B E R K S H I R E B OTA N I C A L G A R D E N
BREEDING YOUR OWN
PLANTS
SUMMER/FALL 2016
SAV I N G H E I R LO O M V E G E TA B L E S ____________________ EASY PICKLES ____________________ GETTING HERBY
SUMMER/FALL 2016
THROUGH
SEP
15 Benched: Come Take A Seat in the Garden continues at Berkshire Botanical Garden
The season continues... AUGUST 13-14 ____________
AUGUST 19 ____________
The Grow Show
The final Cocktails in Great Gardens
Take in the flower design and horticultural talents of regional gardeners and designers.
of the Season at the home of Larry Wente and Jack Hyland
OCTOBER 8-9 ____________
Harvest Festival A Berkshire County Tradition since 1934 returns to the Garden on Columbus Day Weekend.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Matt Larkin, Chairman Madeline Hooper, Vice Chairman Janet Laudenslager, Secretary Ellen Greendale, Treasurer Wendy Philbrick Martha Piper Kip Towl Mark Walker Rob Williams KK Zutter
Jeannene Booher David Carls Mary Copeland Lauretta Harris Ian Hooper Tom Ingersoll Daniel Kasper
S TA F F Michael Beck Executive Director Lee Buttala Director of Communications Amy Butterworth Office Manager Christine Caccamo Senior Gardener Elisabeth Cary Director of Education Bill Cummings Buildings and Grounds Manager Duke Douillet Senior Gardener Cynthia Grippaldi Membership and Volunteer Manager MacKenzie Hitchcock Assistant Camp Director Dorthe Hviid Director of Horticulture Dan Mullen Buildings and Grounds Assistant Jamie Samowitz Youth Education Coordinator Christopher Wellens Youth Education Coordinator CUTTINGS
The Pond Garden at Berkshire Botanical Garden
NOVEMBER 13 ____________
DECEMBER 3-4 ____________
Rooted in Place
Holiday Marketplace
A Conference about Creating Gardens that Respond to the Local Landscape with Claudia West and Tom Wessels
Get into the spirit at our annual gift and garden market
Lee Buttala, Editor Julie Hammill, Hammill Design, Design
On the cover: Dahlias by Jack Sprano BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN
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DIRECTOR’S CORNER MICHAEL BECK
The Berkshire Botanical Garden would like to thank people and organizations for their participation in Benched: Come Take A Seat in the Garden, our seasonal exhibition which runs through September 15th. Barbara Bockbrader and Campo de’Fiori Barbara Israel Garden Antiques Bill Cummings Brad Weatherup and Rustic Woodcraft Bunny Williams and Century Furniture Chesterwood Farm in the Garden Camp Hancock Shaker Village Jeffrey All John Danzer and Munder-Skiles Justin Madsen and Marveled Designs Kris and Josh Kanter and JK Custom Furniture Mary Annella Frank and Edith Wharton’s The Mount Michael King Natale Marasco Naumkeag and the Trustees of Reservations Peter Murkett and New England Modern Peter Thorne RT Facts Seth Churchill Furniture
MICHAEL NADEAU Wholistic Land Care Consultant 169 Bowne Road Sharon, CT 06069 (860) 364-5696 men@michaelnadeau.org michaelnadeau.com
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We take education seriously here at BBG. While we all love our fleeting summers filled with special garden exhibits, cocktail parties in beautiful gardens, and the midsummer Fête des Fleurs, our educational programming remains at the core of our mission to educate and inspire our local community about the natural world. Education has been a real growth story for the Garden of late. We now have five staff members devoted to adult and youth education, and many more involved during our busy Farm in the Garden camp season. Camp this year expanded to six weeks and 150 campers ages 5 to 14, with six additional camp staff providing exciting activities and learning opportunities at BBG. With so many extra people on campus (not to mention the farm animals and Dante the Rabbit!) we are quite literally at capacity for this program, a fact that we are very proud of. The same can be said for our adult education classes, which are listed in each issue of Cuttings and are often fully enrolled weeks in advance by members, the local community, and even visitors from Rhode Island and beyond. And let’s not forget our Horticulture Certificate program for students interested in taking the “next step” in their garden education. Last winter’s certificate program was one of the best-enrolled in many years, with a crowded classroom of happy graduates this past May Day to prove it! So where do we go from here? Our goal remains to provide the highest level of educational excellence and to always seek out new audiences to teach. This past July, we were invited to develop a new summer program in the Berkshire Hills School District, working with students on identifying problems related to our local food system and creating solutions for our local community. This has provided a wonderful way to stay engaged with our afterschool learners at the height of the growing season. In the Pittsfield area, our collaboration with Alchemy Initiative continues and we are in the early stages of developing an agriculture-based youth program to encourage personal and community growth. We hope to identify additional funders and to launch the “Roots Rising” program over the course of six summer weeks in 2017, and then to continue working with a group of high school students during the school year. Students will get hands-on work experience at local farms, the Downtown Pittsfield Farmers Market, as well as at local hunger relief organizations, and will earn a stipend for their hard work. For our adult learners we will be offering both a fall Study Tour to the greater Philadelphia area, including stops at the Perennial Plant Conference and spectacular Chanticleer and Longwood gardens, and a November ecological gardening conference we are calling “Rooted in Place” that will feature world-class authors Claudia West and Tom Wessels. As you can see, exciting things are happening in BBG’s education department. So take a look through this issue of Cuttings and find a class or workshop of interest to you. It’s definitely time to get serious about education.
Self-sowing annuals that cross-pollinate, such as these violas, are a great choice when trying to create your own strain of a species. This sort of backyard breeding project is fun and the results are surprising and exciting.
Unnatural Selection, or Backyard Breeding by Joseph Tyconievich
An up-and-coming horticulturist, who is coming to BBG this fall, shares his experience breeding plants in his childhood backyard.
BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN
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LANDSCAPE & DESIGN INC
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The fruits of most plants reflect the traits of the seed from which they came. Corn kernels, however have a clear endosperm, which allows one to see through to the color of its progeny, a glimpse into the future, so to speak.
