THE URBAN ROCK GARDENER T M

A NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY THE

MANHATTAN CHAPTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY Volume 22, Issue 6 March/April, 2009

~ MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS ~

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2009

MARIELLÉ ANZELONE: “EXPLORING NATIVE FLORA IN URBAN LANDSCAPE”

Mariellé Anzelone is the founder of Drosera, www.drosera-x.com, a company dedicated to celebrating the New York City area's natural

heritage and helping people reconnect with nature. As a botanist and urban ecologist, she has worked to preserve and restore the floristic

diversity of the five boroughs. She applies this biophilic approach to the design of native plant landscapes for greenroofs and gardens and

provides ecological assessments of forests and meadows for public and private clients. Why care about wild plants of big cities? Because

every day, the world becomes more like New York and less like wild and natural areas. This urban context shapes our landscapes and

affects our plant communities. Learn about the fundamentals of urban ecology, characteristics of urban forests, how urban and rural soils

differ, threats to indigenous flora, and mechanisms behind rarity. Please join us as Mariellé, an animated speaker with a charismatic

personality, will also examine how these dynamics determine which plant species thrive or perish in our natural areas.

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2009

AMY GOLDMAN: “THE HEIRLOOM TOMATO FROM GARDEN TO TABLE”

Dr. Amy P. Goldman, www.rareforms.com, longtime advocate and grower of heirloom fruits and vegetables, is a gardener, writer, and

board member of Seed Savers Exchange, The New York Botanical Garden, and Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project. She is also

a Manhattan Chapter member of NARGS, even though her garden with its multitudinous variety of edible heirlooms is located in

Rhinebeck, NY. Here is a woman who proudly spit the seeds from a tomato salad into a napkin in order to save them because some cagey

French chef wouldn’t tell her the variety. Tomatoes have never been more popular and heirlooms are certainly having their day in the sun.

Just check out any farmers’ market. Also please join us when Amy Goldman, who said winning 38 blue ribbons (plus the ‘Grand

Championship!’) at the Dutchess County Fair was like garnering another doctoral degree, tells us what the fuss is all about. (Amy’s new

book, The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table; Recipes, Portraits and History of the World’s Most Beautiful Fruit, will be available

for sale and inscription.)

{MEETING LOCATION: 15 Rutherford Place is between 2nd and 3rd Avenues and 15th and 16th Streets. Our meeting room is on the ground floor of

the building adjacent to the historic Friends Meeting House, facing Stuyvesant Square. Socializing begins at 6 PM and the meeting starts at 6:30 PM.}

~ RILEY ON THE ROCKS ~

Hello again and welcome truly to Spring! You should know that it is difficult to only communicate with you on a bimonthly basis, because my scattered brain and packed schedule assure me that I am “short-circuiting” and forgetting something in the abyss between newsletters. I must immediately tell you what a wonderful program we had at the February meeting because it is most fresh in my decrepit mind, but also ... the most exciting. Mary Buchen composed a panel of members who are basically gardeners in community gardens or some transfiguration thereof, or on ... borrowed land. First on the panel was Wilhelmine Hellmann, who is a stalwart member of our Chapter, with ... no garden of her own, but one who makes EVERY GARDEN HER OWN. Wilhelmine literally “pops out of the bushes” every time I visit any public garden in New York, in any season – she is there to learn. And volunteer, and appreciate what every garden has to offer whether it be NYBG or BBG or Wave Hill or a community garden. She spoke about her very personal plot in the LaGuardia Community Garden and what inspired her to grow everything imaginable, including a “non-hardy” Camellia and water lilies, and ... Lotus. Zabel Meshejian explained the intricacies of the truly public “Sheridan Square Viewing Garden” which was once a mere traffic island for parking of public vehicles only a decade ago. She explained the politics and fund-raising efforts that went into the inspiration of its founders to create this garden and the few people who remain, like Zabel, to sustain such a jewel in the midst of our city. A key to this garden is the terracing designed by Pamela Berdan so that there is an intimacy to the garden in the midst of this city. Zabel gloated over her flourishing Ramonda myconi that normally grows in the Pyrenees Mountains, but now is at home in Sheridan Square. Sami Shub, who has had a “gardening appreciation” for over 20 years, had only dreamed about a “garden of her own” and was inspired by David Kuck to “live her impossible dream” – she jumped out the window of her rent-controlled apartment and essentially created a garden in the backyard of an Indian restaurant with a substrate of “soot”, where they broke through a layer of concrete to reconnect with the earth. Although she began with plantings of Areca Palms and Impatiens, she now grows deciduous trees with grape vines and, an undergrowth of Arisaema. Sami is seeking a source of more diversity in her Arisaema “collection”, if anyone cares to contribute. But, Mary reflected that although her introduction to gardening had been in a community garden, and she had recently “advanced” to a private upstate garden, there was an element missing ... there was no one to share it with – and that was one of the major incentives to gardening “without a garden” in New York City. We all understood thoroughly and agreed to visit Mary and her upstate garden as soon as possible. But ... seriously, this was a wonderful sharing of gardening and motivation among the panelists and everyone in attendance.

