NPG June 8, 2018

Feel free to ignore the first two paragraphs that have nothing to do with the Native Plant Garden. Just grumbling.

Uh oh, Priscilla emailed for someone to lead a tour of the NPG at 11:00 A.M. (MY always time) on Friday (different day than my usual but maybe see if that brings more people) so I said, "If no one responds, I could do it."  And Priscilla jumped right back with "You got it." I've been there a lot lately, as you know if you have kept up with these blogs, so wheras a docent might worry about preparation, I felt pretty confident.  Little did I know that the Tappan Zee, oops Mario Cuomo Bridge was CLOSED, and seven million (you think I might be exaggerating?) cars headed a block away from my house on Route 4 to use the GWBridge instead.  I woulda turned around and stayed home, BUT, I have never not shown up for a scheduled tour, so I spent the next hour and a quarter getting to the Garden.  I was even brave enough to disagree with Claudette, my name for the voice in my GPS, didn't take the backed up Cross Bronx Expressway, got off on the Hudson Drive or whatever that is called, and didn't listen to Claudette again when she told me to get off at Dyckman Street and I didn't.  I stuck on the Hudson Drive until Exit 24 which worked out to be the right thing to do.

What is wrong with Marcia?  Why is she going on about her traffic travails?  Why can't she just see the good side of life and say she got to the tour on time and had a great tour?  Why would she decide that once again the stress of getting to the tour on time is not worth it and she will never volunteer to Priscilla again?

Warm day for dampening the NYBG shirt.  Five people showed up for the tour and that is an excellent number; they pay attention, don't gab at the back of the group:  Katt who should count for 1 1/2 because she will shortly become a mother; her mother from the U.K., a gentleman, and an honor to me that two docents joined, too: Alinda and a docent-in-training, Katherine's mentee, Joanne Newman.  If I remember at the end of this blog to copy what Joanne wrote to me, I will be bragging, but it was a pretty good tour.

It looks quite green as you enter the Native Plant Garden, but a good list of blooming plants follows.  The underlined ones are newly blooming. Wild Bleeding Heart Dicentra eximia, Phlox, Beardtongue Penstemon several species, Wild Blue and White Indigo Baptisia australis and alba, Beebalm Monarda, Oakleaf Hydrangea almost in full bloom, *Goatsbeard Aruncus dioicus [see discussion at the bottom of the page],

Goatsbeard

Columbine Aquilegia candensis, Yellow and White Clover, Fleabane, Shooting Star Primula meadia, Harebell Campanula rotundifolia (purple, bell-shaped, borne singly or in clusters), Foxglove Digitalis lutea, Mountain Laurel Kalmia latifolia, Wild Ginger Asarum canadense, Skullcap Scutellaria incana, Ipecac/Bowman's Root Porteranthus trifoliatus,  Bluestar Amsonia tabernaemontana, Rose,

                                                                           Rose Rosa rugosa

Azalea, Iris, Pinkroot Spigelia marilandica, Pitcher Plants Sarracenia, Wild Quinine Parthenium integrifolium, Spiderwort Tradescantia, St. Johnswort Hypericum perforatum, Lance-leaved Coreopsis Coreopsis lanceolata, Cow Vetch Vicia cracca, Sundrops Oenothera, Dwarf Beardtongue, Toadflax Linaria canadensis, Coneflower Ratibida pinnata, Blue-eyed Grass Sisyrinchium augustifolium, Celandine Poppy Stylophorum dyphyllum. I just listed 36 blooming plants.

Also notice TOO MUCH Poison Ivy, berries on False Solomon's Seal, the lovely aroma of the Rose, the fronds on the ferns. A turtle, I would say Painted Turtle, my only childhood pet, was in the water by Gertrude's plaque.

Turtle

A funny happening was early in the tour when we were looking at Foxglove, yet I knew it wasn't like the small, native foxglove flowers in my yard.  Michael Hagen rushed in and ripped them out.  You can't just relax and accept what you see, dear fellow docents, because these sneaky guys are out to fool us.  Across from the Franklin Tree by other Bluestar, an Amsonia Blue Star is also in need of being pulled out.

unwanted Amsonia

Remember many of us bemoaning the fact that many children come in school groups with no one to tell them anything? Well today was one of those days, maybe because it is near the end of the term and they are doing trips because they already know everything....  Literally hundreds of children came through the NPG without a word being said to them.  There's some explanation given to us, but it doesn't seem to register with me because I haven't bought it.

Here's to Michael Hagen for his great help.

*Goatsbeard Aruncus dioicus is another plant where the Latin name is important because the same common name of Goats-beard (also Salsify/Oyster plant) is of a very different looking plant, Tragopogon, yellow flowered, fuzzy seedhead which is why it is also called Goatsbeard.

Aruncus dioicus up to 7 feet tall, flowers on spikes, male and female on separate plants. 

I am remembering to appreciate being appreciated:  Hi Marcia- What a great tour!! I'll walk the garden with you any time! You're so incredibly smart, funny and engaging! Katherine was so right in recommending that I catch your tour as one of the absolute best. . I hope I can do half as well when I'm ready!

Joanne

I also realize that you can all easily research any plant by typing in the name on the computer on your search engine.  I am surprised to still find various plants that never got written up in my "book" (which is online) but those I did may have in addition to botanical facts some useful lore, legends, meaning of names, edible or medical uses, history and "stories" that we docents can use and which seem to get the most attention from visitors.

If you have suggestions for how this blog can be more useful to you, please let me know.