The Gateway Gardener Summer 2020

Gateway Gardener

SUMMER 2020

THE

June / July / August

®

Your Guide to Enjoyable Gardening and Easy-Care Landscapes

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Gateway Gardener THE

®

Your Guide to Enjoyable Gardening and Easy-Care Landscapes

SUMMER 2020 June/July/August

Volume 16, Number 4 Celebrating 15 Years

Founded in 2005 by Joyce Bruno & Robert Weaver Publisher and Editor Robert Weaver Columnists Diane Brueckman Rosey Acres Abby Lapides Sugar Creek Gardens Steffie Littlefield Edg-Clif Winery Jennifer Schamber Greenscape Gardens Scott Woodbury Shaw Nature Reserve

Printing: Breese Publishing, Breese, IL The Gateway Gardener® is published 9 times/year by Double Dig Communications, Inc. to promote enjoyable, successful gardening and livable landscapes in the St. Louis greater metropolitan area. The magazine is distributed free to the public at designated garden centers, nurseries, garden gift shops, lawn equipment rental, repair and sales establishments, and other locations supporting sound gardening, lawn and landscaping practices.

Please send letters-to-the-editor, questions, event announcements, editorial suggestions and contributions, photos, advertising inquiries and materials, and any other correspondence to: The Gateway Gardener Magazine® PO Box 220853 St. Louis, MO 63122 Phone: (314) 968-3740

info@gatewaygardener.com www.gatewaygardener.com The Gateway Gardener® is printed on recycled newsprint using environmentally friendly soy-based ink, and is a member of the PurePower® renewable energy resources network.

A

From the Editor

s May turns to June, a little peak of sunshine seems to be sneaking through the clouds. Many businesses are opening back up in a more traditional way.

Some garden centers are opening their doors to socially distanced visitors, while others are continuing to offer curbside pickups for phone or email orders. People are wearing masks or not according to their own decisions (my garden gremlin chooses the path of caution, as do I, an old man), and we gardeners continue to fuel what, for many garden businesses, has been a record-breaking spring.

Thanks to the readers of this magazine for choosing to go out of their way to support their favorite independent garden centers, and to those garden centers for continuing to support this magazine.

June is Perennial Gardening Month, designated so by the industry probably so as not to take steam away from the annuals that dominate container planting and vegetable gardening in April and May. In practice, I suspect most of us inclined to plant perennials acquired them in the spring as well, but we’ll play along. If you didn’t get around to it, June is still a great time to plant perennials, and in the spirit of that record-breaking spring, why not go big in the perennial garden! Abby Lapides has chosen some of her favorite

a positive characteristic when choosing plants, Scott invites us to think anew.

ginormous perennials to feature in her article beginning on page 4, including our cover girl, Brunnera ‘Jack of Diamonds’, an outsized-leaf version of its famous relative B. ‘Jack Frost’. I have one of Abby’s recommendations in my garden, Hosta ‘Empress Wu’, and it does indeed take up a lot of real estate, more so every year! I look forward to the day I can get my grandchildren over to take a side-by-side portrait.

From monsters in the garden to the tiniest of inhabitants, Scott Woodbury invites us to consider on page 10 the little ones and their needs when choosing plants for your landscape. We’re talking, of course, of the oftendiminutive birds many of us hope to attract and the needs of their even smaller offspring, needs that include still tinier garden dwellers, the caterpillars and other soft-bodied invertebrates upon which the nestlings depend.

While pest-free has always been

On the Cover...

Go big or go home, and since we’re already home, we can just go big in the garden, as with this Brunnera ‘Jack of Diamonds’.

For more garden giants, see pg. 4. (photo courtesy Walters Gardens)

And think anew many people have been doing, taking their newfound time at home to discover edible gardening. What were called “Victory Gardens” in the Forties, now, according to contributor Hillary Fitz (page 16) are being called “Resilience Gardens” for their expression of irrepressible spirit. We took the liberty of expanding the definition to include all gardening in these times, and the feeling of resilience a favorite spot in the garden can provide to each of us. Using that definition, we invited Gateway Gardener Instagram followers to share pictures and stories starting on page 17 about how they’ve been gardening in these times, and what has given them a sense of resilience.

