1003 Gardens

Styphnolobium japonicum 'Gold Standard' at the US National Arboretum

2012-01-30T15:29:00.000-08:00

If you like outrageously bright colors, and we know I do,you're going to want to grow this crazy yellow twigged tree. We got ours from Don Shadow who brought it back from Japan where it's commoner in commerce than it is here. It's only a matter of time though. I can imagine them flying out of a big box store by the dozens.

We planted ours two years ago. I'm thinking it's more than doubled in size since then. It's a selected form of The Scholar Tree, which used to be Sophora japonica. now Styphnolobium japonicum. They're related to our native Black Locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, and grow at nearly the same rate. The color viridesces with spring so the tree is green most of the year. When cold weather returns the color comes with it so that now, when the winter sun hits it from a low angle, it glows.

Phalaenopsis from Florida 3 for $12

2012-01-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

When we visit the Florida garden, we buy them in place of cut flowers and, when we drive, they come back to Adelphi. These came back, like I did, January 9. When I got home this afternoon they were enjoying sun from the southwest.

60F at night, Fog, Thunder, Heavy Rain....

2012-01-27T15:13:00.000-08:00

....transitioning quickly to bright sun, 25 mph sustained winds with 40mph gusts. There was only a matter of a few minutes between the top picture, with the fog and rain, and the sunny exposure. The winds were so strong that I gave up on blowing the paths; as soon as I cleared an area, the wind littered it with random debris..

I guess I'm beginning to sound like a broken record when I start on the weather. It's all over the map though. Hey, we've had years when the temperature never got above 55F for the month of January. This year it looks like one out of three days has been or will be in the mid-fifties. I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth though. I'm just going to enjoy it.

Lippia sp.

2012-01-25T15:50:00.000-08:00

I tried to make sense of the labels but I'm getting old and losing my edge. Except for the flower color, it certainly could be Lippia graveolens. I don't know but it's pretty and fragrant.

There're always flowers in Poly 7

2012-01-25T15:45:00.000-08:00

Polyhouse 7 is where we keep our sub-tropicals over the winter. It's a great place to go when snow or cold or some other aspect of winter overwhelms you and you just need a jump start. Today was a pretty nice day outside so it felt like self-indulgence to walk through in the afternoon. I enjoyed it anyway. The Asclepias currasavica and the palms made me other-home sick for the Florida garden.

Adonis amurensis and Helleborus thibetanus....it's still January!

2012-01-24T17:06:00.000-08:00

This is early even for us. We've had a mild winter but with some fairly cold days mixed in. It hasn't been cold for long though; today the temperature got up to 56F. It's going to drop 15-20 degrees tomorrow but than only gets us to a little above average. I hope this weather doesn't turn my three "spring" walks into summer walks!

Turkeys at the US National Arboretum

2012-01-24T16:57:00.000-08:00

Before this year turkeys had been few and far between at the Arboretum. There have been recent years when none were spotted. This year various people, including me, have seen groups of two or three. This picture was captured by an unmanned wildlife camera. Thanks you Sue Greeley for sharing it. Sue is the wildlife czar at the Arboretum. She monitors populations of various animals and attends to injured animals and corpses.

It's exciting to see those birds. My brother-in-law Larry, past president of Izaak Walton, has been telling me for years about how successfully turkeys are coming back. They're residents in every county in Maryland and in the District. Like other shy wild species, they seem to be able to adapt to living in populated areas; I remember a flock of at least 30 birds that wandered openly around a subdivision we vacationed in in Hawaii. I'd love to have a big flock resident at the Arboretum and it looks like we're headed in that direction.

Phyllostachys edulis seed are germinating. I only planted them two weeks ago

2012-01-23T15:08:00.000-08:00

I've never germinated bamboo seeds or, for that matter, even seen the seedlings. Hey they don't set seed very frequently. And when they do they die. I spent an hour or so cleaning the seed two weeks ago and now here it comes. The seedlings look like little bamboo plants. Can't you just imagine them 80 feet tall?

A friend of Scott sent these seeds to us....and we are working on our bamboo collection. The seeds are from a cooler part of the range of P. edulis and so we hope that between global warming and the provenance of these seeds, we'll be able to grow it to 25m and 18cm diameter. That would be some serious bamboo. We'll have to "enclose" it, but not for a while.

Lonicera fragrantissima: I just noticed it was flowering yesterday

2012-01-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

Today it's encased in ice. Usually it doesn't flower much till the end of February. I've alluded to the fact that this winter has been congenial towards "winter flowering" plants. Since it barely froze last night and forecasts call for a bit warmer tonight then even warmer, it may be flowering for a few weeks. This winter has been what I like to consider to be/wish was typical for us, though it's really warmer than average. I suppose I oughtn't talk like this; the universe will throw a sub-zero blizzard our way.

The weather forecasts were spot on.....again

2012-01-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how accurate they've gotten over the last 10 years. This week they called for an inch or so of snow followed by freezing rain and then temps a bit above freezing. Nailed it!

The Monkey-puzzle and the Sabal palmetto dislike this weather as much, probably more, than I do. They've both been in the ground for over five years so I'm not worried about them but neither comes from an area with a lot of cold weather or snow. The picture doesn't show how short both are; The Auricaria isunder three feet tall and the Sabal a bit shorter. I suppose I should count my blessings. If the Monkey-puzzle were to attain any size, it would attack anyone walking up the steps and block the view from the living room window. When I planted it I had thoughts of moving it when it got 4-5 feet tall but hey, maybe it'll never grow. Otherwise I'll coppice every couple of years and see how it goes.

Molten sun rises behind the Paper Birches in the National Grove of State Trees

2012-01-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves this planting of Betula papyrifera (the state tree of New Hampshire). I don't know how we keep the trees so healthy. We're a bit, actually a lot, south of their favored territory. It's way too hot and humid for way too long in the summers both for the birches and for me. Back in the days Lindane it was no problem to keep borers at bay. I'm glad that we're getting those dangerous pesticides off the market but....Now, though I think Imidicloprid is labelled for borers, I don't see how it can work this well.

George wrestles a branch into the air and feeds it into the chipper

2012-01-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

Today was a big day for those of us who garden at the US National Arboretum. Our Facilities Unit has repaired the big chipper and agreed to bring it out every two weeks to chip the debris that we produce and haul to the road. This may not seem like a big deal on first hearing, but for quite a few years we've had to cut our debris into ~8 foot lengths, load it onto our little trucks, and drive it to our recycling area. That was not an efficient use of time, or vehicles, or even folding saws, so we're all loving the rebirth of the chipper.

I remember when the it was new in 1991; so does Chris (watching George in the picture), one of the other Chris's, one that's not me. He was there twenty years ago. It, the chipper, was very impressive in it's youth, big, loud, yellow, new. According to its specs, it would take branches up to 10" in diameter. That only worked if they were dead straight, which meant it could chip a telephone pole. I think it could have back then. It's not as strong now, but it did chip everything we needed it to. That's a good thing.

Today's Poetry Daily Selection is a terrific poem

2012-01-19T03:08:00.000-08:00

A Winter Night by Tomas Transtromer translated by Robin Robertson; insane imagery.

Chimonanthus praecox with the Anacostia River in the background

2012-01-18T16:35:00.000-08:00

The fragrance from this large planting reaches almost to the parking lot which is 200 feet ? away.

The sun shone sideways through a clear sky this morning....

2012-01-18T16:28:00.000-08:00

somehow the effect wasn't harsh. It suffused the morning with a warmish, almost rosy, light. I'm arriving just after sunrise now because of my eyes.

