A carpenter bee clings to the petals of a purple crocus. These early spring flower offer one of the season’s first vital food sources.
As spring unfolds at Cylburn Arboretum, the gardens awaken, the greenhouses hum with new growth, and our community comes alive with fresh energy. From all of us at Cylburn Arboretum Friends, a heartfelt thank you for being such an integral part of this special place. Your support allows us to preserve, educate, and inspire—ensuring that Cylburn remains a treasured green space in the heart of Baltimore.
“Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself.”
– Paulo Coelho
Cover: Clematis, a genus of over 250 species, consists mostly of woody to semi-woody deciduous vines that climb by twining leaf stalks or, in some cases, trail over support. This one can be found in the dappled light of the Shady Garden at Cylburn where its delicate vines weave through the fence in search of sun.
In this edition of Seasons, we are excited to share an interview with our new board president, Hilles Whedbee, whose passion for Cylburn and vision for the future will help guide us in the years ahead. You’ll also find a feature on the redevelopment of five city demonstration gardens, a project that I am extremely excited about. These gardens represent an incredible opportunity to showcase innovative, sustainable gardening practices in an urban setting. They will serve as living examples of how small spaces can be transformed into vibrant, ecologically beneficial landscapes using smart design, reclaimed materials, and thoughtful plant choices.
One of the most exciting aspects for me is the educational component—each garden will feature interpretive signage to teach visitors about the space. This project is also a true collaboration, bringing together a diverse group of designers, garden clubs, landscaping companies, and donors to make it all happen. Their combined efforts will ensure that these gardens have the power to inform, engage, and ultimately inspire horticulture practices throughout Baltimore.
With each season, our work continues to grow, and it is only possible because of you—our dedicated members, volunteers, and supporters.
With gratitude,
Brooke M. Fritz, Executive Director Cylburn Arboretum Friends
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Hilles Whedbee President
Sandra P. Gohn Vice President
Ramesh Moorthy Secretary
Robert A. Cook Treasurer
Will Clemens
Beverly Davis
Erik Dihle
Patricia Foster
Alan Gilbert
Becky Henry
Mark Gurley
Nancy B. Hill
Mae Hinnant
Douglas Nelson
Daniel Pham
Michael Reamer
Courtney Sawyer
EX OFFICIO
Melissa Grim Chief Horticulturist, Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks
Colleen Vacelet Owner, Intreegue Design
SEASONS is published by Cylburn Arboretum Friends
Written and edited by
Brooke M. Fritz Executive Director
Erika Castillo Director of Education
Brent Figlestahler Head Gardener
Bill Geenen | Communication Design Layout and Design
4915 Greenspring Ave. Baltimore, MD 21209
Info@cylburn.org
Phone: (410) 367-2217
Cylburn.org
An Interview With Our
NEW BOARD PRESIDENT
Hilles Whedbee
Hilles and Brooke Fritz, Executive Director of Cylburn Arboretum Friends, stand outside of the Nature Education Center.
By Mel Raymond
My name is Mel Raymond, and I am a junior double-majoring in English and Writing at Loyola University. This semester, I have been interning with Cylburn Arboretum Friends, working on communications and advertising.
Originally from Central New Jersey, I was fortunate to grow up surrounded by vast greenery and beautiful beaches. Being part of Cylburn has deepened my love of nature while also allowing me to grow as a student beyond the classroom.
In this conversation, I had the pleasure of meeting Cylburn's new board president, Hilles Whedbee. Her passion for life, Cylburn, and the outdoors shines through in our discussion. After many years of dedicated service, we are excited to see all she will bring to this role in the coming year and beyond.
What do you hope to achieve in this new presidency?
My hope is to strengthen our board’s demographic by bringing in people who share an interest in Cylburn and a love of the outdoors. Whether through serving on the board or committees—such as landscape, finance, education, or arts— there are many incredible opportunities at the arboretum.
I want to support the staff and build on the positive momentum we’ve developed. I deeply appreciate our staff members and, on their behalf, I want to encourage greater participation and support for our organization.
Finally, I want to increase Cylburn’s visibility as a destination for visitors to enjoy. I aim to provide strategic direction to benefit the arboretum as a whole.
On the left is a picture of my visit to the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park and on the right I am hiking at Killarney National Park
How have you grown through your connection to nature, and how do you see that growth evolving in the years to come?
I have been a member of a local garden club for over 30 years. Most of what I know about gardening, horticulture, and conservation, I learned from other club members and the programs the club offers. I am also a member of the Horticultural Society of Maryland, another amazing organization that promotes learning. I am the past President of the Maryland Daffodil Society, currently enrolled in their Daffodil Judging Program, and a Garden Club of America Horticulture Judge.
For me, gardening is an essential part of my mental well-being. I believe that growing plants and creating beauty in outdoor spaces enhances people’s experiences and fosters a more positive connection with nature. On our family farm, we have a produce stand where, in the summer months, people purchase fruits, vegetables, and flower arrangements to bring home to their families.
I love that Cylburn is a green sanctuary within the city. I hesitate to use the word oasis, but it truly is—a beautiful, 207-acre parcel of land. I feel strongly that it deserves thoughtful stewardship and protection.
You mentioned being part of other horticulture clubs in Maryland. How do you think your leadership role at Cylburn will compare to your previous experience working with those organizations?
Being a board chair is a bit different from being a member. Part of the role involves administrative responsibilities, but I have served on other boards, so I believe my skill set is well-suited for the privilege of serving here.
I also have experience with various horticultural initiatives in Baltimore and the surrounding areas. Living in Baltimore County, I grew up with a strong connection to preservation efforts and land trusts, which has further shaped my perspective on stewardship and conservation.
How long have you been a part of Cylburn and what made you want to step up into this role?
I joined the board in 2014 and have been involved in various aspects of the arboretum ever since. In 2016, I also became a member of the landscape committee. The transition felt natural since I was already familiar with the arboretum, the board, and the staff. It was an honor to step into this role.
I read in your biography from the last issue that you have worked as a nurse midwife for many years. Is there a connection between midwifery and horticulture for you? Are there any lessons you’re bringing from that experience to this one?
I have been a nurse midwife in Maryland for 35 years and have had the pleasure of delivering over 4,000 babies. There is a deep connection between bringing new life into the world and being a plant enthusiast. I don’t think anything is more amazing than watching life grow.
For me, both have been incredibly fulfilling. I believe that nurturing plants is much like caring for pregnancy and birth—both require patience, attention, and a deep respect for the process of growth.
What about Cylburn made you believe that this is the organization for you? What would you say to those who are interested in being a part of our Friends group?
The biggest reason for getting involved is the incredible opportunity Cylburn offers as a green, safe space that fosters community. It’s also a place to learn about the plants in your own landscape—everything is labeled, and we have a robust database that we continuously update.
Cylburn provides an environment where both children and adults can learn about nature, the environment, and the trees that help keep us healthy. I believe learning is a lifelong journey, and I’m excited to continue expanding opportunities for everyone to engage and discover new things at Cylburn.
Cylburn is truly a special place—easily accessible, with good parking—and having such a beautiful, green space in the heart of the city is a real gift.
GARDENS ARE FOR PEOPLE
By Brent Figlestahler, CAF Head Gardener
“She looked down into the yard. The tree whose leaf umbrellas had curled around and under and over her fire escape had been cut down, because the housewives complained that wash on the lines got entangled in its branches. The landlord had sent two men, and they had chopped it down. But the tree hadn’t died. It hadn’t died. A new tree had grown from the stump and its trunk had grown along the ground until it reached a place where there were no wash lines above it. Then it had started to grow towards the sky again. Annie, the fir tree, that the Nolans had cherished with waterings and manurings, had long since sickened and died. But this tree in the yard –this tree that men chopped down. This tree that they built a bonfire around, trying to burn up its stump – this tree had lived! It lived, and nothing could destroy it.”
— Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
In Betty Smith’s novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie, like the Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima, persists despite the challenging context in which each took root. They both possess vitality and buoyancy that transcends poverty in Francie’s case and undesirability in the case of the tree. Gardens are cut of this same resilient cloth. Gardens persist in spirit and in legacy, eking out an identity in any given context and morphing with the needs of each era. Whether in a desert oasis or a rubble-filled vacant Baltimore lot, human intent and the tenacity of nature are destined to tangle, forming the basis for all gardens. As a means of sustenance for both the body and the soul, gardens hold us spellbound in their service. The birth of a garden is an iterative process, involving
site context and stakeholder participants ranging from domestic partners to private and public partnerships. It’s a partnership that has a life of its own, not too dissimilar from how lichen colonize seemingly inhospitable surfaces through the combined efforts of algae and fungi.
From an idea born of a similar partnership between the Cylburn Arboretum Association, now CAF, and Baltimore City Recreation and Parks, Cylburn willed its first demonstration gardens into existence in the early 1980s. Today the gardens are being rebuilt. In the spirit of rejuvenation, Cylburn Arboretum is once again investing in a vision for a garden-filled Baltimore City by demonstrating the possibilities of sound design in small spaces.
THE HISTORY
A Baltimore Sun article from June,1984 is titled, “For a model concept in garden design, go to Cylburn.” The article begins by saying, “Ideas are taking root in the wide open spaces at Cylburn Arboretum, and they are being displayed in intimate model gardens, each designed to illustrate a different way of turning an ordinary yard into a showplace.” The author goes on to describe each garden in detail and credits Katherine Gross, then “chairperson of long-range planning at Cylburn,” with the concept for these “Idea Gardens.” It concludes by setting the tone for growth to follow, “Mrs. Gross would like to have at least 10 gardens in the Cylburn exhibit (another by landscape architects Oehme, van Sweden & Associates, is planned for this fall), among them a rose garden, a rock garden, a meditation garden, and a Japanese Garden. The spaces are ready and waiting. All that is needed are the developers.”
David H. Tag, owner of the Manor Landscape Company, is credited with designing one of Cylburn’s original display gardens. In the 1984 article, Mr. Tag estimated that his densely planted garden—featuring 35 shrubs and 17 trees— would require replanting within 20 to 30 years. Thirty years later, a decade ago, as an intern at Cylburn, I witnessed the garden’s transformation. I watched the fences fall and assisted in sawing and removing the old stockade barriers that had divided the five gardens into diorama-like boxes. By that time, most of the gardens were no longer relevant, and in need of reinvention.
Since that time, the City Backyard Gardens—a name coined by Melissa Grim, Chief Horticulturist for BCRP—have served various roles, including holding beds, temporary displays, and, most
importantly, as home to one of the garden’s first tenants: Maryland’s first African American garden club, the For-Win-Ash Garden Club. Named after the neighborhoods of Forest Park, Windsor Hills, and Lake Ashburton, the For-WinAsh Garden Club wanted to honor its founder, Naomi Camper. Mrs. Camper was known for her efforts to teach and promote gardening in Baltimore’s underserved communities. The club recognized a strong alignment between Cylburn’s demonstration initiative and Mrs. Camper’s urban gardening legacy.
Like Mrs. Camper and Mrs. Goss, many homeowners and tenants have devoted time and effort to cultivating small urban gardens despite the spaces’ ephemeral nature. Gardens are inherently perishable, leaving behind only their architectural elements, the longest-lived plants, and, most importantly, the intention behind their creation and use. Although the City Backyard Gardens languished over time, ideas continued to flower. Thanks to the tireless efforts of past and present Cylburn staff, volunteers, garden clubs, and observant visitors, the legacy of horticultural demonstration has endured—almost as if the five little gardens were preordained for such a purpose.
An image from The Sun article about original concept gardens.
THE INSPIRATION
Demonstration is necessary in the world of horticulture, as language alone often fails to bring the understanding gained through firsthand experience in the garden. The language of horticulture is rife with odd phrases and diction that can seem unintelligible in conventional English. Terms like “watering in,” “pricking up,” and “bedding out” are but a few of the strange phrases associated with spring.
As I reflect on our current work—both in the City Demonstration Gardens and in our winter pruning—I am struck by the concept of rejuvenation. Shrubs are said to be rejuvenated when older stems are cut back hard toward the base of the plant. This cutting in turn stimulates dormant buds within the plant to spring forth with new life, allowing for new stem growth and the development of a fresh branch architecture. Similarly, the former City Backyard Gardens are coming back to life. Working within the existing framework of these gardens, we have cleared the way for reinvention and invited new voices to help shape the next iteration of inspiring gardens.
Due to the historical legacy of this project, I have been reflecting on the history of domestic landscapes in the United States. Unsurprisingly, there is a limited historical record of urban residential gardens. Instead, garden history tends to focus on larger, longer-lasting estate gardens. While combing through the bookshelf for inspiration, I bypassed the earlier work of Andrew Jackson Downing for a dated, but more contemporary fit: Thomas Church.
Church, a pioneering landscape architect of the 1950s, was famed for his signature kidney bean–shaped pools and decks designed around existing tree trunks. His work, tending toward the domestic, was motivated by our everyday engagement of the outdoors. Like the modernists of his time, Church was interested in the relationships between indoors and out, intuiting—without today’s scientific understanding—that our relationship to nature is a resource in itself. Comfort, pleasure, and solace were integral to his designs, reflecting their unspoken importance to mid-century life. His work spoke to a connection with nature we still seek
The 1950s garden design book titled Gardens are for People by Thomas Church.
today in our domestic gardens. With the force of a manifesto, Church aptly named his monograph Gardens are for People
It feels strange to assert such a thing today, since horticulture is reckoning with the important idea that our gardens support much more life than just human. Gardeners and designers are unpacking the legacy of thinking primarily about culture with less careful consideration of ecology. I bring this
up to highlight that gardens are a manifestation of the world we want to inhabit just as much as they are places we like to dwell within. Engaging in the subtle yet significant debate surrounding plants and garden-making is, in essence, casting a vote for the kind of future we envision for ourselves and our communities.
In this spirit, the City Demonstration Garden Project is guided by the following garden ideals:
Gardens are for all people. Everyone deserves access to a garden, regardless of limitations in size or scale.
Good design should be accessible and attainable for anyone with an interest in gardening.
Gardens are experienced differently by all people, shaped by their unique perspectives and points of view.
Gardens transcend cultural differences. They thrive under the care of any capable hands, regardless of race, age, or belief system.
Like people, gardens should be given room to adapt over time.
Rejuvenation of gardens through removal of old elements to make room for new ideas.
THE PROJECT
This project features five row home–scaled gardens, thoughtfully informed by Baltimore City’s urban landscape. Newly named the City Demonstration Gardens, these spaces highlight creative design approaches and practical solutions for common challenges we face when gardening in Baltimore.
As a whole, the gardens address:
Creative approaches toward fencing and enclosure
Enhancement of small spaces
Re-use of available materials
Existing pavement
Micro-stormwater management
Successful plant selection for the urban environment
Native plants suitable for the urban environment
Making gardens accessible
Honoring local gardening heritage
If you envision a more gardeninspired Baltimore, we invite you to support the full rejuvenation of Cylburn’s five model gardens. Your contributions to Cylburn Arboretum Friends will help bring this transformation to life.
Stay tuned for updates as the project unfolds! Hardscape installations will begin in spring 2025, with the newly-planted gardens set to be fully unveiled on Market Day 2026.
THE DANCE
Gardens don’t create themselves—they are a uniquely human response to the stimuli in our environment. They are born from inspiration and shaped by intention. A garden is a choreographed dance among many participants, each playing a vital role in its creation and care. The City Demonstration Gardens are no exception. Their development involves a collaboration of designers and landscape architects, landscape contractors, the local nursery industry, garden clubs, Cylburn staff members, volunteers, and generous donors. Thank you to our many partners:
FORM Garden Design
Apiary Studio
BCRP
Groundsmith Collective
Phaire Gardens
Cylburn Arboretum Friends
For-Win-Ash Garden Club
The Amateur Garden Club
Halten Garden Club
Hilles Whedbee
Miller, Long & Arnold
Concrete Construction
Natural Concerns Inc.
Great Blue Co.
Division Street Landscape
Second Chance Inc
Miller, Long and Arnold pour the concrete pad for the garden designed by Cylburn Arboretum Friends
John, from Natural Concerns, looks at the design plans on site of the garden designed by Apiary Studio with Head Gardener Brent Figlestahler.
Kevin Gaughan, of FORM Garden Design, helps to harvest and process bamboo that will be used on a fence in the demonstration garden his team designed.
The hardscaping in this newly redesigned demonstration garden features reclaimed log rounds from Camp Small, showcasing how thoughtful design and construction can create a polished look without relying on new, less accessible materials.
CYLBURN’S PRODUCTION GREENHOUSES: THEN AND NOW
By Brooke Fritz
IN1954,after the Board of Recreation and Parks approved the use of a designated area in Cylburn Park for the establishment of a wildflower preserve and garden center, a Master Plan Committee was formed. This committee included members from the Department of Recreation and Parks as well as representatives of our organization. Their goal was to create a comprehensive plan to guide the development of Cylburn as a horticultural and educational resource.
One key objective of that first master plan was to expand Cylburn’s collection of “unusual trees” into a full-fledged arboretum, providing both educational and aesthetic value. Another major goal was the construction of glasshouses and propagation facilities for growing plants
to be used throughout the city’s parks. These glasshouses were intentionally designed to allow visitors to observe an essential aspect of park operations while also enhancing their knowledge of horticulture.
The Cylburn Production Greenhouses, built in 1959, were manufactured by Lord & Burnham, a renowned company responsible for constructing many of the country’s major public conservatories. Today, these greenhouses are a rare example of glass production facilities, as modern greenhouses used for plant propagation (as opposed to conservatories and display houses) are typically covered in polycarbonate sheets or other plastic-based materials.
Although Cylburn Arboretum’s greenhouses are not open to the public, they remain a hub of
activity. The city uses the space to cultivate annuals for the Rawlings Conservatory, Cylburn Arboretum, and City Hall displays. The buildings house the Conservatory Orchid Collection and produce all of the material for the annual shows held at the Rawlings Conservatory. Cylburn Arboretum Friends propagates trees and plants for the arboretum’s gardens, grows plants for Market Day, and assists with special projects such as seed propagation for research. The Baltimore City Master Gardeners also use the space, growing native plants and vegetables to sell at Market Day, ensuring greater access to plant material for city residents.
Today, as we engage in a new Master Planning process at Cylburn Arboretum, there is growing interest in finding ways to make these production facilities more accessible
to the public, even if only through external viewing areas. Greenhouses like ours offer immense educational value, serving as living classrooms where visitors can learn about plant propagation, conservation, and urban greening efforts. Expanded public access, whether through guided tours, viewing windows, or educational programming, will give us the opportunity to foster greater appreciation for the behind-the-scenes work that supports our parks and public green spaces. As we look to the future, integrating opportunities for learning and engagement will be key to ensuring that Cylburn continues to inspire and educate generations to come.
Greenhouse Manager Scott Ritchie leads a 'Wednesday walk' tour through the Cylburn Greenhouses in February 2025.
4915
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
MAY 8: Gardeners Workshop
MAY 9-10: Market Day!
MAY 13: Tree Time
MAY 16: Horticulture Culture
MAY 21: Wednesday Walk
MAY 31: Plein Air Poetry: Cylburn and Enoch Pratt
JUNE 9- Summer Nature Camp
JULY 18:
NEC DROP-IN PROGRAMMING EVERY SATURDAY AT 11AM
THANK YOU
We can’t thank you enough for being part of our community at Cylburn Arboretum
Friends—your support and participation is the foundation of our success.
Looking for more ways to be involved?
Background: The dogwood (Cornus) collection at Cylburn is awash with blooms in the spring
