MHS Leaflet, May 2023

Leaflet A MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION

MAY 2023

Have you been searching earnestly for the sun this week? Sunshine for me feels like a new beginning, every day, a warmth of mobilization propelling us forward into motion. But lately, we’ve ended up with a whole lot of rainfall. It’s the rainfall that pushes us to rest – to cuddle up with a cup of tea, to snuggle our families and furbabies, and to have some relief that mother nature is taking care of hydrating our passion projects outside.

April at MHS was in full bloom: Tulip Mania, a pilot program we planned late last fall, engaged you, our members, beyond our expectations. Though I’ve been with MHS just two and a half years, I’ve never seen so many consecutive smiles in our garden, not to mention selfies! It was your joy that kept us going. Today marks the end of Tulip Mania for cut flowers, but the trial bed tulips will remain for viewing until Mother’s Day. My peers have created a welcoming schedule of events for the 2023 season, detailed on the following pages. Our 120th Honorary Medals Dinner is followed by our Plant Sale, and a few weeks later, we will welcome back Ribbit the Exhibit, with new faces this year, as well as exciting education classes and other events.

I found myself quickly enamored with our Plant Sale, giddy with the opportunity to refresh my tired 1940’s farmhouse gardens. I suppose a benefit and burden of working at a horticultural society is that, one way or another, I’ll get growing, too. My neighbors have started taking an interest so now I’m gardening for more people than just myself. I’ve been busy preparing my gardens for all my new plants I’ll pickup on May 13th.

As we enter May, we are in full throttle to create more beautiful and captivating experiences for our members and constituents. I invite you to come for a walk in our gardens often, as something new is always in bloom at MHS.

Jennifer Jones Director of Finance & Administration

Floral Design: Made for Mum – Teacup Flowers

Saturday, May 6 10-11:45am

Out of the Box Container Gardening

Saturday, May 20 10-11:30am

Origami Tulips, Family Program

Saturday, May 6 11am-12pm

Containers

Tuesday, May 6:30-8:30pm

VIRTUAL

Jazzing Up the Garden with Color, Contrast and Movement

Tuesday, May 23, 6:30-7:30pm

Introduction to Forest Bathing: Healing with Nature

Wednesday, June 7 10am-12pm

Culinary Herbs

Saturday, June 10 10-11:30am

Naturescape

Tuesday, 6:30-7:30pm

VIRTUAL

Great Native Plants

Plants for Containers

May 16

6:30-8:30pm

VIRTUAL

Introduction to Forest Bathing: Healing with Nature

Wednesday, May 17 10am-12pm

Floral Design: Color Burst — America the Beautiful

Thursday, May 18 7-8:30pm

Native New England Flora

Wednesday, May 24 7-8pm

Naturescape your Yard

Tuesday, June 13

6:30-7:30pm

VIRTUAL

Colored Pencil Techniques for Botanical Subjects on Toned Paper

Saturday, August 17 9:30am-3:30pm

Floral Design: Sweet Summer

Saturday, June 3 10-11:45am

White Flowers of Summer in Colored Pencil & Graphite

Saturday, August 21 9:30am-3:30pm

Wednesday, May 10

The Hunnewell Building

The Garden at Elm Bank

900 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA

Coffee at 9:30am

Program at 10:30am

AUTHORS

Elliot Bostwick Davis

Edward Hopper & Cape Ann: Illuminating an American Landscape

Sandeep Jauhar

My Father's Brain: Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer's

Holly Goldberg Sloan Pieces of Blue

MHS PLANT SALE

ON SALE NOW!

Wednesday, May 10: Online sales end Saturday, May 13: Order pickup at the Garden

Please select a Pickup Time and add it to your cart

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 GARDEN

The Julie and Dennis Murphy

GARDEN OPENING SPONSORS

Family Foundation

Beautiful Gardens with Companion Plants and Guilds

By Marie Chieppo

Foam flower and woodland

Gardeners tend to be people who love to collaborate and share. Extra bulbs? Dividing a plant? It’s horticulture’s version of Freecycle. What takes place in our gardens and landscapes also involves a great deal of exchange – from the microorganisms in the soil to the birds that rely on foliagemunching caterpillars. Thanks to the research of Suzanne Simard the author of “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest” (2022) there is a deeper appreciation for the symbiotic and collaboration trees have amongst themselves. Plants of all sizes also share an underworld filled with roots and microorganisms that are in constant contact exchanging nutrients and water. Those that attract beneficial insects aid in the health of their neighbor when insects are wreaking damage. Exchanges on many levels help sustain the life of plants, insects, birds, and us. For hundreds of years indigenous people based their choice of neighboring plants on functions that improved the soil, protected it, and resulted in the greatest yield. Such groupings or guilds (often composed of two or more

