The Garden Dirt

FOR FRIENDS OF BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL GARDENS

TO KNOW THEM YOU MUST GROW THEM

Even for those who have studied landscape design, the most profound gardening lessons often come from putting down the pen and picking up the trowel

ENJOY OUR NEW SELF-GUIDED TOURS

Visitors exploring the newly opened paths of Birmingham Botanical Gardens will encounter signage offering a new way to experience a number of our garden spaces. Created by the Friends’ Education and Visitor Experience team and made possible by a generous gift from Publix Super Markets Charities, the signs allow you to take a self-guided audio tour to learn about the Southern Living Garden perennial border, enjoy a mindful woodland hike in the Barber Alabama Woodlands, and delve into other garden gems.

According to Brooke McMinn, Director of Education and Visitor Experience, these self-guided tours were born out of a desire to engage and educate garden-goers while also highlighting some of the many ways that Friends (staff, volunteers, donors, and sponsors) come together to enhance and strengthen the Gardens. The tours, many of which align with stories in The Garden Dirt, also encourage social distancing.

“We’ve found that self-guided audio tours in natural areas—either on your own or with family—can be very empowering, almost meditative,” says McMinn.

While inviting guests to dig deeper and seek comfort in the Gardens, they offer the additional advantage of adaptability. The Friends team plans to update the audio tours seasonally.

“A challenge for garden signage is that plants change frequently. The fact that these self-guided tours can be updated regularly is a wonderful bonus,” she says.

Visitors can anticipate the introduction of more self-guided tours throughout the Gardens as the year goes on, with informational tours already in the works for popular spaces like the Fern Glade and for features such as the Gardens’ sculpture collection.

To hear the audio tours, simply open your smartphone camera app or other QR code reader, hold it steady to scan the QR code on each sign, and listen. —Jamie Haas

Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens

2020 Board of Directors

John Smith T Chair

Beverley Hoyt Immediate Past Chair

Wally Evans Treasurer

Emily Bowron Secretary

D.C. Coston Chair of Communications & Marketing

Peyton King Chair of Development

Chris Boles Chair of Education

Bill Ireland Chair of Governance

Cathy Adams Chair of Government Relations

Lee McLemore Chair of Operations

Members at Large

Brian Barr

Craig Beatty

Uday Bhate

Sharon Brown

Stephanie Cooper

Norm Davis

Bob de Buys

Wendy Evesque

Kirk Forrester

Helen Harmon

Chris Hastings

Janet Kavinoky

Natalie Kelly

Caroline Little

John Miller

Blevins Naff

Tiffany Osborne

Jim Pickle

Sharon Sherrod

Director Emeritus

John Alex Floyd, Jr.

Our Mission

The Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens seeks to protect, nurture, and share the wonders of Birmingham Botanical Gardens. We are dedicated to serving the Gardens, serving the community, serving our visitors, and inspiring a passion for plants, gardens, and the environment.

Staff

Tom Underwood ..............................................Executive Director

Stephanie Banks Chief Financial Officer

Mindy Keyes Black Director of Communications and Marketing

Rachael Daughtry Library Assistant

Dawn DeFrank Donor Services Coordinator

Jamie Haas Communications and Marketing Associate

Ellen Hardy Education Program Coordinator

Penney Hartline Director of Development

Molly Hendry Garden Assessment Project Leader

Jason Kirby Library Assistant and Archivist

Dawn Coleman Lee Education Activities Specialist

Hope Long Director of Library Services

John Manion Kaul Wildflower Garden Curator

Brooke McMinn Director of Education and Visitor Experience

Alice Thompson Moore... Volunteer Coordinator

Michelle Phillips Office Coordinator

Drew Rickel Donor Relations Officer

Jane Underwood Director of Operations

Editor: Mindy Keyes Black

Art Design: Ellen Padgett

Cover Photo: Graham Yelton

Contributors: Susan Emack Alison, Dawn DeFrank, Jamie Haas, Penney Hartline, Molly Hendry, Dawn Coleman Lee, Caroline Luckie, Brooke McMinn, Drew Rickel, Graham Yelton

A facility of the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board, Birmingham Botanical Gardens is the result of a successful public/ private partnership between the City of Birmingham and the nonprofit Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens, a missiondriven membership organization that seeks to protect, nurture, and share the wonders of the Gardens. We hope you enjoy this issue of the Friends’ award-winning quarterly publication, The Garden Dirt. Thank you for visiting and supporting the Gardens!

Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens practices a policy of equal opportunity and equal access to services for all persons regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, orientation, or sex identity.

Dear Friend,

The past few months have been anything but business as usual. Our lives have been turned upside down, and many of the things we cherish in life have been brought into question. In mid-March when the realization hit that the Gardens would be closing, the atmosphere here in our offices reflected a range of emotions—from disbelief and disappointment to introspection and eventually acceptance. The Gardens’ reopening on June 15 was a much anticipated and joyous occasion. We are delighted to have our dedicated volunteers back on-site— their weekly commitments are invaluable to our work here—and to have members, donors, and all our visitors again exploring and finding respite in the Gardens.

Thanks to your support, the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens continued to work hard behind the scenes during the closure, both remotely and on-site, to help the City of Birmingham care for the Gardens and prepare for the day when visitors would once again be walking the paths, visiting their favorite garden spaces, and rediscovering nature’s wonders.

With adversity comes opportunity. We were able to refocus our energies quickly to bring the springtime Gardens to you through virtual visits, gardening and wellness videos, and other inspired digital content. We were also able to make sure that the Bruno Vegetable Garden got planted; each year, its beds supply several thousand pounds of fresh produce to Birmingham-area residents in need. The downtime also proved to be opportune to undertake some overdue projects that would be a challenge to accomplish when these gardens are full of visitors. An aging irrigation main that supplies water to the Japanese Garden was replaced, a new sprinkler system was installed in the Little Ones’ Memory Garden, and the Ireland Old-Fashioned Rose Garden got a newly designed underground drainage system and a lush green carpet of fresh sod.

This has been an incredibly challenging time for all of us, but as you’ll see throughout this issue, inspiring examples of resilience, commitment, and creativity are to be found in our Gardens. Plan a visit soon to experience our wonderful new self-guided tours of select garden spaces (see story at left) and to explore Molly Hendry’s fresh reimagining of the Southern Living perennial border (page 8). Enjoy our special look at the Birmingham Fern Society’s commitment to “fernishing” the Fern Glade during the past 50 years (page 2). Read about the impressive projects that our 2020 interns are undertaking (page 4), and be sure not to miss our tribute to longtime supporter Philip Morris, whose vision and planned gift will soon make possible a signature new sign for the Gardens (page 16).

We remain committed to our mission and need your support now more than ever. As we seek in the weeks and months ahead to contribute to the recovery and health of our community, we are grateful for the many ways you support our efforts. Thank you for helping us sustain this beloved community treasure and all that it makes possible: a promise of hope and brighter days ahead.

Tom Underwood Executive Director

REDISCOVER THE GARDENS THIS SUMMER

The Birmingham Park and Recreation Board reopened Birmingham Botanical Gardens on Monday, June 15, following a three-month closure due to COVID-19. Visit bbgardens.org or follow the Gardens on social media for the latest information regarding hours and guidelines for visiting safely. Visitors are encouraged to practice social distancing and to bring a face mask for interacting with others in the Gardens and entering the Garden Center. A cherished place of respite for our community and visitors from around the world for more than 55 years, Birmingham Botanical Gardens is open to all, and we look forward to welcoming you back to this urban oasis.

INTRODUCING GET OUTSIDE ACTIVITY BOXES

The Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens is delighted to partner with Little Professor Bookshop to offer an exciting new opportunity to help young people connect with nature and experience a fun alternative to our popular Children’s Summer Camps—right at home! Our Get Outside Activity Boxes are themed to coordinate with eight of our in-person Children’s Summer Camps. Designed to help children ages 5–10 make the most of summer and explore the wonders of nature right in their own backyards, activity boxes include books, supplies, a Children’s Summer Camp T-shirt, and daily activity ideas curated by the Friends’ Education and Visitor Experience team. Proceeds benefit the ongoing stewardship and enhancement of the Gardens, educational programs, and outreach activities. Quantities are limited; order yours today! Friends: $60/box | Non-Members: $75/box bbgardens.org/getoutside

Fernishing the Gardens

As the Fern Glade turns 50, this serene garden space continues to celebrate and shed new light on a diverse plant group that invites a closer look

By MINDY KEYES BLACK

FOR AS LONG AS SHE CAN RECALL, Sarah Johnston has been fascinated by ferns. “I’ve always liked native ferns, particularly maidenhair and Christmas ferns. My kids used to say my car stopped automatically for ferns on the roadside and fabric stores, neither of which they were interested in,” she says with a laugh.

