EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Dave Barnett
mhsleaflet@gmail.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Meghan Connolly
mconnolly@masshort.org
FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK JAMES HEARSUM
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MARVELOUS MARIGOLDS BY C.L.
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TOGETHER WE CAN GET IT DONE BY JOHN LEE
COLLOQUIA PLANTARUM: INTERVIEWS WITH PLANTS BY SHANNON GOHEEN
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Cover: Weezie's Garden changing color
Dear Friends and Gardeners,
When I step away from the garden, my thoughts often turn to the landscape of the future. Lately, that means considering what technologies like Artificial Intelligence might mean for all of us, both at work and in all of life. Some people find it thrilling, others worrying. In truth, it will likely be both.
The promise of AI is eventually to make “intelligence” itself almost free. Machines can already analyze, write, and calculate far faster than we can, and before long they’ll do many of the physical things we once called “work.” It raises a question worth sitting with: when machines can think and labor, what is left for us to do that truly matters?
Gardeners, I think, already know the answer. Our worth has never been in efficiency. It lies in our capacity for care — for beauty, for friendship, for creation. We plant because it brings us joy. We tend our gardens not because it’s practical, but because it’s life-giving.
So, while the world races ahead, we’re already practicing what will continue to matter most: cultivating meaning, patience, and connection.
As autumn deepens, I hope you’ll take some time outdoors. Rake the leaves, divide your perennials, plant bulbs for spring. Bring someone you love and jump in the leaves with them (you can still do this! It’s not just for kids, and no-one is watching!).
The work may be simple, but it is profoundly human.
James Hearsum President & Executive Director
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Wayland, MA Needham, MA
Cambridge, MA
Not your grandmother’s old-school annuals
WBy C.L. Fornari
hen my husband and I planted our first vegetable gardens in the 1970’s, we were told that marigolds repel insects, which started a long tradition of including these plants in with our food crops. Later I found out that the belief that marigolds kept insects away was largely based on a study involving controlling nematode populations by plowing fields of Tagetes patula into the soil at the end of the season. Since we have never been troubled by nematodes, and weren’t digging the marigolds into the garden, this aspect of insect control wasn’t meaningful for us.
△ These African marigolds (Tagetes erecta) self-seeded in our vegetable garden in 2025.
Tagetes was also touted to repel insect because this plant releases limonene, a compound which interferes with some insects’ ability to detect their preferred host plants. But we learned that this attribute of marigolds and insect control is most effective in enclosed spaces such as greenhouses. So again, in our open-air vegetable garden these plants weren’t offering much pest control.
We continued to plant marigolds in our vegetable garden, because, as my husband said, “At this point, it’s traditional.” And we came to realize that these plants are helpful for our food crops not because they keep the insects away, but because they invite them in. Marigolds attract pollinators and predatory insects such as lacewings, ladybugs, and hoverflies. Intercropping vegetables with flowering plants helps with pollination and controlling populations of insects that damage plants.
Yet beyond the vegetable garden, every year marigolds have earned their place in my gardens, and I think that they should be on your “must grow” list for 2026.
FRONT: One year I ordered four different varieties of marigold seeds, and packed the plants into this garden. I like the way the blue Scaevola and Snow Princess Lobularia provided some cool colors on the garden’s edges, but the colors of the marigolds made this garden look like a Mexican fiesta all summer long.
Frequently a consultation client will tell me that they only like blue, pink, purple and white flowers in their landscape. I may bite my tongue, but I am thinking “Snap out of it!” I’ve come to value the many sizes, shapes and colors of marigolds and the punch that they bring to the garden. Just as many of the pastel-rich water lily paintings by Claude Monet were enlivened by splashes of yellow and orange, our gardens are brought to life by including these colors.
Once relegated to stair-step, annual bedding, planted in stripes, current garden design finds marigolds grouped in with other flowers and in field-style gardens. Since these plants are easy to grow from seeds, they are often mixed with zinnia, sunflower, and Verbena bonariensis and direct-sown in sunny gardens. For those who have perennial beds that are heavy on early-summer flowers but lack color from August on, marigolds can save the fall garden. Place groups of the taller growing varieties behind daylilies, catmint, and other early bloomers. Cluster shorter Tagetes in front of the border. These plants will draw the eye away from those earlier flowering perennials and add brilliant color until hard frost.
△ Tagetes will bloom through the summer and into the fall, especially when deadheaded. This plant was edged with frost in early November, seemingly celebrating the end of the growing season.
