Pro Grow News_WIN.25 DIGITAL EDITION

pro grow news Winter 2025

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Monet’s Gardens Live Ecological Landscaping in Practice An Amusing History of the Christmas Tree

Life Embraced Outdoors

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pro grow news Winter 2025

contents

Features

10 Member Profile — Meghan O’Connell 12 An Amusing History of the Christmas Tree 18 One Member’s Quest for Knowledge 25 MNLA Winter Forum Preview 28 Translating Ecological Tenets into Your Practice 36 Warming From Winter with Containers 42 Before You Go — Dwarf Korean Fir

Departments 6 President’s Message

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8 Committee Reports 44 Advertisers Index 46 Plant for Success —

Saguaro Cactus

On the cover — An early snow fall.

Photo by: Rena Sumner, MNLA, Executive Director

Winter | 2025

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pro grow news Fall 2025

committees

board PRESIDENT Kerry Preston, MCH Wisteria & Rose, Inc. (617) 522-3843

EDUCATION & RESEARCH COMMITTEE Deborah Trickett, MCH The Captured Gardens (781) 329-9698

VICE PRESIDENT David Vetelino, MCH Vetelino Lanscape Inc. Tel: (781) 826-0004

FINANCIAL COMMITTEE (FINCOM) Steve Corrigan, MCH — Chair Mountain View Landscapes & Lawncare, Inc. Tel: (413) 536-7555

SECRETARY/TREASURER Dave Anderson Mayer Tree Tel: (978) 768-6999

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS COMMITTEE

PAST PRESIDENT Chris O’Brien, MCH Howard Designs, Inc. Tel: (617) 244-7269 DIRECTORS Steve Davis, MCH Bigelow Nurseries, Inc Laura DiCarlo, MCH Cavicchio Greenhouses, Inc. Justin Mortensen Farm Credit East Patrick Parent Mahoney’s Garden Centers

Chris O’Brien, MCH Howard Designs, Inc. Tel: (617) 244-7269 HISTORY COMMITTEE Philip Boucher, MCH — Chair Elysian Garden Designs Tel: (508) 695-9630 Skott Rebello, MCH — Vice Chair Harborside P.S. Tel: (508) 994-9208 MASSACHUSETTS CERTIFIED HORTICULTURIST BOARD (MCH) Corinne Jean, MCH — Chair Wisteria & Rose (617) 522-3843 Advisor: Jack Elicone, MCH

John R. Elicone Consulting

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE David Ahronian, MCH - Chair Ahronian Landscape & Design, Inc. (508) 429-3844 Dave Anderson - Vice Chair Mayer Tree Tel: (978) 768-6999

PUBLICATIONS: Editorial Team: Amber Ahronian, MCH Ahronian Landscape & Design, Inc. Patrick Parent Mahoney’s Garden Centers Trevor Smith, MCH Rena M. Sumner, MNLA Executive Director Rick Reuland, Association Publishing Partners EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Rena M. Sumner Tel: (413) 369-4731 mnlaoffice@aol.com LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR John V. Fernandes Attorney at Law John@fplaw.net

Kelly Perry, MCH Swan Point Cemetery

pro grow news Massachusetts Nursery & Landscape Association P.O. Box 924 Palmer, MA 01069 mnlaoffice@aol.com www.mnla.com www.mnlafoundation.org

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ProGrowNews is published quarterly by the Massachusetts Nursery & Landscape Association (MNLA), P.O. Box 924, Palmer, MA 01341, tel. (413) 369-4731.

Articles do not necessarily reflect the view or position of MNLA. Editorial coverage or permission to advertise does not constitute endorsement of the company covered or of an advertiser’s products or services, nor does ProGrowNews make any claims or guarantees as to the accuracy or validity of the advertiser’s offer. (c) 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in print or electronically without the express written permission of the MNLA.

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President’s Message

By Kerry Preston, MCH

G

reetings my friends! It is hard to believe that two years have passed since I became President of the MNLA and this is my final President’s message. If I am honest, it is a little bittersweet to sign off on my quarterly rants and raves. It has been cathartic to let loose on the topics of bunnies and birds, holiday decorating, mishaps, missteps, and weather.

Producing a topic every few months has not been easy; I hesitated to repeat a list of activities and events that we might have been at together. I know there is a deeper connection between all of us than just enjoying Plant Geek Day or the Summer Conference. In these messages, I strive to remind you that we are all in this together. We are colleagues, we are friends, we are each other’s support not just in plants and business, but in life.

What I have learned over the past two years is how genuinely lucky I am to have a vibrant group of talented people to call on when I need advice or just an ear to bend. No one else quite understands the question “did you give the plant water?” quite like a professional landscaper. Did you roll your eyes when you read that? How many times have you asked a client that question over your career? I can say that here because you are my people, we speak the same language. No one else speaks Soil like my friends in the MNLA. And do not get me started on the topic of bark or berries, we are all passionate about that one plant that has the most beautiful attributes. Turf vs a bulb lawn, let us talk about it! If I decide to put down a patio, I can make a quick call to one of my friends and get the low down on price per square foot or the benefits of using block vs natural stone. I am rich beyond measure with my friends in the MNLA. I am looking forward to passing the gavel onto the next President, Dave Vetelino. It has taken quite a few years to move through the Board of Directors and to finally get to this place where I am moving onto the role of Past President, and I feel satisfied with my role as President. The ship is still sailing, events are still happening, and our organization is consistently bringing in new members, better speakers, more education, and opportunities for growth. I have laughed and smiled and

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enjoyed so many moments with all of you. And not just at our MNLA events, but on a rainy day at the nursery, driving down the street and seeing one of your trucks and throwing a wave out the window, getting or giving a call to someone just to say Hi, sending that early morning text about the sunrise that I know we are all seeing.