In 1999, before retiring as a nurse educator, Sarah was visiting the Gardens to photograph a maidenhair fern when a Birmingham Fern Society member taking part in a volunteer workday called out to make sure she wasn’t digging. (“It did look a little suspicious since I was on the ground,” says Sarah.) That chance encounter led to an invitation to display her photos at the society’s next show and sale. Eager to learn more about ferns, Sarah and her late husband, Ralph, joined the group and were soon maintaining the glade’s growing and holding beds.

“A lot of people say, ‘A fern is a fern is a fern—it’s green,’” says Sarah. “But if you look at them, there are shades of green, there are different shapes, the fronds take different forms. There’s a lot of variety, which adds texture to the garden.”

Ferns have at times throughout history been considered mystical, even magical. In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I, a highway robber tries to reassure a fellow thief that they will not be caught: “We have the receipt of fernseed; we walk invisible” (Act II, Scene I). During the Victorian era, their popularity in gardens, literature, and the decorative arts led to a new term: pteridomania, or fern fever.

Founded in 1970 as a beautification project of the Edgewood Garden Club, Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Fern Glade brought area fern lovers together. In 1975, the Birmingham Fern Society was established to promote

an interest in ferns and to maintain the glade. Membership soon topped 100, and by 1977 the society was helping further popularize ferns through its annual show and sale. “Botany experts from across the state were invited to judge the show each year, and accredited flower show judges judged the arrangements,” recalls charter member Ginny Lusk, who suggested hosting the show and sale in June, when ferns are at their peak. “The show was a success—it educated the public about ferns and raised money for the Fern Glade from the sale of ferns.”

Ginny and fellow volunteers from the society continued to raise and donate funds for the glade and dedicate hours to its improvement, growing ferns hardy to the area and often adding native ferns from their personal gardens. “It was a lot of work,” Ginny recalls. “We brought our own tools. I’ve worn out shovels and picks through the years. We cleared honeysuckle and privet out of the wooded area between the glade and the Kaul Wildflower Garden, which was quite an undertaking.” They also brought in fern authorities from across the country to speak and visit the glade. “It’s been so much fun all these years,” says Ginny. “The friendships, the people we’ve had from out of state. We brought in speakers from California, Michigan, New York. I always kept them at my house. My husband, Ed, and I loved having them here, and they were all very complimentary of the glade.”

In 1979, landscape architect Charles Greiner was engaged to develop a plan for the glade that led to the addition of a recirculating water system and pump made possible through the combined efforts of the City of Birmingham, the Birmingham Fern Society, and the Birmingham Botanical Society Auxiliary.

In 1989, noted fern scientist Dr. John Mickel, who coined the term

by Graham

Photos

Yelton

“fernishing the garden,” told Ginny and fellow fern society members about the Hardy Fern Foundation, a new organization working to establish site gardens across the country to test fern hardiness by region. The society jumped at the chance to apply for the national designation. “We were one of the first gardens to enroll,” says Ginny.

Since that time, in addition to continuing to grow native ferns well suited to the region, the glade has tested the adaptability and ornamental garden value of more than 100 species of hardy ferns from around the world, says Dr. Dan Jones, a longtime society member, Fern Glade volunteer, and former Biology Chair at UAB. Despite Birmingham’s late freezes, which can kill new growth, and summer heat, a challenge for many fern species, about half of the test plants have adapted to the glade. Some, like the autumn fern, are now commercially available after proving they are hardy and easy to grow and propagate—a tangible result of the glade’s contribution to the program.

“Because these ferns are from all over, you don’t necessarily expect them to be successful growing here, but we have found quite a few that have been,” says Dan. “It’s always rewarding to find plants that perform beyond your expectations and do well in Birmingham. When you like plants, any new plant is an interesting plant.”

Sometimes overlooked in favor of their flowering counterparts in the plant kingdom, ferns add depth to floral arrangements and deer-resistant staples to gardens and landscapes. A number have also shown promise for their roles in the environment, he says. Mosquito ferns (Azolla sp.) absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide and have the potential to help cool their environment. The Chinese brake fern (Pteris vittata) has been found to remove arsenic from soil and water.

Like Ginny and Sarah, Dan remains captivated by their differences. “Ferns have the most unusual array of leaves of any plant grouping in the world,” he says. “They are the second largest group of vascular plants we have, and the variation and variety in their structure and form are simply outstanding. Some have leaves as large as a garage door, others so small it takes a microscope or a hand lens to see them.”

After five decades, despite reductions in gardening staff and the need for regular repairs to the glade’s aging irrigation system, the Fern Glade continues to introduce visitors to more than 140 cultivars and varieties because of the society’s tireless volunteer efforts and ongoing support. “When people say, ‘I bought this fern at [a big-box store], and it died,’” says Sarah,

ABOVE: The sculpture “The Dreamer” by Louisiana metal artist Russell Whiting was installed in 2011, a gift of Neal and Dudley Reynolds. BELOW: The entrance to the cool, shaded Fern Glade beckons visitors to explore the Gardens’ collection of more than 140 species of ferns, including native ferns and hardy ferns from all over the world that have been introduced and tested here through the glade’s affiliation as a test site for the Hardy Fern Foundation.

“it’s helpful to show them that Boston ferns will not tolerate here, but others will.” In addition, she says, the glade serves as a reminder that variety is important in garden design. “A botanical garden needs to show diversity not only in plants but from the formal to the informal.”

She, Dan, and Ginny hope that a new generation will carry on their efforts to protect this special garden space. “I think of it as ‘perpetuating’ the glade,” says Sarah. “For those who are able and willing, it includes coming physically to help maintain the glade, whether it’s planting or weeding. But it also includes the garden’s design, securing plants, the glade’s layout, the expertise for growing ferns. I see this as our goal for the future—to perpetuate the glade in all those ways.”

Become a Fern Glade volunteer!

The Birmingham Fern Society is looking for new members to help perpetuate the glade. Learn more by emailing Society Vice President Louise Billings at mlcbillings@yahoo.com and Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens Volunteer Coordinator Alice Thompson Moore at amoore@bbgardens.org.

Digging Deep

Interns bring special interests, creativity to garden fieldwork

By CAROLINE LUCKIE

EACH SUMMER, the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens gives young people with a keen interest in gardening an opportunity to help with hands-on projects and educational initiatives while also exposing them to the world of public gardens. Past interns have contributed to projects from species mapping and stormwater management to environmental education programming and outreach and gone on to pursue research related to blueberry production, pasture lands, and plant genetics.

With analysts predicting that the green industry will be at the forefront of urban growth and development in 2020 and beyond, jobs currently outnumbering horticulture graduates 2-to-1,* and interest in gardening at an all-time high, these internships open the door to the possibilities of a career in public gardens, environmental education, and ecology.

“We have had some absolutely terrific summer interns through the years, and this year is no exception,” says Director of Education and Visitor Experience Brooke McMinn. “They work extremely hard and help us accomplish important projects while they are here. We are able to provide our college-age interns a stipend thanks to the support of our members and donors and dedicated organizations such as the Rotary Club of Shades Valley and our Junior Board and would love to find additional sponsor support to help us host even more students. We provide a framework that allows them to explore their particular areas of interest through the lens of the work that needs to be done—a true win-win.”

*Source: Garden Media Group’s 2020 Garden Trends Report

MEET OUR INTERNS

Native Plant Intern Phillip Barlow

A rising senior studying horticulture at Mississippi State University, Phillip is the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ 2020 Native Plant Intern. From a young age, Phillip has harbored a fascination for plants, intrigued by the growing process of the vegetables and ornamental flowers he cultivated in the garden with his mother. Now, his childhood passion has matured into a desire to study plants, gardens, and natural areas as a career. Working closely with Kaul Wildflower Garden Curator John Manion, Phillip will spend time this summer maintaining and propagating plants for the wildflower garden, putting finishing touches on the garden’s bog, and working to define patches of specific plants.

“The use of native plants in the Kaul Wildflower Garden makes that area of the Botanical Gardens feel so natural and untouched,” says Phillip. “It truly feels like you stepped from a city garden into nature.”

Phillip’s post-internship goals include attending graduate school, where he will continue studying plant science and garden management.

HUNTING FOR HEARTLEAF One of Phillip’s special projects this summer will be to curate the Gardens’ collection of Hexastylis species. Commonly called heartleaf, these evergreen plants are closely related to deciduous Canadian ginger (Asarum canadense). Ten species of heartleaf are native to the Southeast; Alabama is home to five of these, one of which is found growing naturally only in a few counties in our state. Phillip will identify and research the species growing at the Gardens, arrange a collection for educational purposes, and develop interpretive materials.