We hope your gardens have been giving you and your families joy, educational opportunities, and perhaps some fresh produce.

Happy Father’s Day! See you in September, and…

Good Gardening!

IN THIS ISSUE 4 Giants in the Garden 10 Gardens with Environmental Benefits 12 Don’t Spill Beans, Grow ‘em 14 The 2020 Rose Garden 16 Resilience Gardens 17 Resilience Photos 20 Dig This 22 Mark Your Calendars

Go BIG in the Garden!

By Abby Lapides. Photos courtesy Walters Gardens

G

bumps on each heart-shaped leaf slightly overlap, giving each leaf a mesmerizing circular look.

From mid to late spring sprays of baby blue flowers are held above the showy foliage.

argantuan leaves, tremendous flowers, towering heights! Create a world of wonders with these oddities.

With whopping 5-7” flowers ‘Betsy’ Shasta daisy boasts the largest flowers of its kind in the world. Each giant flower consists of pure white petals that shoot straight out of a bright goldenyellow center. Lasting weeks in a vase, expect armfuls of these excellent cut flowers. Attractive to pollinators, especially butterflies, also deer and rabbit resistant.

Kniphofia ‘Lady Luck’

Don’t be afraid of ‘Godzilla’, a Frankenstein Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium) with monstrous proportions. ‘Godzilla’ grows to an unbelievable 3’ tall and 6’ wide. It looks just like traditional Japanese Painted Fern, but with massive size. Long silvery fronds with green highlights and purple stems create huge, shiny mounds. ‘Godzilla’ matures to an astounding specimen. It prefers

If you’ve grown Brunnera before, you might be aware of the fan-favorite ‘Jack Frost.’ The new ‘Jack of Diamonds’ resembles ‘Jack Frost’-if Jack were on steroids. The ginormous 9-10″ leaves absolutely dwarf other varieties. The fuzzy green leaves are overlaid with shimmering silver and deep green veining. The

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Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’

B. ‘Jack of Diamonds’

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The Gateway Gardener™ SUMMER 2020

YO U R O N E-S TO P S H O P F O R

ANNUALS T H AT B E AT T H E H E AT !

Hosta ‘Empress Wu’ a shady spot with moist, rich soil. Long-lived and deer resistant.

Please keep away from skyscrapers.

Tallest of its kind, ‘Lady Luck’ red hot poker (Kniphofia) towers over other varieties. Growing over 5’ tall, use ‘Lady Luck’ as a dramatic focal point in the garden. Masses of soaring chartreuse buds open to white flowers over tall straplike foliage that bloom for a long time in the summer. It stands out in perennial, pollinator, cutting and cottage gardens. The huge blossoms are adored by hummingbirds and butterflies. Not bothered by deer and rabbits.

Huge, massive, colossal, ‘Empress Wu’ hosta is as big as they come. Dark green, deeply veined leaves of good substance can measure more than 1½-feet wide and long. ‘Empress Wu’ hosta can cont’d on next pg.

Abby Lapides is owner and a speaker at Sugar Creek Gardens Nursery. She has degrees from the University of Missouri, and is a member of the Landscape and Nursery Association of Greater St. Louis.

You can reach her at (314) 965-3070.

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5

cont’d from prev. pg. coralbells. Strong stems hold up creamy flower sprays in summer.

This jumbo plant can grow almost 30” across.

Because of the vigorous nature of these plants, they’re tough and easy to grow. Be sure to give these gentle giants plenty of room so their full glory can be experienced.

Athyrium ‘Godzilla’ grow as tall as 4’+ and spread 4-5’. Profuse huge leaves and strong upright habit creates a spectacular tall and wide clump. Currently ‘Empress Wu’ is known as the biggest hosta in the world with a record breaking leaf measurement of a whopping 24”. Recently a sister of ‘Empress Wu’ was developed called ‘Wu-la-la’, which is just as giant as the empress with variegated foliage.

‘Mahogany Monster’ coralbells (Heuchera) will scare even the bravest of souls with its huge foliage and form. Slightly ruffled deep maroon leaves can grow up to 6” across, dwarfing other

Heuchera ‘Mahogany Moster’

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Naturally Natives Gardens with Environmental Benefits

by Scott Woodbury

I

n this article, I ponder the question, what good are native plants? I value plants for how they look, smell, and feel. Qualities like color, texture, itchiness and shape, influence my opinion.