I have uncorrectably severe astigmatism so when it is dark and wet I navigate blindly through a beautiful world of luminescent cobwebs. Not good for driving. In order to avoid driving in the dark, I changed my start time at work from 7:00am to 8:00am. Days are so short near the Solstice that if I didn't leave on time, I was in danger of having to drive home in the dark. Things are better now. We've been gaining minutes in the evening since the 14th of December when sunset moved from 4:46 to 4:47. Today it set at 5:13 so we've added 27 minutes at the end of the day. Oddly though, sunrise has only begun to shift in the past week and we've gained only 3 minutes. An upside to this is that when daylight savings time kicks in this spring, I'll be so far ahead of the game I won't be driving to work in the dark. That's a hateful thing, to fight through the short days of winter into the light of spring and then to be arbitrarily plunged into morning darkness again. I won't miss it.

Winter moves along here in Washington. We haven't had much snow and no extreme cold. We've been down into the mid teens a few times but those plants that flower for us in the winter don't seem to mind. There are flowers on Viburnums, Camellias, Chimonanthus praecox, Prunus mume, and Winter jasmine. Statistically we're at the coldest part of the year; next Monday the average low temperature will rise from 28F to 29F, Tuesday the average high will likewise rise a degree from 43F to 44F. I guess that means it gets better from here on in. I don't know though; the Farmer's Almanac has us down for a blizzard at the end of this month.

Grewia occidentalis....I brought it back from Florida

2012-01-16T14:29:00.000-08:00

I don't really know why. I do like it but it's going to be difficult this winter. I'll have to find a place in the sun for it which means in the living room which is pretty full of plants. All I can say is that it was a beautiful plant covered with flowers in a three-gallon container/I had it once before and, as I remember, it stayed out too long in the fall. Native to southern Africa, it could theoretically survive in the Florid garden if it was watered regularly. Of course that's not going to happen.. Plus, I suspect it would, on those regular occasions when the temps fall near 20F, turn brown and nasty and I don't want to add more plants like that; we have enough already. So I'll enjoy it through the winter. There's nothing like flowers in the winter, even if they're in the house.

Winter Salon at Jim and Dan's: superlative food and matchless company

2012-01-16T05:54:00.000-08:00

Jim Dronenberg has more than doubled the size of this planting area since my last visit. He did the brickwork, installed the beds, and I have no doubt, planted those beds with the rare and beautiful curiosities he accumulates. I can hardly wait for next spring

It had to have been the largest event I ever attended there; I missed their Perennial Plant Association Dinner. There were at least 50 attendees; an unbelievable selection of experts, geeks, and the less fanatical. I was able to talk with Nick Weber owner of Heritage Roses though recently enamored of dahlias. Ed Aldrich, the local dean of hardy tropicals, and dozens of other serious plant people. Jim and Dan enforce a strict rotation of seating. Everyone changes rooms and seatmates between courses.

Oddly, I met for the first time, a volunteer, Suzy ? (hey, I'm not a reporter!) from the Herb Garden at the Arboretum; she came with her husband Vinny, who was very tolerant of a houseful of wild-eyed fanatics. I was excited to hear her speculate about ways to increase the Arboretum's presence in Washington. She was both astute and positive. There were so many people and so little time....

I am grateful beyond words to Jim and Dan for providing the opportunity, on a regular basis, to exchange knowledge, ideas, and experience with this kind of group in such wonderful surroundings.

Another Prunus mume approaching full bloom

2012-01-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

I hope they don't all flower out before the middle of March. I'm giving three walks to track the progress of spring and the first one is March 18. No matter how much winter is left there'll be any number of blooming plants by then. Some years that would be a peak period for the Flowering Apricots, but apparently not this year.

During the course of finalizing the announcements for the Spring Schedule, I noticed that the cost for the walk is $12.00. Hey, if you read this blog much you must have sensed that I have the potential to be obnoxiously arrogant.... But wow. I know I'm worth six dollars an hour. Hey, I'm a bargain at that price.

George is sticking Juniper cuttings on a cold windy day

2012-01-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

He checked with Sue Martin and her recommendation was the third week of January when buds are fully formed. The extra warmth we've had this year allowed the buds to form up a little early so he should be good to go. When he finished sticking them, he'll move them to a cool house with mist and bottom heat; the cool air will keep the buds from sprouting before the cuttings have rooted.

Mixed trays of succulents are becoming popular. EURO AMERICAN PROPAGATORS

2012-01-12T15:53:00.001-08:00

This was one of the fun booths. They are in some way associated with Proven Winners but I can't explain it. Maybe they own "Proven Winners"? They hire, license, and contract growers but beyond this I don't have a clue. The complexity of the business has eclipsed my knowledge base.

Anyway this would have been a useful item for me this past fall when I planted mixed sedums in our new steps. I did it the hard way; I bought seven or eight pots of hardy succulents and deconstructed them. They'll work, but these little plugs would have been nice.

Arrrrgh.....Pirates are about. Don Shadow and Kathy Jentz at MANTS Spring Show

2012-01-12T15:21:00.000-08:00

The plants and products are fun and it's great to get stack of new catalogs for the new year, but I think most of us go to trade shows to see people we might not see otherwise. I see Kathy pretty regularly because she's...she's...she's, well everywhere that gardeners gather. She's the editor, publisher, and one of the authors, ... of Washington Gardener. I see Don Shadow only now and then. Don is the dean of nurserymen/persons?; he has discovered, introduced, imported more exciting new woody plants than the rest of the trade put together. Well maybe almost that many. It's always fun to talk to him and I was amazed to find him alone at his booth this morning. Most years there are so many people that I listen for a while, wave, and move on. Today Michael, Kathy, and I had him to ourselves for a bit.

We discussed Aesculus for a while. Apparently he has one seedling from a cross of Aesculus chinensis and some large Vietnamese species with buckeyes the size of baseballs.Wow! I Can't wait. Then he segued into the story of finding a spectacular fastigiate Japanese Maple. As in so many of these stories, while walking through a nursery in Japan, a particular plant drew his attention. He asked about it and found out that it had been there for years, no one had ever shown interest, so it wasn't even named. If I remembered the name now I'd tell you but.... The best feature about it is that the trunk is single and straight and there are quantities of branches evenly distributed from the ground to the apex. We have a fastigiate Acer palmatum in the collections but it branches irregularly, sparsely, and mostly towards the top of the plant. Always good plants and good stories from Don.

Prunus 'First Lady'....it clouded up and rained after noon

2012-01-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

The Research Unit forced this flowering Cherry, Prunus 'First Lady' for the MANTS show, mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show in Baltimore this week. First Lady is a recent Arboretum introduction though it was hybridized 30 years ago. Differing from the commoner flowering cherries, it has an upright habit similar to one of its parents, Prunus okame.

Tropical color in the greenhouses: Asclepias curavassica, Vanda sp., Scutellaria ventenatii

2012-01-10T18:42:00.001-08:00

Still, just in case I got homesick for that tropical color, I found these guys among Brad's plants. The Vanda is a remarkable specimen with those huge flowers on that compact perfect plant. The Scutellaria are propagations from a plant I brought back from Florida a few years ago.

Prunus mume 'Tohji-bai' alongside the path to the Pagoda

2012-01-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

We drove through blinding snow on the way north yesterday and this morning was no picnic but by midday the sun was out and it had warmed up enough to be a quite pleasant day. The two days under 20F last week weren't enough to stop the Camellias; many of the fall blooming crosses are still flowering and the Camellia japonica selections are beginning to pop here and there. Many of the Prunus mume varieties are in full bloom; Joan told me her's is on the way out!

Two weeks in Florida......just a handful of pictures

2012-01-10T17:57:00.001-08:00

Which I didn't download until tonight. Actually I didn't touch a computer from Christmas to January 9th. At first I had withdrawal symptoms but after I relaxed, it was okay.