Photos

Graham Yelton

Rotary Club of Shades Valley Intern

Katie Stahlhut

A former high school intern with the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Katie has returned to the place that inspired her to pursue an education and career in plant science research. “Before I worked at Birmingham Botanical Gardens in high school, I was afflicted by ‘plant blindness.’ I didn’t appreciate the plants around me as anything more than trees, grass, and flowers,” says Katie. “It was through my first internship that I began to recognize the incredible amount of diversity around me, and it seemed there was a whole new world available to explore.”

As 2020 Rotary Club of Shades Valley Intern, Katie will spend the summer planting and learning under the guidance of Director of Education and Visitor Experience Brooke McMinn. Together they will develop sustainable garden programming in the Bruno Vegetable Garden while Katie additionally works on a personal project testing the effects of incorporating a beneficial soil microbe called rhizobia into the garden.

Following her internship, Katie will attend Miami University to pursue a PhD in evolutionary biology.

BENEFICIAL BACTERIA In traditional agricultural systems, fertilizers supply plants with the nitrogen they need, but adding too much can negatively impact the environment, causing groundwater contamination and harmful algal blooms. Rhizobia are bacteria that convert nitrogen in the air to a form that plants can use to grow.

“Incorporating soil microbes into our garden ecosystems is one step we can take to create vegetable gardening practices that are cheaper and more sustainable,” says Katie. “Because all of the food produced in the Bruno Vegetable Garden is donated to shelters around the city through a program called Harvest for the Hungry, increases in vegetable yield through new sustainable endeavors will directly benefit the food insecure in the Birmingham area.”

High School Intern Ann Inskeep

Ann’s passion for gardening began when she was a child, raising tomatoes with her family on their back porch each summer. Her interest with the planting process continued to grow, and when the opportunity to intern with the Friends presented itself after touring the Gardens with her Leadership Mountain Brook class, Ann jumped at the chance. Throughout the 2019–20 academic year, she spent two hours every weekday at the Gardens with Garden Assessment Project Leader Molly Hendry discovering the ins and outs of garden maintenance. “I’ve definitely learned it’s not easy working in a public garden. It’s a really large group effort,” she says.

From her winter work planting bulbs in the Southern Living Garden’s perennial border to her help in documenting the life cycle events of native species in the Kaul Wildflower Garden, Ann helped set in motion a number of projects during the 2019–20 school year that are set to flourish this summer.

In the fall Ann will begin her undergraduate schooling at Auburn University studying biosystems engineering, the sector of engineering that revolves around renewable energy, water conservation, and soil sample analysis.

KAUL PHENOLOGY PROJECT During her internship, Ann contributed to the Kaul Phenology Project, which tracks blooms in the Kaul Wildflower Garden through each week of the year to monitor how long different species are in bloom. As part of the project, Ann helped research the plants’ hardiness zones, preferred conditions, and growing habits. The tracking will help provide an in-depth understanding of the plants as the Friends team maps out a plan for reinvigorating the Kaul Wildflower Garden.

Sharing the Gardens, Virtually

IN MID-MARCH, a few days after the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board made the decision to close the Gardens and all other Park and Recreation facilities in light of public health recommendations surrounding COVID-19, members of the Friends’ Education and Visitor Experience team and Communications and Marketing team hopped on a conference call to brainstorm ways to share the wonders of the Gardens—a key part of our mission—during its closure.

Just weeks away from signature events such as our Annual Member Celebration, Spring Plant Sale (our largest plant sale fundraiser of the year), and National Public Gardens Week, and on the cusp of the Gardens’ most popular season for tour groups, school field trips, and partner events like the Birmingham Rose Show, we suddenly found ourselves, like so many organizations, postponing or canceling classes, events, and outreach just as people everywhere were craving connections to the outdoors, and the springtime promise of the Gardens. Ideas flowed, and soon, armed with Communications and Marketing Associate Jamie Haas’s personal Canon camera and creative touches, a wireless Rode microphone, and an enthusiastic staff, we pivoted quickly and began filming for nine new video series designed to share the Gardens’ collections; guidance for an outdoor yoga practice; and the ways that plants, gardening, and the environment improve our lives and make the world a better place.

Our Virtual Visits to the Japanese Garden and Dunn Formal Rose Garden both reached more than 6,000 people on Facebook and had hundreds more views on our new YouTube channel. For our first virtual Discovery Field Trip, Pollination Observation, we partnered with our friends at The Literacy Council of Central Alabama to create a Spanish-language version for Spanish speakers tuning in locally and from around the world. Filming for our second Discovery Field Trip, Tropical Rain Forests, will take place this summer and allow us to reach schoolchildren everywhere this fall.

A generous grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham will soon allow us to add to our virtual toolkit. As you join others in rediscovering the Gardens in the months ahead, we hope you continue to enjoy, and learn from, our digital content. While there is no replacement for experiencing Birmingham Botanical Gardens in person (as one Instagram follower noted about our Dunn Formal Rose Garden Virtual Visit: “Needs smell-o-vision!”), this special place and the wonders that it holds, thanks to the dedication and support of those who hold it dear, continue to provide an endless source of comfort, inspiration, and possibility. —Mindy Keyes Black and Brooke McMinn

COMMITTED TO A PLANT SALE AND THE CAUSE IT SUPPORTS

DISCOVERY FIELD TRIPS Education Activities Specialist Dawn Coleman Lee shares a garden-themed story as part of our new virtual Discovery Field Trips digital content. Narrated by Education Program Coordinator Ellen Hardy (not shown), these virtual extensions of our in-person field trips introduce children to garden-related concepts.

For more than 50 years, the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Spring Plant Sale has signaled the arrival of spring and a reminder to area residents to get out and plant. Each year the sale attracts more than 5,300 shoppers and features more than 100,000 plants specially selected for our region and lovingly tended by more than 400 dedicated volunteers representing 12 plant societies and growing groups who work year-round to prepare for our largest plant sale fundraiser of the year. Funds raised enable us to educate thousands of students annually about the science of plants and our dependence on them, grow and harvest thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables to combat hunger in our community, safeguard rare and endangered native plants that support a healthy environment, and much more. While the 2020 sale could not take place due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Birmingham community still found a way to support the Friends’ mission and help us grow a greener tomorrow. Retail partner Leaf & Petal made available its Deal Depot location as a venue for selling many of the plants already cultivated for the sale by our Herb Army and Perennial and Native growing groups and then gave back 100 percent of the profits to benefit the Friends’ mission.

In addition, the Friends’ Junior Board hosted a presale of lavender and rosemary to support the Friends’ Kaul Wildflower Garden Native Plant Internship program, and the Native growing group organized presales that sold more than 1,800 plants. These efforts, which raised more than $30,000, reflect the genuine commitment of our retail partners, volunteers, and community members both to this signature springtime event and to our mission as we come together, even during challenging times, to protect, nurture, and share the wonders of Birmingham Botanical Gardens. —Jamie Haas

MANION’S MOMENTS Kaul Wildflower Garden Curator John Manion takes visitors behind the scenes to discover treasures among the Gardens’ native flora.

VIRTUAL VISITS These short films set to music give visitors an opportunity to explore beloved garden spaces such as the Dunn Formal Rose Garden and Japanese Garden.

KIDS CAN GARDEN Director of Education and Visitor Experience Brooke McMinn, Library Director Hope Long (at right), and a special guest (Brooke’s daughter, Fiona) team up to show that gardening is for kids too.

GROW, SAVE, SHARE

New varieties of seeds are now available through the Library at the Gardens’ free Seed Exchange program thanks to a recent donation from Seed Savers Exchange, a national organization that gives the previous year’s unsold seeds to select nonprofits across the United States through its Herman’s Garden Seed Donation Program.

“With seeds in record demand, the Library’s free Seed Exchange is a wonderful resource that keeps us connected with the earth and one another,” says Director of Library Services Hope Long. “The exchange is easy to join, and makes it even easier to get planting.”

Interested in gardening with the little one in your life? Ask about seeds that Hope recommends for children, such as Tom Thumb popcorn, ‘Rattlesnake’ pole beans, and sunflowers, and check out our new “Kids Can Garden” video on the Gardens’ new YouTube channel.

To join the free program, which was created to highlight the importance of seed saving to preserve and strengthen biodiversity in garden plants, and explore newly expanded offerings, from varieties of beet, lettuce, and tomato to New England aster and old-fashioned vining petunia, visit bbgardens.org/ seedexchange.

While a number of our in-person summer programs have been canceled or postponed, we are adding new virtual Brown Bag Lunch & Learns and other classes each week! Visit bbgardens.org/classes to explore the latest offerings and to reserve your spot. Join us as well for socially distanced, outdoor yoga. Yoga classes are currently limited to eight registrants; for the health and safety of all participants, we ask that you bring your own mat and props and pay in advance online at bbgardens.org/classes.

FREE BROWN BAG LUNCH & LEARN WEBINARS

Wednesday, July 15 • 11:30 a.m.

