cuttings and
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Spring/Summer 2013
DOWN TO EARTH Page 3
SPRING PARADE Page 7
A PRIMROSE PRIMER Page 11
Look Down: It’s all about the soil Page 16
Director’s Corner
Spring/Summer 2013
by Molly Boxer, Executive Director Dear Friends,
Board of truste Matt Larkin, Chairman Madeline Hooper, Vice Chairman Gloria McMahon, Secretary Ellen Greendale, Treasurer Michael Beck Jeannene Booher David Carls Mary Copeland Jeanine Coyne Mary Harrison Ian Hooper Janet Johnson Janet Laudenslager Wendy Linscott Jo Dare Mitchell Skippy Nixon Linda O’Connell Judie Owens Martha Piper Jack Sprano Ingrid Taylor Cynthia Valles Mark Walker Rob Williams
Once again the Garden has an exciting season planned. We are paying homage to, of all things, DIRT! Oh, I know I es should say soil, loam or earth, but don’t you just love getting your fingers in the dirt? Isn’t that what we gardeners dream about all winter? So much of the success of what we plant and tend to has to do with the quality of the – okay – soil that we have in our beds, that it deserves its moment in the spotlight. Earth is also one of the four elements (Fire, Earth, Wind and Water) that we are celebrating at the Garden through two exhibitions – Architects Redesign the Potting Shed and Rare Earth: Garden Pots as Sculpture. We are humbled with our dependence on Earth and inspired by the creative ways our designers and artists use it to full advantage. Continuing on with the theme, this year’s Plant Sale is titled: Get Your Hands in the Dirt. Dorthe and Chris and countless volunteers have been hard at work to bring you the best the market (and our Garden) has to offer. New this year are fern and succulent wreaths along with some adorable miniature wall gardens. Word to the wise – as always this is the BEST time to be a member so be sure to take advantage of members-only early buying on Friday morning! I am delighted to be able to announce that we have three fantastic new people at the Garden: Deb Dunlap, Membership and Development Manager; Brian Cruey, Communications Manager, and in a brand new position, Karen Advokaat, Events and Tour Manager. See Who’s Who for their bios – better yet stop by and say hello! This is a poignant letter for me, for it is the last time I will be writing as Executive Director. I want you to know that I have loved every minute of being here. The Garden has a certain magic about it and we have the best members, volunteers and staff ever. I will miss you all more than I can say. I am happy to be able to tell you that Dorthe Hviid, our esteemed Director of Horticulture, will be Acting Director while a search is going on for a new Executive Director. So for now, goodbye, have fun in the dirt, and thanks for all your support. Best,
STAFF Dorthe Hviid, Interim Executive Director Karen Advokaat, Event Manager Christine Caccamo, Head Gardener Elisabeth Cary, Director of Education Allison Crane, Gift Shop Manager Brian Cruey, Communications Manager Deborah Dunlap, Membership and Development Dorthe Hviid, Director of Horticulture Donna Kittredge, Gift Shop Associate Manager Will Maston, Buildings and Grounds Manager Lynne Perry-Urbain, Office Manager Jamie Samowitz, Youth Education Coordinator Bill Cummings, Seasonal Gardener Richard Demick, Seasonal Gardener Margo Sharp, Seasonal Gardener Editor Brian Cruey Associate Editor Molly Boxer Design Julie Hammill, Hammill Design
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Spring/Summer 2013
Cocktails in Great Gardens May 17, June 21, July 26 and August 16
The perfect start to a summer weekend in the Berkshires! Hors d’oeuvres, a cold refreshment, and the warm summer light of late afternoon are the perfect companions to take in some of the area’s most spectacular private gardens through our Cocktails in Great Gardens series. It’s a rare opportunity to roam these private spaces with the gardeners themselves that you will not want to miss. Tickets are limited and reservations are required. Call 413-298-3926 for more information.
AROUND THE GARDEN
DOWN TO EARTH Yes, that’s a good description of how the Garden sees itself – as a no-nonsense source of information, education and inspiration for all levels of the local gardening community – but that’s not the main reason we have chosen this phrase to be our theme for the 2013 season. We have chosen it because we are now in our second year of celebrating the four elements, Fire, Earth, Wind and Water, with each of the four setting our focus for one season. So Earth will be the inspiration for all of this season’s exhibitions and events. The first exhibition is called Architects Redefine The Potting Shed and features the creativity and skill of five professionals in taking a fresh look at this garden staple. It is sponsored by Ed Herrington, Inc. and opens with a guided tour and cocktail party from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 4. Following the success of “Sheds” in 2010, “Tree Houses” in 2011 and “Shelters” last year, we are sure that this will be a popular draw for all levels of gardener, and all the potting sheds will be for sale. Sunday, May 5, will be the date of our third annual Roy Boutard Day, when we remember the enormous contribution to the Garden of its influential and much-loved Horticultural Director from 1955 to 1984. Events will include a tour of the Garden and a traditional May Pole dance performed by students of the Rudolf Steiner School. In addition, the Herb Associates will host a reception with their annual Mai Bowle and delicious herbed cookies. Our 36th annual Plant Sale takes place on Friday and Saturday, May 10 and 11, and once again is generously sponsored by Ed Herrington, Inc. This year’s theme is “Get Your Hands in The Dirt” and there will be experts on site, wearing “Ask Me” signs, to help gardeners make choices and plan their planting combina-
tions. Remember: “Early Buying” privileges – for members only – are on Friday from 8 to 11 a.m. The first Education Field Study takes place on Thursday, May 23, with a visit to the other BBG – the wonderful Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The staff-guided tour will include the newly restored Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden as well as the new mixed-perennial border at the Lily Pool Terrace. Subsequent Field Studies: on Thursday, July 18, an in-depth appreciation of an exceptional 10-year-old, 40-acre meadow garden at a beautiful estate in northwest Connecticut; and on Thursday, September 12, a visit to New York City to both Battery City Park and the new section of the High Line in its late summer glory. On Saturday, May 25, we will open our second exhibition, Rare Earth: Garden Pots as Sculpture. Curated by Joyce Nereaux, who presented exhibitions of birdhouses in 2008 and benches in 2010, this displays the work of Mark Hewitt in creating a wide variety of magnificent, huge containers. (See related story.) Once again, there will be a guided tour and cocktail party from 5 to 7 p.m., and, once again, all the pots will be for sale. Tasting Terroir: A Story of Earth, Wine, and Human
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Hope. Highlighting the essential role of Earth in the terroir that many people believe characterizes fine wine, author Paul Lukacs and wine merchant Jim Nejaime will present a lecture and tasting on Saturday, June 8. Paul also will sign copies of his new book, Inventing Wine: a New History of One of The World’s Most Ancient Pleasures. Saturday, June 29, will mark the opening of the Fitzpatrick Greenhouse, in honor of the generosity of the Fitzpatrick family in renovating the existing glass greenhouse and attached headhouse. To commemorate the opening, Guest Gardener Rob Gennari will fill the greenhouse with an amazing array of exotic tropicals and succulents. Cocktails in Great Gardens will again give garden-lovers the opportunity to enjoy wonderful gardens in the warm evening light. What better way to start the weekend! This year there will be four gardens to admire and roam on four Fridays: Black Barn Farm, the Richmond home of our Chairman, Matt Larkin, on May 17; the Sheffield garden of Susan Rothschild and Don Freedman on June 21; the Ashley Falls garden of Sharon Casdin on July 26; and the Salisbury garden of Douglas and Wilmer Thomas on August 16. The Farm in the Garden Camp, for children 5-10, will consist of five weekly sessions from July 1 to August 2. This proved highly popular last year and we have a number of repeat campers already committed for 2013. Everyone’s favorite garden party, Fête des Fleurs, will be held at Rockland Farm in Canaan, New York on Saturday, July 20. This year we will honor the late David McKearnan who, as a committed Garden board member and patron, helped to make the BBG what it is today – a place of beauty and community service. David loved a party and this year’s Fête des Fleurs will be one that is not to be missed! In July and August the Education program is holding a variety of art classes: four sessions in July on The Garden in Watercolors; a two-day workshop in August on Landscape Painting; and two classes in August focusing on botanical illustration, the
first a three-day session on Drawing Flowers with Colored Pencil and the second a two-day master class on Botanical Painting with Watercolor. There’s a lot happening on Saturday, August 10: the annual Grow Show will give gardeners at every level the opportunity to bring in their favorite examples of their homegrown flowers and vegetables to showcase the bounty of the season. Then, at 11 a.m., as has become the custom, the container exhibition, Contained Exuberance, will be opened officially with a tour by its creators, who will share their thoughts and insights in what is tantamount to a master class. On Saturday, August 24, we will open our fourth exhibition, Earth Works: Gourds of Iron & Glass which draws inspiration from both the bounty of the garden, and the essence of the elements we harvest from the Earth itself. The 79th annual Harvest Festival will take place on October 5 and 6. A much-loved tradition in the Berkshires, the Harvest Festival is a celebration of community – showcasing regional artisans and musicians, featuring local farmers, supporting local businesses, providing fabulous food, and lots of fall fun for kids and adults alike! Portrait of a Garden. This is the title of a very special lecture about the famous garden at Sissinghurst that will be given on Saturday, October 19 by Alexis Datta, who was head gardener there for 22 years before retiring in 2012. An opportunity not to be missed! Rounding out the year’s activities will be another annual favorite, the Holiday Marketplace, on December 7 and 8, with its early-buying cocktail party on December 6. There’s going to be much to see and do throughout the year, so if you’d like to be reminded of forthcoming events as they approach, please sign up for e-News updates on the home page at www.berkshirebotanical.org.
Down to Earth Architects redesign the potting shed 5 designers, 5 different visions, 5 amazing new takes on the traditional potting shed. On display for the entire 2013 season starting May 5th.
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Spring/Summer 2013
Around the Garden
RARE EARTH Mark Hewitt’s Mighty Pots
Regional pottery traditions are like wildflowers that grow only in special soils and microclimates. Seen in this context, Mark Hewitt’s massive pots on display at the Berkshire Botanical Garden are like extremely rare and astonishingly beautiful blooms. North Carolina, where Hewitt makes his majestic pieces, is home to the only extant Anglo folk pottery tradition in the United States, and Hewitt is one of its greatest contemporary stars.
