Spring 2022 Newsletter

Friends of

Horticulture in New Spaces!

Part two of reimagining and rebuilding the Margaret C. Ferguson Greenhouses is now complete. The Global Flora conservatory was part one, replacing the main axis that contained the Desert House, Tropical House and other collections and exhibit spaces. Now, the Teaching and Research Greenhouse replaces the “fingers” of the old greenhouses and the potting room, with one large teaching house, three smaller research houses and a headhouse shared by students and staff. All of this is contained in an efficient rectangle of gabled glass attached to the Science Center as Dr. Ferguson insisted on for the original greenhouses. During horticulture class, students once again can easily move between the greenhouse, potting area and lab without having to take plants outside— such a simple, crucial detail that enables hands-on learning with plants in all seasons.

A huge leap forward for these new greenhouses is automated climate control—an integrated system of vents, shade curtains, fans, fin tube radiators, and fan coil units for heating and cooling! We can now see current conditions and adjust them from afar through an app, no more needing to come back to campus in the evening to crank the vents closed on cold nights. Kaye Peterman’s Plant Biology class is growing experimental Arabidopsis in one of the research houses, a tough test for the first winter as we fine-tune the plant-growing machine that is the new greenhouse. They report that all but the coldsensitive mutants are doing well. The climate management system also controls full spectrum LED grow lights, which enabled the

Students work on benchtops salvaged from the old potting room in Sage Hall.

Arabidopsis (and the people tending them) to experience 16 hours of “sunlight” daily in the winter, without the massive energy use of the sodium vapor lights in the former research greenhouses.

Already, in their first semester, all of the greenhouse spaces are in active use. Another research house is full of peas and radishes grown with synthetic, organic, or no fertilizer in an experiment jointly designed by the horticulture class (Biology 108, taught by Katie Nickles and me) and Microbiology (Biology 209, taught by

NOTES from the Director

Greetings from Wellesley!

As I write this it feels as if we are beginning to emerge from multiple tunnels — years of construction, pandemic, staffing transitions and other challenges that have kept us constantly changing how and where we work, collaborate and teach. They’ve required an internal focus and postponement of projects we’re eager to get to, in order to continue supporting central College priorities such as student experiential learning. Demand for work-study positions is higher than ever, and we’ve managed to hire, train and mentor over 20 student assistants in each of the past two years. Anne Beckley, Julianna Razryadov, and Jenn Yang all hit the ground running in their new roles over the past two years (filling the big shoes of Tricia Diggins, Rob Nicholson, and Gail Kahn, respectively), and they are individually and collectively amazing. As in-person gatherings become increasingly possible, weekly construction meetings ease up, and we get fully moved into our new spaces along with the rest of the Science Center community, we can finally start moving forward some longanticipated projects and events such as opening Global Flora to the public. We also will each take some vacation!

There is still snow on the ground now in early March, after a couple of big February storms. Witch hazels, hazelnuts and the first forsythias are in bloom while snowdrops are popping up in warm spots.

There is still a lot of flooding around Paramecium Pond and the Maple Swamp, and our stormwater infrastructure is showing its age. The Paulson Initiative’s timely master planning effort for Science Hill, with a focus on climate resiliency and stormwater management, is moving forward in collaboration with Facilities, Mikyoung Kim Design, and Nitsch Engineering. The plan is identifying potential projects including a much more sustainable water system for the Silver

since its launch in 2011. Foot traffic through the garden is high, and it has become a favorite place on campus for many in the community. Several of the trees and shrubs have become quite productive, and we had a bumper crop of blueberries last summer. It is also a great place to learn some plant ID while weeding and foraging, and it hums with birds and pollinators throughout the growing season. It is not hard to find joy in the Edible Ecosystem.