MANAGING STORMWATER

Hana Berres and Lyn DiClemente, Jefferson County Stormwater Program

Wednesday, July 29 • 11:30 a.m.

SHADE GARDENING

Dan Jones, Birmingham Fern Society

Wednesday, August 12 • 11:30 a.m.

HOUSEPLANTS 101

Caitlin Hastings, Botanica

Wednesday, August 26 • 11:30 a.m.

GROWING CITRUS

Jason Powell, Petals from the Past

YOGA AT THE GARDENS

VINYASA YOGA

Wednesdays, July 8, 15, 22, 29 • 8:30 a.m.

Moore Japanese Cultural Pavilion

Friends: $8 | Non-Members: $10

MORNING ASHTANGA YOGA

Mondays, July 13, 20, 27, August 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 • 8:30 a.m.

Moore Japanese Cultural Pavilion

Friends: $8 | Non-Members: $10

FAMILY YOGA IN THE GARDENS (for ages 3+)

Saturdays, July 11, August 8 • 9 a.m.

Formal Garden

Child + Adult: $15 | Additional Family Member: $5

OTHER VIRTUAL OFFERINGS

NATIVE PLANT STUDIES WEBINAR: INTRODUCTION TO MYCOLOGY

Saturday, July 25 • 12:30 p.m.

Juan Luis Mata, Ph.D., Department of Biology, University of South Alabama

Friends: $45 | Non-Members: $50

SATURDAYS IN THE GARDENS WEBINAR: ARRANGE FLOWERS EASILY (rescheduled from May)

Saturday, August 15 • 10 a.m.

Birmingham florist Dorothy McDaniel of Dorothy McDaniel’s Flower Market will share tips for creating elegant arrangements.*

Cost: $10

*Flowers for Dorothy’s arrangement are available for advance purchase through Dorothy McDaniel’s Flower Market. Visit bbgardens.org/classes for more details.

THYME TO READ

Our free monthly book gatherings hosted by the Library at the Gardens will return in August! We will observe social distancing and meet outside, weather permitting. Please note that at press time, masks are required inside the Garden Center. Join us!

Tuesday, August 4 • 6 p.m.

The Monk of Mokha By Dave Eggers

HOPE LONG

To Know Them You Must Grow Them

In 2019 Molly Hendry set out to reinvigorate the Southern Living Garden flower border. What began as a design study led to the discovery that the most profound gardening lessons often come from putting down the pen and picking up the trowel

By MOLLY HENDRY l Photographs by GRAHAM YELTON

Jab, crack.

Two large hosta tubers snap under the pressure of my digging fork. They have finally pushed their large, lush leaves 18 inches above the ground, and I am anxious to divide a few and move a nice healthy clump to the opposite end of the border.

Crackkkk...

Questions race through my mind as I dig.

Should I have done this when the leaves were a bit smaller? Will dividing now hurt their chances of flowering?

Another jab, another crack of a hosta tuber splitting … .

Will the leaves have the same coloring in deeper shade?

Jab, jab. Crack, crack.

Oh—dahlias would be lovely in the bedding pocket behind these hostas for summer! Peach or pink?

Digging fork in hand, I carefully shimmy my feet between my next targeted hosta and the salvia I have just transplanted, narrowly missing a ‘Thalia’ daffodil that has come into perfect bloom. This moment is a culmination of many moments of observation and countless scribbles in the notebook I carry in my back pocket. Often the tasks I find myself doing are in response to observations from months before. I have been eyeing these hostas all winter, waiting for their foliage to emerge so I can repeat this drift on the other end of the border, linking the two sides.

I have found myself drawn to this flower border in the Southern Living Garden time and time again. It holds an array of fascinating chances, an addicting concoction of questions with a hint of answers that keeps me coming back wanting more. Each question leads me to a deeper thought, leaving a trail of linked inquiries whose answers seem to manifest in an unending list of garden tasks. But so you can really understand the trail that got us to this particular moment, with me standing in this flower border wielding a digging fork, I should start at the beginning, which can be traced back to a root question from which this whole endeavor has grown: Why was the Southern Living Garden created?

To find answers, I knew I must begin in our archives at the Gardens. It was a rainy spring day in 2018 as I sat camped out in our library poring over copies of planting plans, scans of magazine articles, and construction details. One of the first Southern Living articles I stopped on was titled “We Designed a Garden for You.”

Maybe this was my answer? This story began by celebrating the garden’s creation through a partnership between Southern Living magazine and the Birmingham Botanical Gardens in the late 1970s. Placed in the former Dogwood Garden, it was created to feel like an intimate Southern home garden that would demonstrate the world of gardening opportunities in an area of the country where you can garden year-round because of our mild winters and long growing seasons. The Southern Living Garden illustrates how, just like the rooms in your home, your garden can also have rooms, each with a different purpose and design. Over the decades, new garden rooms have been developed here, each with its own flavor and application to your own garden.

As I was flipping through pictures and various scrapbook clippings, I recognized many bits of the garden as they are

Garden Assessment Project Leader Molly Hendry (right) and high school intern Ann Inskeep deadhead spring flowers in preparation for summer blooms.

“I realized that I was being invited to be the choreographer, to bring back the original spirit of the border by understanding the plants and weaving them into a captivating design with Southern flair.”

—Molly Hendry

today; however, one drawing caused me to pause. The plan was titled “Flower Border,” and it notated long drifts of annuals and perennials, everything from spring tulips and daffodils to peonies and salvias mixed with columbines, mums, heuchera, iris, daisies, asters.

My heart leapt. This was the first time I had seen anything resembling an English perennial border in Alabama. I was still fresh off the year I spent living and working in several gardens in England while completing a fellowship through a partnership between the Garden Club of America and the Royal Horticultural Society. My longest placement was three and a half months at Great Dixter, the English crown jewel of perennial exploration. I fell deeply in love with perennials as I spent each day among its bulging yew hedges that framed an explosive and intoxicating succession of blooms. Perhaps these plantings captivated me because it was newfound territory for my horticultural training.

In the South, we tend to focus on the more woody parts of the garden: the azaleas, camellias, hydrangeas, magnolias, and gardenias. During our tea breaks at Dixter I would listen to in-depth conversations about successional planting and the merits of particular combinations. My British friends talked about perennials like they were old friends. They knew what altitude certain plants came from in the mountainous regions of China or which type of native soils in the great American prairies certain plants preferred. This intimate understanding of plants meant they could effectively maneuver them in different planting designs. I longed for that kind of relationship with perennials. These plants were ever-changing, versatile, and lively, creating a thrilling dance through the borders that was different each week. But upon returning to Alabama I couldn’t find that same perennial choreography I fell in love with across the pond. This drawing gave me hope; it felt like a gentle nudge that I was onto something, and I instinctively felt I had to keep digging.

I knew who would have the answers: Dr. John Floyd. He is not only a former editor in chief for Southern Living but also a tireless advocate for the Gardens and a dedicated Tuesday morning

volunteer in our Japanese Garden. So one Tuesday I marched down to the Japanese Garden in search of John and some answers to this mysterious drawing. When I found him I immediately began chatting about my exciting perennial border discovery as we walked toward the Southern Living Garden. He listened intently. By then we were standing in front of where the border had once been, now filled with a monoculture of pansies, with just remnants of perennials left on the fringe. Turning around to face the border, he said, “You know you can’t do an English perennial border in Alabama, Molly.”

Jab, crack.

That was my heart breaking. I protested, waving my paper. “But what about this drawing, John?”

“There is a difference between doing an English perennial border and doing a border that evokes the same effects as an English border. That is what you have in your hand. A Southern flower border.”

My heart began to mend. I could work with that.

John continued explaining that he was on staff at Southern Living when the idea for this border came to fruition. At the time, perennials were just coming into vogue and no public gardens were demonstrating how to do a flower border on a homeowner scale. But one man, Dr. Fred Thode of Clemson University, had dedicated himself to the study of Southern perennials. He was asked to design the “Southern Flower Border” for the Southern Living Garden. He spent nearly two years working on it, regularly requesting detailed information on sun patterns, soil, and climate. John explained that Thode was more than a keen plantsman; he was first and foremost a designer. There is a difference between throwing a bunch of flowers into a bed versus working out a thoughtful design of successional blooms that will carry the display from spring to frost. One must know how the seasons flow, how plants perform in the varying light conditions, how colors combine together, how textures contrast once blooming ends.

John raised his brow, asking if I understood. I knew instantly what he was describing: It was that

dance I had been searching for since my time at Dixter. With that, John nodded. I realized that I was being invited to be the choreographer, to bring back the original spirit of the border by understanding the plants and weaving them into a captivating design with Southern flair. It was an opportunity I had wished for, but when presented with the chance I wondered if I had what it would take to grab the reins. I vowed to give it my best shot, but first I had some research to do.