But I also value plants for how they work. They create the air we breathe, move stormwater into the ground, prevent erosion along creeks, and perhaps most importantly, they convert sunlight into food. That’s how Dr. Doug Tallamy puts it.

Tallamy, author of The New York Times best-selling book, Nature’s Best Hope, discusses how

different plants feed animals. In particular, he compares a native white oak tree in his yard with a non-native Bradford pear in his neighbor’s yard. He found 410 caterpillars on the oak, and one caterpillar on the Bradford pear.

Repeating the survey on different trees, he came up with the same results and the question, what is so different about the oak and pear? Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware, understood the answer: It’s that the ancient lineage of white oak that ended up in his yard, “familiarized” itself with certain A chestnut-sided warbler finds a tasty morsel in a native insect caterpillars over millions viburnum. of years that are now immune to its toxic chemicals. The Bradford pear, on the other hand, was introduced from China a hundred years ago, which is not nearly enough time for caterpillars of local species to acquire a taste for Bradford pear leaves.

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Now, if you are “old-school” like me, your eyebrows may rise a little at the thought of insects eating plants. It was drilled into me through college courses, like Plant Pathology 101, that if plants have holes, there is a treatment that won’t end well for the insect. This is bad news for hungry caterpillars, but it’s even worse for nesting birds, which feed their young on as many as 8,000 caterpillars per nest, says Tallamy.

More than 400 species of birds are threatened in the United States today. You might ask, what can homeowners do for birds, and where do so many caterpillars exist? They’re on Tallamy’s white oaks of course, and other oak species. They are also on wild cherry, hickory, hackberry, black gum, willow, pawpaw, persimmon, and so many more. But how many native trees is enough? Five, ten, or ten thousand? The answer, according to Tallamy, is 70% native species for successful bird nesting. Anything less, leads to a decline in bird populations. This is good news, because now we know where the threshold lies.

We can inventory our landscapes and set goals based on scientific evidence. But we don’t have to remove all non-native plants. Thirty percent can be ginkgo and saucer magnolias or other favorite nonnative plants that we have come to love.

But be careful: our love affair with far-flung plants sometimes comes with a price. Bradford pear, burning bush, Japanese beautyberry, golden raintree, heavenly bamboo, empress tree, and The Gateway Gardener™ SUMMER 2020

Tips and Resources for Growing and Landscaping with Sustainable Native Plants Environmental Benefits on November 12. Registration is required at MissouriBotanicalGarden.org/things-to-do.aspx, where you can also check for meeting cancellations, should they occur. You can also find a wealth of information about native plants for gardening and other uses at www.grownative.org.

Find suppliers native plants and native plant services at www. grownative.org, Resource Guide.

Photos courtesy Margy Terpstra. For more bird and other wildlife photos from her “Shady Oaks Sanctuary” home in Kirkwood, MO, follow her blog at HummerHavenUnLTD.com.

Oaks such as this one are the #1 caterpillar source among native trees. This northern cardinal reduces the population by one. so many others are becoming highly invasive and cause serious environmental damage to the remaining few wild areas. Tallamy proposes in his book that eighty-six percent of land in the United States is privately owned (93% in Missouri). That includes our yards, common areas, churches, zoos, gardens, universities, businesses, and potentially some schools and parks. He says that our neighborhoods offer viable opportunities for meeting the seventy percent threshold for bird survival. Will you join me in doing our part to meet this important goal in the coming years and decades? The living world around you is depending on it!

If you would like to learn more about gardening with native plants, attend a Council Ring Conversation in the Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO. Upcoming conversations include Rainscaping Practices on June 11, Seeded Prairie and Savanna on July 9, Incorporating Native Landscape concepts into Existing Non-native Gardens on September 3, Designed Plant Communities on October 8, and Gardening with

Native shrubs like this Hydrangea arborescens (smooth hydrangea) also host insect populations for this tufted titmouse.