Thread Brook and Paramecium Pond, possibly including stormwater from the nearby Rt. 135 (Central Street) with some biofiltration plantings along the way. Our Botanic Gardens team has been involved in the planning and is excited about the possibilities. Hence there are more construction projects in our future, but this time they will be focused on the landscape. The landscape project that turned a slope covered with crown vetch and spurge into the Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden has now seen 10 growing seasons

I’ll close with a note of appreciation for Tony Antonucci’s 40 years of dedicated service to the Botanic Gardens. Tony has devoted himself to the care and feeding of an incredible number and diversity of plants in a remarkable variety of growing spaces over the years. From growing dozens of sunflowers from seed for the Organismal Biology labs every semester to cleaning scale insects off of the Durant Camellia, jury-rigging spare parts to keep the old greenhouses functioning in their last years to using an app to adjust climatic conditions in the new ones, Tony has done it all for Wellesley. We are planning an appropriate send-off for him this summer, and wish him good health and much happiness in his retirement.

With best wishes for a healthy and beautiful spring season,

Kristina Niovi Jones, Director Wellesley College Botanic Gardens kjones@wellesley.edu 781.283.3027

The Edible Ecosystem's blueberry patch early on a March morning.

Building a Bog

Bogs are marginal communities of plants exemplified by standing water, low pH (acidic environment), low nutritional resources, and plants that have unique adaptations that can survive these conditions. The plants that survive in bogs and other similar wetlands are typically poor competitors in more rich environments. However, in these extreme environments they have evolved creative ways to cope and grow. Some plants that grow in bogs have evolved carnivory— trapping insects for their nitrogen and phosphorous in specialized leaves rather than relying on their roots. Other plants maintain symbiotic relationships with specialized mycorrhizal fungi. All of these plants are able to survive in the oxygen deprived acidic-resource-absent spaces.

The plants featured in our packed little indoor bog in Global Flora come from around the world, from true bogs

highlands of Mexico and South America. The eclectic mix has one thing truly in common with one another—their ability to survive in extremely resource-poor humid environments. I’ll feature a couple of my favorites for you here.

Heliamphora exappendiculata is one of our stand-out pitcher plants. The Heliamphora group, or the sun pitchers, is a genus endemic to the Guiana highlands of South America. They are unique in their habituation to cool-temperature marshlands. This species is endemic to a small area of Venezuela where they are not only found in the shade of marshes but also growing on permanently wet cliff sides of ravines in the area.

such as those described above, as well as from wetlands of the pine barrens, dunes of Australia, canopies of Borneo, and

Wandering in Wellesley

During the summer of 2021, I had the pleasure of working with the Paulson Initiative to explore what it means to find a sense of place and belonging within the natural spaces of Wellesley College. My goal for the summer was to create a digital application that gets students involved with campus spaces, especially those that are underutilized or overlooked. I chose several areas of interest on Science Hill, including some beloved spots in the Botanic Gardens. I walked through them while taking notes, photos, and paying close attention to what I felt and heard, and any memories that were brought to the surface.

The finished product is an open-world fiction game, Wandering in Wellesley! I was determined to capture the spirit of curiosity and free range exploration that I felt on my own adventures, so I configured my game so that a player can move back and forth between locations and choose which objects to interact with as opposed to standard choose-your-own adventure

stories that only offer a variety of ways forward in the author’s narrative.

The summer version of Wandering in Wellesley is available online at www.tinyurl.com/wellesleywander, but I have many updates in store! I’m working on accessibility resources and also other versions of the game for each season. The

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winter edition is currently in production and will be available soon! This project has prompted me to explore Wellesley in different weather conditions and times of year and I can’t wait to share it all with you. Happy wandering!

by Ryan Rowe '23

A typical page from the Wandering in Wellesley game.

Heliamphoras grow well in cool Venezuelan marshes and cliff sides.

Taking Care of Global Flora

The conservatory has been undergoing some massive changes since we first opened our doors. While the pandemic has kept us closed to the public, and even to students, we’ve taken the opportunity to put some real forward thinking into action. We have picked plants up out of the ground, moved them around, repotted them, taken them off walls, and hung them back up. It’s been a whirlwind and we’ve gathered some pictures to show you how far we’ve come.

The biggest transformation happened in the dry biome where the dirt (actually carefully mixed growing media) was excavated and replaced, new beds and exhibits were constructed, and plants were moved to be near others that required similar conditions. Since we transplanted in February, most plants were not in their peak growing season. However, the transplant shock is real and many plants dropped all their leaves, so we caretakers began the process of waiting to see if they'd pull through.

