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Letter from the President

September is half over, but we are still enjoying hot sunny days, heading into the fall. While the flowers are still beautiful and abundant at The Gardens at Elm Bank, some home-owners have been less successful with their gardens this summer due to the drought and local water restrictions. It has been challenging. Board member, Caroline Nijenberg, notes that she and her husband abandoned their vegetable garden for lack of water. I had my own personal skirmish with drought when my neighbor's 80' oak tree fell and left my tree drought

perennial border as a perennial pancake. It also took out a telephone pole and all the lines. Another victim of the drought! Both Wayne Mezitt, Chair of the Board of Trustees, and John Forti, Director of Horticulture and Education, have articles and insights on the drought below.

Trees are one of my favorite subjects, and this past week I had the opportunity to visit Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory in Charlotte, NC as a guest of Bartlett Tree Experts, Inc. Mass Hort's David Fiske, Gardens Curator, also attended and we were in the field, learning hands-on, about new techniques and remedies to care for these very valuable assets of our homes, communities, or landscapes.

Speaking of valuable assets, long-time employee, Clark Bryan, retires at the end of the month. Clark has served Mass Hort for 14 years, caring for our property, both buildings and grounds, as well as ensuring that the flower show move in and out happens like clockwork. Mass Hort will honor Clark for his stellar work at Elm Bank and the flower show on October 20 at the Annual Honorary Medals Dinner (See below to sign up!). I personally thank Clark for his ability to keep things moving at Mass Hort and for his dry sense of humor. Best wishes to Clark for a wonderful retirement!

September is a time of many transitions. Our fiscal year ends on September 30 and I hope you will support us with a donation.

Thank you in advance for your support, and don't forget that the fall is a wonderful time to visit The Gardens at Elm Bank.

Best wishes,

Kathy Macdonald

A Night for Celebration

Mass Hort's Honorary Medals Nomination Committee for 2016 invites the public to the 117th annual award ceremony and dinner. These recipients will be feted on Thursday, October 20, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the Hunnewell Building:

George Robert White Medal of Honor: This medal is among the highest horticultural awards in America and is given once a year to the individual, commercial firm, or institution, who, in the opinion of the Trustees, has done the most to advance interest in horticulture in the broadest sense.

Peter Hatch: Peter Hatch is an independent scholar living in Albemarle County, Virginia, where he gardens, lectures, consults, and

writes about garden history. As the Director of Gardens and Grounds Emeritus for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Hatch was responsible for the maintenance, interpretation, and restoration of the 2,400-acre landscape at Monticello from 1977 to 2012.

Jackson Dawson Medal of Honor: Awarded for skill in the science or practice of hybridization or propagation of hardy, woody plants.

John Herbert Alexander III: Plant Propagator, has been the plant propagator at the Arnold Arboretum since 1976. He is a third generation nurseryman. Lilacs are his passion. He is an active member of the International Lilac Society and has served numerous terms on its Board of Directors, including a term as the Lilac Society's New England Regional Vice President.

Thomas Roland Medal: for exceptional skill in horticulture

Darrell Probst: Hubbardston, MA. Plant Breeder and epimedium expert. Epimedium expert, Darrell Probst, over the last two d ecades, made numerous collecting expeditions to China, Japan and Korea. He also has networked with many other Epimedium collectors, nurserymen and experts worldwide to amass this impressive array of species and varieties. Darrell continues to work through accredited taxonomic scientists in China and Europe to define the genus and get as yet unidentified species published in the scientific literature.

Gold: Awarded by vote to men, women, institutions, or firms for eminent horticultural accomplishments in the field of horticulture, or for outstanding service to the Society.

Karen Binder: Karen Binder is the Executive Director of Blithewold, Inc., a post she has held since July 2004. Karen has stabilized Blithwold financially and helped bring it back from financial ruin. Karen most recently served as Chair of the Bristol Museum Association and was a member on the Bristol Comprehensive Plan Committee and Vice-Chair of the Bristol Noise Commission.

Clark Bryan: 14 year employee of Mass Hort as Director of Operations, Clark will retire September 30, 2016. Clark's management of flower show logistics has helped the Society continue its flower show tradition in Boston.

