CAF Members Newsletter: Winter Seasons 2023

The Ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, is native to the Eastern American woodlands. Unfurling in a fiddlehead shape, it gets its name from the open plumes that resemble ostrich feathers. This fern offers a pleasant backdrop during the warmer months but is more of a focal point at this time of year, offering great structure in the winter garden.

Welcome!

Mother Nature, and most species of the plant kingdom that thrive at this latitude and some members of the animal kingdom that stay put through the year in their environment, appear to have figured it out. If you are well-rested and nourished, you are ready for almost anything. Some animals may hibernate while some people may flee south as “snow birds.” It amounts to taking a break, a rest, a time out. At Cylburn we call it “Spring Prep.”

I am borrowing several lines from an email sent from our February Cylburn Garden Club presenter, Rodney Dever, from Peterson Pawpaws. He sums up this time of year, specifically Groundhog Day, the day of our club meeting. “Groundhog Day might be lucky. It is Imbolc, the halfway point between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Ostara). The word imbolc means in the belly of the Mother, because the seeds of spring are beginning to stir in the belly of Mother Earth.”

That is what is going on here at Cylburn. There is the winter pruning. The magnolia collection, the small trees, and anything else showing signs of needing a quick snip. Come the warmer weather, the subjects of this winter’s trimming will be healthier and fuller and the reward is in the view.

Spring ephemerals are poking up everywhere. They provide key “sightings” that will tease and delight, from the early, impatient Snow Drop to the fully bloomed swaths of daffodils (some 100,000 at last count).

Still, I miss the winters of old, when we all become children anticipating that day off from school, feeling the peace of watching the world around us turn white. If we’re not taking care of the planet, that experience of Winter, of respite, of regeneration will be but a memory. Plants that should bloom in April, bloom in February attesting to Nature’s ability to adapt. But warmer temperatures mean more reproductive cycles for pests, taxing plants to continuously grow. No rest for the weary. Come see how we are prepping for Spring, giving well-earned rest to our plants and trees, expecting to be rewarded in the Spring. For us at Cylburn, it is a time of contemplation and realization of the gift we have as caretakers of this magnificent space. And just maybe it will snow.

Patricia Foster, Executive Director Cylburn Arboretum Friend

The snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) is a bulbous perennial that is native to Europe and southwestern Asia. It reminds us that spring is approaching, often even poking its head up through snow. The common name refers to the resemblance of the flowers to snowdrops.

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle…A seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream.

– Barbara Winkler

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Rebecca Henry President

Nancy B. Hill Vice President

Hilles Whedbee Secretary

Robert A. Cook Treasurer

Mariayne Brodnicki

Linda Wright Butler

Will Clemens

Beverly Davis

Emily Dillon

Alan Gilbert

Sandra P. Gohn

Mae Hinnant

Sorrel King

Maryellyn Lynott

Jo Middleditch

Ramesh Moorthy

Douglas Nelson

Jack Owens

Nell B. Strachan

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

Patricia Foster

Executive Director

Brooke M. Fritz

Director of Development

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

Toward the Creation of A CYLBURN TREE MYTHOLO GY

BY BRENT FIGLESTAHLER, HEAD GARDENER

I go among trees and sit still.

All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water. My tasks lie in their places where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes and lives a while in my sight. What it fears in me leaves me, and the fear of me leaves it. It sings, and I hear its song.

The trees and forests of Cylburn Arboretum are not just collections of diverse genera and species. Under the pressures of time, climate, and human influence, or the absence thereof, many trees here bear unique marks. Such marks and oddities, which can occur in many woody plants, would have been some of the basis behind many of the world’s prolific tree-based mythologies and folklore. Today, we understand most of the causes of these anomalies, but they are still incredible.