I recently spoke to the Long Island Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society and was welcomed by a group similar to ours in nature and motivation, but ... they had better food – if that is one’s priority, and they meet at Planting Fields Arboretum which is a lovely setting for ANYTHING in Oyster Bay. My host was none other than John Bieber, our own chapter member and grower and propagator extraordinaire of Daphne, among other choice plant material. After the meeting, John, Don Ohl, and Andreas Dombrowski really were extraordinary “tour guides” of the magnificent plantings at Planting Fields in their Daphne/Rock Garden and ... beyond. The obvious focus of Planting Fields in February is Mr. Coe’s collection of Camellias in honor of his wife’s passion for the flower. But the star of the show in the Camellia House was the Daphne odora, a compact little 2’x 3’ plant with thousands of extremely fragrant flowers. Nearby was its cousin Edgeworthia chrysantha ready to burst into bloom (did you notice the one outdoors at BBG during Plant-O-Rama?). It was great to see that Planting Fields, which is now a part of the State Park System, has maintained its integrity as a premier horticultural institution. The hotel setting of an iced-over golf course for the Eastern Winter Study Weekend in Reston VA was a bit bleak in February, but the schedule was packed with excellent speakers and great vendors with very nice plants, including incredible Hellebores. A good time was had by all, including Lola and Kean and myself. The 2010 EWSW will be held in Massachusetts in late March – so put it on your calendar now! Chapter “goings on”, include: Please be preparing your sale plants for our Manhattan Chapter plant sale on Sunday, May 3rd – Kean and Lola need your contributions neat and tidy for our devoted customers. And, later in May, we are so pleased to be invited to visit Susan Keiser’s trough and container gardens in Rockefeller Center as featured in the most recent NARGS Rock Garden Quarterly. Please note the item elsewhere in this issue for details and make your reservations immediately with Zabel and Sami. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our new permanent (for life?) Editor of The Urban Rock

Gardener, the newsletter of the Manhattan Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society. We all know that Abbie Zabar is an acclaimed author and artist and dedicated member of our organization, and we are so pleased that she is now bringing her talents to us via our new newsletter. She will

welcome your contributions at fromabbie@gmail.com. ❧

{MICHAEL RILEY is the current Chairperson of the Manhattan Chapter of

NARGS. His own gardens on the Upper West Side, which range from sites as

diverse as interior walls, tree pits, and roof tops, have been fodder for several

published articles and his lecture, “Epiphytes In The Concrete Jungle.”}

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~ WHY DON’T YOU? ~

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR AND MORE CREATIVE GARDENING

❧ Try growing several plants that are completely new to you? We’re all susceptible to catalog hyperbole, so indulge that weakness to

the fullest! Whether grown from seed or a nurtured nursery or mail order offering, opt for something you’ve never heard of. It would

be good to do enough research to know the plant is suited to the conditions you can provide. If not, try another. There are thousands of

taxa to choose from, so venture a little further out than usual this year. You may discover a new favorite.