It was evident from Thode’s philosophy that the specific plants chosen were crucial, and I was eager to uphold the historical integrity of the border. But, I was also interested in using the best plants that the 21st century has to offer. I needed to pick the brains of local plantsmen, and the best place to find them is at local nurseries. So, I took the plant list and headed out to two well-known Birmingham establishments, Petals from the Past and Barton’s Greenhouse and Nursery. I sat down with both Jason Powell and Carol Barton and discussed each plant on Thode’s original list. Were these still good choices for a border today? Were there perennials not listed here I should be aware of? Are there more robust cultivars of these species available nowadays? I soaked up every word. I knew I could google each plant and get general information, but Jason and Carol spoke from decades of hands-on experience in Birmingham, which is a training no book can give you.

Armed with a new list of plants to use, it was time to sit down and begin the design. I analyzed and reanalyzed Thode’s plan. I was dealing with a considerable amount of shade on the northern end of the border, which, judging from Thode’s plant choices, used to be in full sun. But he had a fascinating strategy I was certain I could deploy in my own way. He layered the drifts of spring bulbs in the back, where they would light up the bed in early spring and then be hidden by a spine of summer perennials that would begin emerging when the bulbs finished blooming. In front of the more robust spine of taller plants were layers of shorter plants with annual bedding pockets. The bedding pockets provide stability in the color display, drawing visitors down the path to notice the ever-changing lattice of flowers. It was an effective design framework, but I was overwhelmed with the sheer number of plants that could fill these drifts. I sat paralyzed at my desk, with availability sheets and sketches with nameless holes mocking me.

My eyes drifted to the bulletin board over my desk where I had a strip of paper pinned to the top with the words “To know them you must grow them” scrolled across it in black marker. It was given to me out of a childhood neighbor’s house after he had passed. He was well known in the area for his heirloom iris collection. The only memory I had of his garden was riding my bike past his house on many a summer’s day on the way to my best friend’s house next door. I would see this mysterious neighbor with his gardener, tending to the rows and

Peony in bloom

Molly Hendry

Border comes to life in spring

Columbine, heuchera, and tiarella

‘Minnie Pearl’ phlox

Southern Living Garden border and gazebo

rows of heirloom irises under the shade of dogwood trees. Although I have only scraps of memories of his garden and this little scrap piece of paper from his home, the words have become a mantra of sorts. To know them you must grow them.

It’s a simple piece of advice really. Yet it is profound in the way it reminds us not to overcomplicate our garden endeavors. At the end of the day, to truly know our medium, we must engage with it. And that can free us to make decisions, because the truth of the matter is that what we plant might not be right the first go-around. Rather we learn something from each choice, and then try something else. To know them you must grow them. I felt free to take a stab at it.

I began diagramming drifts of certain colors in the border. I started with a spine, like Thode, then worked out from there, filling in the lower-growing pops of color. Every plant chosen must serve the overall picture being created. Then I began filling in names, finding plants on availability sheets that match the colors and heights I needed. It was like putting place cards at a beautifully decorated table: The names brought the whole plan to life. I couldn’t wait for the party to start.

It was a clear June morning when the truck, loaded to the brim with perennials, finally arrived. I stood clenching a crumbled stack of papers listing measured drifts of perennials, my guests that I had invited to the party, who were now rolling down the hill toward me in the back of a box truck. John was standing next to me as we watched them approach. He was one of several volunteers who had agreed to help me plant out the new design that morning. As the driver threw the truck in park and rolled up the back door, John gave me a trusting pat on the back. “Let’s see what you’ve got ... .” I turned just in time to see him grin as he walked past.

Let’s see what I’ve got … .

To be honest, I am not quite sure how everything will work out. I slaved over the quantities. I measured and remeasured the planting beds, adjusted the calculations based on different plant spacings. I felt like I was standing on a seesaw that could tip either way. But there was no time to dwell on that; it was go time.

The flats began moving off the truck. I pointed, directing the plants to different sections of the border. Once all the flats were off, it was time to start placing pots. I started with the larger perennials that run the spine of the design. Next I filled in with the smaller drifts and finished by dotting in my “threads” that float freely from one end to the other, a touch of whimsy. I felt my instincts take over, making the call on different drifts as we moved down the border, the volunteers planting behind me as I placed. At some point, I set my lovely drawings down on the garden swing and moved on without them because the placement decisions felt intuitive. There is something about holding a plant in your hand that makes the clarity you have been longing for at the

drawing table click into place on the ground. We finished at lunchtime. I felt a surge of relief. Somehow the quantities of plants seemed to fit just right. The team of volunteers seemed pleased with the outcome. As I drug the hose to the far end to water in the planting before the weekend, I could hear those simple words in the back of my head: To know them you must grow them. The planting was done, but now the true training would begin.

I make a point to get out to the border to observe it each week. My notebook is filled with little observations and notes to myself: Find ground cover for under wood spurge that it can grow up through; need a midsize perennial to step your eye down from the ginger; need to see rudbeckia contrasting against purple fountain grass when approaching from northern path; move foamflower into more shade; weave in more columbine; remove hidden ginger; get veronica

season. So began another rhythm. Marking, cutting back. Marking, digging, transplanting.

Before I knew it, the foliage of daffodil bulbs was emerging, signaling the approach of spring. The bare mulch of winter came alive again, and it was time to set the second act of the dance in motion. And that brings us back to this moment with me, in the border, balancing between several swaths of plants, splitting hosta tubers with my digging fork. Dotting the length of the path are crates of new plants waiting to be placed. This border, a grand experiment, an ongoing endeavor in observation and response, of questions and answers, of ideas and digging forks.

I feel quite lucky to have stumbled upon Dr. Thode’s drawing in the archives that fateful spring day. It is humbling to step into the line of mentorship that has coursed through this border. It begins with Dr. Thode, who taught a generation

“There is something about holding a plant in your hand that makes the clarity you have been longing for at the drawing table click into place on the ground.”

—Molly Hendry

out of part sun into full sun; plant lamb’s ears. With each week there are more details I notice, more things I learn, more mistakes, and more little victories. Some things have performed splendidly. Other decisions weren’t quite right. But with each combination that needed tweaking, I learned. The heuchera on the slope rotted out and, I learned, doesn’t like mulch anywhere near its crown. Dianthus doesn’t want to be near direct spray from the irrigation system. Veronica gets leggy in the shade. The daisies have a much more vertical habit than I anticipated; it’s best to weave them among other things or plant closely together. The shady end of the border needs more bloom interest through summer and fall. I need to strategize how bulb foliage can be hidden after the blooms have faded. The first frost of the season came in November, sending the plants toward their winter slumber, the curtain drawn for this season. Since the herbaceous layer is largely invisible above ground during the winter, I used bamboo canes to mark out the different drifts of plants before cutting them back. This would allow me to work off my notes effectively in the spring when it came time for planting. I also knew there were a lot of things I needed to shift around after observing them for a

of horticulture students like John the power of perennials in the Southern landscape, which is captured in the border’s original design. Then John came alongside me, giving the gentle nods and encouraging pats on the back I needed to take a risk, to try my own hand. That is the great gift of mentors. When they allow you to take a shot, even though they would most definitely do it better themselves, knowing that it is through making your own decisions and witnessing your own mistakes and victories that you truly learn. In turn, I have been able to bring my high school intern, Ann, along for the ride this past year as we observe and respond to the perennial dance and dream of the scenes to come. I have found that gardeners, perhaps filled by the bounty of the land, are some of the most generous souls on earth.

So now, as we approach summer, the curtain is open and the dancers are in place. And today, the Southern Living Garden still grows from the answer to that original question: Why was the Southern Living Garden designed? We designed a garden for you. Beyond the rooms of this garden, our hope is that it inspires you to pick up the digging fork and choreograph your own dance in your garden, because to know them, you must grow them.

Around the Gardens

Molly shares highlights from her illustrated planting plan.

STRUCTURE

Japanese Roof Iris

(Iris tectorum)

The structural layer of a perennial border, although not the showiest layer, is the most important. When redesigning this border, we built off some existing Japanese roof iris. It is a tough plant with a spring bloom that provides yearlong, lime green texture. It is repeated in three clumps running the length of the border, establishing rhythm as you travel along the path.

STEADY BLOOMERS

Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘PowWow Wild Berry’)

This border is about color, and we want blooms that will work hard and earn their keep! Coneflower is a great choice that will bloom for months at

a time, creating waves of deep pink that kick off a succession of steady bloomers from phlox to rudbeckia and asters.

BOLD TEXTURE

‘Guacamole’ Hosta (Hosta ‘Guacamole’)

While blooms are important in a border, it is just as important to have clumps of bold textures that will contrast and provide rest for the eye and highlight the colorful drifts. Hostas are a great choice! Their bold leaves come in a variety of colors and provide contrast while also giving you several weeks of bloom in summer.

