MHS Leaflet, March 2024

Leaflet A MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION

MARCH 2024

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

4 5 6 10 11 12 18 22 24

30 34

38

On Making our Days Worthwhile Jennifer Jones Can't-Miss Classes 2024 Classes Botanical Art Courses March at Elm Bank Illustration by Marianne Orlando New England Fall Flower Show Registration Open In First Person: John Gwynne March

By Catherine Cooper From the Flower Show Committee Chairs Plant This, Get This: Adding Dahlias to your Garden

By Misty Florez and Carol Palmer From the Stacks

By Maureen T. O'Brien Celebrate the Season as you Prepare for Gardening!

By Trevor Smith Preparation

By John Lee

CONTACT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Wayne Mezitt

waynem@westonnurseries.com

2 | March 2024

MANAGING EDITOR Meghan Connolly

mconnolly@masshort.org

ON MAKING OUR DAYS WORTHWHILE There’s something about good data that makes me smile, and so much that counts as good data. Lucky for me, gardening is so perfectly suited to meticulous documentation, and using my favorite method: excel. While we all come from different walks of life, and found gardening at different times, I think everyone can appreciate the sheer overwhelm of information you encounter when growing plants.

As we all roll up our sleeves and peruse catalogs of possibility, cover our kitchen counters or greenhouses with seed packets, and fall into rabbit holes of PH, light requirements, and companion plants, I hope you know what a big world you are a part of. With each seed you sow, with each flower you tend to, you create ripple effects.

I don’t think my Nan knew, back when she was just doing her best with the sloped section of her front lawn, trying to stop it from eroding from rain and the house downspouts, how much I watched her. I still remember the gigantic rhododendron that stood bright pink against the white cape house in Fitchburg, that brought me so much joy when I visited. Don’t get me started on the oceans of flowering groundcovers in her back yard. Did I know back then how much my Nan’s love of gardening would mean to me? No. But I know it now.

Your preparation this year may very well touch those you least expect. The grumpy neighbor down the road may wait earnestly each year to see your tulips bloom; your mailman may just love seeing the snowdrops burst through in early spring. Your neighbor may be hoping you one day surprise them with something fresh from your garden.

You are doing important work. Caring for plants has rebound effects in our lives – for our own mental health and physical wellbeing, and for the health of others, and our planet. As you stress to get better this year, to outsmart the pests that decimated that one corner in your garden or find the solution to why something isn’t happy, keep your eye on the prize that each day you think about your garden is a day worthwhile.

Jennifer Jones Director of Finance and Administration

Cover: Anguria citrullus (Melon). Artist: Maria Sibylla Merian. Engraver: Pieter Sluiter

MHS Leaflet | 3

C A N ' T

M I S S !

Improve Your Watercolor Skills Six-Session Course Friday, March 22 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

REGISTER

Watercolor is a beautiful and versatile medium that allows for a wide range of artistic expressions. Improve your skills with this six-session course focused on practice and experimentation. In this course, you’ll explore and discover your style while enjoying the flowing and unpredictable nature of the medium.

Pollination Ecology and Principles of Pollinator Landscape Design Monday, June 17 6:30-8:30 PM Virtual

REGISTER

Learn the principles of pollination, the varied types of pollinators and their pollination syndromes, and the best practices for creating landscapes that attract and support a diversity and abundance of pollinators with native plants of New England.

Designing with the Perennials You Love - The Art of Planting Design July 17, 24, 31 10am - 2pm

REGISTER

Learn how to select a winning color palette, how to create planting combinations that will flower in season sequence, and how to use drifts, masses, and individual plants to create garden layouts.

Lay out your plant pairings to create an abundant, dynamic, and colorful flower garden.

4 | March 2024

ALL

CLASSES

Creating a Succession of Bloom in the Native Garden TODAY - Tuesday, March 5 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Virtual Time-saving, Mighty-Mite Shrubs that Outshine Perennials Saturday, March 9 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Planting The Year-Round Pollinator Garden Tuesday, March 12 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM Virtual Dahlias 101 Overview Wednesday, March 20 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Improve Your Watercolor Skills, Six-Session Course Friday, March 22 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM Floral Design: Celebrate Early Spring Saturday, March 23 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM New and Lesser-Known Celebrity Plants for 2024 Friday, March 29 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM The Edible/Ornamental Garden Tuesday, April 16 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM Virtual

Herb Liberation Tuesday, May 14 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM Virtual Terrarium Workshop Saturday, May 25 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM Hypertufa Container Workshop Thursday, June 6 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM Pollination Ecology and Principles of Pollinator Landscape Design Monday, June 17 6:30-8:30 PM Virtual Eco Printing on Paper Wednesday, July 10 9 am - 4 pm Eco Printing on Fabric Thursday, July 11, 2024 9 am - 4 pm Designing with the Perennials You Love - The Art of Planting Design Workshop July 17, 24, 31 10am - 2pm

VIEW FULL CALENDAR

MHS Leaflet | 5

Spring & Summer

Botanical Art Classes

© Diane Piktialis

© Susan T. Fisher

Color Mixing for Artists Susan T. Fisher teaches you how to mix the colors you want, not the ones you end up with through trial and error. Learn an easy system for combining colors consistently to achieve the broadest possible spectrum for any “wet” medium including watercolor, gouache, oils, acrylics, etc.