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Early in my gardening life, as a teenager, I grew a bunch of different violas, smaller versions of pansies, from seed. They bloomed heavily in the spring and then, in the way of violas and pansies, wimped out once the summer heat set in. Fast forward to the following spring, I was walking through the garden, kicking myself for failing to order seed for more violas that year, when I noticed seedlings. Lots of seedlings. If you’ve grown violas, and don’t mulch too heavily, this will be familiar to you. They’re vigorous self-sowers, and I was absolutely thrilled. Free plants! Then they started flowering, and it got even better. Violas, let me state honestly here, have no morals. With the help of the bees, they will get it on with every viola in the neighborhood and spread their plentiful love children far and wide. Instead of the viola varieties I’d started with, I had a whole carpet of various crosses between the plants I’d grown the year before. Faced with such an abundance, I needed to thin them out so they could have room to mature, but I decided to be picky. I’d wait until most were in bloom, carefully look them all over, save the ones I liked best and quickly weed out the ones I wasn’t quite as thrilled by so that their flowers did not have time to cross with the ones I preferred. This became an annual ritual for as long as I lived and gardened at the location. The viola seedlings germinated, I’d look over their diverse abundance, pick my favorites and rip out the rest. A few years into this, I realized something kind of exciting. The violas in front of me no longer looked anything like what I’d started with. I had, in fact, a customized strain of violas suited to my personal taste in terms of flower size, color, and shape. What’s more, with every passing year, they were performing a little better as good old-fashioned natural selection adapted them to my specific climate, soil, and garden. I had, by doing nothing but letting violas self-sow and then picking out my favorites, created my own strain of violas that grew better than anything I could buy at the store. I would subsequently learn when I went off to college that this process of
selection is an age-old technique and has been used by professional breeders and home gardeners to create plants that have the qualities that they desire. I lost that strain of violas once I moved out for college and adult life, but I’ve recreated a facsimile of it in other gardens since, and the lessons from this process remain with me. Plant breeding, the art of creating new varieties of plants, may seem technical, like advanced gardening, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be as easy as letting something seed around and then pulling out the plants that don’t meet your standards, whatever those may be. And the results can be quite good, plants that are adapted to your specific conditions, and customized to your personal tastes. It is easy to get started creating your own plant varieties. If violas, columbines, lettuce, hollyhocks or anything else self-sow in your garden, start looking over the diversity and dead-heading or weeding out the ones you don’t like. To spice things up, consider adding a few new varieties into the mix to inject a little diversity into your population. If you are a seed saver, you can move beyond the self-sowers, and start looking carefully over your annual crop of zinnias and saving seeds of the biggest, fullest, flowers or, as I love to do, pick out the brightest, most
interestingly colored kernels from your ornamental colorful corn to grow on the next year. If you are a tomato lover who hates having to buy seeds annually of your preferred F1 hybrid tomato variety, consider trying to “dehybridize” it. You’ve always been told to not save seeds from hybrid varieties… well, I’m here to tell you to do it anyway! Yes, your favorite hybrid, be it ‘Early Girl’ or ‘Sungold’ won’t come true from seed. Instead you’ll get a whole range of diverse, different plants. Which, if you ask me, is WAY more fun than just getting the same boring old tomato every time. By sorting through that diversity of seedlings and saving seeds from your favorites year after year, you’ll create your own customized version of the original hybrid variety, and each year the amount of variability you see will go down until you get a stabilized nonhybrid version that comes true from seed every year, ready for you to name whatever you want. This type of plant breeding, lowtech, practical, and small scale, is as old as gardening itself. It is the process by which all those wonderful heirloom varieties came into being in the first place, and it is an art well worth rediscovering in our gardens today. Give it a try. I promise you’ll have fun.
BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN
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SEP
24 Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener Joseph Tychonievich will be giving a talk on plant breeding at BBG on September 24.
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Heirloom Harvest Since Joseph Tyconievich makes the argument for creating one’s own varieties in the garden, we thought it might be nice to state the case for saving timehonored heirloom varieties by asking a few questions of seed activist Amy Goldman Fowler. Amy has advocated for the preservation of heirloom vegetables and fruits through her work with Seed Savers Exchange and by highlighting the range of varieties of beloved fruits and vegetables in her books, The Compleat Squash, The Heirloom Tomato, and Melons for the Passionate Grower. She talked with BBG about these and her latest book, Heirloom Harvest. Replete with artfully taken daguerrotypes, Heirloom Harvest chronicles her Hudson Valley Farm and the crops that she grows there.
BBG: How do you define an heirloom fruit or vegetable? Amy: I consider a variety of a plant that breeds true from seed and can be passed down from generation to generation to be an heirloom. Included are old types and new ones that have been bred to be open pollinated.
other varieties of their species; but others require various forms of isolation. Melons were my entrĂŠe into hand-pollination [one form of managed pollination]. I met with the people at Cornell who taught me to hand pollinate and my success rate varied in the beginning. I learned by doing. Every crop has its idiosyncracies.
BBG: What are the challenges of saving seeds that are true to type? Amy: Growing things out to maturity and collecting pure seeds can be a challenge. Selfpollinating crops, such as lettuce and beans, do not require as much protection from
What are the common mistakes people make in collecting seeds? Be attentive to detail. Label from the moment you start plants. Otherwise you never know what you have. And make sure seed is ripe before it is collected.
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This currant, from Amy Goldman’s Heirloom Harvest, was captured as a daguerrotype by photographer Jerry Spagnoli.
BBG: How does preservation differ from breeding? Amy: I am not a breeder, but one reason we are saving these heirloom plants is to give breeders varieties to be able to work with. Many of these heirloom varieties may be disease-resistant or drought tolerant and can be used in breeding so crops can continue to evolve. We need these food crops of the future [developed by breeders] as well as heirlooms. BBG: Do you grow any non-heirloom varieties? Amy: I do. Not a lot, but I trial the hybrids and time and time again, I think the heirlooms are better for me. I am not the hybrid basher I once was, I understand the need for seed companies to make money and for them to be rewarded for their work. As the popularity of heirlooms has increased, so too has the likelihood of their survival.
BBG: How many varieties and species do you grow? Amy: I like to maintain my listings in the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook so I grow quite a few. Fruit vegetables are my favorite—peppers, tomatoes, squash, and melons. I am writing a new book on peppers so I am growing out about 400 varieties this year.
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BBG: Are there any particular challenges to growing peppers and testing peppers? Amy: The taste tests (laughing). The super hot varieties grow quite well in the Hudson Valley. I gear up with a respirator and goggles when grinding them up for powder or when saving their seeds. I’ve been burned a little bit along the way.
BBG: What crops do you recommend for novice seed savers? Amy: Tomatoes and peppers are easy crops from which to save seeds and they are close to my heart. Right now I am focusing on peppers as I work on my next book. And peppers are easy to isolate by moving them around in containers or else caging them. Also I am so struck by the beauty of some pepper plants. They have everything going for them: vegetable and spice and beauty.
Enjoy thE BEnEfits of your mEmBErship whilE Earning gardEn rEwards
Ask In-store for More Information on How to Join
Ward’s
BBG: You know this question is coming, what are some varieties that you could not do without? Amy: I will work on a list for you and send it along…
Ward’s Nursery & Garden Center - 600 S. Main Street Great Barrington, MA - Open Daily 8 a m -5:30 p m
Where Gardeners Grow
413-528-0166
Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Lady Baltimore’
BBG: How did you come up with the idea of capturing these plants in such artful photography? Your previous books were artfully shot by Victor Schrager and your new book was photographed by Jerry Spagnoli who uses a 19th-century technique that seems so well suited to the subject matter. Did you decide to do this to get people to see these plants in a different way? Amy: Friends of mine represented both Victor and Jerry and recommended them after seeing my fruit and vegetable entries at the Dutchess County fair. I wanted to capture the harvest on film and for my own records. With Victor, I knew I wanted to do a book on melons and I asked myself how do you tell the story of heirlooms without the visuals? I wanted to pair a portrait in words with photographs. There was always this myth that heirlooms were ugly, but that is not true and I find many of them beautiful. I wanted others to see their beauty as well.
www.wardsnursery.com
BBG: (interrupting) But perhaps it would be best for people to just come to your lecture at the Garden on September 17th (see page 18 for details) and get the full story along with a glance at some stunning imagery. Thanks, Amy.
SEP
17 Fruits of the Earth: Amy Goldman, Using Modern Daguerreotypes of Historic Garden Treasures
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Herbs and spices are traditionally defined as any part of a plant that is used in the diet for aromatic properties. They are also sources of various phytochemicals, many of which possess powerful antioxidant activity. Thus, according to the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information), herbs and spices may have a role in the body’s antioxidant defense system. Our ancestors may not have understood the science behind the properties of herbal plants, but they certainly knew and appreciated the results that these phytochemicals produce. Photo by volunteer Harriet Wetstone.
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The Herb Garden: A Sanctuary of Healing by Lauretta Harris, Volunteer
Our intrepid BBG Volunteer Association President communes with the ancients and gets all herby on us.
Ancient Greeks based their medical care on Medicatrix Naturae – the belief that remedies for all ills can be found in “the healing power of Nature.” In fact, all the world’s great religions have passages in their sacred texts associating the use of herbs with health. But mankind’s use of (and reverence for) herbs goes back even further to the earliest, aboriginal cultures. From the prehistoric shaman to the village healer to today’s holistic practitioners, herbs continue to play a vital role in human health. Even animals, with their instinctive knowledge for self-healing, are known to seek out particular herbs to eat. Add to that the properties of herbs for beauty and general well-being, and it’s no wonder that we continue to take pleasure in growing and using them.
