August at the JC Raulston Arboretum

This post is 8 of 12 of a series I’m doing this year reflecting back on some of my favorite plants from visiting the JC Raulston Arboretum while attending graduate school at NC State in Raleigh NC.

Of course, it’s September now, but I’ve been sorting through photographs the past few weeks that I took in Augusts past at the JC Raulston Arboretum. I moved to Raleigh, NC in August of 2008, and the arboretum became a home away from home. I would spend some of my first evenings walking around the garden to learn plants that grew well in the area. Each August thereafter would still have that same feeling of learning and exploration as a new school year began. So, I hope you enjoy learning and exploring a few of my favorite plants from the JC Raulston Arboretum from one of the hottest months of the year.

One of the first photographs I took after moving to Raleigh was this looking down shot on a Yucca rostrata, a tough plant that can become a focal point in the landscape. It starts as a skirt of lanceolate leaves and then elongates towards the sky over the years, leaving a thick stem in its wake.

August was the month that I started noticing the warm orange color on Salix ‘Flame’ that would become prominent over the winter months once the foliage dropped. Here you also notice the smoky color of the leaves.

In August the buds on Rostrinucula dependens would start to elongate before flowering a lovely pink.

I hate kudzu for its invasiveness, but the variegated ‘Sherman’s Ghost’ on the back patio created nice shade. A tough spot deserves a tough plant I suppose.

Years ago, I saw a curious vine loaded with red samaras and yellow flowers at Callaway Gardens in Georgia with no idea of its identity. At the arboretum I learned it as Heteropterys glabra, or redwing.

A close up of the beautiful fruit of Heteropterys glabra

Another amazing vine I saw at the arboretum was Mucuna cyclocarpa, or purple jade vine. I love members of the bean family that have incredible flowers, and this new-to-me vine wasn’t an exception. If you grow this species, just be aware that some have an allergy to touching the hairs on the plant.

In the Lath House at the arboretum, Hydrangea involucrata ‘Wim Rutten’ Blue Bunny(TM) bloomed well into August with its billowy lacecaps. This Hydrangea supposedly blooms on new wood, a plus for areas where winter bud damage is an issue.

Many geophytes would start flowering after summer’s crescendo as witnessed here by the geophyte border.

One of my favorite bulbs for August is Lilium formosanum. My friend Jimmy Williams told me years ago that there are few plants that reach such height in the middle of summer and bloom so effectively as this lily.

Lycoris or spider lilies would start popping in August. I loved the pink-to-purple-to-blue fade on this Lycoris sprengeri.

A new Lycoris species to me was the cream-colored Lycoris anhuiensis. I quite liked how it was planted to emerge through this groundcover of Sedum emarginatum ‘Eco Mt. Emei’.

The star-shaped, two-toned flowers of Gladiolus 'Flevo Kosmic' were out of this world!

The sweet smell of Hedychium flowers is so welcome in August. They remind me of swimming in our pool back home in Tennessee where the fragrance would waft across the water in the evenings. ‘White Starburst’ has a beautiful spiral of flowers atop 5–6 foot stems.

I really didn’t pay much attention to turk’s cap when in Raleigh, but now that I live in Texas I see it everywhere. It’s a durable, tough, native perennial that attracts Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. This clump is ‘Big Momma’, a cultivar developed by my friend Greg Grant.

A close up of the flowers on Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii 'Big Momma'

I was blown away when I saw this Fuchsia ‘Sunihanf’ Angel Earrings® thriving in the lath house because this genus doesn’t do well in the south at all. This cultivar is much more heat tolerant and is certainly on my wish list for trying in Texas.

I’ve written before about my love of Titanotrichum oldhamii. In the lath house this gold woodland foxglove was thriving and starting to bloom for fall.

This sheet of flowers on Sedum ‘Pure Joy’ is… well… pure joy.

The Scott Arboretum Part 2

This is Part 2 of 2 of a series looking back at our June trip to visit The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College. To read part 1 about our morning time there, click here.

Karen and I left The Scott Arboretum for lunch and made a pit stop to see the gravel gardens on the traffic circle near campus. I was very intrigued to see these plantings because my students and I had just installed a gravel garden at SFA. These gravel gardens were developed to help slow traffic, increase the beauty of the area, and be low maintenance since the grit reduces weed seed germination.

Cassian Schmidt, director of Hermannshof Garden and leader in designing for plant stress to minimize maintenance, consulted on the project when he taught a workshop on the subject a few years ago for the arboretum. It sounds like they took an approach similar to what we are doing, start small and then expand outward. You can read more about The Scott Arboretum’s gravel gardens here, here, and here, and they have an educational video on the subject as well.

The center planting in the traffic circle features herbaceous perennials like Allium ‘Ambassador’ and Salvia × sylvestris ‘Blauhügel’ around Juniperus virginiana ‘Corcorcor’ Emerald Sentinel and Gymnocladus dioicus ‘Espresso-JFS’ Espresso. Research has demonstrated that people slow down when driving through roundabouts if trees are included in the planting mix.

A close up of the herbaceous layer with Salvia × sylvestris ‘Blauhügel’ and Allium ‘Ambassador’ in bloom

The beds surrounding the roundabout featured more perennials. The round mound Baptisia had already finished, and Asclepias tuberosa and Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb' were just beginning to bloom.

Here the spacing between the gravel garden plants is better seen. Again, Asclepias tuberosa and Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb' are in bloom, and I spy Liatris and Symphyotrichum rising for later in the year.

The island beds featured a mix of even shorter plants like yellow-flowering Sedum and pops of pink from Phemeranthus calycinus.

Back near the entrance of The Scott Arboretum was one of the first gravel beds planted with Sedum, Stachys, Allium, and various other perennials. Gravel gardens have less maintenance because the grit reduces weed germination and establishment.

After lunch, we headed back to the arboretum to meet up with Chuck Hinkle and Lars Rasmussen to tour the green roofs. We had a bit of time before our scheduled meet up, so we wandered toward the south end of campus while checking out more great plants.

A photograph of the back of the Cunningham House, which houses the main offices for The Scott Arboretum. One thing I love about these beds is the effort to echo the burgundy and brown colors of the building with the plants.