As I wrap this up, I want to bring up two new opportunities for engagement that you might find interesting, The Youth Initiative and a new Women in Horticulture group. You have seen the High School kids that come to the Winter Forum, this is turning into something bigger and better than we originally imagined. If you are curious about what we are up to, or better yet, how you can participate and encourage this generation of Future Colleagues, please join us in this endeavor. Maybe you have a job in your garden center, or are looking for summer help, talking to these enthusiastic young people is a fantastic way to show them that working in this industry is rewarding on every level.

Our Women in Horticulture sessions at the Winter Forum have taken on a life of its own. We are actively looking for people to create a new committee focused solely on the role of women in the world of Horticulture. This is the chance to help the MNLA create content, activities, meetups, chats, and events that bring women together. We want to meet you, learn from you and be friends with you, please join us as we create this community together.

Well, my duty here is done. I have accomplished this final goal in the list of tasks delegated to the President of the MNLA. I hope you enjoyed my little downloads; it was a real joy to share my thoughts with you. Most of all, I want to say Thank you.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you and the MNLA. It has been an incredible journey, and I appreciate each and every one of you for your friendship and support.

All my Best, Kerry Preston, MCH, MNLA President Wisteria & Rose

www.mnla.com

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Government Relations

MNLA Represents the Green Industry at the Governor’s Tree Lighting Ceremony

by Rena Sumner

T

he Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association was proud to participate in the Governor’s Tree Lighting Ceremony on Monday, December 1st—an annual tradition that celebrates not only the start of the holiday season, but the deep-rooted connection between Massachusetts and its agricultural heritage.

Agriculture is a cornerstone of the Commonwealth’s economy, culture, and communities. As one of the largest sectors of agriculture in Massachusetts, our nursery and landscape professionals shape the environment people live, work, and play in every day. Participating in events like the Governor’s Tree Lighting highlights the importance of our industry and affirms MNLA’s role as a voice for the green industry with state leadership.

MNLA’s presence was made festive and memorable through our holiday giveaways, including Christmas tree seed ornaments encouraging families to plant the future, and beautiful poinsettias generously donated by Cavicchio Greenhouses, a valued MNLA member whose contributions helped bring added cheer to the celebration.

A special thank you to Chris O’Brien, Chair of Government Relations, President Kerry Preston, and Vice President David Vetelino and family, who represented MNLA at the event and helped share our message of growth, sustainability, and statewide green industry impact.

As we continue to advocate for the nursery and landscape community, moments like these reinforce the importance of visibility, collaboration, and pride in the work our members do.

MNLA looks forward to continued partnership with state leaders and agencies to support a thriving future for Massachusetts agriculture.

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Faye & Nina Vetelino sporting MNLA swag and representing the next generation of our green industry!

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Committee Reports

MCH Corner —

Explore New Tools for Your Horticultural Toolbox The Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist (MCH) Board of Directors has curated a list of their favorite apps and websites for MCHs to explore this winter season. Their goal is to introduce a series of digital tools, websites, and recommend reading resources throughout 2026 that you can add to your professional toolbox — keeping your skills sharp and your work efficient.

If you’re not already using some of these platforms, you may discover solutions that streamline your daily workflow, elevate plant knowledge, boost design inspiration, or improve client engagement.

The Board is also eager to hear from YOU! What apps do you rely on — and why? Help build a stronger resource list by sharing your favorites

Share your favorite apps/websites & reading resources here:

https://mnla.com/submit-resource/

Here are the MCH Board’s first recommended resources to explore…

Plant Issues Purdue Tree Doctor app by Purdue University Google lens for plant/insect/weed ID but be sure to do your cross examination and due diligence.

Plant Net app for plant identification

Weather Weather.com app NOAA Weather app UMass Landscape Message: https://www.umass. edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/ landscape-message

MCH Board of Directors

Corinne Jean, MCH (Chair) Amanda Bigelow, MCH Nat Brown, MCH Dan Cohen, MCH Jack Elicone, MCH Natalie Maclean-Visser, MCH Meghan O’Connell, MCH Jonathan Quinn, MCH Nick Steiman, MCH Mark Taylor, MCH

Winter | 2025

Orientation & Design Compass – built-in on most phones Compass (without ads) app Suncalc.org: Track sunrise and sunset times through the year for a particular location.

Google Earth @ earth.google.com

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New Member Spotlight

Meghan O’Connell, MCH Green Urb Gardens

by Amber Ahronian, MCH

M

eghan O’Connell, MCH is the founder and manager of Green Urb Gardens, located in Watertown, MA. Green Urb Gardens is a fine gardening company, focused on ecologically sustainable horticulture services.

Their aim is to create beautiful ecosystems that support native pollinators and other wildlife. They do this by using native and edible plants, although Meghan notes they recognize the beauty and benefit of many non-native plants, as well.