❧ Use a rasp or honing stone to sharpen the blades on pruning shears, shovels, and trowels before you forget? You’ll be surprised

how much better your gardening tools will perform.

❧ Cut back Hellebore foliage now so only new leaves are displayed with the flowers? I was reluctant to do this before, thinking the

plants looked better with the additional visual weight of the tattered old foliage, but I’ve changed. The old leaves will need to be

removed by June, anyway, and cutting them now leaves enough room for interplanting with early-blooming minor bulbs like

Galanthus elwesii, Anemone blanda, and Scilla siberica for a better floral presentation.

❧ Make an effort to divide plants early? I’m always amazed by how quickly and effortlessly many otherwise temperamental plants

respond to and recover from early division. A few plants seem to resent early disturbance, but I’ve found that even Peonies respond to

early spring division if you’re careful to protect brittle new growth. By starting early, you’ll have larger stocks of the plants you enjoy

most.

{STEVE WHITESELL, a 20-year NARGS member. is a landscape architect who likes plants. He gardens intensively in Kew Gardens Hills on about 1/40th of an acre,

including space annexed from his neighbor. He doesn't ask and she doesn't tell him to stop.}

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~ EDITOR’S LETTER ~

❧ DATELINE: MANHATTAN. WINDY AND STILL COLD, BUT SUN

IS ANGLING AROUND CORNERS OF MY GARDEN THAT HAVEN’T

SEEN A SHAFT OF LIGHT FOR MONTHS. BULBS ARE POPPING UP

IN TREE PITS AND ALONGSIDE ARCHITECTURE THAT COULD USE

A BIT OF CHARM. MY CLUSTERS OF ENCRUSTED SAXIFRAGE,

WHICH REMAINED METALLIC GREEN ALL WINTER, ARE GEARING

UP FOR PRIME TIME. THEY’LL BE FLOWERING SPIKES, OVER 12”

HIGH, DEFIANTLY WAVING HELLO TO THE GUSTS OF SPRING.

PERSEPHONE HAS BOOKED HER RETURN TICKET AND EVERY

SINGLE ONE OF US IS GOING ALONG FOR THE RIDE. ❧

Like any gardener, I enjoy the digging – finding out what was

going on before I got here. So in a dialogue that suggests a

Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post cover illustrating

how a rumor is started, I put a question out there, “Who were

the founding members of The Manhattan Chapter of

NARGS?”

Steve Whitesell wrote back, “I wasn't one of the founding

members of our Chapter, but came along about a year later, on

the suggestion of Karen Souza, who lives in Brooklyn again

after a few years in Seattle, but doesn't come to meetings very

often, though she was on the garden tour last spring. Larry

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Thomas would know who was in the original group, which I

believe included Ellie Popper, Lola Horwitz, John Jacobus,

and a couple others.”

But Larry answered, “I cannot give you a complete list, am not

sure I have one. Some of the originals, however, were Lalitte

& Howell Scott, Ellie Popper, Don Leake, Karen Souza,

Sidney Prince, Midge Riggs, Patricia Thorpe, Bob Bartolomei,

Mary Murphy. That's all I can dredge up at the moment. Lola

mentioned Marco who did join after a bit, though wasn't in the

original group.”

Lola Horwitz added, “Hi Abbie: Larry's memory will be better

than mine. I was excited to be a member but wasn't keeping

any records. There are some people who are deceased and

people who moved away. Karen Souza moved away but now

she's back. Delphine joined pretty far back but may not have

been there at the beginning. There was the member who did

the first little logo and had a Manhattan brownstone, right

Larry?” (Larry replies: “It was done by Don Leake who later

moved to California. Marco joined early but was not in the

original group.”)

And finally from Michael Riley, “Hi Abbie: Well, the Chapter

was started in November of 1987. I have some newsletters that

date 1988 with occasional mention of members’ names, like

Ellie and Lalitte Scott (probably the first treasurer after Larry

wore every hat.) However, I also located the April 1989

Membership List that you might find interesting. As to who

was ‘on the board’ or who might be considered a ‘Founding

Member’ I'm not sure that any such distinction was ever made.

