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A Townhouse Grows at Elm Bank |
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As Beacon Hill townhouses go, it's a real fixer-upper right now. For starters, it needs shutters and a door knob. But the front garden is huge: it's 20 feet wide and 22 feet deep - a real find in the city. Of course, the townhouse's second story is lying in pieces nearby. And, when it's all built, the building will only be about eight inches deep.
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An antique wrought iron fence will circle the townhouse garden.
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Welcome to the preparations for the 2012 Boston Flower & Garden Show. In a greenhouse at Elm Bank, volunteers and Massachusetts Horticultural Society staff are pulling together the elements of an 1100 square foot exhibit, one of the largest at the show. The centerpiece of the exhibit will be that townhouse entry garden.
The theme of this year's show is 'First Impressions'. Entryways and entry gardens are the first thing you see as you approach a home, and you never get a second chance to make a great first impression. And so the townhouse has to look sharp and the garden has to be late-May lush.
Right now, the garden is scattered all over eastern Massachusetts. Some perennials are being nurtured in a greenhouse behind the Putnam Building. Tulips and daffodils are being forced by a commercial grower in Raynham. The bulk of the trees, shrubs and perennials that will populate the exhibit are in a greenhouse in Falmouth.
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Master Gardeners Ann Sterling and Peggy Gillis groom foxglove destined for Mass Horts flower show exhibit.
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Getting a mid-spring perennial - say, salvia or polygonatum (Solomon's Seal) - to bloom in mid-March is not just a matter of finding plants and putting them in a warm building for two or three months. It's part art and part science, and entirely dependent upon the right blend of temperature, humidity and sunlight.
"Get the recipe right and, on March 14, you'll have a stunning garden full of color and texture," says Paul Miskovsky, who has lent his 3300 square-foot Falmouth greenhouse for the duration. "Pump too much humidity into the environment and the azalea and rhododendron will burst into color on March 3 and be wilted remnants of their spring glory when the show opens. Get too stingy on the heat and your irises will still be all scape with tight buds when the show closes."
Betty Sanders is co-designing the garden along with Paul, and she has assembled an array of plants that will fill the exhibit twice over - and yet she's still looking for suitable annuals and perennials.
"There's a rule of thumb," Betty says. "Start with three times the amount of plant material you expect to use in the garden. A third of it won't be ready and a third of it either will be past peak or look ragged. We'll use the third that looks perfect."
Mass Hort Grounds Curator David Fiske, a past board member of the Mass Flower Growers Association, has been working his contacts to find additional perennials that are ready to be forced. Two weeks ago, he scored a dozen pots of white iberis (candytuft) that will accent the garden's color scheme. They're now ensconced in Paul's greenhouse, where the temperature is still a relatively cool 62 degrees.
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Mass Hort Operations Director Clark Bryan measures the townhouse for shutters.
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Meanwhile, the townhouse has been monopolizing the attention of Mass Hort Director of Operations Clark Bryan. Just now, he is wrestling with how to make use of an antique wrought-iron fence that has been offered for the display, but that has multiple gaps and missing pieces. Are there enough usable sections to encircle the garden?
"That's the great thing about the flower show," Clark says, philosophically. "You plan carefully and you hope for the best. But you also keep another plan in your hip pocket, just in case." |
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Winning a Blue Ribbon: You Can Do It! |
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Editor's note: Art Scarpa and Carrie Waterman will host a seminar on how to enter your houseplants in the upcoming Boston Flower & Garden Show. The session is on Monday, February 13 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Elm Bank. Art has walked away with more amateur horticulture awards than anyone in memory and Carrie chaired Amateur Horticulture for many years. They'll offer the kind of priceless advice that will give you a head start in any kind of competition. Click here for more details about this great program.
The following article about winning blue ribbons at the show is by Art Scarpa
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Art Scarpa grooms a plant for Blooms.
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One of the most popular exhibits at the Boston Flower & Garden show is the amateur horticulture competition that showcases the talents of home gardeners. Hundreds of entries dazzle us with their perfectly groomed specimens of horticultural expertise. The displays are adorned with colorful ribbons, cultural certificates, judges' comments on cultural perfection and other impressive awards.
All of these plants are grown by amateur home growers just like yourself who have learned some simple tricks to elicit 'ooh's' and 'ah's' for that favorite plant of yours. You can do it too!
A favorite houseplant can become a potential prize winning specimen if it is well grown. Preparation begins months before the show. For starters, read the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Amateur Horticulture Schedule (available here), which outlines the classes and entry rules. The rules stipulate that you can't just go out and purchase a plant the week of the show - there's a three-month cutoff (December 12, 2011 in the case of this year's show).