Suitable for artists at all levels. Color mixing watercolor sheets provided. 24 BAC 113 Monday – Friday, March 11 – 15, 2024 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDT Online via Zoom MHS Members $350 / Non-Members $425 Botanical Sketchbook: Tulip Mania Join instructor Tara Connaughton to celebrate the early blooms of the season, focusing on the abundance of tulips growing in the MHS gardens. Through observation, sketching, and practicing key color mixing and painting techniques, we will capture these beautiful bulbs in our botanical sketchbooks. Suitable for all experience levels. 24 BAC 030S April 23 & 26, 202 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

In-person, Garden at Elm Bank MHS Members $140 / Non-Members $175 6 | March 2024

Botanical Beachcombing: Signs of Spring In early spring, as the snow begins to melt away, the days begin to get longer. Along the edges of the beach and in the habitat that surrounds it, buds are beginning to swell, fresh shoots are emerging, and the birds are chirping. There is an energy in the air and an excitement for warmer days ahead and the promise of spring. With Sarah Roche as your guide, record the changing seasons as you botanically beachcomb, drawing the treasures and detritus that wash up along the shoreline and the evidence of last year’s flora that hints at the possibilities of this new season. Suitable for intermediate or advanced artists who have completed at least one “Techniques” class, or equivalent. 24 BAC 065 March 18, 20 & 22, 2024 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Online via Zoom MHS Members $225 / Non-Members $275

© Tara Connaughton

© Betsy Rogers-Knox

Spring Ephemeral Wildflowers In Situ Capture the beauty of New England ephemeral plants in their naive habitat in this 3-day class with Betsy Rogers-Knox. These special plants bloom early, before the leaf canopy shades their habitat. Starting with line drawings and a quick tonal, we’ll compose a small habitat composition using live subjects native to the area. With step-by-step instruction and demonstrations, we’ll incorporate many watercolor techniques including wet-onwet, dry brush and everything in between!!

May be taken at the Foundations-level (150) or Techniques-level (250), with appropriate completion requirements for each. Suitable for artists who have completed at least two Foundations of Botanical Drawing & Painting classes or equivalent. 24 BAC 150/250 Tues. - Thurs., April 30; May 1, 2, 2024 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank MHS Members $350 / Non-Members $425

© Tara Connaughton

© Pierre-Joseph Redouté

Studio Focus: Spring Flowering Trees One of the prettiest sights of the gardening year is the show provided by spring. In the Garden at Elm Bank, at this time of year, there is plenty to draw and paint throughout, but the stars of the show are the Spring Flowering Trees. The dogwoods, viburnums and magnolias will be flowering as well as many other species. In this four-week class with Sarah Roche, celebrate the beauty of the spring as we take advantage of the garden’s splendor. We will record what we see through sketches and watercolor studies and create detailed studies of the trees’ transient flowers and emerging foliage. Note: This course may be taken at the Foundationslevel (104) or Techniques-level (204), with appropriate completion requirements for each. Suitable for students who have taken at least one Foundations of Botanical Drawing and Painting class, or equivalent.

4 Tuesdays: May 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank MHS Members $250 / Non-Members $300

Capturing Seasonal Color: Spring Herbs In this class with Tara Connaughton, we will capture the soft greens and colors of the season through studies of deliciously scented spring herbs. Focus will be on observational drawing and mixing accurate color to render the nuances of our chosen plant subjects. Students should have completed at least one Foundations of Botanical Drawing and Painting class, or equivalent.

24 BAC 062 | 3 Thursdays: May 9, 16, 23, 2024 |10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. | Hybrid class MHS Members $185 / Non-Members $225

MHS Leaflet | 7

Introduction to Botanical Art: Foundations in a Week If you have an interest in plants and a yearning to record what you see on paper, then this class is for you. All experience levels welcome. Explore the world of botanical art over four days in this course designed especially for you—the beginner. Sarah Roche guides your experience through structured exercises, projects and demonstrations, exposing you to the basic techniques and methods of botanical drawing and watercolor painting. This class is our introduction series for botanical art beginners. There will be a break for lunch on the longer days, please bring lunch/beverage. 24 BAC 101A 4 days: June 3-5: 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. & June 6: 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank MHS Members $315 / Non-Members $365

© Tara Connaughton

Beautiful Butterflies in Watercolor Butterflies are a welcome visitor to our gardens in the summer months and play a crucial role in the pollination of many plants. A newly installed butterfly house in May will be home to Butterflies in Bloom, an immersive exhibit with tropical butterflies and the nectar plants that sustain them. Join Tara Connaughton as we observe, draw, and paint the unique colors and patterns of these beautiful, winged insects as they begin to grace the blossoms in the butterfly house.

Prerequisite: For artists who have completed at least one Foundations of Botanical Drawing and Painting class, or equivalent. 24 BAC 140 June 10, 13, 17, 2024 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Hybrid class MHS Members $185 / Non-Members $225 8 | March 2024

© Sarah Roche

© Susan T. Fisher

Watercolors and the Graphite Pencil Values do the work and color gets the credit.

This double-media method with Susan T. Fisher is a great way to explore the benefits of both graphite pencils and watercolor paints. Graphite is perfect for developing a full range of values without the worry of watercolor application as a single media. Also, the addition of watercolor with graphite can create a variety of interesting opportunities to achieve a unique botanical piece. Participants will practice value application to subjects and add watercolors for a richer effect. The two mediums together will help clarify what can be confusing about the use of watercolor alone and expand the creative expression of mixed media in botanical work. Demonstrations and discussion time will focus on the importance of creating believable values at the start.

Suitable for artists who have completed at least two Foundations of Botanical Drawing & Painting classes. 24 BAC 149 Tues. & Wed., June 11 - 12; Tues. - Thurs., June 18 - 20, 2024 | 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Virtual, via Zoom MHS Members $350 / Non-Members $425

Pollinators and Summer Flowers In this short three session class, led by Lead Instructor Sarah Roche, we will take advantage of the butterfly house, and the wide range of flowers in the Garden around it. Working on a series of studies, we will investigate the relationships between the many different species of insect and the flowers that they pollinate that we find in the Garden. We will record their beauty in graphite, ink and watercolor. Suitable for artists of all abilities. 24 BAC 035 3 Tuesdays: June 25; July 2, 9, 2024 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank MHS Members $210 / Non-Members $260

Drawing in the Garden: Sunflowers in Color Pencils Get out into the garden and draw amongst the flowers with Carol Ann Morley. This summer there is a special garden exhibit of Sunflowers to the Garden at Elm Bank.

