The Garden

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Harlequin GlorybowerThe Peanut Tree

BY DOLORES MULLER

Ithink that Harlequin Glorybower or peanut butter tree, Clerodendrum trichotomum, is a curious name for a plant. The name comes from the Greek words kleros, which means chance or destiny, and dendron, meaning tree.

Though the name is odd, the bush or small tree is spectacular. What gardener wouldn’t want a plant with fragrant showy clusters of sweet-scented, white flowers in late summer? In the fall, the jasmine-like blooms yield iridescent blue/green berries and have what looks like hot pink flower petals at the base. These petals are actually the calyx. Unlike most other plants, the calyx stays around and adds interest to the ripe fruit. Everyone that sees this plant in the fall is impressed and wants to know what it is. The flowers, rich with nectar, attract bees, moths, hummingbirds and butterflies, and the berries attract many birds, so it is a useful wildlife food plant to have in your garden.

Harlequin Glorybower is a deciduous, open, multistemmed shrub or small tree native to China and Japan. Its nonformal growth habit can reach a height of up to 10 feet and have an equal spread.

But why is it called peanut butter tree? If you crush the leaves between your fingers, the scent is that of peanut butter. Growing a Harlequin Glorybower isn’t difficult. It grows well in hardiness zones 7 through 11, however, some information indicates that the plant may be hardy to zone 6b. We are in zone 7b so it is perfectly suited to our region. You can prune harlequin Glorybower to a single trunk and train it to grow as a small tree, or allow it to grow more naturally as a shrub. It also grows well in a large container.

Harlequin Glorybower tolerates partial shade, but full sun brings out the most attractive, denser foliage and bigger flowers and berries. It adapts to well-drained soil and is relatively drought-tolerant once established.

The literature on this plant suggests it can be aggressive and suckers generously, especially in cooler climates. I have had mine for about 10 years and have not found that to be the case. If it does, suckers can be removed in spring or fall and shared with a gardening friend. That is how I first got my plant. Lucky me, a master gardener friend had several and shared two with me.PL

PLPL A Look Back

Plain-Style Funiture of Early Moore County

Story and photography by Ray Owen

Before the availability of factory-made goods, craftsmanship was a means of survival in Moore County. Home furnishings were made by skilled artisans and said to be “free from what is unbecoming, inappropriate, or tawdry; of simple elegance; tasteful and refined.”

This fashion was known as “plain-style,” its characteristics being clean lines, minimal ornamentation and classical proportions. Early records describe furniture as “plain but neat,” with designs rooted in Old World traditions.

From 1740–1782, second- and third-generation migrants, mostly English, German, and Ulster Scots settled in upper Moore; Highland Scots settled the southern section and, by 1860, 22 percent of our population was enslaved people of African descent. They arrived with little more than the memory of their homeland and knowledge of their crafts.

The Highlanders ultimately comprised one-third of the population, forming the strongest cultural presence due to their ties of kinship and custom. Thousands of acres had been granted to them, centering around the highest ridge above Aberdeen that they called Mount Helicon.

Most early inhabitants were subsistence farmers who lived in one- and two-room log cabins. Some combined farming with cottage industries such as sawmills, gristmills, potteries and blacksmith shops.

Homes of the more affluent were of wood-frame construction, usually with porches, central halls, shed-room additions, exterior chimneys and detached kitchens. To provide some relief from summer heat, houses had rooms with high ceilings and were sited to take advantage of breezes, with aligned doors and windows.

The builders of these dwellings—the carpenters—were most likely responsible for furnishings as evidenced by the manner of construction, with mortise-and-tenon joints, rabbets and shiplaps. This “joiner’s tradition” of furniture making was most common with the Highlanders.

Dating such examples is difficult, because carpenters tended to favor styles long past the trends in urban centers.

Furniture in the Shaw House of Southern Pines offers examples of Southern plain-style prevalent in the 18th and 19th centuries.

