The 113^th Annual Honorary Medals Dinner brought unique personalities, reflections on rich careers, and humorous stories to Elm Bank on September 27^th. The dinner, which honors individuals and organizations that have made important contributions to the world of horticulture, celebrated some of its greatest talent in recent years.

John Trexler at the 2012 Honorary Medals Dinner

John surprised the audience by beginning his address with the story of the three suits he has owned through his career and the turning points that he attached to the purchase of each one, by way of mentioning crowning moments of his last thirty years in horticulture. "I have raised more than $30 million only owning three suits. The moral of the story is that you don't need to own many suits to raise a lot of money," he said to appreciative audience laughter. He went on to tell the story of his fateful nerve-wracked interview for Executive Director of the Worcester County Horticultural Society and subsequent first day on the job in which nothing went as expected. A job that began slightly awry turned into a flourishing career success story as he first began the long site-selection process for the Tower Hill property in 1985 and raised consistently more money for it with each campaign that followed, using the funds and his ingenuity to creatively build and improve the property.

Steve Aitken, Editor of Fine Gardening Magazine accepts award.

Fine Gardening Magazine, awarded one of the Silver Medals, is based in Newtown, Connecticut and is credited with being one of the most widely read and helpful magazines for gardeners nationwide. "It's important to know that the garden community is thinking about us because we spend all our time thinking about gardeners and what they want to know," commented Steve Aitken, Editor. He continued: "Fine Gardening is not like other magazines. The articles are written not by writers but by the nation's top horticulturists and gardeners. So, the content comes straight from those who know how to grow a plant rather than those who can groom a sentence."

Vivien Bouffard, honored with a Silver Medal, served as Mass Hort's Volunteer Coordinator from 2010-2012, and, as she was introduced, "orchestrated the volunteer talent that makes Mass Hort works." Active in the local world of gardening, she founded the Norwood Garden Club and was a member of the Nomenclature Committee for the New England Spring Flower Show for several years. Vivien is a Mass Hort overseer.

The evening fostered a diverse celebration of the vision, passion, and commitment of trailblazers and leaders in the horticultural community, an inspiration to the many guests who came to hear them speak and fodder for an ongoing conversation in the wide field of horticulture.

Garden designer and author Sydney Eddison received the Thomas Roland Medal for exceptional skill in horticulture.

Garden designer and author Sydney Eddison of Newtown, Connecticut was presented the Thomas Roland Medal for exceptional skill in horticulture. She took the stage and graciously claimed that her skill in gardening really lies in "convincing people that anyone can do it. If I can do it, anyone can." She started gardening for fun, and it quickly became a passion and a calling. "It means a lot to me to be able to write and teach something I love to do. Gardeners are happy people," said Sydney. "Anyone can, and it can lead you all kinds of places. It led me here."

The George Robert White Medal of Honor, given to those who have done the most to advance the interests of horticulture in its broadest sense, was awarded to John W. Trexler, Director Emeritus of Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts. John served as Executive Director of the Worcester County Horticultural Society for 28 years. In 1986, at his urging, the Society purchased the Tower Hill Farm. Under his leadership Tower Hill has grown into one of the country's premier public gardens. John is recognized as a national horticulture authority and delivered the evening's keynote address.

CALLING ALL TREE DECORATORS AND TREE SPONSORS!

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society Overseers will present our fourth annual Festival of Trees at the Gardens at Elm Bank from November 23 through December 8, 2012.

The Festival of Trees at Elm Bank will kick off the holiday season in a special way: by giving families an opportunity to see spectacularly decorated holiday trees in a festive environment. We need your help in tree decorating, tree sponsorships and donations, and/or as a volunteer! You may choose to sponsor or donate a tree, attend or sponsor our preview party on November 17th, donate a gift certificate to our Giving Tree, or you can volunteer your time. Above all, we invite you and your family to come to see the display of trees.

Preview Party
Saturday, November 17th, 7:00 p.m. 

Festival Dates
November 23 through December 8 (closed Thanksgiving Day) 

Hours
Weekends and the day after Thanksgiving: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Other days: 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. 

Special Note
On Saturday, December 8, the Festival will close at 6 p.m. in order to notify the tree winners.

General Admission
$8 for Adults, Children under 12 FREE!
Children ages 14 or younger must be accompanied by an adult.