Tell us about your company: Meghan began Green Urb Gardens in 2017, initially focusing on tasks including weeding, pruning, planting, fertilizing, cleaning up leaves, mulching, etc., but her goal was to end up gardening in a more ecologically-friendly way than she had typically seen in the industry. After starting out with edible plants, she later incorporated more standard landscape plants and, ultimately, began focusing more on New England native plants. She prefers to use plants that are also drought-tolerant, given the heat waves and droughts our area has been facing.

The transformation in Green Urb Gardens’ practices has been remarkable. Long gone are their days of removing and bagging every scrap of plant debris each fall. Instead, they leave most leaves in their clients’ gardens, shredding and returning them to beds only when necessary. Now, they leave a 2-foot stem after cutbacks to maintain critical habitat for pollinators and other wildlife populations. To get to the place they are today, they learned through trial and error and put in the time to educate their clients.

How did you get started in the green industry?

Meghan has always been motivated to explore the world around her and set her eyes on plants early on. She has always loved nature. Her love for gardening came about while working as an after-school teacher in 2012, when she engaged the community and used grant funds to create her school’s first permanent edible garden. The garden took off. With support and guidance from the school, parents, and local experts, the garden turned into a school-wide, then district-wide program in Watertown. While she was teaching students how to grow and care for food crops, she found her calling in horticulture.

What advice would you give to a young person considering this industry for their career?

Meghan’s advice to young people entering the industry is to make physical health a priority. Any angle you take into the

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Meghan O’Connell, MCH green industry is hard work, requiring strength, stamina, and self-motivation. She encourages young people to get a good night’s sleep, eat healthy and nutritious foods, drink lots of water, and, especially, stretch. She says that the better you care for your body, the more fun you’ll have doing this work.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering a career change?

Meghan has a clear message for those considering changing careers to horticulture: “You only have this one life to do what is really tugging at your heart, so why not try? You can always go back to what you were doing before, right? Be brave; take the leap!”

If you oversaw the whole industry, what would you change?

“In my ideal world, there would be no gas leaf blowers, to start! Or by a miracle, silent leaf blowers would exist. We are talking about my perfect world here. Who likes to hear loud, annoying machines outside their house for 2 months straight (and once a month for almost the rest of the year)?

The electric blowers are so much quieter, plus easier and safer to use. “Yes, they are not as powerful, nor as quick to blow debris away as the gas ones. But in my perfect world, we could all slow down a little more.”

She also has some broader messages to share. She expresses that nature is out of our control and that it’s beneficial to let go of controlling our gardens. She prefers to let gardens “live under the guidance of nature.” She finds it helps to set expectations with clients that “nothing is an emergency,” except on rare occasions. That allows them to embrace the unpredictability of the living ecosystems we call gardens. According to Meghan, “gardening can help us slow down, let go, and have patience, if we let it.”

www.mnla.com

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Winter | 2025

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by Rick Reuland

W

hen we begin a story about the Christmas tree it is important to choose your origin and scope.

You can find all sorts of anthropological stories about ancient Egyptians and their favorite god RA. Nifty story, but hey, that’s not Christmas.

Next you’ll encounter a fine bunch of stories on pagan rituals and their sacrifice of the day. As we traverse into the German and Scandinavian histories, the rituals and customs become more recognizable.

Please indulge me as we begin this history on the cusp of the Germanic and Victorian eras.

Enter German Prince Albert

As you may recall, in an arranged marriage, Prince Albert was wed to English Queen Victoria. And so the plot thickens...

In the Victorian period holly and fir garlands were strewn on the mantelpiece. Charles Darwin, writing from his home at Down House in 1877, believed that a scarcity of bees in the spring had resulted in fewer berries on holly that winter. He wrote:

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“We cannot decorate our Christmas hearths with the scarlet berries of the Holly, because bees were rare during the spring.” An obvious pollinator problem.

It is believed that Advent wreaths may have been first used

by Lutherans in Germany in the 16th century. The first record of this custom, however, is from 1833, when a Lutheran clergyman lit a candle in a wreath every Sunday and told the nativity story. This custom spread to homes and churches and continues today.

During the 19th century, wreaths were made to hang on the front door. These wreaths were also known as “welcome rings” and usually consisted of holly, ivy, pine cones and ribbons.

But back to the Prince...

In December 1840, Prince Albert imported several spruce firs from his native city Coburg, in Germany, to serve as Christmas trees. But it was not until a few years later, when periodicals such as the Illustrated London News, Cassell’s Magazine and The Graphic began to depict and describe the www.mnla.com

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royal Christmas trees every year, that the custom of setting up such trees in homes really caught on amongst the general public in England.

By 1860 Christmas trees were very popular with the middle classes.

They would have had a Christmas tree in their parlour or hall, covered with candles, sweets, fruit, homemade decorations and small gifts.

Real Christmas trees were still the norm in the early 20th century, but the first bristle-style artificial tree was made by Addis Housewares Company in 1930.

Since 1947, every year Norway has given a large Christmas tree to Great Britain which is displayed in Trafalgar Square, London. During the Second World War, the Norwegian king and government fled to London when their country was occupied. The tree, therefore, is given as a token of gratitude to the people of London for their assistance. This annual tradition shows the great symbolic importance of Christmas trees in Britain today.

But what about us ’Muricans?