Many of the plants in the garden are beginning to get some size so it's more fun to work. The weather was generally good with highs between 60 and 80F. Two days it was quite chilly; one night temps fell into the mid 20's taking a toll on tender perennials and annual. We've moved away from those for the most part with a few exceptions. Asclepias, Porteranthus, some shrubby Salvias. They'll come back!

Delightful short winter poem

2011-12-24T04:11:00.000-08:00

Definitely worth a quick read!

Beech Spring Pond two days before Christmas

2011-12-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

It rained hard last night, almost an inch. We could have had 8 inches of snow. Except that it's too warm. 50+F today and 60 yesterday. There was no traffic to speak of this morning so I got to the Arboretum early and spent half an hour cruising and looking. The air was clear and the sun lit things with that curious sideways light reserved for the ends of winter days. The trees on the far (west) side of Beech Spring Pond accepted the light gracefully.

This was my last day in the gardens for over two weeks; that's sad in a way but they'll be here when I come back. Anyway I paid particular attention today.

Rohea japonica, the Japanese Sacred Lily in China Valley by the steps in bed C-5

2011-12-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

This is our "large berried" form. The fruit is, I would guess, half again the size of typical Rhodea fruit. This planting is showing off its fruit nicely this year because the volunteers divided them severely and rearranged them artistically. Before they were divided the foliage was so thick that the berried only peeked out here and there. At least this year though, they're all hanging out!

December 22 in the Asian Collections

2011-12-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

And there's that darned Spirea thungergii 'Ogon'. It would be special even if it weren't framed by the Five-needle pine, Pinus parviflora. Part of the large weeping Katsura are visible in the right background.

Asplenium ceterach

2011-12-22T14:59:00.000-08:00

It's out of the greenhouse and in the collection. I love this fern; click here to read my previous ravings about it! It's not immediately apparent from the photograph, but it's now growing in a vertical wall.

First sunrise after the winter Solstice

2011-12-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

The days are getting longer now, 1 second today, and in three months if I stand at this same place at sunrise, basically facing east, I'll see the sun rising through the Capitol Columns. It will have moved that far to the north.

2011-12-21T16:23:00.000-08:00

I've been walking through the collection this week internalizing. I'll be away for two weeks and I want to crystallize it in my mind so it (my mind) can work while I garden in the south.

This bank of St. John's wort grows at the top of China Valley close to where the turf reaches down to the paved path. Like most other Hypericums, it'll lose most or all of its leaves before winter's end but it's a nice touch of color now. It has those orangy reds that pop up her and there in retained winter foliage. Nandinas, mahonias, itea...maybe not colors you'd want to emphasize in the spring or the summer, but welcome nonetheless in late December.

Spirea thunbergi 'Ogon' ('Mellow Yellow')....still colorful, and it's almost Christmas

2011-12-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

Spireas aren't my favorite plants; they're....they're...utilitarian. No, that's not fair. They're dependable, many of them have interestingly colored foliage, the flowers are pleasant enough. Many of the various cultivars reflower if sheared after their first flowering. Some of the x bumalda types have red, yellow, orange foliage though it normally viridesces to some degree. I guess it's chemistry. They just don't do it for me.

I love this one though, and not just because it's flashy. The wispy foliage gives the plant a "light" feeliing unlike it's stockier cousins. The white flowers on naked branches appearing just as winter turns to spring are so small they'd be overlooked any later in the season. But they're a pleasant harbinger of spring. The foliage emerges yellow and stays that color through the season, only reverting to green in quite shady locations. The fall color isn't always this bright; often there isn't so much red in the mix but it's dependably a rich yellow and when it gets this amazing color and holds it to January, well, that's a bonus.

Prunus mume 'Mume Nishiki'.....flowering on December 19, that's pretty early

2011-12-19T15:00:00.000-08:00

Look at those 10 dollar Phalaenopsis

2011-12-17T13:20:00.000-08:00

Holiday shopping today, finishing up....ha ha. Anyway, I went to Ikea to buy one of those tall narrow galvanized florist's containers that they had last year. Of course this year their galvanized containers were a different shape. Oh well. I did find these Moth orchids. They were all in great shape and there were some wild selections. They weren't named but hey, for ten dollars....

I love Salvia splendens in all its incarnations

2011-12-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

This one is spending the winter in Greenhouse 7 and it'll throw flowers all winter long. Many salvias flower perfectly nicely during the short days of winter so you see them as components of seasonal displays in cool winter conservatorys.

Tricyrtis hirta 'Miyazaki' dried capsules

2011-12-16T16:14:00.000-08:00

It was odd to encounter this large clump of Toadlily with its arms extended and fruit ascending. We've been patting ourselves on the back for the efficiency with which we put the garden to bed for winter but maybe there's a price to be paid for our meticulous maintenance. Maybe we cut back plants here and there that still have something to offer. It does feel good to have everything tidied up for the new year. And I did still find one nice clump of Tricyrtis to admire....

Look it's a mad scientist

2011-12-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

No, it's David Kidwell-Slak transplanting germinated Box huckleberries , Gaylussacia brachycera. And showing me some impressively vigorous rhizomes. He's discovered that the most efficient way go germinate the seeds is in liquid. He actually puts the seed into the small jars, monitors them, and upon germination, transplants the small seedlings to cell packs. They prefer to start under the surface and push into the air so this is a somewhat complex procedure. Apparently germination is the weak link in the life cycle of this uncommon relict species.

It's a great plant, a beautiful evergreen ericacious subshrub whose foliage colors up for the winter. Growing in dry shade, it's native to the mid-Atlantic from Pennsylvania to Virgina and west to Kentucky and Tennessee. Not at all common, it occurs in, what had been thought to be, clonal colonies. I remember almost sensationalist articles from many years ago that estimated the ages of some of those colonies as up to or even over 10,000 years. Because these clones don't reproduce sexually each colony is essentially one plant making them among the oldest living "plants". The story even made it into newspapers and popular magazines. David isn't sure of those dates; apparently they were calculated by measuring the growth of the plant and extrapolating to the size of the colony. In the top picture he's showing me rhizomes, only a few years old, which could produce large colonies without the passage of thousands of years. The Arboretum has samples of plants from many stations and Margaret Pooler has co-authored an article on the clonal fidelity of these colonies. It turns out that all the colonies aren't composed of a single clone but sexual reproduction does seem to be minimal.

It's interesting, but I'm more a gardener than a scientist so I'm excited at the prospect of a garden worthy selection of two. Evergreen groundcovers for dry shade are at a premium so it'd be great to have this as an addition to the palette. Plus, for those of us in the mid=Atlantic, it'd be a native plant.

Sarcococca hookeriana (maybe).....a particularly nice accession

2011-12-14T16:20:00.000-08:00

Look at those leaves!

I like the shorter Sarcococcas, Himalayan Sweet box, much more in theory than I do in the garden. They seem like such a perfect groundcover: a short dark green evergreen sub-shrub with fragrant flowers in the late winter or early spring. The problem is that most plantings have significant areas that are bleached, chlorotic, or yellowed for whatever reason. I must have passed this bed a thousand times and never paid enough attention to it to see that it's much nicer than your average Sarcococca. And different: the leaves that live on red/maroon twigs are darker, longer, narrower, glossier, and unmarred by any hint of yellow. It would be wonderful if this was a genetic trait but this planting is our sole representation of accession 66751 so maybe it's just growing in a perfect location. And it is growing in a very good location with shade, drainage, and adequate water.

