Berkshire Botanical Garden 2011 Cuttings

cuttings cl a sses Spring 2011

and

OUT ON A LIMB everythinG is CominG up roses pAGe 5

GivinG birds whAt they need pAGe 8

up in the trees pAGe 14

direCtor’s Corner

Spring 2011

by molly boxer, Executive Director

boArd oF trustees David Carls, Chairman Madeline Hooper, Vice-Chairman Jack Sprano, Vice-Chairman Ellen Greendale, Treasurer Robert Williams, Assistant Treasurer Gloria McMahon, Secretary Jeannene Booher Mary Copeland Jeanine Coyne Mary-Jane Emmet Elizabeth Hamilton Mary Harrison Ian Hooper Robert Hyland Janet Johnson Matt Larkin Janet Laudenslager Wendy Linscott David McKearnan Jo Dare Mitchell Maria Nation Skippy Nixon Judie Owens Martha Piper Ingrid Taylor

stAFF

in may 2010, i was treated to a visit by a man i revere. he came right into my office to say “hello” with a twinkle in his eye and a broad smile on his weathered face. despite my fondness for the man, he was the one person i most dreaded to see because as the new director of the Garden, i was now occupying his former office. mind you, there have been quite a few people in between our tenures, excellent ones at that, but in my mind, he was the director and i could never hope to fill his shoes.the man who visited me that day in 2010 was roy boutard, director of the Garden for an unprecedented 30 years and whose influence is still very much present in the display gardens he designed and planted and the many people whose lives he touched.

I remember Roy from his days as the Director when I was friends with his son Anthony and daughter-in-law Carol. It didn’t take long for me to realize he was a force to be reckoned with. On one visit in early spring in 1982 when Roy and his wife Sherry were also there, he grabbed my freshly manicured hand, and said to me, “These nails are beautiful.“ Then he pulled from behind his back a freshly picked bunch of witch hazel. “But not,” he continued with a mischievous smile, “not as beautiful as these.”

His warmth, humor, and priorities were abundantly clear, and I, like so many others, fell captive to his charms.

Roy loved what he did, according to his good friend and colleague, Ron Kujawski. Ron told me that Roy was both a horticulturist and gardener, and what’s more, he was a plantsman who knew instinctively the needs of every plant he came across. David Burdick recalls that Roy had an unpredictable side, full of surprises and unconventional wisdom. He remembers Roy telling him that you can plant more plants in a crooked row than in a straight one.

Molly Boxer, Executive Director Elisabeth Cary, Director of Education Dorthe Hviid, Director of Horticulture Robin Parow, Communications Manager Sharon Hulett-Shepherd, Membership and Development Jess Savory, Head Gardener Will Maston, Buildings and Grounds Manager Donna Smith, Office Manager Judy Boschetti, Youth Education Coordinator Joan Carter, Retail Manager Amy Cotler, Harvest Festival Producer Jean H. Parks, Seasonal Gardener Richard Demick, Seasonal Gardener executive editor Robin Parow Associate editors Molly Boxer, Roxanne Gawthrop, Liz Stell design studiotwo.com 2

On the cover: Altamira oriole nest building. Photo by David J. Ringer

Yet Roy’s path was straight and true from the moment he arrived with his family in the Berkshires. Jean Rousseau speaks of Roy’s captivating charm, courtesy, and helpfulness to all comers, and of his dedication to maintaining public gardens and disseminating useful knowledge to Berkshire gardeners and students. Roy turned down more prestigious jobs at other botanical gardens because he loved the Berkshire Botanical Garden and treasured being able to introduce so many to the joys of gardening and to the art of living life well.

Roy died shortly after his visit to the Garden last May, yet his legacy lives on. On May 1 the Garden will host our first annual Roy Boutard Day, free and open to the public.

We invite everyone, members and visitors alike, to come on this special day to experience firsthand what Roy had so large a part in building. Come and bring friends to stroll through the gardens or take a tour highlighting the gardens Roy created. There will be a tour at 1pm followed by a Mai Bowle at 2pm with refreshments provided by the Herb Associates.

And if you stop by my office you will see on the wall a photo of Roy whose presence neither I nor the Garden will ever forget. O

SHOP THE SHOP! Distinctive gifts for home and garden. Open daily 9-5 beginning May 1.

speCiAl events And proGrAms

out on A

limb

by ian hooper, Trustee Last year, we explored the responsibilities, challenges and opportunities of living in nature. This year, we’re taking this exploration a little farther, but on a more lighthearted tack, and considering other aspects of life in gardens — even somewhat precarious ones!

dealers will be bringing their garden treasures for sale. Additionally, we will be offering informative, free sessions to help gardeners plan their plantings, and the popular not your mother’s tag sale will be back. Remember: early buying privileges — for members only — is on Friday from 8-11am.

In our annual winter lecture, sponsored by Hunter Boot, margaret roach shared her unique perspective on gardening in nearby Copake Falls, building on the story told in her new book, and I shall have some peace there, of her hazardous transition from city stress to country contentment. For the many of us devoted to her blog, AwaytoGarden.com, it was delightful to experience the wit behind the wisdom.

On June 11, we will open another new exhibition: bird necessities: outdoor installations by Artists & designers. Curated

by Anne G. Fredericks, a Great Barrington and Manhattan-based artist and interior designer, the show presents the work of five artists who will explore fantastical ways to provide birds with food, shelter and habitat. In addition to that of Ms. Fredericks, the exhibition will present the work of Naomi Blumenthal, estate garden designer, potter and jewelry maker; Dale Culleton, a self-styled “recovering potter” and sculptor who works in stone and restores both landscapes and buildings; Selena Lamb, a landscape, land use, and oft-published garden designer; and Jon Piasecki, an award-winning landscape designer, sculptor and fellow of the American Academy in Rome. The exhibition will be on view through Labor Day.

Opening day for our display gardens is sunday, may 1, which will be our first roy boutard day, in remembrance of the influential and much-loved Director of the Garden from 1954 to 1984, who died last year at 94. Events will include a tour of the Garden by nurseryman David Burdick, sprinkled with quotes from his mentor, Roy Boutard, illustrating Roy’s colorful, insightful and charming way with words, visitors and gardens! The Herb Associates will host a reception with their annual mai bowle. This day is our gift to the community, and admission will be free. So please come, and bring your friends.

May 1 also will mark the opening of our first exhibition tree houses: Architects take a bough. Curated by Matt Larkin and new trustee Elizabeth Hamilton, and lasting all season, this will showcase six astonishing and imaginative structures by prominent architects: Jo Cho and Stephanie Lew of binocular design ltd; Will Meyer and Gray Davis of Meyer Davis Studio, Inc. in New York City; designer/ builder James Odegaard of Ashley Falls; Robyn Sandberg, formerly of Pelli in New York City and now in Sheffield; Mark Smith and Tim Smith of 9 Partners Design in Lenox; and Michael Trapp of Michael Trapp, Inc in Cornwall, CT. Akin to last year’s wildly successful exhibition of designer sheds, this will be both educational and inspirational. Of course, the tree houses will all be for sale.

Our 34th annual plant sale takes place on may 6 and 7, and is generously sponsored by Ed Herrington, Inc. This year’s theme is Furnishing your Garden and, for the first time, Hudson, New York

Guest Gardener Michael Marriott, of David Austin Roses, has generously designed for us a completely new rose Garden, which will be installed as early in the season as possible in the same area as the rose garden that was removed late last year. We are thrilled to be able to add his name to those of our past guest gardeners: Anthony Archer-Wills (the Pond Garden), Page Dickey (the Herb Garden), Jack Staub (the Fruit and Vegetable Gardens) and Martha Stewart (the Heirloom Flower Garden).

Cocktails in Great Gardens will again give garden lovers the opportunity to enjoy three wonderful gardens in the warm evening light. What better way to start the weekend! Vickie Merton will be our first hostess, on Friday, June 17, at her wonderful hilltop home in Lenox. On Friday, July 15, Anne Fredericks will welcome us to her home in Great Barrington, and on Friday, August 19, Ralph and Audrey Friedner will share with us their garden and dramatic waterfall in Stockbridge.

Fête des Fleurs will take place this year on saturday, July 23, at the Garden. Maria Nation and Chase Booth are taking our theme continued on the next page

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speCiAl events And proGrAms continued fron the previous page to new heights, and this year’s party, For the birds, will delight, entertain and enchant all comers with an aviary, topiary birds and all kinds of avian surprises. Don’t forget to wear your feathered bonnet!

On saturday and sunday, August 6 and 7, the Grow show, our newly expanded flower show, will delight visitors with horticulture displays including “vegetables as art,” a photography exhibition, and an opportunity for everyone to show off what’s growing in their gardens.

Contained exuberance has proved so popular an inspiration that it has become a fixture in the calendar. This year we will feature eight experts: Julie Chamberlain of Julie Chamberlain Gardening; David Dew Brunner of David Dew Brunner Design; Pamela Hardcastle of pamela read hardcastle garden & floral design; Deb Munson; Eric Ruquist; Susan Shook of Trillium Gardens and Landscaping; Annie Whalen of Bella Flora; and Cornelia Webster of WebsterIngersoll, Inc. Don’t miss the tour at 11am on August 6, when the designers will walk us round the exhibition and share their thoughts and insights — a fascinating “master class.”

Rounding out the year’s activities will be the annual favorites, harvest Festival October 1-2 and holiday marketplace December 3-4.

All in all, we’re planning another year of exhibitions and events that will engage and inspire our visitors and, coupled with our extensive education program, provide the gardeners among us with the wherewithal for a successful summer — without going too far out on a limb! O

Throughout the year, Guest Photographer Reinout van Wagtendonk will be documenting displays for our website and archives. His work will be seen in Cuttings, and you can visit his website at berkshots.com to see his fantastic collection of Garden photos.

tours see what is in bloom every week! trained guides are delighted to showcase gardens in their peak and answer questions about the Garden. tours are offered wednesdays and saturdays, June 15 through labor day tours Free (with regular admission) members and nonmembers welcome! meet at the shop at 10am.

