Leaflet
A MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 To Our Members 4 Festival of Trees 5 The Many Ways to Give to MHS 6 Do You Think Santa Might Have a Spare Elf, or Two? By Maaria Olander and Lynne Bower 9 Celebration By John Lee 11 December Book Review: Holiday Selections Reviewed by Patrice Todisco 14 From the Stacks By Maureen T. O’Brien, Library Manager
TO OUR MEMBERS...
I
n mid-September of 2020, Massachusetts Horticultural Society presented a memorable concert, part of our Music in the Gardens series. I was locking up the gardens after the concert and noticed a woman walking very slowly toward the exit. I caught up with her and asked if she needed help. She turned to me with tears in her eyes and said it was the best day she’d had all year. Live music, a gathering of people, albeit socially distanced, and beautiful gardens. I was reminded why I love my job and Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Our mission, “Commune Bonum” for the common good, never felt so tangible. To our members and donors, the heart and soul of MHS, thank you! I am grateful to you for helping us stay afloat in 2020 and continue to be grateful for your partnership in 2021 as we broaden our reach and strengthen our commitment to our mission.
This year we made two unique funding requests. With your support, we were able to purchase Cora the Frog, part of Ribbit the Exhibit. She is now a permanent part of the gardens, adding a bit of whimsy for all our guests to enjoy. And because of you, we are now the proud owners of an electric mower, providing a greener way for us to maintain The Gardens at Elm Bank!
Our Executive Director and President James Hearsum has often said, “We’re not just about horticulture, we’re about changing people’s lives through horticulture.” Our new project GrowTech does just this. A relaunch of the Plantmobile, this curriculum-based school program will utilize an indoor growing facility. It will provide science and horticultural education as well as advanced technology
and business experience, preparing Massachusetts students for a new era of green jobs. Stay tuned for more information!
Also in the works is the restoration of our beloved Asian Garden. This three-tofive-year project will place the garden at the heart of horticulture programming, focusing on volunteering, education, and community support opportunities. The first phase will begin this spring.
You make it all happen. Your commitment, engagement, and confidence in us is powerfully motivating. We look forward to continuing our growth and making sure that your investment in us is a wise one. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t remind those who have been kind enough to read to the end that this is the time of year when we receive most of our unrestricted donations. Please continue your support with a year-end gift. You can click below to give online, send a check payable to Massachusetts Horticultural Society to 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482 or give me a call at 617-933-4945. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season!
Warm regards, Elaine Lawrence Director of Development
DONATE
FESTIVAL OF TREES
RUNS WEDNESDAYS-SUNDAYS UNTIL DECEMBER 19
BUY TICKETS
GREEN PARTNER SPOTLIGHT Flash your memberhsip card for a 10% discount with any of our Green Partners.
Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Massachusetts Horticultural Society whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.
GIFTS OF STOCKS AND SECURITIES
If you are 70 1/2 , you can support MHS in a tax-wise way with a donation through your IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution program.
Turn your unwanted vehicles into cash for the programs at The Gardens at Elm Bank!
the many
WAYS DONATE TO GIVE TO OUR
ANNUAL FUND Your donation to MHS
to MHS
this year may be taxdeductible, even if you don't itemize!
Visit our Amazon Wishlist!
Do You Think Santa Might Have a Spare Elf, or Two? by Maaria Olander and Lynne Bower
“…all common things become uncommon and enchanted to me. All lamps are wonderful; all rings are talismans. Common flowerpots are full of treasure.” Charles Dickens, Christmas Tree, 1850.
H
oliday decorating can seem overwhelming. The abundance of choices in styles, products and themes can be intimidating. When you add to that the general feeling of “not enough time to get it all done,” your Christmas Present Spirit will be fighting for head space with the existential Christmas Sense-of-Ineptitude Spirit. There are ways to manage this process by breaking it down into components like mantel, staircase and tree. Once it’s been broken down you can begin to formulate ideas on themes, styles and materials. The main rule of thought is to keep a theme by color or style. Here are some suggestions.