During the Victorian period, America’s middle classes generally embraced all things Victorian, from architecture to moral reform societies. Queen Victoria’s Christmas trees were no different.

Only in 1870 did the United States recognize Christmas as a federal holiday.

The practice of erecting public Christmas trees emerged in the U.S. in the 20th century. In 1923, the first one appeared on the White House’s South Lawn. During the Great Depression, famous sites such as New York’s Rockefeller Center began erecting increasingly larger trees.

A hand-colored plate from Illustrated London News

The Norwegian tree in Trafalgar Square Winter | 2025

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President Benjamin Harrison and his wife Caroline put up the first White House Christmas tree in 1889.

When Edward H. Johnson was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of General Electric, he created the first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree at his home in New York City in 1882. Johnson became the “Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights.”

Since the early 20th century, it has become common in many cities, towns, and department stores to put up public Christmas trees outdoors, such as the Macy’s Great Tree in Atlanta (since 1948), the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City, and the large Christmas tree in Chicago’s Millennium Park.

The United States’ National Christmas Tree has been lit each year since 1923 on the South Lawn of the White House, that has evolved into a major holiday event at the White House.

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Old dogs love trees

Throughout my entire life, I have had a real tree. I fully understand the convenience and simplicity of the artificial tree. But I just can’t do it. In my world, traditions are held hard and then passed on.

We traditionalists owe a large debt to the Christmas tree growers of the world. Which reminds me, I better stop and call my guy Bryan in Merrillan, Wisconsin. Every year he finds me just the right tree. Short and fat, just the way Prince Albert liked them.

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A Special Member Story

One Member’s Quest for Knowledge & Nymphaea’s and Place in History A Tribute to Claude Monet

by Rip Sokol, MCH

F

rance 2025. Our expedition began, in a sense, a year before we ever stepped on French soil. In the summer of 2024, Ginger and I made our way to Reading, U.K., to attend the International Waterlily & Water Garden Symposium. I’ve attended roughly twenty-five of these symposiums since 1992 — each one adding another layer to what I know about water lilies (Nymphaea), water gardens, water features, and the endlessly evolving world of aquatic landscaping.

What I love most is that the symposiums are never just academic gatherings; they’re communities. You walk in and immediately feel the shared passion humming in the room.

Part of the yearly tradition is the silent auction. Donated items are placed on long tables, each with a bidding sheet next to it. The proceeds support the organization, so most of us happily donate items and bid generously. A hint for MNLA! The energy is usually friendly, but competitive, a slow burn

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for a day or two, followed by the inevitable last-hour frenzy of strategic scribbling. I’ve lost and won my fair share of items over the years.

In 2024, two items caught my eye. The first was a set of caps from the Carroll Creek Yacht Club. (If you haven’t yet, look them up—www.ColorontheCreek.com. Their story is a reminder of what a dedicated group of people can build together.) A few of those caps now appear mysteriously on staff members’ heads from time to time. The second item, though—the one that set our 2025 adventure in motion— was a five-night stay at the guest house at Latour-Marliac in Le Temple-sur-Lot in southern France. The very same Latour-Marliac nursery where, in the late 1800s, Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac hybridized the hardy colorful water lilies that captivated the world and ultimately influenced Claude Monet himself.

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A Special Member Story The bidding for that guest-house stay started slowly. I opened with what amounted to a week’s pay, half expecting someone to boldly leapfrog over me. But nobody did. Not on day one. Not on day two. Not even in the final-minute frenzy.

So I won the stay. And so began a year of planning, reading, route-mapping, and daydreaming about France.

We begin the journey in July of 2025, with our wonderful crew holding down the fort back home, especially our steadfast managers Emily and Eve. Ginger and I boarded a red-eye flight out of Boston. We landed at Charles de Gaulle airport by late morning. Jet-lagged but excited, we collected our luggage, picked up the rental car, and were out of Paris by mid-afternoon, headed toward our first stop: a quaint little town called Saint-Cyr-l’École. Nestled between Versailles and Giverny, it became our home base for the first part of our trip.

We spent the evening savoring French cuisine, a glass or two of wine, and a well-earned night of deep, dreamless sleep.

Giverny and the Legacy of Claude Monet The next morning we drove to Giverny. The place that had been at the back of my mind since the moment I won that silent-auction bid. Giverny is more than a destination; it’s a pilgrimage site for gardeners, painters, horticulturists, and lovers of beauty. It is where Claude Monet, the iconic French Impressionist painter, spent over four decades creating the gardens that transformed not just his property, but ultimately the course of art and horticulture.

To understand why Monet’s gardens matter, it helps to

understand Monet himself. Born in 1840 in Paris, Monet grew up between the city and the Norman coastline. His early love was not painting, but nature, and surprisingly for many people, gardening. Even as a young man, he cultivated little patches of land whenever he could. When he later became a professional artist, he supported himself by selling caricatures and painting on the street. Monet was always drawn to gardens, water, reflections, and sunlight. Many people think of him solely as a painter of landscapes, but he was every bit as much a designer of landscapes. In fact, Monet once said, “My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” And in many ways, that was true.

When we arrived in Giverny, we walked through the village first. We found cobblestone lanes, stone houses covered in roses, the Museum of the Impressionists, and cafés that looked like they had lifted themselves out of one of Monet’s own paintings. The line to enter Monet’s estate curved along a narrow stone wall. But the wait was short, and once inside, it took all of about five minutes for us to understand: Monet was a master gardener with a designer’s eye and a plantsman’s expertise.