▽ The area in front of my vegetable garden has been called “Annual Alley” for the 18 years I have gardened at Poison Ivy Acres. This particular year I planted this garden with six-pack annuals that included yellow African marigolds, ‘Blue Horizon’ Ageratum, ‘Profusion Red’ Zinnia, and an annual blue Salvia. The nasturtiums were grown from seeds planted directly in the ground.
The genus Tagetes contains approximately 40 species, all native to the Americas, with a range from the southwestern United States to southern South America. The majority of these are from south-central Mexico, where they have long been used ceremonially and medicinally. The Aztecs decorated with marigolds in rituals for honoring the dead and for adorning sacred places. Garlands of marigolds were hung over doorways to repel evil spirits and attract good fortune.
Given their native range and deep roots in the Americas, it’s interesting that our most commonly planted Tagetes varieties are called French marigolds (T. patula) and African marigolds (T. erecta). These colorful, fragrant plants were introduced into Britain in the late sixteenth century, and within the next hundred years became popular plants throughout Europe and Asia.
It’s understandable, given their ritual use in Aztec ceremonies, that these flowers remain important in Mexico to this day. They are the traditional flowers to use on The Day of the Dead, placed on gravesites and alters. The petals may be scattered from a cemetery to a home; the pungent scent and bright colors are believed to help guide the spirits of the deceased back to their families.
When a friend had a book launch party for me, we decorated inside and out with Elevate marigold garlands. They swayed in the breeze outside, and lasted for a full week on the side of the house.
In India, marigolds also symbolize a spiritual connection, prosperity and positivity. The bright colors are associated with sun and good fortune, and strings of marigolds are used to decorate weddings and festivals.
Yet it’s not just their colors that have made Tagetes an important part of celebrations and ceremonies in these two warm countries. I’m sure that another reason that the marigold has been so widely embraced for ceremonies is that the flowers are long-lasting. Marigolds remain pretty and fresh looking for days, even when they aren’t in water. It’s no wonder that garlands made of marigolds are valued; these flowers can be strung well in advance of a party and stay colorful and attractive until the very last partygoer has left.
Those with children or grandchildren are smart to include marigolds in their summer gardens since they can be used for many creative activities. Kids can string flowers large or small on ribbon or twine using the large plastic needles that are available at craft stores. Have the children cut fresh flowers off of your plants and use them to create designs or words on the lawn. They will look good for over a week, especially if they’re in part-shade, and will get chopped up by the mower when the lawn is cut. Elevate Orange is one of my favorites for stringing and lawn art. The large, round flowers of Elevate Orange can even be used to play catch and assorted lawn games.
Beyond garlands and lawn crafts, the taller Tagetes plants are a must-grow for cutting gardens. One of my favorites is called Phyllis. It is a variety of Tagetes erecta that grows 2 to 3 feet tall. The yellow flowers are a bit shaggy, and they are lovely when combined with zinnias and dahlias in a vase.
△ The Phyllis marigold was named by Judy Seaborn, the co-founder of Botanical Interests seed company, to honor her mother who loved these flowers. It is long lasting in a vase and pairs well with other brightly colored annuals.
◁ Children and adults can enjoy making lawn art out of cut annuals. Not only is this fun, but your annuals will create even more flowers in response.
There are many varieties of marigolds to choose from. A search on most seed company sites turns up many, both hybrids and open-pollinated heirlooms. Some of the hybrids have been selected for stem sturdiness, brilliant color, or early blooming. Others have been bred for a short, full-branching habit. Choose the type that is the right size for your gardens.
One of the self-seeded Tagetes plants in my vegetable garden produced single, slightly raggedy flowers that I found appealing. I popped some small, organza bags over a few of the spent flowers. These not only keep the finches from eating the seeds, but remind me to bring them in once they’ve matured and dried.
In Massachusetts most gardeners can start marigold seeds indoors from mid-March through late April and plan to place them in the garden once the night-time temperatures are reliably above 50°. Seeds can be put in the ground from mid-May through mid-June.
Garden centers and home stores bring in marigolds starting in late spring, so those who prefer not to start their own seeds can find plants in six packs and pots. Many also bring new plants in at the end of the summer and fall, since these annuals do well until a hard frost.
Yes, marigolds flowers are edible. But as someone who cooks every day, and loves the time of the year when I walk into the garden at 5pm and ask, “What’s for dinner?” I must admit that not all marigolds are delicious. Most Tagetes petals have a strong flavor, so they must be thoughtfully paired with food and drink that can counterbalance their piquancy and bitterness.