CLASSIC Use of red and/or green decorations with the quintessential overhead wreath, Christmas stockings and candles.
COUNTRY Again, you will want to use traditional colors along with plaids or buffalo checks. Add vintage (pull-toy), handmade (children’s art, quilt pieced stockings) and wooden pieces, like wooden bead garland.
NANTUCKET CHRISTMAS Muted greens, blues, whites and natural aged wood work well for this mood. Vintage wooden signs or tools, nautical pieces, and hurricane lamps with pillar candles pair beautifully with things found along the beach. Stockings knit like a fisherman’s sweater would take this look over the top! MODERN Think white and gold with some metallic highlights. A recent development is a holiday greeting or wish spelled out in metallic lettering across the front of the mantel or upright behind your garland. The garland can be as simple as a faux magnolia garland in champagne tones.
THE MANTEL A great place to start your decorating is your Christmas holiday mantel. It’s a relatively small space that affords a lot of flexibility. GARLAND Use live or faux garland OR gather greens from your yard or nearby woods. For safety purposes, if the
cones atop the length of your mantel. Be careful that you avoid getting sap on your mantel. Fill in with potted plants for height and color drama. You can add lovely dried orange slices as well for a nice color contrast. You can place various candles behind this arrangement. Mass candles on the mantel, either tapers or columns. Flameless candles work best with garland nearby. If you are using pillar candles, a great design trick is to wrap the base with a wide ribbon all the way around and secure in the back with a straight pin. TRADITIONAL Add traditional ornaments and ribbon to your lit garland. Glue the bodies of the ornaments to their metal heads with a glue gun then wire them to the garland where you want them. Use your favorite wired ribbon to weave through the garland or just place bows at the corners. Feel free to add magnolia leaves, cedar branches, etc.
fireplace will have a burning flame, only faux garland should be used. Live greens will give off that wonderful wintry pine scent. Faux garland has no scent, but is easier to manipulate. Measure the height and width of your mantel. Keeping those measurements in mind, buy a longer garland if you want it to hang to the floor and a shorter garland if you just want to lay it across the top.
LIGHTS If you want to light your garland, do that first using traditional electric or mini battery-operated LED lights. With electric lights, be sure to arrange them so that the male end is at the side where your electrical outlet is. With battery-operated lights be sure to remove your batteries before putting them away for the season or they will corrode in their case. Weave your lights through the greenery or just lay them across the top. PINE CONES, DRIED FRUIT & CANDLES Using wire or a glue gun, attach pine cones of various sizes throughout your garland. You can also pile pine
WOODEN VILLAGE Arrange a wooden village across your mantle. You can also use flameless votives inside the houses to make them glow from within at night. Add small animals or bottle brush trees to make it feel like a village. There is a rebirth of bottle brush trees in recent years. They are available in many colors, sizes and finishes. Create an entire wintry woods scene using just these trees. BIRD THEME This is a natural fit for an evergreen mantel. You can find clip-on birds that are both realistic and decorative for your garland. Real or faux nests and feathers are nice additions.
ARTWORK & BOOKS Use one or more pieces of framed art, leaning against the back wall. These can be temporary seasonal pieces or permanent. Tip: elevate them on top of something so that their base is raised above the evergreens in front. Stack books with the bindings facing outward. Stagger the heights of the stacks. For a more contemporary look, wrap each book in white paper before stacking them. Intersperse plants, art, bottlebrush trees, candles, etc.
THE FIREPLACE HEARTH If you do not light your fireplace, you can fill the inside with wrapped gift boxes of different sizes and tie them up with ribbons and bows. Use a monochromatic color scheme or mix and match. If you want a relaxed style, just wrap them in craft paper tied with a gorgeous double-faced satin ribbon bow. You can also use bundles of white birch logs placed inside the hearth. For the illusion of a flame, backlight the logs with strings of warm white lights.