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Around the Garden

Michael Marriot

Everything is Coming Up Roses

Rosa 'The Mayflower' is unique in being VERY resistant to black spot, powdery mildew and rust.

by Dorthe Hviid, Director of Horticulture This spring, a new Rose Garden designed by guest gardener Michael Marriott, will be installed at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Michael has created a lovely informal garden that consists of four large beds intersected by grass walks, bordered by the historic Artist Shed to the west. The old millstone with its mosaic stone base, installed last year by Monterey Masonry, continues to be the focal point of this garden.

Michael Marriott is the rosarian for David Austin Roses, Ltd., Albrighton, England. He grew up on his grandfather’s farm in Warwickshire, England, and both of his parents were avid gardeners. From an early age, Michael followed in their footsteps.

“I more or less looked after the two-acre garden on my own when I was a teenager,” he remembers, “so I very much have plants and gardening in my blood.” At university he went on to study agricultural botany, then spent a year gardening “in a most wonderful garden in Scotland” before taking off for East Malaysia and New Guinea, where he grew rubber, cocoa and oil palm for five years. “I love anything with a bit of chlorophyll in it, and even many plants that don’t have any chlorophyll,” he muses. Upon his return to England in 1984, he worked at a nursery growing roses and bedding plants just north of London. Based on that job, he was hired by David Austin Roses, Ltd. in 1985 as a nursery manager.

David Austin of David Austin Roses, Ltd. has been hybridizing roses since the 1960s. His main interest has been crosses between old-fashioned and modern roses. This cross combines the great form and wonderful scent of the former with the repeat bloom of the latter. David Austin Roses, Ltd. still introduces several new varieties of roses each year.

Michael has never visited the Berkshire Botanical Garden, but through phone conversations, photos, and plans of the Rose Garden area he has managed to develop a clear picture of the garden site.

Blooming regularly through the summer Rosa 'Winchester Cathedral' has an old rose fragrance.

In talking about what motivated the new design he explained: “My impression is that the Berkshire Botanical Garden is a fairly informal garden, especially the area around the Rose Garden. I wanted to design a garden that would sit well in those surroundings — a garden without hard lines and using the more informal shrub roses including David Austin’s English roses, the old roses, and a few of the species roses too. I also wanted areas for people to be able to sit in and be enveloped, surrounded by roses so that they can appreciate their beautiful blooms and wonderful fragrances.”

In the cold Zone 5a winters of the Berkshires, many roses have a questionable reputation as far as hardiness goes, but it is of course a matter of picking the right varieties. “In general the Austin Roses continued on the next page

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Around the GArden continued from the previous page are fairly hardy and certainly much hardier than the average hybrid teas and floribundas,” Michael explained. “Most of them are hardy to Zone 5a and some to Zone 4. They include ‘The Mayflower’, ‘Susan Williams-Ellis’, ‘Sophy’s Rose’, ‘Crocus Rose’, ‘Crown Princess Margareta’, ‘Mary Rose’, ‘Sharifa Asma’, ‘The Dark Lady’ and ‘Winchester Cathedral’.”

One element of the educational mission of the Berkshire Botanical Garden is to use horticulturally sustainable practices, which are supportive of the environment. For instance, we don’t spray our roses.

Michael shares a similar approach: “I am very keen to grow roses as organically as possible and that is how I treat mine at home,” he said.

“As long as good, healthy, reliable varieties are chosen, the ground is prepared well (using plenty of well rotted organic matter), and there’s not too much of a monoculture, then growing roses organically is perfectly feasible.” He stressed that the crucial factors are choosing disease resistant varieties and good soil prep. “Looking after the roses after that is easy using organic or organically based fertilizers, mulching well and good pruning such as cutting out older growth once the plant is a few years old to encourage new young stems,” he further advised.

David Austin Roses, Ltd. is donating all the roses for the new Rose Garden. We are tremendously thankful to them and to Michael Marriott, and look forward to Michael’s visit here for the inauguration of the Rose Garden this summer. The Berkshire Botanical Garden staff will install the garden during the second or third week of April. Please stop by to see the progress. O

Please join Michael Marriott for a class on Naturally Healthy Roses and a Rose Garden reception Saturday, July 16.

we’re at Zema’s come join us!

ZEMA’S NURSERY, INC.

Where growing is the specialty Garden and Landscaping is the art

154 Presbyterian Hill Rd., Stephentown, NY 518-733-5868

FÊte des Fleurs set to “bedAzzle” on July 23 Mark your calendars for the summer’s most anticipated garden party. July 23 is the date for Berkshire Botanical Garden’s annual Fête des Fleurs, our fund – and fun! – raising gala celebrating midsummer’s riot of color as well as the region’s most influential gardeners. Join in the celebration, show off your most outrageous hat, meet your fellow gardeners and raise a toast to the most beloved public garden in the Berkshires. Held right in the center of the Berkshire Botanical Garden, Fête des Fleurs will be an over-the-top interpretation of this year’s theme, Out on a Limb. Be there. Be dazzled.

plAnt sAle may 6-7, 2011

Visit us for the peony bloom in May and see why we are called Peony Heaven. www.treepeony.com 670 Walnut Hill Rd, Thomaston, CT 06787 860-283-1042 Free Catalog 6

Education

Kabloom!

How to Make Seed Bombs

by Judy Boschetti, Youth Education Coordinator Jonathan Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed, may have been the first known guerilla gardener — at least according to legend — but he was far from the last. The current guerilla gardening movement was born in the 1970s in New York City, when a group of garden activists transformed an abandoned lot on the corner of Houston and Bowery into one of the city’s first community gardens. Today, teams of guerilla gardeners around the world clear litter, pull weeds, and plant seeds and bulbs. Practicing a kind of reverse vandalism, these rebel urban gardeners work clandestinely to improve neglected neighborhoods, introduce residents to the benefits of growing food, and bring nature back to the city.

One guerilla gardening tactic in particular, seed bombs, has found its way into the mainstream. Made of compost and clay powder combined with seeds, they are said to have originated with Native Americans who used them to transport seed safely. Guerilla gardeners toss seed bombs into inaccessible or public areas, rain softens the clay, seeds germinate, and the compost feeds the young sprouts. Seeds of native species are commonly, though not exclusively, used for their hardiness and ability to attract wildlife.

One does not need to be a guerilla gardener to make seed bombs; even Martha Stewart has a version to make for gift giving complete with colored tissue paper and ribbons! Making these creative little seed packages provides children a unique opportunity to learn about growing seeds and gardening.

There are variations on this recipe, but the basic proportions are the same. Since this is a messy activity akin to making mud pies, you may wish to cover your work area to make cleaning up easier.

You will need a large bowl or bin for mixing ingredients, as well as a surface on which to dry your seed bombs undisturbed for 24-48 hours.

For further reading, see Richard Reynolds’s book, Guerrilla Gardening: A Handbook for Gardening Without Boundaries, which traces the global movement dedicated to improving public spaces. O

RECIPE FOR SEED BOMBS Ingredients: Annual seeds – your choice Compost or humus Powdered clay Water

• Start by mixing with your hands one part seed and three parts compost or humus, making sure the seeds are evenly dispersed and well coated.

• Carefully scoop five parts powdered clay into the compost mixture and combine.

• Add water gradually until the mixture holds together.

• Shape your seed bombs by pinching off small pieces and rolling into ¾ inch diameter balls.

• Place on a flat surface and dry for 24-48 hours.

• If desired, package your seed bombs for gift giving by wrapping them in rustic burlap, muslin or colorful tissue paper. Cookie tins, candy boxes, baskets, and egg cartons all make fun containers.

• When dry, toss into desired location and KABLOOM! See what grows!

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eduCAtion

GivinG birds whAt they need, where they need it by doug tallamy Birders everywhere are united by the unhappy realization that birds, especially many species once common in the U.S., are disappearing. The unscientific, anecdotal impressions that have needled us for years were confirmed last year when a large collaborative study commissioned by George W. Bush issued its alarming report (www.stateofthebirds.org/). One-third of North American bird species are rapidly declining, threatened, or endangered.

Our birds are declining — and indeed, will disappear — in the not so distant future, unless we put our collective feet down. Their decline is not mysterious, and we are not scrambling for answers about what we can do about it. Our birds are in trouble because we have not shared our human-dominated spaces with them: the places in which we live, work and farm. We thought that everything our birds needed to be happy and healthy was abundant somewhere else. What we haven’t thought much about was our ever-expanding human footprint. We are living, working, farming and mining just about everywhere. Satellite imagery has enabled scientists to measure exactly how much of the U.S. we have taken to a greater or lesser extent for our own use, and it turns out to be an astounding 95% of the lower 48 states. Nearly everywhere, birds must eke out a living in landscapes that have been designed for our convenience and our current perception of aesthetics. Unfortunately, such landscapes are profoundly different from those in which our birds evolved.

Focus for a moment on your yard. Think about the landscapes you drive by on the way to work. Unless you live in a very special place, the landscapes you have just pictured are dominated by large stretches of lawn. In many cases the lawn is devoid of any other plants, but in others it will be dotted here and there by ornamental plants: plants we value for their flowers, their fall color, their shape.

You have just pictured two of the most harmful features of today’s 8

landscapes. First, they contain just a tiny fraction of the plants that once grew there. What’s more, the plants we do put in our landscapes are largely from someplace else. And because there has been little prestige in growing native plants, there are very few natives planted.

In short, we have demoted plants from their role as the foundation of our ecosystems to mere ornaments for our entertainment.

What we present to our birds is a matrix of urban, suburban, and exurban landscapes in which most native plant communities have been replaced by sparse plantings of Asian ornamentals. The unmanaged patches of “natural” areas that remain are anything but natural. Instead, they are heavily invaded by exotics — again, mostly from Asia. Over 3400 species of non native invasive plants are out competing native plants in every ecosystem in North America.

Where did these plants come from? Many herbaceous invasives were introduced through agricultural practices, but 85% of our woody invasives are escapees from our gardens.

Today we are asking our birds to survive and reproduce in landscapes with far fewer native plants than existed in the past. We are asking the impossible. Most of our terrestrial birds, 96% to be exact, rear their young on insects and spiders. And since insects are also what spiders eat, the reproductive success of our birds depends on how many insects are in their environment. Insects — not seeds, not berries — but insects. No wonder: insect protein is the best there is, with fat bodies and high-energy organs that enable baby birds to grow at extraordinary rates.