We could not have done all this refurbishment without the help of Wellesley alum Annalise Michaelson ’21, a lover of cacti and succulents and a student who chose to go to Wellesley because she heard a project called Global Flora was being planned. To her left you can see the new entrance exhibit, encouraging all visitors to look at the plants closely right from the beginning, for the small and intricate details.

The wall was cleared and new exhibits were built like the Haworthia display at its base.

Now the dry biome is flourishing. Though we’ve lost a few plants in the transition, the new landscape looks glorious.

The wet biome has evolved as well! While the plants were quite small to begin with, many have since become massive. Plus they needed to be reorganized in order to fight the green blindness that happens when there is so much green you can no longer distinguish the individual plants.

Our beloved tree fern bed became dense and overgrown to the point where we really did lose plants in it! Mika Taga-Anderson ’22 pulled out ginger and ferns to reveal the plants hidden below.

The paludarium has been completely revamped thanks to the dedication of our lead fish handler Kayli Hattley ’22. Fish were introduced in May and plants soon followed to create a beautiful fresh water contained ecosystem. Orchids were potted in terracotta pots and hung on the wall above it, on our new, inhouse invented, wall hanging units. (See Spring 2021 Newsletter.) These can be seen supporting plants throughout the conservatory replacing the old felt pockets.

Now it is a tree fern and palm bed with an understory exhibiting a variety of plants that are easy to divide and propagate. Similarly, overcrowding of our iridescent plants exhibit made them lost in the landscape. So we edited out and created a brand new isolated, beautiful exhibit. Again, this was possible only with the help of our amazing student assistants. We ripped out the indoor bog, extended it, lined it, and outfitted it to be long lasting. Now it is a beautiful space where the wild world of carnivorous plants is brought to your eye line.

We continue to develop new exhibits like an evolving tropical food crops bed. We look forward to you visiting us to see it all once Global Flora opens to the public, likely in late fall 2022!

by Julianna Razryadov Botanical Collections Manager

Cabinet of Curiosities: A Studio Art Class

Cabinets of curiosities, also known as wunderkammer, cabinets of wonder, or wonder-rooms are collections of notable objects. First becoming popular in the sixteenth century, wunderkammer often referred to an entire room rather than a piece of furniture. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has a new gallery dedicated to displaying some fine examples. The collections both reflected the particular interests and curiosities of their owners and curators, and also served as social devices to establish and uphold their rank in society. In modern terminology one would categorize the objects included in such collections as belonging to natural history, geology, ethnology, archeology, relics, works of art and antiquities. That is, almost anything goes.

The habit of collecting things is a common trait of botanical artists, and one I share. I’ve always been drawn to tiny botanical specimens. I come home from walks with pockets full of leaves, berries, twigs and seed pods. I collect dead insects in case they might fit into a painting. My grandchildren bring me deceased beetles and spiders and owl pellets for my collection. Among my most prized possessions is a dead cicada and dragonfly. Every trip to the beach results in buckets of shells, seaweed, sea glass and bits of things washed up in the high tide. All of these end up in my studio, waiting for their moment to feature in a painting, along with buttons, keys, china shards and feathers.

To find out that my collection qualified as a legitimate "thing" was so exciting and affirming. My plastic fishing tackle box full of "treasures" was now my "Cabinet of Curiosities."

Recently, I decided to offer our botanical artists the opportunity to curate their own collections of treasures to paint. Not surprisingly, the class was titled "Cabinet of Curiosities." It offered participants a chance to sort their bounty into mini collections. These could evoke a memory, a garden, a visit somewhere, a place or a time or just what made them happy, no justification needed!

We still had to consider scale, size, color and texture in our selection and work through our normal planning process to get to the final painting. The resulting class artwork is all so different and so interesting. Each painting tells a story.

by Sarah Roche Education Director, Certificate in Botanical Art & Illustration

©TaraConnaughton

A 17th century Cabinet of Curiosities as painted by Domenico Remps, 1690.

©JanBoyd

© Martha Stowell

© Cheryl McCaffrey

© Suzanne Thorin

Connaughton

Learn With Us

WCBG Friends offers both remote and in-person instruction for our courses. Check individual course listings for details.