THE STAIRCASE Now that you have mastered the mantel, you may choose to decorate your staircase. The same design theme used in decorating your mantel can be used decorating your staircase. Remember, the push pin and green pipe cleaners are your best friends in securing the garland. The garland can be hung straight across the railing or draped every third spindle. Try and incorporate the same ribbon used on the mantel or a coordinating ribbon. Bows may be attached at each hanging section or at the end only. It is a matter of your personal preference.
And finally, a helpful list of the BASIC BUILDING MATERIALS you’ll need to start your mantel project. 1. Live or faux garland, usually at least 12’ (Faux garland usually comes in 5’, 6’ and 9’ lengths. Live garland is sold by the yard.) 2. Accents (e.g. magnolia leaves, cedar sprays, pinecones, bird’s nest, feathers, twigs, dried flowers, nuts, etc.) 3. Floral wire or green pipe cleaners 4. Clear push pins or Command hooks (small ones for connecting wires/pipe cleaners) 5. Tape measure, Glue gun, and Wire cutters
Remember that all things become enchanted at Christmas so whatever you decide to use and however you decide to arrange it, it will be wondrous!
All of us at Stonegate Gardens wish you the best of luck and the happiest of holidays.
Stonegate Gardens is located at 339 South Great Rd in Lincoln, MA.
CELEBRATION D
ecember is, by definition, celebration season. As our swollen waistlines begin to recover from our moment of thankfulness-induced satiation, such relief is replaced by the rising tide of shopping anxiety and night sweats about what to get for whom. The morning and evening newscasts beat the drum of waning shopping opportunities before the days of disappointment set in. Certainly, the endless advertisements punctuating our daily doses of telly pablum are enough to make even the most stalwart of Santa’s elves feel slightly nauseated. Life need not be this way. So put away the Zantac and let’s reconsider the holidays. Most of us have put our gardens to bed. But we will have left a bed or two of root vegetables buried under a leafy mulch blanket to sweeten up. Who does not want to be eating their own freshly dug carrots and parsnips on the darkening days of the approaching solstice? Those of us of a certain age and inclination learned about the art saving the harvest from Beatrice Vaughan, Janet Greene and Ruth Hertzberg’s classic Putting Food By. Fifty years later, it is the primer of choice for homesteaders, “preppers” and anyone with a
By John Lee
sense of personal economy who hates not only shopping but what they have to sort through to find something good. How long does it take to learn that avocados from Peru will always be of lower quality than those from Mexico and that COO labels may signify more than a supposed health hazard? When it comes to gifting at this time of the year, absolutely nothing speaks of love more than something you have made yourself. For those of us who do not knit, can’t paint or plan ahead, there is still the kitchen where, truth be told, all celebrations are birthed, self-care and community are foundational. In the kitchen, there is no bauble that says ‘I love you,’ there is only raw material to make that special something for that special someone and, in the process, make something memorable that might soothe your own raging ego. In our house we know that there are people who are hearth people, hence a bread. We have friends who delight in a sweet—they might be brittle people. There are home-bodies who may simply crave a pot of delightfully hot soup that could be dug out of the freezer on an otherwise cheerless evening. Of course, if I am to be the provender, the
recipes must be simplistic, the ingredients already on hand. ‘Strike while the iron’s hot’ was the most appropriate aphorism when it comes to holiday cuisine. With that in mind, who does not love a loaf of home-baked bread? Fannie Merritt Farmer’s 12th edition of her famous Boston Cooking School’s culinary bible has the best recipe for an Anadama bread which will make anyone proud.
Then visit noted local chef and author Jasper White. Follow his recipe for the exceptional parsnip/ bacon chowder in his 50 Chowders (Scribner, 2000). It is an homage to that uniquely American one-dish meal. Who wouldn’t be thrilled by such thoughtfulness as winter evenings darken our doors?
Without a doubt, your best creamery butter and Scotch course-cut marmalade will never have a better pairing—plus this no-knead bread is a joy to bake and it makes two loaves. If you want to increase the sense of celebration, substitute a coarse whole wheat flour for some or all of the white and, if you saved your Indian corn decorations, grind the kernels semi-finely and substitute volume for volume according to taste.