“Foolish the doct! who despises knowledge acquired by the ancients.” – Hippocrates
The Herb Garden at Berkshire Botanical Garden
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Garden heliotrope is commonly used in the creation of perfumes.
At BBG, the fascinating world of herbs can be easily explored by stepping into the Herb Garden. This “almost secret” garden is entered through the doorway of a rustic portico, into a realm of beauty, fragrance and even enchantment. The oldest continually planted section of the Garden, it dates back to 1937. The Herb Garden’s original rocky slope was terraced into a series of stone steps flanked on either side by beds planted with a great variety of herbs. The Herb Garden was restored several years ago under the guidance of garden writer Page Dickey, in keeping with the original design but with improvements to the terracing and the steps, and a revised planting plan. And how glorious these plantings are! The low beds are purposely designed to spill over their borders, so that as the visitor walks past, the herbs are gently jostled to release their fragrance. Herbs are arranged by use, with beds dedicated to various properties: culinary, medicinal, fragrance. Be warned, there are even a few less-thanfriendly plants, such as digitalis, which was historically used as a medicine, but is lethal in greater quantities! But all are clearly marked with signage that strikes an educational note amidst the beauty. Tucked off to the side is a small plot filled with witchy sounding herbs like mugwort and snakeroot, planted during the Harry Potter craze. Kids find it spellbinding! Interspersed with the herbs are display plants such as iris and peony, adding yet another layer of fragrance and beauty to this enchanted spot. Less well known to the public is an herbal kitchen garden behind Center House. Both this bed and the formal Herb Garden are maintained by BBG’s Herb Associates, a group of volunteer gardeners and herbalists. Founded in 1957, the Herb Associates raise more than plants: they raise funds for the Garden by selling products infused with these marvelous herbs. Today in the Visitor Center you can find a tempting array of herbal vinegars, marinades and salad dressings, as well as mustards, jellies, seasonings and sachets. All these products are wonderfully redolent of the herbs grown in our beds, dried on Shaker-style racks and prepared in the kitchen that is part of the Center House complex. Whether you take away a treat lovingly prepared by our Herb Associates, or simply spend some time admiring the plantings, the charming Herb Garden is a balm to the senses and an experience to savor.
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Here are a few ways to enjoy the pleasures of herbs – with thanks to Theresa Terry, BBG Herb Associate.
Lavender is not just for fragrance. Combine buds with rosemary leaves, salt and pepper for a savory rub excellent on lamb and other meats.
Sweeten your day with lavender sugar. Place a sprig or two in a container of sugar and let sit for several days. Enjoy the delicately fragrant result in tea or in baking. Place lavender under your pillow to encourage better sleep. Is it magic, or aromatherapy?
Lemon balm is lovely when baked into your favorite shortbread cookie. Rosemary is an excellent hair rinse. Make an infusion by placing cuttings of this refreshing fresh herb in hot water, cool, and pour through hair for healthy scalp, highlights and fragrance.
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Mint is marvy and not just in juleps. Use it to add subtle freshness to green salads, sweetness to fruit salads, and zip to your homemade limoncello. Thyme is always timely, adding lush flavor to scrambled eggs, soups and stews; an excellent concoction with honey for coughs and congestion; strewn on floors by the ancients (and dog owners) to freshen a room.
Treat yourself to an herbal bath. Tie any combination of your favorite fragrant herbs into a small bundle, wrap in cheesecloth and add to your bathwater.
For more great ideas, pick up a copy of The Garden Cookbook, written by our Herb Associates and available in the Visitor Center.
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JULY 15 — AUG 13
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BOYD-QUINSON MAINSTAGE
ST. GERMAIN THEATRE
AUG 18 — SEP 3
JULY 21 — AUG 6
By Nina Raine
By Jiehae Park
TRIBES
PEERLESS
AUG 12 — SEP 4
YOUTH THEATRE | BERKSHIRE MUSEUM
JULY 27 — AUG 14
THE WIZ
Music & Lyrics by Charlie Smalls Book by William F. Brown
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design landscape horticulture 413-229-8124
Sheffield, MA
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EDUCATION
SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2016
Education The Berkshire Botanical Garden is focused on providing educational opportunities to the community throughout the year, from hands-on classes and inspiring talks to tours of places of interest to gardeners. This fall, the Garden also offers a visit to the Perennial Plant Conference at Swarthmore College as a part of the Gardens of Greater Philadelphia Study Tour as well as Rooted in Place: A BBG conference focused on environmentally sensitive landscape design as part of our Gardening for Life series sponsored by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. To enroll or for more information on classes and upcoming events at the Garden, visit our website at berkshirebotanical.org
OCT
10 Learn more about growing garlic with local garden guru Ron Kujawski BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN
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EDUCATION
Classes, Lectures, and Workshops Talk and Field Study: Stalking Wild Mushrooms in the Berkshires Saturday, September 10, 10 am - noon Members $15; Nonmembers $20 Learn all about woodland fungi with Berkshire Mycological Society president John Wheeler as he focuses on those commonly known as mushrooms. This enormous and diverse group of fungi is most apparent in the wild during the fall months. The most common poisonous and edible mushrooms will be highlighted and identified. A variety of live fungi will be on display, supplemented with slides of other commonly found mushrooms. Participants will explore a nearby woodland and hunt for mushrooms. However, participation in this class is not sufficient for learning how to identify edible wild mushrooms. Dress for outdoors; participants will carpool to a short walk.
Offsite Field Study, Demonstration, and Book Signing: Ariella Chezar: The Flower Workshop Thursday, September 1, 10 am - noon Members $25; Nonmembers $30 Join nationally recognized floral artist Ariella Chezar for an inspiring and informative program on flower arranging. The program will take place at Zonneveld Farm in Columbia County, NY, where Ariella will lead a tour of her cut-flower farm. She will demonstrate how to condition and arrange freshly cut flowers in the wild and unstructured style for which she is known. Using information from her latest book, The Flower Workshop, Ariella will lead participants through the basics of flower arranging. Following the walk and flower-arranging demonstration, she will sell and sign copies of her inspiring new book. Participants meet at Zonneveld Farm (directions sent upon registration).
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Workshop: Bringing Plants in for the Winter Saturday, September 10, 2 - 4:30 pm Members $25; Nonmembers $30 Wondering what to do in the fall with all those special patio plants that you have fussed over for the summer months? Horticulturist and Viridssima owner Jenna O’Brien will pass along tricks of the trade to gardeners so that they can protect their tender perennials, house plants, woody potted specimens, and succulent collections and encourage these plants to thrive during the winter season. Topics will include cultivation, fertilizing, watering, and health management as participants learn by doing and will leave with some plants to take home and carry through the winter. Overwintering and simple propagation techniques will help gardeners multiply their plant supply for the next season’s garden and save money next season (or spend it on something else) at the nursery. Bring hand pruners.
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Class: Gardening in Pots: How to Design, Plant, Maintain, and Winterize Container Gardens and Plants Mondays, September 12, 19, & 26, 5:30 - 8:30 pm Cost: $150 (co-enrolled with the Horticulture Certificate Program) Acquire a knowledge of the skills required for creating and maintaining beautiful and successful container gardens. Container gardening expert Jenna O’Brien starts with techniques for overwintering tropicals, tender perennials, bulbs, and annuals without a greenhouse by teaching participants how to store dormant plants, collect and save seeds, and take divisions and cuttings. Jenna also shares her thorough knowledge of plants that thrive in containers and how to care for them. This class will cover practical approaches to container gardening such as plants that do double duty as houseplants in the winter and as outdoor plants in the summer. The class is also filled with advice on container selection, siting, planting, growing, controlling pests, and maintaining moveable gardens.