A combination behind the Cunningham House that I loved was Asclepias tuberosa and Physocarpus opulifolius Tiny Wine.

While I adore our native dogwoods, many of the Asian Cornus kousa just seem to have more oomph when in bloom, and the bracts last longer. This specimen is ‘Greensleeves’, a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal winner.

This Acer palmatum ‘Manyo-no-sato’ had a wonderful two-tone color to the foliage, burgundy with a lighter green.

Behind the Cunningham House are some of the largest Ulmus americana that I’ve ever seen, partly because they are treated regularly for Dutch elm disease. Most of these giants have been lost throughout the rest of the country.

Dr. Denny Werner’s new ‘Flamethrower’ Cercis canadensis was looking lit at the arboretum.

Stewartia × henryae, a hybrid of Stewartia pseudocamellia and Stewartia monadelpha, was just beginning to flower with its classic Theaceae-type blooms.

Hamamelis mollis ‘Gold Edge’ lived up to its name with the light brush of variegation on the outside edge.

Finally, after photographing every plant on our walk there and probably seeming like forever to Karen, we arrived at Alice Paul and David Kemp residence halls on the south side of campus. These dorms both have green roofs on their tops. In 2008 when I was an intern here at the arboretum, I was amazed to see these forms of green infrastructure. I learned about how they cool buildings, help roof membranes last longer, slow rainfall, and provide habitat for creatures. Years ago when I was a wee intern, I had heard these were a thing that existed, but when I climbed out on top, I realized that yes, people can grow plants on roofs. I still had that same feeling when we emerged to see these carpets of green again 13 years later.

Chuck and Lars talked more about how they had elevated parts of the substrate to be able to grow more species besides just Sedum. Green roofs are classified as either extensive (3–6 inches of substrate) or intensive (greater than 6 inches of substrate). And, in case you can’t keep them straight, I teach students just remember that intensive is the deeper because with deeper soil comes more plants and thus more intensive cultivation. While these residence halls were designed to be able to support green roofs, many buildings can’t hold enough growing media for intensive cultivation. Thus, creating berms or slightly elevated areas helps diversify the plantings. They also talked about how one year they had a really bad grub problem. Crows had actually come in to start eating them, and in the process, part of the green roof planting had holes in it. You can learn more about the planting process here.

Billowy sedum under billowy clouds

On parts of the green roof, the depth of the substrate has been increased to allow for perennials like Asclepias tuberosa and grasses to be able to survive.

On a lower tier of the green roof, they even had a bee hive.

One microclimate that Chuck and Lars showed us was this back corner of the green roof that is shaded from the western sun. Here, grasses have become more prevalent because the shade helps reduce moisture evaporation.

After we were down off the roof, Chuck offered to show us some wood handiwork from some large trees that had to be taken down. We walked along a wooden path to find a council ring that had been hewn from massive trunks. I joked that this was quite the “retreeat”.

Some of the impressive seats carved out of giant tree trunks.

The pathway to the council ring

We then headed back up to the main part of campus. I wanted to see the Isabelle Cosby Courtyard as the gardens within this space were planted with a nice assortment of plants. The courtyard was a folly that had pillars and arches built to resemble a ruin since a building used to be there.

Along the way we spied this Schizophragma hydrangeoides ‘Moonlight’ climbing up Clothier Hall on campus. This cultivar is beloved for not only its beautiful flowers but also the silvery foliage.

Just south of Cosby Courtyard we found this mass planting of Phlox ‘Minnie' Pearl’ amongst scattered Hydrangea arborescens. This cultivar is one of my favorite spring flowering Phlox for its clear white flowers. It stays low and slowly spreads.

This pair of espaliered Ginkgo biloba ‘Saratoga’ on the south side of Cosby Courtyard are quite something to behold. I love how the gardeners are creating the appearance of the branches joining together.

A close up of the espaliered Ginkgo biloba ‘Saratoga’

In part 1 I shared how Clematis climbed roses in the garden. Here’s another example of using a woody shrub (Itea virginica) to support a Clematis (‘Danuta’).

Karen provides scale for this massive Cercis canadensis ‘Ruby Falls’, another of Dr. Denny Werner’s creations. It is a weeping form of redbud with deep maroon coloring on the new foliage.

This plant is not poison ivy! Rhus aromatica ‘Gro-Low’ is a great native shrub groundcover, and it was used in Cosby Courtyard plantings. It has spectacular fall color, too.

And, we found one of my favorite magnolias in Cosby Courtyard. Magnolia macrophylla var. ashei is a native to Florida but is cold hardy all the way up to Chicago. It is different from Magnolia macrophylla because it is very precocious and blooms in only a few years from seed.

Eventually, we made our way to the amphitheater where graduation is held every year before we headed back to our car. It’s one of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen. This iconic hardscape was designed in 1942, and when I visit, I feel like I’m standing in some ancient ruin where the trees have long since taken over to create a forest cathedral.

Heaven. Wouldn’t you just love to stare at this view of the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater all day?

I loved how the gardeners had sited a new Liriodendron in one of the old trunks. Growing on the shoulders of giants I guess one could say.

Leaving campus, I spied this grand Catalpa speciosa. Again, Karen provides a nice scale for size.

What I loved most about this Catalpa speciosa was the fallen art from the carpet of petals it dropped.

I started this post talking about the gravel gardens on campus, and we ended the day with seeing the gravel garden at Andrew Bunting’s house before dinner. Andrew, once curator for The Scott Arboretum and now Vice President of Public Horticulture at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, lives right down the road from campus. He just redid his front yard a couple of years ago to feature more plants in grit, and already the planting was filling in well. It was a nice wrap up to a fantastic day visiting one of America’s most beautiful campuses. I can’t wait to visit again.

Andrew Bunting’s gravel garden at his house Belvidere just before a storm rolled through. Many of the perennials have settled in quite nicely.

The Scott Arboretum Part 1

Part of our trip to Philadelphia in June was to see the flower show, but another reason I wanted to visit the city of brotherly love was to check in on Hailey, one of our recent graduates from SFA.   She was following in my footsteps by interning at The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College this summer.  This garden is very special to me because I was a summer intern there 13 years ago (Wow, that long?!?), and I have many fond memories of my time spent in this quaint area. The horticulture I learned and the people I met transformed my life.