But where do insects come from? They come from plants, and the more plants there are, the more insects there are — not just insects that eat plants directly but also the thousands of species of insect predators and parasitoids that eat insect herbivores. Unfortunately, our landscaping paradigm has thrown a monkey wrench into the relationship between plants and insects, because most of our local continued on page 24

eduCAtion

reGister now For GArden explorers summer dAy proGrAm! Berkshire Botanical Garden brings fanciful, beautiful, bountiful nature to children ages 5-10 in the Garden Explorers Day Program. Sign up for one or more weeks – each with its own theme – and find out why Garden Explorers call Berkshire Botanical Garden the best place to spend the summer! week i June 27–July 1 Farm Camp Each day, a different barnyard animal will come to play – starting with chickens! We will find all about these interesting and adorable creatures, what they eat, where they live and what they like. Learn about life on a farm!

All programs meet from 9am–noon at the Garden, rain or shine. register early — spaces are limited! For more information call 413-298-3926 or visit us at www.berkshirebotanical.org. members: $120 / nonmembers: $144 per week. receive a 20% discount when registering for multiple weeks! (week of July 5: members $100 / nonmembers $124) sibling discounts also available.

week ii July 5–8 birds of a Feather Join us for a week of bird based fun and learning with projects that include building a birdbath, dissecting an owl pellet, and more. On Friday Tom Ricardi, raptor rehabilitator will present a live birds of prey demonstration. Families may join their children as they observe owls, hawks and a bald eagle. week iii July 11–15 Art from nature This popular program provides a unique opportunity to experience the beauty of nature through art. Projects include creating pounded flower prints and naturally embellished picture frames, making recycled paper, and constructing sculptural branch weavings. week iv July 18–22 Faeries Famous and obscure Create a faerie village during this back-by-popular-demand week. Learn about the origins and legends surrounding pixies, brownies, and other mythical beings through stories and creative projects and plantings! On the final day, we will meet at Tanglewood for music, fun and faeries.

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it’s the Grow show! saturday and sunday, August 6-7 our traditional mid-summer Flower show has evolved into so much more! we spice things up this year to include new-fangled ways of sharing glorious blooms and vegetables, fresh from your garden and ours. vegetables as Art Flower show horticulture displays photography exhibition

ContAined exuberAnCe: ContAiner GArdens by 8 desiGners

saturday, August 6 through labor day tour with designers August 6, 11am more details at berkshirebotanical.org or call 413-298-3926

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speCiAl events And proGrAms

two GreAt wAys to see privAte GArdens this summer We are delighted to offer two great ways to visit private gardens this summer. You will have a chance to meet the gardeners themselves, and get the backstory on everything green and blooming.

the GArden ConservAnCy's berKshire open dAys Since 1995, nearly 3,000 private gardens have participated in the Garden Conservancy's Open Days, America's only national garden visiting program. This year, four wonderful nearby gardens are open to the public, no reservation required! Just grab a camera, a notebook and a friend and prepare yourself for a delightful day. More information can be obtained by visiting the Garden Conservancy’s web site: www.opendaysprogram.org. visit these Fabulous Gardens on two special days

sunday, July 24 Canaan, NY rockland Farm Ian and Madeline Hooper sunday, July 31 Stockbridge & Great Barrington, MA hillhome Jane and Jack Fitzpatrick wheelbarrow hill Farm seekonk Farm Honey Sharp Lippman

Cocktails in Great Gardens – enjoy a rare opportunity to view the region’s most beautiful private gardens in the beautiful waning light of a summer day.

Proceeds benefit Berkshire Botanical Garden. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased (in advance) or at the private gardens the day of the visit. Detailed information about the gardens can be obtained at www.opendaysprogram.org.

Join us For CoCKtAils in GreAt GArdens oF the berKshires!

Invite yourself to a cocktail party at three superlative private gardens! Enjoy cocktails and hors d’ oeuvres at prime garden viewing time – when the light is at its best. What better way to start your weekend!

Friday, June 17 Lenox, Massachusetts Vickie Merton Friday, July 15 Great Barrington, Massachusetts Anne Fredericks Friday, August 19 Stockbridge, Massachusetts Ralph and Audrey Friedner All visits are from 5-7pm. Admission is limited, so please call Donna at (413) 298-3926 ahead to make a reservation. Members $20; Nonmembers $25; all three gardens $50/$65. Dates are rain or shine.

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the lenox GArden Club Touring gardens is not only a way to spend a pleasant day in the country, but also a good way to enjoy and learn about the art and craft of gardening, without lifting a trowel.

The Lenox Garden Club will provide that opportunity during “Hidden Treasures of the Berkshires”, their 21st annual self-guided tour of gardens and houses, which takes place on July 9 from 10am to 4pm. This year, the featured properties are in the historic Berkshire towns of Richmond and West Stockbridge, MA. Tickets may be purchased in advance for $35, or $40 on the day of the tour. A pre-ordered gourmet box lunch is also available.

Please call 413-298-3089 for more ticket information, or visit the Lenox Garden Club website www.lenoxgardenclub.net Proceeds from the tour (more than $300,000 to date) have been distributed through the Lenox Garden Club’s grant program to benefit many horticultural, environmental, and conservation projects in Berkshire County. This year, in order to celebrate the club’s 100th Anniversary, a donation has been made of $100,000 toward the new classroom at the Berkshire Botanical Garden.

This is a testament to the support and friendship between the two organizations which began with the establishment of the botanical garden by a club member, and happily continues today. O

millerton Co-op inc. with four Agway locations to serve you: route 23, Great barrington, mA 413-528-2390 route 9h, Claverack, ny 518-851-5391 route 66, Chatham, ny 518-392-3241 route 22, millerton, ny 518-789-4471 Check out our stores for competitive prices, knowledgable staff and carry out service.

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make it fresh!

A recipe from our friends at Guido’s Fresh Marketplace

Ricotta Gnocchi and Fiddleheads in Lemon,Thyme and Butter Jim Gop, Guido’s In-House Chef

Serves: 4 to 6

Fiddlehead Ferns Available for about three weeks in May, fiddlehead ferns are one of spring’s most elusive goodies. A fiddlehead is the tip of an unfurling ostrich fern frond; their flavor is mild, and perhaps most closely resembles asparagus. Find them in your backyard or at Guido's Fresh Marketplace!

Ingredients FOR THE GNOCCHI: 1 lb. fresh ricotta cheese 1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1/4 cup flat (Italian) parsley, leaves chopped salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 lb. fiddlehead ferns FOR THE SAUCE 3 tbsp. unsalted butter 2 tsp. thyme leaves 2 tsp. plus 1 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest 2 tsp. lemon juice 2 tbsp. butter, divided 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided

sponsor a vegetable box

Instructions FOR THE GNOCCHI: Bring a large pot of water to a light simmer. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan, egg, flour and parsley.

Stir to combine ricotta mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn out the mixture onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 6 to 8-inch-long rope. Cut into 1-inch lengths and press lightly with the back of a fork. Cook the gnocchi in batches in a large pot of salted boiling water for to 2 – 3 minutes or until cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in an ice water bath. Bring heavily salted water to a boil. Add fiddleheads and boil for 5 minutes; remove with a slotted spoon and place in a separate ice water bath.

FOR THE SAUCE: Combine 1 tbsp. butter, thyme, 2 tsp. lemon zest and lemon juice in a small pot; warm over low heat until butter is melted. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Drain gnocchi and fiddleheads and pat dry. Add 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. oil to a large pan and warm over medium heat. When butter begins to sizzle, working in batches, brown and crisp gnocchi on both sides, about 2 minutes. Remove gnocchi to a paper towel lined plate. Add remaining butter and oil to the same pan.

Add fiddlehead ferns and saute until warmed through, about 1 to 2 minutes. Pour gnocchi back into the pan along with the sauce; heat until sauce is hot. Portion the gnocchi and fiddleheads into 4 bowls. Garnish with remaining Parmesan and lemon zest. Serve hot. O

Chard ‘Orange Fantasia’ • Cucumber ‘Diva’ • Soya Bean ‘Envy’ Lima Bean ‘King of the Garden’ • Artichoke ‘Violetto di Romagna’ Tomato ‘Violet Jasper’…

Link your name to this illustrious list of vegetable royalty by sponsoring a vegetable box! Call the Garden for more information

413-298-3926

Keep us growing… sponsor a box today! Don’t let Okra ‘Silver Queen’ go at it alone! Sponsorships are $100. All proceeds go to keeping these vegetable stars in tip-top shape.

Edible Gardens sponsored by Guido’s Fresh Marketplace.

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Exhibitions home out of found materials, weaving meaning out of sticks, and finding refuge in the sky,” she explains. Her wood, bamboo, and rope “bird’s nest” is suspended from tree branches and provides visitors an opportunity to find a comfortable seat, put up their feet, and enjoy the view of the Garden.

Brothers Mark Smith and Tim Smith of 9 Partners Design in Lenox, Massachusetts, share a background representing over 60 years of experience in design and fabrication. They grew up in New York City and Philadelphia, climbing trees in city parks and scaling

by Robin Parow

Up in the Trees

Oh, to be in a tree house! Just the thought conjures a sense of adventure. And why not? For many, tree house life is largely built on storied fantasy through classics like The Swiss Family Robinson and Peter Pan. Tree houses can be traced back hundreds of years to the South Pacific and Asia, where ancient tribes concerned with basic survival sought shelter and safety high in the treetops. In the Middle Ages, Franciscan monks used very basic tree rooms for meditation, and during the Renaissance period in the early 1500s, tree houses became a must-have in Florentine gardens. Fast forward to the 21st century, where a Google inquiry renders results detailing tree house villas and hotels, with a tag line, “Escape from America and Live in a Tree House!”

It’s with a spirit of escape and adventure that an impressive group of architects and designers bring their tree houses to the Garden in an amazing, informative, playful exhibition: Out on a Limb: Architects Take a Bough. Curated by Garden trustees Matt Larkin and Elisabeth Hamilton, the exhibit contains six tree houses that accent the Garden environment while reflecting the creative process of the individuals who designed them.