Capture the beauty of Sunflowers with quick sketches, study the details of the flower’s structure through observation and add color notes of their vibrant colors. In the classroom have fun creating a color pencil palette to work from and discover what combinations work best for portraying greens and the tricky color yellow. 24 BAC 042 2 days: Wed. & Thurs., August 7 & 8, 2024 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank MHS Members $225 / Non-Members $325

Portraying Sunflowers in Color Pencils The beauty of Sunflowers have long captivated artists. The desire to portray their image is well documented, now it is your time. Carol Ann Morley will lead you on an exploration of the Sunflower’s fascination with an in-depth study of its beauty and shape. Begin with loose sketches to express the lovely shapes and flow of form and then study anatomical details.

We will pause to explore the ever fascinating structure of the Sunflower's head and its Fibonacci geometry. Through demonstrations your instructor will show you how to problem solve the anatomical details and those difficult petals and leaves that are foreshortened.

Following graphite sketches and studies your color pencils will bring to life your Sunflower with the radiance of color. Prerequisite: Suitable for artists who have taken at least two Foundations of Botanical Drawing and Painting classes, or equivalent. 24 BAC 143 3 days: Mon., Tues., & Wed., August 12 – 14 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

In person, Garden at Elm Bank MHS Members $315 / Non-Members $365

MHS Leaflet | 9

"March at Elm Bank" by Marianne Orlando Marianne Orlando is a landscape architect turned freelance illustrator who loves plants, and does commissioned drawings of homes, pets and people. You can see samples of her work at www.marianneorlando.com.

10 | March 2024

Heritage and Hope at the Garden at Elm Bank, Wellesley, MA

Amateur Competitions Schedule & Information Amateur Horticulture Junior Horticulture Floral Design Botanical Arts Miniature Gardens Photography REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR: AMHORT KOKEDAMA FLORAL DESIGN BOTANICAL ARTS AND MINIATURE GARDENS

READ THE SCHEDULE HERE TO EXPLORE THE WAYS YOU CAN EXHIBIT AT THE FALL FLOWER SHOW! MHS Leaflet | 11

In First Person John Gwynne

John Gwynne with his partner Mikel Folcarelli have devoted over fifty years to building and perfecting their coastal secret-garden paradise at their home in Little Compton, Rhode Island. Displaying unique plants and unconventional designs, they’ve recently opened Sakonnet Garden for visitors by appointment, and they host seminars and plant sales that offer unusual opportunities to appreciate cutting-edge horticulture and possibilities. Here is their continuing saga, in John’s own words.

Apparently it’s rare in this age to have gardened in a single place for more than fifty years. In coastal Rhode Island, trees we planted that many decades ago are huge living sculptures, some 70 feet tall today, old friends that amaze us since we recall planting them as waist-high plantlets. We can look back but more frequently anticipate so much good plant sleuthing ahead, so many garden projects we need to work on, that Sakonnet Garden has just begun.

12 | March 2024

We may have gardened in one place but hardly ever just stayed home. My partner Mikel Folcarelli and I worked in New York City commuting on weekends 200 miles each way to R.I. to build our garden, not the ideal situation but somehow its challenge worked. From a Manhattan base Mikel art-directed and helped brand retail store designs.

And trained as a landscape architect, I headed the exhibition department at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo

reimagining modern zoos as expansive natural habitats to inspire people about conservation. In traveling we absorbed and brought home ideas and treasures - once a little red pavilion found in Delhi, another time a sprouting Empress Tree, Paulownia, pried out of a rotting stump along a derelict roadside in New Jersey, a tree now huge. Ours was an eclectic journey.

Sakonnet Garden didn’t start out as a garden at all, initially just kids’ paths through a thorny thicket, then into a nursery collection of plants we were curious about, a great many we’d never seen before. Over 400 different tiny rhododendrons arrived from the Massachusetts rhody society alone - obsession. The early years focused on collecting and learning to grow plants, no matter how challenging. Palms outdoors in New England? Let’s try. Fancy magnolias and rhodys in pure colors unlike the New England norm? Let’s try. Impossible to grow Himalayan Blue Poppies, bluer than the sky on its bluest day? Why not try. So we did. Many grow happily today.

MHS Leaflet | 13

In the decades of planning and planting the Rosa multiflora thicket evolved into a designed labyrinth of intensely planted, high-walled or hedged outdoor rooms, each a separate garden design experiment - the Silver Garden, Pinkie, Fernie, the pink Punchbowl. An all-black border?

We’d never seen or heard of one with black foliage under a tunnel of black beeches, so we built one. Feeling at home in the abbundanza of tropical rainforests and being stubbornly determined, we’re attempting to create a tropical garden up north, Sumatra. Temperate versions of tropical flora - big bamboos, hardy Ashe’s Magnolias with huge leaves, winter-tough palmettos from the Carolinas, big vines, hardy aroids are part of the mix. Bananas and a large-leafed cannas add a good feel and are easily lifted to go indoors without a greenhouse, just kept in a dark garage in winter as one would overwinter Dahlias. The giant-leafed groundcover called Tractorseat (Petasides) is a great groundcover for visually knitting together other big-leafs. Slowly a jungle takes shape.

14 | March 2024

Palms with trunks are less hardy, but not tropical but grow in Washington D.C. and London. To grow them we learned to build high stone walls, sometimes 10-12' high and to manage high hedges to exclude winter winds, thus creating a slightly warmer microclimate within the garden. Fabric-wrapped the trunked palms’ coverings incorporate Christmas lights to provide a little heat, automatically switching on when temperatures drop below 35F. Thus three species of “hardy palms,” camellias and zone 7 rhodys, broadleaved evergreens, and wonderful sculptural oddities like

Chinese mayapples seem to be doing fine in the microclimate. Hermit Thrushes like it’s protection in winter too.

We learned by growing and from better gardener friends, such as the importance mycorrhizal soil building to be able to grow plants better and handle climate change drought. Slowly a coherent garden emerged from the disparate experiments. In the beginning we never intended or conceived of our garden as other than just our personal playpen. Paths were narrow as needed just for wheelbarrows or a friend.