Many of the tropical and tender perennial plants used by designers in our annual Contained Exuberance show can be easily overwintered. Some are grown on as houseplants, others are cut back and store, and still others have their tubers dug and stored for replanting the following spring.
Talk: Growing Giant Pumpkins Saturday, September 17, 1 – 3 pm Members $15; Nonmembers $20 (free for those attending Amy Goldman’s Fruits of the Earth) Join woody plant guru Adam Wheeler of Broken Arrow Nursery for a fun and informative look into the world of competitive pumpkin growing. Learn how to grow plants in the Cucurbit family to bear the biggest and best fruits possible. Although the lecture will focus on how to grow extra-large pumpkins, it will also inform gardeners about improving growing conditions for other pumpkin relatives including melons, squash, and cucumbers. And Adam will share his special pumpkin seeds with participants for the next growing season.
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EDUCATION
Talk and Book Signing: Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener with Joseph Tychonievich Saturday, September 24, 1 pm Members $20; Nonmembers $25 (co-sponsored with the Berkshire Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society) It’s the holy grail of gardening: a plant that perfectly matches your tastes and the conditions in your garden. The hitch? You’re not likely to find it at your local garden center. You’re going to have to create it yourself. But don’t worry—it isn’t hard. After all, gardeners have been doing it for centuries, simply by saving seeds of the varieties that tasted or performed best. This talk will get you started with the basics of how to produce a new variety of hosta, tomato perfect for your palate (or climate), a pepper with just the right amount of heat, or a more fragrant rose! Part of a new generation of gardeners, Joseph Tychonievich earned his BS in horticulture from Ohio State University, went on to work for Shibamichi Honten Nursery in Saitama, Japan, wrote Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener, spent two years working at the famed rare plants nursery Arrowhead Alpines, and was named by Organic Gardening Magazine as one of “six young horticulturists who are helping to shape how America gardens.”
Demonstration and Workshop: Pruning Shrubs and Small Ornamental Trees Talk and Book Signing: Fruits of the Earth: Amy Goldman, Using Modern Daguerreotypes of Historic Garden Treasures Saturday, September 17, 10 am Members $15; Nonmembers $20 Vegetable gardener extraordinaire and heirloom seed activist Amy Goldman shares her journey over time on the historic Abraham Traver farmstead in the Hudson Valley. Amy will chronicle her evolution as a gardener and will highlight some of the heirloom vegetables, fruits, berries, and nuts that she has grown over the past 25 years on her 200-acre farm, all of which have been preserved in another fashion as well – for the past fifteen years acclaimed photographer Jerry Spagnoli has used a daguerreotype process to capture these much-cherished cultivars of fruits and vegetables in ethereal images with a silvery luminous depth and a timeless beauty. Amy will share her experiences growing many of her favorite heirloom vegetables and fruits accompanied by images that are sure to inspire both the home gardener and those simply interested in our food heritage. A book signing will follow the talk.
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Saturday, September 24, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm Members $25; Nonmembers $30 Autumn is a great time to assess your woody plants for shape and structure. This demonstration and workshop, led by Forest Health Program Director for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and arborist Ken Gooch, focuses on pruning, including when, why and how to shape, renovate, train, or rejuvenate your woody plants. Learn about pruning tools, timing, and specific techniques suited to the home gardener. Pruning techniques for evergreen and deciduous hedges will also be covered. Wear waterproof outerwear and boots; bring pruners.
Lecture and Field Study: Invasive Plant Identification, Removal, and Control Strategies Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1 Members $40; Nonmembers $45 (co-sponsored with the Horticulture Certificate Program) Michael Nadeau, founding member of the Organic Land Care Project, will explore invasive plants from their identification to removal and control strategies for gardeners and homeowners. On Friday, his lecture at the Botanical Garden will focus on plant identification and techniques for dealing with common invasives. On Saturday, the class will undertake an offsite property evaluation to demonstrate how to develop a realistic plan to manage invasive plants. This program focuses on practical applications to help the home and professional gardeners tackle this increasingly pervasive problem.
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Talk and Book Signing: Combining Perennials Saturday, October 1, 10 am – noon Members $20; Nonmembers $25 The whole can be more than the sum of the parts, when you garden skillfully. A flowering perennial that is pretty by itself may be spectacular when contrasted with the right neighbor. And one plant can make up for the deficiencies of another when properly paired – a compact partner can hide the stems of a leggy beauty, another pairing can share their glory simultaneously or hold their own in two different seasons when artfully chosen. Garden writer and horticulturist Thomas Christopher, who recently authored Essential Perennials with Ruth Rogers Clausen, will share some of his favorite combinations, and pass along tips that will set you on the road to creating many more of your own.
Join Berkshire Botanical Garden in April 2017 as it visits the Great Gardens of Italy's Lake District For more information on this eight-day tour of public and private gardens, visit our website at berkshirebotanical.org
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Perennial Favorites Tom Christopher, the co-author of Essential Perennials, will be teaching at the BBG this season and has put together a list along with his co-author Ruth Rogers Clausen, of some of their favorite perennial combinations that look good and perform well as a team. The first pairing, a selection of herbs, may be inspired by Simon and Garfunkel, although on the way back from Scarborough Fair, Ruth and Tom might have realized that they forgot the parsley. Rosmarinus officinalis, Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurea’, Thymus ‘Silver Posie’ (rosemary, purple sage, and silver thyme) Helleborus foetidus and Brunnera macrophylla (bear’s foot or stinking hellebore and Siberian bugloss) Alchemilla mollis and Corydalis lutea (lady’s mantle and yellow corydalis) Euphorbia myrsinites and Sedum ‘Angelina’ (myrtle spurge and ‘Angelina’ stonecrop) Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ and Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’ (‘Blue Mouse Ear’ hosta and Japanese painted fern) Bergenia ‘Bressingham Beauty’ and Cerastium tomentosum (‘Bressingham Beauty’ elephant-eared saxifrage and snow-in-summer) Lobelia siphilitica, Hemerocallis ‘Poinsettia’, Astilbe ‘Deutschland’ (Blue lobelia, ‘Poinsettia’ daylily, and ‘Deustchland' false spirea) Liriope muscari ‘Variegata’, Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’, and Heuchera ‘Caramel’ (Variegated lilyturf, varietaged Solomon’s seal and ‘Caramel’ coral flower)
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According to Judith Sumner, pickling is an age-old art and can be as simple to make as these cold-pack dill pickles. In her class, she will examine the art and history of pickling, but in the meantime, feel free to get pickling yourself with this simple recipe.
Cold Pack Dill Pickles (refrigerated long-brine method) 2 cups cider vinegar 2 quarts cold water 3/4 cups pickling salt 10 garlic cloves, sliced Dill seedheads, as desired Pickling cucumbers, enough to fill glass jar Glass jar with a lid, either a pickling container or an old covered jar
Talk/Demonstration: The Art and Science of Pickling Saturday, October 1, 1-4 pm Members $30; Nonmembers $35 Food preservation can be a challenge, and before refrigeration, pickling was an essential strategy for safe food storage. In this illustrated talk and demonstration, participants will investigate the origins of vinegar, the alchemy of fermentation, and the antimicrobial properties of herbs and spices that are at the center of the art of pickling. Noted ethnobotanist and historian Judith Sumner will share modern pickling recipes and methods (and the science behind them), ranging from fresh pack dill pickles in crocks to bread and butter pickles processed in a hot water bath, and attendees will enjoy a tasting of pickle recipes and analysis of recipes from various historic sources. The workshop will also include making some quick pickled onions to be taken home by participants.
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1. Wash pickling cucumbers. Prepare a brine by combining water, salt, and vinegar. The salt should dissolve into the liquid. 2. Place half of the garlic in the bottom of the jar along with a portion of the dill seedheads. 3. Fill the jar with cucumbers and cover with a brine that combines water, salt, and vinegar. Add remaining garlic and dill and cover. Put covered jar in refrigerator. Pickles should be ready to eat in 7-10 days. NOTE: Cucumbers can continue to be added to the brine, as desired to keep up a steady supply of pickles.