If you’ve never heard of The Scott Arboretum, it spans across the entire 300 acre campus of Swarthmore College (I’ll add that if I interchange campus and arboretum, just know I’m talking about the same thing). It was started in 1929, and around 4000 taxa grow here. Anytime a list of the most beautiful campuses in America is published, Swarthmore is usually near the top, no doubt thanks in part to the beauty of the arboretum.  

We first visited the Cunningham House, an observatory that was converted into the arboretum’s main office, and found the beds showing their transition from spring to summer. Many of my friends that I knew back in the day still work here. We got to touch base with Claire Sawyers, the arboretum director, and Jody Downer, special projects coordinator.  Horticulturist Josh Coceano came up with his team of interns, Hailey, Julia, and Ellie.  They were freshening up the container plantings, a job that I also had as an intern. They edited a container the same way I learned, to approach it and look at the plants for anything that is off—a yellowing leaf, torn foliage, or a flower that needs to be deadheaded. It always amazed to me to see how some slight tweaks made a container planting look more attractive.  

The Cunningham House clothed in its mature plantings and seasonal flora.

A group of containers welcomes guest to the Cunningham House.

Josh talks to Julia (left) and Hailey (right) about how to edit the containers.

Hailey freshens up a Physocarpus in a container. While most people think that containers are just for annuals or perennials, the arboretum frequently uses shrubs or juvenile trees in planters.

Hailey said she and the other interns did this cool succulent and xeric planting.

I liked how these plants echoed the terra cotta color of the urn.

A few other plants around the Cunningham House caught my eye. These Salvia nutans looked lovely en masse.

Most Deutzia are white, but this large Deutzia × hybrida ‘Magicien’ was blushed pink and looked spectacular in full bloom.

I love Stachyurus for their winter blooms, but if they also have variegated foliage like this Stachyurus chinensis ‘Magpie’, it’s even better.

Claire said the rose garden was looking the best that it would for the year, so we headed there first. The Dean Bond Rose Garden was established in 1956, and in the years since graduates have been able to choose a rose from the garden to wear for graduation. Today, it holds around 300 different roses. One of the neat shifts since I was an intern is that the garden was redesigned to replace the rose monoculture with a more diverse planting. More disease tolerant rose cultivars were also chosen to reduce the need for spraying. These slight cultural shifts now help the gardeners to manage this space organically.

The Dean Bond Rose Garden plantings have diversified since my internship at The Scott Arboretum.

Salvia,…

… Geranium,…

… and Lavandula diversify the rose garden plantings away from the monoculture it once was and make it harder for pests and disease to sweep through the population.

I’ll be honest. Roses have never been my thing because of all the care and upkeep they require, but I would love to have a planting of disease-resistant ones like you see here.

I so wish that we could grow these lollipop ‘Globemaster’ Allium in the south. Alas…

My friend Jeff Jabco who is Director of Grounds at Swarthmore stopped by to chat about the rose garden. Jeff is also current president of the International Clematis Society, and he has helped to introduce more new varieties to the garden. Many are dwarf clematis that are slowly making their way into the market for small patios and windowbox planters. He even helped coordinate The Scott Arboretum starting a Clematis cultivar trial with Chanticleer and Longwood Gardens in 2014 to evaluate new varieties coming out of Europe. The faint baby blue ‘Dutch Sky’, which caught my eye the minute we entered the rose garden, was each garden’s number one performer. It was covered in flowers, and I can’t wait to try this cultivar. (Here’s the current link to read about ‘Dutch Sky’, but after July 2021, it looks like this link will be the permanent place to learn about it.)

Clematis ‘Dutch Sky’ was rated the best cultivar in the trials at The Scott Arboretum, Chanticleer, and Longwood Gardens.

A close up of the light blue flowers of ‘Dutch Sky’ Clematis

Even back when I was an intern I noticed how well Clematis scrambled up the arching stems of rambling roses along the back trellis. I didn’t notice it until Jeff commented on it, but even this trellis had been redesigned. He said that since Clematis need something to cling to, they couldn’t just be smooth metal poles. Therefore, a committee helped conceptualize the trellis supports that a metallurgist then made. The poles would have metal curved into waves and small rods to help support Clematis.

Jeff Jabco shows us the trellising that was made for the rose garden to also provide support for the Clematis.

Here you can see the thin rods and wavy metal.

I didn’t realize it until later, but the waves give the trellis a nice texture.

The metallurgist also made incredible gates for the entrances to the rose garden. Notice the details on the roses and the hummingbird.

Jeff walked us across campus talking about more changes to the grounds. For example, Maxine Frank Singer Hall is a brand new building to house biology, engineering, and psychology, and the landscape around it is planted to mimic an eastern woodland habitat. They even created a stumpery on the southeast side of the building from a fallen tree.

Maxine Frank Singer Hall is sleek, stylish, and sustainable.

I love how they incorporated this fallen tree back into the landscape.

A few other shots from our trek across campus. I always make a point to stop in the Harry Wood Courtyard Garden to see if there’s any teaching scribbles left on the wall. This trip I lucked out! These slate panels are for great outdoor instruction.

‘Ryusen’ is one of my favorite Japanese maples for its weeping habit.

Every time I see this Cornus kousa 'Wolf Eyes', I swoon. It’s planted on the north side of a building to protect from harsh sunlight.

The bracts almost hide amongst the white margins on ‘Wolf Eyes’.

One of my favorite parts of The Scott Arboretum are these masses of Sporobolus that are planted in a grit mixture. These areas of campus are prone to flooding, and below the plants are cisterns that help to redirect water back into Crum Creek. Since I last visited, I like how they added the Allium and Dianthus for a pop of color.

We left Jeff and went to catch up with other gardener friends Chuck Hinkle and Lars Rasmussen who were on the north side of campus. Chuck shares my love of herbaceous perennials. He showed us nearby plantings where they had done some massings of shade perennials and Baptisia near new buildings. By this time it was lunch. They offered to show us the green roof after we ate, and they encouraged us to go catch the traffic circle.