SEASONAL THRILL

‘Peach Blossom’ Astilbe (Astilbe x rosea ‘Peach Blossom’)

Each season has its little treasures that might be shortlived but add an element of surprise in the border! A favorite spring thrill here is the ‘Peach Blossom’ astilbe. It will bloom for several weeks at the tail end of spring with a gentle haze of plumes arising from a dense clump of deep green foliage.

BULBS

‘Chinita’ Daffodil (Narcissus ‘Chinita’)

The bulb layer adds depth to your planting. In the spring, drifts of various cultivars of daffodils light up the border along the back stone wall. A favorite is ‘Chinita,’ which is a tall, late bloomer featuring

several small cream blooms with soft yellow centers on each stem. There is also an array of fall bulbs you can plant in spring to extend your bloom season well past the height of summer.

SELF-SOWERS

Columbine

(Aquilegia canadensis)

Important touches to any planting design are those flowers that will dance throughout the border, knitting it together as a cohesive whole and adding natural whimsy. Columbine is a great choice for a thread in the shady bits of your garden. Its pink and yellow blooms float through the border in spring, and after the flower stalk is cut back it leaves behind a soft clump of feathery foliage.

STEADY BLOOMERS

TIPS FOR DESIGNING A FLOWER BORDER

You have picked a location, know the light conditions, and prepped the soil, but how do you begin to create a border?

IMAGINE what you want each season to feel like. Do you want spring to feel soft, with white blooms against the fresh green of new growth? Maybe you want summer to be bright with apricots and pinks popping against the deeper purples? Perhaps in fall you want it to be about the texture of leaves with subtle pops of blooms in fall colors. Know what effect you want to create—then you will have a framework to pick plants. With each choice ask, “Does this plant serve my overall vision?”

IDENTIFY your favorite plants you know you want to incorporate. What role could they serve in the border? Are they a great plant for a large mass? Or maybe they would be a nice seasonal surprise among the larger clumps? We all have our favorites—no need to leave them out! Make a list, and plan for them.

LAY OUT your larger drifts. The first step should be your big impact layer. This includes the structural plants, the long-season bloomers. This layer is important to create repetition, which gives coherence to a flower border.

WEAVE in seasonal thrills. These plants come and go rather quickly, but they add a fun burst of surprise in your border. Not much is as thrilling as a peony when it bursts into bloom or the delicate blossoms of foamflower in spring. They won’t last for months on end, but they add an eye-catching pop.

THREAD the touch of whimsy throughout. Plants that lace through the whole border add a refreshing layer of wildness. They loosen those larger clumps and make the border settle into place. These threads also work to weave the border into a cohesive whole. In shady areas one of my go-tos is columbine, and in the full sun I love to use pops of daisies dancing the length of the border.

OBSERVE! The most powerful tools in your arsenal are your eyes and your notebook! Watch for combinations that work perfectly, and note observations you make through the season. Is a certain plant detracting from that original vision? Do you need to think of something to add an extra spark between bloom cycles? Make copious notes so you will have a road map for tasks when the time is right to plant, move, divide, or make a change!

To hear Molly talk about these tips, enjoy our new selfguided audio tour of the perennial border and check out the latest episode of “Around the Gardens” on our new YouTube channel.

“Every plant chosen must serve the overall picture being created.” —Molly Hendry

Sense of Place

To the late Southern Living Editor at Large Philip Morris, who led the way in curating Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ distinctive sculpture collection, art succeeds in enhancing the Gardens when it reflects the spirit and character of its garden setting. Soon, new signature signage for the Gardens made possible by his generous bequest to the Friends will honor his vision and legacy by capturing the aesthetic of the gardens he treasured, and drawing others in to treasure them too

By MINDY KEYES BLACK

ONE OF THE KEY DETAILS to consider when adding art to a garden, Philip Morris liked to point out, is making sure that the piece fits the place. “It is so important to get the scale right on anything in a garden,” he said in an oral history interview at the Gardens late in his life.* “Typically, what happens is things wind up too small; they do not hold their own in the space.”

So before New Orleans artist Mario Villa got started on the sculpture he had been commissioned to create at the center of the Dunn Formal Rose Garden through a generous gift from the Dunn family, Morris sent him a frame of reference. “I worked with Bob Kirk, the landscape architect, and using just some boards stuck up in the air to kind of create a bit of a silhouette, we figured out how big it needed to be to hold the center of the garden.

“I like the fact that in the middle of the rose garden, it was the case where we were saying, ‘We need something as a centerpiece, but roses are delicate, so we do not want it to be too heavy … .’ I think it turned out beautifully for getting the match right.”

Morris, an Oklahoma native recruited to Birmingham in 1969 to write about architecture for the three-year-old Southern Living, believed that good design had the power to strengthen a community’s identity and encouraged readers— and Birminghamians—to invest in theirs. His broad approach spilled over into historic preservation, town planning, and urban design, and he was proud of his role in introducing coverage of landscape architecture at the magazine, which he helped shape for more than three decades.

His civic involvement reflected his editorial passions, and in the 1980s, while the Gardens was implementing master plan updates that reimagined its outdoor spaces as a series of distinct garden “rooms,” the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Botanical Society (later renamed the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens) asked Morris to head a new Sculpture Committee to oversee the process of enhancing individual gardens with art tailored to them. With no budget but believing the Gardens “deserves the best in art suited to garden settings and themes,” Morris and fellow

committee members established guidelines for commissioning and placement of art, responding to opportunities that arose and working to make the right match between garden, subject matter, artist, and donor. The central idea, he said, was not to create a sculpture garden but instead to choose art that would serve as “fixtures in the Gardens.” “We did not want a place where you walked in and all you saw was artwork,” he said. “What we wanted was art that complemented the Gardens. The Gardens remained the most important thing.”

Their first undertaking, the multipart Granite Garden in then-under-construction Blount Plaza, was also the committee’s biggest challenge, he recalled. “The plaza was not even there yet, so

“What

we wanted was art that complemented the Gardens. The Gardens remained the most important thing.”

—PHILIP MORRIS

it was a little hard to anticipate,” he said. Morris identified emerging Texas-based artist Jesus Moroles to create the sculpture, made possible through a generous gift from Arnold and Rose Steiner, and while he had never written a grant, he applied for and received additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts’ Art in Public Places program. “Stone seemed a very good material to spread around a plaza,” he noted. “It turned out to be a beautiful selection because he was able to do these little environments with stone that fit right into the plaza.”

Over the next 15 years, as part of the Sculpture Committee and later a Design Committee advising the director, Morris helped oversee the addition of numerous other artworks, including Nike, Interlude, and the still-water Kayser Lily Pool in the Hill Garden; the reimagined Floral Clock in front of the Conservatory; Hare with Collar in the Bruno Vegetable Garden; and Echo, Genesis, and Loblolly in the Southern Living Garden.

“The purpose, generally,” he wrote of the Gardens’ sculpture collection, “has been to surprise and delight.”

Morris, who walked the Gardens frequently from his home in English Village after he retired in 2000, loved hearing other visitors talking about various artworks as they came upon them. He knew that Birmingham artist Cordray Parker had succeeded in his goal of evoking an antique sculpture with his cast bronze Nike when he heard people debating “whether it has been dug up out of the ground or made new.”

His service to the Gardens served as his own entrée to the world of gardening. “At his second house, which was above Little Hardware, the gardening bug bit him,” recalls longtime Southern Living Editor and Friends Director Emeritus John Floyd. “His garden was gorgeous. It was not a horticultural piece, but an art piece. He was a gardener who enjoyed doing things that made his yard beautiful.”

To Morris, the beauty of the Gardens was that it showcased ways to garden within Birmingham’s rich and varied topography—from rock outcroppings to floodplains—and offered something for everyone. “I think the Gardens has very broad appeal because there are so many ways for people to enjoy it and to get involved in it,” he

Philip Morris

A NEW SIGN OF ARRIVAL

Gift paves the way for new sign at the intersection of Cahaba and Lane Park roads

A bold new sign inspired by a historical column on Cahaba Road and stonework found throughout the Gardens and Birmingham community will honor Philip Morris’s legacy and passion for both regional architecture and landscape architecture, thanks to his generous bequest to the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

Envisioned by landscape architect Cindy Tyler of Terra Design Studios, a nationally recognized design firm known for its work with public garden spaces, the new signature signage will be located at the intersection of Cahaba and Lane Park roads and will serve as the Gardens’ “welcome” for visitors approaching from Mountain Brook Village or U.S. Highways 31 and 280. It replaces a smaller, more utilitarian sign that stood on Lane Park Road and was removed several years ago to make way for much-needed drainage improvements.