Class: Gardening with Native Plant Communities
Talk: Growing Garlic
Thursdays, October 13 - November 3, 5:30 - 8:30 pm Cost: $195 (co-enrolled with Horticulture Certificate Program)
Wednesday, October 12, 10 am – noon Members $20; Nonmembers $25
This course, by sustainable gardening expert and Altamont Estate garden manager Brad Roeller, will help students better understand the principles and practices of ecological gardening with a focus on native plant communities. Students will be introduced to the native plant palette, resources needed to identify these communities, and habitats, and methods of introducing native plants into gardens. Methods of identifying and controlling invasive species, in addition to restoring areas overrun by invasive plants will also be addressed. Gardeners will learn how to enhance garden spaces incorporating native plants (as well as well behaved non-natives) that create sustainable, attractive, and low maintenance gardens.
This lecture on growing garlic by local garden guru Ron Kujawski comes just in time for planting a garlic crop. Ron will inspire, entertain, and inform gardeners about how to grow the best garlic in town. Each student will go home with a selection of cloves of Ron’s favorite picks for Berkshire County and the local environs. Ron will cover the subject from clove to scape, from selecting varieties and optimal growing conditions, to planting and cultivation, as well as curing and storage. Attendees will be given insight into growing other allium species, including shallots, leeks, and onions.
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All Cloves Are Not Equal We asked garlic grower extraordinaire Ron Kujawski for a few thoughts on one of the most beloved alliums. As always, the information he shared was to the point and informative whether one is planning on growing garlic or selecting a variety with which to cook. Garlic is commonly divided into two categories. Hardneck varieties, which typically have just one layer of cloves per head, are often favored in colder climates, such as the Berkshires and the Hudson Valley, because they require a long exposure to cold temperatures in order to grow. Softneck varieties, the type most commonly sold in grocery stores, have larger outside cloves and small inside cloves. They are typically grown in warm climates and are more commonly sold commercially because they have a longer shelf-life. Most chefs prefer hardneck types of garlic due to the range of flavor such varieties contain, from the mild flavored and easily peeled purple-skinned Rocambole to the stronger scented Porcelain garlic which stores for a longer period and has a thick white skin. And, Ron adds, hardneck types of garlic offer an additional culinary treat for cooks and thrifty (and hungry) gardeners – they produce an edible flower stalk or scape that is as beautiful as it is tasty.
Field Trip: The Gardens of Greater Philadelphia Study Tour Thursday – Saturday, October 13 – 15 Depart Thursday, October 13, 7:30 am from Berkshire Botanical Garden Return Saturday, October 15, 7 pm Members only Cost: $975 (includes travel, lodging, and all fees and admissions, as well as a $200 tax-deductible donation to the Berkshire Botanical Garden)
Join Garden staff members Elisabeth Cary and Dorthe Hviid for a three-day study tour. The cornerstone of this trip includes attendance at the Perennial Plant Conference at the extraordinary Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore The Scott Arboretum College. Attended by professionals and avid home gardeners from the northeast and mid-Atlantic states, this conference, which includes a keynote by landscape designer Richard Hartlage and plantsman Cassian Schmidt is by far the most The Terrace Outlook at Chanticleer sophisticated, cutting-edge gardening conference held on the East Coast. This three-day trip includes transportation, a tour of the Scott Arboretum with director Claire Sawyer and visits to the Main Line’s Chanticleer Garden and the Brandywine Valley’s renowned Longwood Garden as well as The Longwood Conservatory lunch in the orangerie at the private Jardin de Buis in rural New Jersey on the trip down. There will also be a bit of free time for relaxing and resting weary feet! On the return trip, the group will make a side trip to Terrain, the fabulous garden life-style store located in Glen Mills, PA. Our BBG staff is eager to share this wonderful gardening adventure with you. Visit berkshirebotanical.org for more information.
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Workshop: Fruits of Fall: Botanical Illustration Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday, October 19, 20, & 21, 10 am – 4 pm Members $290; Nonmembers $315
Tree & Shrub Healthcare Maintenance Removals Structural Support Fertilizing Pest Control Tick & Mosquito Control
(413) 229.2728 P.O. Box 603, 750 Berkshire School Road Sheffield, MA 01257
E: Support@RaceMtTree.com W: www.RaceMtTree.com
Enjoy the bountiful fruits of fall in a lasting portrait. In this three-day colored pencil workshop, botanical illustrator Carol Morley will examine the colors, shapes and light, and shade of the fruit. It is easy to fall in love with the brilliant color of a subject only to find the final portrait falling flat. In this workshop, students will learn how to control and select the colors needed from the beginning and progress with confidence. Starting with a tonal study of the fruit in graphite, the class will have fun finding all the colors that are present in the fruit, making a color palette that will serve as a guide. Working from the palette, students then make a 3D color study and progress to the fruit’s final portrait, selecting the appropriate colors that will give the fruit form and capture its succulent character. Bring a bag lunch. Materials list available at www.berkshirebotanical.org.
10% discount if you register for both Cider-Making & Cheese-Making Workshops on October 22
Workshop: Cheese-Making
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Saturday, October 22, 9 - 11 am Members $40; Nonmembers $45 ($5 materials cost paid to the instructor) Learn how to make a simple, delicious cheese in your own kitchen. BBG's own Chris Wellens will cover equipment, supplies, and basic techniques used in making most types of cheese. Each participant will make a batch of fresh mozzarella from start to finish, as well as take home instructions and a set of ingredients to make a batch or two at home. This workshop is for beginners, and participants will learn by doing.
Talk and Demonstration: Farmhouse Cider-Making Saturday, October 22, 11:30 am – 2:30 pm Members $25; Nonmembers $30
Come visit and see what makes Bay State special!
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In New England, cider-making is to autumn what maple sugaring is to the spring season: a cultural activity. Cider expert Dennis D. Picard will teach us the history and process of this American tradition from the selection and collection of apples to the pressing of the fruit, which results not merely in apple juice, but the extracted liquid from apples which is capable of fermentation. Picard will teach us how the fermentation process can result in 4% to 8% alcohol content in the cider that allows it to be kept from just after it is made all the way to the next season’s apple harvest. This program includes a slide presentation, a lesson on apple selection and varietal characteristics, grinding and pressing techniques, and an understanding of the art of fermentation.
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Workshop and Field Study: Landscape Design Clinic with Walt Cudnohufsky Saturday, October 29, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm Cost: $125 (co-enrolled with Horticulture Certificate Program) (To have your project considered, call 413-298-3926 for details) This fast-paced, information-saturated clinic with noted landscape architect Walt Cudnohufsky introduces design students, homeowners, and gardeners to methods of problem-solving as part of the design process. It will lead to the basic conceptual elements of a landscape master plan. All attendees will participate in the process of observing and designing and will come away with an understanding of how a good design evolves from evaluation and analysis. An active discussion format will focus on common design principles. A step-bystep presentation will focus the discussion later in the afternoon. The field trip will be held rain or shine. Dress for outdoors, wear waterproof footwear, and bring a bag lunch.
Talk: Enemies with Benefits: Are Some Non-native Weeds Friends? Saturday, November 5, 1 pm Members free; Nonmembers $10 Although many invasive plants seem to cause only harm, certain long-present, abundant species may provide important ecosystem services, including habitat for native plants and wildlife. Join Director of Hudsonia Erik Kiviat for a deeper understanding of the benefits and detriments of some non-native plants, including, but not limited to, commonly feared invasives such as Phragmites, purple loosestrife, and knotweed.
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Trees require care and attention throughout their lives, whether one is structurally pruning a young sapling for proper branching or monitoring a tree such as our age-old copper beech for diseases and pests.
