MHS Leaflet, December 2022

A MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION

'Tis the Season!

The Garden is bustling with people enjoying our annual Festival of Trees. Kids (of all ages!) are walking through our beautifully lit Garden, stopping by Snow Village, viewing our 70+ holiday trees and of course, roasting marshmallows for s’mores. Although the Festival of Trees is our largest fundraiser of the year, your participation as a member continues to be the heart and soul of MHS.

This year as members, many of you attended classes, donated to our Go Greener fund to purchase more electric equipment, volunteered in the Garden or at an event, gave to our Bressingham Garden refresh fund, and visited the Garden. We are grateful for your engagement and belief in our mission – to make the world a better place through horticulture.

This has been an exciting year with a focus on Garden enhancements, starting with the hiring of four new Horticulturists. They have worked, not only on making the Garden look lovely this past year, but on preparations for next April 1 when Garden opens again. Enhancements to look forward to include:

• Our first Tulip Festival with more than 50,000 tulip bulbs flowering

• A refreshed planting of Bressingham Garden with several thousand new perennial plants restoring the original design intent

• A major restoration of the Weezie’s Garden for Children’s pollinator plantings

• The return of both Seeing the Invisible and Ribbit the Exhibit (with all new and enchanting frogs). We could not do any of this without you! Thank you for your investment in Massachusetts Horticultural Society. If you have not made a donation yet, please include us in your year-end giving. You can make a gift online, send a check payable to Massachusetts Horticultural Society to 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482 or give me a call at 617933-4945.

We look forward to proving to you that your investment in us is a wise one. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season!

Warm regards,

Elaine Lawrence Director of Development

EVOLVING & EXPANDING HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION

By Stephen Dolan

The demand for workers in the horticulture industry continues to widen. Careers in the very broad “horticulture” label include landscape construction, landscape maintenance, landscape design, turf management, plant pathology, plant identification, entomology, equipment operation, equipment maintenance, soil science, fertilizer application, environmental issues, pesticide law (local, state and federal), nursery production, hydrology, irrigation, masonry, arboriculture. Soft skills include communication, critical thinking, teamwork, customer relations, responsibility, creativity and leadership.

All of the above skills are necessary for a good foundation to have a successful career in the green industry. The average median level wage is $29.38 per hour in Massachusetts. The rage starts at $22.17 to a high of $46.57. In some instances, a person working heavy equipment with a hoisting engineers license (Massachusetts Department of Public Safety) in a union, on a prevailing wage job with overtime, can make well over six figures. A Cape Cod Regional Technical High School student is currently earning $144,000 per year, just 3 years out of high school. Not that this is necessarily typical, yet it demonstrates that the potential that a high level of income is not always tied to a traditional college degree. As a bonus, this is also without the debt incursion for a post high school graduate education.

Though there is a path to earn a competitive wage without a college degree, there are many great colleges and universities that have agricultural majors. These majors include forestry, turf, landscape contracting, urban forestry and botany etc. The rising cost of a college education has put this out of reach to many students interested in this field. It simply comes down to ROI (return on investment). Some students will spend two years in a community college and then transfer to a more expensive four-year university. Regardless, the supply of applicants cannot keep up with demand for employers finding qualified employees with the knowledge and skills needed.

Thankfully, a creative solution has emerged. With the realization that Massachusetts has many outstanding technical and

agricultural high schools, the Federal and State Governments are subsidizing a new subset of students. With night classes in Horticulture a new adult population now has access to attain the knowledge and skills to bridge this gap.

In a first of its kind, Cape Cod Regional and Technical High School in Harwich, Massachusetts received a grant to start a 200 hour night school program. The horticulture program received both State and Federal stimulus money to retool the workforce. The program works with employer partners who give input about what skills they would

like to have employees that are eligible for the unemployed or underemployed. of 12 students will be accepted.