plants), are based on similar growing conditions, growth rate and minimal competition. In ecological design guilds are based on the aforementioned, the value to wildlife, functions in our landscapes (erosion control, etc) and aesthetics. They are “go to” combinations that work well.

There are differences between guilds and companion plantings, but thanks to a conversation I had with Carol Stocker, the awardwinning garden columnist for the Boston Globe, I discovered many similarities. We discussed the amazing “Three Sisters” introduced by indigenous people who grouped plants (corn, squash and pole beans) to improve the health and yield of their food crops. I used to believe that a companion plant’s purpose was only to attract beneficial bugs that ward off the bad guys. In essence, intentional accompaniments benefit others, whether it’s for food, shelter, bringing in the thugs or protecting soil. Guilds can do all of the above plus “play nicely”, exchange water and nutrients, attract pollinators and provide functions that help neighboring plants do well.

The Wild Seed Project’s publication

Native Ground Covers (2023) has examples of plant guilds that are suitable for a variety of conditions. One example they give is a slope

sowers spread seed to establish their population and vegetative spreaders move quickly (species dependent) across the soil matrix anchoring the soil. Green and gold (Chrysogonum virginianum), wavy hairgrass and cranesbill geranium is one suggestion. New York fern, large-leaved aster and golden groundsel is another.

lined with trees in part sun with sandy-loam soil. Slopes are prone to erosion and need plants that can establish themselves quickly and put down some decent roots. Self

Beneath a deciduous tree like a maple or beech, where fallen leaves add plenty of organic matter in fall and shade in summer, long beech fern, foamflower, and woodland phlox adds plenty of interest in spring then protects the soil the remainder of the season. In each example, growth habit and value to wildlife from spring to fall are accounted for. The groundcover guilds drastically reduce weed pressure, help maintain soil temperatures and moisture levels, provide food and habitat for wildlife and may serve as soft landings for caterpillars. Guilds also exist for shrubs, pollinator gardens and trees. Any

Examples of ground cover guilds are covered in The Wild Seed Project’s recent guide, Native Ground Covers for Northeast Landscapes.

combination you can think of.

None of these processes are coincidences. Nature created them, we mimic the best we can. Robin Wall Kimmerer the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (2013), wrote “this same reciprocity is written all over the landscape.” What we glean from nature are guilds that have existed much longer than we have been alive. Take a walk in the woods or along the coastline – a natural setting close to home. Jot down notes of plants that are growing together. You are in the process of building a guild by observing reference plants that may be used on your landscape. One caveat is to always keep the size of your landscape in mind and how prone a certain plant is to spreading. In some cases where you want to cover a large area, it may work to your benefit. It all

starts with the soil you currently have and the amount of sunlight you receive. This approach and some helpful compost will result in beautiful sustainable gardens.

Marie Chieppo is an ecological landscape designer who graduated from the MA Master Gardener program in 2000.

Woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata) and Patridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata)

What's to be Done? Welcoming Native Pollinators to your Garden

By Catherine Cooper

In recent years, awareness of the importance and fragility of our natural ecosystems has grown which in turn has resulted in a greater appreciation of the importance of native plants and their attendant pollinators. In Massachusetts plants that require pollinators are served by insects, with the ruby-throated hummingbird being the only other creature that pollinates plants here.

Among the insect pollinators honey bees perform a large part of the pollination functions, especially where agricultural crops are concerned, but hard on their heels are our native bees, including various species of bumble, mason, and mining bees which are particularly adapted to efficiently pollinate blueberries and cranberries for example. In addition to bees, plants are pollinated by butterflies, moths and wasps, as well as certain flies and beetles.

