garden is to show peoplewhat they can grow,” she says. “We havea duty to show what’s on the market, touse many different varieties.”

Although she relies upon plants thatthrive in the region and pull their weight

Artful BordersDesigner Lynden Miller’s Irwin Perennial Garden at the New York Botanical Garden abounds in

inspiration for the home gardener. ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY KAREN BUSSOLINI

The Hot Room in June and July. Yellows include Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera Aurea’, Lysimachia ciliata ‘Firecracker’, and ‘Corona-tion Gold’ and ‘Moonshine’ yarrows. Oranges and scarlets come from Bouvardia ternifolia, Kniphofia ‘Alcazar’, and Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’.

Artful Borders

over a long season, there are always newplants to try, and tender ones with visualqualities too compelling to pass up fortheir lack of hardiness. Plants are chosenfor their foliage —form, texture, color,scale—first. She arranges plants like acollage, playing with their different qual-ities, moving them until each plant en-hances its neighbors. She loves flowers,but considers flower color last, for theysimply aren’t around as long.

Not every gardener has Lynden Miller’straining or eye, and taste in plants, colors,and style may differ. Yet understanding

how she employs three big elements of de-sign—form, contrast, and repetition—isbound to improve garden compositions.

The ability to consider all three ele-ments at once and to keep combinationsinteresting year round comes with experi-ence and constant editing. Her approachto combining plants would work in Alas-ka or Florida—with different palettes ofplants suitable to each region—and it ap-plies equally on the scale of a container, asmall bed, or an acres-big garden.

FORMThe geometric framework within whichplants are combined provides a unifyingstructure that connects and makes senseof a garden’s parts. Straight lines andhard-edged forms set off softer plantforms. Miller explains, “It’s easy to gar-den in rows.The hardest kind of plantinglooks like it just happened. LanningRoper described my style as ‘careless rap-ture.’ I love things that fall over and spillout. The loose, seemingly naturalisticway I plant needs the underpinning ofgeometry for that luxuriance to play off,or else it looks messy.”

Walkways, hard-edged rectilinearbeds, and the green architectural formsof tightly clipped yew hedges and globu-lar boxwoods provide that underlying

structure. Miller also employs geometri-cal garden ornaments and structures suchas wooden tuteurs and an armillarysphere on a pedestal.

Spilling plants may paint over hardedges during the exuberant seasons in thegarden, but the underlying structure re-mains, becoming more obvious and im-portant in winter.

Form also comes from big structuralplants, which Miller uses “to keep thegarden, with its many small-leafed flow-ering plants, from looking like what gar-dener Christopher Lloyd calls ‘gailypainted hay’.”

Miller always starts her planting planwith small trees and shrubs, such asdwarf blue spruce (Picea pungens ‘Glo-bosa’ and oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangeaquercifolia). Favorite shrubs like purplesand cherry (Prunus ✕cistena), red-twigdogwoods (Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’),and barberry (Berberis thunbergii ‘RoseGlow’) might be pruned to tree shape,loose round forms, or hedges. Theseplants are hardy and adaptable to manyparts of the country.

Architectural plants with large leavesalso provide structure. “They’re not hardy,but tropicals have a wonderful quality

19May / June 2004

The elements of putting

together a garden…

are exactly the same as

those of putting together

a painting.

Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica ‘Blue Ice’) anchors this composition, backed by Saccharumravennae and fronted by Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Atrosanguineum’, and Salvia guaranitica.


that’s hard to get out of the hardy herba-ceous materials,” notes Miller.

Used judiciously, plants such as cordy-lines, phormiums, cannas, elephant ears,red castor beans (Ricinus communis ‘Car-mencita’), and large-leafed Hibiscus ace-tosella ‘Red Shield’ give your eye a sockwith their bold forms and color. Amonglower-growing herbaceous perennials,hostas (especially H. plantaginea with itsgreen pleated leaves), bergenias, and yuc-cas are among Miller’s favorite form-givers.

CONTRASTContrasting colors, textures, and formsmake the gardens buzz and zing. What-ever qualities a plant possesses, Millerpairs it with their opposites. She lovesstrong contrasts and values plants thatcontrast in several ways.

In the Irwin garden, Miller has de-signed a Cool Room to contrast with itsvibrant opposite, the Hot Room.

Complementary colors (opposite eachother on the color wheel) planted togeth-er give an exciting jolt. She pairs orangered-hot pokers (Kniphofia spp.) and

geums with the opposite hue, using deepblue-flowering Salvia nemorosa ‘Osfries-land,’ cool blue spruce, and lavender-blueflowering Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’.

Dark reds (the complement of green)are crucial. The leaves of purple sandcherry, smokebush (Cotinus coggygria‘Royal Purple’), (the cotinus kept cutback to encourage ruby-colored newgrowth), and ‘Red Shield’ hibiscus carrythe eye around the garden, subtly mak-ing the greens appear greener.

Higher-keyed warm reds of Gom-phrena globulosa ‘Strawberry Fields’ andBouvardia ternifolia do the same, withhigher voltage.

Light silver lamb’s ears (Stachys byzan-tina), Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’, and tenderPlectranthus argentatus contrast, by virtueof both their light value and lack of hue,

with darker and more colorful plants.Textural contrasts give great variety and

interest to plantings. The linear delicacyand soft, flowing quality of goldenHakone grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aure-ola’) is enhanced by its association withAsarum europaeum’s tough glossy round-ed leaves nestled tightly at its feet. Feath-ery dill stands out among solid simpleleaves of heucheras and hostas. Gom-phrena’s papery drumsticks and serratedvelvet heart-shaped coleus leaves contrastwith tough waxy spikes of yuccas in bothtexture and form. White anemones (A. hy-brida ‘Alba’) never looked so delicate aswhen leaning on a prickly Arizona cypress.

Plants that provide vertical structureplay a tremendously important role inMiller’s plantings, for they contrast bothwith the many mounded plants (a steadydiet of which could become boring), andthe overall horizontal nature of a largegarden built on flat ground.

To keep a garden in proportion,Miller recommends using about onethird vertical plants to two thirdsdomed or horizontal forms.

The hardest kind of

planting looks like

it just happened.

Left: A lively composition of leaves—round boxwood balls, blue Euphorbiamyrsinites, spiky Iris pallida ‘Variegata’, and misty Perovskia atriplicifo-lia—keeps the garden interesting into winter. Vivid Gomphrena globulosa‘Strawberry Fields’ and Bouvardia ternifolia add punch to the combination. Above: Spiky blue-green Yucca filamentosa contrasts in form, texture, colorand lightness with the deep red velvety leaves of Solenostemon ‘Red Carpet’.

21May / June 2004

Many of the large plants relied uponto provide form—Arizona cypress, andespecially thin Alberta spruce trees (Piceaglauca ‘Conica’) in an allée—are alsostrong vertical elements by virtue ofbeing tall and pointed.

Miller values the verticality of loftyclumps of silphiums, crocosmias, red-hot pokers, and lilies, as well as theflower spikes of foxgloves, verbascums,and salvias. She uses tall linearornamental grasses, especiallymiscanthus cultivars, as excla-mation points throughout thegarden. Pointed wooden tuteursfunction as vertical structuralelements. On a lower plane,spiky yuccas and blue oat grass(Helictotrichon sempervirens)have a vertical gesture, as doirises, daylilies, and tenderphormiums.

REPETITIONMiller’s true artistry is revealedas you start moving through thegarden. Elements—colors, es-pecially those key dark reds andsilvers, structural plants, four-season plants, verticals—are re-peated again and again, butnever in exactly the same way,and never symmetrically, exceptto mark entrances.

Repetition of forms, colors,plants, and textures binds thenumerous parts of the gardentogether. It amplifies successfulcombinations and sets up arhythm that draws the eye—and foot-step—into the garden. She flanks en-trances to garden rooms with symmetricalelements, such as a pair of Arizona cy-presses, pots of agapanthus or the tuteurs.But each one of the pair keeps companywith different plants.

Take, for example, a pair of pyrami-dal tuteurs softened by Clematis ‘EtoileViolette’ that flank one path. Each hasgraceful always-in-motion Miscanthussinensis ‘Gracillimus’ and gray-leafedmounds of lavender-blue-floweringNepeta ✕faassenii nearby.

One tuteur arises from a clump ofround shiny bergenia leaves and spikes ofNepeta, with strappy daylily foliage underthe thinner blades of the Miscanthus. A

tall dense clipped mound of Berberisthunbergii ‘Rose Glow’ is heavy and darkagainst those fine textures and light hues.The barberry’s deep somber red, alongwith that of the purple smokebush be-

hind, enhances the greens. Behind theensemble, violet spires of Buddleia soar,echoing the purple and red tones.

The second tuteur anchors a muchlighter combination, with large leaves andluscious fat flower clusters of Hydrangeamacrophylla ‘Maculata’, filagree spheres ofAllium ‘Globemaster’, and Thalictrumrochebrunianum’s lacy foliage and tenuousdancing blooms, all lightness and air.

“Cordylines,” Miller says, “pay twokinds of rent. They are both dark red andspiky verticals.” She places them through-out the garden as accents, lifting them infall. In the Hot Border, dull purple-redCordyline australis ‘Purple Tower’ accom-panied by weaving spikes of Salvia ‘An-thony Parker’, with bracts of a similar colorstand in spectacular contrast to surround-ing vibrant hues.

In the Cool Border, Tricyrtis ‘Sino-nome’, with elegant orchidlike flowers,weaves through the cordyline, its spots ex-

Repetition of forms,

colors…amplifies

successful combinations

and sets up a rhythm

that draws the eye…

into the garden.

Above: The Hot Room in fall, looking towardthe Cool Room. Flower spikes of Salvia ‘An-thony Parker’, Pennisetum alopecuroides‘Moudry’, and Cuphea micropetala are re-peated in vertical flowers and foliagethroughout the border. Dark red Hydrangeaquercifolia foliage leads the eye to similartones in barberries, and purple smoke bush-es down the line, pulling the eye to the focalpoint, a large Luna Form pot at the end of thegarden. Left: A hard-edged tuteur withClematis ‘Etoile Violette’, one of a pair flank-ing the entrance to the Shade Room.

actly matching the cordyline’s color. Thisis a quieter combination, best appreciatedat close range.

Sometimes bold tropical plants arejarring in a garden of more familiar andfine-textured plants. Here, however,these strong spiky accents find echoes

of their form in upright ornamentalgrasses, irises, daylily foliage, yuccas,and many other repeated verticals.Likewise, big-leafed tropicals like can-nas find are echoed by oakleaf hy-drangeas, hostas, and other familiarbold-leafed hardy plaßnts.

YEAR-ROUND INTERESTReliance on structure and foliage ratherthan just on flowers extends each plant’s in-terest over a long period of time, often wellinto winter. “Americans focus on spring,”says Miller, “but there’s so much going onin spring, who has time to look?” Not thatthe garden is dull for one moment. Thefresh light foliage of variegated Cornus alba‘Elegantissima’ and oakleaf hydrangeascontrast with the dark red shrubs, whichare at their most vibrant early in the season.

Mats of silvery velvet lambs ears set offclumps of colorful tulips and pansies.Spikes of Iris pallida ‘Aurea Variegata’reach for the sky even though they areonly a few inches tall, contrasting withcool blue dianthus foliage and snaky bluestrands of Euphorbia myrsinite. Red-stemmed Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Pur-

purea’, with deep purple leaves, contrastswith its own chartreuse flowers andbracts, as well as those of nearby Helle-borus foetidus.

Excitement builds through summer, asthe garden gets taller. In August, whenmost gardens are tired, the Hot Room siz-zles. It is lively well into fall, with good fo-liage combinations and ongoing blooms ofannuals and tender perennials such assalvias and bouvardia, which look as goodin November as they do in May.

Autumn’s first frosts bring out newhues, textures, and relationships, andberries and seedheads bring their owndecoration. As leaves fall, Cornus alba‘Elegantissima’ hidden in the borders aretransformed from variegated backdropto show-stopping strong, structural, redverticals that will remain the center ofattention until spring. The Fall Roomfeatures late bloomers like tall deep blueAconitum carmichaelii ‘Arendsii’ com-bined with yellow grassy leaves of Carexelata ‘Aurea’ and brushes of Amsoniahubrichtii, with golden fall foliage.


A dynamic combination for part shade. Blue-green spikes of Yucca filamentosa contrast withfronds of Japanese shield fern (Dryopteris erythrosora), rounded burgundy Ajuga ‘Caitlin’sGiant’, and glaucous columbine foliage, with hardy chrysanthemums providing added color.

The New York Botanical Garden is located at 200th Street and South-ern Boulevard in Bronx. It is open Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.mApril through October; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. November through March; open on Mon-day federal holidays; closed Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission is $13 foradults, $11 for seniors and students with a valid ID, $5 for children two to 12,free for children under two. Parking is $7. For more information visit www.nybg.orgor call (718) 817-8700.

NYBG participates in AHS’s Reciprocal Admission Program; AHS membersshowing a current membership card are admitted free during the week and twofor the price of one on weekends.

Reliance on structure

and foliage rather than

just on flowers extends

each plant’s interest over

a long period of time.

“All my gardens have to be good inwinter,” Miller says. Winter reveals thegarden’s structure and the many plantswith persistent foliage, seed heads, berriesand colored bark.

A large white pine (Pinus strobus) shel-tering the Shade Room, with its lovely car-pet of rust-colored needles, becomes moreprominent, and boxwood balls emergefrom the garden’s summer tangle.

The liveliest evergreens aren’t green atall. Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Mops’, a goldbeacon in the winter garden, comple-ments blue Arizona cypress and dwarfblue spruce. Russian sage’s stiff silverstems, astilbe seedheads, and Sedum‘Herbstfreude’ (‘Autumn Joy’) providelots of winter interest.

Plumes of ornamental grasses sway,rustling in the wind, while birds flit in alarge Viburnum setigerum, eating brightberries and bringing life and movement

to the cold season. Yuccas, particularlygolden-striped varieties like Yucca fila-mentosa ‘Color Guard’, are shining stars,with their impressive spiky silhouettesand gorgeous coloration. Pinks, Ajugareptans ‘Catlin’s Giant’, lamb’s ears, Eu-phorbia myrsinites, liriope, blue oat grass,hellebores, barberries, and many otherplants keep their colored foliage for all ormost of the winter.

To keep the garden interesting allyear, Miller stresses the importance ofjust sitting on a bench and looking.“You’ll always have things to fix.” shesays. “But gardening is the most creativeand exciting art form. It’s worth the ef-fort, for it gives so much pleasure to theeye and to the soul.” �

Karen Bussolini, trained as a painter, is agarden photographer and writer always de-lighted by exciting plant combinations.

23May / June 2004

LYNDEN MILLER’S TIPSFOR HOME GARDENS

On Choosing Plants■ Miller recommends starting withyour favorites and repeating them.But, she adds, “One’s tastes change.When I started, I didn’t like knip-hofias or bergenias at all.”■ To determine what you like, readcatalogs and magazines, visit nurs-eries and public gardens.■ Drive around the neighborhood tosee what’s doing well.■ When selecting big and boldplants, consider plants and habit to-gether.“It’s silly to design a formand then look for plants.”

On Combining Plants■ Make a collage with pictures fromcatalogs and magazines to help vi-sualize combinations. ■ Don’t be afraid to experiment.“Move plants around until they lookright to you.”■ “I don’t like holes.” Study whatneeds to be there. Sometimes a spotneeds to be filled with somethinghard edged like an urn. Sometimesyou just need a carpet of pine needlesrather than more plants.

On Design■ Think big. “Don’t plant in tinybits. Try seven or 11, not 3. Evenbetter, order 25.”■ Get more mileage out of plants bychoosing those that contribute morethan one essential ingredient, be itcolor, bold form, a useful texture forcreating contrasts, or winter interest. ■ “It’s hard to have it just right allyear round. Make a list of your plantsfor each season. Try to spread themout so you’re not shortchanging lessobvious seasons.”■ “Try working with colors peopleare not using. People used to avoidhot colors, but now they are trendy.” ■ Remember there is no instantgratification in gardening. You justhave to be patient. �

Stipa calamagrostis and Astilbe chinensis ‘Superba’, left standing for winter interest.

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the allure of

LOTUS

BY ILENE STERNBERG

Don’t have the space or time for a full-size water garden? Growing a lotus in a container can

be a satisfying way to get your feet wet.

My lotus is an unnamed selection thatI purchased already “tubbed,” from alocal farm cooperative eight years ago,but as far as I’m concerned, it’s just asnice as its more pedigreed cousins.

The delight it has given me is wellworth the minimal effort it takes to tend,and even if I had a pond, I think I’d pre-fer growing it as this spectacular pot-bound gargantuan bouquet that I haveclose at hand all the time in summer.Masses of lotuses are beautiful in ponds,but if not carefully controlled, they can

become a bit of a liability. Dense matscan develop on ponds, lakes, reservoirs,and irrigation channels, impeding flow,overrunning native plants, and inhibit-ing oxygen.

There are only two species in the genusNelumbo—the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nu-cifera), native to Asia, and the Americanyellow lotus (N. lutea), native to the Mis-sissippi River basin—but hundreds ofnamed cultivars in a wide range of flowercolors are available by mail-order or athigh-end garden stores. Our native lotus,

a beauty with fragrant yellow flowers, issaid to be trickier to grow in a containerthan the named cultivars.