Plants are grouped into different categories known as classes, and are often subdivided into plants grown in windows, greenhouses or under lights to level the playing field. Choose a plant that fits a class's requirements with some extraordinary attributes such as a variety with unusual leaves or spectacular flowers to catch the eye of the public and judges.
Plants are judged by various criteria, which usually include cultural perfection or condition, grooming, staging and nomenclature. Rarity is rarely a criterion.
- Cultural Perfection or Condition . Prune and shape your plant, removing wayward branches. Fertilize as needed to encourage blooming or healthy foliage. Constantly monitor for insects or disease and take appropriate preventive measures.
- Grooming. Remove spent flowers and dead or damaged leaves. Wash off dust and/or soil splashed onto the leaves or stems.
- Staging. A well-grown plant in a dirty, chipped or garish pot is no match for a similar plant in a clean clay or plastic pot. Choose an attractive container of an appropriate size that complements the plant without distracting attention from it. If you re-pot, try to do so by mid-February to allow the plant to settle into the new pot. Top dressing, such as fine natural-colored gravel, may be applied to cover the soil when re-potting. If you top-dress, avoid using material such as purple aquarium gravel or white stone. Top dressing should be unobtrusive.
- Nomenclature. The plant should be properly identified with its proper botanical (Latin) name and common name. If you are not able to identify it, the show staff will assist.
Ensuring that the plant will look its best on judging day (March 13 this year) can be tricky, since trying to get a plant to bloom on cue requires some level of experience and expertise. This may necessitate moving the plant to a cooler, warmer or sunnier location to regulate its growth. Ask an experienced grower for help. Most plant people will gladly give helpful advice.
Entry day is Monday, March 12 between noon and 8 p.m. Pack and transport your plant carefully to avoid damage. Pre-warm your car. Protect your plant from the cold by placing it in a large container such as a foam cooler, and moving it quickly while outdoors. A bottle of warm water in the container will keep the plant cozy.
In all the years that I have been entering plants in shows, I have learned a lot by simply observing what my peers are showing and the judges' comments on various entries. Often, I have stood a few feet away from my show plants and quietly listened to the comments of the show visitors….. sort of like being an invisible observer at one's own funeral! Their comments may not always be flattering, but they do make an impact.
Don't be discouraged if you don't win a prize on your first try. Learn from the experience by asking questions of the staff and other entrants who will provide helpful tips.
Competing in a flower show is rewarding and fun. You can do it! |
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The Chef's Garden at Home |
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by Betty Sanders
It's time for home gardeners to start looking through catalogs and making selections for this year's vegetable garden. If you're not receiving them in the mail, you can find virtually all catalogs online.
The typical spring vegetable garden centers around crops that do best in cool weather. If our unusually warm winter continues, you may be able to start putting in seeds by the end of March. Seeds rot in wet soil so first check that the soil has dried out enough that it crumbles like chocolate cake when squeezed into a ball.
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Volunteer and Trustee Jeanne Lesczyznski waters the new Chef's Garden.
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Early spring gardens begin with lettuce, peas, onions, spinach and carrots. These hardy vegetables can all tolerate temperatures near freezing as they begin to grow. But don't limit your thinking. There are worthy and wonderful vegetables that are less familiar but easy to grow and will add variety to your garden and your meals.
Are you a fan of oriental cooking? Chinese cabbage is as easy to grow as lettuce. Sugar snap peas are no different to grow than shelling peas and provide a different flavor. Japanese spinach Sharaku can be eaten from its baby stage until it's full grown. Tatsoi is a wonderful green that survives temperatures down to 15 degrees and can be eaten raw or cooked. Chinese rose heart radishes are white on the outside then reveal a red center when cut open. Unlike other radishes, they store well so you can enjoy them long after other varieties of radishes are gone.
Do you prefer authentic Italian or French cuisine? Add a row of arugula and another of radicchio to your garden bed. Do you enjoy Rapini, also known as Broccoli di Rapa? This non-heading plant (which can go into the garden in April) is guaranteed to excite your taste buds with its pungent flavor. Fava beans have a wide variety of uses. Plant early and you can start picking in July and continue enjoying the beans until frost. Mache is French salad green with a fine nutty taste. Highly cold tolerant, it can be planted early and again in the fall. Leeks add wonderful flavor to many dishes. They can be direct sown as soon as the soil is workable.