My friend Ellen Zachos, a forager and fellow garden author, tells me that she finds that the Gem Series of marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia) also known as signet marigolds, are not as bitter as the other varieties. So these are the best if you want to sprinkle petals over a potato salad, pizza or fish. Other varieties pair well with stronger flavors and dishes that have a bit of sweetness. So use those petals on chicken or a kale salad that is dressed with a citrus vinaigrette. Marigold petals are also good to freeze in ice cubes that will be placed in cocktails that traditionally contain bitters, such as a bourbon old fashioned.
This variety of Tagetes patula, named “Frances’s Choice,” has small flowers so it remains upright through storms even though it grows 3 to 4 feet tall. This is a good variety to plant in with Gomphrena, Verbena bonariensis, Cosmos sulphureus and tall zinnias in a wildflower meadow style bed.
Gardeners and flower lovers are so fortunate that we have access to so many annuals. There are new introductions every year, as well as companies that keep older and heirloom varieties available. When planning your gardens for 2026, I hope that you’ll include the plant that has been used in celebrations, rituals, and flower gardens for centuries. I hope that you’ll grow the annual whose petals are used to dye fabric and color egg yolks. I know that you’ll enjoy the flowers that attract numerous pollinators and beneficial insects and are easy to grow from seed. These classic annuals don’t have a huge marketing machine behind them, but marigolds are marvelous, and they deserve a resurgence in popularity.
C.L. Fornari is a garden writer, speaker, and the host of The Garden Lady radio, heard on WCAI and WGBH. She grows far too many plants on Poison Ivy Acres on Cape Cod, and can be found online at www.GardenLady.com
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
Nan Blake Sinton is a garden designer, landscape consultant and horticulturist. She served as Education Coordinator and then Director of Public Programs for Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum from 1984 until 1992, and as Director of Programs for Horticulture magazine from 1992 -2008.
As a designer, she works on both residential and public gardens throughout the United States and in Europe. President and co-founder of the design consultancy Sinton & Michener Associates, Inc. alongside Dr. David C. Michener—with whom she co-authored the Taylor's Guide to Ground Covers. She presently combines her design practice with developing and leading international travel programs for her travel consultancy, Nan Sinton LLC.
In 1989 Nan was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and her work in horticultural outreach, design and education has been recognized in multiple awards from the Garden Club of America and by Massachusetts Horticultural Society with the award of their Gold Medal in 2005.
Here is Nan’s story in her own words.
△ A color parterre combines boxwood, Japanese maples, and annuals.
Plants, horticultural education, garden design and travelling to visit gardens have intermingled in my life since I first went to work at the Arnold Arboretum in 1984. I was asked to create an adult education program focused on all aspects of plants and horticulture using the grounds in Jamaica Plain and at the Arboretum’s Case Estates in Weston as living classrooms. With the support of then Director Peter Ashton and generous help from the professional staff, I began to develop an extensive series of classes. Botany and tree identification, perennials and garden history, propagation from seeds to cuttings, landscape design and garden maintenance were offered as short courses and single lectures to a general audience many of whom had never previously entered the grounds. Numerous new books on gardening were being published at that time and I began collaborating with other botanical gardens and local non-profits to bring authors, designers, and nursery owners to give talks in Boston as part of our education program.
Among my colleagues at the Arnold Arboretum was a post doctoral researcher charged with implementing the Arnold’s Verification project, which was to reconfirm the scientific identity and source of every then-living accession growing in Jamaica Plain. David Michener became one of the most popular teachers in the education program and
COVER: Nan on a tour in the Canary Islands.
in 1985 together we created a symposium –“Birds, Butterflies and their Horticultural Havens”. We also began informally consulting on gardens leading to forming our professional association, Sinton & Michener Associates in 1987. From museums to private estates, in Europe and the United States, working on our own, with Penelope Hobhouse and with other collaborators, the making of gardens continues to inspire and fascinate us.
In 1992 I accepted an offer from Horticulture magazine to join the staff and develop a series of national symposiums and national and international travel programs, visiting landscapes and seeing plants in their native habitats, exploring botanical collections, seeing great historic houses and their gardens and private gardens of all sizes— an experience of which I never tire. I grew up in Ireland (USDA Zone 8b-9) in a family where gardening was simply part of life (today two of my Irish cousins Jimi Blake and his sister June Blake have notable gardens often featured in magazines and on television). Plants from the southern hemisphere—fuschias and embothriums, phormiums
and astelias—were as familiar in the mild climate as roses and apples. I visited gardens in Britain and Europe and went to Holland with my mother to see bulbs and choose them not from catalog pictures but from seeing them in bloom.