Think for a moment about the music that the American South has produced – the Blues, Jazz, Gospel, Bluegrass, Rockabilly, Country, even Elvis. This music is the foundation of contemporary American popular music. The cross pollination of cultures that produced these iconic musical forms also produced distinctive decorative arts – furniture, metalwork, and pottery. Yankee saltglazing potters from Connecticut headed south in the early 19th century and met South Carolina potters who were in turn influenced by English journeymen and enslaved African-Americans. “It all came together in North Carolina; the place is a veritable melting pot, and has long been home to one of the world’s great ceramic traditions,” says Hewitt. “The potters produced utilitarian wares that rise above their functionality to become statements of design – classic forms skillfully made, fit for use, and fit for imaginative interpretation.” Writing for the 2011 exhibition, “Mark Hewitt’s Big-Hearted Pots,” at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans, Mellon Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College, Christopher Benfey, plays with the musical connections in Hewitt’s work. “Crossroads: three young lads from Britain, Eric Clapton and his mates, listen to old records by Southern bluesmen from the 1930s and came up with
music utterly new and fresh, where you can feel the crossing in your bones of two traditions – rural and urban, African-American and alienated European, soft and very, very loud – in creative tension. Or a young lad named Mark Hewitt, from the Staffordshire “Potteries” in the English Midlands, listens to the music of Southern potters and comes up with his own distinctive kind of ceramic music, utterly new and fresh – and very, very big.” North Carolina is to the pottery world what Broadway is to theater, and Hewitt has been a leading actor on its stage for the past thirty years. America’s preeminent folklorist, Henry Glassie, Professor Emeritus at the University of Indiana, writes, “At the center, with his colleagues from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, stands this tall, handsome man from England, Mark Hewitt – in place, at home – productively, inspirationally at work, a great American master.” How did he earn this accolade? His background gives us some clues. Born into a family of industrial ceramists, where his father and grandfather were Directors of Spode, Hewitt was surrounded by pots from birth. But as a teenager he rebelled from this industrial aesthetic, finding beauty in Sung Dynasty Chinese and old African pots instead. After university he apprenticed with legendary British studio
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“He talks the talk and walks the walk; in so doing he has bent inherited tradition into potent new shapes.”
potter, Michael Cardew, subject of Yale University Press’s recently published biography, The Last Sane Man, Michael Cardew: Modern Pots, Colonialism, and the Counterculture. His three-year stint with Cardew included hitchhiking across the Sahara desert to study West African pottery – perhaps the phrase should be rewritten “mad dogs and English potters go out in the midday sun.” In 1979 he finally drifted ashore in Connecticut, just a few miles down Route 7 from Stockbridge, to work at Cornwall Bridge Pottery, serving a second three-year apprenticeship with another ex-Cardew apprentice, Todd Piker. While there, he fell in love and married Carol Peppe, daughter of Canaan, Connecticut veterinarian Dr. Vincent Peppe, and together they left New England for the South in 1983. Benfey writes tellingly about the way Hewitt has absorbed North Carolina’s folk pottery tradition. “The vision of North Carolina that Hewitt conveys in his writing and in his work is audacious and compelling. He talks the talk and walks the walk; in so doing he has bent inherited tradition into potent new shapes. His big-hearted pots are on a truly heroic scale – heroic in conception and execution. They place him in the company of the great folk potters who have preceded and inspired him.” “Rare Earth feels like a homecoming,” comments Hewitt, now 57. “I’m back where I first arrived in America, bringing fresh blooms – my best new work – to New England from North Carolina. This group of big pots is the product of thirty years refinement of technique, materials, and a singular but ever-evolving aesthetic.” His big pots instantly command attention, whether they’re classically shaped vases or jars, or his more recent abstract “sentinels.” They fit majestically into a landscape, or even in Cuttings is printed on recycled stock using reusable energy and soy-based inks.
an elegant interior, drawing your eye to them, challenging and consoling in equal measure, and, like old friends, you are always glad to see them. Henry Glassie writes, “Other ceramic confections cower in closets or parade across shelves, but Mark’s pots stand outside, braving the wind and weather, becoming part of the landscape, like houses, like barns, like temples.” He continues, “Robust and beautiful, Mark Hewitt’s pots disturb distinctions, disrupt dichotomies. Inside and outside, folk and fine, old and new, native and alien, art and craft, the utilitarian and the aesthetic – Mark’s pots mix and merge categories in centered courage. They stand in the midst of life, where academic antimonies fade away, and work is good and true and human.” Be sure to see this magnificent collection of big pots at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. “Rare Earth” runs from Memorial Day to October.
Master Gardener’s Hotline
Need To Talk to a Pro? The Master Gardeners are here to help you! Call the Hotline at 413-298-5355 Stop by for advice, soil testing and gardening know-how Visit the Master Gardener website: wmassmastergardeners.org
QUALITY PRINTING AD
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CUTTINGS
Spring/Summer 2013
Drop in at the Garden or call Mondays, April – October; 9am – Noon. Any other time, leave a message for a return call.
Around the Garden
Halasia monticola ‘Rosea’ Carolina Silverbell
Spring Parade by Dorthe B. Hviid, Director of Horticulture
The small spring-flowering trees are a favorite plant group of mine and the stars of the spring garden. Their blooms span from March through June and many of them produce showy fruit, providing ornamental value to the garden and food for the birds into fall. Here are six of the best ones. Cornus mas The show starts at the end of March, when the clusters of the tiny yellow flowers of Cornus mas slowly open, the first tree to bloom. Due to the cool weather of early spring, this process can take several weeks, adding to the anticipation. In spite of the flowers being small they put on quite a show, as they bloom on bare branches, and are not prone to frost damage. A real harbinger of spring, this is a tough tree, hardy to Zone 4. Over time it grows to 20’ and develops a full round crown 15’ wide. It is especially beautiful when sited individually or in a group in front of a red building or evergreen background. Its common name, Cornelian cherry, refers to the red edible fruit that ripens in July. At the Garden we have two beautiful specimens of Cornus mas, one at the Visitors’ Center and one at the Pond Garden.
Magnolia The next of the small flowering trees to bloom is magnolia, putting on a superb performance at the end of April. The Magnolia will capture your heart and break it – roughly every other spring. The problem is that should the temperature drop below freezing – as it often does in the Berkshires in April – any time during the twoto-three-week period of flowering, the flawless innocence of these beautiful flowers will turn brown. Nevertheless, looking into the crown of a magnolia as the many flowers, still tightly rolled up, start protruding out of the rough brown bud capsule is one of the great pleasures of life. The native Magnolia virginiana (sweetbay magnolia) and Magnolia macrophylla (bigleaf magnolia) do not bloom until June when their leaves
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are fully extended. This means the flowers are partially obscured and are less noticeable, but there is no worry about these flowers being damaged by frost. In the Garden we have six magnolias, most of them located in the Magnolia Border, near the Pond Garden. Malus hybrids The crabapples bloom at the start of May, about two weeks after the magnolias. The flowers are akin to small apple blossoms, with dainty, diaphanous petals. The crown of a crabapple in bud or bloom against a blue sky is a wonderful sight. There are over 400 varieties of crabapples with flowers in every shade of white, pink and burgundy, and trees of greatly varying habits. The ornamental fruit, which is red, yellow or green, appears in late summer or fall. Of all these, the most important thing to consider when selecting a crabapple is the disease resistance of the cultivar, as many are plagued by disease. The Garden has a large collection of 40 crabapples, many of which were planted in the early 1940s. They are planted throughout the Garden, with a large concentration in the area surrounding the Rose Garden. Pyrus ussuriensis Ussurian pear plays a quiet role in the harmonious spring chorus of flowering trees, but should not be overlooked. It has white clusters of flowers in early May and is hardy to Zone 3, making it the hardiest of all the pears. I like it for its understated
elegance, tidy teardrop-shaped crown and clean, shiny foliage. This pear will grow to 30’ at a moderately rapid growth rate. We have a lovely specimen at the Garden on the western edge of the Herb Garden. Cercis canadensis The native redbud blooms during the second week of May. Small magenta flowers emerge along the bare branches, seemingly materializing right out of the bark, followed later by large heart-shaped leaves. One of the things I like best about this tree is its very horizontal, almost layered, crown. Cercis canadensis tolerates full sun to medium shade, a wide pH range, and is hardy to Zone 4. At the Garden we have two redbuds along the edge of the parking lot and one at the Pond Garden. We also have a Cercis canadensis ‘Alba’ on the Great Lawn that will knock your horticultural socks off. It has a very wide crown with graceful branches almost touching the lawn underneath. This cultivar has snow-white flowers contrasting nicely with the very dark bark. Halesia carolina Carolina silverbell is another tree of subtle beauty. Its flowers, appearing before the leaves in mid-May, are delicate white bells suspended from the underside of the branches. The dark striped bark is beautiful year-round, as are the unusual four-winged fruit that last into late fall. Carolina silverbell will grow to about 30’ in sun or shade, prefers an acid soil, and is hardy to Zone 4. You will find one at the Garden on the edge of the deGersdorff Garden. If you would like to become more familiar with these trees or if you just enjoy their blooms, treat yourself to repeated visits to the Botanical Garden this spring to observe them through their bloom cycle. It’s a great way to welcome spring and a beautiful time in the Garden.
Public Tours at the Garden A guided tour is one of the best ways to fully enjoy your visit at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Our guided tours are lead by knowledgeable tour guides who will provide information about the Garden and our plant collection that you may otherwise miss. It is a great way to learn about what is in bloom throughout the season. Guided tours are at 10am every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday starting on June 19. Tours are included with admission and free for members. Tours meet at the Visitor Center; no reservations are needed.
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Spring/Summer 2013
10am every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday starting June 19 To schedule a private group tour (minimum 10 people) please call 413-298-3926. Lunches are available for an additional fee and advance notice.