Bottom: Anadama Bread, Photo courtesy of A Taste of History with Joyce White Right: 50 Chowders by Jasper White, Scribner, 2000.
The fact of the matter is that anything home-made out of anything home-grown is a celebration of life well-lived. Whether it is vichyssoise from your potatoes, bacon-garlic jam to be eaten with a homemade pate, hand pies filled, literally, with the fruits of one’s labors—both the giver and receiver can celebrate the season in the truest spirit of making, giving, enjoying and community generously afforded by nature’s bounty, the gifts of your gardens. To celebrate friends who may relish a bit more of the creature comforts, head into that well-mulched vegetable plot and pull a few fat, sweet parsnips.
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 long-time op-ed contributor to Edible Boston and other publications.
December Book Review: Holiday Selections Reviewed by Patrice Todisco
B
ritish artist and historian Simon Morley’s personal fascination with the rose began on a gloomy November afternoon in London when he noticed roses blooming in the small, terraced gardens of houses he passed on his daily walk. Cheered and inspired, he planted his first and set about to study the history of the flower. The result, By Any Other Name: A Cultural History of the Rose by Simon Morley (304pp. Oneworld Publications. $35.00) is a wide ranging, comprehensive social and cultural history of the ‘Queen of Flowers.’
Fact-filled, By Any Other Name is extensively researched with descriptions of gardens worthy of a rose-lover’s visit. To add to your list is the most important rose garden in the world, the Europa-
A rose garden plays a defining role in the life of Frances Hodgson Burnett profiled by Marta McDowell in Unearthing The Secret Garden: The Plants & Places That Inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett by Marta MacDowell (320pp. Timber Press. $29.95). Burnett’s bestselling book, The Secret Garden, was inspired by nostalgia for her rose garden at Great Maytham Hall in Kent as well as the characters of the people she had known while she lived there, including gardeners, household staff and villagers.
Burnett, one of the most successful and prolific Tracing the rose’s authors of her day, evolution from its led a complicated life earliest history to besieged by illness and present day, Morley personal tragedy. While infuses the text with she reinvented herself references from multiple times, it was literature, cinema, her love of gardens and medicine, aesthetics, gardening that remained economics, politics, a constant throughout garden history and her experiences. An the fine arts, including avid and knowledgeable his field of interest, gardener, she created Roses Terrace, The Secret Garden photo by Suzie Gibons modern art. The value three gardens in England, of the traditional role New York, and Bermuda the flower plays in daily life is Rosarium in Sangerhausen, and wrote a series of non-fiction examined, as is its status as a Germany where a reference articles for popular publications. commercial commodity that collection tells the history of while supporting a lucrative rose cultivation with more than In Unearthing The Secret industry, retains its symbolic 7,800 varieties of hybrids, 500 Garden, period illustrations and associations with happiness and species of wild roses and 75,000 contemporary photographs beauty. individual bushes. complement McDowell’s deft prose to provide a compelling
portrait of Burnett, an accomplished woman whose gardening life was central to her creative being. If, as McDowell surmises, a book can be a horticultural trigger or ‘gateway drug’ for gardeners than surely The Secret Garden is at the top of the list, enticing generations of readers to journey into the magical world of gardens. Sleepy Cat Farm: A Gardener’s Journey by Caroline Seebohm with photographs by Curtice Taylor (192pp. Monacelli. $50.00) is a different type of adventure—the story of the twenty-plus year collaboration of owner Fred Landman and Charlottesville, Virginia landscape architect Charles J. Stick to design the landscape of the six-and-a-half-acre Sleepy
Luxuriant Wisteria, Sleepy Cat Farm photo by Curtice Taylor
Cat Farm in southwest Connecticut. A ridge on the property provides a catalyst for turning the landscape into a paradise of contrasting styles designed to “create layers of unfolding experiences” and a sense of discovery. Using the work of esteemed landscape designer Russell Page as inspiration, a woodland path, named The Golden Path, unifies discrete landscape elements. As the landscape expands, Landman and Stick create a series of gardens informed by historic precedent, travel and a sense of place while adhering to the original plan of interconnected spaces linking one “jeweled vista” to another. In 2003, an additional twoacre purchase provides the
opportunity to add a Frenchinspired “ferme ornée” complete with a greenhouse, potting shed, orchard, extensive vegetable garden and ‘Barn.’ The purchase of an additional three-and-a-half acres provides an opportunity to build a Limonaia, the last building added to the property.