Location
The Gardens at Elm Bank
Hunnewell Building
900 Washington Street
Wellesley, MA 02482

To donate or sponsor a tree, CLICK HERE FOR ORDER FORM with details and specifications. For more information or to donate or sponsor a tree, please call us at 617-933-4934 or email Joyce Bakshi at joyce@masshortfestivaloftrees.org. 

Special Feature: Festival of Trees Wreath Workshop
Come create beautiful wreaths and swags to take home for the holiday season! The Festival of Trees Wreath Workshop will be held on Saturday, December 1st at 10:30 a.m. in the Putnam building at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA. (read more ) 

Part of the Amateur Horticultural exhibit from last year's Flower Show.

Your plant could be part of this display at the Boston Flower & Garden Show.

Exhibitor Meetings for Amateur Horticulture (January 10, 2013, 10am, Elm Bank) and the Design Divisions (January 17, 2013, 10:30am, Elm Bank) are already planned. Design Division II Chairman, Julie Pipe, has also launched a 6-week floral design course for potential new exhibitors in the Open Classes (Design Division II), which sold out in days! Due to the overwhelming success of this program, a new Floral Design Course is being offered. It will be held on Monday mornings from 10am to 12pm beginning on November 5th. You can register for this class here .

So you see, even though the Show is months away, committee members are working hard and exhibitors are getting excited; Mass Hort at the Flower Show is on!

While production is tapering off with the cooler weather, the year's cumulative yield from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Food Pantry and Home Chef's gardens has just surpassed 3,000 pounds. Vegetables are distributed to several area food pantries. We stopped in at the Natick Service Council for a glimpse of what happens to the produce after it leaves Elm Bank in stacks of black crates.

Patty Schaffer, Director of Volunteers and Food Pantry Services at the Natick Service Council, is eager to bring fresh produce into her clients' kitchens, and Mass Hort's vegetable donations have helped make this a reality. She displays the vegetables at the entrance to the pantry, so clients walk by them on their way inside to pick up food.

She has some help. Members of a youth group from St. Linus Church in Natick come to organize the produce into individual bags and display it attractively for clients. The children, from 7^th grade up, enjoy finding recipes to give clients ideas for how to use the items. Their enthusiasm shows when their volunteer time overlaps with pick-up time, and they have a chance to talk to the adults and provide suggestions about how to prepare the food.

"The kids are gracious and wonderful with the clients and help them make some choices," said Schaffer. Youth group leaders say the youth enjoy the challenge of finding the recipes online that will encourage people to try produce they might otherwise avoid or find unfamiliar, and their in-person encouragement helps.

Bounty from the Vegetable Garden

Shaffer involves local youth in the food pantry wherever possible. A large decorative farm mural adorns the hallway outside the pantry entrance, and was part of a senior project for students from the Rivers School who were studying the links between poverty and obesity. Another student built a play area for children as part of her Bat Mitzvah project.

The Food Pantry is set up so that each client gets a fifteen-minute monthly appointment, and the amount of food apportioned depends on family size. Every client has a caseworker who helps determine their needs. Items include non-perishable boxed and canned food, ethnic food, personal care products, produce, meat, baking supplies, and additional miscellaneous foods like pastries and other donated goods that don't fit into a specific category but which clients are free to take above their allotted amount.

Produce donations seem to peak just at the time of most need in the Pantry - summer. This is when all other donations are at their lowest (many would-be donors are away on vacation, and peak holiday donation period is months away) and demand is highest because families whose children qualify for free lunch at school now need to provide them all three meals each day. Schaffer has developed one remedy for this by working with local libraries - Food for Fines, a late-summer program that allows people to donate food to pay their library fines. She is constantly on the look-out for more ways to get donors thinking of the hungry all year, not just on the holidays.

by Betty Sanders
Lifetime Master Gardener

Did you plant impatiens this year? Did they thrive at first and then suddenly collapse? Did your neighbor's impatiens die in midsummer?

Impatiens devastated by downy mildew

There is a new disease out there striking this staple of bedding plants. Your plants look healthy and grow well, then suddenly they become ill. You feed and water them, and before you know it, they are dead, sprawled lifeless on the ground. What hit them was a tiny spore from a fungus. It could have been in the soil you bought them growing in. It could have come into your yard on a soft summer breeze. But wherever it came from the result was the same-swift and certain death.