The following are a few living curiosities that can be found in the Cylburn landscape:

Burls–

When entering a forest, it’s the trunks that naturally occupy the human gaze. After all, tree huggers hug trunks. Burls, or burrs to the Brits, would make you second guess hugging a tree. They are rather large, somewhat grotesque-looking, growths found on tree trunks. Prized, and occasionally poached by woodworkers, these growths possess

extremely unusual wood grain patterns and colors. Similar to a human tumor, burls are a profusion of xylem tissue caused by infection either viral, fungal, bacterial, or insect-related. A fantastic Cylburn burl can be found just below the Nathans Garden in a Bald Cypress near the woodland edge.

Galls– Have you ever seen bumps on leaves resembling warts, or twigs that appear to have engulfed a golf ball? Such sightings are likely galls: abnormal growths occurring on leaves, twigs, and roots

caused by insect stimulation at the cellular level, or infection by fungi, bacteria, or nematodes. When produced by insects, these plant growths provide a custom home for each respective insect. A particularly reliable gall at Cylburn can be found in the summer months on Hackberry, or Celtis occidentalis, leaves. This is known as Hackberry Nipple Gall and is caused by a tiny insect known as a psyllid.

Witch’s Broom–

Cylburn is home to a oneof-a-kind tree that has

Then what I am afraid of comes. I live for a while in its sight. What I fear in it leaves it, and the fear of it leaves me. It sings, and I hear its song.

After days of labor, mute in my consternations, I hear my song at last, and I sing it. As we sing, the day turns, the trees move. — Wendell Berry, Sabaths, 1979

affectionately become known as the “Witch’s Broom Linden,” or Tilia cordata ‘Witch’s Broom.’

While this tree is not officially recognized as a cultivar, it is a specimen worth noting. The term witch’s broom is used to describe an unusual proliferation of shoots with short internodes that resembles a bundle of sticks like a witch’s broom. These growth are caused by a variety of factors including infection by fungi, genetic mutations, phytoplasma infection, and mite infestations. Many dwarf conifers have been developed by propagating conifer witch’s brooms. Our Witch’s Broom

Linden was propagated by Baltimore’s first Chief Horticulturist, Gerard Moudry. You can find it at the top of the shortcut path in the Moudry Woods.

Reaction Wood–

Trees reach for sunlight. This reaching, known as phototropism, can affect the way woody stems, including tree trunks, appear. This change in appearance is known as reaction wood. It is caused by stress, usually in the form of weight, placed unequally on a tree. If we take the example of our tree at the forest edge leaning toward the sunlight, we know that the weight of the tree's canopy is likely not centered over its trunk and roots. Consequently, the tree compensates by adding

additional wood to one side of the tree. Some trees, like oaks, add wood to the side of the tree in tension. Many conifers add wood to the underside of the tree, or the side in compression. Variations on this theme can be seen in the elongated shapes of branches when seen in cross section, the buttress associated at the base of trees, and even the ripples and bulges seen on trunks. There is a prominent oak leaning toward the collections from the Buckeye Trail that illustrates this well.

Native Grape Vines–

Cylburn is home to our native “grape” vine. These vines can be found throughout the Cylburn woodland. They are not invasive and do not usually negatively impact trees. These vines do not have the ability to climb into the forest canopy. Rather, they lie on the ground and are hoisted into the air by young trees. Once aloft, these vines can remain in the canopy of their hoisting partner and surrounding trees until a canopy disturbance brings them to the forest floor again. When you find these vines, note the size of the vine and the tree from which it’s suspended. The age of the tree is usually comparable to the age of the vine. Our champion vine can be found along the Spice Bush Trail.

Layerings–

In horticulture, we refer to stems that develop roots as layerings. A lack of competition for light modifies the growth habits of many woody plants. These woodies are often sprawling, branched to the ground, and possess hanging branches that rest on the soil’s surface. Many genera of woody plants, such as the trees strewn across Cylburn's lawns, sprout roots from prolonged contact with the ground. This results in a whole new tree connected via branch to the parent tree. This process is called ground layering and is not to be confused with air layering. A favorite layering at Cylburn can be found in our Weeping Cherry Collection.

Inosculation–

This is the scientific name for the occurrence of natural grafting between two woody stems. When one follows the old pruning adage of removing dead, diseased, dying, rubbing, and or crossing, you will likely never see inosculation in your trees or shrubs. However, not all woodies are regularly, if ever, pruned. This is nature’s adaption to conflicting stems. A good place to look for this type of growth is Cylburn’s Magnolia Collection.