It was on a trip to visit family in Britain that I met up with Penelope Hobhouse when we were both enjoying Great Dixter. I had invited her to give a talk at the Arnold Arboretum and now she invited me to visit her at Tintinghull House in Somerset where she and her husband were the National Trust “garden tenants”. It was a fortuitous meeting as in 1991 Penny was to contact me and invite me to join her as her American based design associate. Together we would work in many parts of the USA until Penny retired from travelling in 2005. From Texas to Maine, New York to Vermont, Michigan to California, we were asked to enhance garden sites large and small. It was a unique opportunity to collaborate with Penny, a classically educated design historian who was also a hands-on practical gardener. From Italianate architecture to 20th century modernism, Arts and Crafts stone mansions to New England clapboard homes, the houses were as varied as the sites where we designed: gardens for vertiginous cliffs in Maine, forests in Vermont, town gardens in Texas and rolling farmland in Pennsylvania and New York.
△ Nan in New Zealand.
▷ On a trail in the Southern Alps in New Zealand.
Why travel? If you are greedy for plants and gardens you must try to go to England of course for flower gardens and Capability Brown landscapes, to Sissinghurst, Great Dixter, the Cotswolds and the Chelsea Flower Show. Once excited by these there is the urge to look beyond the color and abundance for classical design inspiration and then to other cultural styles. I have organized tours to Italy (Tuscany, the Veneto, the Lakes, Sicily, Naples, Puglia, and Rome), to France, Portugal and Spain. On a tour to the Netherlands and Germany we met Piet Oudolf and saw the “new perennial” influence. My tours have also explored the gardens of Asia (Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, and Myanmar), Africa (Morocco and South Africa), New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.
Gardens and their owners speak an international language of joy in their gardens and many travelers have joined me on multiple visits over
the years exploring beyond Europe to both traditional and Europeanowned gardens in Morocco, to Chile to see the enthralling natural flora and the climatic transitions from the Atacama desert to Patagonia and Torres del Paine national park as well as the contemporary designs of private gardens near Santiago. New Zealanders celebrate the natural landscape, their cultural heritage and the language of garden making. Consider this—a private garden conceived as a subtropical paradise where plants from Southeast Asia, from China, Thailand, and Vietnam star in the same landscape as agaves from the Americas, roses and clematis. Or a walk in the southern Alps or in woodlands where great masses of Himalayan rhododendrons, Norfolk Island pines, magnolias, catalpas, walnuts, eucalyptus, oaks and maples add to the Noah's Ark sense of abundance. The astonishing range of native plants interpret natural habitats, as well as adding drama to country cottage displays and classically formal landscapes. I’ve led five tours there learning how Pacifica style blends Asian influences, contemporary European naturalism and historic formality.
Trialing plants for possible use in projects and for my own enjoyment led me in 2000 to move to Zone 6b/7 in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, build a house and create a garden from scratch—since featured in U.S. and European magazines. It also led to some interesting projects including a prairie-style house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Clerk of the Works where a re-thinking of vistas and the entrance to the house led to the design/creation of a ‘color meadow’ and a new woodland area for the owner’s collection of Asian maples (the garden is now part of the Smithsonian Archive of American Gardens). The setting for a historic ship captain’s house, previously saved from demolition and moved to a flat open site was reimagined as a series of seasonal explorations with new pathways and hedges, tree architecture and flowering shrubs. And the ▷ Opening a vista connects a prairie style house to its extensive landscape.
◁ Dward conifers and seasonal succulents mulched with recycled glass display the owners' plant passions in a raised bed.
new owner of a brick mansion contacted me to restore and re-invent a garden I had worked on with Penelope Hobhouse some twenty years earlier, leading to the design of an enclosed vegetable garden for his young family, a color themed parterre garden a “poet’s walk” and more.
Inspiration for our design work comes from travels and the study of plants. Re-imagine or restore, a new build ‘blank slate’ or perhaps a new owner of an old property? In forty years of designing and consulting on gardens large and small our company goal remains simple: environmentally appropriate designs that respect the architecture of the property and are beautiful and interesting at all seasons—in brief—places of discovery year-round. We are fortunate to work with owners who appreciate that gardens take time, careful installation and on-going work. While we have found many landscape professionals all over the country who are skilled in construction time has shown that none are better than the local teams from the Capizzi Company in Acton who continue to bring their knowledge and expertise to many of our projects.