SUMMER 2020

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Horticulturist Scott Woodbury is the Curator of the Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO, where he has worked with native plant propagation, design, and education for 28 years. and which is supported by the Missouri Department of Conservation. He is also an advisor to the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s GrowNative! program.

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The Cornucopia Corner

Tips for Growing, Buying and Cooking Fresh, Locally Sourced Food for Your Table

Don’t Spill the Beans; Grow Them!

Text and Photos By Steffie Littlefield

B

eans are one of the most common foods found around the world.

They grow in all climates easily and can be traced back to ancient times as a staple in man’s diet for 1000s of years. I grow several types of beans; green snap beans eaten fresh, frozen, canned or even pickled, petite fillet green beans thin and tender, easy to sauté, yellow wax beans and Purple Prince, both for their colorful pods, Asian yard-long beans for their continual production of light blue flowers and tender edible long pods, fava beans

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for their beautiful flowers and quick growing decorative vines that bear large beans in pods to shell, and edamame (soybeans) to boil and then pop the beans out of the pods and straight into one’s mouth. There are Italian flat pod beans with brilliant red flowers, Scarlet Runner Beans and an heirloom bean called Dutch dragon tongue with wide yellowish pods etched with purple streaks and purple flowers.

The growth habit of beans can be classified as either runner or bush, which denotes whether the plant will need a trellis or support to attain its best yield or will make a tidy small hedge. For the most part I grown bush beans in 2 long rows in my raised beds that are 3’ x 16’. This yields more than I can cook so I am always pickling or blanching and freezing them. The yardlong beans, scarlet runner beans and wide or broad beans usually are climbers that can reach 10’ in height if given the support to do so. I have wire fence panels staked down the middle of a few of my raised beds to support these types.

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them when temperatures are above 70F, planting them 1-2” deep. Rotate the location of your various beans to improve your garden beds. As a legume, beans are nitrogen fixers and revitalize spent garden beds. Some other large crop vegetables like eggplants, peppers or beets will benefit by being planted in beds near a row of beans or in the same location the following year.

looking, with purple tinge to the foliage and vines, large stalks of lavender flowers and amazing shiny purple pods. And yes these are edible and they are considered an heirloom, having been cultivated in Thomas Jefferson’s famous potager where harvested beans were served to guests from Europe and high society. These are hyacinth bean vines with an odd looking bean that reminds one of a dark clam shell about to open on one side.

Beans are easy to grow by sowing directly into the garden beds where they will grow quickly. Use a legume innoculant to increase yield and speed up the growing process. Start Steffie Littlefield is a St Louis area horticulturist and garden designer.

She has degrees from St. Louis Community College at Meramec and Southeast Missouri State and is a member of Gateway Professional Horticultural Association, Missouri Botanical Garden Members Board and past president of the Horticulture Co-op of Metropolitan St. Louis. She is part-owner of Edg-Clif Winery, Potosi, MO. www.EdgClif.com.

Beans should be grown in long narrow rows to make harvesting easier. Snip off tender young beans for an early summer treat, harvest the pods when they are long and smooth and before the bean inside is large and visible to cook, can or pickle. Later in the season let the pods ripen and mature to collect bean seeds to dry and save for the next year’s garden. Beans are fast enough to reach maturity that a second crop can be sown in late July for an early October harvest. I have also found that in midsummer, when I have harvested several times, the bush variety looks past its prime or somewhat beaten up by weather and insects. I then cut these plants down to half their size removing the worst of the damaged plant. After several good waterings or rains they will regrow and flower producing a later crop of perfect pods.

No vegetable garden is complete without some type of beans climbing up to the highest fence or growing in a nice neat row. The plants will produce an abundant harvest without a lot of fuss or attention. This is a great child’s first crop in the garden since the seeds are large enough to handle easily, the pods develop quickly and they are easy to harvest. Enjoy!

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Life in the 2020 Rose Garden

by Diane Brueckman

Easy Elegance® Music Box so plan a large trellis or a fence to support this beauty.

First Editions® Above and Beyond™

T

his has been a very different year for all of us. Getting out into my garden has been a great stress reliever for me. Fortunately my yard is huge and the only social distancing we have to do is to avoid the deer, raccoon and rabbits that love to eat my plants and dine at the bird feeder.