Around the Garden
ANTICIPATING THE ANNUAL SPRING
PLANT SALE May
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On January 14 – deep into winter, one could say – horticultural volunteer Carole Armstrong joined us for lunch at the Center House and we were struck by her upbeat tone as she assured us that spring was right around the corner. Now with this issue of Cuttings, spring is here, and with it comes the annual Plant Sale. We asked five avid Plant Sale enthusiasts to tell us what they love about this event – and here is what they shared with us. Barb May I always arrive at the Plant Sale with a list of specific needs – a “thriller” for my containers, a shrub, a vine – but after I find a few items on my list, I put it away and get down to serious browsing. I always look forward to Dorthe’s suggestions of new annuals and plant combinations and some of my favorite garden plants have come from the Plant Sale. Years ago, Dorthe introduced me to Canna ‘Panache’, which I love and have been able to divide and share with friends. Also in my garden I have Clematis integrifolia that has small nodding blue heads and each year I buy the Browallia americana, an annual that I’ve never seen anywhere else except at the Plant Sale. I’ve been buying at the Plant Sale for at least 20 years. While it used to be for both business and personal, now it’s just for my own garden and I always go home with a trunkload. Betsy Palmer Thompson Like every gardener, I suppose, I look forward to spring. There is nothing like the joy of seeing the sleeping garden burst into bloom again and, when it does, I inevitably see possibilities for improvement. This, of course, is my excuse for shopping for new plants -- perennials and shrubs to replace those that have not performed well enough to retain, annuals to fill in for all-season color and collections for my containers. Over the years, the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Plant Sale has become my favorite one-stop destination for buying. There is something special about this sale.
I can’t pin down one thing, I think it is a combination of many. The plants are always fresh and of the best quality; there are many new surprises among them, including new introductions from outstanding sources; they are so nicely ordered and labeled that one knows right where to go to find that special plant; and being indoors, or nearly so, they add a seductive aroma to the atmosphere. Most of all, I think I enjoy knowing I will always meet friends there, people I know and people newly met, who are plant and design experts for consultation and sharing. The whole experience is predictably delicious. Cheryl Barrett I started coming to the Berkshire Botanical Garden Plant Sale 13 years ago when my husband and I returned to the Berkshires. And I began volunteering six years ago because the camaraderie is great, I get to see other members and I get to preview great plants. At the 2007 Plant Sale, I bought my first Japanese maple, Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Inaba-shidare’, purchased only because the Garden staff gave me the confidence to grow it in my yard. Other favorite purchases over the years include Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Summer Wine’ (ninebark), Elderberry Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’, and Paeonia lactiflora ‘Raspberry Sundae’. These plants, including the Japanese maple, have not just survived in my yard, but thrived! While I will sometimes bring a list of desired plants, I’m usually too distracted by what is there. But I always go home with plants Berkshire Botanical Garden
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for shady window boxes and beautiful combinations for containers. In fact, two of my favorite plant groupings overwinter in my office and return in the spring to my front porch. The begonia is in bloom now. The Berkshire Botanical Garden is truly a gem and I consider myself lucky to live so close to it. Julie Michaels One of the great pleasures of my gardening life is to arrive at the Plant Sale at exactly 8 a.m. on Friday morning. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I find my pleasure in the experience twofold. Yes, there are all the wonderful, healthy plants tempting me to buy them, but I also enjoy the camaraderie. Just about anyone from Berkshire County who is serious about gardening is there when the sale opens and you can renew old friendships even while you pick up tips from other gardeners about what plants work well and in what combination. Berkshire Botanical Garden has always been up-to-date on plant culture: if you’re looking for a newly introduced blue geranium, you may see it first at the Plant Sale. If you’ve fallen in love with hellebores, chances are you’ll find some out-of-the-ordinary ones on display. Each year, I add to my collection of primroses, a plant I fell in love with when I came across the Garden’s own magical collection under the apple trees near the Pond Garden, one happy spring. I’ve introduced many friends and new gardeners to the pleasures of my plant sale ritual. Once inside the building, confronted by row upon row of beautiful plants, they’re hooked. We are blessed to live in a region where so many garden plants thrive, and doubly blessed to have
the Berkshire Botanical Garden as a guide. Now if we can only get rid of that dreaded lily beetle, my gardening life would be perfect. Wynn Sayman We have been coming to the Plant Sale since its inception. It seems a long way back! We like to zero in on perennials as they are the backbone of our garden, and then we use annuals to fill in. Lately we’ve become interested in grasses, but we always like to learn about plants we aren’t familiar with or that we’ve seen at the Garden. For instance, several years ago we discovered Echinaceas and have since added several varieties. An old favorite is Lobelia cardinalis (as well as anything red for the punch it adds to the garden.) At this year’s Plant Sale, we undoubtedly will be looking for any particularly red perennials or annuals, as well as any unusual plants.
GARDEN CONSERVANCY TOURS OF PRIVATE GARDENS The Garden Conservancy’s 2013 Open Days season begins in early spring this year and continues through mid-Fall. Gardens will be open to the public from 10am-4pm for self-guided tours, rain or shine. No reservations required. This year’s local gardens include: June 2: Good Dogs Farm Maria Nation & Roberto Flores, Ashley Falls, MA Under the Hemlocks, Housatonic, MA
July 28: Black Barn Farm, Richmond, MA Rockland Farm, Canaan, NY The Tilden Japanese Garden, New Lebanon, NY
Details on these Open Days events and others nationwide (including many in nearby Columbia County, NY and Litchfield County, CT) are available in the 2013 Open Days Directory. Free to Garden Conservancy members, directories and admission tickets are also offered for sale at the Berkshire Botanical Garden gift shop. A complete list of Open Days will be posted on the Garden Conservancy website at www.opendaysprogram.org by the end of March. Check the website or call the Garden Conservancy toll-free at 1.888.842.2442.
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around the garden
A Primrose PRIMER by Matt Mattus
For all of the charm and beauty primroses can bring to a garden, one rarely sees them outside of the florist shop and supermarkets. It’s not because primroses are difficult to grow, they just demand rather specific requirements, depending on the species. Primroses that do well in the Northeast can be divided into three groups: Early Spring Woodland Primroses – The earliest blooming species and selections like damp, but not soaking wet, conditions in spring. These early primroses are not unlike our native woodland plants such as trillium, with which they make friendly neighbors. The easiest species include Primula acaulis and P. denticulata (drumstick primrose). In its native haunts in the Himalaya, the drumstick primrose blooms just after snowmelt, when the soil is damp, and still draining the melting snows. Later in the season, the soil may dry out. No primrose is long lived, so plan on starting some more from seed. To make propagation easier look for pre-chilled seed online. If the seed is sown in a flat in late winter, it will bloom outdoors in the following spring. Mid-Spring Primroses – These edge-of-woodland or meadow growers love raised beds and open borders in our gardens. Longer lived than the earlier forms, the longest-lived ones are the P. x
polyanthus, which look similar to the varieties sold in the January supermarkets, but with stems. Mid-season Primula grow well in the open garden, such as under an apple tree or even in full sun if the soil is rich and damp. Try P. x polyanthus, P. veris (the cowslips), or the Japanese native P. sieboldii, which may live quite long in the garden, and bloom in late May. All of these primroses rarely reseed, but can often be divided. Summer blooming primroses – These love wet feet, and as they bloom in June and July, they are often the most common in a garden gifted with a stream or damp area. These are the giant Asian species and include P. japononica, which can quickly self-seed along open streams and on the edges of swamps. Other wet summer bloomers include P. bulleyana and other ‘candelabra’ types, all of which, like P. x bulleesiana, produce copious seed ensuring those lucky enough to have a stream, a lifetime of summer color. Matt Mattus lives in central Massachusetts and authors the popular garden blog growingwithplants.com
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EDUCATION
FARm in THE garden CAMP “It’s a great opportunity for children to experience nature and the way one can enhance its beauty through gardening and farming.”
“She had so much to tell about camp and all the wonderful things she did during the day. The counselors were attentive and caring. The animals were the main attraction and she was so happy to take care of them...A lovely experience for young children.”
12 C U T T I N G S Spring/Summer 2013
Kids, parents, grandparents and farm animals all agree – Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Farm in the Garden Camp is THE place to be! Have your 5-10 year old join us for one of our five, one-week sessions between July 1st and August 2nd. Children learn the connections that exist with themselves, nature, the food we eat and the friendships that develop in between. There are baby animals to feed, vegetables to tend to, songs to sing, food to prepare and a life-lifelong relationship with the outdoors to start building. So come join us! This day camp fills up very quickly – so don’t delay – sign up today!
“A wonderful experience!! They came home everyday talking nonstop about all the great activities...this camp had it all!”
EDUCATION
“They deemed it their ‘most favorite’ camp!”
“She came home peaceful and enthusiastic, full of stories about bunnies, chicks, and piglets. She had a terrific week.”
“Incredibly enriching.” “Our experience at Farm in the Garden Camp could not have been more positive. He was engaged, interested, and very proud of the work he did. Thank you all!”