Perhaps Larry can remember the first Board. If I read through

the newsletters, I might uncover more names with specific

titles.

In a postscript Michael adds: We might consider this 1989

Membership List to be ‘Charter Members’ since it is 11⁄2 years

since the first meeting and it takes that long to establish a

Membership. Names on it are Bob Bartolomei, Pamela

Berdan, Mitchell Bogen, Nicolas Ekstrom, Lola Horwitz, John

Jacobus, Freda Lipmann, Patricia Mason, Vera Myjer, Eleanor

Popper, Michael Riley, Midge Riggs, the Scotts, Karen Souza,

Lawrence Thomas, Patricia Thorpe, Linda Yang.

These days our Chapter has 81 members. We’re from all five

boroughs, as well as Westchester, Dutchess County, Columbia

County, Ithaca, New Jersey, even as far north as Canada. We

tend gardens in backyards and city plots, on rooftops and

windowsills, on fire escapes and under sky-lit bulkheads, at

vacation homes, public parks and private gardens. We are

lawyers, tenants, and landlords; writers, teachers, designers,

and artists; students and graduates, as well as second-

generation members. But come May, probably what most of

us are is behind the eight ball in terms of our garden. The

Urban Rock Gardener is mailed mid-month, bi-monthly;

materials to be considered for publication must be submitted

on the first day of the month, prior to publishing. We’d love to

hear from you. How about it? ❧

{ABBIE ZABAR is the Newsletter Editor. She has written, illustrated, and

designed fives books, 2.5 of them relate to gardening.}

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~ PLANT-O-RAMA AND THE SEED EXCHANGE ~

As always, our participation at Plant-0-Rama with eager table-sitters and interesting plants is reason in itself to keep our presence

going from year to year. I can't think of any other event with as much visibility to the public, even if the 'public' is 80% ‘other plants

people.’ This year there was an especially huge crowd at Plant-0-Rama resulting in a doubling of our membership intake from the last

2 years…from one to two! One new member is Marechal (as in Marshall) Brown, Director of Horticulture, Northern Manhattan Parks

(Parks and Recreation Department) who works with Kean Teck Eng up in Fort Tryon Park. I suspect that she already knows plants

very well. New Member # 2, Leslie Shearwood, looked at the plant Michael Riley had just bought that was sitting on our table and

exclaimed “I have to join this organization!” (Thank you, Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco.') Leslie is an art teacher in Jersey City

and she’s starting a program with teenagers where they'll grow succulents in an indoor greenhouse. Welcome to both new members.

Let me give belated thanks to those members who packaged seeds for NARGS back in December, 2008. They are: Ellen Borker, Mary

Buchen, Alexandra Dumont, Judi Dumont, Kean Teck Eng, Jack Kaplan, David Kuck, Byron Lloyd, and Larry Thomas. When I saw

Laura Serowicz, the Seed Intake Manager for NARGS, at the recent Easter Winter Study Weekend she said that the Seed Exchange is

the reason that many people join NARGS, and if it weren’t for the individual volunteers the Seed Exchange would collapse. So from

Laura and me, a big THANK YOU to those who joined in the patient processing of seeds. We had a rather good time. Maybe we’ll

figure out a way next year for you folks in the other boroughs to join in the fun! ❧

{LOLA LLOYD HORWITZ was the previous Chairperson of MCNARG, and Newsletter Editor from 2002-2003. She has been a Life Member of NARGS since she first

joined in the early 80's and has never regretted that decision. An article titled 'Short and Shorter: Grasses and Grass-like Plants I Have Grown' by her will appear in

the NARGS Spring, 2009, Quarterly.}

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~ THE PLAN ~

During the short, dark days of winter, a gardener’s thoughts turn to everything that was wrong with last year’s garden and how to right

those many wrongs. This is the year, I vow, when my garden will not be a mishmash of styles and impulsive plant purchases, where

the crush of annuals, rambunctious tomatoes, and tender bulbs will not fight it out with a crowd of alpines, shrubs, climbers, and

perennials but will evidence a PLAN, with a fully developed design and carefully selected plants. The first catalogues appear…

WRIGHTMAN ALPINES. Yes! I’ll convert the full garden to alpines! How perfect for my small garden in Brooklyn, and in truth, some

of the plants I ordered from them survived last year. So what if they didn’t actually bloom, they’re probably monocarpic anyway so

maybe I don’t even want them to bloom, right?