If you want to learn more about those, then keep an eye out for part 2 that will feature more about our afternoon visit to The Scott Arboretum.

An interesting play on colors and textures in shade.

Chuck said this Baptisia 'Blueberry Sundae' did really well in the Mt. Cuba Center Baptisia trials, and they had used it on campus in different areas.

June at the JC Raulston Arboretum

This post is 6 of 12 of a series I’m doing this year reflecting back on some of my favorite plants from visiting the JC Raulston Arboretum while attending graduate school at NC State in Raleigh NC. Check back next month for more.

Ah, summer at the JC Raulston Arboretum. I loved how late I could be out at the garden photographing plants. And, in June I needed the extra time to fully appreciate the garden as there was so many plants in full bloom and offering interest in the garden. It had gotten warm enough that many plants were pushing toward their zenith as we reached the longest days of the year. Enjoy this look back at my time spent in this garden in June.

Woodies

Dichroa febrifuga is a somewhat obscure member of the hydrangea family that has pretty blue flowers in the summer. This cultivar 'Yamaguchi Narrow Leaf' has thinner leaves.

Cyrilla is a native shrub that tends to be underused. It tolerates wet areas well. Just note that it can be toxic to honey bees. While many botanists say that Cyrilla racemiflora is the only member in the genus, other scientists have split it into additional species. For example, this smaller leaved-form native to northern Florida is named Cyrilla parviflora.

In early summer new growth would emerge on Pinus wallichiana 'Zebrina'. I loved the two-tone banding.

I’m a sucker for big leaf hydrangeas. Hydrangea macrophylla 'Frau Reiko' was one of my favorites for its white-margined bracts.

And, in June Dr. Dennis Werner’s award-winning, dwarf, and mostly sterile Buddleja ‘Blue Chip’ would flower. It is a cute little shrub for small areas or garden border fronts.

Geophytes

The arboretum had a whole section devoted to geophytes, and in my opinion, June was one of the best times to see it. It had finally gotten warm enough to push many of these herbaceous plants into flower. Here we see a mass of the electric pink and yellow Gladiolus 'Flevo Kosmic'.

Eucomis, or pineapply lily, would also start blooming in earnest in June. Here ‘Sparkling Burgundy’ is just getting started. These inflorescences last long as cut flowers.

Another pineapple lily that I loved was Eucomis montana for its ivory white bracts that would fade to green. Did you know you can propagate Eucomis from leaf cuttings?

I admire a good color combo like this pairing of Dahlia 'Forncett Furnace' with the similarly colored Kniphofia uvaria 'Lola' in the back.

Here is a close up of Kniphofia uvaria 'Lola' since it’s not very visible above. Note that not all Kniphofia are geophytes, but it fit in well here.

A bee visits a flower of Dahlia 'Classic Elise' one evening. Even though they weren’t the large show flower forms, I appreciated seeing the dahlias at the arboretum just to know some could grow in the south.

I always enjoyed seeing the peach-colored flowers of Gladiolus dalenii ‘Boone’, a cultivar that was discovered in the North Carolina town of Boone. It also grows well here for me in Texas.

The soft white of Sinningia tubiflora with just a hint of pink in the tube was a welcome sight in the geophyte border.

And, I just had to throw this one in for kicks. While not at the arboretum, I photographed this fasciated lily (far right stem) leaving Kilgore Hall where the horticulture program is housed to head to the gardens one morning. Note how many flowers this specimen had compared to the others on the left.

Here’s a side view of the fasciation so you can see it better. Fasciation is a fascinating phenomenon where a genetic disorder or disease causes the stem to elongate along an axis. You often see it in flowers where the bloom will elongate in one direction, too.

HERBACEOUS Perennials

Many perennials achieved some serious height in June. One of my favorite daylilies is Hemerocallis 'Autumn Minaret'. I love it for its height, which allows one to plant it towards the back of a garden bed and still be enjoyed.

Eryngium also reach their pinnacle in summer. Here the very structural Eryngium eburneum is loaded with flowers, and the inflorescences were over my head.

Many people plant cardoons for their lovely winter foliage, but Cynara cardunculus also has flowers where the rays resemble glowing purple fiber-optic wires. Bees and other pollinators love these large Asteraceae blooms.

Vernonia lindheimeri is an ironweed I’ve been wanting to get my hands on for its velvety stems.

A really cool and somewhat rare plant at the arboretum was the endangered Baptisia arachnifera. This plant is native to two counties in Georgia and thrives in drier, sandier soils. It was quite at home here in the scree garden.

Panicum virgatum 'Cheyenne Sky' is an improved form of ‘Shenandoah’. To me it seemed to have more maroon color in the foliage earlier in the summer.

Ratibida pinnata is another underused native perennial. Sure, it can get a little tall, but I just love the rich yellow rays on this species.

One of my favorite color combination in the long border was this pairing of Echinacea purpurea 'Stewart's Pink', Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah', and Monarda 'Violet Queen'.

I leave you with these two cool gradient shots that show the annuals in the trial garden. Here we have a warm gradient of Portulaca,…

… and here we fade from warm to cool for these Verbena.

Philadelphia Flower Show 2021

Karen and I did a whirlwind trip through Philadelphia earlier this month to see the Philadelphia Flower Show the first day it opened to the public. I’m going to let the pictures and the captions below do most of the talking about our experience, but suffice it to say the show was an incredible experience. It was the first time I had ever been to the Philly Flower Show, and it was also the first time in the show’s 192 year existence that it was held outdoors. This floral spectacle is typically held in March, and that timing never fit well with my teaching schedule. While I don’t have previous times with which to compare this experience, I was amazed at the creativity and use of plant material in the exhibits. Many also commented on how rich the plants and designs glowed outdoors compared to the typical enclosed environment. Enjoy the photos!

Entering the Flower Show

The theme this year was habitat, not just for plants and nature, but also habitat for humans. At the entrance of the flower show we were greeted by life-size letters spelling out habitat.  The fronts were adorned with flowers and the backs were filled with colorful twigs. 