Other “jump starts” are Ping Lim’s Easy Elegance® roses.

Three great choices are Music Box, My Girl and Pinktopia.

Music Box is one of the roses that has been tested for blackspot resistance and is strongly resistant. The rose is a shrub with full blooms in a yellow blend and fragrant as well. My Girl is a deep pink with full blooms that are also fragrant.

Both Music Box and My Girl will get to 3-½ - 4’ tall and have a full habit. Pinktopia is a compact, rounded 3’ to 4’ bush with sprays of small pure medium pink blooms. All three are on their own roots and after the first year I didn’t winter protect them in my garden.

If you need roses to fill in gaps left from winter damage or roses you wanted to replace but just didn’t get to it until now you still have time. Potted roses can be planted all season long. With nurseries having had limited access or even shut down completely you can probably find some beauties just waiting for a home.

This year I have purchased “jump starts” rooted cuttings from Bailey Nurseries. One in particular is First Editions® Above and Beyond™ a climber developed by David Zlesak, Professor of Horticulture at Wisconsin University River Falls.

This climber is very vigorous and blooms constantly. Even though the plants are still fairly small, growing in 2-gallon pots, they are loaded with blooms. The bloom color is apricot with yellow and fades to a creamy white. So far I have no disease on these plants and, given Dr. Zlesak’s goals in his hybridizing program, I would expect the plants to remain strongly disease resistant. This climber is going to be large 14

The Gateway Gardener™ SUMMER 2020

is a new mini-flora from Week’s Roses. It has lavender pink very full blooms and even has fragrance. Miniature roses and patio roses have come a long way in recent years to fill the needs of smaller yards with blended colors and new interesting flower forms from single to hybrid tea and even old fashioned very double blooms. Some are also fragrant.

Easy Elegance® Pinktopia

When looking for those replacement roses don’t forget Rugosa roses. These are specialty roses that have different care requirements. Rugosa roses do not get sprayed for anything so I plant them away from the roses that I do spray.

My Rugosa roses are very care free; aside from a yearly pruning and mulching they are on their own. One word of caution: do not plant them in a wet spot. They tolerate drought quite well but they do not like a wet spot. The one I planted in a low spot in my yard has died back badly.

There are roses out there. treasures for your gardens.

I hope you find some new

Some other great newer roses on the market include ‘Pope John Paul II’. This is one of the best pure white roses. Its Photo courtesy Bailey Nurseries. large blooms are the typical hybrid tea form and very fragrant.

‘All Dressed Up’ has large old-fashioned blooms of medium pink on a vigorous 4’ to 5’ bush. Although these roses need Diane Brueckman is a retired rosarian a little more attention than the shrub roses their blooms are with Missouri Botanical Garden, a joy to cut and take in the house or to a friend.

If your space is limited consider some of the patio roses. Patio roses are no longer limited to miniatures. There is a world of smaller roses for container gardening. Mini-flora roses have larger blooms on small plants. ‘Life’s Little Pleasures’ y er pan n m n rd Wi ly Co wa p 9 A p e u 01 ic G S 2 Ser v BF ity un m m Co

and currently owns Rosey Acres in Baldwin, Illinois. You can reach her at (618) 785-3011 or droseyacres@ egyptian.net.

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Resilience Gardens

Building a Foundation from the Ground Up

By Hillary Fitz

But what does resilience garden mean? And how can it be applied to our lives in a practical way?

In response to the economic and lifestyle challenges that hit home, folks were left searching for positive ways in which they could help buffer this stress on their daily lives. With food flying off the shelves, many looked to their own space for potential solutions. Beyond beautification lies a wonderful opportunity for practical use. A massive resurgence in vegetable gardening took place with veggie seedlings selling like hotcakes. There was a huge spike in what is now being

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Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from challenges, setbacks, and distress. Think of it as life elasticity. You stretch something past its comfort zone yet it finds its way back. It is one of the most important qualities one can possess during stressful life situations.

This elasticity comes from a variety of places, but namely from developing self-sufficiency and maintaining balance in our lives. Resilience can be found on an individual and household level, but also extends beyond that into the community. The stronger our communities are, the better equipped we are to handle anything that comes our way. Food is without a doubt one of the primary foundations in which we can grow this resilience.