Remote instruction will be through the Zoom video conferencing app. In-person instruction is taking place at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Gardens at Elm Bank on a limited, socially distant basis. Mass Hort has two classrooms at Elm Bank available for our use: the Cheney classroom in the Education Center the Putnam classroom, next to the production greenhouses

Pre-registration required for all classes. Specific directions to the classroom will be sent along with the materials list prior to the start of the class.

See more course offerings on our website: www.wellesley.edu/wcbg/learn Courses are announced via email to our current art students. Email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu to be added to our course emails.

Foundations Studio Focus: May Flowers

In this class with Sarah Roche, focus on capturing the flowers of spring with delicate shapes and pastel colors. Suitable for Foundations level students who have taken at least one Foundations class.

BAC 22 104

4 Mon.: May 2, 9, 16, 23

9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Putnam classroom, Elm Bank Members $225 | Non-Members $275

Introduction to Botanical Art: Foundations in a Week

Explore the world of botanical art in this course designed especially for you— the beginner. Sarah Roche guides your experience through structured exercises, projects and demonstrations, exposing you to the basic techniques and methods of botanical drawing and watercolor painting. All experience levels welcome.

BAC 22 101A

4 days: Thurs., Fri. & Mon., June 2, 3 & 6: 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Tues., June 7: 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

At Elm Bank: June 2 in Cheney; June 3, 6 & 7 in Putnam Members $285 | Non-Members $335

Fun With Perspective: Understanding the Basics

Explore the fundamentals of perspective with Carol Ann Morley and take your drawing skills to a new level. Beginner to experienced students welcome.

BAC 23 133X

2 days: Mon. & Tues., Aug. 22 & 23

9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Putnam classroom, Elm Bank Members $225 | Non-Members $275

Drawing Flowers with Perspective

Carol Ann Morley helps you train your artist’s eye to look beyond the familiar flower and seek out the underlying structural form. Depict the beauty of flowers in a graphite rendering.

BAC 23 134

3 days: Thurs. – Sat., Aug. 25 – 27

9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Putnam classroom, Elm Bank Members $325 | Non-Members $400

Botanical Sketchbook: Flowers and Flyers

Practice botanical drawing and watercolor techniques with Tara Connaughton. Our focus is on plants and their winged visitors, especially birds and butterflies.

Prerequisite: at least one Foundations class.

BAC 22 032

4 Wed.: May 18, 25; June 1, 8

9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Online via Zoom on May 18, 25 & June 1 Putnam classroom, Elm Bank on June 8 Members $150 | Non-Members $190

©

© Carol Ann Morley

© Tara Connaughton

Looking Inward: Centering Wellesley Students in Green Spaces

Botanic Gardens students and staff have been leading creative, empowering projects centered around accessibility, antiracism, and belonging in the gardens, outdoors and in horticulture, as a central tenet of our mission as an educational garden at Wellesley College.

Below, Marcela Hernandez ’23 and Angela Douglass’24 reflect upon leading these efforts as our inaugural antiracism student ambassadors last year, and how this led to a Plant Stories media project. This year, many of our Botanic Gardens students co-created Students for Intersectional Environmental Justice (SEIJ), and are now leading cross-campus efforts welcoming all students to enjoy the gardens and engage in environmental issues.

What Do Anti-Racism Ambassadors Do?

As anti-racism ambassadors for the Botanic Gardens, we began our brainstorming process with a focus on the importance of community and having a space where Wellesley students with diverse experiences could come to share and gain knowledge. In Spring 2021, we led a biweekly reading group on the intersection of race and the environment, including introductory resources and conversations around environmental racism and justice; the colonial and racist history of botanic gardens and national parks; representation in environmental professions; and ways of knowing. This reading group opened a conversation at Wellesley about the history of exclusion and colonialism within botanic gardens as institutions, and the importance of addressing these injustices, and set a foundation for projects this year that can make a positive impact at Wellesley.

