Verdant Views Issue 2

Plantations news: Program area uPdates

1cornellplantations.org


2 verdant views Spring/Summer 2011

Publication of Verdant Views is made possible with support from the James L. Sears ’24 Plantations Director’s Discretionary Fund, a gift of Mary Helen Sears ’50.

Verdant Views is published by Cornell Plantations: the botanical gardens, arboretum, and natural areas of Cornell University. Send inquiries about Cornell Plantations or Verdant Views to:

Cornell Plantations One Plantations Road Ithaca, NY 14850-2799

E-mail: [email protected]

Telephone: 607-255-2400 Web: cornellplantations.org

Cornell University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action educator and employer.

Cover: Solomon’s Seal in the Mundy Wildflower Garden, Paul Schmitt

This document is printed with soy based ink. This paper meets all sourcing requirements for SFI and FSC certifications. 100% of the recovered fiber used in the manufacture of this paper is from post-consumer waste. All liquid solvent waste generated in the printing of this document is recycled at the site of the printer.

5/11 2450 GPP

verdant views Spring/Summer 2011

Plantations News

Welcome Center Update 4

Saving Hemlocks 6

Pan–East Asian Garden 7

Southeast Overlook 8

Staff Favorites 9

Features

Uncommon Small Flowering Trees 10 by Mary Hirshfeld

A New Resource for Public Garden Managers 13 by Beth Anderson

Why We Still Need Liberty Hyde Bailey 14 by Lynn Purdon Yenkey

Does Plant Provenance Matter? 18 The Case for Indigenous Plants in the Garden . . . . . . . by Carolyn Summers 19 Wild Urban Plants . . . . by Peter del Tredici 23

Invasive Species Through Art 26 by Lynn Purdon Yenkey

Errata—In issue 1, Mary Hirshfeld was listed as the author of the article “Puzzling Out New Gardens”; this article was written by Irene Lekstutis, landscape designer for Cornell Plantations.

Pledges from Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity at Cornell, assisted inadding of compost to the Herb Garden this spring.


Director’s Message

On Beauty

It is everywhere around us—a society-wide mania focused on beauty. We see it in the

ads that permeate our magazines, in films concerned with idealized youth, and in

the paparazzi-driven obsession with celebrity.

Beauty is also a vital component of public gardens, whether it is a planting of

crabapples in full may splendor, or a well-designed bed of perennials in July. to a

large extent, however, beauty is simply the hook that gardens use to bring the public

to their facilities, with the hope of educating those visitors once inside the grounds.

at Cornell Plantations, we are extremely pleased with the plethora of positive

comments we’ve received regarding the beauty of the new Brian C. Nevin Welcome

Center. this public response has been confirmed by the awards of excellence the

building’s architects—Baird, sampson, Neuert of toronto, ontario—have received

from Canadian Architecture magazine and the ontario Board of architects.

If you have not yet explored the Nevin Welcome Center, we trust that you too will feel

that it’s a building that blends beautifully into the surrounding Comstock Knoll. But

once you have admired the center and made use of its many facilities, we hope that

you will explore the Herb garden, bike in the arboretum, or take a hike through Park

Park. the sense of discovery and of wonder that you will experience throughout

Plantations is what is truly beautiful.

Donald A. Rakow, The Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director, Cornell Plantations

F. R. Newman Arboretum

Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center

Phot

os: A

lpha

Phi

Om

ega

stud

ents

, & B

rian

C. N

evin

Wel

com

e Ce

nter

, Uni

vers

ity P

hoto

grap

hy; F

. R. N

ewm

an A

rbor

etum

, Lyn

n Pu

rdon

Yen

key



Phot

os: U

nive

rsity

Pho

togr

aphy

The Nevin Welcome Center— A Space for Art, Education, and PeopleAfter the official dedication ceremony last October, we spent the last months of 2010 gearing up to put the Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center to full use. After so many years of planning and designing, Plantations finally has the building we’ve long needed to serve our visitors. The Nevin Center also is making it possible for us to expand our public programming and fulfill our educational mission in exciting new ways.

A view of the lobby at night

A botanical illustration class in the Ten-Eyck room

New Space for EducationWhen planning the Nevin Welcome Center with the architects, we emphasized the need for flexible spaces for educational programs. The Edward Ten-Eyck Room fulfills this wonder-fully, accommodating up to 100 people with lecture-style seating. The room can be divided into two smaller spaces for separate classes or meetings, and, with one side equipped with a sink, we can offer workshops that let students get their hands or tools dirty.