Plants, gardens and their interactions remain the key elements—a weaving together of travel, gardening, lectures and engaged education. I maintain a private mailing list of travelling friends, plan two overseas tours a year (next spring in Denmark!), while leaving time to concentrate on design projects and developing my second garden in Dartmouth around my new “new house” in a historic district. I occasionally open this second garden for the Garden Conservancy and local charities. It’s always a pleasure to walk in my own and other people’s gardens—to discover new ways of looking at plants and to plan for the next season.
For “In First Person,” Leaflet Editor-in-Chief Dave Barnett interviews people who have made their mark in horticulture and adjacent fields by asking a standard set of questions about their work and career, and then works collaboratively with them to write this column to share their passions and tell their story.
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.
As the summer began to wind down and the tomatoes began to peak, Bert got to feeling his age. While incipient decrepitude had not been topof-mind in past years, certainly by this September, he had begun to feel his age. Heretofore these autumnal aches and pains had been pretty much deniable. But this summer with its seemingly
incessant 90-degree weather and the resultant drought, Bert was feeling a little more beaten down than usual. There was no denying it despite his loudly professed disinclination to slow down. How could he? Even in the face of Brenda’s unwelcome protestations, Bert was an habitual over-doer (and Brenda did her best to keep up). There
seemed onerous and unnecessary when there was always too long a list of other tasks requiring his attention. Nothing two aspirin and a glass of Brenda’s blackberry shrub couldn’t alleviate (although this year he’d occasionally snuck something a little more fortifying into the evening’s libations).
Or maybe what was important to Brenda had seemed less so to Ashley at the time.
This summer, Ashely was getting a crash course in making life simpler and Brenda put up most of her winter’s provender in the school kitchen instead of at home
in her outdoor kitchen. Canning in a modern kitchen with good ventilation certainly made life easier and Ashley was an excellent acolyte. As it turned out, most of what she learned from Brenda, no one had bothered to teach. Ashley told her that no one had taught her how to make her own anything from scratch—everything she would need came from some kind of commissary and was delivered by reefer truck a couple of times a month. Brenda told her, “Read the label!”, salt and sugar does not just come by the five- or ten-pound bag. For example, requisitioned pasta sauce (what Bert referred to as ‘gravy) usually had 20% of a kid’s daily recommended intake of salt per serving. Brickbottom could serve better food and that was Ashley’s hope and dream. Brenda was her muse, Bert her pusher.
He, because he and Brenda had ‘lived here forever’, knew pretty much everyone who grew anything from market gardeners to small farmers in the area. Many had sought his wisdom (defined
as experience + knowledge gained over time) to solve one problem or another be it how best to control for certain pests or mechanical questions. (Brenda took care of the personal questions like ‘how long can I put up with the husband’s singular determination to grow enough produce in their back yard to feed them for a year?’ or ‘why did I marry a prepper?’.) Bert usually steered clear of the personal complexities but he usually enjoyed the seemingly trivial inquiries from the less advanced farmers, particularly from the ones who were a little short in the wisdom department; questions like ‘should I use a collinear, stirrup or wire hoe? Which is best and why?’ Bert wisely theorized that if getting down on your hands and knees doesn’t suit you, then choose the tool which will best fit your cultivation practice. Heavier soils warrant a sturdier hoe especially if you can’t keep up with the weeds. Personally, Bert preferred
tools that were simple to maintain though they might require more careful application in the rows. And he was, frankly, too cheap to invest in ‘toys’ that seemed fussy even if he was quietly amused by the remarkable variability of such a simple tool. For close work, he still believed that fingers wasted less plants which, of course, was partly why his back ached.
In a more practical way, Bert also got to thinking about how to make his life easier. His early efforts at establishing a community garden at the school were not stunningly successful to no-one’s surprise. Because it got a late a start, neither teachers nor students were really on board. The on-ramp had not been built correctly. Now was the time to bring learning by hand back to the classroom. It seemed to him that while there may be some enthusiasm for a garden as a hands-on teaching opportunity, there was so much more to learn from a gardening experience. What Brickbottom needed was a corps of experienced gardeners who could
share life experience with practical knowledge in a meaningful way –a community Peace Corps of sorts. Maybe gardening in community (individuals sharing a piece of land) was not the ticket but gardening communally might bring out the best in everybody. Bert’s brain went full-flower. The more he thought about his sore back, the more he thought about harnessing the energy of the local Scouting groups, for instance. Maybe there were merit badges for gardening, putting food by, self-sufficiency. Maybe he was getting ahead of himself!