LEGEND AND LORE Another reason I like growing lotus isthat it is one of those plants wreathed ina fascinating blend of history, religion,and mythology. The historical record onsacred lotus is a bit muddled becauseearly chroniclers apparently used thatname to refer to what we now know asthe blue water lily (Nymphaea caerulea).

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25May / June 2004

Top right: A lotus growing in a container makes an eye-catching poolside bouquet in the author’s yard. Above: ‘Mrs. Perry D. Slocum’ bearslarge blooms that open a rose color, later maturing to peach and yellow. Opposite: A pink-flowered sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera).

THE UNDISPUTED STAR of my summer garden

is the lotus that I am growing in a large, round,

polyurethane container on my terrace. In late summer,

intoxicated by the exotic scent of its exquisite pink

blossoms that loom as tall and as big as my face and

mesmerized by the glistening jeweled water droplets that

swirl like quicksilver on its enormous aerial leaves, I

sometimes imagine I’m Queen of the Nile! And, as we all

know, it’s good to feel regal once in a while.

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But it is generally accepted that lotuseswere known, grown, and valued for theirbeauty starting at least 3,000 years ago inAsia, and had made their way to south-ern Europe and Egypt by about 500 B.C.Frail bits of lotus petals were found in thetomb of the Egyptian ruler Ramses II,surviving where stone and brass artifactshad long since crumbled away.

Lotuses are revered throughout Asia,where they have come to symbolize puri-ty, beauty, fertility, prosperity, perfection,and the transitory nature of human exis-tence. When ancient peoples witnessedlotus rising from once dried up water-courses following the rains, they regardedthem as signs of immortality and resur-rection. The plant has a particularly deepassociation with Buddhism—as legendhas it, Buddha was born in the heart of alotus flower and is often depicted sittingin a lotus blossom or on its leaf.

The plant also has a long history ofculinary and medicinal uses. The seeds,petioles, rhizomes, and leaves of lotuses are

still common ingredients in Asian cuisine.Similarly, native Americans ate the rhi-zomes and seeds of yellow lotus. Variousparts of the plant have been used medici-nally to treat everything from sunstrokeand syphilis to cardiac complaints, chron-ic diarrhea, and cancer.

GROWING LOTUSESLotuses are quite hardy and will survivein USDA Zones 4 to 11. But in order tobloom successfully, lotuses require twoto three months of temperatures in the80s, as well as a site that receives at leastsix hours of sunshine a day, which is whythey are rated for AHS Heat Zones 12 to3. They will bloom in most areas ofNorth America, with the exception ofcooler regions of the Pacific Northwestand Canada. But in my opinion, even ifyou have little hope of flowers,it is still worth growing a lotusfor its incredible foliage. Theglaucous leaves are slightly up-turned, faintly ruffled disks,one to two feet across. Theirwaxy surface hosts perfectbeads of rain or dew, the rolland play of which is simplymesmerizing to watch.

Lotus blossoms last threedays, unfolding each morningand closing by evening. Theymake magnificent cut flowers,with first-day fragrance beingmost intense. The pods, deco-rative “showerheads” filled withround rattling seeds, are a won-der themselves and popular indried flower arrangements.

They start out yellow, then turn green.Ultimately brown when fully ripe, theybend at the neck on their stems and droptheir seeds into the water. Seeds germi-nate easily, although their hard, protec-tive coating keeps them viable forcenturies. Dried, gently nicked seedssprout overnight, and within a weekleaves will appear on the water surface.When growing lotuses in tubs in gardenponds, be sure to remove all seedpods be-fore mature seeds can be spread.

Since my container has no recirculat-ing mechanism, I toss in half a Bt (Bacil-lus thuringiensis) donut to preventmosquito larvae from using my tub forwater sports. It doesn’t seem to deter theneighborhood cats, however. They drinkfrom the tub all the time, turning uptheir noses at the fresh water I provide.

ResourcesWater Gardening: Water Lilies andLotuses by Perry D. Slocum and Pe-ter Robinson. Timber Press, Port-land, Oregon, 1996.

Water Gardening, P.O. Box 607, St.John, IN 46373. (800) 308-6157. www.watergardening.com.■ A bimonthly full-color magazinefor water gardening hobbyists. Aone-year subscription is $24.99.

SourcesGardener's Supply Company, Burling-ton, VT. (888) 833-1412.www.gardeners.com. Catalog free.

Lilypons Water Gardens, Buckeys-town, MD. (800) 999-5459.www.lilypons.com. Catalog free.

Paradise Water Gardens, Ltd., Whit-man, MA. (800) 955-0161.www.paradisewatergardens.com.Catalog free.

A ripe lotus seedhead shows the round seeds ready toharvest. They should be nicked and soaked before sowing.

Lotuses suited for small containers include ‘Angel Wing’, left, a floriferous white cultivar thatgrows three to four feet high, and ‘Momo Botan’, right, a pink dwarf that grows two to four feet.

I also grow parrot feather (Myriophyl-lum aquaticum) in my pot, because it isdecorative and helps filter slime, but itspreads quickly and must be scooped outliberally every couple of weeks or it mightinhibit flower formation. Parrot featherhas the potential to be highly invasive inthe wild, so I’m very careful not to dumpit anywhere where it might escape into awetland or stream. You can also keep asmall fish or two in the tub with yourlotus, but be aware some species maynibble on your prize plant, and they mayalso need to be provided oxygenation.

SHARING THE WEALTHLotuses proliferate with such exuberancethat I have to seek out friends willing toadopt “puppies” every other year. Extrascan be sliced, deep-fried, and eaten.You’ll find recipes for lotus in most Asiancookbooks.

No matter where you live, it’s worthfinding space to grow a lotus in a pot.They look great beside a swimming pool,in a pond, or up on a flat roof. Even if Imoved to an apartment with only a smallbalcony for plants, I think I’d still want togrow my lotus. Once you’ve been Queenof the Nile, you don’t want to relinquishthe crown. �

Garden writer Ilene Sternberg grows lotuseson her patio in West Chester, Pennsylvania.C

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27May / June 2004

CONTAINER CULTURE FOR LOTUSESLotuses are easy to grow and care for in a container. Select a dormant rhizome withno rot and a healthy growing tip. Put aquatic or organic fertilizer in the bottom of around container at least threefeet across by one foot deepfor a standard size lotus. Con-tainers for lotuses should al-ways be round; otherwise, thegrowing tips of the rhizomescan get mangled in the cor-ners. Some experts adviseagainst using manure, butAsian growers have success-fully cultivated lotuses forcenturies using compostedmanure, bone or fish meal,even soybean or sesame cakecovered with several inchesof heavy garden mud.

PLANTING THE RHIZOMESPlace the yamlike rhizome horizontally on the bottom of the container with the“eye” pointing toward the tub’s center. Weigh the rhizome down with stones,so it’s less likely to float away, and cover with a two- to three-inch layer of soil.Don’t use potting mixtures that contain perlite or peat moss, because they willfloat and create a mess—purchase special heavy-duty aquatic soil through spe-cialty mail-order houses(see “Resources” on facingpage) and even at somehome supply stores. And,finally, add water—abouteight to 12 inches abovethe top of the soil is ideal.Add water regularly tomaintain the level, becausethe edges of the leaves willdry out and turn crisp if thewater gets low.

Once you have plantedyour lotus in a tub or otherlarge container, place the tubon your deck or submerge it to a depth of six to 18 inches below the surface in a pond.The first leaves to emerge lie flat on the water like lily pads. As the temperaturewarms, newer leaves shoot aloft above the surface.

WINTER CAREMove lotus containers to an unheated porch or garage where temperatures re-main above freezing in winter. Or, you can lift and save rhizomes in peat moss,taking care not to damage the fragile eyes. This is a little trickier: kept too moist,they may rot; too dry, they may desiccate.

Divide lotuses into sections for planting in spring, with at least two sectionsconnected by their long “umbilical cords.” Repot each rhizome to start the cy-cle anew. —I.S.

This bulbous lotus rhizome has two prominent “eyes”(far left and and center). These should be plantedfacing toward the center of a container.

Free-blooming flowers of ‘Perry’s Super Star’change from deep pink to yellow then creamover the course of three days.

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CONEFLOWERSan American ClassicCONEFLOWERSan American Classic

IT ’ S A no-brainer. No garden ofmine will ever be without coneflow-ers (Echinacea spp.). Period. This

far-from-ordinary genus of plants bringsdependable, long-lasting bloom to gar-dens in the heat of summer, just in timefor July 4th festivities. Some species haveflashy hot-pink flowers with iridescentorange centers, while others have moredelicate-looking, spidery flowers. Theseeasy-to-grow, drought- and heat-tolerantperennials are butterfly magnets, makegreat long-lasting cut flowers, and pro-vide seedhead snacks for goldfinches.Some species have medicinal propertiesto boot.

Given all these positive characteristics,it’s hard to fathom that as recently as acouple of decades ago, coneflowers werewidely considered weedy wildflowers intheir native land. As with other Ameri-can natives, it was Europeans who start-ed the process of “civilizing” them.German plant breeders developed someearly cultivars, such as Echinacea pur-purea ‘Rubinstern’ (‘Ruby Star’), in thelate 1960s, and shortly thereafter Euro-pean landscape designers began usingdramatic masses of coneflowers in thenaturalistic design style that came intovogue in the 1970s and ’80s.

American gardeners and designerssoon embraced this trend, and coneflow-ers surged in popularity in the 1990s.Recognizing their garden potential, plantbreeders have stepped up work on cone-flowers over the last decade. The result isdozens of new coneflowers in compactforms, with bright new flower colors, and

even variegated foliage (for more onbreeding programs and new cultivars, seebox on page 33).

ALL-AMERICAN GENUSPart of the aster family (Asteraceae), thegenus Echinacea is native exclusively toNorth America; its eight species are pri-marily found in eastern and midwesternregions of the United States. All have aprominent central cone—composed ofbracts and disc flowers—encircled by aring of petals (ray flowers) that range fromdark rose-purple to white and yellow. Thegeneric name, Echinacea, comes from theGreek word for “hedgehog,” echinos,which refers to the sharp, pointed bracts onthe cone. Coneflowers grow best in sunny,well-drained locations and are perfectlysuited to perennial borders, prairie gardens,and wildflower meadows. They grow ef-fortlessly in lean soils and don’t require richamendments or fertilizers.

The matriarch of the family is purpleconeflower (Echinacea purpurea, USDAZones 3–8, AHS Zones 9–1), the speciesmost gardeners are familiar with. I’ve al-ways had a fondness—really a passion—

for purple coneflower, which is indispens-able in the perennial border. Part of thepopularity and garden success of thisspecies can be attributed to its broad nat-ural distribution, ranging from Pennsyl-vania to Iowa south through Virginia,Kentucky, and Tennessee to Georgia andLouisiana.

Purple coneflowers grow three to fourfeet tall with a two-foot spread and arethickly cloaked in coarsely toothed, brightgreen leaves. Starting in late June to earlyJuly, the plants are covered with flowersthat bloom for four weeks in midsummerand then sporadically until frost, especial-ly if deadheaded.

Three notable cultivars that share sim-ilar traits include the Perennial Plant Asso-ciation’s 1998 Perennial of the Year, E.purpurea ‘Magnus’, as well as the cultivars‘Bravado’ and ‘Bright Star’. ‘Magnus’sports horizontally-set pink rays that areslightly broader and flare out more thanthe species. ‘Bravado’ has large four to fiveinch inflorescences with rosy-red horizon-tal rays, while ‘Bright Star’ is a dwarf culti-var (two and a half to three and a half feet)with horizontal rose-red rays. J

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Once considered weedy,

coneflowers are now the

darlings of plant breeders and

summer mainstays in formal

and informal gardens.

BY KIM HAWKS

Opposite: Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’bears slighly broader and more-horizontalrays than the straight species.

Echinacea pallida and Monarda fistulosa combine well in this colorful prairie garden.

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OK, so what’s the difference betweenthese cultivars and the straight species?Not much, in my opinion. I’ve grown‘Magnus’ and have been quite pleasedwith its performance, though I tend tolike the relaxed, drooping petals of thewild-type better.

I was fortunate enough to be involvedin the selection of the first compact culti-vars of purple coneflower. E. purpurea‘Kim’s Knee High’, which grows to only 15to 20 inches, was developed at Niche Gar-dens and co-introduced in 1999 by Nicheand Sunny Border Nurseries. Its shorterstature makes it suitable for small gardenspaces. Compact E. purpurea ‘Kim’s MopHead’, a variant of ‘Kim’s Knee High’, topsout at 18 to 24 inches. Its single, white flow-ers around a green cone with fringed “mophead” petals that supposedly refer to my“white” frazzled hair. For those of you whoenjoy your garden by moonlight, plant‘Kim’s Mop Head’ along the front of sunnyborders or along paths where the purewhite flowers illuminate the way.

Other white-flowered E. purpurea se-lections include ‘Alba’, a creamy whitewith a greenish-copper central cone,‘White Swan’ with bright white, droop-ing ray petals and a prominent orangecone, and ‘White Lustre’, distinguishedby more-horizontally positioned whiterays and a bronzy-orange cone. The dif-ferences between these are minimal tomy eyes.

LESSER-KNOWN BUT DESERVING SPECIESThere are several other coneflowerspecies worthy of consideration for thegarden. Most are difficult to find in tra-ditional garden centers but can be ob-tained through specialty mail-ordernurseries (see “Sources,” page 32).

Pale purple coneflower (E. pallida,Zones 4–8, 8–1) is a graceful-looking plantthat tops out at three to four feet and hasthree- to four-inch inflorescences com-posed of narrow, pink, straplike petals thatdroop dramatically. Plants may need to bestaked to keep them dependably vertical,or pinch them back hard in mid-spring toinitiate a more stalwart growth habit. Inmy North Carolina garden, pale purpleconeflower proved to be short-lived, butit is still worth knowing and growing for

its interesting flower form. Its native rangeis from Illinois to Minnesota and Mon-tana, south to Georgia and Texas.

A native of prairies from Saskatchewanto Texas, the narrow-leaved purple cone-flower (E. angustifolia, Zones 4–9, 8–5) isflorally similar to E. pallida but is shorter(two to three feet) and less stout. Well suit-ed to informal and meadow gardens, E.angustifolia is also a candidate for a medi-cinal herb garden. The Plains Indians hadmore medicinal uses for E. angustifoliathan for any other plant; its roots werechewed or steeped in teas to alleviate res-piratory ailments and to heal snake andspider bites, toothaches, burns, and hardto heal wounds. In Western herbal medi-cine, it is considered an important im-mune-system stimulant and is now acommonplace item among the herbalsupplements available at grocery stores.

Smooth coneflower (E. laevigata,Zones 6–9, 9–2) is similar in appearance topurple coneflower except the leaves aresmooth on their undersides and its rayflowers are a bit narrower. Less vigorousand colorful than purple coneflower,smooth coneflower’s historic native distri-bution was from Pennsylvania south intoVirginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.Development and agriculture have re-duced its habitat to a few widely scatteredsites within that range.

Endemic to limestone glades and lim-ited in the wild to only three counties in

Two compact cultivars named for the author,‘Kim’s Knee High’, left, and ‘Kim’s MopHead’, above, are better suited to smallgardens or the front of flower borders.

‘White Swan’, a white form of purpleconeflower, comes true from seed.

central Tennessee, Tennessee coneflower(E. tennesseensis, Zones 3–9, 9–1) is on theFederally Endangered Species List andcan only be purchased from nurserieswith a special permit to propagate andsell it. But don’t let that stop you fromseeking this handsome plant from legiti-mate nursery sources. Although it is notrobust in growth—one reason it’s en-dangered—it grows two to three feet tallwith narrow, lance-shaped leaves and at-tractive flowers that have slightly up-turned rosy-pink petals surrounding apinkish-green central cone.

Tennessee coneflower hybridizes readi-ly with other coneflowers and is being usedin several commercial breeding programs,so having some in your garden may lead tosome interesting hybrids. Given itspredilection for limestone, this is a goodchoice for a garden with dryish, neutral toalkaline soils.

Yellow coneflower (Echinacea para-doxa, Zones 6–9, 9–2) bears yellow—hence the paradox—ray flowers on two-to three-foot plants. Like Tennesseeconeflower, it is partial to limestone soils,but its now-limited natural range is pri-marily in Arkansas and Missouri. Itsunique warm yellow flower petals sur-round a purplish cone.

COMPLEMENTARY PLANTINGSThe pastel colors of most coneflowerscombine well with other colors—withthe exception, perhaps, of fire-enginered—so it’s easy to create great composi-tions with other summer flowers andgrasses. Just remember that coneflowerslook best en masse—so plant them inlarge groupings for best effect.

Imagine pairing purple coneflower withburgundy- or mauve-flowered daylilies(Hemerocallis spp.), or the contrast of yel-low at its base with the compact Hemero-callis ‘Happy Returns’ that rivalsHemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’ with a longbloom period and warm yellow flowers.‘Stella de Oro’ is also a good choice, bear-ing lots of small sherbet-orange flowers.

For a dynamic pairing, place butterflymilkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) close byconeflowers so their electric orange flow-ers highlight the orange center of theconeflowers. Both will be smothered withbutterflies! The purple spikes of gayfeath-er (Liatris spicata) are wonderful com-

panions; they consume little horizontalspace and gracefully ease up beside or be-hind coneflowers to provide a vertical pur-ple swatch in the composition. Add athree- to four-foot fountain of silver andlavender with Russian sage (Perovskiaatriplicifolia ‘Filagran’) nearby and achievemore vertical depth by placing Phlox pan-iculata ‘Robert Poore’ behind to create awall of warm-pink flowers.

