NPG December 1, 2018

December 1, 2018   Native Plant Garden

"In the eye of the beholder," as Ellen and I entered the NPG, I was struck by the brownness and empty areas, and Ellen commented "a lot of color."

brown and empty

Winterberry color

Visiting "my baby" (NPG) after an amount of time, and she has changed.  I knew it, yet found it shocking. A lot of work has been done by the gardeners.

I am here today because Ellen invited me to join her at NYBG where she has a tour today called Winter Wonderland, whatever that can be made to be. Sunny and chilly, my kind of day. I am ordered by the ENT doctor to talk as little as possible to heal my vocal cords, so frustration to deal with that as I interact with visitors with sign language or iPad notes.
It was hard, unusual, to get the iPad working so I could write.   I owe it an apology for my absence from the Botanical Garden, having

American Holly red berries

traveled to Canada and excuses, excuses.













 Michael Hagen had identified Aster ericoides, across from the plaque and pond, and this is how it looks today. Knowing where it is helps to know what it is.

Aster ericoides Dec. 1, 2018

Aster ericoides  Sept. 28, 2018

Color on the Witch Hazel

As I remember wandering in the "old" NPG, in the late fall it was surprising to see otherwise hidden signs, and so today, some that I hadn't noticed when full growth.

             

When I first started cross country skiing, I was excited to see winter leavings, the fern fronds that are actually quite beautiful. A reminder today.











The Alabama Crotons, which were a surprising addition to NPG, have done well and are still showing green.  Looks to me as if more have been added.





Make yourself to home.  Stretch out and watch the water.




























Huge crowds today.  Why? Gotta be the Holiday Train Show, and also the lovely day.  Good for the Garden, make some money.  But I found it upsetting:
1. Tall family with three tall children clambering on Split Rock, where I was both out of voice and        too far away to communicate with sign language.
2. Small kids running through and on the planting areas, some parents gathering them in, some unperturbed by their activity.
3. A boy out on the extension into the water feature who did make his way back without falling in.
4. The worst to me was a six year old boy on the grounds near the Clock repeatedly throwing a jagged 8 inch rock as hard as he could against the tree, the mother perfectly comfortable with that, as she carried a two year old on the ground to go closer to a tree.  There I did manage to point to get him to quit and mother to get back on the path.



 

River Birch

Magnolia

Little Brown Jug

MY History of the Native Plant Garden Nov. 23, 2018

November 23, 2018  My History of the Native Plant Garden
Awake at 3:00 A.M. and thinking of the story of the "old" Native Plant Garden, before the opening of the current one in May, 2013, and how I came to write the book on every plant that was in there.  I have to admit that I loved the old NPG in a special way.  I started as a docent there in 1999, thinking when I came for an interview with Margaret that they wouldn't take me because I was too old (70).

I always lead (past tense) tours every Thursday at 11:00 A.M.  My thinking was that the regularly scheduled 12:30 time interfered with visitors' lunch and that if they hadn't eaten yet they would be grumpy and more interested in getting to lunch.  I thought that docents who were working could only do tours on the weekends and I should leave those times for them.  The first thing I did on arrival was check out everything that was blooming that visitors would want to see; that meant walking from the entrance to the NPG, spending an hour and then meeting visitors back at the clock.  Walking them back to the NPG took time, even though I learned from Sam Dvoskin about some of the unusual trees to talk about on the way. I got permission to have them meet me at the NPG entrance, saving me effort and them tour time.

Wandering through the NPG after visitors left, and in seasons when all the nooks and crannies were exposed, I got to know Devil's Walking Stick, and where the one Royal Lady's Slipper could be seen. I saw signs that I had not seen before, and walked through the wet grass where the Flame Azalea stood out and learned about the "orange spaghetti" weed.  Just where to lean over one of the bridges over the narrow creek to see True Forget-Me-Not and Cranberries.

As I collected volumes about plants, I researched each plant and wrote about it.  I piled forty-three books in three piles on the floor by the computer and looked up each plant in every book, one at a time. I included a Description of the plant, the Leaves, Flower, Seeds, all the botanical aspects.  The Meaning of the Latin name, Names the plant is Also Called, the Habitat, when In Bloom. The History, Legends, Native American uses, Edible, Poisonous, Medicinal, Propagation of the plant and Comments useful for tours. Information I and every docent leading NPG tours could use that would interest visitors. I did leave out the list of all the places where the plant grew: who cared to reel off that?