Sitting around the kitchen table one evening, the two of them got to kibbitzing about what the succeeding generations didn’t know and what was being lost as their generation petered out.
The problem was that knowledge was no substitute for experience (even if it was an important adjunct). But how to rectify the problem seemed inscrutable. He realized, much to his eternal consternation, that soon he, too, would want able-bodied help in his gardens and he was aware that others in their community were
local food pantry? Could Ashley manage a community kitchen that supported the few shut-ins at the senior living center for starters? The necessary physical assets were already in place and available. All that was needed was a modicum of organizational energy. Who had the time and temperament to make this happen?
John Lee is the retired manager of MHS Gold Medal winner Allandale Farm, Cognoscenti contributor and president of MA Society for Promoting Agriculture. He sits on the UMASS Board of Public Overseers and is a long-time op-ed contributor to Edible Boston and other publications.
By Shannon Goheen
I feel something like an adrenaline rush when I walk into a public garden because I know I’m going to see a plant or a planting that delights me. My relationship with plants is more than standoffish and admiring. I’ve been called a ‘plant nerd’ and I suppose it fits but my fascination with plants is more of an addiction.
I can hardly contain my excitement as I get my ticket at Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Garden at Elm Bank. I have an agenda, and it involves a couple of leafy characters up the road apiece.
As I enter the Bressingham Garden, I soon find my friends, the Hellebores, in a shady spot near the entrance. They are also called Lenten Rose, or sometimes Christmas Rose, and there’s an unusual one called Stinking Hellebore.
Let’s see if they’ll talk to me…
Me: Well hello Hellebores!
Hellebores: Hello! Back so soon?
Me: I couldn’t stay away! I’m delighted to be here and I’d like to chat with you—interview you, actually. Do you mind?
Hellebores: That’s fine. We’re resting now anyway, getting ready for our big season so now’s a good time.
Me: Terrific! I have to say that I consider you a near-perfect perennial. When I have the right conditions for you, like moist semi-shade or shade, I get excited. You are so versatile, you adapt to Zones 3-9, and you are fascinating year-round. How many perennials can say that? And you’re evergreen. That’s not so common.
Hellebores: Oh goodness! Thank you. Yes, our evergreen foliage means we are always occupying this space. In the warmer seasons, we enjoy mingling with some of our friends like the Coral bells (Heuchera sp.), the Columbines (Aquilegia sp.) and the Japanese forest grasses (Hakonechloa sp.). They essentially disappear until April rolls around again, and that’s when we are almost finished with our show, so the combination works well.
Me: The Bressingham Garden owes its year-round structure to you and your evergreen friends, along with the trunks and branches of the deciduous trees. I love that because we know that a beautiful garden isn’t all about colors and flowers, is it?
Hellebores: No, a great garden isn’t only about color. We feel quite pleased to be standing tall throughout the winter, and blooming when pretty much nothing else does. Except maybe the Witchhazels (Hamamelis sp.) and the Winter Hazels (Corylopsis sp.), but we digress…
Me: You’re right though. Seeing fresh flowers in the cold of the winter provides such an emotional lift. Hellebore blooms are bewitching pinks, reds, purples, greens, and yellows. Some look like blended pastel masterpieces with colored spots or veins and others are pristine white. The color combinations seem endless. When I look at blooming Hellebores, I gasp. I really do! I also love the way your deep green leathery leaves with serrated edges sit like an opened hand with extra fingers on long individual stems, vase-like, from the base. I’ve never seen a Hellebore more than 1-2’ tall either. Is that right?
Hellebores: Yes, we have a lot of variation in our bloom colors, leaves, and individual heights, but we don’t grow much higher than 2’. We consider ourselves lucky because a number of our friends get munched by rabbits and deer. They leave us alone, thank goodness! We do host early spring pollinators and we’re glad for that. It feels good to be useful beyond our good looks! We’ll be blooming soon enough. Probably around December/January and we’ll stop around April when our warm-season friends join us again.
Me: I read that you are native to Europe and Asia and interestingly, you belong to the Buttercup Family. We call that Ranunculaceae. Ra-nun-culay-see-ee. I would never have guessed that! And being in the Buttercup Family, you are also related to plants like Larkspur, Columbine, Peony, Anemone and of course, Buttercups. That’s so surprising. Did you know that?
Hellebores: We wondered, but thanks for the confirmation. Genealogy can be interesting, but we’re too busy holding our own to bother with it. We do know that we are a touch poisonous, but as long as people and animals aren’t biting us, there’s nothing to worry about.