Each student will receive tools and a check for $500 of the course which 2023, to April 14, 2023. the participant will get Association of Landscape certificate.

possess. The students the program are either underemployed. A maximum accepted.

receive a small gift bag of $500 at the completion runs from January 3, 2023. Upon completion, their (NALP) National Landscape Professionals

Stakeholders will be watching the outcome of this program and its impact on the industry. Eventually this model could be duplicated throughout the state and then perhaps spread to the rest of the country. It is exciting to be at the forefront of developing and launching this project as there is such a need for this in the green industry.

Steve Dolan has been the

Cape Cod Regional Technical

Harwich, MA since 2016. His students have won both State and National Horticultural Competitions. A columnist and writer, Steve has been in the field for over 40 years and graduated from Stockbridge School of Agriculture (1980) and University of Massachusetts Amherst (1995).

Photos feature students from Steve Dolan's Cape Cod Tech classes practicing a variety of green industry skills

Lead Horticulture Teacher at

High School in

CELEBRATION CELEBRATION

John shares stories of Bert and Brenda and their gardening wisdom. These chronicles feature recipes, tried-and-true gardening practices, and seasonal struggles and successes. If you would like to read more about Bert and Brenda, they were first introduced in the March 2022 issue of Leaflet.

By John Lee

Sometimes, when idling in the old glider on the front porch, Bert might wax poetic. In school (lo, these many years ago) reading and writing poetry was a rudimentary requirement. Occasionally, he would find his mind stuck on a particular rhythm and lapse into a moment of ‘creative’ versifying while trying to recollect a particular stanza or couplet that was stuck in the back of his head at that moment. In a lighter moment, he would forget himself and just prattle on for a minute or two.

Brenda, oh Brenda, how lucky are we, That actually want for nought; We’ve plenty of honey and just enough money. So, look and see what I’ve bought Come look and see what I’ve bought.

Oh Bert, my precious, my still ardent man This looks like a wonderful plan. I’ve always wanted to sail away For a week or a day

On an ocean-going boat, said she On a cruise with no one but thee!

Oh, Brenda, my sweet, no one can compete For the love you have shared with me But it is never enough just to sit in the rough ‘Neath our favourite old apple tree said heThe one that’s no sweeter than thee.

So, off we must go; let’s hither away Before a new season holds sway Before the strawberries begin to set flower; Because once flowers set, I can assure you, my pet What we pass up now will taste sour (And the more so hour by hour!)

So giddy was she and delighted that he Had so thoughtfully considered her dreams. She packed just enough in her hurry –Forgetting the curry Boiling away on the stove…

CELEBRATION CELEBRATION

Bert’s occasionally idle mind would occasionally spin off the tracks if left alone for very long at the end of the growing season. There was much to rehearse, to revisit and for which to be grateful. The rain gods had been less than generous this past summer. While most of the garden had produced adequately, tree fruit tended to be on the small side and he’d noticed that while the honey crop was above average this year, there was little brood in any of his hives. This he perhaps mistakenly attributed to poor pollen production this fall. He had had to go buy pollen to restore fecundity less there be neither bees nor honey come the next spring. He was hard pressed to remember such a lean brood production season.

Come the end of the growing season as Bert put the gardens to bed, he did have a sly inclination to wax romantic (as ineptly noted above). This business of putting things to bed always made him a bit wistful. In their earlier years, the magic of the garden was a bit different. It was more about setting seed than now when his thoughts tended toward banking up the stove and going to bed early. An extra blanket of straw on the beds of carrots and parsnips that he left in the ground always seemed to give them an extra measure of sweetness as did the extra quilt give him and Brenda a sweeter sleep in their arguably declining years on a wintry evening. Be that as it may, the end of the growing season was not the end of their days. Many Decembers had passed beneath their boots and with any luck, many more lay ahead. He had learned from passed experience that now was not the time to slack off – spring always came in a hurry (whether it was an early or late). What he failed to attend to now was sure to haunt him come May.