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Robyn Sandberg’s tree house is about 70,000 times smaller than her most recent architectural project, a 1,200 foot tall, 2.5 million square foot skyscraper in Manhattan. Robyn has seen some mighty structures. As a Senior Associate for Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in New York, she was design team leader and project architect for Bloomberg Tower, a 56 story complex located on Lexington Avenue.

She was the design team leader for 15 Penn Plaza, a 2.5 million square-foot headquarters building, also in New York. Scaling down her thoughts to a tree house in the Berkshires, Robyn’s inspiration came in the guise of a winged muse: she describes regular visits to her 17th floor New York terrace by a mockingbird, who in a deliberate, additive process weaves sticks together to make a nest against the backdrop of a Manhattan skyline. “It’s the story of a bird making a

rooftops to gain altitude and new perspectives. It is the appeal of those city rooftops — where circular water towers are accessed with simple ladders leading to pitched roofs — that inspired their tree house design. Their circular structure encloses a group of quaking aspen, and a small doorway leads the visitor into a simple interior containing a hollow column. Inside, one can examine the trees as if in a museum or gallery: the bark, the bends, the canopy, the branches, the leaves are all contained within a frame, persuading the visitor to stop and look. Above, an elliptical opening in a living, green roof illuminates the interior.

Michael Trapp is described as a master of unusual details and compositions, with a tendency to do things that would occur to no one else. Internationally recognized as an interior and garden designer, his verve for the atypical created a reputation largely through his store, Michael Trapp Antiques, in West Cornwall, Connecticut. Trained in both classical architecture and landscape design, he creates places (an Italianate garden complete with columns, capitals and balustrades), and transforms spaces (using, for example, 16th Ccentury Italian tin glazed wine jars and 300-year-old French terracotta tiles.) His tree house reflects a tone of another era.

Inspired by colonial outbuildings, and using salvaged materials so as not to waste what is already available, the tree house was designed for visitors to commune with nature by providing large windows that will bring the outside in. “This is a place to think, contemplate, reflect, and observe. Perhaps a refuge,” he said.

Designer and builder James Odegaard of Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, has created a tree house that will be the envy of all boys, or any adult with a boyish spirit. The idea came to him as a childhood memory of building a tree house with his dad, a place that provided a secure shelter and a sense of safety. He reflects back on that structure as “a location for my thoughts and activities outside of our home.” In keeping with this theme of contemplation

exhibitions and protection, his wood and metal tree house explores the use of traditional woodworking elements juxtaposed with improvisation and impetuous instinct. Visitors will have a glimpse of his past — with the advantage of the honed skills of a seasoned craftsman.

Award-winning graphic designers Joseph Cho and Stefanie Lew of binocular design, ltd. New York, approach the design process with a dual perspective. Their respective backgrounds in architecture and art history have been well suited to clients including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery of Art,

& Garden, Interior Design, Urbis, House Beautiful, Town and Country, Esquire, Domino, New York Magazine, and The New York Times, among others. out on a limb: Architects take a bough opens Saturday, April 30, 5-7pm with a festive reception and a sneak peek at the tree houses prior to the Garden’s official opening on May l. Visit each tree house, meet the talented group who designed them, and enjoy a cocktail and scrumptious light fare in the beauty of the springtime Garden. Look for your invitation soon. The exhibition remains in

l-r: Robyn Sandberg, Mark Smith, Tim Smith, Michael Trapp, James Odegaard, Joseph Cho and Stefanie Lew, Gray Davis, Will Meyer

and Abrams Books. They bring to the Garden a tree house inspired by the very words “tree” and “house” — a graphic and spatial interpretation of trees that evokes a Japanese lantern. Layers of CNCmilled marine plywood are sandwiched over screening to create a multi-layered tree branch effect. The house is furnished with tatami mats and serves as a breezy retreat in the garden, and at night its solar powered lights will emit a soft glow, backlighting silhouettes of tree branches. “We began to think about the view from up in the trees, through the branches, imagining what it would be like to be out on a limb,” reflects Joseph, “Our little ‘house’ has been inspired by the feeling of being in and amongst the branches, floating above the ground.”

Gray Davis and Will Meyer are both from the south. Although they didn’t meet until college, their childhoods ran a similar path when it came to tree houses. Both grew up designing domiciles with standard issue platforms, four walls, a shed roof, rudimentary ladders (Will’s was rope; Gray’s was two-by-four steps bolted to the side of the tree), and bucket lifts. Both included upgrades: Will’s had a zip line running from his structure to a tree across the yard; Gray’s had a nifty interior of aluminum flashing resembling fish scales — a kind of up-scale modernization. Both were “decorated” with leftover furniture and included interior lighting (flashlights only, since their parents put the nix on flame lanterns) to set the mood for neighborhood gettogethers on summer evenings. They pay homage to these flashlight gatherings with their tree house, which is illuminated at night and combines childhood fantasies of medieval fortresses and treetop hideaways. They refer to it as a Keep, as it resembles a fortified tower containing two levels accessible by ladders, with a bird-watching platform thrown in for good measure. This is quite a contrast to projects underway in their day jobs running Meyer Davis Studio, a full service design firm based in New York City. Since its conception in 1999, Meyer Davis Studio has completed projects around the world – many published in lifestyle and design magazines including House

place through Labor Day. All tree houses will be for sale at the close of the season. Additional information can be found on the Garden’s web site, www.berkshirebotanical.org. O

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membership

whAt would you spend to reCeive?

Exclusive buying privileges at a remarkable plant sale First dibs on classes taught by leading experts – up to 20% off Entrance to private garden parties Helping to preserve a local landmark, 77 years strong Unlimited free admission to many other gardens and arboreta in the US Discounts at local garden centers

Intrigued? Members of the Berkshire Botanical Garden receive these perks and much more. And the benefits get better the more you give. Please consider taking your membership to the next level. Future generations will thank you. Call 413-298-3926 to discuss membership, or visit us at berkshirebotanical.org.

new members

Welcome new members! Below is a list of new members who have joined prior to the press deadline for this issue of Cuttings.

Welcome aboard!

Susanne Ainsworth, Litchfield, CT Crystal Akers and Doug Kneeland, Lakeville, CT Victoria and Jim Biancolo, Richmond, MA Steven Boudreau and Jeffrey Riccitelli, Cranston, RI Pam and Howard Briggs, Hebron, CT Martha Burke-Hennessy and Michael Belknap, Canaan, NY Paul Campbell, Becket, MA Sally Cummings, Albany, NY Mary Daalhuysen, West Cornwall, CT Mary Weiser Deitch, New York, NY Marcia and Jonathan Feuer, Great Neck, NY Susan Gillen, Agawam, MA Rachel Giracca, Great Barrington, MA Maureen Haugh, Monterey, MA

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Willa Horton, Hillsdale, NY Bernie and Brian Jankauskas, East Greenbush, NY Deborah Kaback, New York, NY Gary Kevit, Woodbury, CT Amy La Fave, Lenoxdale, MA Susan and Alan Lafer, Katonah, NY Tina Linden and Hoby Ebert, Poestenkill, NY Iona Lutey, New York, NY Sonja and Richard Mason, South Lee, MA Carol and Henry Mauermeyer, Boonton, NJ Katherine McCartney, Slingerlands, NY Patricia McDonald, Albany, NY Keri Milne, Wethersfield, CT Earle Mitchell, Hudson, NY

Megan Moore, Lenox, MA Linda O’Connell, Stockbridge, MA Jane O’Connor, Ghent, NY Christine Paul, Newington, CT Heather and Matt Pictrowski, Pittsfield, MA Carolyn Riffley, Hudson, NY Heather Rose, Stockbridge, MA Bonnie and Ernie Rowen, Hillsdale, NY Elliot Saroff, Delmar, NY Bonnie Scarborough, Weston, CT Johanna and Matthew Schwab, Salisbury, CT Gail Socha, Windsor, CT Kathleen Staropoli, Sheffield, MA Nicholas Wright, Williamstown, MA

Classes

5 West Stockbridge Road Stockbridge, MA 01262 413-298-3926

berkshirebotanical.org

at The Berkshire Botanical Garden from May to August 2011

Naturally Healthy Roses

Saturday, July 16, 2:30 pm

Hot Hydrangeas!

Saturday, August 20, 10 am - noon

Lecture

Lecture/demonstration/field study

Members $30; Nonmembers $35 All Levels

Members $22; Nonmembers $27 All levels

Join rosarian Michael Marriot of David Austin Roses, Ltd. for an indepth look at roses that thrive in our climate! His presentation will focus on naturally healthy roses that exhibit hardiness for New England gardening zones and compliment an informal growing setting.

He will share his extraordinary knowledge of roses; discuss the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s newly redesigned rose garden and offer tips and techniques for successfully growing this most beloved group of plants.

Michael Marriot has been nursery manger for David Austin Roses, Ltd. since 1985. He has gardened since he was a child and studied Agricultural Botany at University. David Austin Roses, Ltd. specializes in hybridizing roses and has made crosses between old-fashioned and modern roses since 1960. They introduce several new roses annually.

Join White Flower Farm’s nursery manager, Barb Pierson, for an in-depth look at hydrangeas, one of the most beloved genus of flowering shrubs.

With so many new varieties of hydrangeas available, how can you choose? Learn the differences between them, tips on growing and fertilizing, explore the new exciting ranges in flower color and panicle type and finally, learn the all-important information on how to prune. See White Flower Farm’s favorites, discover the latest information about hydrangea breeding programs and get a glimpse of what’s to come in the wonderful world of hydrangeas.

Barb Pierson is the nursery manager for the prestigious White Flower Farm Nursery located in Litchfield, Ct. She holds a degree in horticulture from Cornell University and has worked at WFF since 1998. She is a popular speaker at horticultural conferences and has appeared as a guest on TV and radio. She is quoted widely in the print media and was the lead horticultural resource for a 2010 New York Times garden series.