It was wild collected in Shaanxi, China in 1996 by Kevin Conrad et alii including Rick Lewandowski. The collection notes hint at what I've come to believe are the optimum growing conditions, "Dense shade on a well drained ledge; 70% NE slope; humusy loam, deep organic surface layer;" In other words, rich organic soil and perfect drainage in deep shade....Aha!

Today I took a flat full of cuttings (it's in the boxwood family and the whole family roots....well, really easily) so we can try them in different sites and see how well it does. Stay tuned.

Epimedium stellulatum winter foliage

2011-12-13T15:32:00.001-08:00

We'll come through sometime in February and cut this back along with all the other evergreen epimediums but for now it's an interesting textural element: punctuation in the winter garden. The spiny serrations are very cool. It'll be covered with a cloud of white flowers next spring, but I think I like the foliage best. It's possible, more or less, to divide epimediums into clumping and spreading; some spread vigorously by rhizomes and so serve well as groundcovers while others spread very slowly remaining in irregular clumps for years and years. The difference is a matter of degree; some clumpers seem to never spread and, on the other end of the spectrum, some of the spreaders rapidly and inexorably take over the bed they're planted in. Because the flowers are so complexly beautiful, almost orchid-like, I'm sure many a gardener has daintily placed one of the spreading plants in a mixed woodland planting only to find that as the years have passed it has overcome its less aggressive neighbors. I'm sure I'm not he only one!

The evergreen epimediums are great foliar accents in the winter. We have drifts of pachysandra, liriope, ophiopogon, rohdea, et alia in the collection that, along with the evergreen shrubs, provide the form for the winter garden but it's fun to have accents. Epimedium lishihchenii is another large-leafed Chinese species (leaflets to 5" long) that's fun in the winter with its leaf undersurfaces a pale violet.

Trachelospermum difforme....well, Joan Feely cleaning seeds that will someday produce

2011-12-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

Climbing Dogbane: the first time I knew there was a native trachelospermum was when Joan cam back from a collecting trip this fall talking about it. She found it in Mississippi in the Delta National Forest. The vine is deciduous unlike it's Asian siblings and the fruits are quite distinctive.

I know Trachelospermum jasminoides, Confederate Jasmine; an evergreen groundcover, it's ubiquitous in planted landscapes in the SE. It will climb if there's something to climb on or just sprawl otherwise. Trachelospermum asiaticum is also evergreen, also a groundcover with fragrant flowers, it's not so widespread as jasminoides, there are a number of variegated cultivars of asiaticum. Both are Asian. I didn't find a lot of information about difforme; it's apparently a widespread but uncommon resident from Maryland south to Florida, west to Texas, and north through the Midwest approaching Michigan. I found multiple references to the flowers being strongly fragrant so I look forward to them. It may be a few years, but it's good to have things to look forward to.

Chimonanthus praecox, Wintersweet

2011-12-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

Sunny and warm today but there was a big wind. I lowered the wind chimes for the season. The notes were clear but, in place of the pleasantly calming tones of the summer, was a crashing cacophony as though a cadre of super vampires were preparing to drain a nunnery while the cavalry frantically fought their way over a mountain and through a raging torrent; they had to come down. Hangng below a pulley on aircraft cable, they weigh around 40 pounds, so I just undo the cable from the huge screw-eye on the tree and they lower themselves to the ground where they live for the balance of winter and most of early spring. Usually. This year the tree grew around the cable so I had to chisel a bit of bark away. I sprinkled some sulfur powder on the wound though I don't think I even hit the cambium. It's oddly quiet now but I'll get used to it.

This is about as early as I've seen this Chimonanthus flowering heavily. We've had some cool weather but only a few nights dipped below freezing and then not much below. It must not need much vernalization. The wind was so strong that the fragrance from hundreds of flowers was barely detectable but when I brought a couple shoots into the house...It's a wonderful smell.

Gardenis x 'Kleim's Hardy' with Orange fruit

2011-12-08T16:55:00.001-08:00

I guess if you live where Gardenias are dependably hardy, seeing your plants covered with these interesting orange fruits is not anything to get excited about, but I don't. So I got pretty psyched today to see dozens of fruit on each of our 3' tall plants. I must not have been paying attention because I don't remember ever seeing fruit on a gardenia in the Asian Collections where we have a handful of hardy selections, on my own plant that I've had for at least 25 years, in a conservatory, or....anywhere. And they're pretty; orange is a fine color for late fall.

Though we do have a lot of plants, they've all been in the ground less than five years. It'll be interesting to see whether fruiting will be a regular event or this is an uncommon result of particular weather patterns. We did have an odd year weatherwise. Just yesterday, Wednesday, we set the record for daily precipitation in December, 3.4".

Okay, maybe being a small engine mechanic isn't the best part of the job....

2011-12-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

But you've got to do what you've got to do. This is our number two string-trimmer, and it was blowing blue smoke this morning so I changed the gas; too much oil in the mix is a likely cause of that symptom. Not this time though. Some rainy, cold, or snowy day I'll check the sparkplug to see if it's fouled; odds on, that's the problem. Today I just let Nathan do all the work, er trimming. Thursday is our volunteer day and we had five volunteers to help us with the final perennial cut-backs. Nathan managed to stay ahead of them, just barely, so we didn't miss trimmer number two. Today we did mostly big drifts: anemones in China Valley, bloodgrass, and iris. It was cool and maybe not as windy as I thought it would be. We just about finished the cutbacks so next week we're going to do some pruning: watersprouts, suckers, and clearly inappropriate branches. We've never had the luxury of doing this with volunteers and it's going to make a big difference in the general appearance of the Collection. I'm psyched again!

Brookside Gardens Holiday Lights....nice flowers

2011-12-07T16:47:00.000-08:00

Best case, today was dreary.....worst case, miserable

2011-12-07T16:35:00.001-08:00

I got up this morning just before 5:00 am and went downstairs to the kitchen. Before I could even make a pot of coffee, the damned rain woke me up. We have almost 2" now (~8:00 pm) and it's suppose to turn to snow later tonight before ending before dawn. Sunny, breezy, and cool tomorrow.

After working inside all day editing, moving, and labeling pictures, I headed out to walk the collection and see if I could find anything cheerful outside. Ilex verticillata 'Winter Red' on the hill below Kingman Overlook fruited heavily this year. I'm not certain whether the effect is cheering but it made me feel better. I enjoy driving past the Tropical Bonsai Greenhouse on dark days when the lights are on. It always seems so...private and inviting.

There is good news on this darkness issue though; sunset, 4:46 pm EST, is as early as it gets. This time next week it'll set at 4:47 and things'll just get better from there. At least at the end of the day. Sunrise, 7:15 am EST today, is another story. It 'll not only continue to move later through the solstice, but won't reach it's nadir, 7:27 pm EST, until New Year's Eve. And it won't budge a minute for a week and a half. Oh well...baby steps.

Philadelphus incanus....sort of a candle in the wind

2011-12-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

We have dozens of Philadelphus and they're all defoliated, all brown, all except this one shoot on this one plant. It is December. We had our first hard frost last night, well, our first heavy frost. We only dipped a few degrees below freezing but it had been warm and almost humid Thursday so the frost was impressive. The Mock Orange flower was open yesterday and seems unscathed though I bet another degree or two would have toasted the open flower.

Rogue flowering shoots happen with some frequency. If you've been gardening for a while, or even just paying attention you've seen them. Azaleas, even non-fall bloomers throw the odd flower out of season. Once in a while a mop head hydrangea will flower on new growth. I guess the triggering mechanisms aren't infallible. Anyway, when it happens, it's fun.