But when we first opened it to visitors as a charity day event ten years ago, a thousand curious people showed up. Everyone smiled, so we started to think about visitors’ experiences too, opening it more days each year, now all season by online reservations. Wanting to benefit friends’ small specialty nurseries we hosted plant sales for them in the driveway, inadvertently creating the first pop up plant sale nursery

MHS Leaflet | 15

16 | March 2024

at a private garden. And when we wanted to learn from renowned international horticulturists, Sakonnet Garden hosted seminars in the village community center and we invited our garden visitors to help support the importation of speakers. Our best-to-date seminar will be on March 30, Gardening on the Edge, featuring three thought innovators, including one of the EU/UK’s best explorative gardeners, Jimi Blake. Come. (See sakonnetgarden.com.)

When asked about our successes in the past 50 years, and I guess we’ve had many, we’re not sure what to say. We’re lucky. We started with no specific goals except but to make a really good garden. It feels halfway there as we look ahead. Can we make Sumatra really feel like and exotic jungle? And how can we make the garden a better place for nature? Great Horned Owls nested in 2022, but can we support more amphibians in our rubber-bottomed manmade garden pools? So far 7 species have walked in by themselves but we wish we had more individuals. What can we do to increase bee, bug and butterfly populations? A few years ago we added a 1 acre sunny Pollinator Plus garden, exuberant in late summer and fall with tall perennials, largely but not exclusively native ones. Can this pollinator garden not just support pollinators but provide for visitors an escapist sense of walking through abstract expressionist canvases - with walls of flowers soaring over your head, individual plants becoming swirls and dabs of color, stems just gestures and motion, everything buzzing and swaying? We dream of the garden stimulating more potent emotional experiences to uplift our guests, as one would do when making other kinds of art.

After 50 years, the real gardening just begins.

Intangible

For ‘In First Person,’ Leaflet Editor-in-Chief Wayne Mezitt interviews people in horticulture and adjacent fields by asking a standard set of questions about their work. This column offers an opportunity for people in these fields to share their passions with readers; what motivates them, and how they define and measure success. Based on the idea that we’re often reluctant to talk openly about ourselves because of the potential for miscommunication or misinterpretation, Wayne works with the interviewee to transform their conversation with interviewees into a personal story from the interviewee’s first-person perspective.

MHS Leaflet | 17

Streptocarpus

MARCH

By Catherine Cooper

March: the days are lengthening, getting generally milder and gardeners are gearing up for another growing season. While my outdoor plans consist of seeing how much damage the voles have done to my perennials (they always damage the ones in locations I want to keep them, leaving those in the wrong place to continue to flourish!) and making mental notes that I really must move certain plants or risk losing them when their more vigorous neighbors smother them this year, my attention currently is more focused on my houseplant collection, as before long they will all be growing again and a good number of them will need maintenance of some sort.

I have quite a few to say the least and at this time of year I need to assess which plants have not been thriving and whether given the conditions in my home and the amount of time and effort I am prepared to spend on my plants, I am flogging a dead horse where a few of them are concerned. For the most part they have to be reasonably selfsufficient. I check on watering once a week, with the exception of a few that I know need more frequent watering. There are a couple that live 18 | March 2024

in self-watering containers, as a once weekly watering regime can lead to insufficient watering from which they do not easily recover. This includes a couple of ferns, some of which will curl up and die if watering is not timely and a rattlesnake plant and a White Fusion Calathea, both of which do better with consistent moisture, especially as humidity can be on the lower side during winter. In the past year I have even taken to making sure that a few plants get rainwater rather than tap water.

Snake plant flowers

MHS Leaflet | 19

These include the afore-mentioned rattlesnake plant and calathea along with the few orchids and one pitcher plant I have. Everything else makes do with tap water, although in winter I do mix some warm water in with the cold so as to spare them an icy shock.

For the most part my houseplants do okay at the very least and some positively flourish. The ones that look least attractive through the winter months are the more tropical ones: the plumeria are often leafless stems by winter’s end, the lemon verbena may or may not survive the pruning it needed and the jury is out on the sago palm, which has been a leafless stump since fall when in desperation to beat a mealybug outbreak I removed all its leaves before bringing it in for the winter. This poor plant is an experiment in a) can I eradicate a difficult outbreak of mealybug and b) will the sago palm make a recovery from such savage treatment. As they don’t grow fast it remains to be seen whether it recovers.

However, not all is doom and gloom. Most of my houseplants do fine so that warmer weather necessitates assessing them to see if larger pots are needed or if pruning and tidying up is all that is required. A couple such as my Streptocarpella and dwarf dragon wing begonia will need a good pruning as their winter ▽ Kalanchoe Mother of Thousands growth is leggy, but this will give me the opportunity to take cuttings, either to supplement what I have, or to replace the original plant. Sometimes it is best just to take cuttings and start again if plants become too unattractive.

Likewise things such as African violets and Streptocarpus benefit from an annual overhaul, as well as certain succulents, particularly things like Echeveria, which in my home rarely get enough bright light to prevent them from becoming stretched. Fortunately succulents are usually amenable to pruning, and it is easy to root

20 | March 2024

cuttings. In my case I have a sorry-looking Aeonium, a skinny 15” stem with the smallest rosette of leaves at the top which has long needed attention. Not only does it need re-potting after 4 years or so in the same pot, but cutting it back will hopefully make the original plant branch and with luck I will also root some further plants from the tip and lengths of cut-off stem. Here’s hoping I get to create a mini forest of tree houseleeks!

In the meantime, I have enjoyed colorful flowers from African violets, Streptocarpus and Streptocarpella, a lipstick plant, Christmas cacti, Codonanthe, Kalanchoe delagoensis, Mother of Millions, my Xygopetalum orchid and even Dracaena 'Florida Beauty' and for the first time, my starfish snake plant. Some of these plants will need attention, the streptocarpus in particular will need old leaves removed and a few will need larger pots, ▽ Codonanthe devosiana but these easy care, floriferous plants bring pleasure with very little work. So all my checking and pottering has allowed me to create a mental list of tasks, even when the weather outside prevents me putting these into action. Therefore, all I need now are some warm, mild days which will allow me to take those plants that need attention outside and where the mess I make is no problem, as I don’t think the suggestion of creating an indoor potting bench will appeal to my long suffering husband, who already shares our home with many plants in virtually every room!