My good friend and Vice President of Public Horticulture at PHS Andrew Bunting joined us for a bit near the entrance to share more about the show. He said this Lysimachia atropurpurea 'Beaujolais', which appeared at Chelsea a few years ago, is used throughout this planting with Strobilanthes, Gomphrena, and Scabiosa further tying together the purple theme.

Behind the habitat letters was an incredible floral structure designed by Jeff Leatham, a celebrity florist who has done designs for the Kardashians.

Andrew told us that Jeff Leatham’s installation featured dried fern fronds and baby’s breath spray painted in electric pink and orange. 

Here you can see the color echo between the two exhibits.

The entrance of the flower show was rife with colorful banners.

The main sign you saw in the image above welcoming all to the flower shows was supported by these stacked planter boxes filled with colorful plants.

Andrew said that Bloombox was like the Amazon of plants in Philadelphia. They had an exhibit here showing their truck packed with plants for delivery.

Wambui Ippolito, Etherea

Best of show went to Wambui Ippolito for Etherea, a reimagining of the grassland habitat in her native east Africa.

We got the meet Wambui Ippolito, and she was so sweet and kind in talking with us.

Rusted metal, wood, and gravel were dominant hardscape elements among the rich flora.

Another shot of Wambui Ippolito’s Etherea showing a kettle of water and a wavy wooden bench.

Patrick Cullina, The Reinvention of Nature

I was delighted to know that my friend Patrick Cullina would be at the flower show with his The Reinvention of Nature. Pat is a wizard at imbuing ruins like the High Line and Bethlehem Steel with flora, and he did it again with this garden that featured reclaimed windows, rusted panels, and a water feature. The space was planted with towering Magnolia macrophylla and Taxodium ascendens (or the new mouthful name Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium). The floral exhibit in the distance added a nice color contrast.

Pat’s exhibit also featured a short back form of Dan Benarcik’s chairs.

Bees went wild over the magnolia flowers. And, I even loved how in this photo the Salvia flowers echo the magnolia’s color spots.

Donald Pell Gardens, The Wild Garden

I loved this dining area that rested on a stone plinth within a glade of native trees for Donald Pell Garden’s The Wild Garden.

This exhibit also featured cool wood burned signs that described the plants like you see here with this herbaceous matrix.

Arrange, Floral, & Event Design, Habitats of the North American Cryptids

Some of the exhibits we would learn were more floral themed. I thought this installation that focused on the imagined habitats of the North America cryptids like chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, Sasquatch, and moth man was really clever.

Moth man’s cocoon was made out of various knick-knacks and planted with the color echoing Ricinus and Coleus.

American Institute of Floral Designers, Habitat Reclaimed

Habitat Reclaimed by the American Institute of Floral Designers featured a house frame taken over by various floral accoutrements.

Karen loved these foliage pillows sitting on a bench.

Another side of the house shows more of the floral arrangements that have reclaimed this space.

And, inside the house was a floral take on van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Treeline Designz, Dancing with Nature

Treeline Designz Dancing with Nature featured the use of bamboo, not only in the structure but also as a featured plant material.

Andrew commented that it was fun watching them assemble this exhibit with trying to get these ball and burlap bamboos through the grid above.

The inside of a few of the cut bamboo were painted to help draw you into the display.

Nomad Studio, Kokedama Forest

One of my favorite installations was Kokedama Forest by Nomad Studio that was designed to highlight soil microflora and how this habitat is a network that supports plants and animals. Standing outside you can easily see the frame…

…but inside, it is harder to see this underground habitat with all the plants. I also loved how they created this amphitheater effect where walking through we see and enjoy the plants because of this underlying soil network. This photo was a bit of a challenge to take because there was a line of about 20 people to see the exhibit.

Another shot of the native trees growing as kokedama, moss-covered balls of soil that support a plant.

Here is a close up of the kokedama so you can better see the supporting balls.

Jennifer Designs, Nature’s Resilience

This exhibit by Jennifer Designs showcased the resilence of nature, and the plight of the Australian outback with the wildfires they recently faced.

Petit Jardin en Ville, Beauté et Générosité

I loved the quaintness of these European-themed courtyards for Petit Jardin en Ville’s Beauté et Générosité. The first featured shrubs and trees in a formal planting.

The second courtyard had a water feature and more herbaceous plants.

And, the third was an edible garden complete with dining area, planter boxes, and cold frame wires.

WRT, Painted Threats

WRT did this cool exhibit where they painted invasive species like non-native phragmites a bright pink to show them entering native habitats. I also loved how educational their install was with the signage.

Don’t you just love this modern take on a bird house?

Native habitat prior to invasive species entering features a rich wetland flora. It is amazing to me that people can build a wetland in two-weeks!

WISH Unlimited, Faraway, So Close

WISH Unlimited showed how we have been living in the pandemic. A giant terrarium features Araucaria, succulents and tropicals, and of course a microphone to illustrate how technology kept us connected in our isolation.

PHS Gardeners Green

The Gardeners Green was a place that attendees could come learn more about horticultural practices and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. It was based on public commons that once dotted the city. Aren’t those espaliered fruit trees awesome?

At the Gardeners Green, they did a demo of willow weaving, a natural approach to building garden edging and fencing.

They even had beehives in the Gardeners Green!

STUDENT EXHIBITS

I was delighted to see some student entries. In one section were several designs that offered a new way of thinking about hell strips by calling them heaven strips. The Evergreens of New Jersey planted this minute paradise.

And, here was Covid Confinements, an installation by the Horticulture Academy of Abraham Lincoln High School that showed how teenagers lived during the pandemic.

Hudson Valley Seed Company

I have to give a shoutout to Hudson Valley Seed Company and their brilliant seed packets. Many packets feature an artist’s handiwork.

Hudson Valley Seed Company also had some educational displays in their tent showing more about the artist and the plant.

I wish we had more time at the show, but an afternoon flight beckoned us home. But, from this morning visit, I know I can’t wait to get back to Philadelphia again, hopefully at yet another time the flower show is being held!

Claude Monet, Plantsman and Painter

I didn't know much about Monet before I went to France.  I knew he was a painter, that he had a garden, and that he had a bridge in his garden where he had painted water lilies. 