The disease is called Impatiens Downey Mildew (IDM) and it showed up first in Europe nearly ten years ago. Greenhouses treated it with fungicides and it seemed to be under control. In 2011 it returned, apparently having developed a resistance to available fungicides. And that year it came to America.

The underside of an infected impatiens leaf

So what do you do if you were growing impatiens, one of the most popular annuals, in your garden or containers this year? First start with a thorough clean-up. Remove not just the plant but the soil and mulch in the area where it was growing. The fungal spores of IMD will be present and tests have shown those spores will easily survive our winters. The soil and mulch, as well as the plants, need to be bagged and disposed of where they will be burned or buried in a landfill. Soil from containers where impatiens grew must also be disposed of properly and the container thoroughly cleaned before storing for the winter.

What if you had no signs of disease this year? Some gardeners found their plants untouched while their neighbors impatiens crashed. Don't take the chance that the soil is not infected. Dig, bag and dispose of the plant, soil and mulch just as if your impatiens had died along with others.

But no matter how carefully you work to reduce the spore count on your property, next summer, the fungus will be wafting in on the wind, or in the mulch you buy or even on the plant itself. So what do you do?

First, don't even think of growing impatiens in the same area until growers find a guaranteed cure, or breed IDM-resistant plants. New Guinea impatiens should not be counted on until there are definitive answers. Early reports said New Guinea impatiens were resistant to the fungus. Some sources now say that, later in the season, even the New Guinea varieties showed damage.

Begonias are a good replacement plant for impatiens.

Better yet, use this as an opportunity to grow something entirely different. If you are looking for colorful bedding plants to grow in shade, try begonias, or coleus. A multitude of varieties are available in a seeming infinite number of sizes and colors. Or, try something you have never grown before. You can start the season with violas (pansies) and primroses and then see what the nurseries offer as spring becomes summer.

There are hundreds of wonderful, underused plants waiting in the wings that may find the impatiens' disease is their big opportunity to become stars. Look for browallia with true blue flowers, nasturtiums, nemesia, cape fuschias, plectranthus and snapdragons. The names of some may not be familiar now, but you'll love getting acquainted as a whole new look brightens your garden next summer.

By Vivien Bouffard, Mass Hort Overseer and Master Gardener

A spectacular display of color in your spring garden starts now, even as the days grow leaden and chill and it's time to ready the flower beds for a long nap. As long as you're out there anyway, why not tuck some early-blooming bulbs in between the plants you're cutting back?

For small gardens especially, bulbs offer a way to extend the season without taking up much space. When your perennials such as hostas and geraniums are just considering poking their noses up through the mulch, you can enjoy splendid color from the little bulbs you've interspersed among those perennials. Snow crocuses, Anemone blanda, Scilla, Chionodoxa , and Iris reticulata are all lesser-known bulbs that will bloom early and then have their dwindling foliage mercifully obscured by the emerging perennial leaves.

The same treatment can work for the larger tulips and daffodils, but don't overlook the little versions available. Tulipa turkestanica and several bright cultivars of T. humilis may even naturalize where they're happy. Tiny daffodils such as 'Tete-a-Tete', 'Jack Snipe', or a somewhat funky antique like the five-inch tall Narcissus bulbocodium conspicuous, will make your garden an interesting place well before it's time to put out the petunias.

Do take the time to explore the universe of spring bulb possibilities, through catalogs, the internet, and good garden centers. You can start by joining Mass Hort at Elm Bank on October 18, when we host Brent Heath, one of the foremost bulb authorities anywhere. Brent and Becky's Bulbs is based in Virginia and offers a one hundred page catalog (now available digitally on line) of the most spectacular array of bulbs you can find in the U.S and abroad. As you "ooh and aah", through page after page you will likely find yourself planning for much more than spring color.

Mass Hort will offer three opportunities, all on October 18^th, to work with and hear from Brent. With recommendations from Adrian Bloom and the assistance of master gardeners, Brent will lead a morning planting of bulbs donated by Brent and Becky's Bulbs in the Bressingham Garden at Elm Bank.

Later in the same day, Mass Hort will offer a Spring Bulb Container Workshop with Brent. Participants will plant a container that will produce glorious blooms throughout next spring. Bulbs and theme will be chosen by Brent and he will guide you through the process and possibilities for the future. Then, in the evening, Brent will give a talk on choosing spring bulbs for your garden as part of our Thursday Night at the Hort lecture series.