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

MHS Leaflet | 21

From the Flower Show Committee Chairs "As a trustee of Massachusetts Horticultural Society, but more specifically an active participant in its long tradition of flower shows, I am absolutely delighted that MHS is once again producing a show for the public to exhibit, enjoy, learn and grow from! I am especially excited that we are coming back with an autumn event showcasing this magical time of year in New England where we can show off the fruits of our labors in the garden and highlight the long history of MHS." Carrie Waterman Amateur Competitions Chair

"I am delighted that MHS is once again presenting a Flower Show, love the theme ‘Heritage and Hope’, and am excited to hold the show in an actual horticultural setting at the Garden at Elm Bank. I’m reprising my role as Awards Chair for the most recent amateur competitions, and as a member of the Friends Council (formerly Overseers) I feel it is important for us to be active in the organization. Flower shows are fun!”

Penni Jenkins Awards Chair

"The Amateur Horticulture division of “Heritage and Hope” is excited about coming back after four years!!

The Garden at Elm Bank is the perfect venue for this newly revamped, longtime favorite flower show!

Be sure and check out our Kokedama and tomato challenge classes!"

Libby Moore Amateur Horticulture Chair

22 | March 2024

"After a short hiatus I am very excited to participate in the New England Fall Flower Show! We promise you a robust floral design schedule and are looking forward to showcasing all the incredible design talent the public has come to expect and love."

Carla Morey Floral Design Chair

"I am excited to be a part of 'Heritage and Hope,' a fabulous flower show by Massachusetts Horticultural Society and many volunteers, to be held at the Garden at Elm Bank in the fall.

The incredible Botanical Arts section will undoubtedly draw fabulous exhibitors as well as many show attendees to enjoy."

Sarah Boynton Botanical Arts Chair

"The Miniature Gardens Competition of the Flower Show is a unique opportunity to feel like a bird flying over the Garden at Elm Bank! With these exhibits we can take a step back in time, or see a present day garden, all in Dollhouse scale."

Katie Barrack Miniature Gardens Chair

"The Photography Competition is excited to highlight the contributions of photographer Edwin Hale Lincoln in promoting the art of capturing flora in nature. His body of work found in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society archive is sure to inspire our participants."

Beth Paisner Photography Chair

Heritage and Hope at the Garden at Elm Bank, Wellesley, MA

MHS Leaflet | 23

Plant This, Get This: Adding Dahlias To Your Garden

By Misty Florez & Carol Palmer Photography by Misty Florez 24 | March 2024

Easy to Grow

Do you know a friend or a neighbor who grows dahlias and thought about giving it a try? Maybe you visited The Garden at Elm Bank this past season and saw the nearly two hundred dahlias that Yankee Dahlia Society grew in partnership with Massachusetts Horticultural Society. You can grow these beautiful blooms at home! We encourage you to consider growing dahlias and enjoy your own piece of dahlia wonderland in your garden. Plant a single dahlia tuber in the ground between Mother’s Day and early June, and by early September dahlias will bring a burst of colorful blooms for you to enjoy in the garden or arrange in bouquets to share with family and friends. Blooms will keep on coming through the first frost usually happening around the middle to end of October, making them the late season stars of the garden. At the end of the season, if you're adventurous enough to cut back and dig up the single tuber which has grown and multiplied into a clump of new tubers, you can learn how to divide and store your dahlias and share the joy of growing them with others.

The Beauty of Science

Dahlias are octoploids, designed with a unique genetic composition.

Biology 101 taught us that most living things are made up with two sets of chromosomes, however mother nature decided that dahlias would have an astonishing eight sets of chromosomes. How does that translate into the garden? There are tens of thousands of cultivars within the species that range from the tiniest of blooms, barely an inch in size to full 14” dinner plate size dahlias that will surely make you smile. Whites, yellows, oranges, purples, pinks, reds, burgundies and bicolors; there are so many beautiful shades of these late summer-fall

MHS Leaflet | 25

blooms to choose from! Petal shapes range from a simple eight petal daisy-like form to literally hundreds of wavy freestyle curls, with many more variations in between. Simply ask any dahlia grower how many cultivars they started with and how many they grow now and they will tell you they will always find room for one more.

Meet Other Gardeners and Make Dahlia Friends

Sharing the joy of dahlias isn’t limited to enjoying the beautiful blooms.

Connecting with others who grow dahlias is a wonderful way to learn more about how to grow dahlias successfully. Joining a dahlia club and getting to know other dahlia enthusiasts is so much fun and so rewarding. Whether you are gathering at club meetings or volunteering together to plant, harvest or divide tuber clumps, you can learn so much from others and enjoy making lots of new dahlia friends.

The Joy of Growing Dahlias with Yankee Dahlia Society

Learn how to grow dahlias successfully! Join Yankee Dahlia Society for a Spring program at the beginning of the season to get you started, and a Fall program to prepare you to dig and divide. Both programs will be led by Carol Palmer and Misty Florez, CoFounders and Co-Presidents

26 | March 2024

of YDS. Carol and Misty will share how to plan and prepare your dahlia garden and explore with you some of the many ways you can combine your dahlias together or with other plants to make your garden sparkle with dahlia color and light. You will learn how to plant your dahlia tubers and give them what they need to thrive and produce lots of beautiful blooms. There will be time for Q&A and you’ll also take away some helpful tips for best plant care and bloom production.

Join Misty and Carol as they show you how easy it is to add these beautiful and fascinating flowers to your own garden so you can create beautiful bouquets in the fall to enjoy for yourself or give away to friends. Sign up for the Spring program, and bring home a dahlia tuber to plant in your garden. Be sure to attend our Yankee Dahlia Society Tuber Sale April 21 & 22 at The Garden at Elm Bank and choose from dozens of beautiful cultivars you can grow yourself at home. Then be sure to sign up for the Fall program and learn how to successfully divide and store your dahlia tubers over winter, and bring home a storage container and material to set you up.