On a related blooming note, I don't see anything premature happening on any of the Prunus mume, but the Chimonanthus praecox are showing color. They normally flower before the first of the year, but not always in the beginning of December. Nate blew the parking lot and the nw end of the collections and I did the other end. The garden is beautiful thanks to the weather and yesterday's cleanup. And there are things going on: still odd bits of fall foliage color including the red leaves carpeting the ground under the Euonymus carnosus grove. One of the trees in the grove is still holding a good bit of foliage too. Colorful fruit are scattered about: purple Callicarpa dichotoma, red Nandinas here and there, the yellow-fruited Stranvaesia davidiana in the Japanese Woodland has at least quadrupled over the past three years and now a respectable plant, and dozens of others. The Camellia collection is bursting with color, but there are dozens of camellias scattered through the collections; I think I prefer the individuals to the collection which is somewhat overwhelming. The carpet of fallen leaves set off the evergreen trees, shrubs, and particularly the groundcovers. Counterintuitive though it may seem, it's going to be a great week for the Asian Collections.

Hamamelis leaf outside the Headhouse

2011-12-02T14:05:00.000-08:00

It's just a special leaf. I wonder if the fact that the petiole was partly broken had to do with the curious coloration. It has been a good fall for odd leaves!

Fruit of Polygonatum cirrhifolium

2011-12-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

Curious, almost beaked.

Camellia 'Yuletide'

2011-12-01T15:23:00.000-08:00

I think. I couldn't locate the label. It's just to the right of the restrooms in the Asian Collections. There aren't many fall bloomers with color this deep. In the trade that is. We do have a planting of Korean Camellia japonica near our tool shed that flowers with the typical red of the species but in the fall.

The weather continues to be wonderful. We had 6 volunteers today: Julie, Nancy, Betty, Terry, Eugenia, and, our newest addition, Angela. We got a lot done. Nathan weed whipped perennials and the rest of us raked them onto tarps, loaded them onto the Mitsubishi, and drove them to the "Green Waste" pile. Plus we picked up fallen twigs and branches and pruned as we went. We did a total of 6 loads and finished the bulk of the "cut-backs" for the year. After all these years, I'm still impressed by the amount of work that gets done when you have so many hands.

Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis'

2011-11-30T16:13:00.000-08:00

It's December, or it will be in a couple hours, and we've barely been below freezing. This is the time of year when I usually enter the "denial" stage. Maybe winter will pass over us; maybe we'll get into the high 40's or the 50's F every day and the sun will shine. No snow, no ice, no roaring dry cold winds out of the west. I can remember winter's when German Iris flowered in January in hot spots in the city. And a clump of wax begonias survived on the south side of the house only to succumb to cool wet weather in March. And snapdragons flowered in a planter at the Beltsville Post Office all winter. Of all things. Spring'll start the second week of February for sure, maybe the first.....

It never happens that way though. And it's always okay. Winter's kind of fun in it's own way. We usually get the animals flea and tick free before it warms up. Fires are nice. Frost, even snow, is beautiful. To see the dendritic filigree of branches against the sky or, heaven help us, snow is worth a bit of cold. And it's good to see the garden clear of the rambunctious sprawl of summer. Good for perspective. And pruning. I enjoy pruning, playing at omnipotence, deciding what direction a plant will take for the rest of its life. They're more manageable than children. I like that. And then to watch it grow, develop, fulfill its promise. As the years pass by, spring seems to come more quickly and go the same. So I guess I'll just try to embrace winter and whatever comes with it.

Still, when I come around the bend from Beechspring Pond headed up to the Asian Collections and see these cherries blanketed with pink flowers warmed in the early sun it is understandable that my thoughts might turn to spring.

Fargesia robusta 'Green Screen' and Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web'

2011-11-29T15:41:00.000-08:00

It did start out warm, calm, and sunny this morning, but by the time I got this far into the collection the wind had picked up, the skies clouded over, and scattered raindrops were falling. This is a beautiful combination, the clumping bamboo and the variegated Fatsia. The white flowers just make it better.

The Canola is flowering in the Power Plants exhibit

2011-11-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

Don't they know it's almost December? But you know those mustards; they like it on the cool side. I was a little surprised when I drove by it this morning, but it was 63F and sunny. I guess the plants must have interpreted the cleanup by the leaf team yesterday as a sign they were supposed to do something.

Vandas are flowering in the Tropical House

2011-11-28T15:27:00.000-08:00

Brad mentioned this plant at lunch and I stopped by on my way out to the collection to resume blowing leaves. This is an orchid I've never attempted; they need a lot of light.

The fall flowering Camellias are putting on an impressive show at the US National Arboretum

2011-11-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

My how they've grown. The plants and the planting are both nearing what I remember from before those two deadly winters of the late 1970's. Most of the plants in the collection now could survive that degree of cold though it seems as though, what with Global Warming, they may never have to. The oldest have only been in the ground twenty years or so but some have grown rapidly. A good number are as tall or taller than I am and clearly there are a lot of flowers. I even found a red and white bicolor today but the light wasn't good enough for a picture. In general the fall bloomers have smaller flowers than the C japonica cultivars that bloom in spring. And there's less variety in the flowers in the fall; most are light to medium pink or white, but there are a few with deeper color. Still, it's an experience to wander through an acre of these plants at the end of November.

Unidentified Pansy in a container outside the front door

2011-11-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

It's been a good season for pansies; for a month or so our highs have been mostly around 60F and our lows around 40F. We've been a few degrees below freezing on a few occasions but that doesn't bother pansies. Looking at the 10 day forecast, it seems like we may keep this pattern into early December.

Frangula (Rhamnus) caroliniana. I like this plant

2011-11-27T09:04:00.001-08:00

It's a SE US native, either a large shrub or a small tree, typically growing to about 15 feet tall. The textural effect of the glossy leaves with deeply incised parallel veins is an interesting contrast to the more usual understory plants here in USDA Zone 7. As a plus, they linger well into fall or even early winter. The red drupes are attractive in season; apparently birds love them and move the plant around in their travels. In fact, Mike Dirr is less than enthusiastic about the value of Rhamnus in the landscape, I'm sure in no small part due to its tendency to seed about. I'll keep an eye on it here, but we're hundreds of miles further north and with luck it won;t be weedy. Even so, I'd prefer it to the woody Loniceras that have taken over so much of the wild understory hereabouts.

Anemone x hupehensis....There're still a few good flowers as we head towards December

2011-11-25T15:39:00.000-08:00

The Asian Collection had visitors out the wazoo today

2011-11-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

Not a lot of us worked today; most elected to use a day's leave to make a four day weekend. I like time off as much as the next guy but somehow when I take these four days I'm always bouncing around looking for something to do by Saturday afternoon. Anyway, I came in with every intention of blowing leaves all day. It was not to be. We had more visitors than I've ever seen, even in spring. So I did quiet things and a pleasant day was had by us all.

A spectral mist flowed over the Anacostia and its attendant marshes this morning

2011-11-25T15:15:00.000-08:00

I don't recall ever seeing anything like this effect. As the morning heated up, which it did rapidly, the fog quickly dissipated leaving the day sunny, warm, and pleasant.

Salvia guaranitica against an impressive background

2011-11-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

Many, most, of the Salvias are from the south, Texas say, or Mexico. It takes a lot of heat to get them going and they often don't get started flowering heavily till late summer. I often feel that they have been surprised by the cold temperatures of fall. Then they're cut down in their prime. This fellow is still standing tall and proud today.

Rosa rugosa rubra in the Herb Garden

2011-11-23T12:06:00.000-08:00

I went to the Herb Garden today looking for flowers because it's been....well, gloomy for the past few days. There were dozens of roses flowering well but the rain had destroyed or at least tarnished most of the flowers. Rosa rugosa is tough though; this flower took the weather in stride.