Among our native bees mason bees are more efficient pollinators of fruit trees compared to honey bees, and syrphid flies looking as

they do like little wasps are also efficient perennial pollinators. Wasps are not anatomically designed as perfect pollinators but by drinking nectar to obtain energy they also pass pollen to different flowers. They also serve an additional useful function in that they prey on smaller insects and larvae, which can be damaging to garden plants. Some plants such as skunk cabbage and red trillium emit an unpleasant scent to attract carrion flies to pollinate their flowers. As flies are one of the earliest insects to emerge in spring, it is not surprising that certain early blooming plants have evolved to take advantage of their pollination services. Fossil records indicate that beetles were among the earliest pollinators to exist and to this day, certain plants such as magnolia, sweetshrub (calycanthus), pawpaw and sassafras still attract beetle pollinators. Two examples of beetle pollinators are common eastern firefly and goldenrod soldier beetles, both of which visit flowering perennials.

It is therefore wonderful to see how people have embraced the

need to support native flora and its associated pollinators. Not only have individuals taken it upon themselves to buy plants to benefit our native pollinators, but local communities are also working to spread this work. Driving through towns can give glimpses of “pollinator pathways” planted in front yards, traffic

islands and roadside verges. Our state government is also working to improve conditions for pollinators with its Pollinator Protection Plan. This set of guidelines focusses on how to prevent the decline of honey and

Top to Bottom, Left to Right: Wasps on sea

hummingbird moth on bee balm, bumblebee on baptisia, native bees and syrphid fly on conflowers.

native bees along with monarch butterflies, but acknowledges that it will benefit native pollinators as a whole.

dependence on milkweed plants is well known, but other butterflies and moths also have similar requirements for a specific host plant, many of which are things such as native grasses and trees. In fact, our native oaks host an amazing range of insect larvae, which if nature is balanced means that in return for minimal defoliation the next generation of certain insect pollinators will reach maturity. However, in order for that to happen, many larvae will actually become food for birds and other predatory insects, which in turn mitigates the damage done to trees. Therefore, attracting pollinators should, where possible, include native plants in all their forms so as to provide the broadest form of habitat for all insect life stages.

In addition to providing food sources for native pollinators, it is also important to remember that the larvae of these pollinators have specific requirements. Awareness of monarch butterflies’

For ground-nesting bees and wasps leaving some undisturbed areas of grass or open ground can be all that is needed, and over winter some leaf litter or similar material can provide shelter for hibernating bumble bee queens. For those bees that make use of hollow stems to lay their eggs, it is possible to buy purpose built “bee habitats” or to build one’s own using hollow bamboo stems.

There are also two other things that can be done to help out native pollinators: avoid using

Top: Yellow jackets on angelica

Bottom: Swallowtail butterfly on rhododendron

insecticides as much as possible and remove invasive plants. Obviously there are times when it becomes necessary to treat for pests, nobody wants to lose their vegetable crops to voracious insects or lose a prized ornamental plant, but where possible choose the least harmful chemical to achieve the desired results and follow application instructions assiduously so as to not harm beneficial insects.

There are a variety of invasive plants in our region: oriental bittersweet, autumn olive, purple loosestrife and Japanese knotweed to name a few. Although they can offer useful nectar and pollen they displace native plants and the balance of successional blooming that a native ecosystem provides which results in limited food sources for pollinators outside of the invasive plants’ bloom period. Without a variety of native plants to support bee populations, bee numbers decline and in turn remaining native plant populations can also suffer from a lack of appropriate pollinators. Some invasives like knotweed are difficult to eradicate, but others such as garlic mustard are prime candidates for hand pulling in May.

This non-native is a particular target in some local communities as it out-competes many native plants not only because it emerges so early, but also because its roots emit a chemical which alters the symbiotic relationship of soil fungus with surrounding trees, therefore having a wider impact on native flora than would initially be supposed.

So what’s to be done? The simple answer is whatever you can. Plant native plants in all their forms, but that doesn’t mean you need to rip up your existing plantings - many garden plants and ornamentals will also provide food for native pollinators, if possible just add some native plants to feed the pollinators’ larvae. Try to keep chemical use to a minimum and if possible leave some parts of your yard uncultivated so as to become a home for native bees and wasps. And finally, tackle invasive plants if they pop up in your yard, or if you see things like garlic mustard while out on a walk, do as someone had done on my walking route the other day - just pull it up!