FIVE 1-WEEK SESSIONS: 9AM - 3PM JULY 1-5 n JULY 8-12 n JULY 15-19 n JULY 22-26 n JULY 29-AUGUST 2 Cost: $350 members; $375 nonmembers. Sibling and/or multiple week discounts. Register by calling 413-298-3926 or online at berkshirebotanical.org Berkshire Botanical Garden
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EASY & DELICIOUS Whether you are picnicking at Tanglewood, planning a BBQ or just having afternoon tea in your garden, this fun twist from our very own Herb Associates spruces up an old favorite to make the perfect, light (and gluten free) summer sweet. Cilantro-Coconut Macaroons
Invest in Green
Makes about 3 dozen macaroons 2 1/4 cups flaked coconut 2/3 cup sugar
SPONSOR A VEGETABLE BOX
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems
Alicanthe Bean • Rouge d’Alger Cardoon • Chiogga Beet • Purple Flash Pepper • Red Dynasty Cabbage and many more…
Tiny pinch of salt
Link your name or that of your friend or grandchild to this illustrious list of vegetable royalty by sponsoring a raised bed in our Vegetable Garden! The names of the sponsors will be handlettered on rustic wooden signs and displayed in the individual raised vegetable beds. Call the Garden for more information
413-298-3926 Keep us growing… sponsor a box today! Don’t let Red Dynasty Cabbage go it alone! Sponsorships are $100. All proceeds go to keeping these vegetable stars in tip-top shape. 14 C U T T I N G S Spring/Summer 2013
3 egg whites (from large eggs), at room temperature Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium-size bowl, combine the coconut, sugar, and cilantro and mix well, breaking up any lumps in the coconut. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until they become opaque, sprinkle with the pinch of salt, and then beat until firm, shiny peaks form. In all, this should take about 5 minutes. Fold in the coconut mixture and stir well so that it is completely incorporated. Use your fingertips (don’t try to roll between your palms) to mold 1-inch balls of dough, squeezing the balls to help solidify them. Place them about 1 inch apart on the parchment and press down each ball until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Bake for about 15 minutes, watching the pans and changing their positions as needed, until the cookies are pale golden brown. If they begin to darken too quickly (they should be pale for the first 10 minutes or so), lower the heat a little. Remove the pans from the oven and allow the macaroons to cool completely on the paper before transferring them to an airtight storage container.
around the garden
Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Herb Associates:
Where Gardening and Cooking Collide By Carole Murko, Creator and Host, Heirloom Meals www.heirloommeals.com
Volunteerism. Passion. Curiosity. Generosity. The Herb Associates embody all those and more.
The Herb Associates have a long tradition of growing herbs at the Berkshire Botanical Garden
Imagine a group of volunteers who have shown up to the Garden each Tuesday from 9 AM to 12:30 PM, April through October, since 1957, to plant, weed, harvest, dry, store and cook homegrown herbs. All with the dual mission of sustaining the Berkshire Botanical Garden by selling a wide range of in-house produced products and educating the public about herbs. The Herb Associates are the only group in the country that grows and sells “on-site.” Inspired by the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s founder Irene Botsford Hoffman’s cookbook, The Book of Herb Cookery, published in 1940, the Herb Associates essentially created a “bake sale” with herbs. These herb products are the result of this dedicated group’s effort to preserve and maintain the “display” and “working” herb gardens. Barbara Brouker, who doesn’t want to remember how long she’s been a member, recalls being recruited by a patron of the Stockbridge Library. She became instantly involved with the Herb Associates and has been a stalwart member since. For Barbara, the
back-breaking labor is fun. Moreover, she prides herself, and the Herb Associates, in the fact that the herb garden is a show garden. “We work in it so you don’t know we’ve worked in it.” The members emphasize that even for them, participating in the Herb Associates is all about learning and camaraderie. Volunteer Marcia Brolli confessed she had never gardened in her life; she really came to learn. And Iris Bass relishes the social aspects of the group. While Iris has gleaned much garden wisdom from her six years as a member, she has also put her book editing skills to work. The BBG’s The Garden Cookbook, Celebrating 75 years of Growing and Cooking with Herbs was edited and designed by Iris. The group currently has 22 members and continues to grow. If you love to learn, to share, to cook and to enjoy the “herbs” of your labor, then there is a place for you with the Herb Associates. To learn about volunteer opportunities, call the Garden at 413-298-3926. For more on The Herb Associates, read the rest of the story in the May issue of Berkshire Magazine.
Berkshire Botanical Garden
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around the garden
Look down
It’s all about the soil! by Elizabeth Cary
Why do many Berkshire county gardeners struggle with growing the beautiful native denizen of the woods, Kalmia latifolia, (mountain laurel)? It’s true that some folks in the hill towns can grow this magnificent beauty, but for those gardening in the Housatonic valley parts of Lee, Lenox, Great Barrington and Sheffield, it’s a struggle to grow this lovely native plant. Look to your soil for the answer. As it turns out, mountain laurel is one of those finicky plants belonging to the group of plants know to be ericaceous. Ericaceous plants are commonly known as plants in the heath or heather family. This group of plants contains many highly ornamental plants such as rhododendron, azalea, and a Berkshire favorite, Kalmia latifolia, the native mountain laurel. The ericaceous plant group also includes important fruit crops - most notably blueberries, Kalmia latifolia huckleberries and cranberries. Most ericaceous plants prefer acidic, infertile conditions. This is indicated by an extremely low pH (4–5 pH) in a soil test. Plants that are ericaceous have a pronounced preference for acid soils and cannot tolerate alkaline or limey soils. If the soil is not sufficiently acid, then ericaceous plants are unable to absorb iron and begin to yellow. Like other stress-tolerant plants, many ericaceous plants
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have mycorrhizal fungi to assist with extracting nutrients from infertile soils, as well as evergreen foliage in order to conserve nutrients that have been absorbed. One of the best indicators of whether you will be able to grow mountain laurel successfully is to look to the woods. Is there mountain laurel in the woods around your house? Test your soil. Is the pH in the 5 range? If so, then go for it. But if you suffer garden conditions like mine – no mountain laurel in the surrounding woods, and a pH of 7.2 – then think twice before subjecting this lovely native plant to soil it will not appreciate. And if you can’t grow this great plant in your garden, then enjoy a June hike on Mount Washington or at Beartown State Park and enjoy this magnificent plant in its native glory!
WHO’S WHO AT the Garden Karen Advokaat, Event and Tour Manager In August 2010 I innocently signed up for one class – Drafting for Garden Design (my partner, Brian, and I had just bought a house and it desperately needed some gardens) – never suspecting I’d end up sharing office space with Dorthe and Chris! I loved that first class and committed myself to the horticulture certificate program. In April 2012 I graduated with two levels of the hort certificate under my belt and a fire in my belly to keep on going. I loved the Garden – this specific garden, but also I’d come to appreciate just what botanical gardens mean to their communities. And I wanted to be part of that mission – to educate and inspire through art and science. Finally, I had found my place after graduating with a master of science in environmental education in 1998! My previous jobs have prepared me well for the task ahead of me – to assist in the coordination of all the events at the Garden, to develop the group tour program, and to be the key liaison for the rental of the buildings and gardens. Like everyone here, I’ll wear many hats and I am excited to work with the wonderful team of staff and volunteers. The Berkshires have been my home now for 12 years. I count myself as lucky to work at one of the organizations that make this county a rich and vibrant place to live.
Deb Dunlap, Membership and Development Manager As a child, I grew up on a small family farm and learned it was hard work, challenging, and also rewarding on many levels. When I was about 5 years old, my family of seven picked up six chickens, worked as a team to grow our own food in the garden, and attached a small wind generator to the side of the house to capture energy from nature. Every year we added more things, both practical and unique, until we had a fairly self-sustaining farm of 200 animals, a 2-acre garden, and plenty of work to do! I found my fondness of farming and gardening blossomed as I grew. I learned so much from planting my little rough-edged beet seeds in the Spring, to milking the goats before school for the cheese and soap we later made with it, digging post holes, and raking wind rows of hay by hand. It felt like a scavenger hunt to help to harvest the Autumn bounty of vegetables and fruits to be blanched, canned, and made into sauces until the wee hours of the morning. I still radiate with excitement with every new tree, flower, or bush that I learn about, and how it can be used to make products or incredible edibles. Through life’s twists and turns I landed a corporate job, resulting in a separation from the garden and farm life I have always known and loved. After years of being away from the “green” life, I have been blessed by this opportunity to come back to it here at the Garden, where I am able to use my business skills to benefit such a worthy organization. I am thrilled to support and witness the yield of the efforts of a well cultivated team who serve so many in the quest to share enthusiasm and knowledge. It is with gratitude that I am here where I can once again grow.
in memoriam The Garden lost a great friend on January 23 with the death of David McKearnan. David loved the Berkshire Botanical Garden. He loved a lot of things; his beloved Betsey, their three children, travel – anywhere, anytime, great wine and food, south-western art and outfits, and especially doing good things for others. When he and Betsey settled here in 1990, he set out to devote himself to a number of worthy causes. We are extremely fortunate that the Garden was one of them. David knew that good causes thrive on money and he became a fearless fund raiser for the ones he chose. Along with Jo Dare Mitchell, the late Ed Vorman, and a few others, David formed a new wave of leadership at the Garden, devoted to strong financial management and expanded gardens, with a growing emphasis on education. Thanks to the success of their efforts, none more than David’s, the Garden began its ascent to its present level of beauty and community service. David’s special contribution was in soliciting the important annual gifts that enabled balanced budgets after years of deficit spending. He would, and did, ask anyone to support the Garden, whether for love of gardening, commitment to the education mission, or simply community support. He was positive, committed, and almost always successful. His belief that people should be community minded enabled him to work with a cheerful optimism that contributed to his success. Remember when David and Betsey, on their own initiative, made attractive lapel decorations and stood at the entrance to the Harvest Festival soliciting free will contributions? Their cheerful approach and big smiles produced many contributions and dozens of people walking around with handsome beribboned autumn leaves on their jackets. Other institutions benefited from David’s commitment and enthusiasm, most notably the Berkshire Theatre Festival, where he assisted Betsey’s scholarship initiatives, the Berkshire-Taconic Community Foundation, and his beloved Carlton College. He worked for them with the same enthusiasm and zeal he gave the Garden, although the Garden was surely the favorite of his retirement years. David leaves a host of friends who appreciated his enthusiastic support of what was good in the community. He also leaves a record of accomplishment and an example of citizenship of the highest order. We miss and will long remember him.