I'm thankful that the plastic is on the Polyhouses, that the jet tubes are running, and that the heaters work

2011-11-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

These plants have settled in for the duration of fall and the whole of winter. I wonder if they're dreaming of spring?

This is not your grandmother's Thanksgiving fare....Brad breaks out the Cactus fruit

2011-11-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

He did say though, that the fruit from the Fishbone Cactus, a piece of the leaf is visible on the right hand side of the bottom picture, actually tasted better.

I prefer the "Glorious" phase of fall, but this "brown and wet" phase....

2011-11-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

It's all right. Anyway, next year we'll have spring and summer and fall all over again.

We had geysers today in honor of the rain

2011-11-22T16:10:00.000-08:00

The irrigation contractors finished winterizing the system today. It rains steadily most of the day and drizzled the rest. I had to admire their persistence.Carole and I went out yesterday with metal detectors, maps, and measuring wheels yesterday and located the quick connects on the Flood Plain. They are, as you could surmise, the low points of the system so the whole "blowing out the system" works a lot better when we open these valves.

Glyptostrobus pensilis gold-leafed form in China Valley

2011-11-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

I see that Adrian Higgins included it in his gallery of fall foliage at the Arboretum. (in the Washington Post) I've been watching this particular plant myself for the past three weeks; the rusty-orange color is rich and has been persistent. It lives near the path which worries me a little bit as it will grow to be a tree of some size. I expect we'll need to move it, prune it so that it ends up overhanging the path, or remove it at some point in the future. Procratination will, of course, limit our choices to the latter two.

Glyptostrobus pensilis, a deciduous conifer, is the last species in what was a circumboreal genus millions of years ago. It's range has been narrowed to parts of southern China and a few locations in Vietnam. Actually, the Chinese Swamp Cypress is believed to be extinct in the wild though, as most references note,it has been much planted along the banks of rice paddies where its roots provide stabilization and protect against floods. It's a member of the Cupressaceae, closely related to our own Taxodium and shares the curious characterist of producing woody "knees" that grow up from the roots into the air like stalagmites. Ours lives quite happily in an often soggy area in the middle of China Valley.

Mum in the Asian Collections

2011-11-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

Well, this is embarassing; no, it's Diuranthera major

2011-11-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

I didn't have a clue until Amy told me what it was. With the name in hand I googled it, but save, as she observed, it's entry in The Flora of China, and a few scientific papers, it seems like it barely exists. It's right there in the middle of China Valley and I had no idea what it was. There were a few other people at the Arboretum this afternoon, who shall remain nameless, who also didn't know what it is. Still, it's my job; I really ought to have known and I feel.....well stupid sounds harsh. Ignorant, I feel ignorant.

It's an intrepid thing, flowering past the middle of November. Between the combination of late flowering and the curious configuration of the flowers, there's a place for this plant in the gardens of the "Plant Geeks".

Sassafras tzumu in fall color in the Asian Collections at the US National Arboretum

2011-11-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

This is for real color. The saturation may be, well is, exaggerated because it was a dismal gray day, but that's what it looks like. This grows in the central valley. I took this picture from the ridge on the south edge about 50 feet beyond the pagoda. I have always loved our NA native Sassafras albidum which also has great fall color and I like this Chinese species too. The leaves are a little bit different; most are 3-lobed and the lobes are tipped. And it's not as fragrant as its NA counterpart but it's a fun plant.

Leaves can be nice on the ground too.....but you've gotta look fast

2011-11-16T16:11:00.000-08:00

From the top: Acer palmatum 'Linearilobum'; Asimina triloba; Euscaphis japonicus; Gingko biloba

Rainy day work: plant shipping....Azalea 'Dimity' and much more

2011-11-16T15:46:00.000-08:00

We did a lot of sorting and labeling and packing and addressing today and eventually shipped out 30 some boxes of plants. Camellia x 'Anacostia' is our introduction. Stachyurus praecox var. 'Matsuzakii' is not our discovery but we highly recommend it. The various conifers are plants that we produced as part of the monumental reconstruction of the Gotelli Collection. Chris, Mariya, George, and a few propagators have been working for years taking cuttings and growing them on to produce plants to replace many of the existing Gotelli confers that have outgrown their aesthetic. It's a huge project and one that the rest of the staff is watching with interest. Since it's been going on a few years many of the older larger plants have been removed and their replacements are beginning to have enough size to exhibit some "presence" in the garden. It's going to be along process but we're (they're) far enough in that it's beginning to be exciting. Anyway there were excess cuttings and we've now distributed them to a variety of public gardens and Universities.

Seeing all the plants on the table increased my respect for Mariya's and George's abilities as growers. I order a lot of plants and sometimes I'm happy (mostly) sometimes not. If I opened a box to find one of these assortments I would be more than satisfied.

Part of our shipping includes boxes of paired azaleas: 'Dimity' and 'Bagatelle'. These are Glendale hybrids. Barbara Bullock, the Azalea Curator, is working to reintroduce the Glendales to the commercial world and we distribute two new old ones every year. The top picture, with the oddly blotched fall foliage, is 'Dimity'.

Rhus aromatica 'Gro-low'......I'm just sayin'

2011-11-16T15:43:00.000-08:00

Acer palmatum ssp. amoenum....I worked around this tree yesterday and today

2011-11-15T15:55:00.000-08:00

It's "layered " color scheme kept drawing my gaze.

Got a lot done in two days. Not everybody's idea of fun gardening jobs. We weren't deadheading roses or planting pansies or doing a bit of minor weeding. Yesterday Telly and I spread 10? tons of CR-6 on trails and tamped it down. Today I blew leaves all day. Aggghhh! The good thing about blowing today is that the leaves are at least half down, dry, and fluffy, and so easily moved. It's going to rain a lot tomorrow so today we moved leaves where we'd like them to stay permanently. If things go as planned the rain will mat them down and they can commence decomposition.

Rubus setchuenensis with fall/winter ? color

2011-11-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

If I recall correctly, I planted this towards the end of June this year. I seem to remember it having something like seven or eight leaves. It has grown. It has a span of about 15 feet right now I ought to have put something in the picture for scale; each leaf is 5-7" across. It remains to be seen whether it's evergreen, but in every other respect, this seems like a megahuge Rubus calycinoides. Can't wait for the fruit next year.

We're sliding down the inevitable slope to winter but there are still some good yellows

2011-11-15T15:38:00.000-08:00

From the top: Sapindus saponaria drummondii; Ginkgo biloba; Lindera obtusiloba; Asparagus cochinchinensis

Sapindus is a wonderful small tree. Drought tolerant, disease and pest free, and it always seems to assume an attractive shape. The architecture of trees is important. Here in the US, we generally, present company excluded, tend to plant our trees then let them grow/go their own way. Every garden culture is different; some, present company included, start pruning when from the time the tree is planted and decreasingly but regularly until it's no longer in our care. Our goal is to produce a perfect specimen of whatever individual we're working with. We want the Platonic Ideal out of the cave and in the garden. The plant becomes then, a product of our conception and execution. To be a good gardener requires a large component of ego! Anyway, Soapberry is a tree that tends not to need a lot of pruning, a tree that can be trusted to reach maturity without a lot of input from us gardeners.

Hemizygia transvaalensis aka Syncolostemon obermeyerae

2011-11-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

I'd never seen this plant before today. I had weekend watering today and there it was in Polyhouse 7, looking like a rangy variegated wintercreeper with pink flowers. I didn't touch it but research tells me that the leaves are fragrant as leaves of members of the mint family are wont to be. It's really almost too much. Like the variegated Weigela that was on the cover of the Spring Hill catalog for so many years. Actually almost exactly like that on a smaller scale. Are they out of business, Spring Hill Gardens? They used to ship plants so small they were barely more than rooted cuttings, or tiny roots with the barest of shoots. When I was landscaping I had clients from time to time who would order quantities of plants from their seductively colorful catalog, then call me to plant them. You know what? If you get 'em in the ground before they dry out, a surprising number of those macropropagules actually lived. Go figure.