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tagged as “resilience gardens” similar to those backyard “Victory Gardens” planted during World War II, but adapted to the modern world.

n the midst of the uncertainty that came with the pandemic, many of us turned to our gardens as the antidote to the chaos. Challenging times often inspire us to ask simple questions - what is important? What do I need? Although every individual may have unique answers, there is one common link that unites us all. Food. The glue that keeps our bodies, families, and communities strong.

The idea is simple - starting with our own backyards and using them as a catalyst to help strengthen our bodies, our families, and our relationships within our community. Building a foundation quite literally from the ground up! We build our self-sufficiency by learning how to grow our own fresh food and passing these skills on to younger generations.

Beyond the physical health benefits, the garden provides a space for stress relief, for creativity, and for our families to spend quality time together. A space to unplug and reconnect at the same time - a space that has the ability to nourish so many aspects of our lives.

The resilience garden can be a platform to serve our communities.

Sharing the harvest with our neighbors, friends, and loved ones helps build and strengthen relationships. In addition, each garden can also be a place of inspiration for others who are interested in growing - think of it as a food-producing domino effect. One garden can truly be a catalyst for so much positive change, both on an individual and community level. In this crazy world we live in, so much nourishment can be found no further than our own backyards. So dig in!

Hillary Fitz is an avid backyard gardener with a degree in Environmental Science from Saint Louis University and a passion for all things plants. She does Marketing and Community Engagement at Greenscape Gardens in Manchester, MO. When she’s not working in the garden, she’s either playing music, doing yoga, or baking banana muffins.

The Gateway Gardener™ SUMMER 2020

Pictures of Resilience H

illary’s article on Resilience Gardens on the opposite page inspired me to think about the resiliency of gardeners in a broader sense than its application to vegetable gardening alone. Resilience can definitely be applied to the young families who decided to use try gardening of any kind for the first time, ornamental or otherwise. It could be applied to more experienced gardeners who decided to use the time to create a new rain garden, or a new native garden. It could even be applied to the restorative power that favorite plants or scenes in existing gardens have on their owners and passers by. And certainly, resilience is a perfect term to apply to the way in which garden centers across the region have responded to the challenges of serving their customers this spring.

So, with those thoughts in mind, I sent out a request on Instagram to Gateway Gardener followers to submit photos of new projects, existing gardens, or scenes from their gardens that have given them strength and resilience in spring 2020. I also got a few responses from our garden center friends illustrating their resilient responses to business unusual this spring. On the next few pages are some of the results. May we all discover the power of gardening to help us navigate through these times.--Ed.

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Curbside orders lined up for customers -Sugar Creek Gardens, Kirkwood

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Pictures of Resilience “Planting Window boxes with a scheme I dreamed up while shopping online, and plants procured via curbside pick-up at MayPop Nursery in Webster Groves.

Aided by Rudy, the Rude Dog.”

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-Marcell Hawley, Webster Groves

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“Celandine poppies were spectacular this spring.

I felt like I was visiting a conservation area in our own backyard.”

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-Garden Heights Nursery, Richmond Heights

-Susan and Ed Rohde, Affton

Son Harrison, enjoying our front yard.

We’ve spent countless hours there this spring, and it’s become his favorite spot!”

-Jessica Martsolf, Webster Groves

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Forrest Keeling Nursery, Elsberry

-Renee Benage, Ferguson

-Jamie

tington,

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Dig This!

Gateway Gardeners and Businesses in the News In Memoriam

August H. (Sonny) Hummert passed away on May 5, 2020.

He was the President of Hummert International, and had helped direct Hummert’s growth from a seed company to the international horticultural products company it is today.

In 1961 Sonny joined his father, A.H. (Gus) Hummert, working in the family business founded by his grandfather, August H. Hummert in the early 1930s. Sonny worked under the tutelage of his elder namesakes until they passed; first August Senior in 1970 followed by August Junior in 1974. 33-year-old Sonny took over as president and led the company for the next forty-six years.