This propensity for clinging to earlier styles marks other regions of the South, but nowhere is it more evident than among the Highland Scots.

The 1850 census lists two cabinetmakers in the county: Pleasant Sorrel and James Dick. The census also records 28 carpenters and 15 wagon, carriage and coach makers, any of whom had the skills and tools to make furniture. However, furniture work has not been identified from any of these craftsmen and most makers remain anonymous.

Rare exceptions are items found locally that originated in neighboring Montgomery County, an example being a sideboard at Shaw House in Southern Pines. Penciled inscriptions and family traditions suggest Jacob Sanders (1765–1817), his son Jacob L. Sanders (1799–1865), and his grandson Ira Sanders (1821–1905) made the objects attributed to this group.

Of surviving plain-style pieces, the lathe-turned slat-back chair with split-oak seat is most frequently encountered. Makers developed distinctive finial forms to top the rear posts as their trademark. Referenced as “common chairs” in early inventories, variations include youth chairs, high chairs, rockers, side chairs and armchairs. Some Windsor chairs were also made in the area.

Because of the lack of closets, dwellings featured an array of storage pieces. Forms include the “six-board chest” which sat directly on the floor or on a bracket-foot base. Some are of simple nailed-plank construction while others have dovetailed corners and interior-lidded compartments.

Early chests of drawers have a bracket base or turned feet. Drawer arrangements vary and pieces often have turnedwooden knobs, although glass, brass, and ceramic pulls were used. Lightwood escutcheons around keyholes sometimes provide a restrained decorative touch.

A secretary desk was made with a base of drawers below a writing surface, covered by a fall-front top that when opened becomes part of the writing surface. Such a desk with a mounted bookcase was called a “desk-and-bookcase.” More common was the slat-front desk on tapered legs, known as a

“plantation-desk” when built with a bookcase.

Various types of corner cupboards and flat-back cupboards were produced with plank, paneled or glazed doors. Doors were fitted with either forged, brass or castiron butt hinges that are often face mounted. Cupboards with open shelving and plate rails were popular and are now called pewter cupboards. The wardrobe is another form for storage of clothing and textiles.

“Safes” are flat-back cupboards with panels of cloth, screen or punched tin and were used to protect foodstuffs from insects and provide ventilation. These pieces were often constructed with tall tapered legs.

Tables performed a variety of functions in the early household. The larger tables provided a place for family meals while smaller, more portable tables provided working surfaces for a various tasks, some having a box or medial stretcher base.

The smallest tables were called “stands,” used for display or to hold candles and lamps. Less common are tripod and pedestal-base stands. Washstands were in every home due to the lack of indoor plumbing. These pieces accommodated soap, towels, pitchers and washbasins.

Tall leggy sideboards, now called “huntboard,” were associated with the service of food and drink. They were made with various drawer configurations and often have a

Clockwise, from top left: Shaw House entry room, corner cupboard and parlor.

Opposite page: Shaw House bedrooms.

cupboard section. Other forms associated with food service are the bottle chest and sugar chest.

For sleeping, four-post beds used tightly woven cording stretched through holes or around knobs, rail to rail. On this rope support was placed a woven split-oat mat, which held a mattress dressed with various textiles. Other pieces associated with sleeping are cradles and trundle beds.

Generally speaking, no two objects are exactly alike, variations in moldings and color schemes indicating an effort to match architectural features. In other cases, patrons might have wanted objects different from their neighbors. The most common wood was yellow pine, followed by poplar and walnut. Some items were unfinished and others were varnished or painted.

While a few family heirlooms survive, most early furniture was thrown out or given away as manufactured pieces came on the market. Additionally, environmental forces and human events such as war resulted in the destruction of most work by our early craftsmen.

Since the mid-20th century, numerous books and articles have been written on early North Carolina furniture, sparking interest and collection of plain-style pieces. Some of the scholarship is based upon the work of Moore County Historical Association, one of the oldest and most esteemed groups of its kind. PL