We learned that plants have the potential to shape our identity and can hold cultural, spiritual, and personal significance. In our efforts to transform the Botanic Gardens into a student-centered space that celebrates the diversity of the Wellesley College community, we are now working on a Plant Stories Project. Last year, we explored our initial understandings of the profound relationships between people and plants. This year, we hope to look inward and learn from the specific plant stories of Wellesley students. We are using digital video to creatively document a student and their connection to a plant. Each student has the opportunity to tell their plant story using whichever format represents their relationship best. The story may take the form of a poem, a personal essay, a song, or any other creative expression.

Our hope in pursuing this project is to make the Botanic Gardens a more dynamic place that reflects the Wellesley community by celebrating the many beautiful connections between people and plants around the world.

Students for Intersectional Environmental Justice

This year, ambassadors from the major environmental spheres on campus—the Botanic Gardens, the Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative, the Office of Sustainability, and the Frost Center for the Environment came together to create Students for Intersectional Environmental Justice (SIEJ). This effort is now more broad-reaching and inclusive than our initial efforts as antiracism ambassadors, and co-led by a growing group of students. As part of our work, we launched our first event of the year, the Frost Center for the Environment BIPOC Student Open House, to the environmental spaces and community on campus. Through a festive welcome event, including collaborative art and greenhouse tours, we introduced the new Science Center spaces in a way that actively welcomed students from backgrounds that have been systemically excluded from green spaces and from conversations about issues in the natural environment around them. Ultimately, the goal of SIEJ is to ensure that the environmental spaces on campus are centering intersectionality within their conversations about climate change and showcasing that everyone has a place and a voice in the climate justice movement.

by Marcela Hernandez ’23 & Angela Douglass ’24 Botanic Gardens student ambassadors

Excerpt from Sávila (Aloe vera): Marcela’s Plant Story by Marcela Hernandez

I break a piece off Feel the smoothness between my fingers

Split it open Roll the gel on my skin . . . and wait for the healing to begin. Now I know it as Aloe vera But I grew up calling it Sávila

Anytime I freeze, cut, slice, crush, it still manages to make me feel healed. Aloe vera always manages to grow. Sometimes you need to be cut back to heal and grow back stronger.

Marcela Hernandez and Angela Douglass are Botanic Gardens student ambassadors.

Horticulture in New Spaces!

Vanja Klepac-Ceraj and Julie Roden). The microbiology students are assessing how the soil microbial communities compare over time with the different nutrient treatments and plant types, and the horticulture students have been tracking plant growth and will compare chlorophyll content, biomass, taste and other variables at harvest just before spring break. The third research house is serving as a quarantine space for plants Botanical Collections Manager Julianna Razryadov brings in, for example, from a recent plant exchange trip to Smith and Mt. Holyoke. Julianna and her student assistants scrutinize these plants for pests and diseases before they are planted into Global Flora or added to the collection in the teaching greenhouse. And the teaching greenhouse is full of plants for the Organismal Biology class and the Horticulture class (including the individual student spaces), and features a propagation bench with a misting system, used by staff as well as for classes.

It was a mad rush to get these spaces ready for the start of the semester, and we’re still working on finishing touches such as adding shelving and getting our supplies organized. Like for the rest of the new part of the Science Center, which opened just in the nick of time for the spring semester, we’re simultaneously figuring out how everything works, teaching and

researching in the spaces, and working out the kinks as we encounter them. It’s beyond thrilling to be in this final phase of reconstruction, guided throughout by the vision and leadership of Science Center Director Cathy Summa '83 and the project management of Director of Construction Tim Singleton and his team. The new spaces are fabulous, and I believe Margaret Ferguson would be well pleased to see how her greenhouses have evolved, nearly 100 years after she envisioned the originals.

by Kristina Niovi Jones WCBG Director

Mia Silberstein '24 checks on the experimental peas and radishes.

Josie Ramirez '24 tends seedlings in "her" plot in the Teaching Greenhouse.

Remembering Two Friends

ancy Dean Kingman ’53, with her extensive knowledge of horticulture and passionate commitment to the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens, was a prominent docent, volunteer and advocate for many years. Nancy held herself and her fellow docents to high standards, mindful that they represented a public face of her beloved alma mater. While she gave tours to visitors of all ages, she was especially engaged with children and they always brought a smile to her face. A Master Gardener, she was a long-time member and president of the Acton Garden Club. Nancy opened her home and gardens to Friends volunteers for a memorable summer gathering where everyone savored the perennial garden, antique rose garden, rock garden and shrub gardens. She especially enjoyed showing everyone her historic lilacs and the eglantine (Rosa rubiginosa), a rose mentioned in Shakespeare that has five-petaled pink flowers and distinctive apple-scented foliage.