Have rocky soil? Parisian carrots, small and round, offer sweet flavor and the ability to grow well where other carrots will be misshapen. When you put the seeds in the ground, add a few radishes to the row to mark it. They can be harvested before they are large enough to interfere with the carrots. Plant a row of shallots at the same time for their mild onion flavor, a must in many French dishes.
While you are perusing the seed catalogs, imagine how much easier it will be to get your children to help with the weeding if your garden is growing their favorite foods. A pizza garden offers the promise of a favorite meal with most of the ingredients coming from your own plot. This is a later season garden (plant in late May or early June) featuring tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, eggplants, basil, oregano and onions. Or, in May plant popcorn, the only corn not affected by corn borers, making success as easy as providing rich soil, adequate water and lots of sunlight. While we're talking about treats, think melons. Melon varieties like Sugar Baby need little more space than a zucchini plant but produce wonderfully sweet refrigerator-size watermelons. Melons need warm soil, lots of sunlight and water but will produce smiles from the whole family.
I recommend you take a look at Johnny's Seeds of Maine, Pinetree Seeds, Burpee's, The Seed Saver Catalog ( for unusual and heirloom varieties) and the hundreds of others that offer ethnic vegetables. The wide variety of seed catalogs now available online make it easy to find even the most unusual vegetables.
You can see a sampling of spring garden beds including uncommon vegetables at Mass Hort's exhibit at the Boston Flower & Garden Show next month. Starting in early April, check out this year's Chef's Garden beds in the Mass Hort Garden to Table vegetable garden. As soon as the soil has warmed sufficiently, we'll be planting and you can see what new varieties we've chosen for 2012. |
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Flower Show tickets make a special gift |
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The gift of a membership in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society is a year-long invitation to discover, save and to appreciate. It's a gift that won't soon be forgotten.
 In March, you'll be sending them to the 2012 Boston Flower & Garden Show for free. Next month they can enjoy an Amaryllis or a pot of paperwhites for indoor forcing with a $25 Gift Certificate from White Flower Farm. Through the winter they'll receive Organic Gardening and Garden Design magazines to let them plan for spring. Next spring they can explore Elm Bank's many gardens and even its extensive library.
In addition to these tangible things, there's an underlying gift that goes beyond anything that can be tied with a bow: the knowledge that they're supporting horticultural education. They're helping children's programs in Weezie's Garden and amateur horticulture at the flower show. And, they're helping to preserve and maintain Elm Bank, one of the great educational 'teaching gardens'.
Mass Hort's Special Gift Membership Offer
Membership is a terrific gift. And, if the recipient has never been a Mass Hort member before, it's an even more attractively priced one.
To introduce new people to the Society, we'll take $15 from the price of an individual or a family membership. That makes the gift of an individual membership just $35; a family membership just $70.
By using our online Gift Membership order form, you can personalize your gift by including a special message to your recipient. For more information, visit our Gift Membership section. |
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High Line: New York City's Park in the Sky |
High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky
by Joshua David and Robert Hammond (Farrar, Straus and Giroux New York, 2011)
Reviewed by Patrice Todisco
Few parks have captured the public's imagination like New York City's High Line. Built on a 1.45-mile-long abandoned elevated rail structure on Manhattan's West Side, the High Line has become the most celebrated new park in the city, attracting over five million visitors since the first phase opened in 2009.
Written by the High Line's cofounders, Joshua David and Robert Hammond, High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky, tells the improbable story of the park's creation and astonishing success. Divided into two sections, the book details the planning, permitting, design and construction process from the project's conception to the grand opening of the first section. This is followed by almost two hundred pages of historic and contemporary photographs and maps of the park.
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Manhattan's High Line park
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While the book describes the complex public and political processes through which the park was created, its core is a story about how a powerful vision is made reality. This vision - to transform an abandoned industrial rail line into a contemporary urban park that celebrates nature and allows people to experience the city in a completely new way - is never compromised and the "mundane aspects of everyday life" are carefully weighed as the design evolves.
The balance between vision and reality is underscored many times throughout the narrative as the project unfolds. "Since when is being a dreamer a bad thing?" asks New York City Director of Planning Amanda Burden at one point in the process. "This is a city that is built on dreams. We should all be following dreams like this one."
The self-seeded landscape and native plants that established themselves on the rail line during the twenty-five years it was abandoned inspired the romantic concept of a park that would be, in essence, an urban naturescape. These plants were expertly woven into the final design by an international team of horticulturalists and open space planners. Over 210 species of perennials, grasses, shrubs and trees -with a particular emphasis on year round interest - were planted. The commitment to horticulture was and remains an integral part of the project, as evidenced on the High Line's website where plant lists, an overview of seasonal blooms and monthly plantings, and an "ask the horticulturalist" feature is maintained.