Holly Perry: Volunteer extraordinaire for Massachusetts Horticultural Society and member of the Board of Trustees since 2007, Holly will retire from the board in 2016. Holly has been instrumental in the management of the Festival of Trees, the Flower Show and the No-dog policy; she has designed and given garden tours. All this was done with her signature good nature.

Silver: This medal is awarded by the Trustees to men, women, institutions or firms for noteworthy horticultural accomplishments in the field of horticulture.

Ted Elliman: Botanist and author of Wildflowers of New England: Timber Press Field Guide, he lives in Sherborn. His new book "describes and illustrates more than 1,000 species commonly encountered in the region, including perennials, annuals, and biennials, both native and naturalized. Elliman has been engaged in botanical work in New England and other northeastern states for over 30 years. He currently works as a plant ecologist for the New England Wild Flower Society in Framingham, Massachusetts, where he conducts botanical inventories, does natural community surveys, and supervises invasive species control programs.

Jane Hirschi - CitySprouts: As the director of CitySprouts, which she founded in 2001, Jane has been an integral part of building the CitySprouts program in Cambridge and Boston. In 2008, Jane was selected as one of six regional Social Innovators by Root Cause Social Innovation Forum. Jane holds a Masters in Communication Studies as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Maine at Orono. Her book, Ripe for Change: Garden-Based Learning in Schools, was published by Harvard Education Press in 2015.

Volante Farms:

With a long family history, Volante began in the 1890's, amid the wave of Italian immigrants to the United States. Peter and Catarina Volante arrived in the country hoping to start anew, and they built a business from the ground up in agriculture, which had been their lifeblood in the old country. On March 31, 2012, after years of planning and months of hard construction work, the brand new farm stand opened to the public. The new building has the space to expand the company's existing products and has enough space to add in some brand new items.

For a reservation for dinner and to mingle with the stars click here.

Volunteer Appreciation Reception

Thank you for volunteering at Massachusetts Horticultural Society!

The Volunteer Appreciation Reception will be held on Tuesday, October 4 in the Hunnewell Building at Elm Bank from 6:30 - 8 p.m. Wine, beer and hors d'oeuvres will be served.

We hope you will be able to join us! Please let us know if you are coming by registering online no later than September 30.

Northeast Region Perennial Plant Symposium

On Friday, September 23, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mass Hort and the Perennial Plant Association will team up to offer Perennial Inspirations & Concepts. Open to all levels of gardeners and professionals, the event features five of the best writers and creative plantsfolk from across the country, and you're invited to listen, learn and ask questions.

New this year, Continuing Education Units (CEUs) available from the MNLA, APLD and MLP.

Meet the award-winning presenters:

Moving Beyond Pretty:
Plants with Bonus Points

Susan Martin of Gardener Sue's News discusses the challenge to look beyond the pretty flowers and actively seek out plants that deliver more color, pollinator food, durability and four season interest.

GET OUT!! Designing Landscapes that Bring Everyone Outside Again

Julie Moir Messervy, of Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio (and designer of our Weezie's Garden for Children) will describe the five paths she takes to help people create and enjoy their outdoor surroundings.

Plant Science that Will Make You a Better Gardener

Joseph Tychonievich, of Greensparrow Gardens will delve into horticultural research and explain how to apply it to your gardening life to make gardening chores easier and more effective.

Perennial Plant Communities and the 'Know' Maintenance Approach

Roy Diblik, of Northwind Perennial Farm will discuss how using regionally dependable perennials and native plants, endless natural plant patterns can be constructed that save time and cost to maintain.

Zonal Denial, Hot Topics: Expanding the Seasonal Palette

Dan Benarcik, of Chanticleer likes to push the limits in seasonal garden borders and container designs. Dan will show you some of his favorite performers from the tropics, as well as some temperate annuals, and discuss culture, combinations, and design.

Sign up before September 16 for Early Bird pricing ($99 before September 16, $114 on or after, includes lunch). Must pre-register.

Dealing with Drought

By John Forti,
Mass Hort Director of Horticulture and Education

We enter fall with stressed trees, shrubs and perennials. Like all of us, plants are able to endure a variety of circumstances. A year of drought and pests has challenged us, but with proper planning we can make sound choices for future gardens and landscapes.