Pit and Mound Topography–

Trees have the unique ability to enchant us with their growth and also the remnant evidence of growth. Whether petrified wood or the freshly grounded canopy of a fallen tree, woody plants are fascinating in all stages of life and death. One particularly interesting forest forensic clue is that of pit and mound topography. When large canopy trees fall, their roots often heave from the ground carrying soil with them and creating a pit below. As the tree decays the only remaining evidence is a small pile of earth and an adjacent depression. This pillow-like topographic signature is one indication of old growth forests. A walk through the Cylburn forest will reveal all stages of this process.

Wolf Trees–

This is the name given to a woodland tree that predates all the surrounding trees. This legacy is often associated with agricultural land uses. In a former life such trees would have been open grown amidst pastures or fields. With ample sunlight, branches on these trees would have been low slung and canopies broad. If pasture ground is abandoned and forests regenerated, wolf

trees become enveloped in a young forest. The shading effect on such a tree’s lower branches causes dieback and the eventual total loss of all the lower limbs. For the brave, a large wolf tree associated with Cylburn’s former Springwood settlement can be found on the Vista Trail. To this day, a few tree deformities and trace markings are still considered to have mysterious causes. Proper investigation by the correct expert can often accurately diagnose the cause of such topical abnormalities or past forest events. However, a dearth of expert investigation in all but a few Cylburn cases has allowed for some amateur hypothesizing and a little myth making of our own. Was this tree’s lean caused by a reach for light or was there a more momentous event like a storm? Was that tree’s burl the result of a swallowed plant tag? Who allowed the tree over there to layer in such a manner – and was it intentional? These questions and more keep our imaginations busy and the Cylburn landscape under constant evaluation.

Unlike venerable buildings and other material history,

the living world, most notably trees, can leave their own marks on the physical landscape and our imagination. Trees, the most common building material in North America, facilitate how we record our history both in in timbers and print. Although a optionless keeper of human history, trees possess their own stories told through branches, growth rings, and even actions such as “mast years.” Though more dynamic than the built environment, trees are just as informative of our past, and, maybe even predictive of our future.

HERE is the PLACE

Catrice Greer is a Baltimore-based poet, writer, editor and teaching artist. She is a 2021 Pushcart Prize Nominee, served as a Cheltenham Poetry Festival 2020 Poetin-Residence and a 2022 Yellow Arrow Publishing Writer in Residence. Catrice is a 2022 Storyteller Foundation Rainbow Fund full scholarship recipient for the Her Spirit Story Summit writer’s conference.

Greer is founder and owner of a traumainformed, mindfulness-based, nature and poetry workshop series, Into The Green. She is a teaching artist supported by Teaching Artists of the Mid Atlantic (TAMA) and Maryland Creative Classrooms (MC3). She holds a baccalaureate in English Literature from University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Greer partners as an artist and advocate with NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness),Healing City Baltimore, Pro Bono Counseling, Behavioral Health System Baltimore (BHSB) and HUT (Healing Us Together) to promote mental health awareness. Catrice is an active volunteer docent and teaching artist for Cylburn Arboretum Friends (CAF), a beloved neighboring green space. Her poem, to the right, will be featured in the future Nature Education Center.

Here is the Place

by Catrice Greer

Where is the place you find solace? Is it where nature meets us as family not foe. … where the trees bend in the wind touching leaves in silence? … where flora and fauna spring forward verdant Perhaps it is where the woodland animals frolic leaping from branch to branch, rustle the leaves in playful somersaults, or soar above and through the lush canopies as whistling sentries calling forth the hush. Into the green into the green into the green we go.

Cylburn Arboretum Friends: Was there a particular moment or place that inspired this poem? In particular I am struck by the title, Here is the Place.