YDS Spring Program Learn How to Grow Dahlias: A Seasonal Overview Wednesday, March 20th 6:30-8:00pm (1.5 hour) REGISTER

YDS Fall Program Learn How to Dig, Divide & Store Dahlia Tubers: End of Season Workshop Tuesday, October 22nd 6:30-8:00pm (1.5 hour) REGISTER MHS Leaflet | 27

Yankee Dahlia Society

Yankee Dahlia Society is a dahlia club based in Massachusetts, with members from all over New England and beyond. Whether you are an experienced dahlia grower or a new grower just starting out on your own dahlia journey, joining a club is a wonderful way to connect with other enthusiasts and share the joy of dahlias. CoFounded in January 2021

by Misty Florez and Carol Palmer, Yankee Dahlia Society aims to promote education and enjoyment of dahlias and all aspects of growing them.

YDS is a registered 501(c)(3) non profit organization and is also a proud member of the American Dahlia Society, the national organization which supports local organizations around the country. Our monthly club meetings are a wonderful opportunity to dive into various dahlia topics presented by our members or with special guest speakers. YDS offers monthly newsletters, workshops, garden tours and fun programming throughout the year.

28 | March 2024

April 21 & 22 Tuber Sale at the Garden at Elm Bank

Plant sales are a tried and true way to find wonderful cultivars and meet with club members who have curated and shared their collections and are thrilled to talk about dahlias all day. Yankee Dahlia Society will be participating in the Spring Show & Sale at Elm Bank on Saturday, April 21st and Sunday, April 22nd. Rain or Shine, YDS will be selling a wide variety of dahlia tubers grown locally by our club. We are proud to offer a fantastic selection of dahlia tubers, dahlia related merchandise, tools and supplies for all your dahlia growing needs. We invite you to come out and say hello and have an opportunity to purchase dahlia tubers, start or expand your own dahlia garden and maybe even join our YDS community. Please visit our website at https://yankeedahliasociety. com. We also love to connect and have you follow the growing season and club activities on Facebook and Instagram. For seasonal growing tips we have wonderful videos on our YouTube channel. Check us out and Subscribe!

Come as a guest to our next club meeting. For more information please contact us through our website. Happy Growing Season!

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

Carol and Misty are Co-Founders and Co-Presidents of Yankee Dahlia Society. In 2017 Carol Palmer grew her first dahlias on a whim and they quickly became the focus of her gardening efforts because of their beauty and intriguing qualities. Now retired, Carol lives and gardens in Sterling MA. She enjoys exhibiting dahlias and is currently working toward becoming an accredited dahlia judge.

Misty Florez fell in love with flowers after taking her first floral design class at Rutgers University. Upon graduating college she had a 20 year career in the floral and garden industry which included working in the wholesale trade, owning her own wedding floral business and selling English handmade glass greenhouses. Her love for flowers naturally pulled her into the garden. Her family grows a mix of flowers and vegetables north of Boston in their backyard and community garden plot which includes roughly 450 dahlia plants grown each year.

MHS Leaflet | 29

"

You can have more than one home.

You can carry your roots with you, and decide where they grow.

Henning Mankell (1948-2015)

"

This month the Society celebrates the 195th anniversary of its founding.

Since 1829, it has remained true to its mission to promote the art and science of horticulture, while staying true to its founding motto, ‘Commune Bonum,’—for the common good. This motto is engraved on the Society’s seal, as a constant reminder of its values and mission as the Society adapts and moves forward to meet to the contemporary needs of the public.

Feature: The Society's Seal You may have seen the image on the right more often in the last few years. It is the Society’s seal.1 In its founding documents, the Society provided for “Diplomas” of membership affixed with its seal.2 This design has remained constant since 1847, when the name of the Society and date of incorporation was placed along the rim.

The use of seals dates back thousands of years and were used for legal and business purposes when few people could read or write. Originally, they were created with wax embossed with an imprint. Today, seals are often made with an embossing that creates an imprint when pressed

The Society was founded on March 17, 1829. The Society wasted no time in formalizing its creation. On April 28, 1829, it petitioned for an act of incorporation which was granted on June 12, 1829.

2 This use of “diploma” refers to a certificate of membership, not a certificate granted by an educational establishment for academic achievement. On March 24, 1829, the Society appointed a Committee to prepare a diploma for the Society. It was finalized 1831.

1

30 | March 2024

together tightly. They are also used as tamperproof equipment or as a ceremonial device.

Physically, seals were previously used to make an impression on melted wax on the relevant document. Modern seals, however, usually leave only an indentation or impression on the paper (although, sometimes a red wafer is used to imitate old red wax seals, and to make the sealing show up better on photocopies). Frequently today a citation of a seal or facsimiles of seals are allowed.

The Society’s seal was designed in 1841. In 1847 the Society’s name was added and the date of incorporation. Society’s Archives.

This die of the Society's seal was It was re-engraved in 1913 by J. J. Wilcox. The original die of the seal was destroyed in a fire in 1872. The design of the seal remains consistent since 1847. Society’s Archives.

MHS Leaflet | 31

An original certificate of the Society.

1925 Yearbook, p. 8. Society Archives.

The original seal from 1831 is visible on the bottom center. The image on the seal is of a woman in flowing robes with indecipherable writing at her hem. The name of the Society is along the rim. The diploma was a lithograph of a landscape that included a lush vignette of flowers, fruits, vegetables and horticultural implements with a mansion and trees in the background. Presented to the Society by Mrs. Ellen Gill of Medford in 1909. Gill (1830-1919) was a frequent exhibitor at the Society and one of the first women admitted to membership in the Society. She operated a florist business in Medford, Massachusetts.

IIn honor of the Society’s 125th anniversary, the Boston Parks Department reproduced the Society’s seal with 16,000 carpet bedding plants.

In the background, a replica of the first horticultural hall on School Street was staged by Fischelson, the florist. This exhibit was on the stage of the Grand Hall at the1954 Spring Flower Show at the Mechanics Building on Huntington Avenue in Boston. It was executed under the direction of Seth L. Kelsey, Kelsey Highlands Nursery. Yearbook 1954, Cover. Society’s Archives.