The rock garden vision begins to take shape….but what’s this? JOY CREEK’S CLEMATIS list is better than ever. So what if I bought

10 plants when CHALK HILL CLEMATIS went out of business last year. There’s always room for more! Use that vertical space! I’ll

have a rock garden surrounded by Clematis…and climbing Roses of course because I’m a sucker for Roses and there’s a new one

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from Kordes in the PICKERING catalogue that is perfect, but it gets kind of large so maybe something else will die and make room for

it…and I’ve always wanted to grow Rosa ‘Mermaid’ although it’s Zone 7 but we’re in Zone 7, aren’t we?

OK, a rock garden enclosed by climbers. Perfect. Except that I don’t really have enough sun for all of these plants so maybe I should

stick with plants that I know will actually do well in my garden. Hellebores do well...evergreen, tough, shade-tolerant, and have

wonderful flowers, especially all the new ones. I love some of these new varieties, but if I wait another year or two, won’t the

hybridizers have come up with beauties that I’ll love even more? Well, I’ll try a few. They’ll go at the back, under the climbers.

And of course I’ll grow tomatoes. Last year all the grape tomatoes that I composted seeded around, and the four plants I let live were

all a bit different, and all delicious. In fact, we’re in a Recession. Shouldn’t I be self-sufficient? Maybe the whole garden ought to be

devoted to vegetables. The PARK’S SEED listing of tempting tomatoes goes on for pages…but shouldn’t I go organic and heirloom?

SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE says so. But wait, here’s the MILLER NURSERIES catalogue from Canandaigua, New York – I want to grow

every fruit tree they offer. I have room – I’ll espalier!

I must have a water feature, certainly, both for the sound, and for the birds, and maybe I’ll try a dwarf Lotus again. It worked one year

(the other year it rotted). And look at all the great drought-tolerant plants at HIGH COUNTRY GARDENS. Shouldn’t I xeriscape? (Note

to self: Ask husband what water bill was last year. Revised note to self: Absolutely do not ask husband what water bill was last year.)

Now the catalogues begin arriving at a furious pace: NICHE GARDENS! Giant native grasses and perennials swaying in the wind!

PLANT DELIGHTS! Hosta ‘Elvis Lives’! I’ve got to grow it because I love the name. FOREST FARM! Woodies! I could fit a couple of

them in, and I love woodies. SENECA HILL! South African bulbs! If Ellen Hornig can grow them in Oswego then so can I. SELECT

SEEDS! Fragrance! COTTAGE GARDEN heirlooms! LOGEE’S! Meyer Lemon! (Did I mention that I really want this plant?)

BLUESTONE PERENNIALS! How can I not order from them, they still grow their own plants. SONG SPARROW! Peonies! Maybe

this one won’t get powdery mildew. WHITE FLOWER FARM! Annuals with attitude for my planters! WAYSIDE! Shouldn’t I just order

from everyone to keep them in business? And so on, and so on, and so on …

But, no mishmash for me this year … I’ve made my PLAN: annuals, veggies and tender bulbs, mixed in with shrubs and perennials

(and alpines and a water feature), with an enclosure of roses and climbers. Hmmm, oh well, the best laid plans … ❧

{JUDI DUMONT is an attorney moonlighting as an obsessive gardener on a tiny Brooklyn plot. She is a member of NARGS, MCNARGS, and the Alpine Garden Society,

as well as several other gardening organizations. Her latest gardening endeavor is starting seeds from the NARGS seed exchange for the upcoming Manhattan Chapter