However, at this time of year, Bert and Brenda both liked to linger over a quiet breakfast and an extra cup of coffee or two. Somehow on a cold morning, the coffee was stronger, more the way he liked it. Some summer mornings he mused that Brenda added a little extra water or a bit less grounds so’s he would not linger when there was much to be done outdoors and she could get going on her chores before dinner time.

Nowadays, their parlor table was strewn with the makings of dried flower wreaths. Brenda had somehow perfected the art of the glue-gun and she had earned quite a reputation for her exquisite dried flower arrangements. Used to be, she just put up a few for family and a couple of the neighbors who helped them out occasionally in the summer. But word had gotten around that Brenda was handy at wreath-making as Bert was handy drying the requisite blooms. Every year for the past heaven-knows-how-many, more and more of their flower gardens had given way to flowers for drying. Bert cut long stems and hung them in the rafters of the barn or attic away from light and hopefully protected from the dust and direct so prevalent in a working garden. They preferred strawflowers, globe thistle, cone flowers, globe amaranth and the like. Baby’s Breath, yarrow, astilbe and statice were also favorites because they, too, dried well and were easy to work with. However, if they made up any for one of the local Christmas pageants, they would weave in some lavender, thyme or other aromatic herb which folks often found alluring. Truth be told, they had tried to make what they called ‘private arrangements’ (aromatic air fresheners for people’s bathrooms) but it turned out no one would be caught dead buying one! Such was shame in these more modern times; Brenda had even dressed them up with a white bow and a snippet of jasmine. Still no luck. They wrote it off as ‘no accounting for taste’ because they smelled much nicer (and decorative!) than those store-bought air fresheners and were, perhaps, cheaper in the long run.

While such pedestrian thoughts floated around the parlor, more lofty considerations were occasionally birthed or, more likely, revisited. While neither was wont to acknowledge their advancing ages, every year at this time there were presentiments about why and how they might think about the next growing season. While there was inordinate satisfaction with the work of the just passed season now knowing that, come what may, their larder was properly stocked with the fruits of their labors. The harmony of the household needs flowed rhythmically with the harmony of the growing season. Both flowed from the need for thoughtful preparation, planning and then timely execution so that there was as little waste as possible. ‘Planning’ for both and Brenda and Brenda was no longer a thoughtful process; their growing year was now hard-wired and preparing for each succeeding growing season was as routine as dressing for the day ahead. This is not to say that neither ever changed their clothes but rather that each knew before going to bed what the next morning was (more than) likely to portend. As surely as night follows day, the regularity of the growing season was as much a spiritual comfort as creature. The immutability of natural succession indoors and out was more liberating than enslaving in large part because both of them were at some level transfixed by the gifts of their labors, by the community derived from creating something out of what looked like ‘nothing’ (to some of their neighbors) and their seemingly unique ability to fend for themselves. That many seemed to find their horticultural skills burdensome, both of them found peace and pleasure turning water into wine, soil into supper.

As this year turned the calendar into the next, as the snows of this year became the ground water for the next, surely the passing of the winter solstice will again breathe life into the earth. What seemed a brutish routine to some, each succeeding season brought them the joy of realizable expectation rather than the remorse of missed opportunity. The gifts of their ground had again been translated into the salutary bounty that both fed and decorated their homes and those of the neighbors lucky enough to be in their ken or extended community. Both went to bed nourished not only by their good fortune but by their ability to be able to share it with others. What could be better than that, they both wondered almost endlessly.

John Lee is the recently retired manager of MHS Gold Medal winner Allandale Farm, Cognoscenti contributor and president of MA Society for Promoting Agriculture. He sits on the Governor's Food Policy Council and UMASS Board of Public Overseers and is a longtime op-ed contributor to Edible Boston and other publications.

Holiday cactus, Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter cactus, Zygocactus or Schlumbergera –what’s in a name? Potentially confusion, if the naming of these cacti is anything to go by, but fortunately when it comes to growing these colorful beauties, the care is very similar. To explain the myriad names these holiday plants go by requires a little taxonomical history.