The Society’s seal is an official symbol with legal significance and has remained constant since 1841. It should not be confused with its logo, which has changed over the years. Unlike a seal, a logo is a graphic design that does not have the gravitas or permanency of a seal.

32 | March 2024

This is the current logo of the Society.

MHS Book Club

The next meeting of the Book Club is on Tuesday, March 19th at 1:30 pm. in the Putnam Building.

The club will be discussing The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. All are welcome to attend.

This is the schedule for the Club’s upcoming book discussions: » April 16: Wild by Design by Margie Ruddick » May 14: The Orchard: A Memoir by Adele Crockett Robertson » June 18: Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart » July: No Meeting » August 20: TBD » September 17: American Eden by Victoria Johnson

Come Visit During the winter months, the Library is open by appointment. Please email Library & Archives Manager Maureen O’Brien for an appointment if you want to schedule a visit.

MHS Leaflet | 33

Celebrate the season as you prepare for gardening!

By Trevor Smith

34 | March 2024

W

hen are you aware of the seasons? Is it when you find yourself shaking off the chill as you jump in the car in the morning? Or maybe the warmth of the spring sun on your face as you step out to run errands? For many of us the climate-controlled car to home lifestyle we live in limits our awareness of the season in terms of only the weather. For gardeners and lovers of the natural world, the season is experienced more often through the unique gifts each changing season brings. The newly fallen snow resting atop a branch or perennial left to stand; the crocus in bloom and the shoots pushing through the soil - - - this is how we experience winter and spring.

One of my favorite realizations about the natural world are the once in a lifetime moments. This epiphany changed my life dramatically so please permit me a moment of poetic romanticism. Recently in my classes I have been using the example of a leaf I came across at first frost. That leaf, a small red maple, was the only one of its kind; just like a snowflake no two leaves are alike. Trees produce billions of leaves each year so many in fact that in the tiniest yet measurable fraction of a percentage it affects the rate at which the earth spins. When the leaves drop in the northern hemisphere in autumn the sheer weight, now closer to the surface causes the earth to spin faster. But I digress…back to my leaf nestled in the grass encased in frost. A frost of ice crystals that will never form the same way again. As I stood in the chill of predawn I studied every intricacy knowing that this moment was mine alone and would never be repeated again. This same uniqueness holds true every time you see a leaf fall in autumn you are likely the only one to see that one of a kind leaf fall to earth in its once in a lifetime journey.

Now to design with this reverence is to set the stage for moments like this. To design and plant so that many of these unique seasonal moments are front and center and don’t slip by unnoticed.

Plant like no one is watching. To play on the famous saying, I say this with the full intent of the phrase. To dance like no one is watching implies letting go of inhibition, feeling the music, and moving in celebration of life without caring how one may look. To plant like no one is watching is to celebrate the Earth, the landscape, the plants and rocks, and our connection to them. Allow the season to flow through you like music and express without regard to the "rules." This concept is what I teach my students in my Regenerative Design course. Plant like no one is watching.

In designing a landscape, I begin with the winter and work my way back through the seasons. I begin with static elements like stone, the bones of the Earth. In a snowy landscape, even a simple mounded form can serve as wonderful sculpture, so I start there and consider its role as a vignette and

Photos by Trevor Smith

MHS Leaflet | 35

in the overall vista. Consider the evergreens, beyond the obvious color in an otherwise stark landscape; how do they play backdrop to snow tufted slender forms in the foreground? The skeletal shapes of the woody plants. How do those forms relate to each other and to the design as a whole? Do the structures stand alone or lead your eye from one to the next? What will those structures look like on a canvas of snow?

Did I include the finer details like seed pods and exfoliating bark for the close observer? The winter landscape needs to present both through the window of a toasty home and for the nature observer venturing out to survey the landscape once the snow subsides.

When placing trees and shrubs, I next consider their fall color. Do I want a pocket of red, or do I want to add a splash of yellow? What will slanting rays of the morning or evening sun look like coming through this tree or shrub? Have I provided any berries for the birds? Here again I consider the evergreen as a backdrop. Will that dark green accentuate the color or form of a finer leaved plant? Will it provide a resting place for the eye amidst natures grand finale? When designing perennials, I consider seed heads and stalks of plants past bloom like rudbeckia, echinacea, penstemon, and grasses. How do these add contrast and interest? These are seeds for birds, and the stalks are winter cover for my pollinators. Do I have late-season blooms for migrating insects and those preparing to hibernate?

36 | March 2024

Summer gardens always look beautiful, even poorly designed ones. In summer, I focus on the static pieces of the landscape, the stones, and evergreens. I like to mask stone either entirely or partially, taking it from view so that when it returns in late autumn and winter, it will be discovered all over again and appreciated. The evergreens I use provide contrast and backdrop to the flowers and leaves of the perennials,

changing their appearance from that of autumn and winter. Here too amidst the carnival of color that is the summer garden the evergreen gives respite for the eye.

The garden in spring is the most appreciated.

Eyes starved for color scan the landscape searching for signs that winter's veil has finally lifted. Through bulbs and ephemerals, I look to get life and color in the landscape as early as the warming spring sun will allow. I am conscious of all the overwintering pollinators awakening from winter slumber ravenous. I also provide early blooms for pollen and nectar, providing a healthy start for the new generation within the garden. These early players set the stage for the more robust characters to take the lead as spring progresses. Again, I like to create vignettes in the spring garden creating moments and snapshots for the eager observer investigating the gardens progress. Between the vignettes I plant in mass; spring’s blooms are so delicate and fleeting they will often go unnoticed from afar should weather or schedule not permit time to linger in the garden.

As garden creators, be a part of nature.

Allow yourselves to get swept up in the song of the season. Through your choices and actions, create gardens and landscapes that speak to the essence of each season, both in beauty and in bounty, providing for the larger ecosystem. Then with winter’s quiet upon you; sit and reflect on all that was and allow the joy of being a part of it all to keep you warm until spring arrives once again.