Opuntia humifusa, or Eastern Prickly Pear our only native cactus

Sustainable design practices remind us that we should purchase plants that can easily thrive throughout the four distinct seasons we enjoy here in New England. Most horticulturists recognize that climate change is shifting plant zones and influencing our plant palette. Within our lifetime our zone has shifted, and many growers are looking to plants from zones to our immediate south to know what will thrive best here in the decades to come and to predict which plants are likely to become our new invasives in a hotter and more arid future.

When we purchase new plants, it is important to remember that they, like people, thrive or suffer based on the diet and nutrients they can take in. When we plant new trees, shrubs or perennials, it is important to amend the native soil with lots of composted manure and compost that will help retain moisture and encourage plants to set deep roots quickly.


	Gator bag for deep watering trees

Many of us grew up watering lawns and gardens lightly. At times like these, it is better to water less frequently, but to water deeply in order to encourage deep root growth which can enable plants to access moisture well below the arid soil surface. One way that you can help new plants set deep roots and survive drought is to add "Gator" bags around new trees and shrubs. These water bags act to provide slow release moisture which penetrates the root ball deeply when new plants might struggle with a superficial watering. Similarly, drip hoses and a healthy layer of mulch or leaf/needle litter can work to retain moisture in trouble areas throughout your landscape.

Lawns are one of our greatest resource challenges when water is scarce, and to casual observers golden-brown lawns herald the first sign of drought. Most experts agree that the lawns of the past should shrink in size and make way for sustainable landscapes which can withstand drought and provide a more diverse habitat for pollinators and wildlife.


Yucca flaccida 'Color Guard'

Each autumn, many of us find renewed interest in visiting local garden centers. Sale aisles often provide incentives to turn lawn into low maintenance garden beds with four season interest. Ground covers, perennial and shrub borders can become great lawn alternatives that will require less water after the first year and less time spent mowing. When choosing plants, look for succulents or other plants known to flourish in more arid regions. Ornamental grasses, silver and hoary leaved perennials, yucca, sedum and a wide range of succulents which hold moisture will thrive in hot sunny areas once devoted to lawns. Borrowing clues from our roadside meadow ground, dry shady lawn areas can be adapted to include native plants like milkweed, butterflyweed, aster, ironweed, goldenrod. Moist, shady lawn areas can be adapted to encourage and embrace moss, hosta, princess pine, fern and wild ginger.

And never forget the value of shade! This is a great time of year to enjoy the fall foliage and shop your local garden center to find trees that can help reduce the temperatures around your yard and in your house. Trees have the power to turn a desert into an oasis. Drought tolerant trees for our region include: cedar, honey locust, elm, ginkgo, redbud, red maple, sassafras, smoke-tree, sumac, and white, pitch and Jack pines.

Take advantage of the cooler fall temperatures to amend soil, plant and add to your landscape. Just be sure to consider what you can do to adapt beautifully to drier days ahead.

Come. Learn. Grow

It's back to school season, and we have many opportunities to learn something this fall! As a member, you should have received your Calendar & Courses this week; it's full of lectures, tours, workshops and more to keep you busy.

On Sunday, September 18, we will host On-Site Composting, an afternoon workshop. Ann McGovern of MassDEP and Hannah Traggis of Mass Hort will demonstrate how to build and use compost bins, and how to compost with worms. Learn more and register here.

On September 20, Mass Hort has organized a tour of Mount Auburn Cemetery. Dave Barnett, President of Mount Auburn, will lead the tour of this historic cemetery and share the stories of its design, plantings and connections to Mass Hort. Sign up now. Space is limited.

We have several upcoming series courses, which meet weekly. These offer a deep dive into the plant world. Starting Wednesday, September 21, Hannah Traggis will lead the four-session course Botany for the Home Gardener. Explore plant structure and function, taxonomy, and the interactions of plants and people since the dawn of civilization. Floral Design for Beginners starts Wednesday, September 28, and runs for six weeks. Through hands-on learning and demonstration, students will learn to design for home, for gifts and for competition. Each week will provide basic knowledge of different types of arrangements.