Me: Hellebores, thank you so much for this chat. I hope a lot of people enjoy you in April when the gardens open for the new season. And when they see your blooms in a bouquet, they’ll know all about you!
After saying goodbye to the Hellebores, I stop at a nearby planting that features a unique evergreen groundcover surrounding the base of a birch tree. How could I not! Talk about gorgeous…Its common name is Russian arborvitae or Siberian cypress. But to be clear, let’s use the botanical name, Microbiota decussata.
Me: Hello, Microbiota! You are looking stellar, as always, and you grow the most stunning sprays of rounded evergreen foliage. You look like you’d fit perfectly into a Japanese garden, but you’re actually from a single mountainous area in Eastern Russia, right?
Microbiota: Right! And proud of it. We came from Russia after the Cold War about 50 years ago and we’ve covered many a sunny to semi-shady slope since.
Me: And you especially like cold, growing best in Zones 2–7, I believe. I love that your foliage turns coppery purple in the fall and stays that way through the winter. And to top it all off, your growth habit is reminiscent of water falling over a hillside. Maybe that’s why you like hillsides so much—they aren’t overly wet.
Microbiota: It’s true that we like slopes but we are happy in most locations as long as we aren’t in too much moisture. That we can’t manage.
Me: When I describe you to others, I say you grow in fan-like sprays that look a bit like flat and stunted arborvitae branches…and I guess that’s how you got the common name Russian arborvitae.
Microbiota: That’s probably right, but we only grow 12–16” tall and up to 12’ wide. Arborvitaes can’t do that! And you know what else? Deer eat arborvitae, as you know, but they don’t eat us. That common name is misleading. We’re better than Arborvitaes!
Me: Well, you’re different! Low maintenance and absolutely smashing as a groundcover—you have every reason to be proud. I think you, Microbiota, are one of the most beautiful evergreens available. And thank you for this lovely chat. I look forward to all the places I will be seeing you in the future.
Microbiota: Our pleasure! We are changing our foliage color now and we’re going to enjoy the cold weather. We hope you do too.
And with that, my interviews are done.
I bid a fond adieu to the Bressingham Garden, sneak a quick peek at Weezie’s Garden, and head back to the entrance…looking forward to my next interview with plants!
Shannon Goheen has been loving plants and designing landscapes, primarily on Cape Cod, for nearly 40 years as Second Nature Gardenworks. She talks about plants and landscape notes on Instagram as @theeveninggowngardener.
Opening Weekend: November 28 (Black Friday) - November 30
Open Thursdays - Sundays in December Plus special vacation week hours!
by Dave Barnett, Editor-in-Chief
When my wife Eileen and I had the opportunity to join Nan Sinton on a tour of gardens in southern Italy in late April this year, we jumped at it. For years, since first reading about Nan’s tours for Horticulture magazine in the 1990s, I had hoped we could join her some day. It turns out this was the year!
The tour started on April 23rd in Rome, when we met Nan and our group of fellow garden enthusiasts at the Rome Airport Hilton Hotel. From there we traveled in a private coach to a mix of public and private gardens, staying for two nights in the Park Hotel Villa Grazioli, a beautifully restored 16th century villa in the hills outside Rome. Two of the early highlights for me were the visits to Castello Ruspoli and to Ninfa. The first was a medieval castle that has been in the same family since 1531. We were treated to a tour of the private formal boxwood gardens and then lunch with the hostess in the castle.
The next day we toured Ninfa, a public garden created amongst the romantic ruins of a thriving community in the early 12th century. The combination of ancient ruins and new gardens was magical.
From there we traveled to Naples, where we spent three nights in the Grand Hotel Parker’s overlooking the Bay of Naples with spectacular views of Mt. Vesuvius.
One of the many highlights while there was the visit to the island of Ischia and the gardens of La Mortella, begun about 70 years ago by the late Lady Susana Walton as a place of inspiration and retreat for her husband the composer Sir William Walton. I was amazed to find an incredible diversity of plants ranging from mature tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) and other northeastern U.S. species to tree ferns and other tropical species in this Mediterranean climate aided by artificial irrigation.
Space does not permit describing the many other horticultural and historical highlights in and around Naples, but suffice it to say that I wish we could have seen even more. From there we traveled east by coach through rural countryside and over the hills to the province of Puglia on the Adriatic coast near the “heel” of the boot of Italy, and stayed three nights in Savelletri in an old, fortified farmhouse restored as a hotel among groves of old olive trees. The climate here is hot and dry – perfect for growing olives. While driving around in our comfortable coach, we saw miles and miles of olive orchards, some very old and others brand new. The longevity and resilience of olive trees is something to behold. In one privately-owned garden called Lama Degli Ulivi, we visited several ancient olive trees over 2,000 years old. This garden also was home to a collection of Mediterranean plants and some 3,000 species from Australia, Asia and central America.