The two-inch bright yellow flowers ofthe summer-blooming false sunflower(Heliopsis helianthoides) look great withconeflowers, and the compact, soft-tex-tured fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecur-oides ‘Cassian’) sways in the slightestbreeze and settles comfortably close by.By contrast, Pennisetum orientale ‘TallTails’ bears eight-foot graceful tails ofsummer plumes above five-foot plantsand creates a pleasing backdrop for phlox‘Robert Poore’ as well as for coneflowers.

Shorter coneflowers such as ‘Kim’sKnee High’ and ‘Kim’s Mop Head’ shouldbe placed, en masse, in front of mixedshrub or perennial borders, to create astunning show of summertime color.Other compact perennials that combinewith compact coneflowers include verbe-na (Verbena canadensis ‘Homestead Pur-ple’), the needlelike, silvery foliage oflavender cotton (Santolina rosmarinifoloiaT

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Endangered Tennessee coneflower (E. tennesseensis), backed here by Russian sage, growsbest in dry, neutral to alkaline soil. In the wild, it is found only in limestone glades.

Top left: Smooth coneflower (E. laevigata) is named for its leaves, the undersides of which aresmooth. Top right: Yellow coneflower (E. paradoxa) is a standout in a pink-flowered genus.

‘Morning Mist’), dwarf goldenrod (Sol-idago sphacelata ‘Golden Fleece’), the two-foot spikes of dwarf gayfeather (Liatrismicrocephala) or the two-foot-tall clump-forming dwarf fountain grass (Pennisetumalopecuroides ‘Hameln’).

White-flowered coneflowers combinewell with bright-colored or silvery com-

panions. I’ve grown E. purpurea ‘WhiteSwan’ and adore it in our white-and-blueborder in the company of silver- foliagedArtemesia ‘Powis Castle’ and white-flow-ered Achillea millefolium. Other goodcompanions include white globe thistle(Echinops sphaerocephalus ‘Arctic Glow’)and white-flowered garden phlox such as

Phlox paniculata ‘David’ or ‘Delta Snow’.To bring pleasing blues into the picture,

place Aster laevis ‘Bluebird’ behind, alongwith the compact, upright form of Siber-ian catmint (Nepeta sibirica ‘SouvenirD’Andre Chaudron’). Tuck a couple ofSalvia guaranitica in the rear with a clumpof blue lyme grass (Leymus arenarius) infront. Add more blue with little bluestem(Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’) tothe side and marvel at the steel-blue grassyfoliage transforming in the fall to russet-or-ange that echoes the central cone of theconeflower. Then sit back as your friendsooh and aaah over the results.

I started growing coneflowers long be-fore they were trendy, but they have notlost any of their luster for me. And eventhough purple coneflower takes centerstage in most gardens, the lesser-knownspecies found in prairies and open fieldsacross the country are all well worthgrowing. Or try some of the new culti-vars just finding their way to retail out-lets. Either way, these “weeds” have comea long way, baby. �

Founder and former owner of Niche Gar-dens nursery in North Carolina, KimHawks now enjoys tending a home gardenand writing about plants and garden design. J

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SourcesBig Dipper Farm, Black Diamond, WA. (360) 886-8133.www.bigdipperfarm.com. Web catalog only.

Heronswood, Kingston, WA. www.heronswood.com.(800) 509-1444. Catalog $5.

J. W. Jung Seed Company, Randolph, WI. (800) 297-3123,www.jungseed.com. Catalog free.

Lazy S’S Farm Nursery Perennials, Barboursville, VA. (540) 832-2334 www.lazyssfarm.com. Web catalog only.

Niche Gardens, Chapel Hill, NC. (919) 967-0078.www.nichegdn.com. Catalog $3.

Plant Delights, Raleigh, NC. (919) 772-4794.www.plantdelights.com. Catalog 10 stamps or 1 box ofchocolates.

Roots & Rhizomes, Randolf, WI. (800) 374-5035, www.rootsrhizomes.com. Catalog free.

Sugar Creek Gardens, Kirkwood, MO. (314) 965-3070.www.sugarcreekgardens.com. Web catalog only.

Sunlight Gardens, Andersonville, TN. (423) 494-8237.www.sunlightgardens.com. Catalog $3.

Wayside Gardens, Hodges, SC. (800) 213-0379.www.waysidegardens.com. Catalog free.

ResourcesElixir of Echinacea by James H. Locklear, American Horti-culturist, Volume 74, Number 6, June 1995.

Herbaceous Perennial Plants by Allan Armitage, TimberPress, Portland, Oregon, 2000.

The New England Wild Flower Society Guide to Growing andPropagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada byWilliam Cullina. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts,2000.

‘Magnus’ purple coneflower sets apart the yellow shades of heliopsis (Heliopsis helianthoides‘Orange King’), left, and yarrow (Achillea sp.), right, in this sun-drenched perennial border.

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33May / June 2004

SOME NEW CONEFLOWER CULTIVARS FOR 2004Name Height./width (in.) Rays/discs/diameter/other description Retail sources

E. purpurea Doppelganger™ 30–36/18–24 Pink/orange discs with a second set of pink Big Dipper Farmrays/4 to 5 inches

E. purpurea ‘Fragrant Angel’ 20/24 Clean white, horizontal/dark yellow/4 to 5 inches/fragrant Lazy S’S Farm NurseryE. purpurea ‘Little Giant’ 12/16 Rose-purple, ruffled/dark orange/ 5 inches Sugar Creek GardenE. ‘Paranoia’ 10–12/12 Clear yellow, drooping /rich bronzy brown/ 3 to 4 inches/ Plant Delights

strappy green foliageE. purpurea ‘Prairie Frost’ 18/20–26 Purple-pink/ dark orange/ 4 inches/ dark green leaves with Heronswood

crisp white marginsE. purpurea ‘Razzmatazz’ 30–36/18–24 Dark pink/ smaller red-purple, anemonelike rays/ 3 to 4 inches WaysideE. purpurea ‘Vintage Wine’ 35/18 Red-purple, upturned /dark red-tipped/3 to 31/2 inches Roots & Rhizomes,

Jung Seed Company

CONEFLOWER CULTIVAR RELEASES TO WATCH FOR IN 2005Echinacea purpurea ‘Jade’ 30/24 White with pinked green tips/dark green/ 3 to 31/2 inchesE. purpurea ‘Sparkler’ 36/24 Bright pink, flattened/ orange-brown/ 5 inches/ white-speckled variegated foliage

CONEFLOWERS GET A NEW LOOK Over the last decade, plant breeders have stepped up work on coneflowers, recog-nizing the garden potential for this adaptable, low-care genus. In addition to newwhite and compact cultivars, breeders are developing bright colors and fancy flowerforms through both traditional breeding and plant selection programs.

Jim Ault, botanist and head plant breeder at the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG), es-tablished one of the most extensive of these Echinacea breeding programs in 1996. Thefirst graduate of the program, an orange-flowered selection Echinacea ‘Art’s Pride’,trademarked as Orange Meadowbrite™, was introduced earlier this year to great fanfare.

“Echinacea was an obvious candidate for our program,” says Ault. “Its species areattractive, tough, and generally easy to grow, and unadulterated E. purpurea is a par-ticularly attractive garden ornamental even in its wild-type form. In addition, theirspecies are promiscuous—meaning they hybridize easily—which provides even greaterpotential for creating new and interesting cultivars.” In fact, interspecific crosses com-prise many of the plants that CBG is evaluating. “Echinacea Orange Meadowbrite™ isan interspecific cross between E. purpurea and E. paradoxa, selected from a third gen-eration crossing, and many others are in the works, such as E. paradoxa and E. simu-lata crosses, and E. paradoxa, and E. angustifolia crosses,” reveals Ault.

The Echinacea breeding plots at CBG contain 2,000 to 2,500 plants at any giv-en time. “We have to select for the best ornamental traits possible,” says Ault, “soin a given year as many as half of the plants in our plots must be rogued out and re-placed with new plants.”

Many other plant breeders are actively involved in developing new Echinacea cul-tivars. At Terra Nova in Tigard, Oregon, Dan Heims will soon introduce a coneflowerwith variegated foliage called ‘Sparkler’. Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery inRaleigh, North Carolina, and plant breeder Richard Saul worked together to developa new yellow-flowered dwarf called ‘Paranoia’ that is also a cross between E. para-doxa and E. purpurea. Several plant breeders from the Netherlands have developednotable new coneflowers: Piet Oudolf recently introduced E. purpurea ‘Vintage Wine’and E. ‘Jade’, and Jan van Winsen created this year’s new showstopper, E. purpurea‘Razzmatazz’, the first “double”-flowered coneflower that has hot-pink ray petals. (Formore on these new cultivars, see the chart below.)

—Jessie Keith, Editorial InternNew coneflowers, top to bottom: ‘Razzmatazz’,Orange Meadowbrite™, and ‘Sparkler’.

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OFFICIALLY, Grounds for Sculp-ture (GFS), in Hamilton, NewJersey, midway between Phila-

delphia and New York, is a 35-acre art cen-ter specializing in exhibiting contemporarysculpture. Unofficially, it’s a magnificentgarden filled with plants in symbiotic rela-tionships with the sculptures in theirmidst. The resulting dialogue between artand landscape—trees, ponds, and undu-lating earth—lends this park an other-worldly aura.

Even before visitors reach the main en-trance gate on Sculptor’s Way, they experi-

ence a disjoint, a sense of a departure fromthe quotidian. It begins as they passthrough the industrial neighborhoodaround the park. Several blocks away, onthe sidewalk along Klockner Avenue, a fa-ther is helping his daughter learn to ride abicycle. At first glance, that is. Then comesthe realization that this is First Ride, one ofthe life-sized, realistic statues by the park’sfounder, Johnson & Johnson heir J. Se-ward Johnson Jr. His real-life characters—businessmen reading newspapers orgossiping women on park benches—elicitdouble takes wherever they are installed.

Even after recognizing that this is John-son’s work, in this instance and in this set-ting, it seems perfectly plausible that onefine moonlit night, the cast bronze wheelsof this bicycle began to turn and this pairescaped the boundaries of the park to takeup residence on the sidewalk in front of alumber and building materials company.This sense of altered reality is heightenedby other incongruous juxtapositions.

In front of the Department of WaterPollution Control for Hamilton Countyis Phillip Shore’s metal sculpture Armored.Across the street from the American Stan-

Grounds for SculptureIn New Jersey, an artist and a landscape designer have created an eye-catching synthesis of

landscape and art amid an incongruously urban environment. BY CAROLE OTTESEN

dard factory, manufacturer of bathroomand kitchen fixtures, stands a figure on agreat white horse. It is Spirit of Freedom byAndrzej Pitynski. Nearby, AlexanderLiberman’s huge, bright orange, freeformDaedalus, dominates a vacant lot with aview of a UPS facility.

Unexpected in these settings, theseworks provide a transition between the ex-perience of the workaday industrial areaand that of Grounds for Sculpture. Theidea for placing these works outside thepark came about when the GFS stafflearned that a train station for Hamilton

would be constructed a mile away, saysBrooke Barrie, director and curator ofGFS; “we thought we’d put sculpturealong the way” to lead visitors to the park.

When they reach the entrance gate, vis-itors enter another world. Inside, all is ver-dant serenity, a setting for art as fitting asthe outside neighborhood is incongruous.An arboretum of trees—many rare andunusual—were selected by Brian Carey,project architect of AC/BC Associates inNew York City, and Bruce Daniels, De-velopment Coordinator of the park. Hun-dreds of trees join thousands of roses,

rhododendrons, and other floweringshrubs. Along with herbaceous plants,they clothe the undulating land with al-lées, bosques, thickets, and hedges. Theyform secret rooms, frames, backdrops, andlandscapes within the landscape to high-light the sculptures. It’s hard to believe thatthis place was ever anything but a garden.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS“In the beginning,” says Carey, whose firmwas chosen in 1986 to design a sculpturepark after winning an architectural com-petition, “it was an old stock car track.”P

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Above: Magdalena Abakanowicz’s castbronze sculpture, Hand-Like Tree: Cecyna(1994), with the sculpture museum inbackground. Right: Garden State (1997), byIsaac Witkin, made of Zimbabwe blackgranite. Opposite, foreground: JamesDinerstein’s cast bronze Still Speech(2000), located by the pond near Rat’sRestaurant. Background: Artificial poppiesfrom J. Seward Johnson Jr.’s On Poppied Hill.

May / June 2004 35

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Before that, it was the New Jersey state fairgrounds. When Johnson bought the orig-inal 22 acres in 1984, it was simply a vacantlot in proximity to his atelier. Originally,he had planned to use it only to showsculptures from his atelier.

By 1987, Johnson’s vision had expand-ed to include exhibiting a large and variedbody of sculpture in both a sculpture gar-den and in a museum. His goal was tomake sculpture accessible so people fromall backgrounds could become comfort-able with contemporary art. In July 2000,Grounds for Sculpture became a publiccharitable organization, Public Art Foun-dation, Inc. Today, as a community artscenter, it also hosts music events, poetryreadings, and other programs.

Grounds for Sculpture grew “in fitsand starts,” says Carey, who has a geniusfor turning lemons into lemonade. In thebeginning, he recalls, “we had junk—eightNorway maples, piles of bricks, and a bigconcrete slab from the former grandstand.Instead of trying to remove it,” he says, “wemade it look like we wanted it. The slab isnow a pad for sculpture.”

It was Johnson who had the idea of sur-rounding the sculpture pad with columns.Now Arborvitae, patterned paving, andsmall garden plots break what was a hugeexpanse down into rooms, intimate spaces,dedicated to the display of their sculpturalinhabitants. The visitor discovers theserooms one by one. A small gate in the Ar-

borvitae wall opens into a tiny room,walled with Arborvitae with a table, twochairs, and a female figure embedded inthe hedge: Inua by Helena Lukasova.

Elsewhere, a maze of giant grass (Arun-do donax) leads to Charlotte Rosengren’sSirens of the Woods. In winter, the grass iscut to the ground, but “as it grows,” saysBarrie, the sculpture is slowly obscured.The gradual and incremental discovery ofsecret treasures is the fundamental experi-ence of a visit here.

The sense of unfolding adventure is en-hanced by the park’s topography. WhenJohnson purchased the site, it was flat as apancake and strewn with rubble. “Wethought since it was so flat, we’d makelakes and valleys,” says Carey, who incor-porated existing rubble into berms.

Using bulldozers, says Johnson, Carey“made a ripple in the earth—waves ofground with a path cut through thesewaves.” He also designed berms on eitherside of the path. They “come out like fin-gers to make little outdoor galleries,” saysBarrie. The path now meanders through arichly planted, undulating topography thatallows for a consecutive disclosure of thepark’s features.

Set on a concrete pad that was once part of a grandstand, colonnades and an arborvitae hedge now form the backdrop for Leonda Finke’scast-bronze Seated Woman (1988). Creative use of plants and hardscaping have transformed the slab into an attractive asset for the park.

DESIGNER’S TIPSGardeners can take some hints forcreating privacy from Brian Carey.

■ Even small berms can add instantheight to the plants growing on them(and they are great places to neatlydispose of rubble).

■ Trees, planted closely together, cre-ate aerial hedges that can betrimmed into neat shapes.

■ Layers of vegetation provide deepprivacy. For example, Brooke Barrieand Carey’s “maple-henge” is a circleof maples (Acer spp.) enclosing ahedge of yews (Taxus spp.) and en-circled by pear trees (Pyrus spp).

“Instead of a linear layout, there is kindof a loop and off the loop, and there areother little loops and dead ends,” saysCarey. One path leads to a warming hutwith a roof planted in herbaceous plantsand drooping with winter jasmine (Jas-minum nudiflorum). The hut is a pleasantplace to visit in the winter. “The idea aboutthe place was that there’d be some reasonto come back,” adds Carey. “Even afteryou’d been through several times, you’d stillfind surprises.” And surprises there are.

For example, visitors walking the pathmay not notice a small opening in thewoodland. If they do, they may momen-tarily wish they had not. There’s a glimpseof bare flesh—and the thought that whatis happening in the undergrowth reallyought to be conducted in a private place.Then there’s the jolt of recognition. There,picnicking in the woods, are the charactersfrom Eduoard Manet’s Le Déjeuner surl’Herbe—in (and out) of costume. It isJohnson’s work, Déjeuner Déjà Vu. He hasset these life-sized figures into a real land-scape approximating that of the painting.

Others of Johnson’s eleven Impres-sionist-inspired works are tucked into sim-ilarly not-so-obvious places. “You reallyhave to find them,” says Barrie. “A num-ber of them have their own gardensaround them.” It was important to givethese works the same viewpoint as in thepaintings and the actual landscapes had tobe reproduced. For example, what nowappears as a clearing in the woods in Dé-jeuner Déjà Vu was an open field. It wasup to Carey to reproduce the scene as it isdepicted in the painting.

FRAMING ART WITH NATURE“We’d wander in the woods to look forplants with branching structures similar tothose in the painting,” says Carey. “For thegolden field in the background, we foundyellow foliage plants.” A sycamore (Pla-

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Top: Déjeuner Déjà Vu, J. Seward Johnson Jr.’ssculptural interpretation of Edouard Manet’spainting, Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe, isaccessible through an opening in the woods.Right: The sense of discovery throughout thepark is heightened by plantings—such as thisautumn vignette of corkscrew willow (Salixmatsudana ‘Tortuosa’), fountain grass, andmiscanthus by the gazebo pond—that dividethe grounds into a series of garden rooms.