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.

No Yellow Meatballs

No Yellow Meatballs

By Deborah Trickett

So, the winter damage has been fixed and spring cleanups are about finished. Which means that many homeowners, and landscape companies, are now turning their attention to pruning. I understand the importance of pruning but one of my pet peeves is pruning shrubs into shapes that are contrary to their natural form. This is especially true of forsythia. This beautiful harbinger of spring, with its cheery yellow flowers, is loved by many winter-weary New Englanders and is probably why it is so widely planted. Pruning forsythia is important to control its growth and avoid the inevitable sprawl that happens with untended plants. Unfortunately, too many people trim them into “meatballs” figuring, I guess, that a round shape is good. Not so. Forsythia is a naturally graceful arching shrub and training it into a ball, in my opinion, is like asking a ballerina to dance in clogs.

If you want your forsythia to truly “dance” there are a few pruning tips you need to know. First, forsythia blooms on old wood so the best time to prune is in the spring, right after flowering. While it might seem easier to prune

when the shrub is dormant in the winter, doing so will result in lost flower buds.

Next you will need to use the right tools. This is not the time for hedge trimmers. Tight, manicured balls might be fine for boxwoods in an English garden but not for a natural looking forsythia. Get out your loppers, pruners, or even your hand saw, depending on how badly your shrub needs pruning. Make sure your tools are sharp as dull cuts can damage the plant and slow the healing process. Finally, consider why you are pruning in the first place. What is your goal? Do you want to decrease the size of the plant, encourage more flowering, improve the appearance, maintain the plant’s health? Once you identify your goal the pruning process is simple. If your forsythia has been correctly maintained all you really need to do is remove one third of the largest stems every year. Use your hand saw and cut the stems as close to the ground as possible. This type of rejuvenation pruning effectively decreases the plant’s height, keeps it within bounds and is relatively easy to do. It is also important to prune out

any damaged, diseased, or dead branches. Additionally, remove any branches that are crossing or rubbing against each other as the resulting wound can make the shrub vulnerable to pests and diseases. At the end of three years this gradual rejuvenation pruning will result in a “like-new” shrub with lots of healthy branches.

Forsythia should be an airy shrub – I read somewhere that you should be able to throw a football through it! (Feel free to go out and administer that test). If you toss the pigskin at your shrub and it bounces back at you, consider some thinning cuts. These types of cuts involve removing a stem at its origination on an older woody branch. Do not leave a stub but cut close to the original branch just

outside the swollen branch collar. Prune to an outward facing node to encourage new growth that projects away from the center of the plant. Thinning also promotes good air circulation which lessens the potential for certain diseases like leaf spot.

According to consulting arborist Jen Kettel the most common mistake folks make when they prune forsythia - aside from hedging them - is treading too carefully, and avoiding making the transformative deep cuts that would greatly improve their structure. In other words, don’t be afraid to prune. Forsythia is very forgiving even if you make a mistake. If an older shrub has grown too large, doesn’t flower as much as it used to, or is crowded

with dead branches you can cut all the canes right to the ground. I know this type of rejuvenation pruning sounds drastic, but it will result in a shrub with new fresh growth that will flower more and can be thinned more easily. This type of pruning should be done on plants that are healthy and not more often than every five years or so. This “tough love” pruning works especially well on red twig dogwood since the most colorful stems occur on new growth. Witch hazel, lilacs, and spirea are other good candidates for this type of pruning.

Finally, if your ten-foot forsythia is dwarfing your garden and you are constantly battling to keep it in bounds, consider replacing it with a dwarf cultivar. There are many new varieties on the market that stay between 2-4 feet. You can always transplant the larger forsythia to an area where it has room. I find it makes a graceful transition plant sited along the edge between lawn and woods. A forsythia in full bloom is a thing of beauty. Prune it right and let the ballerina dance.

And if you must have meatballs make spaghetti.

Deborah Trickett is an award-winning container garden designer and the owner of The Captured Garden (www.thecapturedgarden.com). She loves combining unusual plant material with creative design ideas and only appreciates meatballs when they are in pasta.