Class: Tree Care for Gardeners Fridays, October 21 & 28, November 4 & 18, 1 - 4 pm Cost: $195 (co-enrolled with Horticulture Certificate Program) Whether amateur or professional horticulturalists, gardeners are stewards of the landscape, and probably spend our share of time among the flowers, shrubs, and trees. This course, led by certified arborist and BBG Board Member Tom Ingersoll, is designed for those who might not necessarily be the first to climb a hundred feet up a Northern Red Oak or wrangle a chainsaw to fell a 36” dead American elm. The goal of this class is to empower horticulturalists to better understand the largest plants in the landscape. Learn the basics of tree biology and identification, the tree’s role in the ecosystem, proper selection, siting, planting considerations, pruning of young trees, fertilization, pest identification, and when to call in the certified arborist.
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Conference: Gardening for Life
Rooted in Place: Creating Gardens that Respond to the Local Landscape Sunday, November 13, 9am - 4pm Offsite Location: Berkshire School, Sheffield MA (an information packet will be sent upon registration) Cost: $85 (lunch included) This fall, BBG is bringing together noted conservation biologist Tom Wessels from the Center for Whole Communities, Claudia West, co-author of Gardening in a Post Wild World, landscape designer Annie White, and a workshop on organic land care and maintenance with Tom Christopher, for a one-day conference focused on a new, environmentally sensitive, vision for approaching the connection between the home garden and the surrounding landscape. Each of the speakers will contribute to the topic from their own area of expertise ranging from landscape design with natives and creating plant communities to organic land care and ecological gardening. Home gardeners and horticultural professionals will walk away from the conference with a holistic and ecofriendly approach to apply to their landscape and garden. There will be a book sale and signing on the day of the event.
Claudia West
Annie White
Gardening in a Post Wild World: Creating Stunning Plant Communities that Stand the Test of Time
Top Native Perennial Combinations for Northeast Gardens
Ecological plantings are gaining popularity, but also face challenges due to environmental conditions and cultural expectations. When these plantings fail, it discourages future ecological landscaping efforts. This problem will not be solved if we continue to design as if it we were painting on canvas, perceiving plants as individual objects in space. It is time for a new practical and inspiring approach: a plant community that evolved from the world of ecological science. Join Claudia as she explains how plants fit together in the wild and how we can use this knowledge to create landscapes that are resilient, beautiful, and diverse. She is the co-author of a book of the same name as her lecture along with landscape architect Thomas Rainer and is the ecological sales manager for North Creek Nurseries where she works closely with ecological design and landscape restoration professionals. Tom Wessels
Self-organization and Co-evolution: How nature models sustainable systems
Choosing native plant species is just the first step to successfully incorporating more native plants into the landscape. Gardeners also need to know how to combine them and design with them effectively. As a native plant enthusiast, researcher, and landscape designer, Annie White will share some of the top native perennial combinations for northeast gardens and how to design native gardens that are as beautiful as they are functional. Tom Christopher
Ecological Garden Maintenance Learn the secrets of working with your garden’s ecology to win the war on weeds, to control invasive species, and to read the seed bank so that you can predict what will grow naturally in your garden. Thomas Christopher, co-author of Garden Revolution (Timber Press, 2016) will share the techniques of working with your garden’s ecology, techniques that will save you work and money, and yield a beautiful, resilient landscape in tune with the local ecosystem and wildlife.
Tom Wessels will take on the concept of the garden and local landscape as an ecological outpost to be considered as part of a larger ecosystem that strives for balance and inclusiveness. He is an ecologist and founding director of the master’s degree program in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England. He is the current chair of The Center for Whole Communities that fosters inclusive communities that are strongly rooted in place and where all people regardless of income, race, or background, have access to and a healthy relationship, with land.
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Talk and Book Signing: All the Presidents’ Gardens Sunday, December 11, 2 pm Members $10; Nonmembers $15
Sheep on the White House lawn
Workshop: Making More Plants: Propagating Your Own Woody Plants
Take a break from partisan politics and discover the majesty of the White House Grounds. Join us, as Marta McDowell, the author of Emily Dickinson’s Gardens and Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life, goes to Washington with her latest book, All the Presidents’ Gardens. The White House Grounds have been an unwitting witness to history—a backdrop for soldiers, suffragettes, protestors, and activists. Kings and queens have dined there, bills and treaties have been signed, and presidents have landed and retreated. All the Presidents’ Gardens tells the untold history of the White House grounds, starting with the seed-collecting, plant-obsessed George Washington and ending with Michelle Obama’s kitchen garden. Filled with fascinating details about Lincoln’s goats, Ike’s putting green, Jackie’s iconic roses, Amy Carter’s tree house, and information on the plants whose favor has come and gone over the years and the gardeners who have been responsible for it all, this is a must-read for presidential scholars and anyone interested in the red, white, and green.
Spring 4.75”W
Saturday, November 19, 10 am - noon Members $30; Nonmembers $40 Back by popular demand! Join woody plant specialist Adam Wheeler of Broken Arrow Nursery for a workshop focused on hardwood and evergreen propagation. This workshop will cover how to collect, prepare, and propagate evergreens and other woody plants by cuttings. Set at the best time of the year for collecting, participants will learn techniques needed for insuring successful rooting. Cultivation requirements, timing, and care of easily propagated varieties will be covered. Take home a selection of unusual deciduous and evergreen plant material in a simple propagator to grow on. Participants will be able to collect a very interesting selection of woody plant material on the grounds of the Berkshire Botanical Garden.
Workshop: Bark and Buds: Winter Identification of Trees and Shrubs Saturday, December 10, 10 am - 2 pm Members $25; Nonmembers $30 Field study (held indoors) Discover the many plants that lend bark, buds, fruit and structural interest to the garden in fall and winter. Join garden expert Brad Roeller and develop or enhance your ability to identify winter trees by twig and bud anatomy, bark features, and plant architecture. Students will practice their skills with winter tree dichotomous keys. This class will be indoors primarily and participants will work with collected specimens. Class enrollment is limited. Bring a bag lunch. Dress for limited outdoor fieldwork.