May / June 2004 37

tanus sp.) leaning into the clearing, saysBarrie, had to be wired into position. Torepresent light and shadow on the ground,Carey interplanted green Liriope withblack mondo grass (Ophiopogon planisca-pus ‘Nigrescens’).

Among Johnson’s other works inspiredby Impressionist paintings is On PoppiedHill, after Claude Monet’s Woman with aParasol set in a field of poppies. A womanand boy stand atop a hill that is brightwith red poppies in tall grass. In additionto constructing a hill, Carey planted it,mixing “probably 10 different grasses, in-cluding Pennisetum, Helic-totrichon, and anything Icould find that was 18 inch-es tall,” to achieve the lookof a field. The poppies wereeasier. They are artificial.

Not only did Carey in-stall innovative plantings,says Johnson, “he was goodat keeping the bones of whatwas there.” Admiring theterra cotta details on the oldstate fair buildings, Careyrecycled them instead ofbuilding anew. The 10,000-foot barn for small animalswas renovated and moved toits present site, where itserves as the main museumbuilding. Three of the original building’sgreat steel arches were removed and placednorth of the new museum to form anopen-air wisteria-shaded sculpture court-yard. This trio of arches is the GFS logo.

Two other fairground structures wererecycled. The former Motor Exhibit Hallnow houses private art studios. The Do-mestic Arts Building, where once farmers’wives exhibited their pies, fruits, and pre-serves, is a combination of museum, mu-seum shop, and café. One of its sides isflanked by the Water Garden.

In the Water Garden, as throughout thepark, a large space has been subdivided.Yellow stucco walls, pools, a waterfall, andplants enclose and divide space and pro-

vide each sculpture a private, complimen-tary setting. At one end of the Water Gar-den, a spectacular hedge of clipped riverbirch (Betula nigra) creates a brilliant greenbackdrop for G. Frederick Morante’s Rel-ative, two identical male figures cast fromthe same mold and mounted horizontallyon opposite sides of a steel beam. On theother side of the hedge is Brower Hatcher’sstainless steel, glass, and iron Time Revers-ing. Elsewhere, a rare, umbrella-formedcamperdown elm (Ulmus glabra ‘Camper-downii’) separates Relative from MarthaPettigrew’s oversized women in Gossip.

The camperdown elm and the greatnumber of other rare and unusual treesthroughout the park seem lavish, butmany are the products of “scrounging,”insists Carey. “We had a small budget afterwe did the earth contouring, and we sawit needed a lot of trees. So whenever wesaw guys in orange vests doing construc-tion work, we’d stop and ask for freeplants. After a while, people knew we wereinterested. It’s very much a recycled parkwith recycled plants.”

Thus, when Trenton Hospital tore outa garden to make room for parking, GFSgained a collection of dogwoods (Cornusflorida) and mature lacebark pines (Pinusbungeana). When a family decided to getrid of the spruces lining their driveway, thepark benefited again. Japanese maples(Acer palmatum) from an abandonednursery, planted so close together theygrew straight up, became the JapaneseMaple Courtyard.

This courtyard and its adjoining Bam-boo Garden span the other side of the Do-mestic Arts Building, providing pleasant

outdoor dining for the café.With room to spread, themaple forest casts deep andcooling shade over the tablesbeneath. At one, a youngswain leans toward his stifflyupright female companion.Nearby, a mutton-choppedwaiter in a long white apronlooks on. But this café is self-serve and this waiter won’trefill your cup. He and thecouple compose another ofJohnson’s works, Eye of theBeholder.

Sculptures such as Eye ofthe Beholder enhance lunchin the courtyard. Those withmore time—and money—

can enjoy a meal at Rat’s Restaurant.A path and a footbridge lead from the

park to Rat’s, named for Johnson’s favoritecharacter in the classic children’s book TheWind in the Willows. Surrounded by a gar-den, it overlooks a lake fringed with thou-sands of irises. After a visit to the park, ameal on its terrace is a feast for the senses.

An art center that is equally a seriousgarden and arboretum, Grounds forSculpture may be easy to locate on themap, but passing through the entrancegates will take you right through thelooking glass. �

Carole Ottesen is associate editor of TheAmerican Gardener.

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A neatly clipped hedge of river birch (Betulanigra) forms a green wall against which toview G. Frederick Morante’s Relative, whichrises from a rectangular reflecting pool.

Grounds for Sculpture is located at 18 Fairgrounds Road, adjacent to the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculp-ture, in Hamilton, New Jersey, two miles east of Trenton It is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to9 p.m., closed Mondays and holidays. Admission for adults is $5 Tuesday, through Thursday; $8 on Friday and Saturday;$12 on Sunday. For directions and further information, call (609) 586-0616 or visit www.groundsforsculpture.org.

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IN R E C E N T Y E A R S garden rail-roading in North America—likegifted children and Internet tech-

nology—has grown out of its awkwardinfant stage and entered a more publicand incredibly imaginative phase. Whilemany hobbyists still enjoy landscapingtheir gardens in perfect scale for the rail-road, many others are taking the garden-ing aspect of their railways to new levels.

The hobby of garden railroading tracesits origins to the early days of the full-sizerailroads in the 1830s, when railroadbuilders used steam-powered models totest theories and show off their latest de-signs to the public. By the late 1880s, large-

scale models were available for railroadingenthusiasts to purchase and operate out-doors. Smaller-scale trains, such as Lionel,became popular during the early 1900s,shifting the hobby indoors as electricityand smaller homes predominated.

In the United States, model railroad-ing remained primarily an indoor hobbyuntil 1968, when the German toymakingcompany, Ernst Paul Lehmann, intro-duced sturdy large-scale plastic trains de-signed to be run outdoors. From there,the hobby has taken off, enchanting peo-ple from all walks of life, from dedicatedmodel railroaders looking for greaterchallenges to gardeners interested in

adding an element of whimsy and enter-tainment to their landscaped yards.

In 1985, the year of the first annual Na-tional Garden Railways Convention—co-sponsored by Garden Railways maga-zine and the Denver Garden Railway So-ciety—about 60 garden railway enthusiastsattended. By the end of the ’80s, con-vention attendance had increased five-fold,and the event, which had been held annu-ally in Denver, began rotating to othercities, a reflection of the hobby’s growingnational presence. Today there are almost100 garden railway clubs across the UnitedStates, and the readership for Garden Rail-ways, the hobby’s premier magazine, has

Garden Railroads:

Full Steam AheadThis fast-growing hobby presents creative landscaping challenges and a new way to look at plants.

BY PAT HAYWARD

Garden Railroads:

Full Steam Ahead

Above: Ray and Eileen Torbeck’s backyard in Cincinnati has been landscaped by designer Paul Busse to stand out both as a garden anda setting for model trains. Here a whimsical train chugs along a track seemingly constructed amid a forest in the Pacific Northwest.

grown from about 19,000 just a few yearsago to over 37,000.

MORE THAN MODEL TRAINSI joined the staff at Garden Railways mag-azine as horticultural editor seven yearsago, and in that time I’ve visited hun-dreds of garden railways around thecountry. Because it’s a hobby that en-compasses diverse interests such as mod-eling, history, architecture, engineering,and gardening, every railroad is unique,

but most focus on the railroad; the gar-den plays only a secondary role. That,however, is changing.

When the National Garden RailwayConvention was held in the Cincinnati,Ohio, area in 2002, I saw beautiful rail-ways with fully developed gardens,unique design ideas, and lots and lots ofplants. This trend can be attributed, inpart, to the very active and multi-talent-ed membership of the Greater CincinnatiGarden Railway Society.

One member in particular, Paul Busse,has inspired garden railroaders in the re-gion to give the garden aspect of the hobbyequal emphasis with the trains and tracks.

A landscape architect by training,model railroader since childhood, andartist at heart, Busse has become one of thehobby’s best-known ambassadors throughhis company, Applied Imagination, basedin Alexandria, Kentucky. He began his ca-reer by helping design the railways of fel-low club members, who often hired him tocomplete the installations.

The company’s early projects were pri-marily residential, soon expanding to sea-sonal and holiday displays at nearbyKrohn Conservatory in Cincinnati. Itdidn’t take long for word to get out thatBusse was creating extraordinary displays,and now his work is in demand through-out the East Coast. In 2003, AppliedImagination created public garden rail-ways at Morris Arboretum, ChicagoBotanic Garden, Longwood Gardens, theTexas State Fair, New Orleans BotanicalGarden, New York Botanical Garden, andKrohn Conservatory. Busse’s railroads aretaking hundreds of thousands of visitorsfor rides through imaginary places andmagical gardens never seen before—andbringing many into the hobby as well.

“What makes garden railroads reallyunique,” says Busse, “is that it’s such afamily-oriented activity—Dad and Mombuilding the railroad and gardening whilethe kids play with the trains.”

Visiting Busse’s railways is somethingyou do, not just watch, because they en-gage all your senses. Slow-moving trainsdisappear through hollow log tunnels,making you wonder where they’ll reap-pear. Locomotives chug across flowingstreams over bridges made of willowbranches and pine cone scales. You duckyour head as trestles rattle overhead andtrain whistles softly blow. Rushing watercascades over waterfalls made of scavengedrailroad ties. Finally, the textures and col-ors of ground covers, shrubs, and trees allcome together to create fantastic settings.

In planting this miniature world, Busseborrows a page from the magician’s hand-book. “Instead of trying to be in scale,” hesays, “we create an illusion. In railroad gar-dens, the plants don’t have to be differ-ent—it’s the way they are applied.” A smallfern or blooming cyclamen, for instance, T

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Top: Paul Busse in front of an eight-foot-long replica of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory at theNew York Botanical Garden during its 2002 Holiday Train Show. The replica was createdentirely from natural materials, including reeds for the window frames, sugar pine for the dome’stop trim, and oak bark for the base walls. Above: Busse’s multi-level railroad at LongwoodGardens is an outdoor summer display.

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can be viewed as a foundation shrub for abuilding, and a Norfolk Island pine can be-come a centuries-old specimen tree. But,Busse notes, bonsai, rock garden species,and other small plants are also suitable.

The same principle applies to Busse’ssignature handcrafted buildings featuredin his public displays. In most gardenrailroads built by hobbyists, buildings—usually made of plastic or wood—aremerely intended to set the scene andachieve a sense of realism. Busse’s build-ings, on the other hand, are constructedof natural materials such as dried leaves,pine cones, and seed pods. Like his

plantings, they convey the impression ofactual—often historically accurate—buildings and structures.

BACKYARD WONDERLANDSSeveral residential garden railways de-signed by Paul Busse were on tour duringthe 2002 convention. One of my favoriteswas at the home of Ray and Eileen Torbeckin Cincinnati, where Busse designed theentire backyard and garden railroad at onetime, siting the built-in swimming pooland creating extensive water features withstreams, ponds, and waterfalls. A gazebo,potting shed, and winding paths that leadvisitors through the gardens were incorpo-rated into the design.

Instead of a realistic railroad, the Tor-becks wanted an enchanting setting whereEileen could garden and Ray could runtrains. Although the Torbecks’ railway in-cludes over 1,000 feet of track, little of it isobvious at first glance because the trackruns through, around, and behind planti-ngs. Weathered bridges and tunnels—rather than plastic buildings and resinfigures—create a miniature world that isunobtrusive and aesthetically pleasing.

In 2003, the national convention washeld in Sacramento, California, and I vis-ited over 30 garden railroads within anhour’s drive of the city. The railway withthe most extensive gardens was at thehome of Alice Epperson in Roseville, Cal-ifornia. Built in stages by her husbandLarry, construction began in 1994 butended suddenly when he died three yearslater. Using truckloads of topsoil and sev-

The 20th National Garden Railway Convention will be held Au-

gust 12 to 15, 2004, atthe Holiday Inn at I-70and Chambers Road in

Denver, Colorado.The event, hosted by the Denver Gar-den Railway Society, will include35,000 square feet of displays,demonstrations and clinics, and toursof over 40 garden railways. Mail reg-istration deadline is June 30, 2004.For more information, contact KelvinHarr at (303) 431-6793 or visitwww.denvergrs.org.

Garden railways can be stellar gardens in their own right. Begun in 1994 by her late husband,Larry, Alice Epperson’s railroad near Sacramento, California, above, has continued to growas a showcase for assorted plants. Plants of all shapes and sizes also take center stage inPaul Busse’s design for Ray and Eileen Torbeck’s Ohio garden, left.

eral dozen tons of rocks and boulders, hecreated a garden railway of incredible size,beauty, and detail. The multi-tiered waterfeature utilizes an on-site natural stream asa water source and requires a swimmingpool pump to run.

As Larry completed each section of therailroad, Alice searched for small-scaleplants at local nurseries and landscapedright behind him. While Larry had oper-ated trains just about every day, they arenow run only for special occasions bymembers of the Sacramento Valley Gar-den Railway Society. This has enabledAlice to give the garden aspect of the rail-way a higher priority. She began filling itwith larger plants, selecting shrubs, trees,and perennials for textures, colors, andyear-round seasonal interest, making thegarden railway an integral part of threelandscaped acres.

NATIVE LANDSCAPINGOf all the garden railways I’ve visited, onein particular embodies the spirit andbeauty of garden railroading at its verybest. Named the Toltec Southern by itsowner and creator, Byron Garner, it sitsin the sloping backyard of a suburbanhome on the West Mesa outside Albu-querque, New Mexico. My husband Joel

and I visited Garner soon after I’d start-ed with Garden Railways, when his rail-way was about four years old.

Garner was an indoor model railroaderfor almost 30 years before he discoveredoutdoor railways in 1988. He had justmoved to New Mexico from Tennesseeand was inspired by the scenery of north-ern New Mexico and southwestern Col-orado. As he traveled the area, he tookcareful note of the environment’s topogra-

phy and vegetation. His goal was to cap-ture the image of a western mountain rail-road following a route throughinhospitable terrain, ranging from theupper Sonoran Desert to the TransitionalZone (5,000 to 8,000 feet in elevation). Hedescribes his garden as representing a rail-road “somewhere between point A andpoint B,” rather than an actual place.

Every detail of this railway has beencarefully considered. The few structures

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Byron Garner’s New Mexico garden railroad is inspired by the geologic features and native plant life of the region’s natural landscape. Thissection of track curves past a colorful stand of pineleaf penstemon (Penstemon pinifolius), which grows eight to10 inches tall.

ResourcesGarden railway societies exist throughout North America. Contact a local hobbyshop or model train store for one near you, or visit the Web site of World’s Great-est Hobby (www.greatesthobby.com).

Garden Railways, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha WI 53187-1612. (800) 533-6644. www.gardenrailways.com.■ Bimonthly magazine covering all aspects of garden railroading around the world.

Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI53187-1612. (800) 533-6644. www.kalmbach.com.■ Offers a free 24-page booklet titled “Beginning Garden Railroading.” Prod-ucts available for sale include “Building a Basic Garden Railroad,” a VHS video-tape; and two books, “Beginner’s Guide to Large-scale Model Railroading” and“Garden Railroading: Getting Started in the Hobby.”

subtly tucked into the railway are all hand-crafted, and every tie on the track itself hasbeen cut and laid by hand. After studyingthe region’s geology, Garner handpickedeach rock and boulder, ranging in size fromfive pounds to 500 pounds, with roundededges so that they would look like stratifiedoutcroppings or undercuts. For pinnacles,he set columnar rocks with distinct edgesupright in the landscape.

When it came time to plant the land-scape, Garner realized he would needsome help. Knowing very little about gar-dening, he attended a seminar on nativeplants by noted regional plantswomanand landscape designer, Judith Phillips.

He approached her with the possibilityof helping him design his railway, and sheaccepted, never having seen nor evenheard of such a concept.

They worked together on the trackplan, grade challenges, and landscaping.Garner knew he wanted to incorporatecertain native plants, including chamisa(Chrysothamnus nauseosus), bush pen-stemon (Penstemon ambiguus), threadleafsage (Artemisia filifolia), and others adapt-ed to his sandy soil, harsh winds, and blaz-ing heat. Phillips immediately recognizedthe issue of scale, and together they cameup with a uniquely regional and appropri-ate plant list for the railway.

Over the years, Garner has learned tomanage his landscape and locate newplants as needed. He’s gained great satis-faction from building, running, andworking the railway and shares his deepappreciation of the region’s natural beau-ty and resources with local model rail-roaders and gardeners equally.

Given the fanciful nature of railwaylandscapes, their rising popularity is notsurprising. A garden railway challenges theimagination, inspires creative design, andbrings out the inner child in all of us �

Pat Hayward is horticultural editor of Garden Railways magazine.L

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Small Deciduous Shrubs and TreesDwarf shrubs and miniature trees can be pruned to look likesmall-scale shade or ornamental trees. ■ Laceleaf Japanese maples (Acer palmatum cultivars) andTrost’s dwarf birch (Betula pendula ‘Trost’s Dwarf’). Ferny,cut-leaved varieties have a softer appearance and providesubstance without bulk.■ Dwarf Japanese maples, such as A. palmatum ‘Beni hime’and ‘Sharp’s Pygmy’, look just like full-scale Japanesemaples in miniature. ■ Dwarf yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria cultivars) and dwarfmyrtle (Myrtus communis‘Compacta’) are denser, shrub-bier plants frequently used forscreening and hedging.■ Miniature roses and snowros-es (Serissa foetida cultivars)have wonderfully small-scaleleaves, buds and flowers. Theseare used to represent full-scaleshrub roses, flowering cherries,and other larger floweringshrubs and trees.■ Dwarf Chinese elms (Ulmus parvifolia cultivars, especial-ly ‘Hokkaido’ and ‘Seiju’). Their tiny elm leaves and beauti-ful bark are exquisite in garden railway settings.