The retired CEO of a start-up communications company, Landman assembled a team of horticulturalists, architects, landscape architects, masons and builders in his two-decade journey to build a truly unique garden. Sleepy Cat Farm: A Gardener’s Journey is a testament to his efforts that is exquisitely designed, photographed, and engagingly written.
Transitioning from the private to public sphere, Parks of the 21st Century: Reinvented Landscapes, Reclaimed Territories by Victoria Newhouse and Alex Pisha (356pp. Rizzoli. $75.00) explores fifty-two parks from across the world created on land that has been reclaimed and repurposed. Many of the sites are former brownfields and each has been transformed into a public space that reinvigorates an underused or undervalued urban area. The coronavirus pandemic affirmed the critical value of parks and the relationship between access to nature and mental health. The recently concluded COP26 UN Climate Change Conference underscores the role of parks and green spaces in managing climate change. The projects profiled in Parks of the 21st Century are examples of how the newly created parks of the past several decades serve both functions while building upon the confluence of three conditions worldwide: the launch of the environmental movement, the advent of the post-industrial age, and the erosion of public space.
Projects are organized by previous use including railways, highway caps, airports, waterside industry, inland industry, quarries, and strongholds. Detailed histories, full-page photos and site maps accompany each. Plant palettes and design details are included. Parks of the 21st Century concludes
with four uncompleted projects that speak to the future and the changeability of a landscape throughout time. Complex in nature, they are works in progress that will be implemented over decades, capturing time within a changing environment.
These visionary projects find precedent in the work of renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted whose 200th birth anniversary is being celebrated in 2022. Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Communities and Private Estates edited by Charles E. Beveridge, Lauren Meier, and Irene Mills (608pp. Johns Hopkins University Press. $74.95) provides the first comprehensive presentation of his design concepts for communities and private estates.
Lavishly illustrated with more than 500 images, it complements previous works focusing on his public park commissions
Patrice Todisco writes about parks, gardens and the public realm.
and includes planning for residential communities, academic campuses, regional and town plans, and the grounds of public buildings, zoos, arboreta, and cemeteries. Seventy projects are profiled including many from the Metropolitan Boston region. Photographs, lithographs, plans and descriptive text accompany each providing insight into their significance within the larger body of Olmsted’s work.
An important contribution to the documentation of Olmsted’s work, Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Communities and Private Estates underscores the powerful relationship of landscape design to social and environmental well-being. The 200th anniversary of his birth provides an opportunity to celebrate his visionary work while working together to solve today’s challenges. Visit Olmsted 200 for information about the celebration and associated events.
Thomas Wales Park, Seattle photo by Stuart Isett
From the Stacks By Maureen T. O’Brien, Library Manager
My favourite finds are often antique pieces with a history. Alice Temperley (b.1975)
When the Library moved from Horticultural Hall to Elm Bank in 2000, it was a monumental undertaking. Books needed to be identified and sorted and artifacts carefully packed. Decisions were made as to whether the item was to go to Elm Bank or the climate controlled off-site storage facility. The next step was to name the item being stored and add that to the database. Ofttimes, an abbreviate name was given. One of the stored boxes was merely described as “Antiques.” Curious, we had the “Antiques” box delivered to Elm Bank.