Together with Wayne and Charlie Meyr, and soon joined by his younger brother, Pete, Sonny and the rest of his employees embarked on a journey that allowed their passion for horticulture to blossom into an enterprise. He often described the business as “selling everything needed to kill a plant or grow a plant and everything you would find in a greenhouse, including the greenhouse”. He took pride in seeking out the very best products he could find to supply to customers. Sonny included a personal note that graced every invoice sent out by the company for decades that read, “Thank you for this order! If you would care to comment or make suggestions about our products or services, we would appreciate hearing from you. Your note will come to my personal attention”.

The company began to produce periodic catalogs in 1934, and it was Sonny’s vision for it to be the best single-source of horticultural products and knowledge on the planet. In 1975 he produced a 205-page catalog and ended with his 2018-2019 edition that numbered 816 pages. In addition to the catalog, Sonny exhibited his passion for excellence and service with two other pet projects: Hummert’s Calendar, and Hummert’s Helpful Hints. He filled the calendar with everything from moon phases to tax filing 20

deadlines. Sonny made sure the information provided was accurate and attractively presented because our customers depended on him. In Helpful Hints he found the opportunity to produce a unique compilation of incredibly useful information, facts, and formulas. Both were valuable sources of horticultural information in the days before internet searches brought facts such as those to our fingertips.

Sonny loved his family and his business with equal ferocity, and under his guidance, Hummert’s has been a generous supporter of local green industry programs and services.

Sonny enjoyed good health and immersed himself in numerous activities as an energetic man possessing a thirst for knowledge and intellect. He found joy in his wife and children as a loving and devoted husband and father. His hobbies and interests included gardening, fly fishing, tennis, racquetball, travel, as well as scuba diving, and especially, flying. As a private pilot, Sonny and Kathy enjoyed flying their personal plane to many parts of the continental United States, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

Sonny is survived by his wife Kathy, a sister and a brother and their families, two children, and four grandchildren.

In Memoriam

Vivian Cecile Gellman passed away on March 20th, 2020. Her gardens at the corner of Ladue Rd. and McKnight road were happy landmarks for many passersby in the late 20th Century, when wide swaths of pink and red tulips in the spring would make way for equally wide swaths of pink and red zinnias all summer.

Vivian was a graduate of Washington University and after raising her family, returned to obtain a master’s degree in Education. After retiring from education in the early 90s, Vivian began a second career most of us are more familiar with. Vivian formed Vivian Gellman Garden Concepts and put the same The Gateway Gardener™ SUMMER 2020

passion into many projects that were exhibited in her own home landscape. She grew plants for the Ladue Market, and tended Jack Buck’s garden. She provided plants for many charity auctions, including the Delmar Harvard School, and undertook gardening duties for her synagogue.

Vicki Lander, owner of Flower Hill Farm in Beaufort, MO, recalls approaching Vivian in the early nineties for an apprenticeship position after completing her Master Gardener training. “Vivian told me, ‘My job on this earth is to make the world a more beautiful place, and you’re welcome to help me!”

Vivian will be missed by family, friends, former colleagues and students, and passersby at Ladue and McKnight roads.

New Extension Leader for St. Clair/ Madison/Monroe

Amy Cope assumed leadership January 21 as county extension director with the University of Illinois Extension, succeeding Pam Jacobs, who retired. Amy holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Communications and a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture/Agriculture Business. Her work history includes experience with Farm Business/ Farm Management, Bunge North America and most

Dig Deeper.

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Amy is familiar with Extension having served as a 4-H Leader and a Unit Advisory Council member. She is a Monroe County native who lives in rural Waterloo. She grew up on working on a farm and being active in 4-H, 4-H Federation and FFA. She wants to support the community and staff at the extension offices of St. Clair, Madison and Monroe counties to enable the same opportunities for today’s youth and businesses.

University of Illinois Extension offices are located at 901 Illinois Avenue (Monroe County Annex) Waterloo and 1 Regency Plaza Drive, Suite 200, Collinsville.

The EFNEP training center is located at 1265 N. 89th Street, East St. Louis. You can reach Amy at (618) 939-3434 for more information about University of Illinois programs.

Thank You Thank You The Henry Shaw Cactus & Succulent Society wishes to thank the Gateway Gardener for the role it plays in providing information about plants to the St. Louis public, even during this challenging time.