Annual Garden Tour to Planting Fields Arboretum and Old Westbury Gardens Thursday, May 19, 7 am - 7 pm Members $125; Nonmembers $150 Dress for the weather, Rain or shine, bring a bagged lunch This year’s annual BBG garden tour will explore two extraordinary estate gardens on Long Island’s “Gold Coast”. Under the able guidance of Berkshire Botanical Garden’s staff, immerse yourself in a day of horticulture, first at Planting Field Arboretum Historic State Park, Oyster Bay, NY, and then at Old Westbury Gardens, Old Westbury, NY. The day will begin at Planting Fields Arboretum, one of Long Island’s premier public arboretums and historic sites where Vincent Simeone, Director of the Arboretum will lead a tour of this amazing horticultural gem. A former Gold Coast estate of over four hundred acres it contains greenhouses, gardens, woodland paths, and

outstanding woody plant collections. The grounds, landscaped by the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts, are spectacularly beautiful at this time of the year. Following the tour, enjoy a picnic lunch on the grounds of the Arboretum.

After lunch, travel to Old Westbury Gardens. Completed in 1906 by the English designer, George A. Crawley, the magnificent Charles II-style mansion is nestled amid 200 acres of formal gardens, landscaped grounds, woodlands, ponds and lakes. Although the guided tour will focus on the horticulture of the gardens and grounds, history and architecture will be included. Tours of the house will be possible only if time permits.

A mid-morning refreshment and late afternoon wine & cheese snack will be provided. Participants should bring a bagged picnic lunch although lunch can be purchased at the Arboretum’s café.

Due to travel time and traffic, the coach will leave promptly at 7 am and return at 7 pm. Dress in layers for the weather and please wear comfortable, sturdy walking shoes.

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413-298-3926 berkshirebotanical.org

spring classes

Week-By-Week Vegetable Gardening Tips Thursday, April 28, 4-6pm

Lecture/book signing Members $20; Nonmembers $22 All levels This father-daughter team of vegetable gardeners will provide tips on: preparing a garden site, prioritizing your crop selection, and planting strategies to use space efficiently. The presentation will also include tips on preserving your harvest. Ron and Jennifer’s new book on gardening, Weekby-Week Vegetable Gardeners Handbook, by Storey Publishing will be available for sale following the lecture.

Ron Kujawski is a retired University of Massachusetts Extension professional horticulturist. He continues to write, lecture and consult in the horticultural field while maintaining a passion for gardening which he shares with his daughter Jennifer, also a professional horticulturist. Jennifer Kujawski works as a freelance writer and editor for organizations such as University of Massachusetts Extension, USDA’s Forest Service, and Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association. She is passing along the family gardening tradition to her young son in the 6,000 square foot vegetable garden she tends with her father.

IPM Workshop for Professionals Scouting for Pests and Problems of Woody Ornamentals in the Landscape Walkabout on the Grounds of Berkshire Botanical Garden

Thursday, May 12, 5-7pm Enrollment is limited, so preregistration strongly suggested.

For a registration form, go to www.umassgreeninfo.org and click on Conferences and Workshops or call UMass Extension at 413-545-0895.

Learn how to put Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to work efficiently in a workshop designed for horticultural professionals, landscapers, and grounds managers. Join UMass Extension Specialists Randy Prostak (weeds), Bob Childs (entomology), and Dan Gillman (plant pathology) in a walk through the landscape for demonstrations of IPM tools and techniques, as well as a close look at some of the most common insect, disease, and weed problems of woody ornamentals. Cultural problems and environmental stresses will also be discussed. Covered topics include using plant phenology and monitoring techniques to effectively manage pest problems. Cost is $50. Dress for walking; workshops are held rain or shine. Bring a clipboard, pencil and hand lens.

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Pesticide credit: 2 contact hours will be offered for categories 29, 36, 37, and Applicator’s License.

ISA, MCA, MCLP and MCH credits requested.

Chickens in the Backyard

Saturday, May 14, 10am-noon Members $22; Nonmembers $27 Beginners

Calling all gardeners to join the backyard chicken movement! Backyard chickens are now pecking around in every neighborhood, town and city.

This beginner’s workshop will inspire and give you the skills to start a backyard flock of your own. Topics covered include: nutrition, shelter/coops, health, egg production, breeds, predators, regulations, general care, helpful resources, and more. Inspect a few hens and admire some freshly laid eggs. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers.

Meg Taylor is a mother, farmer, educator, and Co-Founder and Director of The Farm Education Collaborative. She started the Pioneer Valley Backyard Chicken Association in 2008 which hosts a website, community forum, annual coop tour, and in-person ‘chicken chats’. She began with three backyard hens in a suburb of Boston but now has a mixed flock of twenty chickens, sheep, cats/ dog, and grows food for her neighbors at her home, North Wind Farm, in Williamsburg, Mass.

The Essentials of Spring Garden Maintenance Saturday, May 14, 1-3pm

Lecture/field study Members $22; Nonmembers $27 Beginners, Rain or shine dress in outdoor clothes with waterproof footwear As spring unfolds, perennial garden chores can become an overwhelming task. This program will walk you through a basic maintenance schedule helping you to identify what to do and when. This is a hands-on workshop and students will learn by demonstration and practice. Students will develop an easy garden maintenance regimen including how-to shape perennials to produce more flowers, stimulate new growth, stagger bloom times, discourage pests and encourage vigorous plant health. Dividing, replanting and staking perennials will be demonstrated. Weed control, edging and mulching will also be covered. Participants will take home some newly divided perennials.

Elisabeth Cary is the Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been gardening for over twenty years.

She specializes in perennial, vegetable and mixed border gardens.

She teaches woody plant identification for the horticulture certificate program and perennial and vegetable gardening for beginners.

413-298-3926 berkshirebotanical.org

spring classes Landscape Design Clinic

Saturday, May 21, 9am -5pm

Hands-on Workshop Members $75; Nonmembers $90 All levels. Participant projects selected for analysis during the class will be charged a $35 additional fee.

To have your project considered, call 413-298-3926 ext. 15 for details.

Join landscape architect Walter Cudnohufsky for a fast paced landscape design clinic structured to help homeowners, gardeners and design professionals hone skills necessary for creating a landscape that WORKS! This interactive workshop will focus on homeowner projects (selected prior to the workshop) to illustrate potentials and problems of working with the land. Begin the day with a presentation of design projects selected to illustrate the ten key landscape design principles necessary for creating an effective landscape. The group will then discuss participant projects. These projects can be new and pending, mid process designs, or completed designs that need a revisit and update. The results will be a sketched schematic design with the key reasoning for its consideration and multiple first hand illustrations of how to design. Identification of the next steps for each project will be included. This class is recommended for homeowners to more accomplished designers.

Landscape architects, architects, engineers and related professionals may find it stimulating.

Walter Cudnohufsky is owner of Walter Cudnohufsky Associates Landscape Architects, Land and Community Planners, Ashfield, MA. He is the founder, and for twenty years the director, of the Conway School of Landscape Design.

Wild Harvest Foraging Food from Fields and Forests

Saturday, June 4, 1-5pm

Workshop, field study Members $35; Nonmembers $42 All levels (carpool from the Garden) Enjoy nature’s harvest without fussing with plant pots, grow lamps and watering. Join plant enthusiast Russ Cohen for a workshop including how to identify, collect and prepare food from the wild. His program focuses on plants that people are “likely to encounter”, highlighting edible natives, but also yummy weeds and invasive species. Following the presentation, take a field trip in search of wild edible plants. Learn where and when to find tasty plants in the wild as well as native edible species you might want to plant in your yard. Finally learn how to prepare the wild harvest and nibble on some wild treats.

Russ Cohen is a professional environmentalist and wild food enthusiast. He leads classes for the Trustees of Reservations, Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Massachusetts Audubon Society. He is the author of the popular book Wild Plants I Have Known… and Eaten.

Summer Garden Maintenance Clinic Saturday, June 25, 10am-noon

Lecture/field study/hands-on workshop Members $25; Nonmembers $35 Beginners, Rain or shine dress in outdoor clothes with waterproof footwear, bring hand pruners. (Off site location, directions available upon registration) As summer advances, the perennial border can often lose its lovely appearance. Learn how to keep the perennial border looking its best all season long by shaping perennials to produce more flowers, encouraging new growth, staggering bloom times, discouraging pests and encouraging vigorous plant health. Simple techniques for pruning, shaping, pinching, thinning, deadheading and staking perennials will be discussed and demonstrated. Weed control and mulching will be covered. (This course will take place offsite in a large homeowner maintained garden…this is the real deal!)

Elisabeth Cary is the Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been gardening for over twenty years. She specializes in perennial, vegetable and mixed border gardens. She teaches woody plant identification for the horticulture certificate program and perennial and vegetable gardening for beginners.

Birds of Prey Tom Ricardi Wildlife Rehabilitator

Friday, July 8, 11am

Lecture/Demonstration Free program with admission to the garden Join wildlife rehabilitator Tom Ricardi for his ever popular presentation on birds of prey. This program is designed for families. Tom will share the natural history of these magnificent birds, demonstrate some of their unique behaviors and will inspire children of all ages to appreciate, respect and conserve these important members of our wild kingdom.

Tom Richardi is a licensed rehabilitator and wildlife biologist. He runs Massachusetts Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway, MA and is now retired after forty years of service, as a Massachusetts Environmental Conservation police officer.

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413-298-3926 berkshirebotanical.org

spring classes Preserving the Harvest - Putting Food By Freezing & Dehydration, Canning, Lacto Fermentation (Think Pickles) and Root Cellars Wednesdays, July 13, 27, August 10, 24, 2 – 4 pm

Lecture/demonstration in a professional kitchen Series of 4 Classes; Members $75; Nonmembers $85. Cost for individual class $22 All levels, classes held off site (directions available upon registration)

awaits in the spring.

We all love fresh food grown from the garden. But we live in New England and if we expect to eat as well in January as in August, we need to preserve the summer garden’s abundance for the lean days of winter. Learn about the techniques of putting food by, including water bath canning, pressure canning, dehydrating, root cellaring and lacto-fermenting to create delicacies that will see us through the dark days and remind us of what

Kathy Harrison has been preserving food for over 30 years. She teaches classes on all manner of food preservation for many organizations and has presented trainings for NOFA and Mother Earth News. She is the author of several books. Her latest is, Just In Case: How to Be Self Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens. Kathy and her husband, Bruce run Barefoot Farm, where they raise bees, organic fruits and vegetables

You CAN Do IT!