The sign is reminiscent of an iconic Cahaba Road column and signpost, which was constructed from locally quarried stone as part of a public works program during the Great Depression, and which Morris was happy to see restored toward the end of his life. Crafted from stone and aluminum washed to replicate the look of weathered steel, the new sign will be built on a plinth, or slablike base, created by a stacked stone wall and feature a pair of stone columns. New plantings around the sign will rely heavily on native plants.

“We set out to create a timeless design that reflects both Birmingham’s heritage and the spirit of the Gardens, both of which were so important to Philip,” says Friends Executive Director Tom Underwood. “This new signature signage will serve as an attractive announcement of arrival at the Gardens while celebrating Philip’s vision and lasting legacy. It will ultimately invite others to—as he did—step into the Gardens, and find their special place in it.”

ABOVE, TOP TO BOTTOM: Morris believed that local, national, and international artists should be represented in the Gardens. The Loblolly pine cone fountain in the Southern Living Garden was created by Birmingham sculptor Brad Morris. Nike in the Hill Garden is the work of Birmingham artist Cordray Parker. The lifelike Echo admiring her reflection in the Southern Living Garden was created by North Carolina sculptor James Barnhill. The metal gazebo, or “topiary tempietto,” (detail shown) in the Dunn Formal Rose Garden was crafted by New Orleans artist Mario Villa.

said. “I have told so many people that have come to Southern Living over the years, ‘If you really want to plug into the community, volunteer at Birmingham Botanical Gardens.’”

Landscape architect, Friends Trustee, and former Southern Living Garden Design Editor Norman Kent Johnson, who worked with Morris at Southern Living from 1976 to 1980 and served with him on the Birmingham Botanical Society Board of Directors, describes his longtime friend as a “driving force” who achieved almost mythical status before retiring from the magazine. Instrumental, with Floyd, in establishing the Southern Living Garden (which Johnson helped design), Morris applied that same energy at the Gardens.

“There was always this deep thoughtfulness to Philip,” says Johnson. “Nothing was ever superficial to him. He brought such enthusiasm—he was like a 12-year-old when he got excited about things—and it didn’t take a whole lot to get him excited about the Gardens.”

He valued authenticity, both in storytelling and in garden design, says Johnson. When commissioning artwork to be donated by Southern Progress Corporation in memory of longtime Southern Living Editor Gary McCalla, Morris honored McCalla’s roots as an Oklahoman of Native American descent by choosing Oklahoma-based sculptor Chris Ramsey. The result was the granite and bronze sculpture Genesis in the Southern Living flower border. “‘We don’t need garden jewelry,’” Johnson recalls Morris saying. “That was critically important to him.”

In spring 2016, when Floyd mentioned to Morris the possibility of adding a piece of sculpture at the Lawler Gate leading to and from the Birmingham Zoo at the Cahaba Road roundabout, Morris gave an Art Deco limestone planter he believed “perfect” for the space. It was around this time that he also shared his intention to leave several “gifts to the perpetuation of beauty and improvement in Birmingham,” including a bequest to the Gardens.

“I was so pleased that he felt so strongly that the Gardens was something that needed to be enhanced and endowed that he left this gift,” says Floyd. “He chose carefully where to leave his gifts—it shows his great love for the Gardens and what they mean to the city.”

Morris’s intangible legacy is equally meaningful, says Floyd. “He set the tone to make architecture and the arts understandable—to me, to the average, everyday person—in his writing and in a lot of the things he did. He didn’t want you to get it in your mind that sculpture is some organic piece that’s made in a shape you think a sculpture should be. He thought art shouldn’t all be traditional or contemporary, but instead a vast array. Here at the Gardens, that meant art should echo the feelings of the place, the land, or some symbolism related to the earth.”

Toward the end of Morris’s life, one of his favorite places to sit at the Gardens was a shady spot near the Southern Living Garden flower border.

“The trees there now have grown so much,” he said during his oral history interview. “That really is a wonderful spot to be. It is a real great pleasure to see the Gardens not just for what they are but that they continue to grow and get more beautiful as time goes on.

“Gardens do not sit still,” he said. “There is always something happening.”

*Sincere thanks to Samford University alumna Jacqueline Taylor, who interviewed Philip Morris in October 2016 as part of an oral history project in partnership with the Archives & Rare Book Room at the Library at the Gardens.

Thank You

Your support of the Friends is appreciated! Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to us through your annual membership renewals, honorariums, memorials, and gifts to our mid-year and special donation appeals during these unprecedented times. We want to take a moment to offer our sincere thanks for your continued generous support of the Friends and our mission.

For many, this break in our routine and busy schedules has provided time for future planning and recognition of the places and organizations that are special to us. We are fortunate to have recently been notified by several members and supporters that they have designated the Friends as a beneficiary of an estate gift in their wills. When updating or creating your will, please consider a legacy gift to the Friends. We are actively working to promote our Perennial Legacy Giving Circle and would enjoy speaking with you about a planned gift. All gifts are welcome, and no gift amount is too small. Thank you to our new and existing Circle members.

As a friend of the Gardens, you join with others who treasure both the natural world and the Gardens’ important role in our community. Thank you for helping us keep Birmingham Botanical Gardens special, for everyone to enjoy! —Penney

Hartline, Director of Development

HONORARIUMS

January–March 2020

City of Birmingham Gardeners & Friends Staff who help support the Native Plant Group & other volunteer efforts

Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Snyder

Dr. John Floyd

Mrs. Grace Whatley & the New Era Study Club

Nancy M. Poynor

Mrs. Martha D. Cheney

Birthday of Jo Ann Rawlings

Mary Ruth & Lamar Boman

Ms. Elaine C. Keene

Mike Rushing

The Home Garden Club

Millbrook Garden Club

Roebuck Springs Garden Club

Dorothy J. Tayloe

Ingram & Associates, Inc.

Louise A. Wrinkle

The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, Chapter XXXIX Birmingham

MEMORIALS

January–March 2020

William Edgar Baskett

Ms. Mitzie Hall

Lynne Dea Youmans Bolvig

Mr. & Mrs. Charles H. Simpson

Mary Edna Harris Bushnell

Shelley & Frank Lindstrom

Ouida Faye Cunningham

Ms. Marion F. Walker & Ms. Melinda Splawn

Gayle H. Edwards

Ms. Melissa Butler

Robert L. Eskew, Sr.

Mr. & Mrs. John R. Eskew

W. Merle Hames

Janet & Jeff Thrasher, Tom Creger & Ken Harris

Mallory Jackson

The Herb Society of Alabama Wildflowers Garden Club

Jesse Whitfield King, Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Peyton King

Frederick & Anny Kraus

Mr. & Mrs. Sam Knowlton

Meredith N. Looney

Mr. & Mrs. Walter F. Morris

Lamar Aldridge Newton

Tremont Garden Club

Mary Ann Pass

Mr. Andrew I. Philipsborn & Ms. Jane Bilger

Alice Pigman

Jean Pigman Lytle-Helfand & Tom Helfand

Wilmer S. Poynor III

Mrs. Karen S. Chapman

The Crowe Foundation

Penney & Roger Hartline

Philip Morris

Philip Morris portrait photo by Art Meripol

Shelley & Frank Lindstrom

Mr. & Mrs. Fred W. Murray, Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Charles H. Simpson