HSCSS also thanks the publication and its readers for the ongoing support they have shown for our events.

2020 Show & Sale Canceled

Due to the impacts of COVID-19, the annual Cactus & Succulent Show & Sale at Missouri Botanical Garden has been canceled. Please plan to join HSCSS in 2021 for the return of the Biggest C&S Event in the Midwest.

For the latest society events, articles and photos, visit https://hscactus.org or find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hs.cactus/.

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Mark Your Calendars!

ummer is the season of glory for many gardens, and is usually the time when we are afforded the opportunity to peak into the gardening skills and successes of others through a full slate of garden tours and plant society shows. This year’s schedule, as with many things in 2020, has been dotted with uncertainty. Events at the beginning of the summer have mostly been canceled.

Those in mid-summer, at the time of this writing, are tentatively still on the calendar as organizers watch for storm clouds forming on the horizon. End of summer and fall events are inked onto the calendar with a little more confidence! Because this Summer Edition will take us through the end of August, we have to look into the crystal ball a bit, but do so with positivity, to tell you about a few such events we hope will carry on and help inspire us.

20th Annual Pond-O-Rama June 27th & 28th, 9-5 pm

Washington County Farm Tour and Field Dinner August 29th, 2020 This year the dinner will be a country picnic style Event.

The cost will include picnic basket, wine glasses, appetizers and full country picnic, with beverages included, served on a tented field, at socially distanced tables, cost is $80 for a basket for two. Supports local farmers and agriculture students through scholarships.

Reservations required, limited seating! Call 573-438-8555 or dbust@wcpartnership.org.

St. Louis Water Garden Society members have been taking advantage of the stay-at-home days this spring and summer to prepare their water features and gardens for the 20th Anniversary Pond-O-Rama Tour.

Those who have attended Pond-O-Rama in the past know they always can count on “Come have a Country Picnic with us and support local Agriculseeing something new. This year is no exception!

For Pond-O-Rama veterans, the annual pond and water garden tour ture.

is a chance for them to spread the word about water gardening and the St Louis Water Garden Society, to share their own talents and ”SPLASH! Pond and Garden Tour hard work, and to help raise funds for the Society’s community Chalily, th14430 Manchester Rd., St. Louis 63011 service project, the lily ponds at Forest Park’s Jewel Box. The tour Sept. 19 Join us on a tour of water gardens also helps support other programs for the Society throughout the around St. Louis! From the DIY-er year. to professionally built, these hosts This year’s tour will feature 30 gardens over the two days. Of are opening their water features for those, 8 are new to the tour and 22 are returning from previous your inspiration! You can choose the years; many with new features added. All are SLWGS members bus tour or self-guided to visit these who have opened their private gardens to the public for this tour. beautiful oasis around St. Louis. Ask 15 ponds will be open on Saturday, June 27; the remaining 15 the hosts your questions, take some will be available on Sunday, June 28. Each location will be on the pictures, sit on a bench and enjoy the tour only one of the two days, from 9-5 pm; and the $15 ticket view! The purpose of the tour is to covers both days. A special discount to groups of 10 or more: the raise money for a worthy charity. As tickets are only $10 each. The ticket booklet has maps and driving of this writing details haven’t been dedirections and water feature information for the self-guided tour. termined. Tickets include a seat on the For more information about the tour, a list of ticket-selling locations bus, breakfast at one of the beautiful gardens, lunch at another host or to order tickets call (314) 995-2988 or visit the website of the St. garden, and dinner at the last water feature on the tour. The buses begin and end at Chalily. Tickets will be available later in the sumLouis Water Garden Society, www.slwgs.org. mer in store at Chalily or online at chalily.com.

The private gardens on tour range from small areas to vast garden spaces. In compliance with local and state guidance, it is requested that all visitors practice social distancing and that masks be worn For other summer events, please check out our online when visiting the gardens for everyone’s health and safety. Limiting calendar at gatewaygardener.com/events, where we the number of people throughout the day ensures that everyone has have the flexibility to add, delete and modify the summer the opportunity to enjoy the beauty created by members.

schedule in a more timely and accurate manner.

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The Gateway Gardener™ SUMMER 2020

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