Mass Hort will be co-hosting the Perennial Plant Symposium, always a big event in the fall, on Friday, September 23. This full day offers lectures by five renowned professionals. This year's roster includes Julie Moir Messervy, designer of Weezie's Garden for Children.

The Taste of Summer's Harvest

By Hannah Traggis,

Mass Hort Seed to Table Educator

As we continue to celebrate biodiversity in our food system, we have worked hard to bring the fruits of the Seed to Table program efforts in our vegetable garden to the Mass Hort membership. On Thursday, August 18th, many of you joined us for our annual Goddesses in the Garden celebration and many participated in an heirloom tomato tasting trial. Are you anxious to know which heirloom tomato rated the highest? Here's a rundown: We received 121 entries (Thank you for all this great data.) in our survey of 18 tomato varieties that spanned the gamut from tiny cherries to gigantic beefsteaks. The overall favorite, scoring highest in all categories including flavor, intensity, sweetness and appearance, was a giant beefsteak landrace variety. Its seeds were collected from a Transylvanian farmer named Maria Nagy. Other top rated tomatoes include Wisconsin 55, Northern Ruby Paste, Jaune Flamme and a specialty Italian tomato called Costoluto Fiorentino. You can view all of these varieties, plus 42 others, in the Seed to Table vegetable garden.

As our program continues to grow, the offerings in our Seed Lending Library increase. We are striving to offer 'seeds of place', i.e., those varieties that hold important cultural and historical value and those that tell the story of our past, present and future food systems. One such variety is the 'Glass Gem' corn. This summer, we have been thrilled to grow this very special flour corn, long stewarded by seedsman Carl Barnes, a member of the Cherokee Nation. Upon Carl's death, the seeds for this rare variety were in danger of being lost until, a mere six years ago, a small sample ended up with Native Seed Search in Tucson Arizona. Since the n, Native Seed Search has been working feverishly to restore this gorgeous, fascinating, and delicious variety, and to increase their seed offering. A waiting list still exists for ordering seed, but I received a small handful of the seed at a seed swap last winter! We are very proud to be able to offer this important corn in our seed library this winter!

Efforts continue to increase access for community members in need to fresh, organically grown produce through our local food pantries. This summer has seen record harvests across all crops in the Seed to Table vegetable garden and weekly donations have been topping 400 lbs. each week! Over the past three weeks, we have been able to send nearly 200 lbs. of organically grown heirloom tomatoes alone. I have been honored by a humbling and overwhelming turnout of incredible volunteers this summer. Their hard work and dedication ensures that we will continue to deliver on this important mission.

The Edward Hale Lincoln Collection is Going Online!


The plates were meticulously maintained and recorded by Lincoln during his lifetime. These are the original boxes with Lincoln's notations on the paper wrappers and at times on the plates themselves.

Mass Hort is happy to announce that it is digitizing its 1300+ Edward Hale Lincoln glass plate negative collection in collaboration with Digital Commonwealth and the Boston Public Library. We hope to publish the collection online by the end of the year. Our project will allow us to share this collection with the public far beyond anything Lincoln could have imagined.

Hale is best known for his self-published Wild Flowers of New England and Orchids of the North Eastern United States. In addition to awards received early in his career, he received the Silver Medal from Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1929 and the Gold Medal from the American Orchid Society in 1932. Today, very few intact volumes remain since many were disassembled and sold as individual prints. Of those that remain, most are behind closed doors of museums, universities and private collectors.

In conjunction with the digitization project, the Library is seeking sponsors and donations to hold an Exhibition of Lincoln's wild flower photographs and publish an Exhibition Catalog. Seeing the images up close and in person is quite a different experience from seeing them on the Web and adds a completely new dimension to experiencing these artistic and scientific illustrations of nature.

In addition to financial support, we need volunteers to prepare the plates for digitization, the exhibition and reception. If you wish to be involved, please contact Maureen O'Brien, our Library Committee Chair at landscapepreservation@hotmail.com.