The second phase of the High Line opened in June 2011 and a third section is in the planning stages. The project continues to serve as both an inspiration and a model for new ways of thinking about cities, infrastructure and landscape design. While touching upon many topics of interest to those who seek to integrate landscape and horticulture into public open spaces High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky also serves as an encouragement to committed community activists to never settle for something good when they can create something great.
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Volunteer Profile: Scott Birney |
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Volunteers drive the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. You see them everywhere, but especially in the gardens. They're the reason the gardens have kept their impeccably maintained look through the year and, as the number of gardens expand, so does the corps of (and need for) volunteers. Each month, the Leaflet will profile someone who contributes their time and skills to Mass Hort.
by Vivien Bouffard
Scott Birney is a former Trustee and current Overseer of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. He is also one of Mass Hort's most visible volunteers.
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Scott Birney with Patrick Costello.
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How did Mass Hort become a part of your life?
My wife, Jane, and I went to the Christmas greens show held at Horticultural Hall in Boston and we were regular attendees at the New England Spring Flower Show when it moved to the Bayside Expo Center. I paid close attention to the plants exhibited by amateurs and realized that some of my plants looked just as good as the ones entered in the show.
Did you enter, and did you win any ribbons?
I picked up a few ribbons for honorable mentions, and a few red ribbons for second places. My big break came with a kalanchoe that I was growing from a cutting. It was in full bloom and looked great. That's how I won my first and only blue ribbon. I have big plans for this year with some forced bulbs.
How did you become a volunteer?
I saw a note in the newsletter one January that volunteers were needed for the 'Nomenclature Committee'. It was tedious work but essential to the running of the flower show and we were always making new labels right into the middle of the night before the show opened. Somewhere along the way I decided that there must be a better way to make plant labels, so I wrote a computer program to format the genus, species, cultivar and common name as the data were entered on the keyboard. As far as I know, the program is still in use.
You're also involved with the Honorary Medals committee.
That has been one of my favorite activities - helping to carry on a nearly century-long tradition of honoring excellence in horticulture. But I also work the membership booth at Elm Bank events and anyplace else I can be useful.
What is your home garden like?
Jane and I bought our house in Wellesley in 1980 and I confess I was secretly checking out the possibilities of each house for a garden. After 30 years, I have developed what I think is a very nice garden: lots of spring bulbs and some lovely and unusual azaleas. I had a nice little clump of double bloodroots, the most beautiful flower in all of horticulture, but it seemed last year to have been crowded out by a vigorous patch of uvularia. One yellow lady's-slipper orchid has spread from a single plant to my present clump of 27. Every May I make the rounds of nurseries and I come home with so many plants that I am still planting well into June. My garden has something in bloom all through the summer and into the fall. As all gardeners know, it is always a pleasure to walk the lawns and paths each morning to see what has happened overnight.
Scott makes his home in Wellesley Hills. He is well-remembered at Wellesley College where he taught Astronomy from 1968 to his retirement in 1991. He remembers those 23 years of teaching as wonderful ones with great students, good people to work with, and terrific support from the administration.
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February Horticultural Hints |
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 by Betty Sanders
Lifetime Master Gardener
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Paper Bark Maple
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Enjoy a walk around your winter garden. You'll find a different place than in the summer. Beautiful barks take center stage when you can see the colors of red twig dogwood and kerria and the ornamental patterns created by the peeling barks of stewartia, acer grissom (paperbark maple) and of course, birches. Some years we miss the flowers of cornus mas (witch hazel) and hellebores because we can't get out to see them. This year they should be the highlight of your winter garden. But be careful where your tread: footprints left in mud will still be there in the spring and walking on frozen lawns can cause damage.)
Pruning time. Since we still don't have any snow cover, there's no excuse not to get out and do your winter pruning. Prune for shape, to control growth and to remove any storm-damaged limbs. You can prune grapes, most fruit trees and evergreens. Because you will also removing flower buds, don't prune trees or shrubs that bloom in the spring unless you are doing so to remove damage. Now is also a great opportunity to cut down vines that are growing on trees. Even decorative vines can grow too large and too heavy for the tree to support. And if you have Massachusetts designated invasives such as oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle or mile-a-minute vine, cut them down, dig them out and send them to the dump-never try to compost these horticultural felons.