Dwarf ConifersSince many garden railways are modeled after real moun-tain railroads, these “forest trees” are used in abundance. ■ Dwarf Lawson (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) and Hinoki cy-press (C. obtusa) cultivars

■ Boulevard cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’)for its feathery, silver-blue needles and attractive bark.■ Dwarf white cedars (Chamaecyparis thyoides cultivars),especially ‘Andelyensis Nana’, ‘Ericoides’, and ‘Red Star’.■ Dwarf garden juniper (Juniperus procumbens ‘Nana’) is usedextensively as a ground cover, but when properly supported, itgrows into a beautiful “living tunnel” for trains to run through.■ Alberta and Jean’s Dilly spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’and ‘Jean’s Dilly’). These are probably the most common-ly used dwarf conifersfor garden railroads.‘Jean’s Dilly’ is nar-rower and grows moretightly than ‘Conica’.■ Hedgehog spruce(Picea glauca ‘Echini-formis’), dwarf bird-snest spruce (Piceaabies ‘Little Gem’),and miniature hem-locks (Tsuga canadensis cultivars).

Perennials and Ground Covers■ Mat globularia (Globularia cordifolia)■ Dwarf daylilies, especially ‘Lemon Lollipop’, ‘Bitsy’, ‘EenieWeenie’, and ‘Penny’s Worth’■ Dwarf mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus cultivars)■ Woolly thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus) and others.

HerbsMost of the smaller herbs offer color, texture, and fragranceto garden railroad landscapes.

CHOOSING PLANTS FOR GARDEN RAILROADSIn landscaped areas close to the tracks and near buildings, most garden railroaders strive for a sense of realism and chooseslow-growing plants with small leaves and flowers. Rock garden and bonsai plants are naturally good choices, but, if realismis important to you, there are many suitable smaller plants. The list below describes a few of them. —P.H.

‘Hokkaido’ Chinese elm‘Hokkaido’ Chinese elm

Dwarf hemlockDwarf hemlock

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IN THE LAST ISSUE, I explored in depth the idea of “gar-den design.” Now, I'd like to take a similarly philosophi-cal look at what constitutes a garden. At first glance, this

may appear to be a question with a rather obvious answer. Afterall, my Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary defines a garden as “aplot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, veg-etables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated.”

But where is the glamor in that? Why would we suffer, strug-gle, and fret for a piece of dirt supporting some genericherbage? The passive-voice definition does not eveninclude the most important component—thegardener! To me, a true garden is so much

more than that. I think of gardensas intentionally choreographed sen-sual spatial experiences resultingfrom relationships between plants,people, and materials over a spe-cific time. That is a mouthful, Iknow, but bear with me as I elab-orate on each element.

INTENTIONALLY Garden design involves conscious de-cisions and intent. You must have a strongvision of what you are going to design in order to make the gar-den a success. Developing one or a few compelling ideas to theirfull creative potential will yield a better garden than crammingevery half-interesting thought into a space.

The design process involves prioritization, selection, andediting. A strong intent or vision allows one to discriminate andstill achieve a holistic result.

Take the typical suburban back yard. Instead of fillingevery inch of space with containers, a gazebo, a birdbath, adeck, a white garden, a vegetable garden, and a pool for waterlilies, focus on what will fit comfortably into the space, exciteyou, and satisfy your functional needs. I envision a well-placed antique urn, a rectangular reflecting pool, and simple

shrub plantings being all one would need for a garden de-signed for peaceful reflection.

CHOREOGRAPHEDGardens involve living entities (plants, people, animals, etc.)and ephemeral elements (light, shadow, fragrance, etc.) in mo-tion through spaces over a specific time period. Gardens aremore akin to cinema or theater than to static pictures or paint-

ings. As soon as I hear that a garden is “painterly,” Ifear I will be bored. Landscape architect

Lawrence Halprin advocated planning thetheatrical sequencing of gardens as an

essential part of the design process.Think about how you move

through your garden’s spaces andwhat you do or want to do inthe spaces. What do you wantto see, smell, and feel in theentry area? What sort ofdrama should the sittingarea support?

SENSUAL Gardens should engage andstimulate the body, mind,imagination, and spirit.Vital gardens satisfy morethan just sight. They arouseall the bodily senses and in-

voke moods and passions ofall sorts. Light caresses the

skin with warmth, fragrancestickle the nose, and enclosure instills

the feeling of safety. For me, the supreme example of this cameat the French garden Vaux-le-Vicomte, where I experienced athrill and excitement that seemed to permeate my entire body.

The relentless and unexpected unfolding of enormous-yet-hid-den garden areas and features stimulated a delicious sense of con-fusion. This controlled disorientation made me giddy withexcitement as my mind and body attempted to come to termswith the scale and complexity of the garden and its surprises.

SPATIAL EXPERIENCESThe heart of all magical gardens is the sequencing of variousspaces they offer. Plants are but one means of creating spaces.Without compelling choreography from one area to the next,

What is a Garden?This is the third article of an ongoing series on garden design.

Gardening by Design BY TRES FROMME

Gardens are more akin

to cinema or theater

than…paintings.

a garden becomes a mere collection of plants and accessories.The rightly famous Court of the Lions garden at the Alhambrain Spain contains exactly four plants. The rest is enticing, mind-blowing, sense-stirring space.

On my visit there, I moved from a series of twisting, shaded,interior passages into a luminous, symmetrical courtyard cen-tered on an ornate fountain. The gravel-covered ground addedto the luminosity and highlighted the clipped globes of lush, darkcitrus foliage. Intricately ornamented pavilions soared on im-possibly slender columns and evoked trunks and leafy canopiesin stone. The minimal use of foliage, water, and color intensifiedthese very elements into a rapturous lucidity.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PLANTS, PEOPLE, AND MATERIALS OVER A SPECIFIC TIMEGardens require and are unable to escape time. They take yearsto mature and evolve into something worthwhile. Experienc-ing them fully also requires time and attention like any re-

warding relationship. Indeed, to truly begin to know a garden—your own or someone else’s—requires repeated visitsthroughout the day, the seasons, and the years.

GARDENS, THE ETERNAL QUESTIONSIn the end, there is no more answering the question “What is agarden?” than there is defining life itself. Strictly defining thegarden limits how we perceive the garden and thus destroys cre-ative possibilities. Even someone as focused and purist aboutthe use of color in perennial border design as Gertrude Jekyllrealized how a foolishly structured approach could destroy acolor-themed border. She warned, and I paraphrase, how thelack of yellow might destroy a blue border.

Vital design thrives on the unexpected elements, active con-flicts, and eccentric juxtapositions we (or chance) inject intothe garden. A garden is never finished and thus is never truly“answered.” Climate changes, weather damage, insect infesta-tions, changing needs, and other cosmic caprices constantly re-quire the gardener or garden designer to redefine what thegarden is at any given moment.

The seemingly endless possibilities resulting from a garden’s in-completeness stimulate us to become an active part of it. Perfec-tion, on the other hand, invites relationships built on tediouspredictability. Remember those quintessentially suburban horrors,the Stepford Wives? Clearly, the Stepford husbands were not look-ing for stimulating conversation or innovative housekeeping. TheStepford Gardener seeks predictability and control in a terrifyinglysimilar manner. The results are comparably numbing.

A finished garden is a dead garden; fortunately, it is also an im-possibility. The perfect garden, like Eden, is not for us. One of themost effective ways to answer what a garden is, is actually to de-sign it. In the next issue, I’ll begin to discuss how. �

Tres Fromme is a landscape designer at Longwood Gardens in Ken-nett Square, Pennsylvania.L

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DESIGN HOMEWORK: ASK YOURSELF…■ In what ways do I want my garden to stimulate me? Willfragrance seductively envelop me in all seasons? Will wittysculptures make me laugh and spark my imagination? ■ What is the strongest dream the garden should realize forme? Do I want a series of spaces to spark moody reverie—or an exuberant sensual celebration of bliss?■ What do I want to do in my garden—realistically? Do Ionly have time for a quick evening stroll after work, or do Iwant to eat, write, or maybe even bathe in the garden?■ What will each part of the garden contribute to the wholeexperience? Will anyone actually sit in the gazebo, or is it auseless and expensive trophy?

Examples of garden design at its finest: a view of Vaux-le-Vicomte in France, above, andthe Court of the Lions in Alhambra in Spain, left. Plants are only part of the total design.

The American Horticultural Society relies on the generous gifts of donors to fulfill

its vision of Making America a Nation of Gardeners, a Land of Gardens.

AHS fosters the human connection with plants, the environmental value

of SMARTGARDEN™ practices, and an appreciation of beauty in the

landscapes we create.

Contact Joe Lamoglia at (800) 777-7931 ext. 115to find out how you can help.

Much more than a great magazine,

the American Horticultural Society connects people to gardens.

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47May / June 2004

YESTERDAY my mother calledto say, “You do realize that

your wedding is scheduled duringthe 17-year cicada outbreak.” Luckyme. Thankfully, we didn’t decide tohave our whole wedding outdoors.But—invited of not—the cicadasare coming en masse, and in fullchorus, so I plan to sit back, smile,offer them cake, and let nature doits thing; I mean, it only happensonce every 17 years.

The largest 17-year cicada brood, omi-nously named Brood X, actually compris-es three species: Magicicada septendecim,the most common species; M. cassini,found in lowlands; and M. sependecula,found in highlands. These herbivorous in-sects, which only occur east of the Rock-ies, will emerge for four to five weeks frommid-May to early June this year—the finaltrigger to their emergence is when the soilreaches an optimal temperature of 64 de-grees Fahrenheit.

Because this brood emerges in syn-chrony, the Magicicadas reach enormousdensities—the most sensational figuresbeing up to 1 million cicadas per acre.

GARDENERS, RELAXSo, what does all this mean for garden-ers? Despite the hysterical coverage youmay see in newspapers and on television,the answer is: very little. Gardeners eagerto protect their woody plants shouldstop, breathe deeply, and consider this:Established trees and shrubs really don’tneed protection from cicada damage,and, besides, there’s little that can bedone anyway.

“When you’re dealing with millions ofinsects at once, what are a few chemicalsgoing to do other than pollute the envi-

ronment?” says John Cooley, entomolo-gist and research associate at the Universi-ty of Connecticut. “I don’t advise peopleto do anything other than protect theirmost tender and desired woody plantswith fine netting,” says Casey Sclar, IPMcoordinator at Longwood Gardens.“These cicadas just don’t last for long.”

IT’S A WONDROUS LIFEIn fact, cicadas spend only about 35 outof 6,200 days aboveground, and we canexpect to see them only five or six timesin our lifetimes, if we’re lucky. “Theiremergence should not be taken lightly,”says Richard Karban, a research ento-

mologist at the University of Californiaat Davis. “This fantastic phenomenon ispart of our natural heritage.”

Cooley concurs. “Seeing these insectsshould be an amazing spectacle,” hesays. “In late spring, a massive syn-chronized pulse of cicada nymphs willemerge from the ground at night. Afterfive days, most will have matured, andthe males will begin singing. Theirsongs will reach a crescendo after a weekand in the second week will subside ex-ponentially. In the final stages, the fe-males will lay their eggs in small treebranches, and, after four to five weeks,nothing will be left but holes in theground and on flagging twigs.”

Newly hatched cicada nymphs willlater drop to the ground and dig below,where they will feed—quite harmless-ly—on tree roots for another 17 years,making them the longest-lived insectsknown in North America.

Cicadas disappear as quickly as theyarrive because they are defenseless andreadily devoured by other animals, frombirds to house pets and even other in-sects. “Unlike other cicadas, periodicMagicicada are ‘predator foolhardy’—meaning they avoid predators ineffi-ciently,” Karban explains. “This mayaccount for why most of their time isspent 18 to 24 inches underground andthey mate in synchrony. Smaller 17-yearbroods emerge in off years, but they don’tget a real chance to reproduce, whichsuggests there is strong selection for themto emerge en masse.”

The emergence of these intriguingcreatures is not a problem to dread, buta natural wonder to anticipate. So,whether you are a diligent gardener or abride-to-be, celebrate the ephemeralcycle of Brood X this summer. �

Jessie Keith is editorial intern with TheAmerican Gardener.

The Cicadas Are Comingby Jessie Keith

CNATURAL CONNECTIONS

For more information about ci-cadas, visit the University of Con-necticut’s Cicada Central Web site: http://collections2.eeb.uconn.edu/collections/cicadacentral/NA/Magicicada/index.html.

Magicicada sependecula, one of threespecies in Brood X to hatch this summer.

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THE BEAUTY OF PREPLANNED GARDENSPreplanned gardens are “one of thebiggest trends that we’re seeing right nowin gardening,” says David Salman, pres-ident and chief horticulturist for HighCountry Gardens, a mail-order nurseryin Santa Fe, New Mexico [(800)925-9387, www.highcountrygardens.com].

Professional designers assemble thesecollections of complimentary plants thatthrive in the same growing conditions.For example, Lauren Springer’s “InfernoStrip Garden,” sold by High CountryGardens, includes tough beauties select-ed to survive in baking hot places.

“Preplanned gardens take all the stressout of creating a new ornamental gar-den,” says Salman.

Several other mail-order firms offerpreplanned gardens. Bluestone Perenni-als in Madison, Ohio [(800) 852-5243,www.bluestoneperennials.com], has as-sembled a “Butterfly Garden.” WhiteFlower Farm in Litchfield, Connecticut[(800) 503-9624, www.whiteflowerfarm.com], sells both annual and perennialpreplanned gardens.

Horticultural News and Research Important to American Gardeners

Mountain schimlinia (✕Schimlinia floribunda) is not ahousehold word just yet, but it may well become one, atleast among gardening folks. It is an intergeneric hybrid, theresult of a cross between Franklinia alatamaha and Schimaargentea, two members of thetea family.

Rare and less than robust,franklinia survived total extinc-tion only through the efforts ofthe celebrated botanist JohnBartram. Bartram discovered itin 1770 along the banks of theAltamaha River in Georgia;specimens were collected andpropagated in the Bartram'sPhiladelphia garden. After1803, franklinia was neveragain found in the wild.

In contrast, Schima argen-tea is a sturdy evergreen treecommon in its native terrain of western China and Taiwan,where its adaptability and tolerance of varied site conditionshave made it useful for reforestation.

Previous efforts to cross franklinia with members of relatedgenera failed to produce robust offspring. Elwin Orton, pro-fessor of ornamental horticulture at Rutgers University, crossed

franklinia with Gordonia lasianthus, and William Ackerman, aretired research geneticist with the US National Arboretum inWashington, D.C., experimented with camellia crosses.

Recent phylogenetic studies revealed that Schima andFranklinia are more closely re-lated than the previously testedgenera. This discovery inspiredThomas G. Ranney, a professorof horticultural science at NorthCarolina State University, to ini-tiate controlled crosses be-tween these plants. Using S.argentea collected in China byClifford Parks, a retired profes-sor of botany at the Universityof North Carolina, Ranney andcolleague Paul R. Fantz wereable to produce more than 80hybrid seedlings. “Amazingly,”says Ranney, “it worked!”

According to Ranney, the resulting seedlings are “florifer-ous, vigorous, and share characteristics of both parents.” Don’texpect to see the new hybrid available for a while; it will takea few years to propagate enough plants for the retail trade.

For more detailed information on Ranney’s work, seeHortscience, Volume 38(6), October 2003.

CGARDENER’S NOTEBOOK

Franklinia Cross Yields Remarkable New Hybrid

High Country Gardens offers this preplanned“Cold Hardy Mediterranean Garden.”

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49May / June 2004

TAKING THE HEAT IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAIn Southern California, where the sum-mer is bone dry for months, plants that are

attractive anddrought resistantreceive high marksfrom homeownersand water agen-cies. Now fire de-partments arelauding some or-namental plantsthat are bothdrought and fireresistant, like thegenus Salvia, en-dorsed in its en-

tirety by the Los Angeles Fire Department.Other good choices include shrub toyon(Heteromeles arbutifolia), the western red-bud (Cercis occidentalis), and wild straw-berry (Fragaria chiloensis).

Log on to www.bewaterwise.com tolearn more about California-friendly or-namentals as well as planting and main-tenance procedures that protect homesagainst fire.

SAVING THE BOX HUCKLEBERRYConsidered one of the oldest living plants,box huckleberry (Gaylussacia brachycera,USDA Zone 3–7, AHS Zone 7–1), a na-tive of seven Mid-Atlantic states, has beenlisted as “critically imperiled.” Now, ARS(the Agricultural Research Service) and theUnited States National Arboretum arecombining forces to both reintroduce thisdwarf evergreen into the wild and encour-age its use in gardens.

The common name refers to its small,leathery, boxwoodlike leaves, which are redwhen emerging in the spring and turn red-dish bronze in autumn. Its pale pink, bell-shaped flowers are followed by edible darkblue berries. Box huckleberry grows be-tween three and 12 feet tall and requiresmoist, well-drained, richly organic acidsoil. One source is Roslyn Nursery, DixHills, New York (www.roslynnursery.com).