Our first educational event in the center, “Identifying with Trees,” filled the spaces inside and out last December during a fun, successful inauguration, showing how much more we can now offer. While families listened to fables about trees from varied cultures in the Ten-Eyck Room, others enjoyed hands-on activities on the patio or walked with our experts to learn how to identify trees by their buds. After braving the chilly morning, all had a warm space to return to for refreshments and conviviality. Since then we have hosted

several workshops, many meetings, and have more new summer and fall programs planned.

Given the multipurpose functionality of the Ten-Eyck Room and the separate 10-seat con-ference room, we are also making the Nevin Wel-come Center available to Cornell departments and student organizations, as well as outside groups for meetings, special events, and wed-dings. Although the center’s primary purpose is to serve Plantations’ programs, facility rentals are a welcome source of new revenue.

Food Plants in FocusThis fall, we will offer an exciting new educa-tional series on food plants and their many uses. Partnering with local chefs, the series will combine garden tours and cooking dem-onstrations. We’ll show how herbs, vegetables, and fruit grown in the home garden can become delectable additions to anyone’s table. Check www.cornellplantations.org for program dates and more information.



Garden Greetings from a ProThe first person you’re likely to meet at the Nevin Welcome Center is our visitor services coordina-tor, Diane Miske. No stranger to Plantations, Diane was the curator for the Robison Herb Garden and Young Flower Garden for 25 years. With her vast knowledge of our plants, gardens, and history, she is the perfect person to help you plan your visit. In her new role, Diane also coordinates art and educational exhibits at the Nevin Welcome Center.

If you’ve ever paused in the Young Garden to read the display books about the Language of Flowers, or the significance of plants through history, you already know Diane’s work. Beyond designing, and caring for this garden, she has researched and designed interpretive materials and offered educational programs to help visitors deepen their knowledge of plant lore and use, and to appreciate flowers beyond their simple beauty. Now all our visitors will have the benefit of her passion, knowledge, and friendliness.

Nevin Center visitors are treated to a reception space that provides information, refreshment, and souvenirs of their visit to Plantations.

Expert Help and Customized ToursWhere to start? With the array of choices among Plantations’ botanical gardens, arboretum, and natural areas, it usually depends on the season, individual interests and mobility, and time available. Advice is easy to come by, as experi-enced staff and volunteers are always at hand in the Nevin Center. And, a new touch-screen kiosk in the lobby, funded from a grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust, can help you design your own custom tour. The interactive program helps you discern what to see and do, from gaining inspiration for a home garden to exploring a new spot recommended by one of our staff. You can search for the day’s bloom highlights, a particular plant or memorial, or a new path to jog, hike, or walk your dog. With a printed itinerary and our new visitor map in hand, you’re soon off to experience Plantations’ plants, gardens, and natural areas in the way that suits you best.l

Sonja Skelly, Director of Education

A Taste of Gardens in the Gift ShopChanging art exhibits and colorful Plantations displays greet visitors entering the welcome center’s two-story atrium, providing a bit of history and a sense of what awaits in the sur-rounding gardens. Just beyond, the Gift Shop offers a collection of items reflecting our botani-cal focus, such as handcrafted prints and cards from local artists, useful gardening tools and accoutrements, and books on horticultural and natural areas topics.

Guided by our commitment to sustainability, we feature green products, such as eco-friendly cleaning solutions from The Laundress, founded

For more information about using the Nevin Welcome Center, contact Diane Miske at 607-255-2400 or email [email protected].

by Lindsey Wieber Boyd ’98 and Gwen Whiting ’98, graduates of the College of Human Ecology. Mac Bishop ’11 is supplying Pendleton wool scarves by NativeX, the company he founded as a Cornell student. Plantations’ supporters can carry our new logo with them on a variety of items, from organic cotton tee-shirts and jackets to water bottles and travel mugs. Café tables and chairs invite visitors to relax in view of the gardens and enjoy a cup of locally roasted Gimme! coffee and a bite to eat: sandwiches, chocolates, biscotti, and pastries from local retailers.

Visitor Services Coordinator Diane Miske helps orient a visitor.