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Dessicated rhododendron leaves
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Spray as needed. The deer may have access to more food than most winters, but that will not stop them from feasting on your plants' flower buds, leaves and twigs. Most repellent sprays need to be applied monthly to be effective. You can also protect broadleaf and other evergreens with an anti-dessicant on days when the temperature is above 45 degrees. While curled rhododendron leaves are nature's indicator of sub-freezing temperatures, don't wait for spring to find out that sunshine and drying winds have left you with damaged leaves and dried out flower buds.
Curl up with a catalog. While it's too early to start seeds indoors for vegetables, it's the perfect time to start ordering from the catalogs. Take time to read the descriptions-are you looking for a super-sized crop (Mortgage Lifter) or a variety known for flavor? Will you grow heirloom varieties or are you more comfortable with hybrids bred to resist disease? The right answer will depend on how much time you have to devote to your garden next spring and summer, as well as what you are looking for from your garden. There are no wrong choices - except not to plant vegetables at all.
Indoor plant care . As long as your plants aren't drooping, they are not suffering under your winter low water regimen. As the day get longer, you may need to increase the amount of water, but always check first. Do not start fertilizing again until March. Keep the humidity up around your plants by misting, using pebble trays and individual showers to help prevent plant lice and scale.
You can explore more of Betty Sanders’ gardening thoughts at www.BettyonGardening.com.
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The Problem with Groundhog Day |
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 by Neal Sanders
Leaflet Contributor
On February 2, you will hear on the radio or see on television that Punxsutawney Phil climbed out of his cage and either did or did not see his shadow which means there either will or will not be six more weeks of winter. Amazingly, this will be the 126 th year in a row that the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, has re-enacted this bit of municipal schmaltz. Even more amazing, Punxsutawney is just one of nearly a hundred towns in the U.S. and Canada that will hold such early morning stunts.
Before I go further, let me first say that I think the film, Groundhog Day, is one of the most original stories every told by the American cinema. For that 1993 film, Bill Murray can be forgiven all manner of duds (The Royal Tennenbaums, Charlie's Angels) and Andie MacDowell will forever remain one of the sweetest actresses to grace the screen.
But, to the best of my knowledge, we do not celebrate Benedict Arnold's birthday in this country (I cannot speak for Canada), not do we set aside a day to honor, say, the Japanese Beetle. Why on earth do we have a day that commemorate a rodent whose sole purpose in life, I fervently believe, is to destroy vegetable gardens?
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To begin with, 'groundhog' is simply one of the many aliases for a nemesis we know well in New England - the woodchuck. Elsewhere in the country, this creature has set up shop using the monikers 'whistle-pig', 'land-beaver' and 'marmot'. The woodchuck currently sleeping in a burrow just outside your garden likely has ID cards from many states, including one issued by the Algonquins for its original name, wuchak.
Woodchucks gravitate to gardens the way Red Sox fans seek out Fenway Park. As the Cornell Extension Service rather dryly states it, " Woodchucks can become a nuisance when their feeding and burrowing habits conflict with human interests. They frequently damage vegetable and flower gardens, agricultural crops, orchards, nurseries, and areas around buildings. Damage to crops can be costly…"
Before the new Chef's Garden was built at Mass Hort last year (encircled by a fence dug fully a foot into the soil), that site's earlier incarnation was a veritable Sunday brunch at the Four Seasons for the Elm Bank woodchuck population. I remember helping Gardens Curator David Fiske pull plastic for and plant a large site for a new hybrid watermelon Mass Hort had been asked to evaluate. As the melons ripened, woodchucks would choose several to sample, leaving behind well-gnawed produce. On the day before the melons were to be harvested, the Groundhog Gourmet Society invaded and functionally destroyed the plot, not even leaving the seeds behind.
I might feel differently about Groundhog Day if I suspected that the rodent involved actually had some prognostication ability. However, no less an authority than the Canadian Encyclopedia, using data from 13 cities gathered over a 30 to 40-year span, puts the prediction success level at just 37%. In other words, you can do better flipping a coin.
So, on Thursday, please excuse me if I'm not glued to the live, 7:20 a.m. webcast from Pennsylvania. Looking out at my green lawn this year, I can't help but feel that winter was over before it began.
Neal Sanders is a frequent contributor to the Leaflet. Neal's most recent mystery, The Accidental Spy, has just been published and you can learn more about it here . That book, plus his first two mysteries, The Garden Club Gang and Murder Imperfect, can be ordered through Amazon.com . |
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