RUST-RESISTANT DAYLILIES SHINE First observed in Georgia in 2000, daylilyrust, caused by the fungus Puccinia heme-rocallis, has spread throughout the coun-try. The disease produces raised orange orrusty-brown pustules on foliage, mostprominent on the undersides. Infected

leaves may die, and plants may becomemore susceptible to other pathogens orpests. Susceptibility varies widely amongdaylily cultivars.

After inoculating numerous daylily cul-tivars with the pathogen’s spores, plantpathologists at the University of Georgiaevaluated the overall health and resistanceof each. In two trials, using plants fromMichigan, South Carolina, and Georgianurseries, the plants’ resistance to rust wasmeasured and rated numerically. Cultivarsthat showed no symptoms included:‘Prairie Blue Eyes’, ‘Carolyn Criswell’,‘Mardi Gras Parade’, and ‘Green Flutter’.Cultivars that displayed a high level of re-sistance were: ‘Woodside Ruby’, ‘HushLittle Baby’, and ‘Plum Perfect’.

PETER RAVEN TO RECEIVE RHS VEITCH MEDALEach year a select few are honored by theRoyal Horticultural Society (RHS) fortheir “outstanding contribution to the ad-vancement and improvement of the sci-

ence and practice ofhorticulture.” Thisyear, Peter Raven,director of the Mis-souri BotanicalGarden, is the onlyAmerican amongsix recipients of theRHS’s silver VeitchMedal. Raven wasdescribed by Time

magazine as a “hero for the planet” becausehe champions research to preserve endan-gered plants and is an advocate for conser-vation, biodiversity, and a sustainable

environment. The Engelmann Professor ofBotany at Washington University in St.Louis, Raven holds numerous offices, in-cluding president and chairman of theboard of the American Association for theAdvancement of Science. In 1996, he wasrecipient of the American HorticulturalSociety’s Liberty Hyde Bailey Award.

EAT CHOCOLATE, RESCUE A RAINFORESTGo ahead! Have another piece of choco-late. It could help save the Brazilian At-lantic Forest, an endangered rainforestthat contains the greatest number of treespecies diversity recorded on Earth.

“Cocoa, the main ingredient in choco-late, is a high-value crop that can be grownunder the rainforest canopy,” says ChrisBright, lead author of Venture Capitalismfor a Tropical Forest and a researcher withthe Worldwatch Institute, a Washington,D.C.-based non-profit.

Because cocoa is shade-tolerant, farm-ers don’t have to cut down the forest togrow it. Instead, in Brazil, cocoa can begrown in what is known as a cabruca sys-tem. The forest overstory is thinned, afterwhich an understory of small cocoa treesare planted.

When a devastating cocoa fungus epi-demic, combined with a drop in cocoaprices, occurred in the 1990s, many farm-ers abandoned cocoa production, trans-forming the cabruca for other uses. Inaddition to the reduction of forest habi-tat, this resulted in the loss of jobs forsome 90,000 laborers.

The Worldwatch study suggests thatwith the availability of new, fungus-resis-

Salvia leucantha

In Memorium: Dirck BrownChildren’s gardening and education advocate Dirck Brown passed away on De-cember 30, 2003, at the age of 75 in Lexington, Virginia. Brown, who wasraised in Ohio, earned a doctorate in education from Columbia UniversityTeacher’s College and was a regular contributor to AHS’s Children and YouthGarden symposia. He and his wife, Molly, received the 2001 AHS Jane L. Tay-lor Award for excellence in children’s gardening for their development of aschool curriculum, the Roots and Shoots Intergenerational School Garden Pro-gram, that involves young students with older community volunteers.

The Browns co-founded the Roots and Shoots program at Waddell Elemen-tary School in Lexington, Virginia, in 1995. In the last 10 years, nearly everyWaddell student has spent time in the classroom and garden with Dirck andMolly. Their school garden program has been nationally recognized as a model,and their curriculum has been distributed to other schools across the country.


tant varieties, the cabruca system should berevived, with improvements—a strategythey call “forest cocoa,” which has bothecological and social goals. “The big op-portunities here,” explains Bright, “are inthe development of new cocoa products—new ways of connecting consumers to theforest and to the people who live there.”Not only will cocoa be produced under en-vironmentally friendly conditions, the At-lantic Forest will be sustained, and morejobs will be available in rural areas.

MILK VERSUS MILDEWWhen some of his begonias and gesnariadssuffered from the fungal disease Botrytis,Keith Rogers of Mannum, South Aus-tralia, tried expensive fungicides to noavail. Then he concocted a milk-basedspray similar to the kind used in the Aus-tralian grape industry. The results havebeen good.

“In the end, I settled for simple 10 per-cent whole milk (from powder is better)and 90 percent water,” says Rogers. “Itworks safely on my begonias, sin-ningias—all gesnariads.” It even worked

on some very delicate maidenhair ferns,says Rogers, but he cautions, “Sometropical Adiantum species do not like it.”

Unlike normal fungicides, which coatthe plant to stop the spore from growing,“this stuff kills the fungal spore in itstracks,” says Rogers. He cautions usingthe milk-based spray around mycor-rhizal-reliant plants because it may killdesirable fungi in the soil.

CONSERVANCY OPEN DAYS DIRECTORIES The Garden Conservancy’s Open Daysprogram enables gardeners a chance todo one of the things they enjoy most—snoop in other people’s gardens.

This year, in ad-dition to a nationaledition of the OpenDays Directory, theConservancy haspublished four re-gional directorieslisting open days forsome of the coun-try’s best privategardens in the

Northeast, South, Midwest, and West.The softcover books include detailed

driving directions and vivid descriptionsof each garden. The national editioncosts $15.95 ($10.95 for Garden Conser-vancy members, plus $4.50 for shipping)and $5, plus $1.95 for shipping, for eachregional guide. Call the Garden Conser-vancy at (888) 842-2442 to order, or senda check to: the Garden Conservancy,P.O. Box 219, Cold Spring, NY 10516.The nominal fee for Open Days entranceis $5 pergarden.

PLANT LOCATOR FOR THE WEST Live in the West? Need to find a sourcefor a specific plant? The Plant Locator®

Western Region by Susan Hill and SusanNarizny (Timber Press, 2004, $19.95)lists 336 retail nurseries in Alaska, Ari-zona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Mon-tana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon,Utah, Washington, and British Colum-bia, and more than 50,000 of the plantsthey carry. The book’s extensive index in-cludes over 9,000 entries listing bothcommon and botanical names. �

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FO R T E M P E R A T E - R E G I O N

gardeners, the miracle ofspring never gets old, no matterhow many times we experienceit. There’s something truly amaz-ing in the way plants lie dormantthrough winter and then, on cue,begin popping out of the groundand setting flowers.

Our understanding of the successfulblooming and fruiting requirements ofmany plants we grow—both edible andornamental—is based largely on observa-tions by naturalists and horticulturists.Over time these researchers painstakinglyunraveled the physiological processes thatcontrol seed germination, flower produc-tion, and fruit set.

A major discovery was that manyplants require vernalization—or expo-sure to a period of low temperatures—inorder to break dormancy or to flower.For instance, plants classified as bienni-als require vernalization as part of theirtwo-year life cycle. Following seed ger-mination, biennials typically develop arosette of leaves at ground level the firstseason. Then, after vernalization overwinter, they develop elongated stems thatbear flowers and fruit. After fruiting, theplant dies. Examples of biennials includefoxgloves (Digitalis purpurea), honesty ormoney plant (Lunaria annua), and herbssuch as parsley (Petroselinum crispum).

In the cut-flower industry, artificialvernalization is used to stimulate flower-ing in biennial plants such as stock(Matthiola incana), which requires aminimum of three weeks at between 40and 50 degrees Fahrenheit to flower.

JUST CHILLIN’Most spring-flowering bulbs require a pe-riod of exposure to low temperatures in

order to flower properly, even though theflower buds were already formed in thedormant bulbs the previous year. The lowtemperatures are necessary to overcomedormancy and initiate the lengthening ofthe flower stem. That’s why bulbs to begrown indoors in containers or for growthin warm regions such as Florida andsouthern California must be “pre-chilled”in refrigerators in order to bloom.

Most fruit trees also require a period ofvernalization to set fruit successfully, butresearchers have developed “low-chill“ va-rieties that will produce fruit for garden-ers who live in warmer climates.

Over the years, scientists have discov-ered that vernalization is a much morecomplex procedure that it first appeared,involving not only cooling temperatures,but varying sequences and durations ofdaylength (photoperiodism). So no sin-gle vernalization procedure works for allplants; in fact, each species and varietyseems to have its own requirements,which can only be confirmed throughcareful study.

LEADING THE WAYMany noted plant physiologists havehelped unravel the vernalization require-ments of specific plants, but one of thepioneers was T.D. Lysenko, a Russian

scientist who is credited with preventingmass starvation in Russia in the 1920s bysubjecting winter wheat seeds to lowtemperatures so that they could be sownas a spring crop rather than a winter crop.This reduced the amount of wheat seedslost to hungry birds in winter, and thusincreased the amount of wheat thatcould be harvested. Lysenko is also cred-ited with coining the term “vernaliza-tion,” which is derived from the Russianword yarovizatsya, which means “to makeor become spring.”

Then, in the 1930s and ’40s, F. G.Gregory and O. N. Purvis of the ChelseaPhysic Garden in London, England, ad-vanced the understanding of vernaliza-tion through studies of a particular strainof rye cereal. These researchers discov-ered that vernalization affected theplant’s sensitivity to daylength and couldbe used to speed up the initiation offlowering in winter rye.

In seeking ways around vernalizationrequirements, plant physiologists discov-ered that certain plant growth regulatingchemicals, including auxins and gib-berellins, could be used as substitutes forchilling requirements in some plants.They also began using high-pressuresodium lamps to reduce or change pho-toperiod requirements. The search forshortcuts to vernalization has been aidedby plant explorers and breeders, who areactively seeking out and developing newforms of plants that have low-chilling re-quirements or are not as sensitive todaylength changes.

So as you enjoy the spring flowers inyour garden this year, say a quiet thankyou to the unsung researchers who un-raveled the secrets of vernalization andincreased the bounty of plants we cangrow for food and ornament. �

Dr. H. Marc Cathey is president emeritus ofthe American Horticultural Society.

Unlocking the Secrets of Plant Dormancyby Dr. H. Marc Cathey

CEVERYDAY GARDEN SCIENCE

Like many spring bulbs, daffodils require anextended cold period to flower.

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TH E R E I S such a thing asgardening too much. I

know, because I’ve done it.For 10 years I lived on a tiny ranch in

southern Arizona and grew as many veg-etables as I could. Gardening in that re-gion was tough, what with watering allthe time, checking for insects and theirdamage, nurturing small plants and try-ing constantly to save them from the dry-ing winds and hot sun. I burned out acresof shade cloth in the process and doveinto horticulture in a big way.

I tried every gardening technique as Idiscovered them: planting in raised beds,sunken beds, and no beds at all. Plantingin rows and broadcast sowing; plantingearly, planting late; planting by mooncharts and by zones. I delved into com-post building, calculated the nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium makeup of everytype of compostable material, experiment-ed with turning the compost in a drumversus using a pitchfork. I researched all theavailable seeds and plants, from new in-troductions to heirlooms. I sought to ex-tend my garden’s productivity by staggeredplantings and choosing varieties based onestimated days to maturity.

I visited the university library in thewinter to keep up with planting theoryand practice in horticultural journals. Iknew all the intricacies of soil chemistry,the pros and cons of different irrigationmethods, and the influence of weatherpatterns and microclimates.

Educating myself in the world of hor-ticulture was a challenge and took everybit of my attention. At first, it was exhil-arating, even more than my Tudor stud-ies had been in college. But this was acourse of study that would have no end.

Gradually, gardening grew more te-dious than exciting. I started myseedlings later and later, and I grew in-creasingly intrigued with the idea of rais-

ing volunteers exclusively. I stopped har-vesting my own seeds and began buyingall of them from catalogs.Then I by-passed seeds altogether and started buy-ing plants from a nursery. The finaldescent came the year I bought my veg-gies raised, picked, and packaged from anearby gardener. In short, I burned out.

It wasn’t long afterward that I moved toa highrise in a city in the Northeast, leav-ing the Arizona ranch to my now ex-husband—and leaving behind that way oflife. When I cruised the produce aisle of

the supermarket, I smiled as I eyed thefruits of someone else’s labor. Havinggrown so many vegetables, I admit it was ashock to realize how few varieties therewere to choose from here. To most shop-pers, a strawberry was a strawberry, andonions came only in red, white, and yellow.

But the pallid produce didn’t botherme, for just as I had given up gardening, Ihad also stopped cooking for the mostpart. I lived on bags of ready-to-eat salad,canned soup, and bread from bakeries. Ijustified all of this by telling myself I wassupporting farmers who really deservedmy hard-earned cash.

For years after leaving the ranch, myfingers didn’t twitch when I saw freshlyturned soil or rows of seed packets. I didn’thesitate in the gardening tools section ofthe hardware store. I blanked out thememory of the delight I had felt when Ireceived a bigger shovel for my birthdayone year. The gardener in me was gone.

Until one fine March day. A well-meaning friend, knowing I had lived inthe country and raised my own vegetables,gave me a shoebox-size plastic greenhousewith six packets of seeds and thimble-sizedpeat pots to plant them in.

I really wished she had not done this.Without gardening, my life had becomeless complicated. Exchanging money forfood was free of heartaches and anxiety.

With misgivings, I planted those seedsin the little greenhouse and cleared a spotfor it on a windowsill. Whereas too muchlight had been a problem on the ranch,here there was too little. So I bought full-spectrum light bulbs and began observingthe clouds and shadows from a practicalas well as an aesthetic point of view.

I grew impatient for my seeds to sprout,and when they did, I sang to the cat. Later,I transplanted the seedlings to larger pots.Soon, I tasted the first basil leaves—whichled me to take up cooking again—andadded fresh cilantro to my morning eggs.

Within a year after starting that win-dowsill garden, my ambitions and enthu-siasm grew, and I began to feel a disturbinglonging for the earth and the countrysidethat I could not ignore. I finally movedfrom the city to a house with a deck on anisland, where I could expand operations.

Now as I stroll among the tomatoes,basil, cilantro, mint, and thyme growingin pots on my deck, I know there issomething about a gardener once seededthat never dies. �

Patti Cassidy is a free-lance writer living inJamestown, Rhode Island.

The Prodigal Gardenerby Patti Cassidy

COFFSHOOTS

The American Horticultural Society’s SMARTGARDENTM program incorporates a coding system that uses hardiness and heat zones,sun/shade, water needs, and plant height and width to help you determine the perfect plants for your site.

A new way to think about gardening.Available wherever books are sold.

For more great ideas visit www.dk.com and sign up for our FREE newsletter.


Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of HeirloomOrnamental Plants 1640–1940. Denise Wiles Adams. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2004. 419pages. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $39.95.

I ’VE ALWAYS BEEN amazed at how much time and moneypeople spend on meticulous restoration of historic homes and gar-dens, only to go out and buy their plants and landscaping mate-rials at the local home improvement store. In effect, this results ina loss of the historic character they sought to preserve. Fortunate-ly, with the publication of Restoring American Gardens, the task offinding appropriate plants for period homes has been simplified.

Through a systematic analysis of more than 300 garden cat-alogs drawn from all regions of the United States, DeniseAdams has created an encyclopedia of the 1,000 most com-

mon heirloom trees, shrubs, an-nuals, perennials, and bulbsavailable to gardeners from themid-17th to early 20th century.Each plant is described with his-torically pertinent details, such ashorticultural introduction dates,as well as notes from many sig-nificant historic figures in Amer-ican horticulture.

Adams has supplemented thetext with useful appendices, in-cluding cross-indexed listings of

plants defined by region and period of use, current source in-formation for their purchase, and a record of less tame histori-cally popular garden ornamentals, like Lonicera japonica andPaulownia tomentosa, that have escaped into the wild. Ampleuse of period illustrations and early photographs adds to thebook’s richness.

One limitation of the book, as the author fully acknowl-edges, is that the 300 catalogs she referenced represent only asmall fraction of the thousands published during the periodcovered and draws most heavily on early 20th century catalogs.This restricts the book’s usefulness for restoration of a Colonial-period landscape, but it is certainly a good resource for post-Civil War period gardens.

Gardeners with an interest in heirloom plants or Americangarden history will find much to like in this book. It will occu-py a central place on my landscape preservation bookshelf.

—Charles Hulse

Charles Hulse is a professor of anthropology and directs the Historic Preser-vation Program at Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms.Amy Stewart. Algonquin Books. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2004.223 pages. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $23.95.

AMY STEWART shares my fascination with the little things inlife—such as fungi, nematodes, bacteria, and…earthworms. InThe Earth Moved: On th Remarkable Achievement of Earth-

worms, Stewart lets us in on themysteries of earthworms and theirsubterranean world. The details arenot always for the faint-of-stomach.Bacteria thrive and reproduce insidethe body of a nightcrawler, relatesStewart, “until far more bacteriaemerge from the end of a wormthan entered in the first place.” And,during mating, earthworms “excretea great deal of sticky fluid that keepsthem anchored together.” By skill-fully weaving together interestingearthworm factoids with personal

anecdotes, Stewart has created a delightfully entertaining book. No book about earthworms is complete without a discus-

sion of their vital contribution to soil health. The owner of aworm compost bin, Stewart is able to relate first-hand know-ledge on the subject of their nutrient-rich waste, or “castings,”which increase soil fertility. In addition, worm burrows aeratesoil and increase its water-holding capacity.