Mark the calendar and don't miss this exciting opportunity to hear and work with this third generation bulb grower, author and worldwide authority on bulbs.

by Neal Sanders
Leaflet Contributor

Molly O'Neill's Upside Down Apple Walnut Cake

We picked our second half-bushel of apples at an orchard in Harvard this past weekend. The Macouns were large, perfectly ripe, and will be turned into one or more Molly O'Neill Upside Down Apple Walnut Cakes as well as sundry other treats. Two weeks ago we picked the last of our sweet corn, gorged on two ears apiece, and froze the balance. The lettuce in our garden is brilliant green and growing like gangbusters.

For gardeners in eastern Massachusetts, it has been a very good year. Total rainfall was almost exactly normal (and slightly above normal for September), there were no Irene-type weather events to upend the season. The last frost was in early May and, as this writing, there has yet to be a 'first frost' inside I-495. It was never oppressively hot for extended periods. In short, it was an excellent year for plants, whether in the vegetable garden or the flower beds.

As gardeners, we tend to remember the bad years; the ones where it rained for weeks on end or it didn't rain at all. We remember the year that our perennials and annuals shriveled under relentless heat or our trees were ravaged by winter moth caterpillars. The mind retains the heartaches.

We seem to forget years like these - the good years - and that's a shame. It's the beginning of October and my container-bound annuals are still in bloom. The coleus has grown large and lush. There is still phlox and the eupatorium and asters are ablaze with a profusion of white and purple flowers. Though the temperature barely touched 60 degrees this weekend, there is still a touch of summer in the garden. The lawn is an emerald green.

I'm all too aware of the disastrous drought that continues to grip the Midwest. We have no contract with nature that assures us five months of pleasant weather between the beginning of May and the end of September. So, when nature delivers New England a spring and summer like the one we've had, we ought to celebrate it.

In essence, that was the thought behind the end-of-season town and county fairs that were once a regional staple around the country. We are fortunate that a handful live on in New England - especially in places like Topsfield and Fryeburg. In another era, they were the tangible evidence of a good harvest. Remarkably, they still highlight horticulture (even if the newspaper headlines are given over Ron Wallace's world-record 2009-pound pumpkin, on display at the Topsfield Fair).

Dahlias at the Topsfield Fair

You can walk though those two fairs this week and see perfect tomatoes, chrysanthemums, carrots and dahlias; all grown by backyard gardeners. They were picked on Thursday and entered in a narrow, four-hour window that evening. They were judged Friday morning and are on display all week. To me, they put to shame anything on display in a supermarket or florist's shop.

Horticulturally speaking, fortune smiled on us this year. You could see it earlier this year in the displays at the Barnstable Fair (July) and the Marshfield Fair (August). The season will end, of course. We are already under twelve hours of daylight and shrinking at a rate of five to six minutes each day. I recognize that those final tomatoes and zucchini aren't likely to ripen. But the winter squash are losing their tell-tale green veins that separate the pickable from those that need more time, and the leeks are still growing. Eventually, though, a cold-air mass coming down from Canada or Minnesota will put a 'closed' stamp on the season.

Topsfield Fair veggies

If you want to remember this year, I encourage you to make the trip to Topsfield before next Monday, October 8. If you're more adventurous and have a full day, it's a spectacular drive through fall foliage into southwestern Maine and the Fryeburg Fair, which closes October 7. Both are glorious throwbacks to another time. Both are end-of-the-season bacchanals, yet perfectly suitable for all ages. Go for the pumpkins, go for the Midway. Enjoy the sight of a basket of perfect Indian corn. But go.

Neal Sanders is a frequent contributor to the Leaflet. Neal's newest mystery, Murder for a Worthy Cause , was published in September. You can learn more about it here . That book, plus his four other mysteries, can be ordered through Amazon.com.

by Betty Sanders
Lifetime Master Gardener

It isn't necessary to rake leaves.

Don't rake, mow! Mowing with a mulching mower and leaving the clippings behind now is one of the best things you can do for your yard. You can eliminate a lawn fertilization by leaving clippings on the lawn all year (no they do not cause thatch). And you can fertilize the trees and shrubs that are part of the landscape by putting the nutrients from the leaves that fall right back in the soil. If you mow them instead of raking them, you keep most of what the trees need right in the soil. The small chips of leaf will decompose into the lawn over the winter. You'll have saved yourself time and made lawn richer.