Catching up with the Last Half Century
By Maureen Horn,
Mass Hort Librarian

Part 19

1998 & 1999: Something New Everyday

The end of the nineties marked an end time for the 20^th century, but for the Massachusetts Horticultural, it was an era of novelty. Its publications overflowed with exuberance about the new initiatives that staff, administration and volunteers were planning for the enjoyment of members. The first word about the 1998 Spring Flower Show was that out-of-town guests were expected to make the exhibits special. Walt Disney World would incorporate over a dozen large topiaries to form the entryway. Inside, characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh would host a garden party, and the Smithsonian Institution would recreate a garden vignette of a lavish estate featuring antique statuary based on historic records.

To form ties with Elm Bank, the Master Gardeners class held it graduation ceremony in the Putnam Building. The graduates brought the total of trained Master Gardeners who were active through their MHS connection to 172. In the middle of the year, the Education and Membership Departments took up residence at Elm Bank. The move of seven staff members from Horticultural Hall to the Cottage was considered a major milestone in the Society's 169-year history. Combined with two members of the Horticulture Society on site since the previous summer, these staff members established an anchor at New England's Horticultural Education Center. While the Society's headquarters still remained in Boston, a call went out for volunteers to get their hands dirty by helping to create a wonderful garden in the suburbs.

In 1998, MHS's All-America Selections Display Garden was granted the status of All-America Selections Trial Garden, which meant that new and previously unsold varieties would be entered into trials to evaluate their performance. Elm Bank had one of only 13 such gardens in North America. With the addition of greenhouse production facilities, all the plants for the year's trials could be produced on site.

At their annual meeting on June 23, the Trustees made several revisions to the By-Laws of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The current By-Laws were printed for the members' reference in the Summer Leaflet. Two significant changes were the establishment of a Board of Overseers and the provision that the Executive Director would serve as President to administer all activities of the Society. The erstwhile President, John Bok, would now be called Chairman of the Board.The financial picture was bright, as the Annual Fund exceeded the previous year by close to 30%, and the Massachusetts Marketplace summer solstice celebration attracted 3,000 visitors.

Dr. Peterson announced that several new projects were underway at Elm Bank. Among them were improved roadways, signage and parking facilities. A major project for the coming year would be the renovation of the Carriage House as a special programs and event facility.

On September 16, there was a homecoming rededication ceremony for the Goddesses, Ceres, Flora, and Pomona, on the same date that they were installed in 1865 in the Second Horticultural Hall. Some of the speeches made on that previous glorious occasion were reprinted in the current Leaflet.

The 1999 Flower Show, "Artistry in the Garden", was expected to be the best ever, with novel interpretations of the theme. Among them was a "living" room comprised of furnishings made from living plant materials, a waterfall with technological surprises, and innovative use of cut flowers.

In the summer of 1999, infrastructure work was progressing to make way for the Noanett Garden Club garden, the New England Herb Society garden and a children's garden. Elm Bank was recognized as an excellent example of the Country Place movement, so popular in the first third of the 20^th century, and the Society received a $100,000 matching grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission to restore the Italianate Garden. Two varieties of new disease-resistant elms were planted in the Elm Trees Nursery near the Putnam Building. The first season of the MHS Plants Diagnostic Clinic was deemed a big success. It complemented the Garden Line by providing pH testing and recommendations for disease and pest control.

In the late fall, the MHS library was evaluated with an eye towards relocating it to Elm Bank. The Society's leader continued to plan for the Downtown Project, as they negotiated with the Central Artery/Tunnel Authority to assure the availability of space for the project. It was predicted that the year ahead would be an exciting one because many new endeavors would be embraced.

2016 Massachusetts Gardening Symposium
"Inspirations for Next Year's Garden"

Presented by the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association
Saturday, October 1, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Westford Academy, Westford, MA

With summer gardening successes and disappointments in the rear view mirror, it's time to start thinking about 2017. Symposium speakers Margaret Roach (author, internet celebrity and recent Better Homes & Gardens award winner) and Gordon Hayward (garden designer/award-winning author) will focus on four-season garden design and sources of design inspiration. Ed Bowen (horticulturist, plant breeder and nurseryman) and Bob Solberg (hosta hybridizer) will share how to choose the right plants for the right location and dramatic visual impact.

$90 per person. Registration ends 9/24/16, Sign up now.