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Membership MEMBERSHIP
new members Welcome new members! Below is a list of new members who have joined Since November 1, 2012 and prior to the press deadline for this issue of Cut t i ng s . Welcome aboard! David and Cindy Berger, Miami Beach, FL Janice Brindisi, Pittsfield, MA Andrew Bunting, Swathmore, PA Chris Buono, West Stockbridge, MA Thomas Case, Old Chatham, NY Debi Chowdhury, Loudenville, NY Kindra Clineff, Topsfield, MA Isa Coffey, Chatham, NY Christine Colley, Latham, NY Jean Corigliano, Spencertown, NY Cheryl and Bill Cummings, Becket, MA Laura Darman, Kinderhook, NY Judith and Barry Dicther, Larchmont, NY Susan Draudt, West St. Paul, MN Marge Driscoll, Lee, MA Mary Dunham, Lenox, MA Cia Elkin, Alford, MA Richard Faber, Lee, MA Silka Glanzman, New Marlborough, MA
Kimberly Gray, Kinderhook, NY Sharon and Robert Harrison, Great Barrington, MA Nancy and John Howell, South Deerfield, MA Charles Jenkins, East Chatham, NY Susan Jordan, Litchfield, CT Sue Kirber, Lakeville, CT Gina Kucija, Hudson, NY Joan Larned, Kent, CT Susan Lasker, Clifton Park, NY Left Field Farm, Middlefield, MA Barbara Lewis, New York, NY Marcia Mattingly, Providence, RI Brenda McGovern, Ashfield, MA Laurie Meyer, Duanesburg, NY Leslie and Robert Murray, Lenox, MA P. Diane Nichols, Lenox, MA Susan O’Donnell, Saratoga Springs, NY Karin Paras, Pittsfield, MA Laura and Eric Perlman, New York, NY
MEMBERSHIP BENEFIT #1
Unlimited free admission to the garden We know that this seems like an obvious benefit, but we know that often times members don’t fully utilize this great perk. Here are some of the great things that this perk allows you: • Bring a picnic lunch and relax in the shade of one of our magnificent trees • Do a quick walkabout to see what is in bloom • Drop in on one of our public tours for a (almost) personal tour – public tours are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10am • When your beds are not in their prime - check out what is blooming at the Garden for ideas and inspiration Every visit to the Garden will unveil new experiences throughout the year. Our Garden is your Garden, and we invite you to stop by as often as possible.
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Rodney Pleasants, New York, NY Sara Poses, Miami Beach, FL Jamie Samowitz, Spencertown, NY Carolyn Sanzone, Great Barrington, MA Paula Schutzmann, Lee, MA Arthur Siegel, Delmar, NY Virginia Smith, Glastonbury, CT Ann and Donald Steven, Stockbridge, MA Valerie Locher, Housatonic, MA Ann Vartanian, New York, NY Christina Ward, Mt. Pleasant, SC Roaseanne Weinstein, Stanfordville, NY Clark Wiedmann, Pittsfield, MA Anne, Winand, Craryville, NY Nancy Wright, Mt. Washington, MA Nancy Wu Houk, Tivoli, NY Clementine Zawadzki, Schenectady, NY
Here at Berkshire Botanical Garden, our Members enjoy a host of benefits all year round, including: • Unlimited free admission to the Garden • 10% discount at the Garden’s Shop • 10% off all BBG plant purchases at the Garden’s annual Plant Sale held this May 10 and 11 with early buying privileges on Friday, May 10 from 8–11am • Free subscription to Cuttings, the Garden’s magazine, complete with class listings • Discounts on classes, lectures and workshops • Receive free, reciprocal membership to other botanical gardens throughout the U.S. • Save 10% on all purchases at dozens of local shops and businesses with our business partnership program. Give a gift of membership and help spread the bounty of possibilities the Garden offers. Garden Club and Corporate/Business memberships are also available. Please contact Deborah Dunlap at 413-298-3926, ex. 14 for more information, or join online at berkshirebotanical.org.
Classes
5 West Stockbridge Road Stockbridge, MA 01262 413-298-3926
berkshirebotanical.org
at The Berkshire Botanical Garden from April to August 2013
Lectures, Workshops Building a Dry Stone Wall Saturday, April 27 (rain date April 28), 9 am – 3 pm Demonstration, hands-on workshop Members $85; Nonmembers $95 All levels Dress for outdoor work and bring safety glasses, heavy gloves, sturdy, waterproof footwear and a bag lunch. This hands-on program will cover the basics of dry stone wall building, including planning, layout, cutting and fitting. The morning will consist of a lecture, a walk through the Garden to view a variety of stone walls, and site preparation. Students will learn how to set up a batter frame and cut stone, and will practice laying stones to create structural integrity through interlocking placement. Following the demonstrations, students will work on a dry stone wall and practice wall-building. The workshop will pay special attention to building a freestanding wall using field stone. All questions will be answered. Mark Mendel started Monterey Masonry in 1982. He apprenticed with Maine stonemasons in the 1960s and taught at the Haystack School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine. He has built scores of walls, arches, terraces and walks, and hundreds of fireplaces, in both brick and stone. Locally, his work includes the stone walls in front of Guido’s Marketplace, the fireplace at the Route 7 Grill and the stone walls at the entrance to Berkshire School. He designed, built and donated the millstone at the new Berkshire Botanical Garden Rose Garden. Working as a stone consultant for Cuningham Group Architects of Minneapolis, Mendel was part of the design team that received the 2012 Tucker Design Award, a biennial award presented by the Building Stone Institute and the most prestigious national award given in the stone industry.
Transplanting Shrubs and Planting Small Ornamental Trees Saturday, April 27, 10 am – 1 pm Hands-on workshop Members $35; Nonmembers $42 All levels Bring work gloves and dress for the weather. Learn by doing in this hands-on shrub and tree planting/transplanting workshop. All aspects of successful planting will be demonstrated, and participants will assist in transplanting a multi-stemmed shrub and planting a small tree. Learn how to successfully transplant shrubs by correct timing and placement and techniques designed to create minimal disturbance and ensure smooth transition to a new site. Consider the differences between bare-root, container-grown or balled-and-burlapped trees and understand the importance of siting. Ken Gooch is the Forest Health Program Director for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Additionally, he is a Massachusetts Certified Arborist and teaches arboriculture at the Garden.
Registration Information Advance registration is required for all classes, workshops and field trips. We recommend registering early to ensure a place in the desired class.
You may register: Online: berkshirebotanical.org By phone: call 413-298-3926 By fax: at 413-298-4897 In person: at our office in the Euston Visitor‘s Center Monday through Friday, 9am to 4:30pm. Confirmation and Cancellation policies can be found online at berkshirebotanical.org
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spring/summer classes Setting Up a Beehive Saturday, April 27, 2 - 4 pm Demonstration Members $35; Nonmembers $45 Beginners Offsite location. This program is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 27 at 2 pm. This date is subject to weather conditions and bee delivery. Once you sign up for the workshop, BBG will keep you posted about the actual time and day and directions to the location. It will take place on a weekend. Join beekeeper Jan Johnson as she gives a step-by-step demonstration on how to set up a new beehive. The demonstration will begin indoors with a close-up
look at how bees arrive for installation, the necessary safety equipment, assembly of a basic beehive and a discussion of siting. Jan will then demonstrate how to introduce bees into a new hive, while participants observe from a safe distance. Following the demonstration, Jan will be on hand to answer questions. Jan Johnson is a beekeeper and owner of Berkshire Wildflower Honey, an apiary located in Great Barrington, MA. She practices natural beekeeping and produces and sells raw honey, beeswax skin care products and beeswax candles. She is certified through Cornell’s Master Beekeeping Program and studied with Nick Calderone, professor of entomology at Cornell and head of Cornell’s Dyce Laboratory for Honeybee Studies.
Passion for Plants:
Flowering Shrubs to Grow at Home
Thursdays, May 2 – 16, 10 am – noon Series: Members $70; Nonmembers $75 Individual classes $27 All Levels
May 9
Study Group
Join a study group taught by staff at the Berkshire Botanical Garden to consider plant groups of particular interest: herbaceous peonies, flowering shrubs of merit and the enormous genus of geraniums.
Not Your Grandmother’s Peonies May 2 Consider the showgirls of the garden, herbaceous peonies. Elisabeth Cary will take students on a tour of some of the best herbaceous peonies, including some of the exceptional species, Paeonia japonica, or woodland peonies. Each selection will be discussed for garden-worthiness, growth habit, aesthetic consideration, siting, planting, cultivation and maintenance. Tips on how to integrate these beauties into the mixed border, a woodland setting or as cut flowers will be covered. Students will take home a division or seedling from the instructor’s collection.
Longing for that special hydrangea? Remember that sweet shrub your grandmother had? Learn about the amazing variety of flowering shrubs - both native and non-native - available for the home landscape. Take a tour of the Garden’s great collection of shrubs, and consider varieties, cultivation requirements, designing with shrubs, and pruning. Students will learn how to propagate woody shrubs from greenwood cuttings and will receive a list of fabulous shrubs to grow at home.
The Land of Geraniums May 16 Although a modest group of plants, geraniums serve a wide range of purposes in the garden. As ground covers for both sun and shade, these flowering warriors of the garden sprawl and tumble throughout the perennial border. Investigate this genus and identify those that serve the gardener well. Selections will be discussed for garden-worthiness, growth habit, aesthetic consideration, siting, planting, cultivation and maintenance. Elisabeth Cary is the Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been gardening for over 25 years. She specializes in perennial, vegetable and mixed-border gardens.
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413-298-3926 berkshirebotanical.org
spring/summer classes Homeowners’ Landscape Design Clinic With Walt Cudnohufsky
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Annual Garden Tour
Saturday, May 18, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm Hands-on workshop, traveling field study Members $125; Nonmembers $145 All levels
Thursday, May 23, 7:30 am – 6:30 pm (bus leaves promptly) Field Study Members $99; Nonmembers $120 Dress for the weather, bring a bag lunch and wear comfortable, sturdy footwear.
This fast-paced, informationsaturated clinic will focus on several selected homes of workshop participants for either an in-class presentation or site visit. An active discussion format will focus on common design principles. Problem-solving, conceptualizing a landscape master plan and understanding the design process are among the topics to be explored. All attendees will participate in the process of observing and designing. Students will come away with coherent examples of how design happens. Should time permit, there will be visits to nearby projects completed and/or in-process by the leader. If you would like to be considered for one of the in-class projects or site visits, contact Elisabeth Cary at ecary@berkshirebotanical.org. Walter Cudnohufsky is owner of Walter Cudnohufsky Associates Landscape Architects in Ashfield, MA. He is the founder and, for 20 years, the director of the Conway School of Landscape Design. Mr. Cudnohufsky received his MLA from Harvard Graduate School of Design and has been recognized as an outstanding educator. His firm has received numerous awards.