Clean up in the vegetable garden. Dead leaves from tomatoes and squash plants, bean vines and corn stalks provide a paradise for overwintering bean beetles, squash and corn borers, and many other pests. Cut them down and remove them from the garden now. Do not compost because many eggs and diseases will survive the home composting procedure. Parsnips and salsify will improve over the winter in frozen soil, but carrots, beets and turnips need to be harvested before a severe frost hits.

Bagged garden debris

After the clean-up is completed, dig a trench and add half-composted manure mixed with garden soil. You are now ready for planting peas next spring as soon as the soil has thawed and dried out a bit, without needing to worry about digging in wet soil. While you are at it, prepare a second shallow trench in which you can plant garlic over the winter. Place the cloves pointed end up and cover them with soil. Put a light mulch on until you see the green sprouts appear. Add a heavier mulch as the ground freezes. They will be ready to harvest next summer.

Clean up in the flower beds. Once again, take away those plants affected with disease or insect infestations. [See our article on impatiens downy mildew-or why your impatiens died this year-- in this issue] Diseases and insect eggs often will survive in the soil and plant debris, so a fall clean-up is vital for a good garden next year. Remove excess leaves from flower and herb beds since they can harbor insects or keep the stems of plants such as lavender wet causing rot.

The greatest danger when planting spring bulbs is too much moisture. If your yard does not drain well, plant the bulbs in raised beds. The second greatest danger is rodents digging up and eating the bulbs. To keep them at bay, place a small amount of lime powder (not the pellets) in the hole after first adding an inch of soil. When the hole is filled, water well, tamp the soil down lightly and then place a heavy coating of powdered lime over the entire area. Rodents cannot smell the bulbs underneath and will not bother them.

Houseplants . Your houseplants are probably in shock now. Since coming inside, light levels have dropped and as the weather cools and the furnace comes on, the humidity levels will drop dramatically. Cut back on watering and stop all fertilizing until the plants have adjusted to their new environment. Keep a careful eye on plants for any insects that have hitched a ride inside. Outdoors, they had enemies (good insects) to keep them in check; inside the care you provide is the only defense your house plants have.

You can explore more of Betty Sanders’ gardening thoughts at www.BettyonGardening.com.

Most volunteers at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society are easy to find: they're working in a garden or manning a booth at an event. Elaine Early has done those things, too. But usually, she's either up in Mass Hort's offices on the second floor of the Education Building, or she's working from home on Mass Hort's behalf.

Call her the Ghost Who Gets Things Done.

Elaine Early, Mass Hort volunteer

Elaine has been volunteering at Mass Hort for more than five years. She became a volunteer for two reasons. First, she got tired of getting up at 5:30 in the morning to catch the 7:15 train into Boston. Elm Bank is less than a quarter mile from her home in South Natick. Second - and we hope this is the more important reason - she loves coming to work where there are gardens and friendly people.

"Elm Bank is beautiful," Elaine says. "The gardens are a joy to walk in. And the staff is a pleasure to be around. I'm part of a family."

Elaine does most of her work from home, where she says there are no distractions or interruptions. She'll come to the office and pick up materials - usually mailings - get any instructions, and then head back home to do whatever needs to be done. "I couldn't work, even as a volunteer, somewhere that expected me to be in an office at a certain time and stay for some fixed number of hours. That's not what I want to do."

But give Elaine a box full of memberships to be processed and she'll have them back when promised. She'll stop and chat for a while, then 'poof', she's gone.

In her five years as a Mass Hort Volunteer, Elaine has been a jack-of-all-trades. During the past few years you would have seen her at the Festival of Trees or at Mass Marketplace. She's also been sighted in the greenhouses and the gardens. She has weeded and moved mulch in the Italianate and Crockett gardens, though less so than in the past. But give her a trowel, a pile of potting mix, and a tray of seedlings and she's ready to start potting.

"I love working with David Fiske," Elaine says. "I also appreciate being able to work standing up. That's why I don't do as much weeding as I once did."

Any conversation with Elaine comes back to the beauty of the place and the friendliness of the people who work there. "Both the office and the outdoor staff are wonderful. I just love being part of this place," she says.

And Mass Hort, in turn, is thrilled to have people like Elaine as volunteers.