Two years ago, when Plantations’ natural areas staff first identified the non-native, invasive hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) in Cascadilla Gorge and around Beebe Lake, they knew they had to act quickly. The insect causes near 100 percent mortality to the eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and has decimated hemlock forests from Georgia to Maine. When stands of hemlocks die, the resulting increases in light and temperature change the surrounding habitat drastically, creating inhospitable conditions for native plants and encouraging invasive plant successors. When the adelgid kills trees that shade streams, rivers, or wetlands, the fish, amphibians, and invertebrates living there succumb to too much light and heat, furthering the ecological upset.

Paradoxically it’s the steep topography of Ithaca’s hills and gorges that poses the greatest challenge to protecting the hemlocks that help characterize them. Todd Bittner, director of natural areas, explains that standard control efforts are poorly suited to the problem: “The traditional pesticide kills beneficial native insects as well as hemlock woolly adelgid, and using typical soil application techniques in Ithaca’s rocky gorges risks runoff into streams, potentially killing larvae that are the foundation of the food web for fish, mammals, and birds. We determined that this was an unacceptable risk.” In response, the natural areas team began a multifaceted research project

Saving Hemlocks: Student Research on the Ground and in the Trees

Part of the fun of her internship for Katie Graziano (left) was spending hours in Cascadilla Gorge collecting data—10 branch samples from every tree in the study. Samples

above 30 feet required help from arborists, who would climb trees and drop samples from as high as 90 feet.

Katie Graziano, 2011 summer intern


Phot

os: C

olle

ctin

g da

ta in

Cas

cadi

lla G

orge

, ?; K

atie

Gra

ziano

, Phi

l Syp

hrit;

Artw

ork

prov

ided

by M

arc

Pete

r Kea

ne

Thanks to Roderick Chu, MBA ’71, and the Cornell Asian Alumni Association (CAAA), Plantations has received over $32,000 in gifts

toward the site analysis and design phases for a new Pan–East Asian Garden in the botanical garden. Chu was the 2011 honoree at the CAAA annual banquet in January, and chose to direct a share of their fundraising proceeds to our project.

The garden will be located on the Comstock Knoll plateau, between the Nevin Welcome Center and the Nearing Summer House. To be designed by well-known landscape architect Marc Peter Keane, it will include elements of the great landscape design traditions from China, Japan, and Korea. Keane envisions conifers of Asian origin as the backbone of the plantings, blending with the existing tall pines on the knoll. With pathways linking it to the Bowers Rhododendron and Azalea Collection, the new Pan–East Asian Garden will be a lovely place for visitors to contemplate the beauty and restorative power of nature.

Keane, based in Ithaca, is a 1979 graduate of Cornell’s Department of Landscape Architecture, and is presently a research fellow at Cornell and the Research Center for Japanese Garden Art (Kyoto), where he also helps to develop an annual garden seminar. He worked in Kyoto from 1985 to 2002, first as a research fellow at Kyoto University, and then as a landscape architect and writer. His design work reflects his back-ground, blending Eastern and Western aesthetics and philosophies, and can be seen at www.mpkeane.com. Many alumni and local residents may recall the experimental tea house and garden that Keane and students in a landscape architecture class created in 2003 on the grounds of the Johnson Art Museum. We look forward to this style gracing Plantations permanently as the garden is developed.

in summer 2009, looking for safer and perhaps more effective treatments. This critical conserva-tion goal converged with our educational mission, as we received hands-on help from students in the Plantations Natural Areas Research Internship.

Cornell senior Katie Graziano ’11 participated in last summer’s data collection phase as the Plantations 2010 Tang Natural Areas Research Intern, and continued with data analysis during the fall and spring semesters as a student worker. She became immersed in the project and chose to make it the focus of her undergraduate research honors thesis in the Department of Natural Re-sources. The study used a variety of standard and experimental application methods to find a solu-tion that is more selective to invasive species and minimizes impacts to native species. It compared traditional treatments with imidacloprid, a non-selective pesticide, with a more selective, naturally produced pesticide alternative called Soluneem,® whose active ingredient is derived from the neem tree (Azadirachta indica).

During the summer, Graziano worked with Plantations’ arborists and natural areas staff to collect branches from affected trees, and then examined them under a microscope to determine the level of infestation. In the fall she analyzed the data and presented the findings in a scientific paper. “So far, we have found that only one of the seven treatment groups showed significant mortality of the hemlock woolly adelgid,” she says. “The results showed that the alternative, neem-based treatment was not as effective as either a stem injection or trunk spray of imidadoprid.”