But, after visiting his garden in Giverny, I feel so connected with him and his work. I learned that he was a horticulturist. In Monet’s Passion, Elizabeth Murray shared that Monet wrote that his garden was his “greatest form of art” and “I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.” He sounds like my kind of guy! I also came to really know impressionism, this style of painting where instead of focusing on details you capture a snapshot view of a landscape at a time.

This map should provide you with an overall impression of Monet’s garden. To the right is the water garden, and in the middle is the Clos Normand. The hoops within this garden frame the Grand Allée and frame a primary axis that runs from the house into the water garden. The light blue are the streets, not waterways.

The trip was part of a study abroad expedition that I helped lead in 2016 with our students. We arrived at his garden in Giverny on a cloudy day that teased rain. Our guide Leif enriched the experience during our tour. He shared with us that Monet was one of the artists that started the impressionism movement; even the phrase impressionism comes from Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise.  This method became popular because of two inventions—photography and paint in tubes.  The former inspired people to no longer desire to capture every detail in a painting since they had the technology to do that in an instant; the latter allowed people to leave their workshops and painting studios, head to the countryside, and paint plein air instead of what they saw on a table.

The Water Garden

We first saw the water garden, a later addition for Monet that he acquired after he bought the house and garden property. He designed the two-acre water garden to be a mirror that would reflect flowers, clouds, trees, or whatever nature could offer. And, to fill the garden with water, he had to actually convince the locals to divert water from a stream that fed into the nearby River Epte. Monet also offered to pave the barren road that ran between his house and water garden for the community with gravel to reduce the amount of dust on the plants.

Eventually, his garden grew to the point he hired gardeners to care for the place. The waterlily gardener had special tasks. When Monet was painting waterlilies, this individual had to come out early in the morning and remove the pond of any debris and any past prime flowers.

Monet’s two-acre waterlily garden was lush and green but too early for many waterlilies to be blooming. Note how the water reflects trees, sky, and color on the shore.

Here is a glance the other direction at the bridge that he painted.

And, here is a photo for comparison I took a few days later from Musee d'Orsay in Paris of Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas, harmonie rose (water lily basin, pink harmony). I was so touched by impressionism that I used part of a free day to go see more of Monet’s paintings.

Lupinus and Digitalis frame this view of the smaller bridge at the other end of the water garden.

A glance up one of the streams that feeds the water garden. Laburnum and Rhododendron punctuate the edges with color.

Clos Normand and Grand Allée

From the water garden we then crossed over to the main garden called the Clos Normand. This part of the garden was designed with beds of plants that radiated out from the house. At first, Monet cared for and tended to his garden throughout the day. Even his children had to haul buckets from the well to water the garden. But, eventually Monet’s popularity as an artist would allow him to hire a five-person gardening staff.

This space was an experimental canvas where he was able to play with the way light interacted with the different plants. Monet went out to paint at different times to capture the ambiance he saw.  He painted at breakfast, ate lunch, then went back out to paint in the afternoon.  Monet had to paint quickly because he wanted to capture a point in time.  Thus, his canvases should be viewed at a distance because it's broad brush strokes, just like how we should see a garden instead of focusing on every individual plant.

The Grand Allée in its spring attire looking toward Monet’s house.

A close up of one side of the allée planted heavily with a white form of Hesperis matronalis.

Next to the Grand Allée was the start of this series of straight paths that were planted with herbaceous plants. Larger roses or trees were a little further off the pathway.

This pathway was planted with blue Iris and set to line up perfectly with the window in the background, no doubt to create an interesting vista from within the house as well.

This path was a little further away from the Grand Allée and featured more color and larger trees framing it on either side.

From this cross image of the Clos Normand you really can’t make out the pathways. Instead it is a myriad of colors. Note the absence of much texture. Monet is said to have focused on color instead of having much winter interest.

In parts of the Clos Normand garden, espaliers framed the plantings. I loved this green approach to edging.

Beyond the espaliered fence was a lawn where they had allowed the bulb foliage to remain and die naturally to maximize flowers for next year.

Near Monet’s house, chickens were even given a place to roam.

COLOR COMBINATIONS

The garden was rife with color pairings. His garden was different from the typical French style of manicured shrubs and tapestry plantings because it was so saturated with color. And, even 100 years later his passion as a colorist lives on in this place with the combinations created by the gardeners today.

A warm color scheme of azaleas and various other herbaceous plants livens up the waterlily garden.

Here Hesperis and Digitalis play off a purple pairing.

In parts of the Clos Normand garden, the gardeners created these color gradients. This one shifts from yellow in the foreground through white, red, orange, and pink as you look closer and closer toward the house.

From a slightly different angle, you can see the blocks of colors.

Who says you can’t pair orange and pink… and a multitude of other colors!

And, I just had to share one of my favorite plants, Nectaroscordum siculum. Their rosy petals erupt and combine well with so many different flowers.

I love the chandelier architecture of this Nectaroscordum siculum flower and so wish we could grow it in Texas.

Up near the house, I admired this Erysimum flower choice to match the color of the paint.

GIVERNY

After visiting the garden, we walked the quaint streets of Giverny to make our way to Hotel Baudy for lunch. This establishment became famous for the mingling of artists that visited to learn from Monet as the the town became know for its hub of impressionism.

We had a delicious lunch at Hotel Baudy, a meeting place for artists back in Monet’s day.

And, of course, I just HAD to try their creme brulee.

After lunch we walked the streets admiring the lovely town that Monet used to call home. Here a small courtyard in Giverny is flanked by Iris and Vitis.

Even the signs coordinate with the flower color on this Salvia.

Throughout Giverny I noticed the subtle pairings of colors, like this Salvia officinalis ‘Tricolor’ with the mauve petals of a clambering Clematis.

And, at the impressionism museum, color combinations continued like this planting that screams gold and orange.

While we didn’t have time to go through the Museum of Impressionisms, we did walk the grounds a bit. I liked the poppies here, perhaps an allude to Monet’s The Poppy Field?

A modern take on one of Monet’s paintings as we crossed the road to head back. Monet was able to enrich our world with art because plants enriched his.

We left Giverny and Monet’s garden filled with the beauty we had seen. I wish we could have stayed longer, but the schedule held more riches for the day in the promise of seeing Le Jardin Plume.