The “Clos Normand”: Monet’s Color Laboratory The first garden you encounter is the “Clos Normand,” a 2.5-acre rectangular, enclosed garden filled with orchestrated chaos—riotously full, yet meticulous in structure. Monet intentionally rejected Victorian garden conventions, which favored symmetry and order. Instead, he planted in layers,

As the garden is enclosed, walled in, our first glimpse was this map – on the exterior wall as we inched closer to entry.

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A Special Member Story using bold color combinations, varied heights, and drifts of flowers that mimic brushstrokes.

He arranged plants with the same attention to color theory that he employed in his paintings. Pinks beside purples, lemon yellows leading into cool blues, and sudden bursts of scarlet or orange.

The Clos Normand was where Monet experimented with flowering times, seasonal transitions, and color harmonies, a living palette, changed daily by light and weather.

Walking through it, I kept thinking of how many gardeners today unknowingly follow principles that Monet pioneered. His forward-thinking layering, his love of exotic species, his willingness to use large swaths of single varieties, even his use of arches and tunnels for climbers, all echo through modern garden design.

We went into the gardens through the gift shop. To us, it felt like we were entering from the back, but in France this is actually considered the front of the house.

Designing the Water Garden: A Japanese Influence But it was the water garden, where everything changed, for both Monet and the world.

In the early 1890s, Monet purchased extra land on the opposite side of the road from his house, diverted a small branch of the Epte River, and created what would become one of the most famous garden spaces in history. The pond was not large, only about 1.5 acres, but Monet shaped and reshaped it, planting weeping willows, bamboo groves, and clusters of flowering shrubs around its Rip and Ginger at the Grande Allee edges. The Japanese bridge, painted in soft greens or later in bright colors, became a recurring motif in his art.

But most importantly, Monet filled the pond with water lilies.

Monet and Latour-Marliac: A Partnership That Changed Gardening Before the 1880s, hardy water lilies were limited in color—white, pale pink, and pale yellow. They were charming, but subtle. Monet wanted more. He longed for bold color, new varieties, and lilies that could stand out in the impressionistic mirrors of water he had created.

Enter Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac, a French horticulturist who had spent years hybridizing hardy water lilies with The Japanese-style bridge, covered in wisteria, is a focal point on the pond

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A Special Member Story tropical species in pursuit of colors never seen before in European ponds. In 1889, at the Paris Exposition Universelle (the same World’s Fair that introduced the Eiffel Tower), Latour-Marliac unveiled his luminous hybrids—vibrant reds, deep pinks, vivid yellows, jewel-tone oranges, and even delicate blues rarely achieved today.

Monet visited the exposition and was immediately taken by the lilies.

He soon began ordering directly from Latour-Marliac. Those hybrids, bright, modern, revolutionary for their time, became the centerpiece of his pond, and eventually, the subject of more than 250 paintings created from 1895 until his death in 1926. Interestingly, the 1895 start date coincides with Fin de Ciecle art movement of which Monet was greatly influenced.

Standing beside the pond in 2025, Ginger and I saw what Monet saw the glassy reflections, soft ripples, floating pads, and blooms that seemed born to be painted.

The Water Lilies Series and Monet as an “Early Influencer” Monet’s series of water lily paintings

changed not only the art world but the horticultural world. His renderings of bold, colorful lilies increased demand.

He painted what he loved, and the public, seeing his work in galleries, fell in love with the lilies too. In many ways, Monet was one of the original influencers, long before the internet, long before Instagram gardeners or YouTube horticulturists.

His 1899 painting The Water Lily Pond became iconic and cemented the lily pond as a must-have feature for well-funded estates worldwide. The trend spread quickly. Gertrude Jekyll, William Robinson, William Tricker, and Frederick Law Olmsted all interacted with or were influenced by the water garden displays at the expositions in Paris (1889 and 1900) and Chicago (1893). The ripple effect continued for decades. Even the Blue Garden in Newport—whose pools I later had the privilege to help replant— shows the unmistakable influence of Monet’s vision.

Between 1890 and the 1920s, water gardens exploded in popularity. They were not cheap; they required expert construction, mail-order plant deliveries, and a willingness to experiment. But

The dock offers a perfect place to ‘interact’ with the water

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wealthy estate owners and public-park designers embraced them, and the water garden became a symbol of modernity, luxury, and artistic expression.

Seeing the Real Thing As Ginger and I walked around Monet’s actual pond, we felt an odd mix of déjà vu and astonishment. We had seen these spaces in paintings, in books, in reproductions—yet seeing the real thing, the actual lilies that inspired a global movement, is something else entirely. The garden is a living museum, maintained carefully by the Fondation Monet, but still full of wildness, movement, and light.

We purchased a book of Monet’s water lily paintings, which now sits in our office, a reminder of what we saw: history, horticulture, artistry, and innovation floating together on water.

Our visit confirmed for us how deeply a gardener-artist like Monet can shape the world. His passion for plants, his willingness to experiment, and his collaborations with horticulturists like Latour-Marliac created a legacy that echoes through every lily pond built in the last 130 years.

And our adventure, which began with a silent-auction bid, brought us face-to-face with that legacy.