We’re in a Pickle Now

Hot water bath and pressure cooker canning is not just for jams and jellies (although it’s really good for those too). Learn how to put up your own salsa, chutneys and condiments. We will explore the many ways a canner can be put to use creating wonderful and unique gifts as well as enhancing your own food pantry. This class will also cover pressure canning and will demystify this useful method for insuring food safety.

Lacto-fermentation is one of the only food preservation techniques that actually enhances the flavor and nutrition of a food.

Well learn about the chemistry and techniques of fermenting food on a small scale. Make every meal better with some kimchi.

Wednesday July 13, 2-4pm

Wednesday, August 10, 2-4pm

Dry it-You’ll like It & Baby Its Cold Inside!

Wednesday July 27, 2-4pm

Dehydrating and freezing as methods for preserving foods are perhaps the easiest for beginners. Learn how to use a dehydrator to make soup, snacks and delicacies to give as gifts or enjoy at home.

Home-dried food has less salt and sugar, is far less expensive than the commercial counterparts and fabulous taste. Freezing summers bounty is another fool proof method for putting food by. Once mastered, the basics of blanching, chilling, air tight wrapping and freezing will provide a taste of summer in the depths of winter. These tried and true, simple techniques will be just like having Guido’s right in your house.

What Lies Beneath Wednesday, August 24, 2-4pm

Think you can’t eat garden fresh food in the middle of winter?

Think again! With a root cellar, you can enjoy carrots, beets, turnips, onions, potatoes, leeks and fruits like apples and pears all winter long. A well-made root cellar acts like a second refrigerator but needs no electricity. Use it to store wine, cider, lard and all those tasty lacto-fermented vegetables. We will explore what it takes to create a root cellar, how to prepare vegetables for their winter home and how to use the produce you store there.

The Crystal Palace The History of Greenhouses in America

Thursday, July 14, 4pm.

Lecture Members $20; Nonmembers $25 All levels Join art historian Arete Warren for a transparent look at the magnificent glass houses of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in America. Learn how the development of the functional greenhouse for growing tropical plants was expanded into glasshouses, orangeries, and 20

conservatories becoming increasingly ornamental and an indicator of great wealth in American society. This illustrated lecture will include fine examples of these crystal palaces and their associated historical head houses and potting sheds.

Arete Warren is an art historian with an inclination towards architecture and decorative arts. She is the president of the Millbrook Garden Club and served as national chair for the Garden Club of America’s Garden History and Design Committee.

She co-authored with May Woods, Glass Houses: A History of Greenhouses, Orangeries and Conservatories.

413-298-3926 berkshirebotanical.org

spring classes The Garden in Watercolor

Tuesdays, July 12 - August 2,10am-1pm Members $145; Nonmembers $175.

Individual classes $45

View the summer garden with an eye for color, mood, texture and painting.

Learn the basics of composition and color through the medium of watercolor.

Each class will begin with explanation and demonstrations by the instructor. Most of each session will be devoted to students painting with the teacher providing input and responding to questions. No prior experience is necessary and beginners are welcome. You may attend the whole series or pick and choose individual classes, however, everyone is encouraged to come to the first meeting when the basics of watercolor, paint, brushes and paper, will be explained.

Ann Kremers is an artist and calligrapher. Her work is currently focused on watercolor and drawing media. She has received commissions for paintings, drawings, illustrated and calligraphed citations and awards, artist's books and botanical drawings. Ann lives in Bennington, VT and teaches throughout Berkshire County.

Examples of her work can be viewed at annkremers.com.

Making Paper Garden Lanterns – Japanese Style Friday, July 15, 10am-4pm

Hands on workshop Members $75; Nonmembers $85 All levels, Materials fee $15 paid to instructor. Materials list available upon registration (Instructor will provide supplementary materials, including willow) Join popular instructor/artist, Nancy Moore Bess in one of her inspirational workshops. Harvest a few feet of your favorite vines (wisteria, grapevine, akebia, etc.), cut a few narrow branches from your willow tree (think #2 pencil for maximum diameter), and prepare to make a lantern. Using these items from your garden and some cordage, rattan, and handmade papers, you’ll make lanterns. Using acrylic medium and methyl cellulose as an adhesive, allows participants to collage multiple papers into a single skin. Use this beautiful textured paper to cover the frame you will create with your vines and branches. Extra acrylic on the surface can hold dried seeds and pressed dried flowers in place. Participants will add the electrical elements (or LED lights) at home after the structure has dried completely.

Nancy Moore Bess is a master basket maker and exhibits her baskets worldwide. She has championed Japanese basketry in the west and is the author of Bamboo in Japan. She teaches basket making workshops throughout the United States including Haystack School of Crafts on Deer Isle, Maine. Her popular workshops always sell out.

Macro Photography

Tuesday - Wednesday, July 19-20, 3-6pm

Hands-on workshop Members $55; Nonmembers $65 Beginners to intermediate.

Materials list available upon registration Discover the world of nature close up in this macro photography workshop.

Learn to take amazing photos of flowers, leaves, insects, feathers, pebbles and more at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Each class will include a lecture on techniques, demonstrations, and plenty of practice time in the garden.

Participants will also bring developed photos to the second class for analysis and critique. Learn the tips and techniques of using macro settings on your own camera, as well as learning about different lenses and lighting techniques for more advanced photo adventures.

Discuss focus, light, composition, color and final output of your photographs. Students will get a chance to use the instructor’s highend macro lenses with a Canon dSLR (digital single lens reflex). This workshop will be fun, relaxed, non-competitive and students will learn by doing.

Taylor Mickle is a photographer based in Copake, New York.

She holds a BA in studio art (photography) and an MS in Arts Technology Management. Her photographs can be seen in Hudson, NY’s Columbia County Council on the Arts Gallery and Arts Walk.

Her passion for macro photography is unending and she loves teaching all ages and sharing her enthusiasm and knowledge of photography with others.

Wrapping Your Garden: Herbs, Flowers and Veggies - Japanese Style Friday, August 12, 10am-3pm

Hands-on workshop Members $75, Nonmembers $85 All levels, Materials fee $20 paid to instructor In Japan, presentation influences so much -- food, flowers, tea. But Japan is not the only culture this workshop will be influenced by. There are wonderful, exciting packaging traditions from many cultures that will be introduced in this workshop. August is the perfect time to offer this new workshop as our gardens will abound with many herbs, flowers and vegetables ready to harvest and share for packaging.

Participants will use basketry materials, papers and metal screening to present their bounty in a new way. Seeds will be held in a simple paper package and even the excessive quantities of zucchini will be newly admired.

Nancy Moore Bess is a master basket maker and exhibits her baskets worldwide. She has championed Japanese basketry in the west and is the author of Bamboo in Japan. She teaches basket making workshops throughout the United States including for the Haystack School of Crafts on Deer Isle, Maine. Her popular workshops always sell out.

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spring classes Beverage Confidential – The History of Libations Thursday afternoons, July 21-August 18, 4-5:30pm Series of 4 Classes: Members $75, Nonmembers $85. Cost for individual class $22

This series covers history, lore, and practical know-how about some of life’s best indulgences. Learn about coffee, chocolate, beer and cider, how they have been used throughout history and are now celebrated in contemporary society. Consider the amazing artisan beer, cider, coffee and chocolate available in the Berkshires and learn tips and techniques from the experts for steeping, brewing, pressing and baking at home. Lectures will include demonstrations and participants will enjoy tasty samplings following the talks.

Sweet Perfection…

Chocolate from Seed to Sweet Joshua Needleman, Chocolate Springs, Lenox MA Thursday, July 21, 4pm

Cacao (Theobroma cacao) known as chocolate, once considered only as a beverage, has a long delicious association with humans.

Chocolate has been considered a delicacy for centuries, beginning with the pre-Columbian Mayan cultures, to the chocolatiers of Europe and is now ending as a mass produced commercial product of modern society. Learn about the natural history of this tropical plant, consider its culinary properties and learn about the art and craft of chocolate making from an expert. The talk will include some tasty samples. Joshua Needleman is creator and chocolatier of Chocolate Springs Café and has been fascinated with chocolate all of his life.

He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, has studied in France and had the opportunity to work at several prestigious establishments, including a stage with Maitre Chocolatier Michel Chaudun.

Beyond the Buzz…

All about Coffee Barth Anderson, Barrington Coffee Roasting Co. Lee MA Thursday, July 28, 4pm

Enjoy a stimulating program on the history of Coffee, and learn about its remarkable journey from ancient Ethiopia to the latte shops of modern society. Consider caffeine, the natural stimulant found in coffee, derived from shrubs in the coffea genus and explore the many different coffees available today. Instructor Barth Anderson will explain sustainable, organic as well as fair trade; what they mean and why it’s important. Learn how to brew a great cup of coffee, how to discern a good coffee from a great one and enjoy a delicious sample of the Barrington Coffee Roasting Company summer menu. Barth Anderson co-founded Barrington Coffee Roasting Company in 1993.

He is an environmental scientist by education, was drawn to coffee at the age of 14 and clearly hasn’t shaken it since.

Brewing up a Storm…

Art and Science of Beer Making Andrew Mankin and Scott Craumer, Barrington Brewery, Great Barrington, MA Thursday, August 11, 4pm

One of America’s most popular libations, beer, is enjoying a renaissance through artisan beers, microbreweries and home brewing. Join two brewmasters from The Barrington Brewery for an in-depth look at beer, beer making and the history and science of this popular drink! Learn about the essential ingredients of beer including the hops plant. This talk will cover the basic home brewing process, ingredients and equipment needed. Andrew Mankin is head brewer and co-owner of Barrington Brewery.

He began as a home brewer twenty seven years ago and then completed an apprenticeship at the Vaux Brewery in Sunderland England in 1989. Scott Craumer has been a home brewer for six years and is now a brewer at the Barrington Brewery.