Linda Roberts

Mr. Joel S. Isenberg & Mr. John T. McGill

Nancy Slate

Carolyn & Henry Frohsin

Joyce Bassett West

Ms. Christie A. Atkerson

ContractSource, Linda & Larry Shedd, Lorry & Mark Collier

Harold “Hal” Wiggins

Mr. & Mrs. William C. Barclift III

Mr. & Mrs. Mitchell Cooper

Ms. Gwendolyn L. Griffin & Ms. Lindsey A. Best

The Herb Society of Alabama

Mr. & Mrs. Stephen W. Jones

Native Plant Group

Mr. & Mrs. James H. Sherrer

The Herb Army Wildflowers Garden Club

Joseph V. Windsor

Tremont Garden Club

LIBRARY DONORS

January–March 2020

Kathy Coats

Mary Foy

Clayton Richard

Paula & Mike Rushing

Charlie Thigpen

Jesse T. Weldon

LIBRARY HONORARIUMS

January–March 2020

Hana Berres

Edgewood Garden Club

Louise Billings

Heatherwood Garden Club

Rick Cybulsky

Heatherwood Garden Club

Jason Kirby

Camellia Garden Club

Daughters of the American Colonist, Edward Waters Chapter

Daughters of the Confederacy, Jefferson Manly Faulkner

Chapter

Forest Park Garden Club

Garden Club of Alabama

Horticultural Study Club

Hueytown Study Club

Trussville Garden Club

Leonora Roberson

Highlands Lake Garden Club

Roebuck Springs Garden Club

Mike Rushing

Heatherwood Garden Club

LIBRARY MEMORIALS

January–March 2020

Edna Bushnell

Redmont Park Garden Club

Virginia McLean

Mary Stewart

Cathy O’Sheal

Wilma Moorer

Floradora Garden Club

PERENNIAL LEGACY

GIVING CIRCLE

As of May 31, 2020

Recognizing those who have made or pledged a planned gift

Mr.* & Mrs. Edgar G. Aldridge

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Balliet

Ms. Camille A. Becker

Mrs. Lucille S. Beeson*

Peggy Bonfield & Orrin Ford*

Ida C. & D. Joseph Burns*

Mr. & Mrs. Arthur I. Chenoweth*

Mary Carolyn Gibbs Cleveland

Suzanne G. Clisby

Mrs. Martha Stone Cobb Daniel*

The Daniel Foundation of Alabama

Dr. L. Aubrey* & Elizabeth Drewry

The Dunn-French Family

Dr. John D. Elmore*

Martha B. & Robert L.* Eskew

Mrs. Trudy Evans

Mr. & Mrs. Wally Evans

Mrs. Claire H. Fairley*

Bernadine Rushing Faulkner

Mr. F. Lewter Ferrell, Jr.*

Mrs. Dot Ireland Fletcher

Dr.* & Mrs. Charles P. Grant

Jody & Don Hamre*

Penney & Roger Hartline

Mr. R.R. Herbst*

Mrs. Jimmie Hess*

Mr. J. Ernest Hill &

Mrs. Ora Lee Hill*

Mrs. Jane Hinds

Fay B. Ireland*

Mr. George L. Jenkins

Bobbe & Hugh Kaul*

Ms. Pamela Kaul*

Mr. Jason C. Kirby & Mr. Benjamin J. Faucher

Fran Lawlor

Dr. Bodil Lindin-Lamon*

Hope Long

Dr. Michael E. Malone

Annie Lee Buce Matthews*

Ms. Louise T. McAvoy*

Margaret H. McGowan*

Mrs. Mary Jean Morawetz

Mr. Philip Morris*

Thelma Vaughan Mueller*

Mr. & Mrs. Fred W. Murray, Jr.

Dr. James L. Newsome*

Dr. & Mrs. A. I. Perley*

LeAnne* & Steve Porter

Mrs. Carol P. Poynor

Mrs. Dorothy L. Renneker*

Deborah & John Sellers

Sandra S. Simpson

Mr. & Mrs. William M. Spencer III*

Frederick R. Spicer, Jr.

Mr. Douglas Arant Stockham

Janet & Jarry Taylor

Dr. Wendell H. Taylor, Sr. *

Mrs. Barbara D. Thorne *

Dr. & Mrs.* Jack W. Trigg, Jr.

Mrs. Carolyn D. Tynes *

Mrs. Ann H. “Nancy” Warren*

Mrs. Robert Wells

Anonymous (2)

*Deceased

DR. JOHN FLOYD APPOINTED DIRECTOR EMERITUS

The Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens Board of Directors has named former Southern Living Editor, Friends Trustee, and longtime volunteer Dr. John Floyd Director Emeritus in recognition of “his tireless service, his wisdom, his love of gardening, and the countless ways in which he has advanced the cause of the Gardens.”

The resolution conferring the title, which honors individuals who have rendered extraordinary service to support the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the Friends organization, passed unanimously at the board’s April 21 meeting.

Plant the Seeds for Your Lasting Legacy at the Gardens

JOIN OUR PERENNIAL LEGACY GIVING CIRCLE

You can help us perpetuate the wonders of Birmingham Botanical Gardens and all that it means to our community and region by including the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens in your planned giving. Gifts to the Friends, a vibrant organization with strong roots in the community, ensure that this botanical treasure will remain a place of beauty and source of inspiration for all who visit for generations to come. Every gift makes an impact. Please consider designating the Friends as a beneficiary of your estate through your will, charitable trust, or retirement beneficiary designation. We are grateful to those who have made this special commitment. Please join them in supporting and protecting this beloved community resource. Call Director of Development Penney Hartline at 205.414.3950, ext. 103, to learn more and talk with us.

“Looking at the contributions John has made—and continues to make—there is no question that he is extremely worthy of this honor,” says Board Chair John Smith T. “John’s dedication to the success of the Gardens is well-known and far-reaching. It includes his service as president from 1982 to 1983, as a dedicated board member and trustee, as an unwavering proponent of the Gardens, as a hardworking and committed volunteer, and most recently as a valued consultant to the Friends’ efforts to update and execute on a renewed Master Plan for the Gardens. We remain grateful to him for his incredible commitment and contributions to this special place and all it makes possible.”

JOHN FLOYD

Antiques at the Gardens will return in 2021!

A Special Message from Board Chair John Smith T and Executive Director Tom Underwood

After careful consideration, the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens Board of Directors decided in late June to postpone the 2020 Antiques at the Gardens show.

Our decision was not an easy one. October would have marked the 15th anniversary of Antiques at the Gardens. The event attracts hundreds of people each year to explore inspiring ways to create a warm and inviting home and garden. The show has become well-known around the region and features professionals in the fields of interior design, landscape design, and architecture as well as antiques dealers and artisans from across the country. The event is also important to and much loved by the Birmingham community, and we know that there will be disappointment among many individuals and organizations— including sponsors, special guests, dealers, volunteers, and staff—that work hard to make the event a success. Finally, the show provides the largest source of financial support for the Friends organization, generating funds that are critical to our work at the Gardens.

Yet we could not ignore the present circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and the uncertainties for the months ahead. Shared concern for the health and safety of everyone led us to conclude that postponement is the prudent choice.

As we look forward, we thank the volunteer leadership of the Antiques event for their extraordinary work that began last fall and has continued through this spring. The team has been so capably led by Co-Chairs Shannon Lisenby and Stephanie Lynton, and we are excited and grateful to announce that they have agreed to continue their work and preparations for the show's 15th-anniversary celebration in 2021.

As their dedication affirms, what remains unchanged by COVID-19 is a worthy cause and invaluable community resource in need of your continued support. We hope that you will join us in supporting the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens during this challenging time, which also necessitated the cancellation of our Spring Plant Sale fundraiser in April 2020. Only through your ongoing support of the Friends as members and donors can the Gardens continue to build a better Birmingham by educating thousands of students and visitors each year about the wonders and beauty of the outdoors and the rich history of the Gardens.

We need your support now more than ever, and as we seek to contribute to the recovery and health of our community, we thank you for showing your love for the Gardens and all that it makes possible.

GARDEN DIRT RECEIVES PLATINUM HERMES CREATIVE AWARD

We are honored to announce that the winter issue of The Garden Dirt, published quarterly by the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens, has won a prestigious Platinum Award in the Print Media—Newsletter category of the 2020 Hermes Creative Awards. Administered by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), the international contest recognizes creative work that serves as a benchmark for the industry in 200 print and digital categories. More than 6,000 submissions were received in the 2020 competition, one of the largest creative competitions in the world.

Other Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens publications and communications honored in the 2020 contest include the Friends’ digital announcement of our new logo (Gold), the 2019 Antiques at the Gardens Catalog (Honorable Mention), and the Friends’ biweekly e-newsletter (Honorable Mention).

Many thanks to our entire staff and all who contribute to our publications as we seek to share the great love our community has for the Gardens and the important strides we are making in education, outreach, garden stewardship, and conservation, all thanks to your support. We are also grateful to these devoted freelance contributors: Ellen Shanks Padgett, Graham Yelton, Susan Emack Alison, Karin Fecteau, and Wendy Wallace Johnson.

View the winter 2019–20 issue of The Garden Dirt, our 2019 Antiques at the Gardens Catalog, and other recent publications digitally at bbgardens.org. Thank you for your support!

—Mindy Keyes Black

NEW THIS FALL

BIRMINGHAM BLOOMS

Sunday, Oct ober 4

Birm ingha m Bot anical Ga rdens

A special private event in the Gardens celebrating our individual and corporate sponsors

For more information and sponsorships, please call 205.414.3950.

PRESENTED BY

Interest in home gardening surged across the country in response to COVID-19. As you rediscover the benefits and rewards of home gardening in 2020, be sure to shop local! The Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens is grateful for the many ways that local businesses give back to support the Gardens. Remember to show your membership card at these participating nurseries, garden centers, and flower shops, where members of the Friends receive 10% off regularly priced plant purchases:

2612 Lane Park Road Birmingham, Alabama 35223

205.414.3950 bbgardens.org

The Garden Dirt is printed using vegetable-based inks. Please recycle.

The Curry Rhododendron Garden pond and waterfall, created by C. Beaty Hanna from a natural hollow, provides a cool respite on warm summer days.