Though Graziano’s results show that Plantations hasn’t yet determined the best balance of insect control and safety for aquatic systems, Bittner says it doesn’t mean the study is over. “Katie’s study has made us realize that we need to continue at least one more sampling season to

look at the full effect a year and a half after the trees were treated and determine efficacy. Each chemical has a different lag time and lifespan in the tree, so the way they behave can look a bit like the tortoise and the hare.” Since this is the first study of neem against the hemlock woolly adelgid, he points to a number of unresolved questions: “Does the tree take it up and how quickly? Will the adelgid ingest it? Will they be immune to it? It could fail in a number of ways, or it could be the tortoise.”

Meanwhile, Graziano is getting feedback on her results from researchers working on hemlock wooly adelgid infestations in other regions. Like the research itself, communicating with profes-sional scientists at Plantations and outside Cornell helped her gain valuable work and networking experience. “The natural areas internship has been a great academic boost,” she says, and a boon as she applied for internships to follow gradua-tion. “I’ve done my own research and completed the data collection and analysis that went into writing the thesis. Since I want to go into research, it’s been really good to say I can independently do something like that.”

As the fight goes on to save New York’s hemlock forests, Bittner says student interns and workers will remain part of the guard: “The ongoing adelgid research has become a focus for our Natural Areas Research Internship, combining Plantations’ con-servation efforts and educational goals in a way envisioned by our founder, Liberty Hyde Bailey.”

Beyond the work and everything she’s learned, Graziano adds, “this was a deeply rewarding op-portunity to be outside most of every day, explore almost every Cornell natural area, learn about the Ithaca area, and work with an amazing group of fellow interns and Plantations staff.” lLynn Purdon Yenkey is a freelance writer, editor, and photographer in Ithaca, New York.

For more information or to make a gift for the Pan–East Asian Garden project, please contact Beth Anderson at 607-254-4727, or [email protected].

New Pan–East Asian Garden Planned



Phot

os: S

outh

east

Ove

rlook

con

stru

ctio

n, C

arol

Gro

ve; S

outh

east

Ove

rlook

and

War

Mem

oria

l Tra

il, C

hris

Kitc

hen

Phot

ogra

phy

Many visitors looking for signs of spring in the F. R. Newman Arboretum this year have been delighted to discover a new addition to the land-scape: a stone terrace and sitting area tucked into the hillside below the Peterson Oak Grove at the southeast rim of the arboretum bowl.

Sited to take advantage of the spectacular view of the lower arboretum, the new overlook includes three benches set in a curved stone wall atop a paving of bluestone. Unlike the grand scale of Newman Overlook, this terrace was designed to provide a quiet, intimate sitting area for

individuals and small groups. Called the South-east Overlook, this special site is the gift of Jay Hyman ’55, DVM ’57. Construction began late last November, and masons from Ithaca Stone Setting were very fortunate (and grateful) to complete their part of the work before winter set in. After spring’s thaw, work recommenced to finish grad-ing, repair the lawn, and install new plantings.

The Southeast Overlook is backed by Rhus copallina var. latifolia ‘Morton’ Prairie Flame,™ a male clone of shining sumac from the collections of the Morton Arboretum in Illinois. Selected for

The Southeast Overlook: A new perspective on Plantations

its compact habit, clean glossy foliage, and at-tractive yellowish-white flowers appearing early- to mid-August, it also boasts brilliant red-orange fall color. We expect these shrubs to form a dense colony to a height of five feet, providing a soft, textured backdrop to the stone retaining wall and benches. A specimen of white oak (Quercus alba) planted on the west side will eventually form a canopy over the terrace, providing shade for late afternoon visitors and enhancing the overlook’s private atmosphere. l

Irene Lekstutis, Landscape Designer

Sited to take advantage of the spectacular view of the lower arboretum, the new overlook includes three benches set in a curved stone wall.

The overlook was built by local stonemasons during the fall of 2010.

Map section of the F. R. Newman Arboretum

Plantations news: staff favorItes


Plantations is a collection of unique landscapes. Some are easy to find, like the Herb Garden and Rhododendron Collection, and serve as beacons for first-time and regular visitors, with each visit offering new discoveries as the plants transition from flower to fruit over the season. Others are more secluded, intimate gems that even some regular visitors have yet to discover. In the F. R. Newman Arboretum, the Floriculture War Memorial is one of our special spots that, once discovered, quickly becomes a favorite. While working there at the arboretum’s edge across from Fall Creek, I see many familiar faces walking or jogging along, often with their canine companions.