Anyway, I never heard of this plant before, or the genus, actually either of the genera. From South Africa, it's a sub-shrub in the Lamiaceae, growing to almost 2m in height. This plant was identified as the cultivar 'Candy Kisses' which almost makes it worse. Apparently it has made it's way to Australia and to North America too; Brad got hold of this from somewhere.

Acer henryi in the Asian Collections at the US National Arboretum

2011-11-11T05:13:00.001-08:00

Now I've gone and violated my own prohibition on posting pictures that weren't taken the day of the post. Oh well. The top picture was taken Wednesday, the other two Thursday.

Acer henryi is a Chinese maple that's very uncommon in cultivation. During the growing season, it displays remarkable pendulous racemes of flowers followed by seeds. The Asian Collectiion has plants from two/three NACPEC trips. The tree in the middle picture grew from seeds collected in 1980 by Dr. Ted Dudley, an Arboretum Botanist, and others in the Shennongjia Forest District, in Hubei Province. The collection notes record picturesquely the seed was from a "Contorted, stnnted tree hanging over cliff above stream." Cool! From this collection we have two trees. The plant in the middle picture with yellow fall foliage grows between Hickey Hill Road and the path from the parking area. The second, much larger, is sited at the intersection of the path to the Pagoda and the cut through to China Valley. This accession has attractive yellow fall foliage.

In 2002, Carole Bordelon, the present Curator of the Collection, went on a NACPEC trip to Shaanxi Province. This time the collection notes describe a "mesic, mixed deciduous forest; seedlings growing in dry river bed; open, sunny. Growing in association with Carpinus, Pteroceltis, Sinowilsoniiana, Taxus chinensis. They collected 19 seedlings. The small tree in the top and bottom pictures is the product of this trip. The fall color on this plant makes an already good plant only better!

In 2008, Chris Carley represented the USNA on a NACPEC collecting trip to Gansu Province. We germinated this collection and have 19 plants at present. A few of them are approaching 3 feet in height and exhibited a good bit of red pigmentation in the spring when their leaves were young. I chose the darkest one and planted it in the collection at the top of China Valley. As of Thursday afternoon, yesterday, it hadn't developed fall color, though I did note that portions of two leaves had turned dark red. I will, of course, continue to monitor it as well as the plants in our growing area.

The weather changed today. from sunny, warm, and dry to cloudy, cool, and rainy

2011-11-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

That's the way fall ends. Rain and wind strip leaves and color. The world goes from gay and carefree to drab and inhospitable. But you know what? The Dawn Redwoods don't care. They look good in gray, damp, and cold.

Ash in the fog in the Fern Valley Meadow

2011-11-10T15:58:00.000-08:00

For years I photographed the Ash more days than not. I've gotten away from it the past couple of years, but I still love the tree. Must be the silhouette?

Lindera obtusiloba (indeed)....my obsession with necrotic leaves continues

2011-11-09T15:56:00.001-08:00

Given enough time, incentive, and the right tool, there's nothing a man (or woman) can't do

2011-11-09T15:49:00.000-08:00

But what's with those odd callouses on the truncated ends of vertical roots? Michael Rayburn, arborist specializing in arboreal dentistry, (just kidding) showed them to me this morning on this fallen Oak in Fern Valley. The top one seems like it was the initial "tap root". It's in the center and it's far and away the largest.

Flashback

2011-11-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

Scott took a group through the Asian Collections this afternoon, cut flower producers, so I blew leaves off the paths, the parking lot, and a few groundcovers. I'd have done other things if I'd needed to but we seem to be on top of things at present. I think this is the first time in 20 years that I've prepped the collection for a visit. The first time I worked in Asian Valley was 20 years ago; I was paid by FONA with money donated by the very generous Dorothy Kidder. Her donations to FONA paid my salary, two other salaries in the Asian Collection, and supplied various things to the garden including a New Holland skid steerer and countless tractor trailer loads of mulch.

When she was scheduled to visit, and she always afforded us the courtesy, we did serious preparation. I used to hand rake the, then gravel, China Valley path not only to remove foreign objects, but to align the gravel. Beth and Roger raked the other paths. We removed anything that could be construed as unsightly and any tools, soil piles, plants in pots, that is any sign that the garden wasn't perfect already, disappeared. I don't think she cared about the garden being perfect but appreciated our efforts.

When Dorothy visited, she always brought a visitor or visitors. She loved gardens and had three herself: a roof garden at her residence at the Watergate; a lovely informal several acre riverfront garden on the Eastern Shore of Maryland; and a highly terraced garden in the South of France. Having them, loving them, and supporting them wasn't enough; she was a tireless and energetic proselytizer. Plus, she was proud of the Asian Collections and enjoyed showing it to others.

Of course her funds and attention were a large part of the reason there was something to be proud of. I guess that's the "chicken or the egg" aspect to finding donors. If I was giving large sums of money to a garden, I'd want it to be something I could share pride in, but sometimes it takes years of funding to improve conditions to that point. This means giving money to a place that really needs it involves something of a leap of faith. Or possibly a vision.

Yes, I have posted 3 pictures of the orange tree across the pond this week. It deserves it!

2011-11-09T03:42:00.000-08:00

Click her for a pleasant short poem about fall.

Acer griseum, Paperbark Maple.....Fresh germplasm!

2011-11-08T17:28:00.001-08:00

The maples are earning their money this fall. This is one of three specimens of Paperbark Maple in the Asian Collections that came from a NACPEC collection on Wudang Shan in the Province of Hubei in 1994. Until then, most if not all of the Paperbark Maples grown in the US were descendents of two plants collected and imported by E.H. Wilson in 1907.

The plant pictured grows alongside the path from Hickey Hill Road to the Pagoda. I took the bottom photograph from the road so it's possible to see it before you actually enter the collection. Another specimen from the collection is growing in bed "K-0", which is the small triangular bed adjacent to the large weeping Katsura tree.

Gentiana clausa, Closed Gentian, amongst the Fern Valley plants in Polyhouse 8

2011-11-07T15:45:00.001-08:00

What a beautiful plant. I've been watching them for months now and today was the day for them to get their pictures taken. This is one of the Gentians that it's possible for regular gardeners to grow here in the mid-Atlantic. It doesn't like drought but doesn't have that aversion to heat that so many Gentians have. While it is purplish at stages of its development, there are times when this is a true blue flower.

It was foggy when I got to the Arboretum this morning

2011-11-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

It cleared up nicely though! Today was the second day after jettisoning Daylight Savings Time and I'm liking it. At least I'm liking it in the morning. It's a bit of a downer to get home as the sun is setting, but it is wonderful to be able to walk around the garden in the morning.

An angel with a view

2011-11-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

You never know what you're going to see as you tend your garden. She certainly does have a nice view.

I know it's going to end badly but I fall in love again every time

2011-11-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

From the Top: a view across Beechspring Pond; Fern Valley looking down the main trail; Fern Valley the view along Crabtree Road; China Valley near the entrance

Falll always makes me feel so.....used. This week has been spectacular, next week will be nice, then the season will dribble away (hey GrayC) and it'll be cold and gray. I guess that's a bad attitude and it'd be silly to not just enjoy things.

The China Valley picture is a slightly wider view of an area that the volunteers have really whipped into shape this year. The link is to a picture from the end of August this year. All the plants in the older picture are in the one above, but the view sure has changed.