Margaret [name] read a lot of my material and was impressed enough to say that the Garden would publish it.  Todd Forrest, too, supported the idea.  I worked on writing up all the plants for ten years, enjoying the project.I took some photos, preferring the actual plant in the NPG though I copied some at first. Joel Nevis pitched in to help organize and took excellent photos and prepared a prospectus.  Then, out of the blue, one day Margaret said to me that they would not publish it.  No explanation, just a shock. I asked wonderful curator [name] what that was all about.  She told me that Margaret decided the Garden did not have enough staff to vet my material and that since I was not a staff member, they could not put the book out under their aegis.  Though I am not a professional botanist, everything I had put on paper was from a published book by experts.  Certainly it was hurtful and killed a lot of my enthusiasm.

One session when Robert Naczi reported to a docent meeting about the Manual he was working on, Bob Weinreb raised his hand and said, "Marcia has already done that." Now I see that Robert Naczi is giving us another talk on the same thing.

What I had done is in hard copy in my house and used by me often to check on information and identification, and is also online, known to some of the docents.  I'm thinking to include here a writeup on some particular plants and do that from time-to-time in this blog.

Which one to use first? How about Bloodroot Sanguinaria canadensis Poppy Family 6-12" 

Description: On a smooth stalk a solitary white flower, with a golden-orange center, grows beside a lobed basal leaf that often curls around the stalk. Roots and stem with acrid red- orange juice.

Means: 
Name from Latin ‘sanguis’=blood; refers to the red sap in the rhizomes.
Also Called: Coonroot, Puccoon, Redroot, Sweet-Slumber,Turmeric.

Flower: A most beautiful but fragile flower of early spring with generally 8 (rarely 12) brilliant white petals, four of which alternating with the others are a trifle narrow and impart a four-sided aspect to the full-blown blossom with a bright yellow center. The petals expand flatly In the morning, and become erect toward late afternoon, and close by evening. The flowers close at sunset and are too fragile to be picked . The two sepals fall when the flower opens. Flowers are followed by a narrow oblong capsule containing many seeds.
Leaves: In early April, leaf curled into cylinder which encloses the budding flower; afterward the blossom which pushes upward beyond the light blue-green olive leaf, generally with seven irregular shallow lobes, is 6-10 inches broad.
Habitat: Rich woods.
In bloom: Early spring, March to May.
Native Americans: Algonquin Indians called this puccoon as they did almost any plant
that was a source of dye. They used red latex to color clothes and baskets, and applied it to their bodies and faces as ceremonial paint. Latter way it was also an insect repellant. This toxic herb was used by Native Americans to dye skin (often ceremonially) and to induce therapeutic vomiting. Also used to treat sore throats, ringworm and rheumatism.
Medicinal: Found in US Pharmacopoeia (1820-1926) as a stimulating expectorant. Contains a number of opium-like alkaloids. Recently it has become important as a source of sanguinarine, a dental plaque inhibitor. Excess depresses the central nervous system, causes nausea and vomiting and may prove fatal. Not given to pregnant and lactating women. Extracts are now being used in toothpaste to fight plaque.
John Bartram (1751) wrote that it was used as a cure for jaundice, for the bite of a rattlesnake. It has been used (USP and NF) chiefly as an expectorant, especially in chronic bronchitis.
History: Says John Bartram, “It flourishes well in the garden in rich, shady borders; the leaves make an agreeable appearance soon after the frost is out of the ground.” 
Planting information: Bloodroots can be grown in locations from full sun to full shade as
long as they have sun in the early spring when they emerge from the ground, flower, and do most of their growing. If grown in full sun to light shade, bloodroots may spread rapidly and make an excellent ground cover. Although bloodroots grow best when the pH is 5-7, ample humus and moisture are more important. Mulch the plants with a thin layer of deciduous leaves during the winter in hardiness zones 3 and 4.

Comment: The blossoms attract insects which gather pollen but find no honey, and its chief visitors are honeybees, bumblebees and smaller bees (Halictus) and the beelike flies (Bombylius). Ants are the primary dispersal agents of bloodroot seeds, carrying them off by the caruncle, which they later chew off, and burying them. Many of the seeds then germinate the following spring.

Nov. 3, 2018 Muttart Conservatory, Edmonton

birthday cake, candles removed

Today we are visiting a very different “native plant “ place.  An early celebration of my 90th birthday, my son Rich accompanied me to Edmonton, Alberta, northwest Canada, 200 miles north of Calgary, a place more people have heard of, where my son Billy and his family live. Edmonton, that is. My sweet nature suggested that by coming here I was saving them from either coming in January for this big number birthday or feeling guilty if not coming.

Yesterday we had five inches of snow. Maybe they despair about the snow this early, but moi, I love it. Too bad I don't have skis here. Temperature about zero F. but very pleasant. Always drier than the East coast.



Usually we just hung out with family on visits to Edmonton, but this time Trip Advisor suggested two featured attractions of Edmonton: Royal Alberta Museum and Muttart Conservatory. Aha, plants, that might make for a nature blog...

Being familiar with the NYBG,what could compare? The Royal Alberta Museum just opened this month which makes it modern and spacious and interesting, having First Nation memorabilia and exhibits comparable in subject matter to New York’s Museum of Natural History. 

But the Conservatory is fifty years old which means the plants are lush. The four “pyramids,” basically green houses, have different sections: Arid, Tropical, Temperate and Feature (which this time was celebrating Mexico's The Day of the Dead)

Mexican scene

I searched for plants we have at NYBG, but will import photos that appeal to me, hoping they will have some interest  for you.

My associations to some of the photos follow.   A Golden Chain tree was in my backyard when I moved to Teaneck 54 years ago, never having lived in a house with garden, and stupidly removed those Golden Chains.  Beautiful, delicate blooms but here gone for the season.
.

Foxglove is from ?  I Iearned a few blogs ago, that it is not a native plant for us.  This one says from Canary Islands.

Foxglove

Ferns galore and if we can get our NY Fern Society going, which includes international interests, surely someone will know them.

Why Bromeliad? Because that was a plant that came in a thoughtful delivery when John died, is still sitting on the kitchen counter, and has its name attached because I usually can only come up with “It begins with a b".

Bromeliad, as the sign says

Dieffenbachia has populated my house for 50 years and you might say taking over most of the rooms. How can you throw away living pieces of stem, when they will root and grow....?  Here the sign says Dumb Cane, which refers to the "juice" causing one's mouth to get numb, and thus is also called "Mother-in-Law's Plant".  When my children were very young I fostered my plants at my mother's so the kids couldn't accidentally be injured, since these plants have been said to cause death.

One familiar friend from the NPG, or a close relative

some color

an imaginative layout

Saturday October 20, 2018 Fern Society & NPG

If you are familiar with previous posts, you know that the New York Fern Society, which met at the NYBG for 42 years, was threatened with dissolution because our two world famous fern experts, John Mickel and Robbin Moran, were unable to continue leadership.  Even someone as unknowledgeable about ferns as I am could send out reminders or collect dues.  But who could have the contacts in the fern world to get speakers for meetings?  That seems to be our roadblock.

Nevertheless, a Fern Society reunion was planned for this date, to meet in the lobby of the Watson Building, and be led by Michael Penziner and Ed Impara in the Garden.  Sixteen people showed up, which shows there is still interest and love of the organization that usually attracted fifty people to meet in that small room allotted to us.  We would have to admit that food was a major attraction, amazing variety of delicious offerings brought by the members. But friendliness, humor, interesting information especially were major attractions.

Carol & John Mickel 2nd and 3rd from left

a selfie for me to get in the picture

A forest tour led by Michael focussed pretty much on trees. Of trees with alternate compound leaves, only four are native, all hickories.  yellow bud is bitternut; Mockernut with a hard nut; shagbark you can guess it's the shaggy bark; pignut has narrow leaves.  Maple (red) has a v-shaped sinus. On an oak, if the sinus is less than halfway down the leaf, it is a red oak.  Did I get that right, Michael?

Michael educating us.

I left to check out the Native Plant Garden.

  NPG See blog of six days ago and the report can just read "Ditto." Nothing left, nothing new arrived, nothing different.   

It took me 15 minutes to remember the name of these appealing leaves: Skullcap.

Several of you asked what this was, at the corner of the plantings across from the Gertrude (we're on a first name basis) plaque.  It is Aster laevis seedling.  Thanks to Michael Hagen.

The delicate tops of the wild grasses will be what we will be admiring in the near future as the season hides the flowering plants.

See you then.

.

                                                           

Sunday, October 14, 2018 NPG

NPG Sunday, October 14, 2018
I chose to be at the NYBG because Joel was leading two tours of the Native Plant Garden and it was my opportunity to visit with him. He has many talents, photography among them, and I'm sure his photos taken today will be better than mine.  If he sends me the one of Monarch Butterfly, I will share it; all the ones I took are fuzzy. My impatience gets the better of me.  May I mention he also makes soap, and my favorite, a replica of the lotus seedhead, is my current partner in the shower.

