The Iris Pedlar February – March 2010 Dear Members of the Springfield Garden Club, I hope you enjoyed the holidays. Now, after having had part of December and all of January off from Springfield Garden Club doings, we need to get back into the swing of activities. Ten of us have already had our first Floral Design workshop for 2010 which was fun. We had to work with long red sticks! The third week in February will be a busy one, with Junior Garden Therapy at Shriners, followed the next day by Garden Therapy at Mary Lyons Skilled Care Center, and our monthly meeting ending the week. The program, with Robin Lamothe speaking on “Restoration of the Olmstead Gardens” at the Palmer Train Station, should be impressive. I have invited some master gardeners who actually want to help Robin restore them! Then it will be March, and the worst of winter will be behind us, with the last session of Garden Therapy at Ruth’s House and our March 19 meeting on “Fragrance in Your Garden.” Doesn’t that sound like spring is just around the corner? Sarah Taylor and I did a red, black and white creative design for Tower Hill’s Flora in Winter a few weeks ago. We used all the alliums we have grown for the past two years, including Sarah’s three huge ones, all sprayed red or white. The base was a six-foot paper sculpture that I had made. It certainly was different! We will have photos of it on the bulletin board at the meeting. This year three new members have joined us - Janice Griffin, Nancy Ryan, and our newest member, Jamie Hall. Jamie has a calligraphy business, and is a master gardener, and as such has arranged to have two master gardeners at each of the farmers’ markets for at least the past two years. She is a wonderful worker, and will be a great addition to our club. She has attended several of our meetings, so you may have met her already. Please welcome her, as well as Janice and Nancy. * * * * * Dates to Remember Feb. 17 - Junior Garden Therapy, Shriners Hospital * * * * * Horticulture – Edna Colcord Lichens, especially when viewed with a hand lens, should not be ignored by anyone who loves to garden. The same delight in form and color that draws us to a beautiful copper beech tree or peony will be felt with closer observation of these tiny plants. The best time to notice them is when snow and ice recede. They have been there all along but are often missed. Lichens exemplify cooperation to live well. These pale gray, light green, gold or black plants are made of an alga, the simplest chlorophyll-bearing plants, and a fungus. The alga or algae (as there are examples where two different chlorophyll-bearing species live with the fungus in a ménage-a-trois), has the role of photosynthesis which makes sugar, the food of life, to be shared while the acid-producing fungus dissolves the surface on which the lichen grows. This provides minerals and other nutrients. An early spring walk, when most gardeners are least likely to be outside hoeing and weeding, is a good time to take note of them. Bring a hand lens. Lichens are classified by form into three groups: crustose, foliose or fruitcose. In other words, “flat and crusty,” “leafy,” or “funny little bodies.” The presence of lichens is a healthy sign that the air is pure and that the world is in balance. They are indicator organisms for air pollution, especially for sulfur dioxide and ozone. Most prefer a shaded environment, for as is the case with mosses, a sunburn can be deadly to them. Still many species have learned to adapt in cooperative fashion by hunkering down in the fibrils of the encompassing fungal threads. If you have noticed black and orange on the rocks of a seawall, you are seeing a crustose growing lichens. You may have collected pixie cups or red soldiers for a terrarium or used reindeer moss for an arrangement. You are seeing the fruiting bodies of some familiar species here in New England. In any basic text the lichens will be cited as an example of mutual symbiosis and also as the first life to grow on bare rock in succession. It is interesting to note that the dyes used by Scots to create their tweed wools and litmus dye, the common acid-base indicator, are both derived from lichens. They are often the focus of nature photography. Elliot Porter’s work shows that he did not overlook their beauty. One of the reasons for looking at them in off-seasons is that they almost always grow along the roadsides on trees and old stone walls. Grab your hand lens and look closer. * * * * * Trips and Travel – Emily DelPadre Come join us on a trip to Blooms! the Boston Flower and Garden Show. “Escape the gray days of winter and rejoice in the colors of the coming Spring where over thirty gardens provide ‘A Feast for the Senses!’ Boston’s biggest horticultural happening provides the tools and inspiration to kick off the season in style!” We are planning to attend this spirit-lifting event on Thursday, March 25. Space is limited, so make your reservations early. Call Emily at 788-6168 for details such as cost, time and location of departure and return, etc., and to hold your spot! * * * * * Looking Back – Cate Duquette As gardeners, we all are familiar with the term “green thumb.” Webster tells us that it means an apparent skill or talent for growing plants easily, and that its origins date back to the 1940’s. As I dug a little further into the source of the phrase, I found several different theories, some of which clearly predate the 1940’s. The first stated that the term comes from the fact that repeatedly handling clay pots encrusted with algae will stain a gardener’s thumb (and probably fingers) green. Another theory is that when growing tobacco, farmers remove the flowers from the crops in order to increase the size and weight of the leaves. This process, known as “topping,” is standard practice even today. In early colonial America, when tobacco was the major cash crop, farmers would hand-pick the flowers using their thumbnails to cut the stem. After a while, the farmer’s thumb would be stained green. And finally, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the origin of the term is linked to the reign of King Edward I of England (1272-1307), who enjoyed fresh green peas so much that he had half a dozen serfs working to keep him supplied, a prize going to the one with the greenest thumb, presumably from hours of shelling. * * * * * Conservation Reminder Eileen Cebula is still collecting used computer ink cartridges. The rewards money earned from Staples is used to defray printing costs for The Iris Pedlar. Since October we have received rewards coupons totalling $26.40. So please continue to save your old cartridges. Also, the pop-top collection continues as well; give them to Martha Hamilton or Audrey Rich. They are donated to Shriners Hospital, where the funds earned help with the cost of making prostheses for young patients. * * * * * March Blues The firewood supply is dwindling, - D.A.W., Yankee Magazine
2010 Garden Forecast The American Gardener, magazine of the American Horticultural Society, lists the following perennials for the coming season (I have included the name of the wholesale nursery from which each can be ordered): Penstemon ‘Prairie Twilight’ (beardstongue). Pink-and-white flowers bloom from early to midsummer on vigorous 22-inch-tall plants. Zones 4-9, 9-5 (Blooms of Bressingham) Andropogon geradii ‘Mega Lube’ (big bluestem grass). A north American prairie native, this grows to over five feet tall, with gray-blue foliage that turns coppery in autumn. Zones 3-8, 8-1. (High Country Gardens) Hemeocallis Jersey Earlybird ‘Cardinal.’ Bred by renowned daylily hybridizer Darrel Apps, this is the first in a series of early-blooming daylilies. Red flowers start blooming in May and continue for up to nearly 100 days. Pest and disease resistant and drought tolerant. Zones 4-10, 9-1. (Centerton Nursery.) Deschampsia caespitosa ‘Pixie Fountain’ (tufted hairgrass). This compact selection grows only two feet tall and forms feathery blooms in June. Zones 4-8, 8-1. (Jelitto) Monarda didyma ‘Purple Rooster’ (bee balm). Deep purple flowers and mildew resistant. Grows to three feet tall on strong stems. Zones 4-10, 10-1. (Walters Gardens) The Botanical Center at Roger Williams Park in Providence, Rhode Island, which opened in March 2007, offers New England gardeners a quick tropical retreat all year long. Consisting of a 6,000-square-foot conservatory and a slightly smaller greenhouse, both spaces are filled with tropical, subtropical, and desert plants, arranged in artful settings. The conservatory houses an impressive range of palms, planted amid gingers, cannas, flamingo flowers, orchids, ferns and bromeliads. Plants grow in wide borders along all four sides of the space, and two large fountains, each ringed with plants, sit in the center. The smaller greenhouse includes Mediterranean plants, a desert planting, a water garden, and a bog garden. All of the plants are labeled with both their common and botanical names. Visitors may recognize many as annuals or houseplants. They are displayed as they would grow in their native environments. This conservatory is sure to charm visiting gardeners at any time. Location: Roger Williams Park, Elmwood Ave., Providence RI 02907. Open Tues. – Sun., 11 a.m.; to 3 p.m. Adult admission is $3; children ages 6 – 12, $1, under 6, free. Telephone 401-785-9450 for further information. Editor: Suzanne Zeckhausen. Contributors: Edna Colcord, Emily DelPadre, Cate Duquette, Martha Hamilton
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