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WINDY HILL FARM 1,- ,9ÊUÊ", , ÊUÊ , Ê- "*
SUPERB PLANTS, EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE OUTSTANDING QUALITY, SELECTION & VALUE We offer our own Berkshire field-gown specimens, including Kousa dogwood; American, European, Green and Copper Beech; native birch; hybrid lilacs; viburnums; hydrangea paniculata; Fringe trees; witchhazels; resistant American elms; blueberries; winterberry; espaliered fruit trees; mature apple, peach and pear trees; herbaceous and tree peonies. OPEN DAILY 9 – 5 686 STOCKBRIDGE ROAD, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA 01230 WWW . WINDYHILLFARMINC . COM (413) 298-3217
Berkshire irrigation, inC. Underground Sprinklers for Lawn & Garden Residential – Commercial Celebrating our 20 th Year in Business
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Canaan, NY 12029 Fax (518) 781-3742 Email: berkirrigation@taconic.net
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Contributors The following constituents made contributions of $150 or more during the Garden’s 2015 fiscal year, from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. Contributions include membership dues, unrestricted contributions to the Garden’s Annual Fund, donations to designated funds, as well as grants and sponsorships. Thank you very much to all of our individual and organizational members, donors, funders, and other friends who help make our Garden such a wonderful community! $25,000 and above Jeannene Booher Maria and David Carls Madeline and Ian Hooper $10,000 - $24,999 Anonymous Joanne Cassullo Sherry and Daniel Kasper Matt Larkin and Elaine Grant The Estate of Helen Sloane Cynthia Valles and George Hebard Carol and Robert Williams $5,000 - $9,999 The Frelinghuysen Foundation Marian Godfrey and Thomas Gardner Ellen and Christopher Greendale Mary Harrison Gege and John Kingston Margot and Kip Towl Tania and Mark Walker Harriet Wetstone $1,000 - $4,999 Michael Beck and Beau Buffier Diane and Richard Brown Lee Buttala Mary and James Cooper Mary Copeland and Jose Gonzalez, Jr. Michele Dodge Nancy Fitzpatrick and Lincoln Russell Adaline Frelinghuysen Felda and Dena Hardymon Elise and Carl Hartman Donna and James Hurley Wendy Linscott and Jim Lamme Judith and Kim Maxwell Betsey McKearnan Dr. Allen and Dr. Gail Meisel Mrs. Rolf Merton Jo Dare and Bob Mitchell Skippy and Vaughn Nixon Wendy Philbrick and Edward Baptiste Alice Platt Georgeanne and Jean Rousseau Elizabeth Ford Sayman Lorayne Seibert Honey Sharp and David Lippman Anna and Starbuck Smith Maureen and Jack Sprano Appy and John Stookey Ingrid and Richard Taylor Gay Tucker Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Association Elisabeth and Robert Wilmers Ron and Veronica Yaple Kathleen and John Zutter $500 - $999 Jonathan Baumbach Stephanie Beling Marleen and Martin Brody
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Jytte and John Brooks Terri Chegwidden and Nathan Casto Michael and Licia Conforti Jeanine and Herbert Coyne Lucy and Nat Day Virginia and Rodney Frelinghuysen Annette Grant Lauretta Harris and Louis Cohen Lydia Irwin Patti and Harvey Klein Janet Laudenslager and Maxime Aflalo Gregor and Mary Leinsdorf Dennis and Judy Mareb John Millar and Rault Kehlor Susan Morris Brian and Deborah Munson Mitchell and Caitlin Nash Jim Panichella and Anita Jorgensen Barbara and Michael Polemis Michael and Ramelle Pulitzer Stuart Rosen and Suzanne Butterfield Stephanie and Richard Solar Jeffrey Solomon Harriet Weiss Jane and Christopher White Elisabeth Zander $250 -$499 Katherine and Leopold Abraham Lauri Aibel and Tim Sleeper Richard and Laura Allen Judith Ambery Carole Armstrong Michael and Sibylle Baier Barbara Bockbrader and Robin Norris Natalie and John Boyce Karen Brounstein and Jacob Kadosh Nelson Carrie Miriam and Tom Curnin Gordon Dinsmore, Jr. and Susan Dumont Joan Dix Blair John Donald and Penelope Borax Susan and J Williar Dunlaevy Constance Eagan Mr. Marion G.H. Gilliam Scott and Ellen Hand Philip and Anita Heller Mary Lou and Robert Lamb Stefanie Lew and Joseph Cho Amey and Tony Lewis Nina and John Lipkowitz Barton and Marnie Miller Ed Mufson and Phyllis Trager Eric and Ellen Petersen Bonnie Podolsky and Douglas Rich Donna Raftery and Vincent Inconiglios Adele Rodbell Charles Schulze and Lucy Holland Robert and Roberta Silman Mark Smith and John O'Keefe James and Katie Stewart The Estate of Henriette Suhr Lenore and Paul Sundberg Betsy Thompson
Kathleen Tremble Edward and Judy Warren Tom Whalen $150 - $249 Emily Aber and Rob Wechsler The Academy Garden Club of Lenox Jeffrey and Alison Atlas Anne Auberjonois and Sebastian Bonner Bruce and Anne Aune Jeff Bailey and John Lillis Ann and Leonard Bass Judith Becker Paul Bernstein and Jane Magee David and Cindy Berger Laura and James Blodgett Robert and Nancy Bott Sandra Bourgeois and Sarah Lytle Chase Booth and Gray Davis Ned and Karen Bristol Cipora Brown and Steven Feiner Nancy Bull Timothy and Patty Burch Cheryl Campoli Carol Castro Claudine Chavanne and Harry Stuart Neil and Kathleen Chrisman Catherine Clark and Edward Ivas COARC Evergreen Hall Lynn Villency Cohen and Stephen Cohen Jacqueline and William Connell Diane and David Dalton Susan and Edmund Dana Paul and Christina del Balso Anita and Nicholas Diller Fredda Ecker and Benton Bernstein David and Katherine Edwards Janet and John Egelhofer Kathi Egnasher Fort Orange Garden Club Elizabeth Fosburgh Carolyn Fulton Elizabeth Gall Donald and Marie Gelston Nancy and Peter Ghitman John Gillis Susan Ginns Steven and Barbara Glicksman I. Michael Goodman and Judith Uman Rebecca Greer David and Anne Griffin Susan and Carl Gutman Maria Theodoulou and Allan Haber Norine Harris and William Ortel Rebekah Hartman and Josh Pulito Jim and Kathi Hatch Jane and William Havemeyer Barbara Hazen Maureen and Paul Hickey Waynet Hinds Paul Hirt and Lynn Campana David and Maureen Hosford Ruth Houghton Bruce and Amy Humes
Janet and John Hutchison Richard and Marianne Jaffe Richard Kalb and Karl Laird Evy Kay and R. P. Washburne Joan Rogers Kelly Diane Kern Gary Kevit Morgan and Kathy Kierstead Rona and Michael Knight Thomas and Rosanna Koelle Arthur Kreiger and Rebecca Benson Malrangam and Ilana Krishnamurti Laurie Kropkowski Kevin Kuehlwein and Jonathan Feinman Ron and Patricia Kujawski Diana Ladden Sven and Susan Leaf The Lenox Garden Club Raymond Levin and Eileen Shapiro Adelle Kleinman-Levine and Ira Levine Susan and Dan Lipson Elizabeth Leonard Henry and Carol Mauermeyer Carol and Alfred Maynard Patricia May Christopher and Barbara May Wendy McCain Patricia McCormack and Lisa Goudey John and Marjorie McGraw Jamie McQueen Michael and Nancy Miller Kathleen and Carmine Milano John and Adele Miller Deborah and Stuart Minton Betsy and Lee Morgenroth Anjani and Barbara Nelson Karen and Eric Newman Elizabeth Olenbush and Roger Levine Diane and Scott Palmer Asa Palmer and Wenonah Webster-Palmer Susan Pardoe Carol Parrish and Paul Clark Richard and Jane Perin Doane Perry and Karen Carmean I., Reya and Penny Pincus Martha Piper Rick and Anita Pollak Peter Pollard and Sydney Thorn Joel and Kelly Poskus Erik and Ranesh Ramanathan Christine and Eric Rasmussen Kate Reardon Julie and Charles Reich Juergen and Leslie Reiche George and Kathryn Ritter Barbara and Charles Robinson Susan and Jeremy Rudd Crystal Ryan, Scott Chapman and Shaylee Ryan Stephen and Rosemary Sant Andrea Lee Schermerhorn and Joan Doucette Sally Schnappauf and Paul Kaplan Harvey and Justine Schussler Betsey and Mark Selkowitz Sara and John Set David and Susan Shapiro Barbara and Arnold Shapiro Jane and Terrence Shea Rosemarie Siegel Elizabeth Stanley Ronald and Martha Stewart Dawn Lyn Stix