During the early part of the nineteenth century explorers discovered these cacti growing

CHRISTMAS CACTUS

By Catherine Cooper

in the Brazilian rainforests. Originally given the botanical name Epiphyllum, it was in 1858 that the genus was renamed Schlumbergera after the French cactus collector, Fédéric Schlumberger. Then this genus only contained S. russelliana, which at that point was called S. epiphylloides.

In 1890 Karl Schumann created the genus Zygocatus, into which Epiphyllum truncatum (today’s S. truncata) was placed. The name referenced the fact that this

species has zygomorphic flowers, which in layman’s terms means they are symmetrical only in one plane: vertically. There continued to be taxonomical shuffling over the years with the result that Schlumbergera has become the accepted genus for Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti, along with a handful of other species.

Christmas cactus is the common name given to both S. russelliana and a hybrid, S. x buckleyi. This hybrid was created in 1850 at Rollisson’s Nursery, England by William Buckley, who crossed S. truncata with S. russelliana (formerly S. bridgesii – those name changes again!). S. x buckleyi would bloom after the fall blooming S. truncata and before the winter blooming S. russelliana. As S. truncata blooms around November it became known as Thanksgiving cactus, while both S. russelliana and S. x buckleyi became known as Christmas cacti as they bloom in December.

However, Easter cactus is different, now being part of the genus Hatiora, and as its common name suggests, it blooms in spring. Originally named Epiphyllum russellianum var. gaertneri, it has moved genus and experienced several names, having also gone under the names of S. rhipsalidopsis, S. gaertneri and Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri, but

is now known as H. gaertneri. If nothing else, the taxonomical contortions these cacti have experienced serves to illustrate that they have strong visual similarities.

Apart from the time of year that they bloom, there are other ways to tell them apart. For a start, Easter cacti only bloom once a year, and have distinct star-shaped flowers. Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti have more pendulous flowers, and can occasionally produce a second flush of flowers in the summer. The anthers of Christmas cacti have pink pollen while those of Thanksgiving cacti have yellow pollen. Thanksgiving cacti flowers have more swept-back petals and the flowers hang down more than Christmas cacti. All three cacti come in shades of red and pink, Easter cacti can also be orange, as can Thanksgiving, which also can be found in white and yellow. The leaf segments (phylloclades) also have variations in shape. Thanksgiving cactus is also known as crab cactus as its leaves end in two points like crab claws. True Christmas cacti do not have these points at the end, and are scalloped along the leaf, while in Easter cacti this scalloping is softened to just a slight rounding.

These cacti are actually epiphytes, found in Brazilian rainforests at

an elevation of 3000-5000 feet, so they should not be treated in the same manner as desert cacti.

As they grow on trees, they do not need much soil, and will in fact bloom better when a little pot-bound. They do, however, appreciate watering on a regular basis and need a free-draining soil to replicate their natural growing conditions. Temperatures where they grow drop no lower than 55-60ºF in winter, and daytime temperatures in the filtered light of the tree canopy generally reach 75-80F.

Knowing this about their natural environment makes success with these plants easier. They are sensitive to extremes of heat and cold, and sudden temperature changes can be a reason that they drop buds before they open. They do best when exposed to no more than a couple of hours of direct sun a day, and will appreciate spending the summer outdoors in a lightly shaded location. If they are exposed to too much light, the leaves will take on a rosy hue –move them somewhere shadier and they will revert to their normal green. They are not heavy feeders, but will benefit from receiving light fertilization with a general houseplant fertilizer during spring and summer. Getting them to re-bloom each year

is also easy once you understand what triggers flowering. Cool nighttime temperatures alone can be enough to trigger bud development, so having them outside until temperatures drop just below 50ºF in the fall can be all that is needed. However, especially for those plants kept indoors, the additional factor of lengthening nights is also needed to prompt bud

development. Indoor grown cacti should be placed in a cool room

in fall, and one in which they get to experience 12-14 hours

blooms should last for 2-3 weeks.