LEFT: Jim hugging 2,000 year-old olive tree at Lama Degli Ulivi. RIGHT: Young olive orchard in Puglia region.
While only recently becoming thought of as a tourist destination, the Puglia region has been inhabited for millenia, as invaders came from Byzantium, North Africa, the Balkans and Greece over the centuries. The history of the area is fascinating, and our group enjoyed walking tours of the ancient towns of Trani and Lecce. Trani was an important port for the Orient, especially during the years of the Crusades, and touring the beautiful 12th century Cathedral was one of the highlights. Lecce was once a Roman city, and we saw the remains of an amphitheatre, built in the 1st century and excavated in 1938. Our walking tour also took us past many ornate churches and palaces built largely in the 15th through 17th centuries, along with many small courtyard gardens.
On our final day we visited one more beautiful garden and then took a short flight from Bari back to Rome, where we stayed in the 5-star QC TermeRoma hotel and spa near the airport. Our final group dinner at the hotel featured lots of joyous celebration and multiple courses of incredible Italian food and free-flowing wine, just like all the other lunches and dinners we enjoyed together over nine days of gardens, history, food, drink and comraderie. I can now highly recommend joining one of Nan Sinton’s top-notch tours, and Eileen and I look forward to joining her again in the future!
Dave spent 28 years at Mount Auburn Cemetery, starting as Director of Horticulture in 1993. After 13 years as President & CEO, he retired in September 2021.
We have preserved the book, and the book has preserved us.
David Ben-Gurion (1876-1973)
Caring for books extends their lifespan. It is important that they endure as records of the culture and the human story for future generations. Of course, the written story of humanity is only part of the story—oral histories, archeology and artifacts also contribute to understanding our shared histories.
Book preservation not only extends the lifespan of books, but it also ensures that their contents are accessible over time. While seeing the original publication can be awe-inspiring, Thomas Jefferson, was an advocate of making reprints which would protect the original's damage. The Library protects its historic books in a climate-controlled facility to use for display on special occasions for the public. It also has reprints of many of our treasures so our current patrons can easily access the information. It is interesting to note that some of those reprints are also valuable to collectors.
At the 2025 New England Fall Flower Show, our in-house preservationist, Diana Conroy, prepared a Preservation Exhibit that explained what she does at the Library to preserve our books.
Book Jackets of hardcover books are covered in Mylar plastic. This protects the book from normal wear and tear and the oils on fingers.
Spine Mending: This is a frequent area on a book that needs repair. There are various options available, depending on the value of the book, expected use and the extent of the damage.
Boxes for Book Preservation: Some books are too fragile for frequent handling or 21st century book glues. These books are put into archival boxes that are custom sized for the book.
Perforated Book Tape: The seam on the inside of the spine between the fly leaf and book board sheet will frequently split. If the book is not sturdy enough for modern book glues, we use a specialty book tape to bind the fly leaf and book board together.
Diana uses a special iron to remove wrinkles in a tissue overlay that protects an image in a recent acquisition.
Page Insertion: It is not uncommon for a page to become detached from the book. The page can be reattached by using a very fine line of glue along the adjoining page. This is done if the paper is not brittle or crumbling.
Book Club meetings take place on the third Tuesday of the month at 1:30 pm in the Dearborn Room of the Education Building. All are welcome to attend.
Here are the books for the Club’s upcoming discussions:
November 18
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
December 16 Members will share their favorite gardening magazines & catalogs
January 20 Gardens of the Arts and Crafts Movement by Judith B. Tankard
The Library sponsored a Book Sale at the Fall Flower Show. Hundreds of books were sold to happy customers. We still have books remaining, many in like-new and giftable condition. Prices are mostly $1 to $5, with a few special books at bargain prices. The sale will continue during Library open hours until November 21, 2025. Start your Holiday shopping early!
The Library is open for drop in visits on Thursdays from 10am to 1pm, and on most Tuesdays from 10am to 5pm, Fridays and Sundays from 12pm to 3 pm, and at other times by appointment.
Please email Library & Archives Manager Maureen O’Brien for an appointment if you want to schedule a visit or to verify that the Library will be open during your visit to the Gardens.
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