In First Person

Julie Moir Messervy Author and landscape designer, Founder and CEO of Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio (JMMDS) and Home Outside, Brattleboro, Vermont

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. The column offers an opportunity for people in these fields to share with readers about their passions, 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 transforms his conversation with interviewees into a personal story from the interviewee’s first-person perspective.

Growing up in a seven-kid family, I often escaped the birthday-partylike mayhem by exploring the forest and fields that surrounded our home, first in Illinois, then in Connecticut. It was spending those times outdoors when nature got into my heart. I majored in art history in college to learn about art and design. Then, while in graduate school in architecture and city planning, I browsed through a book on Japanese gardens and recognized the landscapes I loved; I had already experienced similar enchantment during my nature-romping childhood, but these were more abstract, more perfect versions.

I was very lucky to be able to study in Kyoto for 18 months with a wellknown garden master, Kinsaku Nakane. There, I visited 80 gardens, helped in his office, and then spent half a year working on the crew actually constructing and maintaining his designs. Upon my return to the States, I finished grad school, started teaching about what I had learned, and then began to build gardens, from the ground up. I completed my apprenticeship in 1988 when my garden master came to Boston to build Tenshin-en “Garden of the Heart of Heaven” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

I soon began to develop my own style, thanks to writing my first book, Contemplative Gardens, for which I was able to travel the world to

research and write about many styles of gardens, from Lake Como, Italy to Kashmir, India. Then I wrote The Inward Garden – Creating a Place of Beauty and Meaning for which I began to talk about the process I evolved for designing private and institutional gardens and parks nationwide, including Weezie’s Garden installed in 2004 in the Garden at Elm Bank. In 1999, the eminent cellist Yo-Yo Ma asked me to design a “music garden” based on the First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach. which, after several years, became my best-known work: the Toronto Music Garden. Our insight that music and gardening share common rules and themes can be enjoyed in this 3-acre public park that sits along the Toronto Harbourfront. The garden was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Medal for Innovation and Creativity in 2005.

Concurrent with my family-raising duties, and in addition to my garden design work, I also continued to teach, lecture, and write, resulting in five more books on landscape design over the next 20 years. I eventually moved from the Boston area to Vermont, where I gathered a remarkable team of talented landscape architects and designers to work with me at my firm, Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio.

But I still wanted to help more people create the landscape they love.

Design plans of Weezie's Garden for Children at the Garden at Elm Bank.

Democratizing landscape design continues to be my driving passion. Using the name of my 2009 book, Home Outside, my design team and I created a start-up tech business that would enable us to grasp the internet’s potential for helping every homeowner have access to great landscape and planting design. We first created a simple drag-and-drop app that allowed a homeowner to move around the 800 elements that are part of every landscape – from the house, the driveway, patio and plants, all the way down to the compost pile – to create a design for their property. This 2D app has enjoyed over 500,000 downloads over the years. At the same time, we also pioneered the very first remote landscape design service, to provide custom conceptual design help to hundreds of homeowners across the country and beyond.

Over the past few years, we started two exciting and innovative new initiatives: we are creating curated plant collections in 3D and augmented reality (AR), so that people can see the collection right in their own yard, then buy the plants, and get a planting plan so they can do it themselves. And we’ve also created “Julie – the first AI landscape designer™” that we just launched on homeoutside.com that automatically generates a front yard design that testers are helping us train and improve.

As founder and CEO of a start-up like this, I’ve had to wear many hats! Thanks to my more than forty years in the field, I’ve been able to bring together a range of partnerships that offer plants, pavers, lighting fixtures, tools, fences, and outdoor furniture that round out our designs. Eventually we hope to help homeowners find contractors and learn how to maintain their yards, as well. I’ve also had to learn how to raise venture capital money from outside investors.

But for me what’s most exciting is that we can help every homeowner make a difference in terms of helping combat climate change and improving biodiversity on our planet. Planting more plants not only brings beauty to a property, but also sequesters carbon, helps manage water and energy, and can attract pollinators. Imagine if all the 45 million households that could benefit from great landscape and planting design improved their yards – what a gift this would be for our planet! I hope everyone who reads this will check out homeoutside.com as we continue to develop our platform so that we can help everyone create the landscape they love.

“Help” is on the Way!

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.