of darkness. After about 6-8 weeks of this treatment buds should form on Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti, while Easter cacti need 8-12 weeks of such treatment. Having formed flowers, these cacti can be moved to where they can be enjoyed, and their

So what will you find for sale in our stores this winter? Almost certainly the holiday cacti in bloom will be hybrids of Thanksgiving cactus, S. truncata, of which there are many. They offer the widest range of flower color, and are generally the sturdiest, thus making them preferred over Christmas cacti by growers. Bloom times of these Thanksgiving cacti can be staggered, so they can be in flower from November through December and beyond, after which it will be the turn of Easter cacti to take the stage a few months later. That is unless you live in the southern hemisphere, in which case H. gaertneri blooms around Christmas and S. truncata and S. russelliana bloom in May!

Born in England, Catherine learned to garden from her parents and from that developed a passion for plants. Catherine is in charge of the greenhouse at Weston NurseriesChelmsford. When not at Weston Nurseries, she can often be found in her flower beds or tending to an ever-increasing collection of houseplants.

During this holiday season I am pleased to present a selection of books celebrating the American spirit and those innovators and iconoclasts who have created and continue to create and care for public and private landscapes and gardens, or work within the horticultural sphere. From exploring new ways of planting and democratizing public space to broadening the lens through which the story of the American landscape is told, each book presents a unique way of viewing the world through a new perspective.

For nearly fifty years the landscape architecture firm of Oehme, van Sweden | OvS has been designing environments that balance landscape and architecture to create what is described as a “New American Garden Landscape.” Distinctly original, the firm pioneered sustainable planting techniques and horticultural innovations creating a body of work that promotes ecological values and is informed by art, science, emotional connections, and the power of place.

Published thirty years after the pioneering book, Bold Romantic Gardens: The New World Landscapes of Oehme and Van Sweden, Beyond Bold: Inspiration/Collaboration/

Evolution (Pointed Leaf Press, 320pp, $85.00) by Sheila Brady, Lisa Delplace and Eric Groft, explores the firm’s legacy through the lens of the second generation of leadership. Each reflects on three personal and notable commissions including one that drew them to OvS; one completed with one of the original two partners and one that is distinctly original and represents their personal design evolution. These are followed by chapters that present projects from the firm’s impressive portfolio of residential work and public landscapes.

Vibrant full color photographs, detailed project plans and compelling and accessible text combine to make Beyond Bold noteworthy. Employing aesthetic responses to the practical realities of a given site, OvS optimizes ecology to distill the spirit of natural landscapes into their planting schemes, creating integrated environments of refuge. Public or private, large

or intimate, they are remarkably familiar, stunningly beautiful and unique. Beyond Bold captures their essence on every page.

2022 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), a founder of American landscape architecture. Experiencing Olmsted: The Enduring Legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted’s North American Landscapes (Timber Press, 342pp., $50.00) by The Cultural Landscape Foundation commemorates the occasion with an overview of 200 iconic landscapes designed by the Olmsted firm that have shaped the physical fabric of the country from coast to coast. Most of the projects profiled are publicly accessible.

memorial landscapes pioneered by the Olmsted firm over its many years of practice. Abundant maps, sketches and both vintage and current photographs bring each entry to life, reminding the reader that after decades of neglect and deferred maintenance, these places that connect people to the landscape and each other are more important than ever.

Like OvS, the Olmsted firm mentored leading design practitioners, many of whom went on to form successful practices reminding us that landscape architecture is a collaborative endeavor. Selected biographies of principals and members of the firm, many of whom went on to have impactful careers, are included in an appendix. Notably all are men.

Compiled by Charles Birnbaum, Arleyn Levee, and Dena TasseWinter, Experiencing Olmsted includes landscape projects and typologies that we, as Americans, take for granted, including ecologically driven park systems, parkways, and

Often described as the ‘Audubon of Botany,’ Mary Vaux Walcott’s (1860-1940) life overlapped that of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. during a period when the opportunities afforded to women were evolving. Born into a prosperous, close-knit Quaker family, Walcott’s plans to attend Bryn Mawr College’s first class in 1883 were deferred upon her mother’s death when she assumed the traditional role of managing the household for her father and brothers. Active in the Academy of

Natural Sciences in Philadelphia the family traveled extensively in the American West and Canada, observing, and photographing the natural landscape.