Trevor Smith is Design and Education Manager at Weston Nurseries in Massachusetts. He holds several landscape certifications and is a past President and a current Trustee of the Ecological Landscape Alliance. He is an award-winning regenerative landscape designer, specializing in green infrastructure, native plant design, habitat creation, and implementation of ecological design principles

MHS Leaflet | 37

PREPARATION

By John Lee 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. Bert and Brenda were first introduced in the March 2022 issue of Leaflet.

D

espite last month’s trip to the Small Tools and Gardener’s show at the armory over at the county seat, Bert was not getting prepared for the coming spring in his usual fashion. He was not completely clear why.

The December weather had been at first snowy which was fine, (except the ground did not freeze as one might have expected and then there had been torrential, wash-out rains which had left his gardens, root and potato cellars sodden - prone to the inevitable molds and bacteria that make spoilage rife and the tummy grumble. Early January, he and his wife/help-mate Brenda had had to move about half of their storage crops to the bulkheads of the house or

38 | March 2024

else lose them. If the ground had been properly frozen, run-off would have kept the cellars dry enough as they were both banked into the rising ground just west of the house. This winter, however, the gardens and pasturage went to bed on an unusually high groundwater table and there was little to be done about it.

Winter rains usually soaked in quickly if the ground was not frozen or ran off if it was. Bert had mulched heavily between the rows with whatever deciduous material Mother Nature provided and planted a mixed cover crop in the rows to aerate and protect the planting surfaces for the following spring. But as March turned the page on winter, clearly there had been quite a bit of soil-loss and there would be no getting in early this year. The carrots and parsnips which he had left in the ground for winter-digging tasted like nothing this year as they were pretty much water-logged. No wonder he felt disheartened about spring preparation.

The bright spot, such as it might have been, was that they had saved most of what they had cellared by moving a lot of it to ‘higher’ ground (their bulkheads) and thanks to the extra help of Forest and Sue B (his wayward sister’s offspring), Brenda had canned and frozen more than usual and it had been enough to carry them through. They could rightfully indulge themselves in a little Yankee pride: providence, foresight and hard work had carried the day although some of their newer neighbors saw their apparently stentorian efforts as silly or, worse, wasteful over-exertions of a couple of old folks who should be resting on their laurels at this point.

And why not? Were their efforts at self-sufficiency just a question of oldfashioned Yankee pride or cussedness or some undying halcyon dream that there was a better world than shopping for packaged ‘food’? The thing of it

MHS Leaflet | 39

was that by summer’s end, while there was great satisfaction in their shared endeavors, they also were beginning to recognize that, maybe, their string was running out. Mr. Gramwell had worked himself to the bone to no good end other than an early grave. Alternatively, Bert was reminded of Donald Hall’s recollections of his grandfather’s hill farm and String Too Short to Be Saved.

Certainly, both he and Brenda were starting to get a little frayed around the edges. The romance of doing for themselves was beginning to feel a bit like ‘work’ - something that needed to be done. Had they ‘saved’ too much and at what expense and how much ‘string’ was left for either of them?

These were not happy thoughts. In fact, when they crossed his mind, Bert most often felt the pall of loneliness creep across his shoulders. There was a sneaking suspicion that without Brenda by his side (or vice versa, for that matter) there would be little impetus to carry on. The rewards of their individual labors would seem fruitless, Augean, meaningless. They simply could not be one without the other: forever, he had grown it, she had put up what they didn’t eat that evening and they had shared their good fortune throughout the winter months while marveling at the joys or pleasures of their shared enterprise. Every early spring, one or the other would come up from one cellar or another wreathed in smiles because there was still enough food to get them through to the earliest spring harvest (either planted or foraged). That was the joy that made the work seem worth it and it was a joy that echoed to this day.

Brenda was anything but obtuse. They had been two peas in a pod for so many years that there was little that escaped her keen sensibilities even as their lives together might seem numbingly reiterative to some of their younger neighbors. She certainly did not see the seasonal circularity of their lives as Mother Nature chasing her tail the way some less- disciplined might have thought. Each spring was not just a turn of the page on the calendar, it was still a new beginning and something to look forward to. To brighten the days at home, Brenda had turned her mind toward baking heartier bread as the house was still warm from the wood-stove which made raising the dough and the ready-to-bake loaves a little easier. Even as the weather beyond the stoop was slowly giving way to spring, she still relished the feel of a warm kitchen and the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven. Problem was at this time of year, her bread never lasted very long. As soon as it came out and was still warm (but cool just enough to share) Bert just seemed to be right there to sample the first slices with a pat of butter and the last of the ‘wet sugar’ (nowadays known as ‘maple creme’).

Maple crème was so easy to make and used up some of last year’s Grade A syrup (as if that were a problem!). Brenda usually poured about three cups of 40 | March 2024

syrup into a large sauce pan and brought it to a boil over medium heat. When the syrup reached about 235 degrees she would place the pan in a snow bank outside to cool until it no longer was too hot to touch. (If there was no snow, she used an ice bath to bring down the temperature.) Then she took a sturdy wooden spoon and stirred the gooey mess until it changed color from dark brown to khaki. This happened because the stirring incorporated a lot of air into what came to look like batter. She then poured the ‘creme’ into clean jelly jars for future consumption. Maple crème had all the attributes of syrup plus it stayed where it was supposed to (like on toast, or biscuits and did not get your hands and shirt-front all messy). When Bert’s mother made what she called wet sugar, she put it up in one-pint tins and stored it in the cellars. If left a long while, sometimes the sugars crystallized which gave the spread a nice crunch. Brenda liked hers best on fresh-from-the-oven baking powder biscuits.

Brenda's Baking Power Biscuits 2 cups flour 4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp sugar 1tsp salt 1/2 cup softened butter 1 cup milk (room temperature) Heat oven to 425 degrees Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl Cut in butter Add milk and stir gently until dough forms a loose ball Turn ball out onto a lightly floured surface Knead a few times On a well-greased baking sheet use a tablespoon to drop balls of dough slightly separated Bake 15-20 minutes or until biscuits brown up nicely.

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.

MHS Leaflet | 41

The Garden at Elm Bank Open April 1-November 26 Classes, Programs Year-round www.masshort.org

Massachusetts Horticultural Society 900 Washington St Wellesley, MA 617.933.4900