Your Dormant-Lawn "Badge of Honor"

By R. Wayne Mezitt,
Mass Hort Trustee Chairman

Savvy homeowners can be justly proud of their dormant lawn. This summer's record-setting drought is forcing many towns and municipalities to impose strict outdoor-water-usage restrictions. And it's easy to notice which homeowners support the need to reduce water waste: their lawns are dormant! But even faced with restrictions and fines, some homeowners treat their pristine, lush-green midsummer lawn as a necessity; isn't it now time to reconsider whether having an impeccable lawn is a socially-responsible, environmentally-sustainable practice?

Healthy lawns established for more than a year can tolerate periods of drought; just as in winter, they become dormant and recover completely once the weather changes and natural rainfall resumes. Automatic underground lawn irrigations systems are wasteful water users and need to be adjusted or turned off during periods of drought. Enforcing automatic lawn irrigation restrictions will drastically reduce water use and help optimize water conservation efforts. Consider replacing lawn areas with plantings that require less water.

Current law in this region mandates that all household water be potable and safe for human consumption. So reducing water use certainly seems prudent, but it's also unfortunate for our gardens. Landscape plants and lawns manage to survive perfectly well with less-than-pristine water. Local regulations make it difficult to re-use "grey water" on our landscapes. Rain barrels are an option, but lacking natural rainfall, not effective. And those "well water used" signs declaring the owner is not using "public" water are a deception. Those same aquifers are the source of municipal well water supplies.

We frequently hear autumn being touted as the "best time to plant", and justifiably so; plants need far less water to establish than earlier-season plantings. Cooler temperatures reduce evaporation and increase soil moisture retention, enabling plants to energize their root systems rather than support top growth. Properly planted trees, shrubs and lawns installed this fall will be well established next year and likely require no future supplemental water, even if next summer is dry.

There's no question that all new plantings require periodic water applications to properly establish in their new environment. Lacking sufficient moisture when installed, root systems are unable to grow into surrounding soil, dry out and can die. But the amount of water new trees and shrubs need is minimal and readily justified, considering their value. And fall-planted lawns take advantage of the better weather conditions to establish quickly. Applying limited, measured applications of water twice weekly directly to the root areas of new plantings entails using comparatively little water.

Your landscape is a long term investment, and it should be treated as such. Choosing appropriate planting locations, proper soil preparation, correct planting/maintenance practices and sufficient preparation for winter are fundamental needs. All these logical and easy to follow details are readily offered by the experts at your local garden center. And using water wisely is a big part of the process.

Wayne Mezitt is a 3^rd generation nurseryman and a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist, now chairman of Weston Nurseries of Hopkinton and Chelmsford, MA, and owner of "Hort-Sense", a horticultural advisory business; he currently serves as Trustee chairman for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society at Elm Bank in Wellesley MA

Book Review

The Blue Garden: Recapturing an Iconic Newport Landscape

By Arleyn A. Levee

The Redwood Athenaeum, Newport RI and The Blue Garden. 2016.

Reviewed by Pamela Hartford

In 1914, Harriet and Arthur Curtiss James produced an elaborate spectacle, the 'Blue Masque,' which featured costumed nymphs emerging from large shells and prancing across blue tiled rills, guarded by a golden-hoofed horse and witnessed by the cr�me of Newport society. The Jameses presided over the event dressed as Cosimo de Medici and as a mythical Lady Sapphira, in a Renaissance gown festooned with sapphires, diamonds and amethysts. The occasion was the dedication of their newly created Blue Garden, a formal, color-themed space created on the rocky wild landscape surrounding their mansion, Beacon Hill.

The James's estate was not in Newport's highly groomed mansion district between Bellevue Avenue and the Cliff Walk, but across the peninsula on the wind-swept western coast, just south of Fort Adam. The unique distinction of their estate was not the mansion or its trappings, but the design of its landscape.

In 1908, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. began working on the James's 125 acres of boulder-strewn exposed moors. Rather than try to civilize the landscape, Olmsted chose to let it dominate, creating a series of garden rooms that were linked to each other and the mansion in no apparent sequence and spread across the site Olmsted's concept heightened awareness of the beauty of the untamed setting by necessitating movement through it to reach the highly designed places.