Included in these expeditions, Walcott became a skilled outdoorswoman and experienced mountain climber. She was the first woman to climb Mount Stephen and the first woman over Abbot Pass near Lake Louise. Using artistic skills nurtured in childhood and augmented by her talent in photography, Walcott became a noted botanical illustrator. Wild Flowers of North America: Botanical Illustrations by Mary Vaux Walcott (Prestel Publishing/Smithsonian Institution, 320pp, $65.00), a republication of the 1925 book of the same name, contains 300 of Walcott’s botanical illustrations. Pamela Henson, Director of the Institutional History program at Smithsonian Institution Archives, wrote the introductory essay, “Mary Morris Vaux Walcott: Finding Adventure, Beauty and Science in the Far North.”

Conceived as a fundraising initiative for the Smithsonian Institution headed by Walcott’s husband Charles, Wild Flowers of North America was an ambitious and expensive undertaking printed through a unique process.

The series included five oversized volumes of eighty life sized botanical prints, each accompanied by a short essay in scientifically accurate yet accessible prose, rendered by Walcott in the scientific illustration naturalistic tradition she preferred. An important landmark in both book and art publications, the five original volumes are combined and beautifully reproduced in this handsome, oversized full-color edition of Wild Flowers of North America. While the book includes an index of plates with the name of each botanical illustration, one must visit the Biodiversity Heritage Library Website to read the full descriptions.

Wildly popular, Walcott’s Wild Flowers of North America is owned by nearly 400 libraries with an abridged reprint held in 1,600 libraries worldwide. Perhaps one of those libraries is at Oak Spring Farm in Virginia, the former home of garden designer and book collector

Rachel “Bunny” Mellon (19102014), which currently holds more than nineteen thousand objects, including art works, rare books and incunabula related to botany, natural history, travel, architecture, the decorative arts, gardens and landscapes. She is the subject of the biography, I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise: A Life of Bunny Mellon (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 560pp, $40.00) by family friend and landscape historian, Mac Griswold.

known for her close friendship with Jacqueline Kennedy and her designs for the White House Rose Garden in 1961 and John Fitzgerald’s grave site in Arlington National Cemetery.

There’s a lot to unpack in this well-written and comprehensively researched biopic and depending on your interest you can dip in and out of individual chapters at will. There’s the story of a complex, ambitious, woman living in a rarefied world of wealth and privilege whose personal relationships were at times, messy. And then there’s the story of how a passion can ensure a legacy that endures through the Oak Spring Garden Foundation (OSGF) whose mission perpetuates and shares the gifts of Mellon, including her residence, garden, estate, and library, to serve the public interest.

A larger-than-life figure described by Griswold in an opening paragraph as one of the last examples of a ‘rich and outrageous’ woman of the twentieth century, Mellon is remembered for her innate sense of style, easy elegance, and unerring good taste. She designed and managed eight homes and associated landscapes, overseeing a staff of 350 employees. Passionate about gardens and gardening, the notoriously private Mellon is

Dedicated to inspiring and facilitating scholarship and public dialogue on the history and future of plants, a major focus for OSGF is to invest in people and encourage the development of individuals who can be leaders in advancing the foundation’s mission. Three key principles, which include nurturing diverse perspectives and fostering inclusion, particularly of women in the horticultural professions, help guide OSGF’s work.

Diverse perspectives are at the forefront of Black Flora: Profiles of Inspiring Black Flower Farmers + Florists (Bloom Imprint, 143pp., $24.95) by Teresa J. Speight. A first of its kind, the book shares the stories of twenty-two African American creatives working in the fields of flower farming, floriculture, and floral design, providing voice to their experiences with a goal of empowering future generations.

vibrant communities infused with a connection to the land and the changing seasons. Written to reshape our understanding and broaden our idea of who flower farmers, floriculturists and floral designers have been throughout the history of the United States, Black Flora presents a simple and powerful premise – Black culture has always been deeply rooted in horticulture. This history is informing a new wave of creatives and floral activists.