Contained: The Art of Planting Pots Saturday, May 18, 1 – 3 pm Demonstration Members $25; Nonmembers $30 All levels This program covers all aspects of container gardening, including soil preparation, plant and pot selection, fertilization and seasonal maintenance. Consider aesthetic concepts when using pots and also how to keep your containers and potted plants happy year round. This class covers a wide variety of annuals and tender perennials. Watch a planting demonstration and discuss different soil mixes suitable for a variety of plant types. Discussion will include long-term maintenance issues and tips for keeping your plants thriving all season long. Evaluate a number of alternative and creative ways to use interesting and unusual containers and watch a planting demonstration. Finally take home a special plant or two to start your container garden at home. Jenna O’Brien owns Viridissima, a garden design and maintenance business. Her specialties include perennial gardening and design, container culture and design, and indoor gardening and houseplants. She teaches for area horticultural organizations and has completed the Horticulture Certificate Program at Berkshire Botanical Garden.
Join the Berkshire Botanical Garden staff for a day-long adventure to the other BBG: Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This 100-year-old garden in the heart of Brooklyn is dedicated to displaying plants and practicing the high art of horticulture to provide a beautiful and hospitable setting for the delight and inspiration of the public. The horticulture staff at Brooklyn Botanic Garden will lead a personal tour of the gardens, including the restored Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, the new mixed-perennial border at the Lily Pool Terrace, the Alice Recknagel Ireys Fragrance Garden, the Starr Bonsai Museum, the Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery and many more horticultural wonders at this 36-acre botanical garden. Not to be missed is the Osborne Garden, a semiformal garden with ten wisteria-draped pergolas framing an emerald lawn, large plantings of varied colors and textures and several stone features. Wander the grounds with Brooklyn Botanic Garden staff and consider the wonderful plant collections, including tree peonies, lilacs, cherries, orchids, roses and magnolias. These annual field trips have become a favorite spring tradition for a wonderful group of gardeners. Join the fun and meet a great group of plant nuts! A morning snack and late-afternoon refreshments will be provided, compliments of the staff at Berkshire Botanical Garden.
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spring/summer classes Amazing Trees Thursday, June 6, 9 am – 11 am Free to members of the public All levels Participants will meet at Berkshire Botanical Garden in the main parking lot to tour the gardens and then will carpool to Tanglewood in Lenox, MA, for a tour of the grounds. Tour the grounds of Berkshire Botanical Garden, view the exceptional tree collection and learn about these gentle giants and their importance in the landscape. Continue the tour at Tanglewood Music Festival, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and learn about the importance of shade trees in the landscape. Consider the many varieties of shade trees, observe mature specimens and assess shape, size, and cultural requirements required to grow happy trees. This walking tour will cover the importance of selecting the right plant for the right site as well as the tenuous relationship between turf and trees. Enjoy the morning by walking, talking and admiring one of nature’s most magnificent gifts. Ken Gooch is the Forest Health Program Director for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Additionally, he is a Massachusetts Certified Arborist and teaches arboriculture at the Garden.
Tasting Terroir: A Story of Earth, Wine and Human Hope Saturday, June 8, 4 pm Wine tasting, book signing and sale to follow the talk Members $25; Nonmembers $30 All levels
At Home in a Potager Garden Saturday, June 15, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm Field Study Members $45, Nonmembers $55 All levels Offsite location. Carpool to site. Bring a bagged lunch and dress for the weather. Limited enrollment. Growing food at home in a beautifully designed potager garden is a combination of the best of both gardening worlds: utility and beauty. Visit a garden homestead with a focus on growing food, flowers and fruit in a secluded setting with extraordinary views to the west. Designed and cultivated by a husband and wife team, this is their vision of sustainable gardening. Consider design elements including paths, vertical structures, fencing, ornamental pots and layout. Also learn about plant selection, crop rotation, companion planting, mulching of both food and flowers, and don’t forget a trip to the compost pile. The owners will share their experiences with extending the vegetable season in cold frames and unheated hoop house. The owners invite students to picnic on the lawn or back porch following the workshop. Elisabeth Cary is the Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been gardening for over 25 years. She specializes in perennial, vegetable and mixed-border gardens.
Native Knowledge Learning about Native Plants at Nasami Farm Thursday, June 20, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Field Study (Limited carpooling will be available from Berkshire Botanical Garden; meet in the parking lot at 9 am) Members $45; Nonmembers $55
Explore one of New England’s best native plant nurseries: Nasami Consider the role of terroir throughout the history of wine. While Farm, the native plant nursery and highlighting the essential role of earth in the terroir that many people sanctuary of New England Wild believe characterizes fine wine, author Paul Lukacs and wine merFlower Society, located on 75 acres in chant Jim Nejaime will present a lecture and tasting. Based on his Whately, Massachusetts. The staff at new book, Inventing Wine: a New History of One of The World’s Most Nasami Farm propagates, sells and researches the native flora of Ancient Pleasures, Paul will present the intriguing investigation of terroir: its facts and fictions. Wines featured will demonstrate the sig- New England. View hundreds of native plant species including nificance of terroir. Paul’s new book will be sold following the lecture, perennials, trees, shrubs, vines, and ferns - many found nowhere else - a retail area, native plant borders and stock beds. This field and showcased wines will be available for order. Paul Lukacs is the author of American Vintage and The Great Wines of study/tour will be led by head propagator Kate Stafford. She will America. A James Beard, Cliquot and IACP award winner, he has been discuss propagation of native plants with a focus on wildflowers. Following the program the group will explore the farm’s abundant writing about wine and its cultural contexts for nearly 20 years. He is a professor of English at Loyola University of Maryland, where he di- wildflowers on display. Of course there will be time to shop for rects the University’s Center for the Humanities. Jim Nejaime, a wine plants and to picnic on the grounds of the farm. Kate Stafford is Nursery Operations Manager and Propagator at merchant, owns Spirited, a retail wine store located in Lenox, MA. He Nasami Farm. She has a profound interest in plant communities, finds and sells great wines from around the world and specializes in wine consulting, stocking wine cellars, wine classes and wine tastings. the life that they support and recreating this in the garden. She specializes in propagating wildflowers from seed. 22 C U T T I N G S Spring/Summer 2013
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spring/summer classes The Garden in Watercolors Session I En Plein Air Watercolor Painting in the Summer Garden Session I: Mondays, July 8 - 29, 10 am - 1 pm Members $145; Nonmembers $175 Individual classes $45 All levels Seeing and painting the garden en plein air is the subject of this class. Students of all levels are welcome in either or both sessions; no experience is necessary. The first session will focus on drawing forms, finding compositions and simple, direct color schemes. Composition will be stressed. Each class will begin with an introduction and demonstration by the instructor and then move into the garden to paint, with the instructor circulating among the students to provide input and answer questions. You may attend the whole series or pick and choose individual classes; however, everyone is encouraged to attend the first meeting, when the basics of watercolor, paint, brushes and paper will be explained. Ann Kremers is an artist and calligrapher. Her work is currently focused on watercolor and drawing media. She has received commissions for paintings, drawings, illustrated and calligraphed citations and awards, artists’ books and botanical drawings. Ann lives in Bennington, VT and teaches throughout Berkshire County. Examples of her work can be viewed at annkremers.com.
Collecting Woody Plants Propagation Workshop Thursday, July 11, 10 am – noon Hands-on workshop Members $35; Nonmembers $45 Beginners Materials fee $15. Bring hand pruners Longing for that special hydrangea? Learn how to propagate easy-to-grow shrubs and trees. This workshop will cover how to collect, prepare and propagate shrubs and trees from softwood cuttings. Set at a great time of the year, participants will take cuttings, make a simple propagator and learn techniques to insure successful rooting. Easily propagated shrub varieties, cultivation requirements, timing and care will be the focus of this program. Participants will go home with wonderful selections from the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s collection. Elisabeth Cary is the Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been gardening for over 25 years. She specializes in perennial, vegetable and mixed-border gardens.
Meadow Gardening at Its Very Best Thursday, July 18, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm Field Study Members $50; Nonmembers $60 All levels Offsite location. Carpool to site. Bring a bagged lunch and dress for the weather. This field study will give participants an in-depth look at an exceptional ten-year-old New England meadow, designed by meadow expert Larry Weiner. Tour this amazing 40-acre upland meadow at the height of its bloom with head gardener Deb Munson and learn about planting, maintenance, plant selection, weed control and more. Additionally, tour the beautiful formal gardens surrounding this Georgian home and enjoy spectacular views of the northwest corner of Connecticut. The owner will make a presentation on the development of the garden and has graciously invited participants to picnic on the lawns of this exceptional estate. A mere 40-minute drive from Berkshire Botanical Garden, this extraordinary horticultural gem is a wonderful place to spend a summer morning. Deborah Munson is a horticulturist and landscape designer working in the Northwest corner of Connecticut. She has combined her passion for garden history and ecological and sustainable design into the projects and properties she designs and oversees. She enjoys watching landscapes mature and evolve and has collaborated on projects with Rodney Robinson, Larry Weaner, Michael Trapp, and Bunny Williams. Deborah resides with her family on a mountaintop in an energy-efficient home where rainwater collection and solar panels are put to use. She has co-chaired Trade Secrets – a Rare Plant and Garden Antiques Sale and enjoys volunteer work with both the Garden Conservancy and the Berkshire Botanical Garden.
Berkshire Botanical Garden
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413-298-3926 berkshirebotanical.org
spring/summer classes Landscape Painting with John Macdonald with Oils or Acrylics Thursday & Friday, August 1 & 2, 10 am – 4 pm Members $240; Nonmembers $260 All levels Materials list available upon registration. This two-day intensive painting workshop will focus on using the essentials of painting - composition, value, color and edges - to create strong landscapes. We’ll look at different approaches and painting styles with the goal of finding your authentic voice. The class will work en plein air, weather permitting, or in the studio using photo reference. All levels of ability are welcome. John Macdonald has worked for 30 years as both a full-time freelance illustrator and landscape painter. He has won awards from Print magazine and has had work appear in the Society of Illustrators’ annual show. He is now concentrating solely on painting and teaching. His paintings can be found in private, corporate and museum collections throughout North America.