After thirty years of ongoing care and ongoing design, the decline of the estate, and of the Blue Garden, began with the death of both Jameses in 1941. The site's remote location from Newport's core accelerated its return to wildness with no neighbors or investors inhibiting vandals, and of course, no one inhibiting Mother Nature.


	The Blue Garden in 1914

The resurrection of this garden, stating in 2012, depended on the intersection of three critical resources: ample documentation through the medium of photography, ample funding, and most critical, ample archival records of its design, and details of its construction. The sheer volume of the Olmsted archives on the James project proved irresistible to Dorrance Hamilton, a Newport regular who purchased the land with no house and much rubble. She decided it was her task to rescue the Blue Garden. There were still some tiles under the blanket of vines and weeds, and fragments of pergolas and pools, but there were also hundreds of drawings to fill in the missing pieces.

Arleyn Levee has written a pair of deeply detailed accounts that describe both the cultural matrix of the many people who made the garden, as well as the complex process of designing and building it, first in the early twentieth century and then again, in the twenty-first century. The through line for this book is Ms. Levee's own role in the process. Her intimacy with the Olmsted archives and fluency with every aspect of the Olmsted's design process made her the much valued interpreter.

The Blue Garden was a shimmering evocation of sky and water in an area of the estate's terrain without direct connection to the ocean view. Enclosed at each end by pergolas and surrounded by vine-covered trellises, and further framed with densely planted evergreens, this garden was intended to be a hortus conclusus, a secret garden. It doesn't matter that there is no mansion now, at least in obvious connection. It is more than ever a hortus conclusis, a highly architected, divinely blue space, with much to take pleasure in, especially in contrast to its rugged setting.

Pamela Hartford is a landscape historian, writer and preservation consultant living in Salem, MA.

Clark Bryan

By Neal Sanders,
Leaflet Contributor

As near as I can remember, the first time I ever met Clark Bryan was during the days before the 2006 New England Spring Flower Show. The Master Gardeners were building their second-ever exhibit for the show and, though not a Master Gardener, I was providing some of the muscle power to lift the pieces of a house into place. Actually, I was all alone with a roughly 250-pound fa�ade of a house on my back, and the 8-foot-by-8-foot section was slowly but inexorably bending me to my knees and would, a minute or two later, have snuffed the life out of me.

Suddenly, I felt the weight of the wood ease and then vanish. I turned around to see a solidly built man in his mid-50s push up the section almost effortlessly. He stood the section upright, found a few supporting pieces of timber and, just like that, he accomplished in a few seconds what I had been unable to do in fifteen minutes.


Clark Bryan

He introduced himself and said he had seen me 'skulking' around Elm Bank for the past few months. "You may not know what you're doing yet," he said, "but at least you're trying." Then, with a broad smile only slightly masked by a grey mustache, he was gone.

I have been proud to call Clark a friend ever since. His title with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society is Director of Operations, which is a catch-all title for the person who fixes things and knows where everything is. He is a person of uncommon dedication.

Clark spent much of his working life as a manufacturing executive with Polaroid. He was there in its heyday and stayed even after digital photography and the smartphone camera rendered 'instant photography' a historical relic. After he helped close down that company, still in the prime of his life, he found a new fix-it project: Mass Hort.

When Mass Hort went through its financial travails a few year after my first meeting with him, Clark was one of a handful of employees asked to remain with the organization. In the process, he became its institutional memory.


	Clark and his wife Donna relax at exhibit created at Chestnut Hill Mall

I found out just how resourceful Clark was when, in 2009, I was asked to run Mass Hort's activities at the 2010 Boston Flower & Garden Show. The event offered the Society the opportunity to demonstrate that it was still a force in horticulture in the region. I had no dearth of volunteers to help undertake the project. The problem, of course, was financial resources.

That was when I discovered that Clark had both many friends and universal respect. Over his long career, Clark had done many favors for many people. As I outlined my idea for a landscape exhibit and amateur horticulture, Clark began jotting down notes. Those notes entailed favors he could call in from those people. Working with a shoestring budget, we put on a terrific show. In the three years I worked with Amateur Horticulture, Clark continually worked his network of associates and the results were nothing short of astounding.