It still amazes me that Monet attributed his origins of great art to flowers. May we all strive to find such inspiration in the plants around us just like Monet did.

May at the JC Raulston Arboretum

I loved May in graduate school at North Carolina State University. Being free of homework and tests allowed me more time to focus on graduate work and research. And, in the evenings I had even more time to go visit the JC Raulston Arboretum. May was the first month where the garden didn’t feel like it was trying to decide should it be spring or winter. Warmth had settled in and the plants responded beautifully. Enjoy this reflective plant list of many of my favorites of mid-spring.

THE WOODIES

Hands down one of my favorite shrubs of all time is Corylopsis spicata 'Golden Spring'. It has beautiful late winter flowers, but to me the best show is when the yellow foliage emerges with hints of pink in the new growth.

The parade of magnolias continued in May with many of the evergreen species flowering. I was always delighted to search for the hidden flowers amongst the strap-like leaves of Magnolia yuyuanensis.

I can smell a banana shrub from 100 feet away. Usually the flowers are white, but this variety Magnolia figo var. crassipes has intense purpling in the tepals.

May is also one of my favorite times of the year to see variegation. Most of the leaves have emerged and started growing, and they aren’t burned yet from the heat of the summer. While there are a few variegated redbuds, Cercis canadensis 'Floating Clouds' was one of the best for holding color into the summer.

Deutzia get a bad wrap for being scraggly shrubs that only flower for a few weeks each year, but I still love them for their pearl-shape buds and beautiful chains of flowers. This variegated Deutzia crenata 'Summer Snow' helps extend the season with its white speckled green foliage.

Wowzers, even if this Hydrangea paniculata 'Shikoku Flash' never flowered, I’d still be happy with this spectacular cream mottling.

May is the month that some of the first fruits of the year ripen after late winter and early spring pollination. Here the native Amelanchier ×grandiflora 'Silver Fountain' is loaded with serviceberries ripe for the picking.

Our native Wisteria are often flowering in May. Seeing them reminds me of the plant at my grandmother’s house. This native Wisteria macrostachya 'Aunt Dee' was the first hint that maybe the plant that my grandmother raised wasn’t an exotic but a form of Kentucky wisteria. The seeds that the plant developed a month or so later were a second clue.

I’m not much of a rose person, but the pink stamen filaments on this Rosa 'Meiguimov' The Charlatan® really caught my eye.

Clematis 'Princess Diana' clambers through Cotinus coggygria 'Ancot' Golden Spirit for a striking combination.

I swooned the first time I saw the patina foliage of Cotinus coggygria 'Old Fashioned'. Isn’t it rich?

Oakleaf hydrangea are one of my favorite shrubs, and I was so delighted to discover this Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Turkey Heaven’ at the arboretum. The massive flowers hold up a bit better than ‘Harmony’, another cultivar with large blooms.

A close up of the billowing inflorescences of Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Turkey Heaven’

Now we are getting into some of the subshrubs. Leucosceptrum japonicum 'Golden Angel' has some woody characteristics, but most people treat this Japanese shrub mint as a perennial. The vibrant foliage certainly brightens a dark spot.

Lavandula stoechas is one of the few lavenders that we can grow in the deep south. Seeing how well it performed in humid Raleigh lent me to trying it in Texas. It has performed well here, minus dying back from the below 0F temperatures we had this past February.

I always loved the long border designed by Edith Eddleman and all the color combinations therein. Here Phlomis fruticosa contrasts nicely with the blues of Tradescantia, Amsonia, and Nepeta.

I’ve always loved Phlomis fruticosa for its vibrant yellow bilabiate flowers. You can also see its pubscent foliage here.

THE HERBACEOUS

I was surprised to see Digitalis growing well in Raleigh early in my grad school days. I thought they were more of a northern plant, but it seems getting them started in the fall and then overwintering them works.

I’m a sucker for poppies. I loved this cute little Papaver pilosum with its salmony colored petals.

Yes, I know Paeonia 'Bartzella' is a hybrid between a tree peony and an herbaceous peony, but I stuck it here in the herbaceous section because I feel most people treat it like a perennial. And, wow, does it have incredible yellow flowers. Seeing a peony thrive in the south was certainly a welcome sight.

And, here’s another peony doing well in zone 7b/8a! This is Paeonia lactiflora, the straight species that we know has resulted in many cultivar selections. I admired its blushed white petals and the simplicity of the single flower.

Romneya coulteri was always an interesting spring flowering plant in the scree garden. I liked the glaucous blue foliage that held the white and yellow flowers, and it really popped against the faded wood wall. I vaguely remember it spreading via runners or roots.

A close up of the beautiful flowers of Romneya coulteri

And, I can’t feature some of my favorite May plants from the arboretum without mentioning Asclepias tuberosa. Seeing it thriving here in the scree garden certainly provided some subconscious ideas about growing plants in gravel.

May was also the month that the tropicals really started growing again. I knew this very hardy Hippeastrum ×johnsonii from Tennessee. My parents have it in our front yard. Here it pops against the dark foliage of a Dahlia in the geophyte garden.

Another beautiful red flowering geophyte was the interesting Sprekelia formosissima. Don’t you just love that flower architecture? Native to Mexico, this plant is somewhat tender but worth finding a spot for in the garden.

I loved the two-tone red and yellow of Canna patens. The narrow petals are not as gaudy as the hybrids on this species.

Here is a nice mass planting of Eremurus 'Lemon Meringue', a geophyte I discovered during my visits to the arboretum. The flowers last for several weeks.

The Landscape Olympics

Last week, I was in Ft. Collins, Colorado with a team of six students participating in the National Collegiate Landscape Competition.  It may surprise you that there’s actually a competition for students to practice around 30 different horticulture skills including hardscaping, bench building, and driving a skid steer.  I know it did me when I first heard of it years ago, and surprise is usually the reaction I get when I tell people outside of horticulture where we go.  

This opportunity is an incredible chance for students to really spread their roots into the green industry.  The competitions require undergrads to practice skills before they arrive, and the career fair challenges them to engage with industry leaders.  As a professor, it’s inspiring to see so many different companies present and willing to help students.  I believe that it’s one of the best events for students to attend.  