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The stream around the ‘Lily Pond’ with bright orange Hemerocallis ‘Lilia Plena’ which is known for its wide spreading rhizomes and a tolerance for wet feet www.mnla.com

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Naturalistic Landscaping

Translating Ecological Landscaping Tenets into Your Practice

by Heather Prince

W

e caught up with Chris Fehlhaber, formerly a horticulturist at Chanticleer Gardens and now an independent landscape consultant in the Midwest, to discuss some of the ideas swirling around naturalistic landscape and how to make them actionable.

Asking Why

Sometimes one word can be incredibly powerful and an excellent beginning. A simple ‘why’ can spark a deeper conversation and a broader connection. As we assess our practices during our winter slow season, it can be a good time to climb up into the balcony to see the bigger picture of our standard practices and training. “Something I like to ask when I’m out working with someone, and I do this a lot with young students and people coming up in the industry, is ‘Why are you doing that?’,” commented Fehlhaber. “It is important to be genuinely curious and nonconfrontational.

Very often they would tell me that it is just how it’s done.

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To me, that’s not an answer. That’s an opinion. Tell me why you’re doing that, and if you can give a thoughtful answer, then, great! By all means, proceed!”

One example of this might be leaf blowers. As we navigate more communities banning or limiting the use of gas-powered blowers, it’s an opportunity to step back and examine the whole practice. Why blow the leaf? Is it because it’s the most efficient way to move plant material where you want it to go? Is it a client-driven expectation of a “clean” landscape?

Does it signal that work is being done? “I once talked to a landscaper who told me he would unnecessarily power up the blower at the end of a job, because the noise was a signal to the client that work was being done,” recounted Fehlhaber. “The client thought they were getting a value out of him blowing an already clean driveway because there was noise.

As he was taking off the machine, he’d rev it up one last time and shake the blower end in the air as a final crescendo. I think it is a perfect example of how something like a leaf

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Naturalistic Landscaping blower can generate such strong feelings.

The client felt that since it’s really loud, the crew must be doing a lot out there and that they were getting a value. It might seem ridiculous, but he met client expectations, even if it annoyed the neighbors.”

As the requests for naturalistic landscapes and native plants continue to build, it might be a good time to reassess your best practices and in some cases reeducate the team. If switching to rakes and brooms is too daunting, consider blowing those leaves back into beds instead of spending the time to bag them. It saves manhours and fuel as well as builds critical habitat for overwintering insects.

Exploring Care

We use terms like ‘maintenance’, ‘management’, and ‘stewardship’ frequently when we talk about spending time in a landscape working with plants. “I like the term ‘care’ a lot better than ‘stewardship’, because I think people can better relate to it and understand it. It brings the personal component into play,” said Fehlhaber.

“And I always go back to a quote that Roy Diblik told me years ago, that gardening is your personal way of relating to nature.”

Of course, we have businesses to run, families to feed, and employees to pay, but for many of us, we work in plants because we care about them and the natural world.

If we use the term ‘care’ Fehlhaber feels, “It makes gardening a little more digestible. I think as soon as you do that, it allows people to be a little bit more thoughtful about what they’re doing on their property and with their land. It gets them to slow down and think a bit more, which is the goal. We want people to slow down, to embrace that practice of gardening, which is slow. Someone once said it’s the slowest of the performing arts.” Part of our continual challenge in horticulture is educating our clients. A key component is communicating what we are doing on their property and why we are doing it.

Often, the hardest idea to communicate to clients is the concept of time in the garden. Our concept of time and a plant’s idea of it can be two very different things.

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“In today’s go, go, go, society, it’s hard to slow down. But, if you’re able to do that, then you can begin to understand the time scale of everything in the landscape.

A tree’s time scale is so much different than our own, because an oak tree is here for centuries, and we’re lucky if we get one.” If we can move expectations away from snapshot perfection and instant gratification, we can craft a resilient landscape instead of just reacting to perceived problems.

We often talk about cues to care in a naturalistic landscape as ways to demonstrate that a planting is intentional. It might be a turf border around a prairie or a deliberately placed bench. What if we pull that concept deeper into our practices? If we leave foliage and stems in place in a perennial border for bees to nest in and fireflies to dwell, we not only care for the plants, but the larger habitat. Plus, the dried foliage and flowers provide beautiful winter architecture as snow catchers and ice scaffolds. Dried plants also can be decoration indoors and out, encouraging

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the creativity of you and your team in fall and winter designs.

Inspiring Our Clients

If garden management or care is a key part of your business, repeat clients are the foundation of your bottom line. Sometimes those clients want a static landscape, like a photo in a frame.

Wouldn’t it be more interesting for you and the homeowner if their landscape changed and evolved from season to season? Let’s face it, creating a dynamic fourseason landscape is hard. It requires not only regular labor, but deep plant knowledge, and artistic style. You and your team do it every day, but it might be even more rewarding to get the client involved and invested in caring about their little piece of the planet.

“I see a disconnect between some of the big cultural themes that are currently very prevalent about living exciting, fulfilling, dynamic lives and where we actually live and garden,” observed Fehlhaber. “You want to grow, you want to change, you want to be your best, etc.

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Isn’t that what we’re trying to achieve here in the landscape? Our landscapes should also grow, evolve, and change. If we’re supposed to be dynamic professionals, shouldn’t our landscapes also be dynamic?”