The Friends recently learned of the passing of Dr. Ruth Starratt last year. Ruth was an enthusiastic volunteer who enjoyed welcoming people to the Botanic Gardens, particularly first year students at the annual Plant Giveaway. An accomplished botanical artist, she took advanced classes with the Friends and created many beautiful pieces. Ruth was active in the New England Society of Botanical Artists as well as the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA), co-chairing ASBA’s 2011 annual meeting in Boston and serving as ASBA’s director. Ruth was a member of the Art Education faculty at Boston University, where she mentored many students on their path to becoming art teachers. She facilitated learning experiences for her students at the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens, connecting them to the rich resources for learning and creative expression that WCBG and other public gardens have to offer.

We miss the wit and wisdom of these two wonderful women who brought so much to the WCBG.

NA huge thank you to all Friends of the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens!

Your wonderful support has kept our gardens growing and our students learning through the pandemic, and we hope you are staying safe and well through these challenging times. We miss seeing you here! Please watch our website, wellesley.edu/wcbg, for the latest updates. Our outdoor gardens are open again to the public every day. The WCBG Visitor Center remains closed until its post-construction refresh is complete. We are targeting late fall 2022 for the public opening of Global Flora and our Visitor Center. We’re also always looking for ways to improve and engage all of our visitors and Friends members. We want YOUR feedback! What do you love most about the Botanic Gardens? Would you be interested in “going digital”— receiving newsletters and other updates via email? Please share your thoughts with us at tinyurl.com/wcbg-spring22

Ready to renew your one-year membership or become a Friend? Make your gift today at tinyurl.com/wcbg-gift

Building a Bog

Continued from page 3

Overhanging the in-ground plants are an assortment of Nepenthes spp, tropical pitcher plants native to southeast Asia. Pictured here is Nepenthes burkei x hamata. This simple cross has a striking resemblance to the N. hamata parent. These beautiful pitchers are extensions of a traditional leaf form, adapted to entice and capture prey. Nepenthes pitchers come in a very wide variety of shapes and sizes. Many plants in this genus are not yet formally described and research and descriptions are actively pursued. It is not yet clear, for example, why there are such outstanding hairs on some species like those seen on this specimen.

by Julianna Razryadov Botanical Collections Manager

Ruth and her husband, Jerry Starratt.

Nepenthes burkei x hamata

Blooming and Booming with the Botanistas

Greetings from the Wellesley College Botanistas, our local plant appreciation club!

The Botanistas work within the Botanic Gardens to get students more connected to the plant life on campus and share a sense of environmental community.

Last semester we did a lot of handson plant projects, like natural dyeing with plants from around the gardens, making paper embedded with seeds, and baking paw paw bread with our own fruit. A lot of our events had two parts—we would first forage and collect the natural materials and later use them in a creative project. We hope to do similar events as the weather warms up and plant life returns in full force.

Botanistas gathered seeds for a paper-making project.

in Global Flora where we screen films with an environmental theme. We’re also looking forward to using the new spaces in the recently renovated Science Center. The horticulture labs will be a great location for cyanotype printing, batik natural dyeing and maybe some old favorites like paper making. We’re hoping to contribute some of the botanical art projects to decorating the new environmental spaces in the Science Center. At the end of the term we will be working on a collaborative botanical event with the Paulson Initiative to celebrate the graduating purple class!

Our main goal for spring 2022 is to provide a fun space where students can unwind and interact with nature through plant-based activities and art projects. So far we've had a few general meetings amidst the lovely greenery in the Global Flora greenhouse, and our first Friends, Film and Flora of the semester, a movie night

I joined Botanistas my first semester at Wellesley, and was immediately captivated. Now in my junior year, organizing Botanistas has been one of my best experiences at Wellesley. It's so fun to be able to see other students like me enjoying what the Botanic Gardens have to offer.

by Juliette Lange ’23, Thorndike Intern