Bert had an adopted younger sister who had married badly and settled up north so’s she wouldn’t have to hear about all the other things she had done badly. He had reluctantly kept in touch with her mostly on an annual basis and mostly because he resented that no-one else could be bothered with her. To no-one’s surprise, she was currently saddled with a number children from a number of indiscretions and times were

tough. When she came into his thoughts, Bert usually shook his head and buried himself in whatever chore was closest at hand. He and his wife were the relatives of last resort and as angry as it made him, she broke their hearts. Bert thought that if his life was a bed of roses, hers was a crown of thorns. So, when he came in from his late afternoon spring putterings and saw the letter propped up on the kitchen table,

there was an audible shudder.

“My dearest brother”, she wrote. “Although I have no right to ask (but ask I must) if you and your kindly wife would consider (PLEASE!) taking my two oldest children for the summer to help you in your gardens and whatever else may need to be done. I am sure you could use a little able-bodied help and, frankly, I could use two less hungry mouths to feed. They are good kids and won’t make any trouble. Hoping you can help me, Sandra”.

How could he in good conscience refuse? Bert and his wife were faced with an uncomfortable Hobson’s Choice. They couldn’t live with themselves were they to be ‘selfish’ and decline. The very idea that they would become substitute parents was equally hard to stomach. They had lived happily by themselves for longer than they could count and having somebody else’s children (when they’d had none of their own) was also a bit difficult. What did they know about living with teenagers? That evening after dinner, they re-read Frost’s ‘Death of the Hired Man’ and accepted Sandra’s plea. Brenda suggested a ‘get to know each other better’

visit might be a good idea and a long weekend was arranged at everyone’s mutual convenience.

Forest, Sandra’s oldest boy, looked like trouble from the get-go. He was gaunt, jug-eared and ill-kept. In conversation (such as it was), he was really interested in only two things: racing and chasing (that would be cars and skirts). Forest proclaimed that if it didn’t have an engine or a skirt, he really couldn’t get excited. Sue Beth didn’t care much for cars or skirts as she was a bit younger and had never given much thought to alternative uses for back seats. Their only common thread was that they both wanted to drop out of the local union high

Sprouting potatoes

school and were utterly clueless about what might come next if they did.

Brenda was aghast – what had they signed up for; could there be a graceful exit? Sandra read the apprehension on their faces. Her plan to palm off her two oldest seemed about to unravel. It was quite apparent that neither child cared a whit about food or housekeeping. Washing up after dinner seems to have been a question of what to do with the empty the pizza boxes. Bert thought these two looked like a job for Uncle Sam if he would take them which seemed unlikely at the moment. Without Uncle Sam, how on God’s green earth was this going to work out?

Taking in (or on) Forest and Sue Beth seemed utterly Sisyphean. To make matters more dire, Bert could only be reminded of the Augean stable and Hercules’ fifth thankless task (King Augeus gave Hercules one day; Bert might have one summer (if everything went well)). Neither Bert nor Brenda slept well at Sandra’s. There was little peace and quiet. In fact, the daylight hours were even more disquieting. Clearly, Sandra had let the chickens have the run of the place. Meals were unscripted, domestic civility absent. Everything that kept Bert

and Brenda’s life on an even keel was nowhere in evidence; the children were absolutely feral (Brenda’s words). But they could not countenance themselves were they to bow out (gracefully or otherwise). By Sunday afternoon, they seemed to have reached a level of understanding with Sandra, Forest and Sue Beth about how a mutual co-existence might proceed. Racing and chasing were off the menu. Forest’s proclivities toward high horse-power V-8’s would need to be channeled into maybe 5hp two-cylinder lawn tractors. If that was ok, Sue Beth would come under Brenda’s wing. Maybe less store-bought, hollow calories would improve their dispositions. At least that was Brenda’s inclination; Bert’s was more inclined toward regular hours and better supervision.