How do we inspire our clients to care and be involved? “Much of what I think we’re doing as an industry is really addressing the insecurities people have about their landscape,” commented Fehlhaber.

There isn’t a quick fix, but consistent communication, spending the time to talk and listen to them, and sharing our excitement all contributes. If you can spend a few more minutes explaining what the crew is doing (or not doing), sharing a photo of the hummingbird in the penstemon, or showing their kids the toad that lives in the brush pile, you create connection. And with connection comes value.

Making it Billable At the end of the day, landscaping is a business. Yes, it’s a craft, a skill, and an art, but all those aspects mean you and your crews have value. And with value comes

billable hours. “You have to bill what you’re worth,” emphasized Fehlhaber.

“You have to stop giving it away for free.

We as an industry need to do a better job of helping everyone understand horticulture is a skill. No one’s looking for the bargain plumber or the cheapest electrician. We need to be forthright about this is what I’m worth.”

“There is a huge knowledge gap between ourselves and our clients. We’re just not sharing enough knowledge and positioning ourselves as trusted experts.

We need to take the time to do that. My model is if I talk to a client for an hour, that’s billable hours. I’m happy to talk with them and share my knowledge and educate them. I’ll answer their questions and address their insecurities, so that at the end of the day, they feel excited and empowered to move forward with a different direction in the landscape. Initially, it was tough and it felt weird, but once I realized that people were happy to pay for me to talk to them, then, yeah, I’ll do this all day.”

This winter, consider reassessing your best practices through an ecological and www.mnla.com

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Naturalistic Landscaping practical lens, start putting communications plans in place so they are ready to go before busy season hits, and be clear about billing for the time your team takes working and talking with clients. We can do better for our landscapes and our customers, but maybe, as a closing huzzah, keep the final flourish of the leaf blower.

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Seasonal Transitions

Waking From Winter with

by Heather Prince

T

hink of that first warm day of late winter when snow melts, soil is still half frozen, and the first robin comes calling. Suddenly, we are itching to be in the garden and clients are calling to ask for pansies in their containers.

It’s too early, but no one can resist the urge to throw open the windows and start counting the bags of potting soil.

To bridge this shoulder season between the winter designs and ubiquitous pansies, there are some strategies to keep our containers interesting without risking the expense of losing tender greenhouse-grown annuals. It’s an opportunity to stretch your creativity and emphasize forms and textures with a dash of hardy early spring color.

Go Sculptural

Branches, grapevine, and cut logs or poles can make a statement in the winter garden beyond the holidays. Pull out the crispy evergreens of your December designs and let the rich textures of bark and twigs take the stage. Low winter light is captured by birch logs, dogwood stems, and curly willow’s corkscrew charm.

Grapevine balls, from baseball to beachball-sized offer wonderful rustic globe shapes to containers. Not only are they sculptural snow catchers, there’s something captivating about circles in the landscape. Anchor with some landscape staples in case of winter storms and they can be instant focal points, especially when lit. A few strings of fairy lights (try the battery-powered ones on a timer) and you’ve got container magic until flowers start to open.

Late winter is an excellent time to prune hydrangeas.

Why not use those gorgeous dried flowers? Panicle and Anabelle-type flowers stay looking good well into April. Wire armfuls into simple urns for a long-lasting display that pairs beautifully with nearly any architecture from farmhouse to mid-century modern.

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Seasonal Transitions Early Blooming and Elegant

From an elegant iron urn to a rustic hypertufa trough, sometimes the container itself is a charming focal point in the late winter garden. The simplicity of a concrete form captures the eye and creates a moment of pause. Sited thoughtfully among early spring bulbs like winter aconite or snowdrops, it creates a place to seek out to enjoy these small, cheerful reminders that spring is on the way. Early bulbs melt away in summer when the seasonal change out calls for layers of color or serene textures.

Also consider placing containers within drifts of hellebore for a peaceful vignette. In our Midwestern climate, hellebores thrive in part to full shade in average to well-drained soils. They are hardy, long-lived, and drought tolerant. Plus, deer and rabbits avoid their toxic leaves and flowers. With thousands of fascinating cultivars, these durable perennials reward us with clusters of flowers in white, pink, purple, chartreuse, and buttercream as soon as snow melts. Blossoms can be cut for indoor arrangements and are particularly charming when floated in a bowl or tray. Allow hellebores time. The flowers will remain weeks after drying to continue the show. The plants will slowly multiply over the years and add splashes of near-evergreen texture in winter. Look for new cultivars like ‘Molly’s White’, ‘Penny’s Pink’, and ‘Anna’s Red’ that feature lovely white or pink veining on the foliage.

These selections bring elegant color and texture to the garden in every season.

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Seasonal Transitions On those damp chill days of March, the bright leaves of lettuce bring charm and cheer to our container designs. With so many choices in purple, chartreuse, fresh green and mottled, lettuce can offer a punch of foliage power and withstand frosts. It germinates quickly from seed, so start some in dropin containers for instant spring freshness.

Frost Tolerant and Fantastic

As much as we love the sculptural beauty of birch bark, by the time late March rolls out like a lion, we’re desperate for flower power. For containers close to buildings or under the protection of walls, we can take advantage of those warmer microclimates to push the boundaries.

While there’s lots to love about a classic pansy, don’t forget the delicate charm of violas, their smaller cousins. Dot them in like tosses of confetti against bolder foliage of coral bells or cabbage. Put those forced plants from trade shows to work!