Plant Sale, when she looks forward to replacing all of the plants she has killed in the previous year through ignorance, abuse, or neglect.}

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~ CALENDAR ~

(Gardener’s Alert: All of these events are rain or shine)

❧ Sunday, April 26, 10-4 PM, 3rd ANNUAL ALPINE PLANT SALE at Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, NY. Over 2000 plants are for

sale in an exquisite setting. There will be specialist selections from Wrightman Alpines, Evermay Nursery, Alpines Mont Echo,

Carol’s Collectibles, Don Dembowski, Les Plantons, Stonecrop Gardens, and Betsy Knapp Troughs. More information:

www.stonecrop.org or 1.845.265.2000.

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❧ Sunday, May 3, 9-11 AM, MCNARGS ANNUAL SPRING PLANT SALE will be held in the historic ‘backyard’ garden at Merchant’s

House Museum, 29 East 4th Street, (between Bowery & Lafayette Street). Come early and choose from a wide selection of alpine and

rock plants, sun and shade perennials, plus so much more. A reminder to Chapter members who are donating plants to the sale: please

label all contributions with scientific name and bring them in by 8:30 AM on the day of the sale. It will help greatly, as we have only a

short time to set up our display before the crush begins at 9:00 AM. We are looking for Chapter volunteers to help with set-up, plant

placement, pricing, check-out, packing, etc. To do so, please contact Kean Teck Eng at keanteck84@hotmail.com or Lola Lloyd

Horwitz at llhorwitz@gmail.com. If you do not have access to email, please sign up as a volunteer at one of our upcoming Chapter

meetings. Thanks to John Rommel, we will have coffee, snacks, and a reading corner. Additional snacks are most welcome. Bring

your friends to this unique and eagerly anticipated annual benefit sale, our Chapter's most important fund-raiser of the year. Don’t

miss this wonderful tribute to spring. Please join us. (Note: Members who contribute plants get 1st dibs at the 9AM sales tables.)

❧ Thursday, May 7, 2009, from 11:00 AM to 6 PM, 4th ANNUAL BATTERY PLANT SALE: “CELEBRATING 400 YEARS OF DUTCH

HERITAGE.” 3,000 hardy perennial divisions – not readily available in nurseries – from The Gardens of the Battery’s 70,000 square

feet of grasses and perennials. Some hybridized selections will be from Piet Oudolf’s nursery in the Netherlands. World-renowned

Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, known for his use of large-scale perennials in public gardens, developed the Battery’s horticultural

master plan. All plants are organically grown, pest free, and hardy; and new this year, there will be bare-root plants! Over the years the

Battery Gardeners have learned which varieties work best in these glorious public gardens at the tip of Manhattan. Come, buy, and

benefit from the trials of their plantings. Director of Horticulture, Sigrid Gray, as well as The Battery Gardeners are on hand to

provide consultation on plant selection and garden design. A “Plant Sale List” will be available mid-March for pre-sale ordering. More

information: 212.344.3491 (x21) or thebattery.org.

❧ Saturday, May 23, 10 AM and Wednesday, May 27, 5:45 PM MCNARGS GARDEN TOUR, of Susan Keiser’s Rockefeller Center

Trough Gardens. (See Susan’s article in Winter, ’09 NARGS Rock Garden Quarterly). Sign up with either Zabel Meshejian

(212.242.2459) or Sami Shub, saminyc@hotmail.com for one of two visiting dates. For security reasons, attendance is limited. There

will be a $3. donation collected from each attendee that goes towards the revitalization and plant amendments to Susan’s ongoing

project, the largest trough garden in the world.

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~ NEWS ~

UNION SQUARE ROCK GARDEN COMMITTEE

The UNION SQUARE ROCK GARDEN COMMITTEE has been working on the project of constructing a rock garden in Union Square for nearly three years. The Chapter applied for, and received a grant from the Norman Singer Endowment Fund for organizing, constructing, and planting such a project. However, after considerable work on the parts of the committee members, Albert McGrigor, Irene Clark, Michael Lytle, and Lola Horwitz, the project has not moved forward. The garden was to have been supported and maintained by Chapter Members and the complexities of the situation have resulted in the dissolution of the Committee by the Chapter Board. The remaining funds from the grant were returned to NARGS. We hope that such a project is still within the realm of possibilities and wish anyone interested in it, to please pursue it; however, the Chapter will now focus its resources on other activities.