But all is not rosy in earthworm world. Stewart points outthat most of the worms in North America are non-native, in-troduced years ago by immigrants and in imported goods, andthat the threat of new introductions is ever present. In Min-nesota, research by forest ecologists indicates that bait wormsinadvertently dumped by fishermen can contribute to an alter-ation of understory plants in hardwood forests.

If, after reading this book, you discover a new-found respectfor these remarkable critters, you’re in good company. Stewartrelates that Charles Darwin, who performed intricate experi-ments with earthworms and devoted his last book to them, be-came convinced that they had the ability to make decisions.

The Earth Moved is part humorous, part serious, and 100 per-cent informative. It is a must-read for gardeners who want to learnto appreciate earthworms and their contribution to soil ecology.

—Kathryn Lund Johnson

A frequent contributor to The American Gardener, Kathryn LundJohnson is a freelance writer based near Middleville, Michigan.

CBOOK REVIEWS

Recommendations for Your Gardening Library

55May / June 2004

Annuals and Tender Plants for North American Gardens. Wayne Winterrowd. Random House Publishing. New York, New York,2004. 498 pages. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $60.

OVER THE PAST 10 years , I have grown many unusual an-nuals and tender perennials at my small greenhouse in south-ern Vermont. Each year, in search of new and exciting plantsfor my customers, I scour specialty seed and plant catalogs,

aided by notoriously inaccuratecatalog descriptions and a stack ofwell-shuffled books. If only WayneWinterrowd’s Annuals and TenderPlants for North American Gardenshad been available earlier! Thiswonderful, comprehensive refer-ence would have made my researchso much easier. It smartly com-bines, under one cover, informa-tion on more than 600 species and250 genera of “true” annuals as well

as the tender perennials, biennials, and shrubs that many of usnow grow as annuals.

More than 250 color photographs highlight the plant de-scriptions, which are organized alphabetically by genus. Eachgenus entry gives a short profile of the plant’s overall featuresand requirements, followed by detailed information aboutspecies and cultivars, including habit, propagation, culture,uses, native habitat, folklore, and ease of cultivation.

In sharing his experience—gleanedover the years at North Hill, the spec-tacular garden Winterrowd and his part-ner Joe Eck created in Readsboro,Vermont—Winterrowd manages toconvey practical advice and personal ob-servations in equally eloquent terms.“California poppies,” he says, “seem tohave some sort of internal wisdom thattells them when to pack up and be off,whatever intentions the gardener mayhave for them.” In discussing Salpiglos-sis, he notes that it has “a tendency to bea draggled mess in wet weather.”

The only shortcoming of this book isthat it contains images of just over half ofthe species covered in the text. By addinga few more plant photographs, the pub-lishers would have provided a fittingcomplement to Winterrowd’s lyrical proseand further enhanced what is already anexcellent garden reference. �

—Carrie Chalmers

Carrie Chalmers owns Quoyburray Farm, asmall greenhouse and market garden businesslocated in southern Vermont. She also workswith her brother, Cameron Chalmers, design-ing and planting gardens.

“Works wonders.” –Denver Post“Elsie’s beauty secret.” –Glamour

It’s remarkable what big things are being reported about the stuff inside our

little green can. Try some today. Your skin should be softer tomorrow.

DAIRY ASSOCIATION CO., INC.P.O. BOX 145, DEPT. AG04, LYNDONVILLE, VT 05851/TEL. 802-626-3610/WWW.BAGBALM.COM

WEST OF ROCKIES: SMITH SALES SERVICE, 16372 S . W. 72ND ST. , PORTLAND, OR 97223

THE AMERICAN gardening experience is borne fromvastly diverse growing environments and climates, so itis no wonder that our shelf of new garden books is over-

flowing with those of regional interest. These regional gardenhow-to and plant guides offer custom information on everythingfrom organic gardening practices to regional native plants.

THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEASTIn Garden Perennials for the Coastal South, Barbara J. Sullivan(University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Hardcover $35.00, soft-cover $19.95) has assembled a funda-mental volume for gardeners in thathot and humid stretch from the GulfCoast of Texas to Tidewater Virginia.This attractive and authoritative guidecovers everything from companionplantings to “fail-safe” perennials. Thisbeautiful book has over 200 color pho-tos and provides brief descriptions ofmore than 1,000 plants for the coastalsouth. Its only weakness is an often un-systematic text organization—a glitchthat is smoothed by a well-organized index.

Felder Rushing takes a low-care, no-care approach to garden-ing in Tough Plants for SouthernGardens (Cool Springs Press, 2003,$24.99). Each chapter, from “Annualsthat Endure” to “Vines with Vigor,”covers the garden basics leavened withbits of garden wisdom that exemplifyRushing’s campy, down-to-earth style.The book covers more than 120 annu-als, perennials, trees and shrubs suitedto southern climates; each plant listingincludes cultural information and per-sonal anecdotes designed to help gar-

deners create a lovely garden—and have enough spare time to sipmint juleps on the porch swing.

Overwhelmed by all the native or-namentals now available? Now at leastFloridians have some help. Gil Nelson’sFlorida’s Best Native LandscapePlants (University of Florida Press,2003, $34.95) covers 200 readily avail-able native species and presents enoughsolid information to help the readerchoose the best plants for their needs.Each plant is detailed by a full-pagecolor illustration and photos depicting

flower form, plant habit and landscape use along with tabular dataon both growing conditions and landscape uses.

Howard Garrett, the Dirt Doctor of Dallas, Texas, showsthat good-ole-boy spirit in his newbook, Texas Gardening the NaturalWay (University of Texas Press, 2004$34.95). Whimsical cowboy coveraside, this is a seriously informativebook that not only makes a great casefor organic methods, but puts themtogether with first-rate, how-to graph-ics and an encyclopedic plant catalogthat covers the full gamut from trees totomatoes, plus all the basics on fertili-ty management, pest control, lawns—you name it.

THE WESTConcise, straight-forward, and thorough were all words thatcame to mind when I first opened Native Plants for High Ele-vation Western Gardens by JaniceBusco and Nancy R. Morin (FulcrumPublishing, 2003, $29.95). Descrip-tions and cultural information aregiven for 150 attractive, low-mainte-nance native plant species, each illus-trated with a color photograph. Thebook’s perfect balance of horticulturaland botanical information make it amust-have volume for any native plantenthusiast who lives in the high-alti-tude regions of the American West.

THE NORTHWESTAnn Lovejoy’s Handbook of Northwest Gardening (SasquatchBooks, 2004, 27.95) is the perfect primer for Pacific Northwestgardeners who desire beautiful, natural, and self-sustaining gar-den landscapes. Well organized and easy to follow, the book fo-

cuses on the rudiments of a goodsustainable garden. Chapter headingssuch as “Sustainable Garden Design,”“Delicious Dirt,” “The Role of Editing,”and “Garden Bones” affirm that goodplanning and preparation are key toachieving sustainable success. In fact, itis not until chapter nine that Lovejoy be-gins six chapters dedicated to plant se-lection. This is a useful resource forgardeners of all levels of experience. �

—Jessie Keith, Editorial Intern


CGARDENER’S BOOKS

Books of Regional Interest

57May / June 2004

NORTHEASTCT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT

MAY 25. Annual Spring Gala. Wave Hill.Bronx, New York. (718) 549-3200.www.wavehill.org.

JUNE 4–6. 4th Annual Native Plant Sale.Massachusetts Audubon Society. PleasantValley Sanctuary. Lenox, Massachusetts.(413) 637-0320.

JUNE 5. Herbfest 2004. Connecticut HerbAssociation. Topmost Herb Farm. Coventry,Connecticut. (860) 742-8239.

JUNE 8. Through Back Bay Gates & Doors.Walking tour. The Garden Club of the Back Bay. Boston, Massachusetts. (617) 292-4504.

JUNE 11 & 12. Rare Plant Sale & Silent Auc-tion. Society for the Preservation of NewEngland Antiquities. Waltham, Massachu-setts. (781) 891-1985. www.SPNEA.org.

JUNE 11 & 12. Voyage of the Clipper Ship RedBlossom. Flower show. Edgewood Garden Club.Cranston, Rhode Island. (401) 461-4920.

JUNE 12. Lady’s Slipper Celebration. TheCoastal Maine Botanical Gardens atPineland Farms. New Gloucester, Maine.(207) 633-4333. www.mainegardens.org.

JUNE 12. Native Plant Sale. New England Wild-flower Society. Garden in the Woods. Framing-ham, Massachusetts. (508) 877-7630.www.newfs.org.

JUNE 12–16. The Retail Roadshow. TheAmerican Nursery & Landscape Association.Holiday Inn Martinique. New York, NewYork. (202) 789-2900. www.anla.org.

JUNE 17– 21 & 24–28. Gateway to Secret Gar-dens. Garden tour. Garden Club Federationof Massachusetts, Inc. (866) 500-3781.www.magardensontour2004.org.

JUNE 18. Rose Weekend. Elizabeth Park. WestHartford, Connecticut. (860) 243-1586.www.elizabethpark.com.

JUNE 20–26. Field Botany and FloristicsSeminar. Humbolt Field Research Institute.Steuben, Maine. (207) 546-2821. www.eaglehill.us.

JUNE 25–27. The Newport Flower Show.The Preservation Society of Newport Coun-ty and Bartlett Tree Experts. Newport,Rhode Island. (401) 847-1000. www.newportflowershow.org.

MID-ATLANTICPA, NJ, VA, MD, DE, WV, DC

MAY 8–OCTOBER. The Opening of Bee-aMazed Children’s Garden. Longwood Gar-dens. Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.(610) 388-1000. www.longwoodgardens.org.

MAY 15–23. Satsuki Azalea Bonsai Exhibit.The U.S. National Arboretum. Washington,DC. (202) 245-5898. www.usna.usda.gov.

MAY 22. Georgetown Garden Treasures Tour.Dumbarton Oaks and Tudor Place. Washing-ton, D.C. (202) 965-0400 ext. 100.

MAY 24. Annual Open House. Thomas Jeffer-son Center for Historic Plants. Charlottesville,Virginia. (800) 777-7931. www.twinleaf.org.

MAY 30–JUNE 1. Blue Ridge Garden FestivalPlant Sale. Elmwood Park. Roanoke, Vir-ginia. (540) 798-3614.

JUNE 3–5. Native Plants in the LandscapeConference & Sale. Millersville University.Millersville, Pennsylvania. (717) 872-3030.www.millersvillenativeplants.org.

SOUTHEASTAL, FL, GA, KY, NC, SC, TN

MAY 1–OCT. 31. Chihuly in the Garden: AWhole New Species of Art. Atlanta BotanicalGarden. Atlanta, Georgia. (404) 876-5859.www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.

JUNE 5 & 6. Tropical Fern & Exotic Plant Showand Sale. Tropical Fern & Exotic Plant Soci-ety. Fairchild Tropical Garden. Coral Gables,Florida. (305) 667-1651. www.tfeps.org.

JUNE 5–7. 12th Annual Symposium onBotanical Medicine: Medicines from theEarth. Blue Ridge Assembly. Black Moun-tain, North Carolina. (800) 252-0688.www.botanicalmedicine.org.

JUNE 12. 2004 Moody Garden Tour.The Garden Club of Moody. Moody, Alabama. (205) 640-7445.

CREGIONAL HAPPENINGS

Horticultural Events from Around the Country

Events sponsored by or including officialparticipation by AHS or AHS staff areidentified with the AHS symbol.

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JUNE 18 & 19. A Celebration of Ashland’sGardens and Grounds. Ashland: The HenryClay Estate. Lexington, Kentucky. (859) 266-8581. www.henryclay.org.

JUNE 19. Hibiscus Show & Sale. The CentralFlorida Hibiscus Society. Harry P. Leu Gar-dens. Orlando, Florida. (407) 246-2620.www.leugardens.org.

JUNE 20. Daylily Festival. Huntsville-MadisonCounty Botanical Garden. Huntsville, Alaba-ma. (256) 830-4447. www.hsvbg.org.

NORTH CENTRALIA, IL, IN, MI, MN, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI

MAY 26. Bi-Annual Spring Garden Tour: Be-yond the Fences of Zoar. Zoar CommunityAssociation. Zoar, Ohio. (303) 874-2432.

JUNE 4–6. Plant Sale in the Garden. Fern-wood Botanical Garden & Nature Preserve.Niles, Michigan. (269) 695-6491. www.fernwoodbotanical.org.

JUNE 5 & 6. Iris Show and Sale. North ShoreIris and Daylily Society. Chicago BotanicGarden. Chicago, Illinois. (847) 835-8326.www.chicagobotanic.org.

JUNE 6. Celebration of Roses. Martin SchoolRose Garden and Native Orchid Sanctuary.Toledo, Ohio. (419) 878-8699.

JUNE 18–20. Show of Summer. Garden Clubof America. The Chicago Botanic Garden.Chicago, Illinois. (849) 835-5440.www.chicagobotanic.org.

JUNE 20. Grand Opening of Lena Meijer Chil-dren’s Garden. Frederick Meijer Gardensand Sculpture Park. (616) 957-1580.www.meijergardens.org.

JUNE 20. Father’s Day Rose Show. OlbrichBotanical Gardens. Madison, Wisconsin.(608) 271-1300. www.olbrich.org.

JUNE 22. Rose Festival. Millcreek MetroparksFellows Riverside Gardens. Canfield, Ohio.(330) 702-3000.

JUNE 25 & 26. 3rd Annual Bloomin’ EventGarden Tour. Milwaukee Chapter, ChristChild Society, Inc. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.(262) 784-7087.

SOUTH CENTRALAR, KS, LA, MO, MS, OK, TX

MAY 1–22. Garden Tour: In the Garden withExtension Master Gardeners. Kansas StateUniversity Cooperative Extension. Olathe,Kansas. (913) 764-6300.www.oznet.ksu.edu/Johnson.

MAY 22–23. Oleander Festival 2004. The Inter-

national Oleander Society. Galveston, Texas.(866) 220-1691. www.oleander.org.

MAY 23. Iris & Rose Show. Botanica, The Wichita Gardens. Wichita, Kansas. (316) 264-0448. www.botanica.org.

MAY 29–SEPT. 26. In TREEguing Treehouses.The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois. (630) 719-2468. www.mortonarb.org.

JUNE 4–6. The Illinois Native Plant SocietyAnnual Meeting. Camp Wokanda. Mossville,Illinois. (309) 995-3356.

JUNE 5. Garden Tour for Connoisseurs. TheOklahoma Horticultural Society. For moreinformation, visit www.occf.org.

JUNE 5 & 6. Hermann Garden Tours & Peren-nial Plant Sale. Hermann Garden Club. Hermann, Missouri. (800) 932-8687.

Green Rooftops and Roses in PortlandURBAN GREENING EDUCATION and floral inspiration will share top billing inPortland, Oregon, when this progressive city hosts the Second Annual InternationalGreen Roof Infrastructure Conference, Awards and Trade Show, held from June 2ndto the 4th, and the annual Portland Rose Festival, held from June 3rd to the 13th.

The Green Roofconference—which de-buted last year in Chica-go, Illinois—offersgardeners, horticultur-ists, and architects achance to learn aboutthe latest advances ingreen rooftop technolo-gy and the many bene-fits these living rooftopenvironments have tooffer. Green roofs—rooftop environmentsfitted with growingmedium, drainage sys-tems and self-sustainingplants, such as succu-lents—aid in stormwater management,provide wildlife habitat, and are energy efficient because they insulate well. They alsolast longer than conventional roofs because their planted surfaces protect the roof basefrom damaging winds, ultraviolet rays, and temperature extremes.

Training and certification courses in green roof design, implementation, and main-tenance will be offered during the conference. “Both the certification program anddesign course will aid the success of green roofs in urban areas,” says Steven Peck, Pres-ident of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, “Green roof design and implementation is anew skill for most architects. It is key that these roofs are well designed, properly in-stalled and clients are not overcharged—all problems in the industry.”

The certification course will offer architects and landscape professionals the righttools for green roof implementation, and Green Roof Design 101 will introduce basicgreen roof design principles to those new to the field; both programs require pre-reg-istration. Conference tours will showcase Portland’s newest and most innovative greenroof projects. A diverse array of vendors from around the world will showcase the lat-est green roof products and technology.

During that week visitors to Portland will also enjoy activities associated with thePortland Rose Festival, which will feature the Grand Floral Parade, billed as the sec-ond largest all-floral parade in North America, and many other events from fireworksdisplays to boat races and live music.

To learn more about the green roof conference, contact Jennifer Sprout at (416)686-5887 or visit www.greenroofs.ca. For more on the Portland Rose Festival, call(503) 227-2681 or visit www.rosefestival.org.


The Multnomah County Green Roof public plaza in Portland.

JUNE 12. 14th Annual Texas Blueberry Festival. Music, car show, children’s activi-ties, food, and tours of blueberry farms.Nacogdoches Chamber of Commerce. Nacogdoches,Texas. www.texasblueberryfestival.com.

JUNE. 22–25. Wilderness Experience Kid'sCamp. The Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens& Nature Center. Corpus Christi, Texas.(361) 852-2100.