Maureen Sullivan Arlene and Frank Tolopko Robin Tost Randy Tryon and Daniel DeBerardinis Lori van Handel and Nancy Roseman Reinout VanWagtendonk and Kristine Huffman Daniel Vincent and Stephen Borboroglu George Vollmuth Edward and Linda Wacks Linda Wagner Gail and Roney Weis Jeanne Weller and Marcey Bemiss Barbara Willner Peter and Joan Williams Robert and Karin Wiseman James Wood and Rebecca Gold Barbara Yake Elaine Zanelli and Katie Krocheski Linda Zukowski Sandra Zwink Memorial Contributions In memory of Rev. Duncan McQueen Donald Bilyeu Barbara Brouker Cathering Clark and Edward Ivas William Dracksdorf Robert Fallon David and Debby Flinn Marilyn Gerhard John Gillis Mary Lou Jarvis Elizabeth Leonard Gary and Ursula Lopenzina AnneMarie Marrell Carol Maynard Jamie McQueen David Payne Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners Ass'n Diane Wetzel In memory of Sherry Boutard Ruth Bass Catherine Clark and Edward Ivas Ron Kujawski Lebanon Valley Garden Club In memory of Janet Langlois Lorayne Seibert In memory of Wynn Sayman Elizabeth Ford Sayman David Reynolds Richard Ziter Ann Levine Beverly Hallock Elizabeth Fosburgh Susan and Edmund Dana John and Marjorie McGraw Dennis and Judy Mareb In memory of Caroline Church Susan and Edmund Dana Rosemary Siegel H Ashley and Deborah Smith Deborah Snyder In memory of Jack Middleton Ricky Bernstein and Elisabeth Cary Casey Bernstein Nia Joan Brown
Susan Burns J. Holden Camp Scott Coon Deanna DiCarlo Helen Dohn James Hobin Patrice Hollman Ronald Kane Carol Nersinger Richard H Taylor Catherine Welling In memory of Kathleen Kaiser Nora Cummings In memory of Aylmer Trivers Lenox Academy Garden Club In memory of David McKearnan Betsey McKearnan In honor of Louis Cohen Joan Basis Vicki Ernst Jane Feldman Kate Reardon Louise Vargas-Levy Corporate Donors. Matching Gift Companies, Foundations and Government Grantors American Express Chartiable Fund Berkshire Bank The Garden Conservancy The GE Foundation Guido's Fresh Marketplace The Pfizer Foundation Race Mountain Tree Services The Sasco Foundation The Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation The Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation Tom Whalen Nursery Plant Sale Donors ($100 or more) Steve Avonti Judith Bordenuk Fred Callander Lori Chips Elaine Clarke Byron Clough Benjamin and Mary Ellen Eaton Ira Feinberg Rob Gennari Scott Harrington Ann Janson Michael Johnson Judy and Dennis Mareb Peter Murkett Judy and Pat Murphy Craig Okerstrom Lang Susan Pardoe Chris Tomich Cynthia Valles Arjen Vriend Greg Ward Adam Weinberg Jeanne Weller Tom Whalen Joe and Matt Zema
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Come visit the Garden all season long! Membership at the Garden comes with all sort of benefits, from free admission to the garden and early buying at our Annual Plant Sale to nursery and class discounts, but many of our members say the most important benefit is supporting a place that they value and love. For a list of membership benefits, or to become a member, visit berkshirebotanical.org.
Welcome New Members! New members who have joined between April 1 and June 20, 2016 and prior to the press deadline for this issue of Cuttings.
Kathy and Steve Bluestone Belinda Kaye Donna Meczywor Olenka Bachinsky Earle and Jeanne Shumway Susan Junta Lorayne Seibert Albert and Joanne Kneiss Patricia Murtagh Akkie Martens Brian Fallon and Jenifer Nields Paula Harris Suzanne Sanduski and Tom Vresilovic Kathy Duhon Linda and John Mancia Rosemarie and Robert Simon Tim Carlson Rita and Robert Siegle Elizabeth and Michael Robinson Stephen and Shari Ashman Lauria Puntin Laura Sanno Ruth Seidler Abraham Castillo and James Badore Vicki and Michael Ernst Carol Barker Lisa Gamble Thomas and Patricia Johnson Nan Leighton Sherry Roberts Nansi Friedman Jennifer Whalen Eleanor Windman Lynne and Robert Horvath Michelle Curletti Anne Walsh Jennifer Bianco Heidi and Jennifer Bock Tim Cardillo LeVaun and William Graulty Elizabeth Grayer Nicki Belt Patty Flynn Sarah Hitchcock-DeGregori Eric and Casey Krawczyk Robert Hladick Lois Ferguson Mary McClellan Chet and Vera Kalm Isabel Rose and Stephen Stern Dylan Hotailing Wendy Conway Ann Gilpin Gregg and James Carroll Thomas Justin and William Bell Adele and Bruce Fader Carol and Michael Riordan
Tanya Rapinchuk Susan May Sunil and Blanca Hirani Ayn-Margret Schmidt Lynne Galler and Hezzy Dattner Rebecca Wolin and Danielle Bruno Bonnie and Edward Regendahl Aimee Van Dyne and Steven Tillem Marlene Kwast Helen and Albert Febbo Matt Goldstein Bonnie Kniskern Elizabeth Jones Lorraine Blank John Magnesi and Carol Bowen Sue Gurland and Mark Wasserman Stephen and Phyllis Schwartz Marilyn Sygrove and Dennis Greenstein Tom Consolati Craig and Carmen Swinson Pamela Strousse Felicity Bontecou Alan Murphy Deborah and Nick Kelley Helene Berger Betty Carver Carol Clark Ellen Rabina Katelyn Harvell Avery Cross Anna McGovern Lou Kratt Debra Deres Sarah Trudgeon and Aaron Thier Teresa and Norman Buchan Helen and Bill Carr Meryl Mandell Jerome Pinto and Frank Hunter Deborah Knight Diana and Richard Braman Bonnie and Terry Flynn Sharon Stoll Sally Weyers and Paul Bassette Greer Goodman and Lila McCormick Jodie Jacque Susan Abramowitz Carole and Steven Dono John and Deborah Helmke Amy Pollack and Trevor Weinstein
Join or renew online at www.berkshirebotanical.org, or call us at 413-298-3926, ext. 14. Checks may be mailed to: BBG, P.O. Box 826, Stockbridge, MA 01262. For more information, please email BBG Membership at membership@berkshirebotanical.org
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CUTTINGS
SUMMER/FALL 2016
AROUND THE GARDEN
Congratulations to Two Berkshire Residents Recently Recognized by the American Horticultural Society This summer, MaryEllen J. M. O’Brien of Sheffield, Massachusetts was given the Frances Jones Poetker Award, recognizing significant contributions to floral design in publications, on the platform, and to the public. And Lee Buttala of Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, received the AHS Book Award for his work with Shanyn Siegel on The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Saving. An inspirational floral designer, MaryEllen has competed in and served as a judge for numerous
flower shows across the country, including BBG’s own Grow Show. Currently she creates Flower Show Flowers, an online publication for amateur floral designers. Prior to that, she was the editor and graphic designer of By Design, a Garden Club of America (GCA) periodical focused on flower arranging. Also for the GCA, she created a floral design course that affiliate clubs use to teach the art to their members. Her own innovative designs have garnered numerous awards from the
GCA and other organizations. Lee, who has taught and worked at the Garden, worked with Seed Saver’s Exchange in Decorah, Iowa to create a primer on saving the seeds of heirloom vegetables, and lives just down the road from Howden Farm, the home of the prized heirloom ‘Howden’ pumpkins. He is currently working on his next book and writes a column on gardening for the Berkshire Edge.
BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN
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Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Qualprint 5 West Stockbridge Road Stockbridge, MA 01262 413-298-3926 • berkshirebotanical.org
Admission: Adults $5, Children under 12: FREE! FREE PARKING in Garden lots! Sorry, NO DOGS Intersection of Rtes 102-183, Stockbridge, MA (413) 298-3926 www.berkshirebotanical.org
ROCKWELL AND REALISM IN AN ABSTRACT WORLD A first-ever Rockwell exhibition exploring the divide between realism and abstract art. Over 40 artists including:
WYETH CALDER WARHOL NEEL LICHTENSTEIN KUNZ POLLOCK KOONS JOHNS NESSIM BARTLETT Sponsored by
The Connoisseur, detail. ©1961 SEPS. Norman Rockwell Museum Digital Collection.
nrm.org
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413.298.4100
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Stockbridge, MA
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open daily
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terrace café