The Garden in Watercolor Session II En Plein Air Watercolor Painting in the Summer Garden Session II: Mondays, August 5 – 26, 10 am - 1 pm Members $145; Nonmembers $175 Individual classes $45 All levels Seeing and painting the garden en plein air is the subject of this class. Students of all levels are welcome in either or both sessions; no experience is necessary. Focus on drawing forms, finding compositions and simple, direct color schemes. Composition will be stressed. Each class will begin with an introduction and demonstration by the instructor and then move into the garden to paint, with the instructor circulating among the students to provide input and answer questions. You may attend the whole series or pick and choose individual classes; however, everyone is encouraged to attend the first meeting, when the basics of watercolor, paint, brushes and paper will be explained. Ann Kremers is an artist and calligrapher. Her work is currently focused on watercolor and drawing media. She has received commissions for paintings, drawings, illustrated and calligraphed citations and awards, artists’ books and botanical drawings. Ann lives in Bennington, VT and teaches throughout Berkshire County. Examples of her work can be viewed at annkremers.com. 24 C U T T I N G S Spring/Summer 2013
Private Edens: Beautiful Country Gardens Wednesday, August 7, 4 pm Members $25; Nonmembers $30 All levels Book sale and signing to follow the talk Private country paradises marry the artistry of man with the beauty of nature. Join garden designer Jack Staub on a visual garden tour through twenty-one superb private country gardens in Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, each with a unique story to tell. This lecture is based on his latest book Private Edens: Beautiful Country Gardens. From a romantic garden that pays homage to the best of English garden vernacular to a historic farmstead to a splendid Marylandmeets-Himalayas Eden of transcendent serenity, these garden paradises are inspirational on their own terms and together offer up the breadth and depth of what we can all achieve with a little respect for nature and a bit of imagination. Inspired plant palettes and combinations, dazzling views, ingenious water features, splendid outbuildings, artistically crafted fences and gates, and exceptional garden structures and appointments all draw us into these heavenly landscapes and, ultimately and emotionally, into the countryside of our longing. A book sale and signing of Private Edens: Beautiful Country Gardens will follow the lecture. Jack Staub is a passionate edible gardener, locavore advocate, and author of the celebrated “75” series of edible gardening books, which includes 75 Exciting Vegetables for Your Garden, 75 Remarkable Fruits for Your Garden, and 75 Exceptional Herbs for Your Garden. His latest book with photographer Rob Cardillo is Private Edens: Beautiful Country Gardens. With his partner, landscape designer Renny Reynolds, he is the owner of historic Hortulus Farm in Wrightstown, Pennsylvania.
413-298-3926 berkshirebotanical.org
spring/summer classes Botanical Illustration: Drawing Fruits & Flowers with Colored Pencil Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, August 14, 15 &16, 10 am - 4 pm Members $260; Nonmembers $290 All levels Bring a bag lunch. This intensive workshop will focus on colored-pencil techniques for botanical illustration. Learn ways to create textured backgrounds and colors smooth as glass or rough as sandpaper. This versatile medium can be used to mimic an oil painting, pastel or watercolor. Explore a full range of techniques for creating both bold and subtle effects that will bring a botanical drawing alive. Participants should bring a pear and other fruits or flowers to include in their illustrations. Carol Ann Morley is an illustrator and dedicated teacher of botanical illustration working in Dover, NH. She founded the Botanical Art Illustration Certificate Program at the New York Botanical Garden and teaches illustration there and for other botanical gardens. This is Ms. Morley’s only summer workshop in the Berkshires for 2013.
Standing Stones in the Garden Stone-Carving Workshop Thursday, August 15, 10 am - 5 pm Hands-on workshop Members $175, Nonmembers $185 All levels Tools and materials included. Bring a bagged lunch, safety goggles and dress for working in the open air. Students will learn the ancient art of hand-carving symbols and words into stone. This all-day workshop will provide hands-on experience in the fine craft of stone carving with an emphasis on creating a decorative surface. Watch a stone-carving demonstration, discuss various tools and stone surfaces and then work on a small carving project. Bring a simple decorative element then carve it into slate using a mallet and chisel to create a lasting and permanent work for your garden. This project can be completed during a single session although you may wish to purchase the carving tools for working on a more complex project to finish at home. Karin Sprague is a stone carver specializing in hand-carved letters and symbols in slate. She and her small team of artists create testaments of life’s fleeting nature with stone. In business for over a decade, Sprague uses mallet, chisel and slate to artfully carve one-of-a-kind gravestones, memorials, sculptures and standing stones. One of the few hand-lettering carvers in the world, Sprague actively mentors apprentices and teaches slate-lettering carving classes. www.karinsprague.com
Seed-Saving in Your New England Garden Thursday August 22, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm Members $25; Nonmembers $30 All levels Join expert seed saver Randel Agrella from Baker Creek Seeds and New England’s premier heirloom seed company, Comstock Ferre Seed Company for a talk and walk at Berkshire Botanical Garden with emphasis on saving seed for future gardens. This program will focus on correct planting, harvesting, extracting, and storing of seeds. Although the instructor will focus on heirloom fruits and vegetables, many of the techniques covered are applicable for ornamental heirloom flowers as well. Participants will take away the knowledge to save heirloom seeds as well as favorite seeds of the staff at the botanical garden. Randel Agrella is general manager of Comstock Ferre in Wethersfield, CT and manager of rare seed grow-outs for Baker Creek Seeds in Mansfield, Missouri. He has been a heirloom grower and seed saver since 1982 and has written articles for Heirloom Gardener magazine, Natural Awakenings of SW Virginia, and Small Farm Today magazine. He runs his own website business Abundant Acres, www.abundantacres.net , which sells tomato, eggplant, pepper and herb plants throughout most of the United States.
Botanical Painting with Watercolor Master Class with Carol Woodin Thursday & Friday, August 22 & 23, 10 am – 4 pm Workshop Members $260; Nonmembers $290 All levels Bring a bag lunch. Materials list available at www.berkshirebotancial.org. Gain confidence and comfort in this class devoted to techniques of botanical painting in watercolor. Using anemones as subjects, students will learn to capture the vitality and drama of these flowers. After creating a base watercolor layer for guidance, artists will add a series of dry-brush layers, gradually increasing color intensity and form. Through demonstration and individualized attention, the instructor will guide students through mixing believable greens and maintaining color clarity. By the end of the class, each student will have a painting either finished or nearly so. Carol Woodin has been painting botanicals in watercolor for over 20 years. Her focus is orchids, rare plants and heirlooms. Her work is included in collections around the world, including those of the Smithsonian Institution, Shirley Sherwood Collection and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. Director of Exhibitions for the American Society of Botanical Artists, she has organized exhibitions of botanical art throughout the United States. Berkshire Botanical Garden 25
413-298-3926 berkshirebotanical.org
COMING THIS FALL The High Line & Battery Park City Garden Designers Showcase Thursday, September 19 7:30 am - 6:30 pm Field trip Members $100; Nonmembers $120 Dress for the weather - rain or shine - and bring a bagged lunch. Bus will depart from Berkshire Botanical Garden promptly at 7:30 am. Join the staff of the Berkshire Botanical Garden for a late summer visit to Battery Park City, located at the tip of Manhattan. We will tour this extensive landscape – perhaps one of the most concentrated parklands in America – with the colorful David Dew Bruner, who will focus on design. We will visit areas of the park including Michael Van Valkenberg’s Teardrop Park, Oehme van Sweden’s Rockefeller Park, two gardens designed by Lynden Miller and landscapes by Olin Partnership and other exceptional designers. In addition to these amazing gardens, there is abundant public art to view, including the Irish Hunger Memorial designed by Brian Tolle, the magnificent “Ice Wall” by Ann Hamilton and Michael Mercii and sculptures by Jim Dine, Louise Bougeois and many more. From Battery City Park we will travel north to the cutting-edge gardens of the High Line, New York City’s newest park, built on an elevated 1930s freight rail structure on Manhattan’s West Side. Tour the newly completed section of the High Line with nativeplant specialist Drew Monthie and learn about the imaginative plant combinations of this naturalistic planting. These extensive gardens echo the wild, self-seeded landscape that grew up on the structure after the trains stopped running. Enjoy a stimulating day in the city with some gardening friends. A morning snack and late-afternoon refreshments will be provided, compliments of the staff of Berkshire Botanical Garden.
Sissinghurst: Portrait of a Garden Saturday, October 19 10 am Members $30; Nonmembers $35 Lecture/Presentation Join former Sissinghurst head gardener Alexa Datta for a first-hand look at the gardening year at Britain’s fabled garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, England. Designed by writer Vita Sackville-West and her diplomat husband Harold Nicolson, this iconic landscape is one of the most renowned gardens in the world. Portrait of a Garden gives a short history of Sissinghurst Castle, the gardens, the creators, its philosophy and a visual tour that is sure to inspire. The gardens at Sissinghurst have certainly evolved over the years since its inception in 1930 and, though being conserved, it is currently being gardened in a dynamic way. Get the down and dirty on gardening from the woman behind the scenes at this classic English garden. Alexa Datta has been a professional gardener for over forty years and spent twenty-two of them as head gardener at Sissinghurst. She studied gardening at horticultural college in England, and has worked at several private and public gardens. In 1983 she joined the National Trust, which cares for many of Britain’s leading gardens and arrived at Sissinghurst in 1991.