When Forest and Sue Beth first came down for their inaugural visit, Brenda promised an apple pan dowdy. However, if the kids liked pop-tarts, some apple hand pies should do the trick. Bert put Forest to work cleaning up the end-of-season potatoes. Normally, this could be an ugly job. But Bert already knew that Forest did not mind getting his hands dirty (albeit, changing the oil was quite different from sorting out sprouted or mungy spuds). Sue Beth lent some elbow grease to the apple

peeler and pretty soon the kitchen started to give off a warm sweetness which went a long way to hide the evil smell from the buckets of nasty potatoes on their way out the back door to the compost pile. Brenda and Sue Beth took it upon themselves to make a couple of dozen extra for the freezer just to use up the apple overage. She told Sue Beth, ‘waste not, want not’. (Bert told Forest, ‘use it or lose it’. Forest was unclear how to interpret the message but, certainly, he understood the intention.)

Usually, Brenda would have made her own pie dough. But just this once, in the face of expediency, they stopped at Price Chopper on the way home for a couple of premade crusts.

Brenda’s Hand Pie recipe:

• Preheat oven to 425

• Roll out dough to 1/8” and cut out 4” circles (~10)

• Make apple filling (4 medium apples, 1/3c sugar, a little water and cinnamon and 3Tbs butter)

• Cook until apples are just tender, a little corn starch will thicken the filling if necessary

• Cool the filling before adding 1 ½ Tbsp to each round

• Fold to make semi-circles and pinch edges with fork or fingers to seal with egg wash

• Bake for 12 minutes; cool

• Repeat as necessary to freeze for later

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.

Hand pie

There is no record so true as the good photographic study; and as we see the conditions of plant life eternally changing everywhere, the value of these permanent authentic records to future generations cannot be overestimated.”

Featured Collection: The Edwin Hale Lincoln Image Collection

In 2017, images from the Society’s Edwin Hale Lincoln Collection were published online in collaboration with the Boston Public Library (BPL) and Digital Commonwealth (DC.) Those images were from 8x10 glass plates that depict plant portraits, many used in Lincoln’s books Wildflowers of New England, Orchids of the North Eastern United States and Trees as well as many other works. Lincoln preferred glass plates over film negatives and used the platinum printing process to create exceptional print images. However due to the need for platinum during World War I, his supply of platinum dried up and he had to resort to using film.

We discovered a separate series of Lincoln’s negatives in our off-site storage facility. These negatives differed in size, media and subjects from the 2017 plates. They ranged in size from 5”x7” to 11”x14” and consist both of glass plate and film negatives. In addition to plants, the subjects range from landscapes, gardens, farming and examples of horticultural practices. All are late 19th or early 20th century negatives. It was clear that the glass plate negatives were a far superior media to the film negatives in condition and longevity. Once these negatives were rehoused and inventoried, they were sent for digitization.

Edwin Hale Lincoln (1848-1938)

We are happy to report that the second group of negatives are digitized and incorporated with the original digitized images here. Digitization allows us to share these images for the public to enjoy and research, while preserving the original media. We thank DC and BPL for their assistance in this accomplishment. We also thank our Library volunteers for preparing the items for digitization. They rehoused the negatives and wrappers and catalogued the relevant information on spreadsheets so that the BPL could incorporate into the metadata that facilitates searches.

See the next page for some spring themed images!

Book Club

The book club welcomes new members. Here is the line-up of books and dates for the next few months:

Tuesday, May 16: Fifty Plants That Changed The Course of History by Bill Laws

Tuesday, June 20: We Are The Ark by Mary Reynolds

July: No meeting

Meetings take place at 1:30 in the Crockett Garden and if the weather is poor, the meeting will be in the Education Building. All are welcome to attend.

The Windows – Books on Spring in the Garden

Our Collections are Growing

Consider making a donation from the Society’s Amazon Smile Wishlist. It is just a click away! The list is searchable or you can browse to see what the Library and other departments are wishing for.

COME VISIT!

The Library is open by appointment and when the lights are on. Please email Library Manager Maureen O’Brien at mobrien@masshort.org for an appointment if you want to schedule a visit.

▶"Tulips in pot" by Edwin Hale Lincoln

▼ "Bulbs potted for forcing" by Edwin Half Lincoln. An example of a methods image.

▲"Dream Tulips on ledge"

in Marblehead, Massachusetts by Edwin Hale Lincoln. This is an example of a landscape image.

◀ Kalmia at the Arnold Arboretum by Edwin Hale Lincoln. There are 36 photographs identified as being of the Arnold Arboretum. Many of these depict places that are familiar to us today.