Catrice Greer: At first the poem was Where is the Place, but upon later editing, I decided Here resonated a lot more for me. My home has lots of plants in it. I love being outside. I love being outdoors at places like

Cylburn. How do I choose the “where” for this poem? Here is exactly wherever I am standing in nature at that time. Imagine you are taking the emotion of it with you in a backpack and unpacking it wherever you are. The differentiation between where and here is important.

CAF: Do you have a favorite phrase or line in the poem?

CG: The line about the frolicking always resonates for me. When I look out my window, I see squirrels and woodland life, jumping and playing and living their lives and sometimes just having a ball. There is one particular squirrel that I am convinced must have been a gymnast in a past life!

CAF: When did you begin considering yourself a literary artist and poet?

CG: I started writing when I was eight, with intention. I knew by the time I was 10 that there was something to this that was bigger than me. I didn’t understand it, but it was so compelling. I was a rather precocious child and started reading very early. By the time I was nine, I was reading things like Hawthorne. My parents owned tall bookcases full of books. I wanted to know all of the words and asked so many questions that my parents bought–bless them–the World Book encyclopedias specifically for me. They encouraged me to read, study, learn and explore.

CAF: You are very involved here at Cylburn, from our garden club, to serving as a docent, to contributing this very poem to our future Nature Education Center Exhibit. What got you involved, and why is Cylburn a special place to you?

CG: In 2001, I purchased my first home, a townhouse. Cylburn had a tulip dig yearly in the spring that I read about in a community newsletter. I attended and I just kept coming after that. I started to visit Cylburn a little more regularly in 2019, just before the pandemic, drawn by the Wednesday walks. I went to as many as I could get to. I was out there at first with my cane and my walking staff. The following year, I became a member formally. Things just kind of progressed from there. I kept coming and kept learning.

CAF: Can you tell me about the Into The Green-Eco therapy and Poetry workshops?

CG: I wanted to impart to others what being in community with nature and healing alongside nature looks like. During the pandemic, people realized how much nature meant to them. One of the first places people bee-lined to were parks and green spaces. I feel trees are our community elders and hold a lot of information about our land, what has happened here, the soil, the air. They tell the stories of generations. I want my workshop to impart to people that we don’t just take from nature, we are a part of it.

I wanted to take all of my natural inclinations and pair it with poetry as an artist. I wanted to be able to create something that gives people a trauma-informed way to heal or emote their thoughts and emotions. We’re humans, we go through stuff: loneliness, grieving, mental health diagnoses, and challenges. The pandemic brought people

to the arts to find a way to find their voice and emote their voice. I want people to feel empowered to listen to the wise parts of themselves during healing. Marrying art therapy with the lessons we receive from nature seemed like a natural pairing.

CAF: Is there anything else you would like to share?

CG: It is my hope that when people come to Cylburn they spend mindful time here learning, immersing themselves in natural science and taking care of themselves. When they read the poem and interact with the Nature Education Center installation, I hope it stays with them as they go out into the green spaces. It is important that we be good neighbors to our green spaces and other living creatures.

Artist website: www.catricegreer.com

"I wanted to impart to others what being in community with nature and healing alongside nature looks like."

TOPPING OUT CEREMONY

In early January, Cylburn Arboretum Friends (CAF) joined with Lewis Contractors, Ziger|Snead Architects, and Intreegue Design to celebrate a major milestone in the building of our Nature Education Center. The roof structure was adorned with an evergreen wreath to celebrate the construction process in a traditional Topping Out Ceremony.

As Head Gardener Brent Figlestahler noted, “Cylburn is a special collection of trees and people. Adding a building to this hallowed landscape takes a great deal of grit, committees, and a little alchemy. The topping out ceremony is a great way to invoke the traditions and character of this property.”

Traditionally, builders nail a tree branch to the topmost beam in this celebration. The tree is the key symbol and has been used by many different cultures throughout the years. In Egypt, using a tree honored those who had died during construction. In Scandinavia, a tree at the highest building point appeases the tree-dwelling spirits. In America, erecting a tree on the top of a new building reconciles with the Native American belief that no building should be taller than a tree.