Acknowledging the deep connection of the Black community to the country’s agrarian past, Black Flora celebrates the power of flowers and their role in creating

Like the partners profiled in Beyond Bold, individuals profiled in Black Flora share their journey within their profession, reflecting on the influences which shape their current work. These lie at the intersection of art, activism, and community, honoring culture, storytelling, and the natural world. Looking to the future, Black Flora reminds us that the story of the American landscape is evolving, ever changing and built upon creativity, innovation and collaboration.

Patrice

Todisco writes about parks and gardens at the award-winning blog, Landscape Notes.

A man watches his pear tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Culture and quality of pears were important topic of the Society’s founders and horticulturists in the early 19th century. The New England Farmer frequently discussed their attributes in detail and they were a featured crop at the Society’s exhibitions. One pear that stood out in the early years was the Dix Pear.

Featured Collection ― Members and Pears

Last month it was noted that women played an active role in the Society since its inception, albeit often in the background. Women were not allowed as full members in the Society at its inception in 1829, however in 1830, three women were admitted as Honorary Members. This was not without controversy among the all-male membership, as “some thought it of doubtful expediency, because a woman in the garden made great trouble as long ago as the days of Adam.” President Dearborn silenced all those trivial objections and the women were admitted.

Honorary members were eminent persons who were distinguished either in this or other countries, for their attainments in the science of horticulture. They did not pay dues, could not vote or hold office. They were entitled to attend all meetings of the Society. The latter entitlement appears not to have been practiced with respect to women at the early anniversary dinners of the Society although women could decorate, prepare for the dinner and enter the exhibitions but they could not be

seated. Finally, in 1843, over initial objections that allowing women at the dinners would inhibit the consumption of wine, women were finally allowed to attend the Anniversary celebrations.

Dorothea Lynde Dix (1746-1837), known as Madame Dix, was one of the original female Honorary Members. She was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts. In 1771, she married Dr. Elijah Dix (1747-1809) of Worchester, Massachusetts. In 1795, the Dixes moved to Boston to a

three-story brick mansion, “Orange Court,” on Washington Street, just south of today’s Essex Street. This was a wise move for Elijah who opened an apothecary store at Faneuil Hall and later an import firm on Central Wharf and chemical factories in South Boston.

Dix Pear, a chromolithograph by William Sharp, commissioned by the Society for its 1847 Transactions

Madame Dix maintained a fine garden adjacent to the mansion. It was there that she identified and nurtured the “Dix pear.” Some biographers misattribute the discovery of the Dix pear to Elijah, but that is impossible since it did not germinate until 1815, six years after his death.

The Dix pear tree is large and hardy and by 1929, produced a full crop of fine fruit. The 1830 New England Farmer reported that “[f]ew if any, of our native pears hold a higher rank than the Dix. The large size, beautiful appearance, and exquisite flavor of its fruit, added to the vigor and hardiness of the tree, its productiveness, constant bearing, and period of maturity, give it a combination of qualities which but few varieties possess. Renowned designer, horticulturist, and author, Andrew Downing lauded the Dix pear as “unquestionably, a fruit of the highest excellence…juicy, rich sugary, melting and delicious…”

Madame Dix generously shared scions of the tree with members of the Society and was an active exhibitor, beginning in 1829. The Dix pear was selected for a specially commissioned chromolithograph for its 1847 Transactions.

The Windows – Dressed up for the Holidays

Book Club Contributed by Barbara Owen Although the cold weather and Festival of Trees preparations chased us indoors to meet in the Putnam Building classroom, we had an interesting discussion about The Gardener’s Bed-Book by Richardson Wright, originally published in 1929. We all liked the format of short pieces written for each day of the year but found it hard to stop with just one. Wright was clearly set in his time and prejudices, leading us to an interesting discussion about history, censorship and changing perceptions. His sense of humor amused us—from his basket of puppies for a table centerpiece to his writing on the naming of animals after specific gods, goddesses or flowers. His garden guidance comment for each day inspired a variety of other discussion topics as well.