The Big Squeeze…

Making Apple Cider (Hard and Sweet) John Vittori, Hilltop Orchard, Richmond, MA Thursday, August 25, 4pm

Join John Vittori of Hilltop Orchard for a look at the art and science of making cider both sweet and hard. This lecture/ demonstration will cover the history, culture and lore of cider making. Practical information will include selecting apple varieties, cider making techniques, timing, and preserving of both sweet and hard cider. Following a demonstration with a beautiful two-bucket cider press (courtesy of Denis Mareb at Windy Hill Farm), enjoy a tasting of this local sweet (or hard) drink. John Vittori has owned and operated Hilltop Orchards and Furnace Brook Winery for the past twenty four years. His main interests are, sustainable agriculture, integrated pest management, and land preservation

Registration Information Advance registration is required for all classes, workshops and field trips. We recommend registering early to ensure a place in the desired class. You may register: Online: berkshirebotanical.org By phone: call 413-298-3926 By fax: at 413-298-4897 In person: at our office in the Euston Visitor‘s Center Monday through Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm. Confirmation and Cancellation policies can be found online at berkshirebotanical.org 22

spring classes

Nesting Project Connecting Nature with Art

Friday, August 26, 10am-noon

Family/Adult Workshop

Build a Stone Trough Planter

Saturday, August 13, 10am-noon

Hands-on workshop Members $45; Nonmembers $50 All Levels, Materials fee $15 paid to instructor. Dress in comfortable clothes that can get messy, Bring 1 or 2 plastic dish basins for forms, Bring heavy rubber gloves Learn how to make planters that look like old stone troughs out of a mixture called “Hypertufa”. In Europe, plants are often grown in stone troughs, ancient vessels once used for watering livestock. The craggy look of the hewn stone perfectly complements herbs, flowers and most especially, rock garden and drought tolerant plants. Planting in troughs also raises the height of plants in the garden and segregates them from their larger neighbors. Learn how to design and produce unique Hypertufa troughs for your garden. Students will be guided through the process and will take home several troughs of their own creation.

Debra Pope is an artisan working with Hypertufa medium to construct artistic custom troughs. Her troughs are sold throughout the northeast including Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Berkshire Botanical Garden and Stonecrop. Her popular workshops are offered at botanical gardens and for garden clubs in New England.

Botanical Illustration Drawing Flowers with Colored Pencil

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, August 16, 17 & 18, 10am-4pm Members $195; Nonmembers $225 All levels, Bring a bag lunch

This intensive workshop will focus on colored pencil techniques for botanical illustration. Learn ways to create textured backgrounds with the brilliant hues of colored pencils. This versatile color medium can create colors smooth as glass and rough as sandpaper and by changing technique to mimic an oil painting, pastel or watercolor.

Discover which colors glow together and others that harmonize in a composition. Explore a full range of techniques for creating both bold and subtle effects that will bring a botanical drawing alive. Participants should bring a pear and other fruits or flowers to include in their illustrations.

Carol Ann Morley is an illustrator and dedicated teacher of botanical illustration working in Dover, NH. She founded the Botanical Art Illustration Certificate Program at the New York Botanical Garden and teaches illustration there and for other botanical gardens. This is Ms Morley’s only summer workshop in the Berkshires for 2011.

Members $25; Nonmembers $35 Workshop appropriate for adults or children 10 and up accompanied by an adult Consider the great outdoors your artist studio and learn how to make sculpture using twigs, sticks, string, leaves, moss, and other natural materials. The project: think like a bird and use imagination and creative engineering to build a nest for your yard or garden. The project focuses on constructing natural materials without glue, tape, staples or hammer and nails, rather like a bird. Take a tour of the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Bird Habitat Show, watch a demonstration, collect materials on the ground of the garden and then join artist Ann Kremers for a delightful nest building exploration. Take home your nests and the skills to construct other environmental art projects in your own back yard.

Ann Kremers is an artist living in Bennington Vt. She focuses on watercolor, drawing and teaches environmental art to all age groups.

She has led many workshops thorough out northern Berkshire County connecting people with nature through art and has taught at the Clark Museum and in area schools.

October Study Weekend for the Passionate Gardener Tour of Gardens in the Brandywine Valley

Thursday, October 13 through Saturday, October 15 Depart: 7 am Thursday, October 13 from BBG parking lot Return: 5:30 pm Saturday, October 15 BBG Members Only Cost $765 (single room add on $180) Non refundable deposit of $400 by August 15, 2011

Join garden staff Dorthe Hviid, Elisabeth Cary and Molly Boxer for a three-day study weekend in the Brandywine valley of Pennsylvania. The cornerstone of this trip includes attendance to the Perennial Plant Conference held at the extraordinary Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College. Attended by both professional and avid home gardeners from the northeast and mid-Atlantic states, this conference is by far the most sophisticated, cutting edge gardening conference held on the East Coast. This three-day trip includes transportation tours of exceptional gardens both private and public, admission to a world class gardening conference and optional evening lectures. There will be a bit of free time for relaxing and resting weary feet! The staff is eager to share this wonderful gardening adventure with you.

Included in the cost: Attendance to the fall Perennial Plant Conference at Swarthmore College, speakers include Fergus Garrett, Nan Sinton, Sydney Eddison, Roy Diblick, Gregg Tepper and the ever popular Promising Perennial Forum. For more information visit www. perennialplantconference.com. continued on page 25

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Education continued from page 8 insects cannot eat plants that evolved outside of their food webs.

All plants defend themselves from insects by packing their leaves with toxic phytochemicals. Typically, only insects that have specialized enzymes and behaviors for circumventing the chemical defense of a particular plant species are able to eat that plant. It takes most insects long periods of evolutionary exposure to a particular plant lineage to develop such adaptations. Ecological time scales simply are not long enough. So, when we replace the native plants to which our insects are adapted with Asian ornamentals such as Bradford pear, Zelkova, forsythia, crape myrtle, and burning bush, our local insects have nothing to eat, and both they and the food webs they support disappear.

The good news is that by increasing the number and diversity of native plants in our yards, we can quickly restore the complex food webs that provide all of the insect protein our birds need to reproduce. If we do that in enough places, suburbia will become a refuge rather than no-man’s-land for birds.

Does this mean that we must sacrifice beautiful landscapes in order to feed our birds? Not at all! There are many misconceptions about using native species as landscape plants, but one of the most pervasive is the fear that natives will be defoliated by the very insects we are trying to attract with them. After all, that’s one of the reasons “pest free” plants from Asia and Europe appeared to be the logical choice. It may seem paradoxical, but planting natives that are part of local food webs is the best way to prevent insect outbreaks.

It is true that native plants attract more species of insect herbivores than non native ornamentals — 15 times more species, by some measures. What we must remember, however, is that all of those insects attract a diversity of predators, parasites, and diseases that keep their populations in check. To have a diverse community of natural enemies present in your yard at all times, you must have a diversity of prey available at all times. When one prey species becomes too uncommon to support a predator, other species will be present for it to eat and will therefore prevent the predator from leaving the area.

The key to controlling insect outbreaks is to nip them in the bud. This can only happen if natural enemies are ready to pounce whenever an insect becomes too numerous. Fortunately, birds are among our best insect eaters; a pair of bluebirds, for example, will bring up to 300 caterpillars back to the nest each day that they are feeding young!

We run into trouble when we landscape with plants that support very few herbivores, because then there usually is not enough food to keep insect predators and parasitoids, as well as hungry birds, nearby. When there is an outbreak of one of the many insects we have imported along with our Asian ornamentals — insects like the Japanese beetle or euonymus scale — there are not enough natural enemies to control them. This helps explain why as much as four times more pesticide by weight is applied to suburban landscapes than to the agricultural landscape in the U.S.

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Landscaping with native plants is not just for bird lovers; it’s for human lovers too. If we create a world that does not support a diversity of birds, we will have created a world that will not be able to sustain humans for very long. Although we don’t act like it, humans need healthy ecosystems as much as everything else needs them. It is ecosystems that produce life-giving ecosystem services like oxygen production, water purification, weather moderation, carbon dioxide sequestration, and the breakdown of our trash, and it is biodiversity that runs our ecosystem. Birds are superb indicator species of ecosystem health. Most are predators, and some are top predators that cannot exist unless a complex food web that creates their food also exists. And complex food webs can only be sustained in stable, productive ecosystems. If we have disrupted ecosystem function to the point where our birds disappear, we have also threatened our own life support systems. Something to think about, to be sure. O

Doug Tallamy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware, where he has authored over 68 research articles and has taught Insect Taxonomy, Behavioral Ecology, and other courses for 27 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His remarkable book Bringing Nature Home; How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens was published by Timber Press in 2007.

Bird Necessities: Outdoor Installations by Artists & Designers Opening Reception Saturday, June 11, 5:30-7:30pm Six artists and active members of the Berkshire community have worked their hands in the soil, found inspiration in the seasons and local flora, and have a rich history in preserving our local environment. They have each developed a personal oeuvre that is deeply rooted in nature. See what happens when they explore ways to provide birds with food, shelter and habitat — and artful assistance in attaining them. Naomi Blumenthal, estate garden designer, potter and jewelry maker; Dale Culleton, potter and sculptor; Selena Lamb, garden designer; Jon Piasecki, landscape designer and sculptor; Anne G. Fredericks, artist, interior designer, and curator.

The exhibition will be on view through Labor Day.

sprinG ClAsses continued from page 23 Garden visits include: Hortulus Farm, the private garden of Renny Reynolds and Jack Staub, New Hope, PA; Chanticleer Garden, Wayne, PA; Scott Arboretum, Swarthmore, PA; Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA; Overnight accommodation at the Radnor Hotel on Philadelphia’s Main Line in Wayne, PA conveniently located near area gardens.

All lunch and breakfasts, admission to all gardens and the conference are included in the fee. Evening meals are on your own – a variety of different restaurants are located within walking distance to the hotel.

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CAllinG All volunteers!

volunteer At the GArden Volunteers play an active and vital role at the Garden. This is a place where you will find a perfect opportunity to dig in, whether literally, in the garden beds, or by helping to plan a special event, working in The Shop, leading a tour, helping in the office, or any number of other jobs specifically suited to your interests.

There are many reasons people love to volunteer at the Garden; here are just a few: hands-on learning A sense of community working for a good cause being surrounded by beauty meeting other interesting volunteers being a part of this wonderful organization Get involved. Bring your skills to the Garden. You will be glad you did! We take our volunteers very seriously. Whether you work on an event or apply for a weekly position, we value your time and commitment. Weekly volunteer jobs include: Gardening help: weeding, digging, and deadheading sales help in the shop office work: filing, sorting, printing and collating tour guides Join us at an informational meeting on Monday, April 18, 10-11am. Please RSVP and bring a friend! Your time is our greatest asset.