“At Cylburn Arboretum, trees are of utmost importance,” said Patricia Foster, CAF Executive Director. “The evergreen symbolizes positive momentum for our project–good luck, continued growth, and pride in what is to come. We are all so excited for our next phase and the future Nature Education Center which will have a soft opening this coming spring.”

Photos by Alan Gilbert

March ~ May at Cylburn

Over the years, Cylburn Arboretum has produced many different guides to help visitors enjoy the delightful spring ephemerals that fill our woods. “Spring ephemerals” are woodland plants that leaf out and bloom early in the spring before the trees develop their leaves. After the trees leaf out, the ephemeral flowers are deprived of light and gradually disappear. But they do not die. The energy that they gathered during their brief appearance is stored underground until the following spring.

As you prepare for spring, these are just a few of the blooms that you might find in the months of March – May at Cylburn (we wish that we could fit them all!). All of the ephemerals deliberately planted along Cylburn’s trails are native to the eastern half of North America. Please be sure to leave what you see for others to enjoy.

1 Virginia Bluebells

(Mertensia virginica) have large, showy clusters of flowers that are blue when fully open but pink in bud. They particularly like moist, rich woods and river floodplains. Bumblebees are the main pollinators of these and many other early spring wildflowers. Bumblebees are our only native social bee. Virginia Bluebells are sold in garden centers and will thrive in moist soil in shade to light sun.

2 Dutchman’s Breeches

(Dicentra cucullaria) is a delicate feathery plant. The white flowers, shaped like a little pair of

'upside-down' breeches, have a yellow lip. The nectar is in the upper tip of the flower, exactly 8 mm from the opening at the bottom. This is the length of a bumblebee’s tongue, the primary pollinator.

3 Look closely at the flower of Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) and notice the thin pink stripes on the petals. These stripes are like “landing strips,” guiding insects to the center where the pollen is. This is probably the most common spring wildflower in the northeast. It reproduces vegetatively, creating large

colonies that blanket the forest floor. You can see Spring Beauty in bloom from February into late May.

4 Toad Trillium (Trillium sessile) is noticeable because of its erect reddish purple petals centering three mottled leaves. The name Trillium refers to the number three. This plant has three leaves, three sepals (that look like large petals), and three petals.

5 White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) follows the rule of three like other Trilliums. Of note, Trilliums are appreciated for their beauty but not for their

smell, which is unappealing to humans but attractive to insects. Deer also love Trillium and these lovely flowers are becoming less common due to the overabundance of deer in our forests.

6 Virginia Waterleaf

(Hydrophyllum virginianum) bloom a little later than other spring flowers. Their large, mottled leaves make them easy to spot even when they are not blooming. Waterleaf spreads by underground rhizomes, and thus are usually found in dense colonies.

7 Look around, and you will notice many single Trout Lily (Erythronium Americanum) leaves with no flowers. A plant requires two leaves to produce enough energy to support this flower: three yellow petals and three yellow sepals, nodding down. Only a small fraction of the plants in a colony will bloom each spring.

8 Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is a pure white flower. Many regular petals surround a golden center. If you dug into the ground (please

don’t!) you would find a red rootlike structure known as a rhizome — really an underground stem used to store food for the plant. Its red color gave the plant its name. Native Americans used it as a dye for baskets, pottery and paint.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

MARCH 1: TREE TIME – PARENT/CHILD CLASS (SIGNS OF SPRING)

MARCH 15: WEDNESDAY WALK (GARDEN TOUR)

MARCH 15: FOREST HER DOCUMENTARY VIEWING

APRIL 5: TREE TIME – PARENT/CHILD CLASS (DAFFODILS)

APRIL 19: WEDNESDAY WALK (PINES AND SPRUCES)

MAY 3: TREE TIME – PARENT/CHILD CLASS (BIRDS)

MAY 12-13: THE 55TH ANNUAL MARKET DAY

MAY 17: WEDNESDAY WALK (SPRING MIGRATORY BIRDS)

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? Visit cylburn.org/give

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

The Gift of Cylburn Gift certificates are available at cylburn.org/give/give-the-gift-of-cylburn.

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