Oh, and I guess you want to know if we won anything!  Anna Claire won best student for the social media competition, I won the faculty social media award, and the school won the overall social media award.  In all it was $2000 cash, $500 in Permaloc edging, and $500 in Corona tools.  

Below are some pictures I took from the event.  If you aren’t familiar with the competition, check it out and consider helping a local team in your area!  Sam Hill Tree Care, Benchmark Landscapes, and Yellowstone Landscape supported our team and allowed us to do more at the competition.

Hardscape installation! Our team qualified for the first time this year. In this contest, students have 1 hour and 50 minutes to install a patio.

There’s also arboriculture where students can show off their climbing skills.

The last contest of the event is landscape installation teams of three have two hours to install a planting to spec.

And, here we are on stage winning the social media contest! If you want to see more pics from the competition, check out our @sfahorticulture Instagram page.

Chanticleer in Winter

During my recent escapade to Philadelphia to attend the Seed Your Future board meeting, I was able to visit Chanticleer in the offseason.  I love seeing a garden in each of the four seasons, and winter was one I hadn't witnessed at Chanticleer. 

If you haven't been to this pleasure garden in Wayne, PA, most horticulturists will tell you it is in their top ten favorites.   For me, I'm mesmerized each visit by how the gardeners weave creativity into plantings of both ordinary and extraordinary flora.  Even with the dearth of many flowers, forbs, and foliage, the garden still looked stellar.  Below are photos with comments along the way.  

The big takeaway for me from the visit was a reminder of the importance of incorporating strong lines into garden design and then maintaining them.  From this overlook view, manicured lines delineate areas, and different colors of the detritus enhance the contrast next to the torpor turf.  

A close up from the previous image taken from the bottom of the elevated walkway.  Here you can see different materials compose different beds.  Mowed ornamental grass in the foreground, and fall leaves in the ovoid beds in the back.  

The serpentine plays homage to the agriculture crops grown in the Pennsylvania countryside and features a different crop each year.  Even from a distance you can make out the bold curves of the bed.  

An upclose shot of the serpentine.  Again, look at how neat that border is between the turf and the bed.  

Curvilinear turf severs this sea of Sporobolus heterolepis.  The contrast between tamed lawn and wild grass already creates interest, I feel it is even greater now that winter color has manifested on the prairie dropseed.

It appeared that one part of the Sporobolus prairie had a test burn.  With the foliage removed, you can really appreciate the cespitose nature of the grass.  

With the dormancy and death of plants in the cut flower garden, curved arches provide drama when little remains.  I like to appreciate their importance by imagining their absence.  

One behind the scenes practice I witnessed was the staff's efforts to keep plants alive.  Here yuccas in the gravel garden were covered with plexiglass.  

And, here caged leaves insulate a tender banana near the tea cup garden.

A lone Schizachryium echoes the color of the blazing branches of Salix alba 'Britzensis' in the background.  

With the foliage gone, prickles on Rosa sericea subsp. omeiensis f. pteracantha (whew, that's a mouthful) are quite visible.  

A glance towards the pond.  Nary a weed to be seen.  

In all my visits I've never seen this three-foot-tall, stone pear.

A final shot of a prominent primary axis that runs part of the length of Chanticleer.  Such primary axes help to connect separate parts of a garden.  

Field Notes from Philadelphia: Seed Your Future & Longwood

SEED YOUR FUTURE

Recently, I travelled to the Philadelphia area for an advisory board meeting with Seed Your Future.  If you are not familiar with the movement, it is the green industry’s effort to increase the awareness of horticulture, and it was enlightening, encouraging, and exciting to see so many high-level hort heads pursuant in connecting more people to our gardening world.  There are some really cool announcements ahead from Seed Your Future, so keep checking the website.  Some of the the takeaways that I can share are below.  

My wife Karen who is a graphic artist tagged along with me on the trip and made this great illustration of the Seed Your Future hashtag #ilovemyplantjob.  #shesgotskills

• #DOYOULOVEYOURPLANTJOB?  We are all advocates for horticulture.  We can’t set behind our ivory hedges and expect horticulture to burgeon.  We need to tell everyone that #ilovemyplantjob.  As horteconomist Charlie Hall said during the meeting, "We need to show them what the world is with us."

• ALL IN A NAME:  The world horticulture is hard for some people to understand.  Terms like plantologist and gardenologist were thrown around, and from this very etymological base, we were encouraged to rethink how to make it easy to share horticulture with others.

• SEED YO' FUTURE:  We need to speak to students in ways that are understandable for them and make sense.  For example, instead of saying pursue a career in horticulture we can say put some horticulture in your career to help show students that working with a plants is an option.  I feel like Emeril Lagasse saying that encouraging students to bring some plant spice into their lives.  BAM!!!!!!!!!  I can't tell you the number of times that I've heard a student say, "I never knew that I could have a career in plants."  (It happened this past weekend at SFA orientation.)  My fifteen-year-old self was in that category once. 

LONGWOOD GARDENS

The meeting was held in Longwood Gardens conservatory.  During breaks and before and after the meeting we were encouraged to galavant through the gardens.  It didn't take much on those chilly Philly days.  Pretty pictures follow.  

We visited during Orchid Extravaganza, and per Longwood standards, everything looked stellar including this 12-foot-tall arch covered in Phalaenopsis orchids.  

Much of the conservatory featured the towering, yellow flowering Roldana petasitis.  Here it carpeted underneath by the coral, tubular flowers of Kalanchoe x houghtonii and the golden Euryops pectinatus.

It's amazing to have all this color inside when everything outside is dark green and brown.  

I encountered an old friend in a cooler part of the conservatory.  I fell in love with the exploding flowers of Scilla peruviana years ago at the JC Raulston Arboretum.  Fun fact, it is not from Peru but from Africa.  Linnaeus named it so because the specimen had a note about "Peru" on it.  That was the name of the ship carrying the cargo.  

I liked how Longwood espaliered fruit trees on fencing material in one of the cool houses.  Such an easy option for the homeowner, too.  

When you go to Longwood and you have to "go", you'll find the restrooms are nestled amongst the largest green wall in North America.