Seed Donors The following seed companies have generously donated vegetable and annual seed to the Garden this spring. This will enable us to grow a wider and more interesting selection of plants for the enjoyment and education of our visitors. Please help us thank them by giving them your business. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds www.rareseeds.com • (417) 924-8917
Johnny’s Selected Seeds www.johnnyseeds.com • (877) 564-6697
Stokes Seeds, Inc. www.stokeseeds.com • (800) 263-7233
John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds www.kitchengardenseeds.com • (860) 567-6086
Select Seeds www.selectseeds.com • (800) 684-0395
Thompson & Morgan www.tmseeds.com • (800) 274-7333
26 C U T T I N G S Spring/Summer 2013
413-298-3926 berkshirebotanical.org
spring/summer classes
Fa m i ly F r i day s Join some animal friends this August and meet the feathered, hairy and scaly creatures that live near and far. Family Friday programs are for children and adults, open to all, and free with paid admission to the garden. Designed to develop an appreciation of the natural world these programs will inform and delight participants of all ages. These popular programs meet in the Education Center at 10:30 am
Birds of Prey Tom Ricardi Wildlife Rehabilitator
Meet Atka, Ambassador Wolf Wolf Conservation Center
Snakes and Frogs Tom Tyning, Reptile Expert
Join wildlife rehabilitator Tom Ricardi for his ever popular presentation on birds of prey. This program is designed for families. Tom will share the natural history of these magnificent birds, demonstrate some of their unique behaviors and will inspire children of all ages to appreciate, respect and conserve these important members of our wild kingdom. Tom Ricardi is a licensed rehabilitator and wildlife biologist. He runs the Massachusetts Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway, MA, and is now retired after 40 years of service as a Massachusetts Environmental Conservation police officer.
Join Atka, a magnificent arctic gray wolf, and Maggie Howell from the Wolf Conservation Center of South Salem, NY, for an awe-inspiring, upclose encounter with this important but misunderstood predator. Learn about the natural history of wolves in the United States, the importance of wolves in a healthy ecosystem and the efforts to save these magnificent creatures for future generations. Maggie Howell is Director of the Wolf Conservation Center, the preeminent facility in the eastern United States for the captive breeding and re-release of endangered wolves. She earned a BS in Biology from Vassar College, with a focus on animal behavior. She has been working with large predators since 1998 and with WCC since 2005.
This program, designed for families, is an introduction to reptiles, animals that are both fascinating and elusive. More than 18 different turtles and snakes inhabit Berkshire County, and we know little, if anything, about many of them. Professor Tom Tyning will encourage families to get to know these animals, learn about their natural history and appreciate the important role they play in the local ecosystem. Tom will bring a small collection of reptiles for close examination. Tom Tyning is Professor of Environmental Science at Berkshire Community College. He specializes in reptiles and amphibians in his research and actively researches local rattlesnake populations.
Friday, August 9, 10:30 am Lecture/Demonstration Free with admission to the Garden
Friday, August 16, 10:30 am Lecture/Demonstration Free with admission to the Garden
Friday, August 23, 10:30 am Lecture/Demonstration Free with admission to the Garden
To register, call (413) 298-3926.
Berkshire Botanical Garden
27
heeler Real Estate Insurance 528-1006 528-1000 aylor Great Barrington, Pittsfield, Sheffield, Stockbridge
413.997.4444 www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org
Gardens of the Goddess
JOAN RIVERS
5/10 8pm The Colonial Theatre
July 1– July 20
at The Colonial Theatre
Rodgers&Hammerstein's
AUDRA MCDONALD IN CONCERT 6/15 8pm The Colonial Theatre
THE LION IN WINTER by James Goldman directed by Robert Moss featuring Treat Williams
6/25–7/13 The Fitzpatrick Main Stage
EXTREMITIES
by William Mastrosimone directed by Karen Allen
Music by
Pat Parkins Fine Gardening
gardensofthegoddess@gmail.com
413.623.6495
RICHARD RODGERS Book and Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II Based on the play "Green Grow the Lilacs" by Lynn Riggs Original Dances by
Agnes de Mille
directed by Eric Hill choreographed by Gerry McIntyre
7/11–7/27 The Unicorn Theatre
SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR by Bernard Slade directed by Kyle Fabel featuring David Adkins and Corinna May
7/25–8/10 The Fitzpatrick Main Stage
THE CAT AND THE CANARY by John Willard
7/31–8/24 The Unicorn Theatre
FOR FULL EVENT LISTING GO TO www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org 28 C U T T I N G S Spring/Summer 2013
WINDY HILL FARM NURSERY • ORCHARD • GARDEN SHOP
ExtEnsivE sElEction of hardy BErkshirE fiEld-grown and containEr - grown plant matErial , including : Tree fruits • small fruits • nut trees • espaliered apples, pears & Asian pears flowering trees & shrubs • rare & hardy rhododendron & mountain laurel shade & specimen trees • vines • interesting dwarf & unusual conifers choice perennials, annuals & temperennials • Fedco seeds • vegetable plants seed potatoes • asparagus roots • well-stocked garden shop landscape design, consultation & installation rEopEning april 1, 2013 686 s tockBridgE road, grEat Barrington, ma 01230 www . windyhillfarminc . com (413) 298-3217 fax (413) 298-3167
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR MEMBER BENEFITS
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Berkshire Botanical Garden
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30 C U T T I N G S Spring/Summer 2013
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31
Environmental Permits Lake, Pond, and Fisheries Management Invasive Plant Control
Thomas Coote, Director tcoote@simons-rock.edu 413-644-4509 berkshireecology.org
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Williamstown Massachusetts
clarkart.edu
32 C U T T I N G S Spring/Summer 2013
Art Camps for ages 3 to 14
Summer Sessions June 24 through August 16, 2013
JACOB’S PILLOW D A N C E FESTIVAL 2013 June 19-August 25 “ the dance center of the nation ” – The New York Times
13 Willard Hill Rd. Stockbridge, MA (413) 298-5252 IS183.org
Becket, MA 20 minutes from Stockbridge
Rachel Meyer of Ballet BC; photo Michael Slobodian
Tickets start at $22!
350 events • 50 dance companies • free talks & performances • onsite dining
413.243.0745 • jacobspillow.org
Quality
Berkshire Botanical Garden
33
T rade S ecreTS
enefit rvices
ANDREW
Z E M A ’ S LANDSCAPING
Landscape installation: foundation planting, perennial gardens, shade trees, privacy hedges â– Water features: ponds, water falls, streams â– Masonry: patios, stone walls, stone stairs
May 18 & 19, 2013 Saturday, May 18
Rare Plant and Garden Antiques Sale Lion Rock Farm, Route 41, Sharon, CT
Sunday, May 19 Tour Four Splendid Gardens tickets
& information:
www.andrewzema.com azemaslandscaping@yahoo.com WORK 518 359 6002 CELL 413 329 5207
TradeSecretsCT.com (860) 364-1080
â–
barringtonstagecompany
Boyd~Quinson Mainstage 30 UNION STREET, PITTSFIELD
AWARD-WINNING THEATRE IN DOWNTOWN PITTSFIELD
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Music by Leonard Bernstein Book and Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green Based on an idea by Jerome Robbins Directed by Tony-winner John Rando (BSC’s Guys and Dolls) Choreography by Emmy-winner Josh Bergasse (BSC’s Guys and Dolls, West Side Story)
*$ - *",
Adapted by Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok From the novel by Chaim Potok Directed by Aaron Posner
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The much-beloved story of two boys, two fathers, and two very different Jewish communities in Brooklyn during World War II.
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Single Tickets Now On Sale! Call the Box Office at 413-236-8888 or visit us at 30 Union Street! 34 C U T T I N G S Spring/Summer 2013
* *()
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A New York City musical comedy bursting with high energy dancing, not to be missed!
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By William Shakespeare Directed by Julianne Boyd
A romantic comedy filled with some of the most brilliant comedic repartee ever written.
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Visit our website for our complete 2013 season including the St. Germain Stage, Mr. Finn’s Cabaret + special events! Mainstage Season Passes start at just $60
barringtonstageco.org
GARDEN EVENTS you won’t want to miss:
Roy Boutard Day May 5, 9am-5pm
Tradition, education and, of course, gardening are the focus of our annual Roy Boutard Day held this year on May 5. A garden tour will highlight the accomplishments and favorite plantings of the late, influential and beloved Roy Boutard, who led the Garden as director for 30 years (1955-1985.) We’ll also celebrate the graduation of this year’s students of the Horticultural Certificate Program followed by the traditional Mai Bowle punch provided by the Garden’s Herb Associates. Free admission for all from 9am 5pm. Festivities begin at 1pm.
The Grow Show
August 10th and 11th It’s your turn to show your stuff! The Grow Show is a rich Garden tradition where we welcome everyone, young and old, to showcase their talents (and maybe win a few ribbons and prizes in the process.) Local gardeners, floral designers and photographers throughout the community come together to swap horticultural tips and experiences from this year’s season. Everyone is welcome to participate in all categories: The Flower Show (advance registration required), the Hort division (bring in your best specimens of flowers and vegetables picked at their peak) and Garden Photography. Creativity, gardening and the best the Berkshires has to offer collide at The Grow Show!
Contained Exuberance – Walkabout Fête Des Fleurs
July 20th, Rockland Farms, Canaan, New York If you have been to our annual Fête Des Fleurs in the past, you know it isn’t to be missed. If you haven’t been – then this is definitely the year that you will want to come! It’s the ultimate summer garden party and one of the highlights of summer in the Berkshires. This year we celebrate our 2013 theme: Down to Earth.
Saturday, August 10th, 11am
Each year we bring together some of the region’s most talented designers and invite them to create individual container gardens that we display in an exhibit we like to call Contained Exuberance. Tucked away in different spots throughout the Garden, one of the highlights of this exhibit will be on August 10th at our Designer Walkabout, where we learn the stories behind the designers’ visions. It never fails to yield insight and ideas.
Berkshire Botanical Garden
35
36th Annual
PLANT SALE
berkshirebotanical.org 5 West Stockbridge Road Stockbridge, MA 01262 413-298-3926
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx Change Service Requested
May 10-11, 2013
A special thanks to Herrington’s for their generous support of so many of our events and exhibitions
Get Your Hands in the Dirt! The regional vendors selling items for the garden, patio, porch, and home The Container Design Station – let us help you to design a unique container to take home Living fern and succulent wreaths and miniature wall gardens Members-only: Friday 8-11am Open to the general public: Friday 11am-5pm; Saturday 9am-5pm
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