For more information or to sign up call Sharon at 413-298-3926 or email sshepherd@berkshirebotanical.org. O

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Volunteers at work: Donna Meczywor, Lori Stickney and Judy Zering help prepare the greenhouse for spring production with Jess Savory, Head Gardener. Photo: Robin Parow

who’s who At the GArden Welcome to a new season at Berkshire Botanical Garden!

We look forward to seeing you.

Elisabeth Cary, Director of Education; Molly Boxer, Executive Director; Dorthe Hviid, Director of Horticulture; Joan Carter, Retail Manager; Robin Parow, Communications Manager; Donna Smith, Office Manager; Sharon Hulett-Shepherd, Membership and Development; Greg Wyman, Building and Grounds Assistant; Judy Boschetti, Youth Education Coordinator; Will Maston, Building and Grounds Manager; Jessica Savory, Head Gardener

Photo by Reinout van Wagtendonk/Berkshots Joan Carter Retail Manager To quote Daniel Chester French, “New York is New York, the Berkshires is heaven.” And, I agree.

That is why after living and working in New York for many years, I knew I had to find my own bit of heaven. I discovered the Berkshires, found my house and my escape. Of course, having a house, I then became a weekend gardener, and thankfully Photo:Berkshots discovered Berkshire Botanical Garden, which saved my gardens and me.

In New York I spent many years in publishing with Conde Nast Publications, becoming a Senior Editor, and then Marketing Director. After 17 years, I heard the siren call to return to California, where I grew up, and joined a major retail corporation as Senior Vice President of Creative Marketing. Too soon, I was sent back to develop and staff a New York office. I then travelled the world for them for over 13 years, and what a joy it was to return and recoup in the Berkshires and my garden.

Now I have the great pleasure of living in the Berkshires full time and, wonder of wonders, working at the Garden with all the very special people who make this wonderful place possible.

Jan Johnson Trustee I have gardening in my blood -– food gardening, that is, much as my parents and grandparents did.

At home in Great Barrington, I harvest vegetables almost year-round, maintain a small orchard, keep bees and raise a few chickens. I’m planning to scale up to a small farm. My public heroes include Alice Waters, Eliot Coleman, Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman. I believe that eating more local, freshly prepared, sustainably grown food will lead to better health for us and the planet. I feel especially passionate about the importance of teaching these things to children and empowering them to participate.

Once upon a time I prepared to become a teacher and then changed course, eventually joining a corporate law practice and then moving on to work for Disney in California and Paris. Creating a farm and advocating for children and their need to learn about food seems to draw on much of what I learned in those earlier careers.

The quality of the education program led me to the Berkshire Botanical Garden. I look forward to spending many happy hours continuing to learn, and even branching out to learn about plants that cannot be eaten! I feel privileged to join such a talented and dedicated board and staff, and to be able to help support the Garden’s work. robin parow Communications Manager My first visit to Berkshire Botanical Garden was in the summer of 1980. I was on staff at The New York Botanical Garden where I wrote a weekly syndicated column, Down to Earth, and was preparing a piece on the daylily collection, originally a gift from NYBG to BBG. Little did I know I was stepping into a glance at my future!

I love gardening. I have made gardens, maintained Photo:Berkshots gardens, baby-sat gardens, and written songs about gardens. I have been a student of the soil for over 30 years, and always find something new and exciting to learn. My crowning moment was when I took first place for my ‘Sweet 100’ cherry tomatoes, and best in show for my gladiolas, at the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, New York – a fair that can humble a gardener when poised against some pretty stiff competition. A blue ribbon never looked so good.

I’ve been lucky — I’ve always loved my work. I am a registered therapeutic riding instructor and ran a riding and vaulting program with three fabulous horses for over 14 years. I was the first in the country to register a donkey as a Delta Society Pet Partner, and we visited hospitals and nursing homes as a therapy team, called Horses on Wheels. Horses and gardening have been my teachers: neither work very well without patience, practice, and determination.

Coming back to the Garden, I was immediately at home. It’s true that there are many cycles in life, and one has brought me back to a place where I can once again promote the good work going on at a botanical garden. I am inspired by the staff I work with daily, and look forward to the seasons and events ahead. My door is always open; please stop by and say hello.

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June 27 to August 19

ar t camps for ages 3 to 14

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visit IS183.org

13 Willard Hill Rd. Stockbridge, MA (413) 298-5252

we love doGs. . .

but our display gardens do not. please don’t bring your dogs to the Garden!

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34th Annual Plant Sale May 6-7 Early buying for members, Friday, May 6, 8-11am Furnishing Your Garden – what a great theme!

This year, the Plant Sale reflects back on the past with an array of garden antiques and collectibles on display and for sale – and looks forward — with new plants that will set the stage as you begin the gardening season.

You will have the opportunity to browse through 300 varieties of flowering perennials as well as specialty sections of wildflowers, grasses, ferns, vines and ground covers. Moving on you’ll find 50 varieties of annuals and tropicals, many of them grown in the Garden’s production greenhouse, as well as an interesting and varied selection of woody plants. Throughout the sale plant professionals will be on hand to help you design your containers, window boxes and in-ground plantings on the spot.

This year's Plant Sale is generously sponsored by Ed Herrington, Inc. During the two-day sale, plant professionals will highlight groups of specialty plants in our Education Annex to help you become more familiar with their attributes and requirements.

Adam Wheeler from Broken Arrow Nursery will start off on Friday, May 6 at 11am. This nursery is known for its very rare woody plants, and Adam will bring a selection of these that will be of special interest for the discerning gardener.

You will be welcomed this year by a post modern display á la Chelsea Flower Show. In the able hands of designer David Dew Bruner of Hudson, New York, the exhibit will both inform and inspire, with a bit of whimsy added for good measure. David will be joined by other dealers to bring Hudson to the Berkshires for this very special weekend.

We once again bring you a group of vendors offering a wide selection of garden accessories and specialty items, organically grown herbs and vegetables, native wetland plants, rustic garden furniture, and much more. The ever-popular “Black Gold” compost from Holiday Farm will also be available. O

The Berkshire Botanical Garden is grateful for the generous sponsorship of Ed Herrington, Inc. Herrington’s is a local, family owned lumber and building materials supplier to the tri-state area, offering a variety of decking materials, landscaping stone, garden steppers, brick and pavers for gardens, stone walls, patios and walkways.

Stone and Masonry Showroom in Hillsdale, NY.

www.herringtons.com

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Jess Savory, Head Gardener, has her eyes on three alluring annuals. This year’s top picks, grown from seed in the Garden’s Lexan Greenhouse include: Ageratum houstonianum ‘Leilani Blue’(1’–1½’) The powdery blue of this ageratum makes it a must for mixed borders needing some cool color throughout the season. The strength of the stem and texture of its bloom, along with the color, make it perfect for a cutting bed as well.

Salvia coccinea ‘Brenthurst’(1½’–2’) Having flowers that vary in rich shades of pink as they open and fade, this annual adds softness to the garden while giving a fullness of bloom throughout the season.

Talinum paniculatum ‘Kingwood Gold’ (1’–1½’) This annual is best known for its chartreuse foliage and delicate beadlike flowers, and works well with deep purples as well as maroons. It can be mixed into borders and baskets alike.

Plant Sale Hours: Friday, May 6: Early buying for members: 8-11am Plant Sale hours: 11am – 5pm.

Presentation on woody plants by Adam Wheeler of Broken Arrow Nursery: 11am Saturday, May 7: Plant Sale hours: 9am–5pm.

Rain or Shine – Free Admission This is a great time to become a member! Gain access to prime early buying and receive 10% off plant purchases.

seed donors

The following seed companies have kindly donated vegetable and annual seed to the Garden this spring. This will enable us to grow a wider and more interesting selection of plants for the enjoyment and education of our visitors. Please help us thank them by giving them your business.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds www.rareseeds.com John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds www.kitchengardenseed.com Johnny’s Selected Seeds www.johnnyseeds.com Select Seeds www.selectseeds.com Stokes Seeds, Inc. www.stokeseeds.com Thompson & Morgan www.thompson-morgan.com Twilley Seed Company www.twilleyseed.com

Come see what's popping up in the Shop!

shop the shop!

We have been scouring the markets for new merchandise and are excited to greet the season with a bright new look – and enchanting items to make you smile and feel inspired.

The Shop is your source for beautiful, gift-worthy books, as well as a wide selection of how to books for gardeners of all levels. Some favorites include Tulip Anthology, Bloom, and Trees, 1000 Designs for the Garden, and Barbara Damrosch’s The Garden Primer. We are proud to carry exciting new groups of stationary, note cards, journals, and writing pads, as well as unique and practical items for gardeners of all ages, including a marvelous selection of discovery kits for children.

Make The Shop your first stop for garden containers in new shapes, sizes, and colors, and find distinctive gifts for home and garden.

The Shop is located in the Garden's Visitor Center, 5 West Stockbridge Road, Stockbridge. Beginning May 1, The Shop will be open every day, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Interested in receiving updates on Shop items and sales? Call the Garden to be placed on our e-blast list: 413-298-3926. O

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speCiAl GArden dAtes And events out on a limb opening party:tree houses: Architects take a bough April 30 roy boutard day/Community day May 1

berkshirebotanical.org 5 West Stockbridge Road Stockbridge, MA 01262 413-298-3926

Nonprofit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx Change Service Requested

34 Annual plant sale May 6-7 th

spring Garden Field trip May 19 bird necessities: outdoor installations Created by Artists and designers June 11 Cocktails in Great Gardens June 17, July15, August 19

FĂŞte des Fleurs Saturday, July 23, 5-7:30pm Contained exuberance: designs by eight incredible Gardeners Tour with designers August 6 the Grow show August 6-7 harvest Festival October 1-2 holiday marketplace December 3-4

berkshirebotanical.org 413-298-3926

plAnt sAle

Friday, May 6 11am-5pm Saturday, May 7 9am-5pm (Members only early buying hours Friday only from 8-11am)

5 west stockbridge road, stockbridge, mA

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berkshirebotanical.org