Joel and a visitor at the NPG approach

Monarch on Doelliringia umbellata
Flat-top Aster
photo by Joel

Before I launch into the plants of today, I followed up on Sue Leffler's suggestion to include book reviews related to horticulture in this blog and took the opportunity to throw it back at her.  Here is her review:

Review by Sue  Leffler, Tour Guide

If you love trees, both familiar and exotic, and want to learn more about them, and if you are also a lover of crisp writing and exquisite illustrations, then AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 TREES is the perfect book for you!

No sooner had I bought my copy of Jonathan Drori’s Around the World in 80 Trees, than I knew I’d be buying several more as ideal gifts for friends who fall into one of the following categories: those who crave little-known information about trees, carefully researched by Jonathan, and those who appreciate quality books filled with the beautiful  hand-drawn illustrations of French designer, Lucille Clerc.

Jonathan, a world-renowned expert on trees and on many other areas of science and botany, spoke to us, under the auspices of the Humanities Institute at the NYBG, on Friday, September 28^thin the Ross Auditorium.  Those who were lucky enough to catch Jonathan’s entertaining and informative slide-lecture will recognize the same concise, knowledgeable, and witty descriptions of trees within the book.

Here are two samples I chose at random from his description of European Boxwood:

Boxwood grows at a snail’s pace, and is the heaviest of European timbers.  Its annual rings are so closely laid that the delicately yellow wood is uniform, finely textured and hard as nails.

Boxflowers are nondescript, but their scent polarizes opinion; for some it is headily reminiscent of resin and country childhood, while others sense mainly the whiff of cat pee.

Jonathan’s description of Buxus sempervirens is a scant four paragraphs, but every paragraph contains fascinating and little-known information about this wonderful little tree, present in our Herb Garden.

Buy the book! Carry it with you!  And when life’s irritants strike, lose yourself in the excellent prose and sumptuous illustrations that make this volume unique. I guarantee that you will gain a greater appreciation of Life, and of Nature’s miracles. 

Several people responded to my commenting on American Eden and it would be interesting to hear whether this inclusion of related books is of interest to you. I am reading for my non-fiction book club The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben and now I don't know if I will be able to trim the Pin Oak in my yard.

NPG

 Asters galore of course at this season.  'Maria Wolkonsky's dark purple not as lovely as ericoides  in the approach garden. Wild Bleeding Heart, Phlox, Goldenrod, Sneezeweed, Hibiscus also in the approach garden. Turning right onto the Gravel-lok, the field is full of asters as it is full of Virginia Bluebells in the early spring.

golden leaves of Bluestar

fall Blueberry leaves
I was downhearted when I was told there was to be no White Snakeroot planted in the "new" (2013) NPG, but encouraged to know that it would show itself.  On today's walk, it was in many places, not overwhelming, at least not yet.  I would volunteer to cut it back before it goes to seed, as long as we continued to have enough samples to talk about it causing the death of Lincoln's mother.

White Snakeroot

When you get to the Collinsonia which has spread considerably, don't mind there being too much, just rub and sniff--I love that lemony smell. I hope Thoreau liked it when he rubbed it on his sweaty horse. Hope the horse liked it, too.

Cohosh

Some of the Cohosh has gone, yet some is still in full bloom. Small bits of Golden Alexanders here and there, and fuzzy Blue Mist.  Near the Franklin Tree (the bigger one) and still in full bloom are the Closed Gentian and near Gertrude's plaque Great Blue Lobelia surprised me.

Great Blue Lobelia (photo by Joel)

Closed Gentian

Turning toward the water feature, a lotta Ladies Tresses,  still Pickerel Weed, and learning from my mistake (where there's life, there's hope), Meadow Beauty.

Ladies Tresses

Heading toward Split Rock, Rudbeckia triloba on that side of the path and in the Meadow, Yellow Coneflower and Evening Primrose.

We love color.  It will soon be gone and then we will notice the delicate tops of the grasses..

Winterberry Ilex verticillata

Nothing that you all don't easily recognize.  

Next photo: Oh, yes, not so much the Yellow flowers but these leaves strike a familiar chord: I remember exactly where this plant was (always a helpful clue) in the old Native Plant Garden, now popping up in the meadow: Partridge Pea Chamaecrista fasiculata.

Golden Alexander leaves

Expect another NPG blog in a few days because a Fern Society reunion is scheduled for this coming weekend.