Our next meeting is Tuesday, December 13th at 1:30 in the Putnam Building when we will be discussing Hands on the Land by Jan Albers. All are welcome to attend.

Here is the line-up for the following four months: Tuesday, December 13: Hands On The Land, by Jan Albers Tuesday, January 17: My Garden Book by Jamaica Kincaid Tuesday, February 21: Rosemary Verey: The Life and Lessons of a Master Gardener by Barbara Paul Robinson Tuesday, March 21: The Nature of Oaks by Doug Tallamy Tuesday, April 18: TBD a book about Olmsted, perhaps Genius of Place by Justin Martin

Our Collections are Growing

We thank local landscape historian and consultant Judith Tankard for the generous donation of her books and other publications from her library. Tankard is a well-respected author and former editor of the Society’s Journal of the New England Garden History Society. She received the Society’s Gold medal in 2000 “for her advancement and dissemination of knowledge of the history of the garden in New England.”

We also thank Diana Conroy for a donation Let's Take a Hike by Elizabeth Frenette & Stephanie Hammermiller, a father-daughter outdoors adventure with a slightly magical twist; Maureen Horn, former librarian of the Society for her donation of contemporary books, and Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Garden for its donation of Peonies of Greece by Niki A. Goulandris and six related lithographs.

You are invited to make a contribution to the Library this holiday season by making a donation from the Society’s Amazon Smile Wishlist. It is just a click away! The list is searchable or you can just browse to see what the Library and other departments are wishing for.

Here are some recent publications we would love to add to our collections.

The Leaf Detective: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest by Heather Lang (2021.) This inspirational story about “Canopy Meg,” a pioneer in researching tree canopies, relates how she grew to love the tree canopy and overcame many challenges to become the first scientist to climb up and study tree canopies.

“The Leaf Detective captures the magic of that little-known world with its clear, informative text and fabulous illustrations. Young readers everywhere will be fascinated and inspired to learn more about nature."—Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute.

Plants Go to War: A Botanical History of World War II by Judith Sumner (2019.) In this first botanical history of World War II, Sumner examines military history from the perspective of plant science. She relates the role plants played in victory gardens, war supplies, and medicine, as well as the role plants played in warfare.

Mark Plotkin, PhD, an ethnobotanist with the Amazon Conservation Team, lauds Plants Go to War as exceptionally researched and a classic work of ethnobotanical history. He states that the information is so well presented that a reader will revisit its pages again and again.

What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health by David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé (2022). Geologist Montgomery and biologist Biklé claim that we are suffering from micronutrient malnutrition. They assert

COME VISIT: The Library is open by appointment Please email Library Manager Maureen O’Brien at mobrien@masshort.org

that “[f]ar too many of us remain poorly nourished despite eating more than enough food.” The book illustrates how the health of the soil ripples through to that of crops, livestock, and us. They explain how the life of the soil and the nutritional quality of food is affected by conventional farming practices impact the life of the soil and the nutritional quality of food.

Donate a Book!

Support our mission by donating a book to the Library from the Society’s Amazon Smile Wishlist, just a click away! Make sure you leave your name and we will thank you in the next Leaflet. You can search by title or book name. Or just browse to see what the Library and other departments are wishing for.

Festival of Trees ― "Santa Brings a Read"

The “Library Volunteers” tree at Festival of Trees is constructed of a variety of horticultural books. You can win this beautiful tree—a resource in all four seasons—for yourself and as a resource for gifts for others by stuffing our raffle box with your tickets! This month the FOT is running for over a month, from November 25 to New Year’s Eve!

appointment and when the lights are on. mobrien@masshort.org for an appointment if you want to schedule a visit.