The key to the show's success was 'The Book'. The Book was a several-inch-thick manual that described every aspect of the physical plant at the flower show. How do the screens for the Photography exhibit fit together? Consult The Book. What's the paint color for Division II floral design staging and where did it come from? Consult The Book. What time was a truckload of tulips and daffodils due at Seaport and what was the cell number of the person if the truck wasn't there on time? Everything was in The Book.


Clark with Carrie Waterman

Clark retires at the end of this month. He and his wife, Donna, are building a new retirement home, though I suspect Clark's idea of retirement may have little to do with hammocks and fishing. In October, Mass Hort will honor Clark with a Gold Medal at its annual Honorary Medals Dinner. It will be a fitting tribute to a man who had given so much to the organization for more than a decade.

Neal Sanders is the author of ten mysteries. His newest, 'How to Murder Your Contractor' was published earlier this year and, together with his other titles, is available in stores and at Amazon.com.

September Hort Hints

By Betty Sanders,

www.BettyOnGardening.com


Top your tomato vines now to force the plant's energy into ripening fruit

Top your tomatoes. Most varieties of tomatoes are 'indeterminate', meaning the vines that will keep growing until killed by frost. By cutting off the top of your tomato plants down to where fruit has already set, you encourage the plant to put its energy into ripening the fruit already on the vine rather than generating new leaves and flowers.


	Check leftover seeds (maturities circled)

Enjoy vegetables this fall. It's not too late to plant some vegetables for fall harvest. Start by inventorying your leftover seeds. Do you have peas, spinach or lettuce? Plant them now; they have plenty of time to produce a crop. How about Tokyo turnips? They are ready to harvest in a month. Read your seed packages with an eye to 'days to maturity'; then count back from the first frost date, mid-October for most of us.

What to compost, what to bag and discard. As you remove spent plants from your vegetable garden, look at each one with a critical eye. Send any plant that is either diseased or infested with bugs to the dump. Compost the clean plant material to create 'Black Gold' for next year's garden.

Clean up your yard. Take advantage of cooler mornings and evenings to do the weeding you avoided in August. If it seems like weeds were the only thing that managed to grow during the drought, it isn't an illusion. Weeds such as crabgrass thrive in dry soils. Reward that hardiness with a good tug and a trip to the dump. Every weed that goes to seed means many more to deal with next year.


	Don't be in a hurry to rake the leaves that collect under the shrubs

Think twice before you rake. While cleaning your yard, remember the leaves that fall are food for the plants. Use a mulching mower to chop up the ones on the lawn. They will finish disintegrating over the winter. Under bushes and around perennial beds, fallen leaves serve as a winter mulch and a home for many beneficial insects like butterfly caterpillars, so please don't chop them; leave them be. Freshen your containers. It has been a tough summer for plants in containers. The unrelenting heat and the regular dousing with chlorinated tap water (in place of the non-existent rain) are not conducive to a long happy life for your annuals. It's too early to use cut evergreens, so consider putting in some transitional plantings such as the multi-colored kale, perennial grasses and heuchera. Avoid using mums. They aren't a good choice if you like to keep the season going until Thanksgiving because the flowers will die long before that.


September is the perfect month to divide perennials like this hosta

Divide and multiply. September and October are great months to dig and divide overgrown perennials that bloom early. Creeping phlox, oriental poppies, foxglove, delphinium and iris are all candidates. You can also dig and divide later blooming plants such as hostas and many ground covers. Spread them around your property, share them with friends or pot them up for your garden club's spring plant sale. They will be healthier and look better if you don't wait until spring.

Benign neglect for your lawn. The summer heat and water bans have been tough on everyone's lawns, but don't try to rehab them this autumn unless Mother Nature suddenly provides us with lots of rain and the watering bans are ended. Apart from pulling crabgrass and other obvious weeds before they set seed, leave your lawn be. Grass is a hardy, cool-weather perennial, and there are steps you can take later this autumn and next spring to enhance your lawn.

You can see more of Betty's horticultural ideas at www.BettyOnGardening.com. Betty is also 2015-2017 President of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts.