Cylburn Arboretum Friends: Fall Seasons 2021

FA L L 2 0 21

B A LT I M O R E , M A R Y L A N D

Aster tataricus ‘Jindai’, commonly called tatarian aster, grows up to six feet and seldom requires staking. It offers a small but abundant flower that blooms late and provides interest in our Mansion Garden until the first frost.

Pollinators also love it!

Photo by: Lesales Dunworth

"And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be are full of trees and changing leaves..."

S E A S O N S

–Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

e W lcome!

Much has been said about the present being the product of the deeds of the past. In fact, in one of my letters in Seasons this past year, I wrote about looking back in order to move forward. Much has changed in the past few months that encourages us to look back at those who brought us to this point—and celebrate them. t Nature, beginning with Jesse yT son. He and Edyth planned and planted the grounds and gardens in the formal style of the times. Many of the original plantings exist today as tribute to their forward-thinking aesthetic. rT avel through time in the following pages and learn, if you didn’t already know, how yC lburn Arboretum rF iends evolved and who contributed to the organization that continues today in the spirit of the yT sons as protectors of the property to of fer a living lab for all ages.

Our history is peopled yb a mix of characters with a common purpose: to preserve this special piece of Baltimore City for generations to come. Better still— join with the rF iends and be part of the future of yC lburn Arboretum: a‘ hidden gem,’ ‘ the jewel in the crown’ of our park system.

Dahlia. For many years now, we have had a beautiful Dahlia garden at Cylburn. The star of the show in fall—we have 40 different varieties on display in front of the Carriage House— all labeled for your viewing pleasure until the first frost.

Picture by: Aaron Burden

Patricia Foster, Ee x cutive Director Cylburn Arboretum Friends

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rebecca Henry President

CONTENTS

Nancy B. Hill Vice President

A LOOK BACK

Hilles Whedbee Secretary

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Robert A. Cook Treasurer Mariayne Brodnicki Linda Wright Butler Will Clemens Beverly Davis Emily Dwyer Alan Gilbert Sandra P. Gohn Mae Hinnant Sorrel King Maryellyn Lynott Jo Middleditch Douglas Nelson Jack Owens Nell B. Strachan

2 HAVE YOU VISITED THE NATHANS GARDEN? PAGE 4

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AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS RYER PAGE 6

EX OFFICIO Melissa Grim Chief Horticulturist, Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks

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Colleen Vacelet Owner, Intreegue Design SEASONS is published by Cylburn Arboretum Friends Written and edited by Patricia Foster Executive Director Brooke M. Fritz Director of Development

AS A VOLUNTEER…

Erika Castillo Education Director

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Brent Figlestahler Head Gardener Heather Rosenthal Director of Community Engagement Bill Geenen | Communication Design Layout and Design

4915 Greenspring Ave. Baltimore, MD 21209 Info@cylburn.org Phone: (410) 367-2217 Cylburn.org

FIG’S GARDEN TIPS

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR BACK COVER

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S E A S O N S

A LOOK BACK

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Many of you will know

the history of Cylburn, but for those of you who don’t, we want to acknowledge all of the people who have helped to make it what it is today— a place of natural beauty in Baltimore City dedicated to horticulturally sound garden practice and science-based educational programs to learners of all ages.

Cylburn was originally an estate owned by the Tyson family. Formal gardens were installed and lawns with both native and rare trees were planted by Jesse Tyson himself.

When Jesse met and married Edyth Johns in 1888, she took over care of the gardens with a team of gardeners. Four years after Jesse’s death in 1906, Edyth met and married Bruce Cotten. Together for 32 years, Bruce and Edyth continued to develop the Cylburn estate. Fortunate for us all, after Edyth’s death in 1942, Bruce sold the estate to the City of Baltimore.

In1982,CylburnParkofficiallybecame

In1954,theCylburnWildflowerPreserveand Garden Center was established at Cylburn.

Elizabeth Clarke of the Bureau of Recreation and Parks and Josephine Hunley, a member of the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland, led this effort. The purpose was two-fold: to enable adults and youth to understand and enjoy the out-of-doors and to preserve the existing natural beauty and facilities of “CylburnPark,”especiallythewildflowers along the woodland edges. Volunteers were heavily involved in every aspect of the work – from designing trails to maintaining gardens.

The beauty of the original intent is that it still rings true today.

Cylburn has been possible because of many

Cylburn Arboretum and the organization supporting it, Cylburn Arboretum Association.

These changes acknowledged the rich natural resources of the Cylburn property and the long history of careful stewardship of its lawns, gardens, planted trees and natural woodland.

Cylburn has also served as the horticultural production site for the Baltimore City Horticultural Division since 1958 when Gerald Moudry was appointed Baltimore’s firstchiefhorticulturist.

From the 1954 onward, the work at supporting groups coming together. Thank you to all of our partners and volunteers over the years! Today Cylburn Arboretum Friends continues to partner with the City of Baltimore to maintain the grounds and gardens at Cylburn. We use the gardens and surrounding natural areas as the staging area for educational programs and activities for all ages. Looking toward the future, we will continue to honor the history of Cylburn while also enhancing our work through our new Nature Education Center.

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S E A S O N S

“Joanne Nathans, founder of the Nathans Garden,

former board member and dedicated volunteer, epitomizes the dedication and contributions that Cylburn Arboretum, and Cylburn Arboretum Friends, reaps from its volunteers. After working at Nathans Garden for more than two decades, Joanne is one of the most recognizable faces at Cylburn. Every time Joanne comes to Cylburn she completely immerses herself in gardening, but she is also happy to chat and answer questions of the occasional passer-by.”

–Patricia Foster, CAF Executive Director

Have you visited the Nathans Garden? Visitors love this nook at the Arboretum because the gazebo and the garden bench provide perfect places to sit and watch people exploring Cylburn. One of thebiggestdrawsisthestrikngotflar r eoftheDawnRedwod (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), but the well-tended garden is delightful in every season.

Joanne, a lawyer by training, was working in City Hall when her husband, Dr. Daniel Nathans, died in 1999. Her colleagues gave a memorial bench to commemorate his life (he received a Nobel award in Medicine in 1978) and Joanne thought the bench was lovely but needed a garden around it. Cylburn Arboretum Friends and visitors alike are all so pleased with the outcome. “When I’m in the garden I can talk with people who have come to explore the grounds or just relax,” said Joanne. “Some say it is their favorite place: a quiet corner where you can sit and also see other folks enjoying the park.”

Usually twice a week Joanne can be found caring for Nathans Garden. She loves that Cylburn Arboretum is a public park in the city, full of peaceful spots like the one she tends. We love that she is one of our most dedicated volunteers—consistently supporting CAF’s mission of providing support and stewardship for Baltimore City’s Cylburn Arboretum as a place of natural beauty, tranquility, culture and learning, open to all.

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AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS RYER

Chris Ryer’s day job is the Director of the Baltimore Department of Planning. In that role, he has great affection for the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks. But at Cylburn Arboretum—one of the jewels of the park system—the Ryer family has a

S E A S O N S

more personal connection. Learn more from our conversation below: How did your family first connect with Cylburn?

My mother had a hard two-year battle with cancer and when she died my father, David Ryer, was in bad shape. He was an oldfashioned guy who had never been at home alone in his life. He missed my mother and the life they had together. I was searching for something for him to do to keep him busy and physically active.

Because of my work with the city, I knew about some memorial gardens at Cylburn Arboretum. My father lived in Ruxton, not too far from Cylburn, and my mother loved gardening. I thought he would understand and appreciate a memorial garden for her.

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What happened next?

Jane Baldwin was the president of Cylburn Arboretum Association (now Cylburn Arboretum Friends) at the time. My father spent a lot of time with Jane, determining the location of the garden, setting up an endowment to care for the grounds, and creating a design. It all became part of his life, part of what he did, a positive distraction and a new endeavor. Then once the garden was built he worked it in—weeding, pulling invasives, rearranging plants. And of course, always findingtimeforaback-and-forthwiJane.

My mother had always been the gardener— it was new to my father. But it was great for him to be out of the house, in the sunshine and interacting with people who he respected.

How did the Ryer Garden become a larger family project?

My father passed away eight years after my mother. My siblings and I needed a place where we could remember them both— and that place became the garden. I have

horticulturists, and also the Friends’ Head Gardeners. We got so close to Pat Sherman, a former head gardener, that we went to her retirement party and she continued to work with us in the garden even after her retirement. These days we have bonded with

two siblings; one lives in Massachusetts

the new head gardener, Fig.

and the other in California. Every year, all

What do you think the future holds for Cylburn Arboretum and the Ryer Garden?

three families gather, and we work in the garden. For my brother and sister, it is also an opportunity to expose their children to Baltimore. We have created a lot of great family traditions and I suspect we will keep doing it as long as we can. It is a wonderful way to keep a somewhat scattered family

I think climate change is going to be a big deal for Cylburn. A giant 100+ year old oak tree was at the back of the Ryer Garden and it fell down in a storm. It damaged a lot of

connected and rooted in Baltimore.

theplantsandwealsohadtofiguer outhw

What do you particularly like about Cylburn Arboretum?

because the forestry department usually

to get rid of this huge tree. We got lucky prioritizes removing trees blocking roads—but

The people who have worked at Cylburn

eventually they brought in a crane to remove

Arboretum over the years have done wonders.

the oak and we have been rebuilding that

I have known many of the city arborists, chief

section of the garden ever since.

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“There will be a cost and a lot of work associated with caring for Cylburn over the next decade.”

Welcome to

CYLBURN ARBORETUM Features

Trails

Key

A

Maples

Azalea Trail

B

Flowering Shrubs

Border Trail

P

Parking

C

Conifers

Circle Trail

i

Visitors Center

D

Small Trees

Etta Stem Wedge Trail

E

Gazebo

Ravine Trail

F

East Lawn

Ridge Trail

G

Magnolias

Spicebush Trail

H

Japanese Maples

Woodland Trail

I

Patio

Vista Trail

Restrooms

To No rth ern Par kw ay

Cylburn Arboretum Map Handout 2015 0710.pdf 1 7/10/2015 4:43:48 PM

K

F

Carriage House

J

Maintenance

F

H

Formal Gardens

I

Greenhouse Classroom

Gardens

C Mansion

J

Lady Baltimore Statues

Jones Falls Trail Spur

Nature Museum

ADA Accessible Circuit

L

Aquaponics

F C E

Production Greenhouses (not open to public)

K

G

Trailheads

B

L

M

C

Y

P Y

De live ry E ntr anc e

D

P A

C

ue

i nA ve n Cy lb

ur

ing Greenspr Avenue

S E A S O N S

Vollmer Center

Jones

Falls

ur

Trail Sp

At Cylburn, at my own home, and in my job—

the Mansion, public buildings, and fantastic

I am constantly thinking about climate change

city horticulture staff members. Cylburn has

and how it is going to affect our trees. The

something for everyone: park, workspace,

arborists say that the combination of wetter

and history.

and hotter summers are having a massive impact on some of our oldest trees. There will be a cost and a lot of work associated with caring for Cylburn over the next decade. If we are losing trees, what do we replace them with? Cylburn Arboretum will be a valuable resource when people want to ask questions

I have seen wonderful things happen at Cylburn Arboretum since I have been involved and I expect that to continue—especially as the focus on trees gets more deliberate every year. It is a great place to continue improving forest management. Cylburn offers so many

about the future of trees in this region.

great opportunities—and you all have an

Anything else to add?

incredible team.

I love that three sides of Cylburn Arboretum are wooded hillsides. I love that you have

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Ryer Garden

Left: Chris with siblings and the fallen Oak. Below: Chris and Patricia Sherman.

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AS A VOLUNTEER,

donor or community member—there are so many ways to support Cylburn Arboretum and we are very grateful to everyone who works with us!

Beverly Davis,betterknowasBevaroundCylburn,stemilr embersthefirsttime shevisitedCylburnboetr um.friendbroughthertowhatwasthentheCylburnWildflower Preserveforabidr watchingoutingandtheopportuniyoseeherfirstFoxSpar. owr

Time passed before a chance encounter with Cylburn's longest standing volunteer, Susan Rose, brought Bev back to the trails she loves in 1999. A Master Naturalist, board member and reliable volunteer—Bev makes an almost daily difference at Cylburn.

Is it a Tuesday morning? If so, Bev and Susan can be found out on the Cylburn Arboretum trails with other volunteers. For more than two decades they have been working together to keep the paths passable, enhance the native wildflowers,andfightbackinvasiveplants and vines.

S E A S O N S

Bev remembers always being interested in plants, even as a toddler. “I want to be around

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people who love nature like me,” said Bev, “and being out on the trails—in the middle of Baltimore City—gives me a feeling of absolute peace and calmness.”

For Bev, what started as a volunteer gig helping to clear the trails led her to getting involved with almost every aspect of Cylburn Arboretum Friends work and she loves the community. “Gardeners care about the earth,” she shared, “so we all have that personal sense of responsibility at Cylburn. We pick up trash, pull a weed or any other dirty task— whatever it takes. But my favorite activities at Cylburn are enjoying the big greenspaces and taking a walk in the woods!”

“I want to be around people who love nature the way I do”

Mimi Cooper: Donor Spotlight

Susan Rose

started volunteering at Cylburni1986.Thirty-five years later, she is still with us!

Originally Susan reached out because she lived nearby and was interested in learning about native plants. She loved that people she met at Cylburn gave her some of their own native plants helpingtofillhergarden.

But her time with the Trails groups over the years has kept her coming back.

As a Baltimore native, Mimi Cooper has known about Cylburn Arboretum for a long time. She remembers early Market Day outings, many Horticultural Society walks, and special Cylburn Arboretum Friends events.

But it is the trees and nature that prompt her to be a supporter of our Nature Education Center campaign.

As a Naturalist, Mimi loves to be outside and enjoys working with children. She sees the Nature Education Center as a wonderful way to get young people thinking about trees in a more purposeful way. Mimi wondered, “Who wouldn’t want to give to Cylburn Arboretum Friends so that they can continue to be a steward of, and educate about, our incredible trees?”

Exhibit renderings for our future Nature Education Center.

SCHEMATIC DESIGN - FOYER CASE Cylburn Arboretum Friends: Nature Education Center MAD #18057 | JANUARY 15, 2021

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THE BOTANY OF

Ornamental Grasses S E A S O N S

F IG’S GAR DEN TIPS

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W

BY BRENT FIGLESTAHLER, HEAD GARDENER

ith August and September behind us, the garden is past the awkward transition from summer heat into the cool of autumn. As precipitation increases this month, the almanac is predicting a cooler and wetter October than usual,andorpl u antsav h ebeguolntkessear w yandabitmoredignifiedinteih rseasoal n demise.Witheastersinblomandteh chr ysantemh umstfar on behind,afinalflashfo color is anticipated. Although it happens subtly all year, the change in lighting now becomes apparent. Rather than the overhead spotlight of a summer sun, we now can appreciate the ethereal effects of angled sunlight.

No plant in the garden is better poised to snare this light than the ornamental grasses. In Maryland, we have inherited hallowed ground from such local ornamental grass giants as Wolfgang Oehme, Kurt Bluemel, and patrons like Pauline Vollmer. Just as the use of concrete and steel transformed the shape and form of architecture, so too did the use of new planting materials have a tremendous effect on planting design, partially giving rise to the New American Garden movement. As with many garden plants throughout history, grasses too had to make a trip to Europe before being

re-marketed to the rest of the world. In this case, many of our grasses were redirected by way of Germany. Karl Foerster, the German nurseryman and writer, can be credited with cultivating and popularizing the use of grasses in Europe. Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, an Oehme favorite, bears his name.

Whether you adore spring tufts of Calamagrostis or the late summer cheese puff-ekil floni escen r cefo Pennisetum, there is an important garden lesson to be learned with grasses that even applies to non-grass garden plants­—that there is a difference

between warm-season and cool-season plants. We generally refer to vegetables and grasses as either warm or cool-season, buat ht enl scanbeappled i al ot flol erw gni plants. An understanding of the botany of ornamental grasses is informative. Without getting too bogged down in the science, the “warm season” and “cool season” monikers stem from a differentiation in the Calvin Cycle. A key part of the process occurs when photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight into sugar and oxygen. What we often forget is that the complete process includes a lightdependent action, previously mentioned, and a light-independent action known as carbon fixatoinrteh Calvin Cycle. It is this part of photosynthesis that converts atmospheric carbon dioxide from a gas into a solid.

Cool-season plants, orC3plants,fixcarboniatreeh carbon compound. Warm-season plants, C4 plants, fixcarboniafo-car ru boncompound.Warmseasonplantseziult amoreefficientprocess, but it is dependent on warmer temperatures.

Thisefficiencycanbetranslatedotineh phenomenal feats of growth associated with warm-season plants. Cool-season plants are lessefficientandenduplosign somefo teih r potential carbon. Cool season plants tend to prefer, and perform best in, moist and cool environments. Additionally, cool-season plants tend to open their pores and collect carbon dioxide during the day. Warm-season plants usually do this at night without the haphazard conditions of sunlight and wind.

These advantages and disadvantages at a cellular level determine when plants grow best in our region.

grasses. Cool-season grasses in our region actively grow in the spring and fall and tend to go dormant in the summer heat. Warmseason grasses begin growing in the late spring and end their season in late summer or fall with a swansong of blooms and color. If you are noticing grasses this time of year, you areprobablyappreciatgin teh floin rescence, or collection of blooms, on a waning warmseason grass such as Panicum, Pennisetum, or Andropogon. Cool-season grasses like Calamagrostis, Fescues, and Stipa bloom at the end of one cool season or another. In the case of C. ‘Karl Foerster,’teh floin rescence appear in early to mid summer just after the spring cool season. In the case of C. brachytricha, the Korean Feather Grass, floin rescenceappear during the fall cool season.

All ornamental grasses should be divided and transplanted during a period of active growth and not during dormancy to avoid the risk of killing the plant. Dormancy is a good time to cut back your grasses. At Cylburn, we do this eritnw afteraform-flat ent gin snce wori storm. All grasses possess a basal meristem.

Unlike most trees, with apical meristems, grasses can be cut down to the base annually in the case of most ornamental grasses and repeatedly in the case of turf grasses.

"…you should know whether you are working with warm or cool-season grasses."

What this all means for you, your grasses, and your garden is that you should know whether you are working with warm or cool-season

Hopefully now you appreciate ornamental grasses a bit more and feel emboldened to garden with them. Utilizing the autumn garden pause, I challenge you to look backward at your garden year and ahead to the growing season to come. By this time you have probably accounted for your spring bulbs. But go one step beyond in planning a division or installation of an ornamental grass.

Look no further for inspiration than the local legacy of work associated with Oehme and teh firmOehmeVanSwedenorteh yrmad i catalogs from our local historic nurseries.

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR GAR DEN C LUB DAT ES

NOVEMBER 4 Designing with Bulbs DECEMBER 2 Holiday Arrangements

T H A NK 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.

Do you know someone who would enjoy being a member as much as you?

Give the gift of g/suportive-hfcylbn:.