REQUEST FROM A MEMBER

KEAN TECK ENG, keanteck84@hotmail.com, is asking for help in the restoration of the ALPINE GARDEN AT THE CLOISTERS in Fort Tryon Park, NY. This historically important garden was originally designed in 1935 by the Olmsted Brothers, landscape architects. (See MCNARGS Jan/Feb. 09 Newsletter for Kean’s article on this site.) To all those interested in working on a unique urban rock garden with great potential Kean thanks you for contacting him.

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MEMBER IN THE NEWS

AMY GOLDMAN, our April 20th speaker, will have her Rhinebeck herb and vegetable garden at ‘Over The River Farm’ featured in the May 2009 issue of Metropolitan Home. (Steve Whitesell described this garden in our MCNARGS Sept/Oct. 08 Newsletter as ‘lovingly created and maintained to a very high standard.’) Thanks to Amy and the Seed Savers Exchange, www.seedsavers.org, for their contribution of tomato seeds. Thank you too, to Michael Riley, who will be starting these seeds 5 to 6 weeks in advance of transplanting outside so that we can offer varieties to all Members at Amy’s April 20th meeting. There will be ‘Flamme’ and ‘Silvery Fir Tree,’ but the best news is all the varieties, except ‘Gold Medal,’ do well in containers.

~ LATE BREAKING NEWS ~ The NARGS Awards Committee has announced the recipient of the LINC AND TIMMY FOSTER,

MILLSTREAM GARDEN AWARD FOR A SPECIAL GARDEN, to be the LARRY THOMAS TERRACE GARDEN. Details to follow.

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OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS, 2009-2010 CHAIRPERSON Michael A. Riley 212.666.2395 ManhattanNARGS@Verizon.net

PROGRAM CO-CHAIRPERSONS Mary Buchen 212.982.1743 marybuchen@yahoo.com

Lola Lloyd Horwitz 718.788.5340 llhorwitz@gmail.com

TREASURER John H. Jacobus 212.755.5852 jacobusjh@aol.com

SECRETARY Lawrence B. Thomas

212.744.6926 lthomasnewyork@aol.com

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Kean Teck Eng 646.379.5274 keanteck84@hotmail.com

DIRECTORS Steve Whitesell elysium214@aol.com Abbie Zabar fromabbie@gmail.com

NEWSLETTER FOUNDING EDITOR Lawrence B. Thomas

NEWSLETTER EDITOR; DESIGNER & ARTIST Abbie Zabar

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Steve Whitesell

PRINTING & PRODUCTION Michael Riley

CONTRIBUTORS to March/April 2009 Issue Judi Dumont, Lola Lloyd Horwitz, Michael Riley, Steve Whitesell, Abbie Zabar

THE MANHATTAN CHAPTER of NARGS, founded in 1987, is a group of gardening enthusiasts who are dedicated to the propagation and promotion of an eclectic range of plants, with emphasis on alpine and rock gardening

selections. Our Chapter Programs, designed for a sophisticated mix of professionals and amateurs, cover a broad spectrum of special interests such as rock and alpine, woodland, bog, raised bed, planted walls as well as trough

and container gardening.

The $20 yearly membership fee entitles members to five informative copies of THE URBAN ROCK GARDENER, to attend all meetings and field trips, as

well as tours of unique and private gardens; plus participation in our much-anticipated Annual Plant Sale. If you are not already a member we invite you to be a guest at one of our upcoming meetings.

© 2009 Manhattan Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society

No material published in this newsletter, printed or virtual, can be reproduced without the express permission of its author.

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MANHATTAN CHAPTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY

101 West 104th Street, New York, NY 10025

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