SOUTHWESTAZ, NM, CO, UT

MAY 16. Opening of the PNM Butterfly Pavil-ion. Rio Grande Botanic Garden. Albu-querque, New Mexico. (505) 764-6200.www.cabq.gov/biopark/garden/index.html.

MAY 22. Red Butte Garden Native Plant Sale.Red Butte Garden. Salt Lake City, Utah.(801) 581-4747. www.redbuttegarden.org.

MAY 31–OCT. 31. Chapungu Sculpture Exhibit.The Denver Botanic Garden. Denver, Colorado.(720) 865-3500. www.botanicgardens.org.

JUNE 19. Summer Plant Sale & Garden Fair.The Arboretum at Flagstaff. Flagstaff, Arizona. (928) 774-1442 ext. 110.www.thearb.org.

WEST COASTCA, NV, HI

MAY 29. Erosion Control & Water Manage-ment. The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. Occcidental, California. (707) 874-1557. www.oaec.org.

MID-MAY. Opening of the Sonoma Valley’sCornerstone Festival of Gardens. SonomaValley, California. (707) 933-3010.

JUNE 5. Annual Plant Sale. Wilbur D. MayArboretum & Botanical Garden. Reno, Neva-da. (775) 785-4153. www.maycenter.com.

JUNE 19. California Rare Fruit Grower's Festi-val of Fruit. Cal Poly Pomona. Los Angeles,California. (805) 584-6244.www.crfg.org/festival.

JUNE 19. The Opening of the Helen and Peter Bing Children’s Garden. The Hunting-ton Library, Art Collections, and BotanicalGarden. San Marino, California. (626) 405-2100. www.huntington.org.

JUNE 23–27. International Celebrations: 52nd Lompoc Valley Flower Festival. Food,parade, carnival, arts and crafts, and 82ndannual Flower Show. Lompoc, California.(805) 735-8511. www.flowerfestival.org.

JULY 2. Opening of the 18th Dynasty EgyptianPeace Garden. Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.San Jose, California. (408) 947-3636.www.egyptianmuseum.org.

NORTHWESTAK, ID, MT, OR, WA, WY

MAY 21–23. The Great Divide Orchid Society Show & Sale. Capital Mall in Hele-na. Clancy, Montana. (406) 443-2069.

JUNE 2–4. International Greening Rooftopsfor Sustainable Communities Conference.Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. Portland,Oregon. (416) 686-5887.www.greenroofs.ca.

JUNE 19. Grand Opening for Wise Acres Herb Garden. Pleasant Hill, Oregon. (541) 736-0164. www.herbaltransitions.com.

JUNE 26. 4th Annual Gardens of Merit Tour.Evergreen Arboretum & Gardens. Everett,Washington. (425) 355-2607. www.evergreenarboretum.com.

JUNE 26. 9th Annual Whidbey Island GardenTour. Whidbey Island Garden Tour, Inc.Freeland, Washington. (360) 321-4191.www.wigt.org.

JUNE 27. 2004 Garden Tour. Idaho BotanicalGarden. Boise, Idaho. (208) 343.8649.www.idahobotanicalgarden.org.

JUNE 28 & 29. 6th Annual Garden Fair andGarden Art Show. Alaska Botanical Garden.Anchorage, Alaska. (907) 770-3692.www.alaskabg.org.

INTERNATIONAL

MAY 28–30. Great Gardening Weekend 2004. The Montreal Botanical Garden. Montreal, Quebec. (514) 872-1400. www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/jardin/jardin.htm.

AHS JUNE 4–6. Exploring the TherapeuticPower of Flower, Greenery and Nature. 8thInternational People-Plant Symposium(IPPS). AWAJI YUMEBUTAI InternationalConference Center, Awaji Island, Japan.www.awaji2004.com. Co-sponsored by theU.S.-based People-Plant Council, the Japan-ese Society of People-Plant Relationships,Hyogo Prefecture, and the American Horti-cultural Society.

JUNE 6. Canadian Peony Society Show. RoyalBotanical Gardens. Hamilton/Burlington,Ontario. (905) 527-1158. www.rbg.ca.

JUNE 19 & 20. 22nd Annual Garden Tour forthe Victoria Conservatory of Music. Victoria,British Columbia. (250) 386-5311.www.vcm.bc.ca. �

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Weird Plants Invade TucsonPLANTS, LIKE PEOPLE, can either be delicate, fragrant and spectacularly beauti-ful, or bizarre, stinky and acutely grotesque—kind of like the difference between Lae-liocattleya ✕elegans and Amorphophallus paeonifolius, or Charlize Theron andQuasimoto. But, even Quasimoto found friend-ship and acceptance in the end—at least in theDisney version of the story—and at the TucsonBotanical Garden’s Weird Plant Film Experi-ence and Plant Sale, slated for June 6 and June12, the Amorphophallus might draw a few fliesand find a happy home too.

Last year, more than 2,000 people attendedthis weird and wonderful event, and organizersare hoping that by ex-panding the program totwo consecutive week-ends this year, they candraw even more. OnJune 6 the experience will start with a Weird Plant Costume Contest, followed by ashowing of the film Little Shop of Horrors. The night will end with a catered buffetof crazy culinary concoctions coined as “Weird Plant People Food.”

On June 12 the Weird Plant Sale will highlight the oddest species of living stones(Lithops spp.), strapelaids, cacti, caudiciforms, and curcurbits, among others. “Thisunique event has become very popular and is sure to please,” says Michelle Conklin,TBG’s Director of Development and Community Relations. “After seeing theseplants, you will get hooked on their strange, often hidden, beauty.”

For more information, call (520) 326-9686 ext. 15, or visit the Tucson BotanicalGarden’s Web site at www.tucsonbotanical.org.


Fockea edulis, anodd-looking relativeof butterfly weed.


LILIES

LILY NOOK—“Lilium specialists,” Asiatic, LAHybrids, Martagon, Trumpet, Oriental, Orien-pet & Species Lilies. Bulbs available springand fall. Color catalogue $2.00. Box 846 AG,Neepawa, MB. Canada. ROJ. 1H0. Phone:(204) 476-3225. Fax: (204) 476-5482. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site:www.lilynook.mb.ca.

PLANT LABELS

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Hortica: Color Cyclopedia of Garden Florawith Hardiness Zones and Indoor Plants,

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61May / June 2004

CPRONUNCIATIONS AND PLANTING ZONES

A–CAcacia baileyana uh-KAY-shuh bay-lee-AN-uh (USDA 10–11, AHS 12–10)

Acacia greggii A. GREG-ee-eye (10–11, 12–10)

Achillea millefolium ah-kih-LEE-uh mih-lih-FO-lee-um (3–9, 9–1)

Albizia julibrissin al-BEEZ-yuh jew-lih-BRISS-en (6–9, 9–6)

Amorpha canescens uh-MOR-fuh kuh-NES-senz (2–8, 8–1)

Artemisia filifolia ar-teh-MEEZ-yuh fih-lih-FO-lee-uh (4–8, 8–1)

Arundo donax ah-RUN-doh DOH-naks(6–11, 12–1)

Asclepias tuberosa as-KLEE-pee-us too-bur-O-sah (4–9, 9–2)

Baptisia alba bap-TEEZ-ee-yuh AL-buh(4–8, 8–1)

B. alba var. macrophylla B. AL-buh var.mak-ro-FIL-uh (4–8, 8–1)

B. australis B. aw-STRAY-liss (3–9, 9–1)

B. australis var. minor B. aw-STRAY-lissvar. MY-nor (3–9, 9–1)

B. bracteata B. brak-TEE-eh-tah (6–9, 9–7)

B. sphaerocarpa B. sfeer-o-KAR-puh (5–9, 9–5)

Caesalpinia mexicana sess-al-pih-NEE-uh mex-ih-KAN-uh (0–0, 0–0)

C. pulcherrima C. puhl-ker-EYE-muh(9–11, 0–0)

Calliandra californica kal-ee-AN-druhkal-ih-FORN-ih-kuh (0–0, 0–0)

C. tweedii C. TWEED-ee-eye (0–0, 0–0)Caragana arborescens kair-uh-GAN-uhar-bor-ESS-enz (2–8, 8–1)

Campylotropis macrocarpa kam-pee-lo-TRO-pis mak-ro-KAR-puh (7–9, 9–7)

Cercis canadensis SUR-siss kan-uh-DEN-siss (4–9, 9–2)

C. canadensis var. texensis C. kan-uh-DEN-siss var. teks-EN-siss (6–9, 9–6)

Chrysothamnus nauseosus kry-so-THAM-nus naw-zee-O-suss (3–11, 12–3)

Cladrastis kentukea kla-DRAS-tis ken-TUK-ee-uh (4–9, 9–1)

Clianthus puniceus KLEE-an-thus pew-NIH-see-us (9–11, 12–1)

D–GDalea capitata DAY-lee-uh kap-ih-TAY-tuh (8–10, 11–8)

D. frutescens D. froo-TES-enz (8–10, 11–8)

Delonix regia DEL-on-ix REE-jee-uh(11–15, 10–8)

Echinacea angustifolia ek-ih-NAY-see-uh ang-gust-ih-FOE-lee-ah (4–9, 8–5)

E. laevigata E. lee-vih-GAY-tuh (6–9, 9–2)

E. pallida E. PAL-ih-dah (4–8, 8–1)E. paradoxa E. pair-uh-DOK-sah (6–9, 9–2)

E. purpurea E. per-PER-ee-uh (3–9, 12–1)

E. tennesseensis E. ten-uh-see-EN-sis(3–9, 9–1)

Echinops sphaerocephalus EK-in-opssfeer-o-SEF-uh-lus (3–9, 9–1)

Erythrina ✕bidwillii air-ih-THRY-nuhbid-WIL-ee-eye (7–12, 12–8)

E. herbacea E. urb-AY-see-uh (7–10, 10–8)

Fragaria vesca frah-GAY-ree-uh VES-kuh (4–11, 12–1)

Franklinia alatamaha frank-LIN-ee-uhuh-lah-tuh-MAH-hah (6–9, 9–6)

Gaylussacia brachycera gay-loo-SAK-ee-uh brak-ee-SAIR-uh (3–7, 7–1)

Genista pilosa jeh-NIS-tuh pih-LOW-suh (9–11, 12–9)

Geranium himalayense juh-RAY-nee-umhim-uh-lay-EN-see (4–7, 7–1)

Gleditsia triacanthos gleh-DIT-see-uhtry-uh-KAN-thos (3–7, 7–1)

Globularia cordifolia glob-yew-LAIR-ee-uh kor-dih-FO-lee-uh (5–7, 7–5)

Gordonia lasianthus gor-DOH-nee-uhlah-see-AN-thus (8–10, 10–8)

H–LHeliopsis helianthoides hee-lee-OP-sisshee-lee-an-THOY-deez (4-9, 9-1)

Heteromeles arbutifolia het-ur-o-ME-leez ar-byew-tih-FO-lee-uh (8–11, 12–8)

Ilex vomitoria EYE-leks vom-ih-TOR-ee-uh (7–11, 12–7)

Indigofera amblyantha in-dih-GO-fur-uham-blee-AN-thuh (7–9, 9–7)

I. gerardiana I. jair-ARD-ee-ay-nuh(6–9, 9–6)

I. kirilowii I. KEER-ih-low-ee-eye (6–8, 9–5)

Juniperus procumbens joo-NIP-er-isspro-KUM-benz (4–9, 9–5)

Lespedeza thunbergii les-peh-DEE-zuhthun-BERG-ee-eye (6–8, 8–6)

Leymus arenarius LAY-mus ar-uh-NAIR-ee-us (4–10, 10–1)

Liatris microcephala ly-AY-triss my-kro-SEF-uh-luh (6–8, 8–5)

L. spicata L. spy-KAY-tuh (3–11, 11–1)Lupinus arboreus loo-PYE-nus ar-BOR-ee-us (8–9, 9–8)

L. polyphyllus L. pah-lee-FIL-lus (5–8, 8–5)

L. texensis L. teks-EN-sis (0–0, 9–5)

M–RMiscanthus sinensis miz-KAN-thus sy-NEN-siss (4–9, 9–1)

Myriophyllum aquaticum meer-ee-o-FIL-lum uh-KWAT-ih-kum (6–11, 12–6)

Myrtus communis MUR-tus com-YOO-niss (9–11, 12–1)

Nelumbo lutea neh-LUM-bo LOO-tee-ah(4–11, 12–3)

N. nucifera N. new–SIH-fer-uh (4–11, 12–3)

Nymphaea caerulea nim-FEE-uh see-ROO-lee-uh (10–13, 12–7)

Olneya tesota ol-NAY-uh teh-SO-tuh (9–10, 10–9)

Parkinsonia florida park-in-SO-nee-uhFLOR-ih-duh (9–11, 12–10)

Pennisetum alopecuroides pen-ih-SEE-tum al-o-pek-yew-ROY-deez (6–9, 9–6)

P. orientale P. or-ee-en-TAH-lee (4–9, 9–1)

Penstemon ambiguus PEN-steh-monam-BIG-yew-us (4–9, 9–1)

P. pinifolius P. pin-ih-FO-lee-us (4–10, 10–1)

Petalostemon purpureus peh-tal-O-steh-mon per-PER-ee-us (6–11, 12–9)

Picea glauca ‘Conica’ PY-see-uh GLAW-kuh (2–7, 7–2)

Prosopis glandulosa pro-SO-piss gland-yew-LO-suh (8–11, 12–7)

Robinia ✕ambigua row-BIN-ee-uh am-BIG-yoo-uh (6–10, 10–7)

R. neomexicana R. nee-o-mex-ih-KAN-uh (9–11, 12–9)

R. pseudoacacia R. soo-doh-uh-KAY-shuh (4–9, 9–3)

S–ZSchima argentea SKEE-muh ar-JEN-tee-uh (6–10, 10–6)

Senna alata SEH-nuh ah-lah-tuh(11–12, 12–10)

S. didymobotrya S. did-ee-moh-BOT-ree-uh (14–15, 12–10)

S. hebecarpa S. hee-bee-KAR-puh(3–9, 10–4)

S. marilandica S. mair-ih-LAN-dih-kuh(4–9, 9–1)

Serissa foetida SAIR-iss-uh FEE-tih-duh (11–15, 12–10)

Sophora secundiflora so-FOR-uh seh-kun-dih-FLOR-uh (7–11, 12–7)

Thymus pseudo-lanuginosus TY-mussoo-doh-lah-noo-jih-NO-sus (7–11, 10–7)

Ulmus parvifolia UL-mus par-vih-FO-lee-uh (5–9, 9–5)

Most of the cultivated plants described in this issue are listedhere with their pronunciations, USDA Plant Hardiness Zones—based on the 2003 revised hardiness map, which is currently un-der review by the USDA—and AHS Plant Heat Zones. Thesezones suggest a range of locations where temperatures are ap-propriate—both in winter and summer—for growing each plant.While the zones are a good place to start in determining plantadaptability in your region, factors such as exposure, moisture,snow cover, and humidity also play an important role in plant sur-vival. The codes tend to be conservative; plants may grow out-side the ranges indicated. A USDA zone rating of 0–0 means thatthe plant is a true annual and completes its life cycle in a yearor less. To purchase a two-by-three-foot glossy AHS Plant HeatZone Map for $9.95, call (800) 777-7931 or visit www.ahs.org.Hardiness and Heat zone codes are generated by AHS and doc-umented in the Showtime© database, owned by Arabella Dane.

(703) 768-5700 Fax (703) 768-8700

Copyright © 1997 by the American Horticultural Society

AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY7931 East Boulevard Drive

Alexandria, VA 22308 U.S.A.

Coordinated by:Dr. H. Marc Cathey, President Emeritus

Compiled by:Meteorological Evaluation Services Co., Inc.

Underwriting by:American Horticultural Society

Goldsmith Seed CompanyHorticultural Research Institute of the

American Nursery and Landscape AssociationMonrovia

Time Life Inc.


AGROUND COVER composed of plants with mounded habits and varying leaf forms creates a rich tex-tural effect in this sun-and-shade garden. The dark green leaf trios of woodland strawberry (Fragaria

vesca), broad, smooth-edged leaves of variegated hosta (Hosta ‘Fortunei Albomarginata’), and the finely-cutfoliage of cranesbill (Geraniumhimalayense) are different enoughin shape and habit to create con-trolled chaos, but are similarlylow-growing. Common foxglove(Digitalis purpurea) adds its ownlow-growing rosette of quilted fo-liage, but its tall spike of pinkflowers lifts this combination upand into the third dimension. �

Carole Ottesen is associate editor of TheAmerican Gardener.

A Ground Cover Tapestryby Carole Ottesen

CPERFECT PLANT COMPANIONS

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), a bienni-al, grows to five feet tall and bears pinkflowers in May and June. Grow in fullsun to part shade in moist, well-drained soil. (USDA Zones 4–8, AHSZones 9–1)

Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca),a perennial, grows to a foot tall. Whitespring flowers are followed by red fruits.Grow in part shade. (Zones 5–9, 10–9)

Cranesbill (Geranium himalayense), ashade- and drought-tolerant perennial,grows to 15 inches tall and wide. Blueflowers appear from May to September.(Zones 3–8, 7–1)

Hosta ‘Fortunei Albomarginata’, a peren-nial, has lavender blooms in July andAugust. Grows to 18 inches tall. Toler-ates drought and grows well in partshade. (Zones 3–9, 8–1)

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