You know you couldn’t resist adopting a few and tucking them in a sunny window. Perennial foliage plants can be beautiful back up singers when you have a brilliant yellow viola to take center stage.

Plus, more and more growers are offering frost-tolerant early annuals. Stock, lobelia, snapdragons, euphorbia, alyssum, and more will adapt to chilly nights. Early bloomers tend to have delicate wands of flowers or small, sweet blossoms. Blend these delicate textures with big, coarse foliage to create interesting layers in frost-tolerant containers. Showy cabbages, kale, lettuces, and chard offer tasty big coarse foliage texture and bring structure to the middle of your designs. Hardy ornamental sedges and variegated sweet flag add delicate grassy notes and can be planted out into garden beds in summer.

Height is easily achieved with those leftover dogwood twigs and birch poles. Their rustic touches blend beautifully with the frothy flowers of spring. Try weaving a small teepee from willow twigs or create a bird nest with preserved moss for a woodland touch.

Late winter holds its own garden magic. It offers opportunities to rethink traditional container designs and exercise your creativity. While combinations may be more subtle, it’s a wonderful time to let the serene forms of concrete pots sing in a quieter landscape. A dash of flowers, a flurry of foliage, and we’re ready to welcome the sunny days of April and the promise of summer heat.

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Before You Go...

Dwarf Korean Fir for a Splash of Silver!

by Mark Dwyer

I

was fortunate to have extended time in the fall of 2015 to tour Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Garden Wisley (UK) and saw many amazing plants in this well-maintained public garden.

One memorable experience (among many) was running across a cluster of dwarf conifers that appeared quite silver from a distance. As I got closer, I recognized them as Korean firs (Abies koreana) but these specimens were tight, globose, “silvery buns” and really caught the eye. Always appreciative of accurate signage, I noted this compact variety as ‘Kohout’s Icebreaker’ and have been a fan ever since that encounter.

I had grown some other Korean firs in the past including the mesmerizing ‘Horstmann’s Silverlocke’ which is known for very similar “silver presence” in the landscape due to recurved needles that show off their silvery undersides to great effect.

I later found out that ‘Kohout’s Icebreaker’ originated as a witch’s broom of ‘Horstmann’s Silberlocke’ and was discovered

by Jörg Kohout in his nursery in Elstra, Germany. Additional research reveals many interesting plants discovered and introduced by this plantsman.

I was reminded of the shimmering, silvery contribution of this globose, dwarf conifer when I saw it a few years later at Hidden Lake Gardens (Tipton, MI) which has an amazing conifer collection. I’ve since

seen ‘Kohout’s Icebreaker’ more in the trade and while it is still rare to source, notoriously slowgrowing (1”-3” per year) and expensive, I’ve acquired, planted and recommended many specimens of this amazingly ornamental conifer. The short, stubby branches feature a very dense arrangement of needles which makes for a bright accent in the rock garden or border.

Starting as a globose, mounded form, this dwarf selection will slowly develop a central leader and form a tight pyramid over a long period of time.

Full sun is ideal for this species and good drainage is a must. Slightly acidic soils are preferred and it has few insect or disease problems. I see the hardiness on ‘Kohout’s Icebreaker’ most frequently listed as USDA zones 5-8 although I do see some zone 4 references. I’ve only grown it in zone 5 so can’t attest to any that I’ve seen (yet!) in zone 4. As a specimen, planting in proximity to locations for closer observation is ideal and certainly those locations that will benefit from that silvery cast to the entire plant. The silvering of the needles is very conspicuous at dusk and it’s no surprise that this variety received an Award of Garden Merit (AGM) from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) as well as being chosen as one of the Conifers of the Year (2014) by the American Conifer Society. Consider the potential of this beautiful conifer in myriad landscape situations!

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My Favorite Plant

Carnegiea gigantea — Saguaro cactus Why This Plant Shines Saguaro’s are America’s biggest cactus and Arizona’s state flower. They usually grow between 40-60 feet tall, but some Saguaro have reached over 78 feet. Arms can begin to grow around 75-100 years and a single cactus can grow up to 25 arms. Due to their size, they can weigh anywhere between 3,200-4,800 pounds.

They have a circular skeleton of interconnected woody ribs to help hold up the almost 80lbs per foot. Native Americans would use the woody ribs of the cactus for stability in building homes and fences. Some cactus grow in an interesting crested shape.

Scientists haven’t been able to pin point what causes this growth, but they are very rare if you see them.

Scientific Name: Carnegiea gigantea Common Name: Saguaro cactus Exposure: Full sun Plant Type: Cactus Size: Height 40-60 ft Soil: Dry Zone: 9-11, parts of 8 Growth Rate: Slow

Facts and Features Saguaro’s have a thick waxy skin and are heavily pleated on the outside. This pleating acts as an accordion and allows for expansion during rainy seasons. Birds, hawks, and owls use the cactus for nesting. In the spring and early summer the cactus produce flowers. Flowers open in the evening and close the following day. This is the only opportunity for fertilization and bats help a lot with this process. The fruits are eaten by animals and provide nutrients and moisture during the dry season. The fruits produce millions of seeds over the years but only 1-2 might grow into seedlings.

Chelsey Tuson, MCH Princeton Scapes, Inc. Barre, MA

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