Fern Valley Meadow

2011-11-03T16:33:00.001-07:00

Epimedium lishihchenii.....this Chinese Epimedium is one of my favorites

2011-11-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

It's in the top two. And we must have almost 100 different epimediums in the collection. The drift of anemones in the back is nice too!

The collection notes describe finding it on a wooded slope with a rich understory. I chopped off a piece of this large clump, and Betty and Terri divided it and replanted it in an area that's clearly capable of a rich understory, and is more visible than the original clump that's buried deep in a large bed.

The plant is beautiful with huge dark green leaves. It's an "evergreen" epimedium and really is ornamental in the winter. The leaves turn a nice purpley color. It has cool large yellow flowers that I've photographed but can't locate right now. Possibly I deleted them. That'll give me something to do this spring.

Mt. Hamilton in its fall glory. Its summit is the highest point in the Arboretum

2011-11-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

Standing inside the Capitol Columns, I'm just about 85 feet above sea level. The peak of Mt Hamilton towers over the columns by 150+ feet. It's really not nice, or even accurate to say it's less than a hill; it's a perfectly respectable hill, it's just not a mountain. The Azalea Collection lives on the south and west slopes. The west side, I faced west as I took the picture, currently exists as natural forest. A few things have been planted there over the years, but by and large it's native.

A week or so ago, Nancy Luria forwarded an article from The National Republican on June 22, 1880. It was a rambling essay about the areas adjoining Gallaudet University. The prose is romantic, as "nature essays" were in the 1880's, florid even. I always enjoy reading historical accounts of places that I know. This did not disappoint, though it may be a stretch to call it a historic event. No one seems to know the origin of the name "Mt. Hamilton", but the article references two earlier names. Mulligan's Hill, name for "...an old hermit of that name, who retired to it's picturesque seclusion about the time of the Bladensburg races..." "Bladensburg races" here refers to the infamous Battle of Bladensburg (1814) where a force of British infantry overwhelmed a somewhat larger, if ragged, force of US militiamen, routed them, entered the city, and burned the Capitol. The implication is that the hermit was one of the thousands of militiamen that broke and ran through the streets of Washington, and his shame drove him to sequester himself on the ferny slopes of Mt. Hamilton. At some point during the ensuing 66 years the name changed to "Fern Hill". Also the title of one of my favorite poems. No matter. And somehow it became Mt. Hamilton. Lynn Batdorf, one of two unofficial Arboretum historians, assures me this is not a reference to Alexander Hamilton, who, died after being mortally wounded by Aaron Burr in a duel at the Bladensburg Dueling grounds. It's a small world.

The essay continues rhapsodizing botanically and touches on a couple of interesting plants: Magnolia virginiana, the Sweetbay, and Epigaea repens, Trailing Arbutus. "The graceful and odoriferous magnolia has its favorite home in the marshes of the Anacostia east of Kendall Green..." We do indeed still have the remnants of a Magnolia Bog near the Anacostia River at the NE corner of the Arboretum. "In these woods the trailing arbutus is found in profusion, almost the only place about Washington where it can be had without toil and search" Trailing Arbutus still exists in a handful of sites on the slopes of Mt Hamilton 131 years later.

I drove right by artist and easel, then turned around and went back for a look

2011-11-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

People paint regularly at the Arboretum sometimes alone, sometimes in groups. My brother Parke was a painter and I find myself interested in our artists. This is Russ Bogdan, and he gave me permission to shoot over his shoulder so I could capture both his painting and it's subject (and a back view of the artist). Notice how much better a job he's done painting the sky than I've done photographing it!

I'm not an art critic and so have no right to say this, but sometimes you can just look at something and know it's very good. I don't know if Matt's arbor will make the painting or not. Maybe I'll never know.

Red Castor Bean, Ricinus communis.'Carmencita'.....this is one photogenic plant

2011-11-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

I gave up growing it myself because of, well, you know...ricin, it's poisonous. Very very poisonous. Still, there's nothing to tempt anyone to eat it so I'm thinking it's also very very safe. I guess it just creeps me out. I appreciate the fact that GrayC grows it in the Herb Garden and I can check it out.

Rosa rugosa hips in the Herb Garden

2011-11-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Rhus aromatica 'Gro-low' I love this plant

2011-10-31T14:54:00.000-07:00

I mean this individual plant, I walk past it once in the morning and once in the afternoon. But I do like the cultivar 'Gro-low'; the species grow to 8 feet or more, this selection gets less than half that tall. It's a "solution plant", not for every location, but if you need a tough plant for a hot sunny site, and you like fall color, this will do the job. Plus it's a native, or at least a selection of a native. When I did designs for Behnke's, I'd occasionally have someone call up who had a hot dry hill alongside the driveway or a property edge, not the commonest problem, but hey, we need different solutions for different sites!

This is just the western tip of a longer planting that includes Rhus typhina 'Tiger Eye', a golden selection of Wax myrtle, and Itea virginica 'Henry's dwarf'. These are all tough plants, rarely troubles by pests or diseases. The Planting extends 75 feet or so out of the picture to the left (east) along quite a steep 30 foot wide slope. I like the fact that Brad chose these ultivars (of native plants) because their potential needs to be showcased. All but the golden Morella are readily available; I see them in Home Depot. Still, showing ways to use them was a great thing to do.

I don't know..... it reminds me of a Jack-o'-lantern

2011-10-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

I spotted it on a garden tour at Jim and Dan's house yesterday. They hosted another horticultural salon. I took dozens of pictures of people but I'm not good at that and I deleted them one at a time for various reasons. When I was done there were three pictures of this leaf left. I didn't photoshop the color; I just held the leaf so that it was backlit by the sun. The more I look at the more creepily pumpkinesque it seems.

"Among the Ancients" redux

2011-10-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

It's been cold, <40F all day; the heavy rain of this morning has given way to driving sleet and snow. All this a few days short of November. Not usual here. I've been alternating between bringing tropicals, houseplants, and orchids indoors and reading Among the Ancients. And I've spent a lot of time this week thinking about Old Growth Forests, Joan Maloof's campaign for preservation, and my post about the same.

First off, I have to say that the book got short shrift from me . It's really a wonderfully written, informative long essay, broken into chapters, each one dedicated to a particular site in each of the states east of the Mississippi. While the narrative is basically a melange of historical, scientific, and personal anecdotes, threaded gracefully through it is a cogent argument as to why we need to make an effort to specifically preserve and create accessible Old Growth.

It's an appealing and unique idea to make the preserves accessible to the public. Hey, I guess that's the point. In the chapter on New Jersey's Saddler's Woods, she explains why land trusts, almost universally include a management plan that includes cutting. I'm not on real solid ground here, but from what I understand, the vast majority of land currently preserved in a way that would allow for the redevelopment of Old Growth forests is wilderness area. These are barely accessible; most are far off the beaten path and access is severely limited.

Some of the people I spoke with were a bit put off by what they perceived as the demonizing of foresters in general; I felt a similar, if not as strong response myself. Still, if they (foresters) won't be persuaded of the merits of dedicating an infinitesimally small percentage of forest to Old Growth....

Fall at the US Nattional Arboretum 2011

2011-10-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

Oh how I am tired of milky white skies. I guess that's what we have this year.

Colocasia esculenta 'Diamondhead' and 'Blue Hawaii'

2011-10-28T15:56:00.001-07:00

Tropicals just look better and better as fall progresses. That's the positive way of looking at it. The other side of the coin is that they always die at their peak. Actually I guess A.E. Housman would look at the bright side (To an Athlete Dying Young). It's supposed to just dip below freezing this weekend with a dusting of snow. I expect the foliage will be toasted a bit and I'll come in Monday, cut the back, dig the roots, pop them into bags, and stick them under the bench in Poly-8 for the winter.