Featured Collection ― Antiques
What we found was an interesting insight into the workings of our leaders in the past. Three items were in the box. As you can see in the picture, one is an odd-shaped, handled wood box, with a drawer. There is a hole inside the box leading to the drawer that was filled with wooden white balls and black squares. We were able to identify it as a so-called "Masonic" ballot box, used for secret ballots. This method of voting dates to 2000 B.C. in China and is not unique to the Masons. Here in the United States, it was commonly used for elections by gentlemen’s clubs and similar institutions. The white balls represented a yea vote, while the black balls represented a nay vote. An interesting tidbit—this voting method was the origin of the term “blackballing” meaning to exclude from membership by casting negative votes, aka, ostracize. Antiques in MHS Archives. On the left is the ballot box, Eventually the white balls became dirty and difficult to while the objects on the right are a mystery. The cup’s see in the poor lighting conditions of the past, so black interior has a raised circular lip inside. If you have an idea, squares were often substituted for the balls. contact Maureen O’Brien at mobrien@masshort.org.
This simple method of secret ballot was used because in the past, many people could not read or write, even nobility. Each voter audibly casts a single ball into the ballot box under cover of the box, so that observers can see who votes but not how they are voting. When all voting is complete, the box is opened, and the balls displayed for all to see. We are baffled by the two other “antiques” in the box. One is a handled cup with what appears to be a shallow circular lip on the inside of the bottom. The second, is a tapered conical cylinder that fits within the cup. Any ideas? Email Maureen O'Brien with your best guess. In the Windows – Books on Crafts for Children and Books for Sale
The Library has two bookshelves of donated booked for sale, most in the $1 to $5 range. These books cover a wide range of horticultural topics, design, floral arranging, inspiration, history and travel. Many
are out of print, but the books are still relevant and provide reliable information. Consider dropping by and picking out a book for yourself or for a gift. Buying used is part of the environmentally focused movement to only give gifts that have been used, are made from recycled materials or will reduce your environmental footprint. Used books fit that bill perfectly! Our Collections are Growing…
Thank you to Los Angeles Arboretum for its donations of books relating to the flora of Palestine and a book on ferns in New Hampshire.
The Library recently added books to the MHS Amazon Smile Wishlist, many of them children’s books. While eBooks are popular these days, there is nothing like personal interaction with a child while sharing a book together. Going to a library to pick out a book to read together is another part of that experience. Borrowing books from a Library is also a lesson in reducing consumption through sharing. There is no need to replicate a library’s holdings, especially with children’s books that are read once or twice and are quickly outgrown. Consider donating a book or two to the Library from the MHS wish list. Many are low cost and reasonably priced. Make sure you leave your name, and we will thank you in the next Leaflet. Check out the Library Webpage...
MHS was instrumental in the founding of many important and specialized horticultural groups. Annette LaMond, historian of the Cambridge Plant & Garden Club, has shared a recent publication with MHS. Her paper gives a history of the founding of the Society for the Protection of Native Plants in 1901 and its subsequent transformation into the New England Wild Flower Society. She gives new recognition to the role of Massachusetts Horticultural Society and its great philanthropist president, Albert C. Burrage, in supporting the protection of native plants. MHS’s backing encouraged a succession of horticulturists, men and women to dedicate their volunteer energy to the cause, paving the way for today’s vibrant Native Plant Trust. You can read her excellent article here. Come Visit…
The Library is open by appointment and when the lights are on. Please email Library Manager Maureen O’Brien mobrien@masshort.org for an appointment if you want a scheduled visit.
EDITOR Wayne Mezitt waynem@westonnurseries.com MARKETING Meghan Connolly mconnolly@masshort.org
CONTACT
MEMBERSHIP Zee Camp membership@masshort.org DEVELOPMENT Elaine Lawrence elawrence@masshort.org
Interested in contributing to Leaflet? Email Wayne Mezitt, Editor, at waynem@westonnurseries.com
Wishing you Happy Holidays, from all of us at Massachusetts Horticultural Society!
The Gardens at Elm Bank Open April 1-October 31 Classes, Programs Year-round
Massachusetts Horticultural Society 900 Washington St Wellesley, MA masshort.org | 617.933.4900