The spot acquired its name from a boulder holding an ornate plaque that was placed alongside a woodland trail. This monument honors and names Cornell floriculture students who lost their lives in the two World Wars. I have not been able to unearth the date the boulder was placed, but it is mentioned as a landmark in a 1952 Plantations Quarterly, describing a pleasant walking route through Mitchell Woods down to the war memorial trail, terminating at the county highway (now Forest Home Drive). It describes the trail as running through mature woodland along a stream where small dams provide pools for aquatic plants. Today, visitors can stop at the memorial, where a curvilinear stone bench, built

A favorite of Mary Hirshfeld FLORICuLTuRE WAR MEMORIALin 2003 in memory of Karl Goldsmith ’47, was placed for visitors to enjoy the wooded peace and contemplate the monument.

You can reach the memorial trail from several points within Plantations, but the route most commonly used starts at the Day Overlook, acces-sible from a nearby parking area close to the apex of Plantations Road, not far past the arboretum entrance. After appreciating the view toward Fall Creek, take the stairs down to a small, slatted wooden footbridge that crosses the stream to the trail.

From there it’s a short but visually rich walk through mature beeches and hemlocks shading ferns, astilbes, blue cohosh, and several species of sedge. The real stars of the streamside plant-ings are the immense western skunk cabbages (Lysichiton americanus), with soft green leaves three feet long and bright yellow hooded flowers. they appear much later than those of our native eastern skunk cabbage, and are far more eye-catching. Young plants of both these and the large, white-flowered Asian skunk cabbage (L. camtschatcensis) have recently been added to increase the visual impact.

Where the stream meanders away from it, the trail makes a sharp turn, widening and changing from stone dust to a surface of wood chips, a section that can be muddy in spring and fall. This leads to Weeping Willow Circle, the loop road surrounding the Treman Woodland Walk. From this point, walkers and joggers tend to continue along the edge of Treman Walk, cross the road again, and head up the Allen Trail toward the Sculpture Garden and ponds.

To plot your own tour through Plantations to this secluded, peaceful spot or to discover more staff favorites, we invite you to try the information kiosk in the lobby of the Nevin Welcome Center. l

Mary Hirshfeld, Director of Horticulture

Visitors can stop at a beautiful stone bench or along the stream to enjoy the memorial, the wooded trail, and the streamside plants.

Map section of the F. R. Newman Arboretum

Gardening: flowering trees


may flowersDespite the fleetness of their flowering, Amelanchier, or serviceberry, remains one of my favorite small trees. Every May, I treasure the days when their clouds of white blooms billow from otherwise bare woodland edges. During a cool spring, their blooms hold on for a good 10 days, but usually shed quickly after the first hot day. The thicket serviceberry (A. canadensis) is a lovely, large, multi-stemmed shrub, but in the nursery trade it is frequently confused with the more arboreal Allegheny ser-viceberry (A. laevis). The names often are used interchangeably, so to be sure that you are selecting a tree or shrub, stick to named cultivars.

The most highly recommended Amelanchier is ‘Autumn Brilliance’, a strong grower that tops out at around 25 feet. Masses of fleecy white flowers in late

When most gardeners think of small flowering trees, crabapples, cherries, and

dogwoods usually come to mind. All these grow to about 20 feet high, offer a

wide array of cultivars, and provide pleasing variations in flower, fruit, and foliage

color, tree size, and shape. But if you’d like to branch out, so to speak, many less

familiar small ornamental trees can offer color and interest both earlier and much

later in the growing season.

Uncommon Small Flowering Treesby Mary Hirshfeld

April are followed by juicy blue-black berries, favorites of robins and cedar waxwings. Fall color is an electric combination of orange, purple, and red, and then leaves fall to reveal graceful silver-gray branches. ‘Princess Diana’, a selection from Wisconsin, and ‘Ballerina’, from the Netherlands, are top-notch selections, both with profuse flowers, sweet berries, and brilliant red fall color.

June BloomsAn elegant June-flowering small tree is the Japanese snowbell (Stryax japonicus). Reaching to 25 feet, its tiered, gray branches can spread even farther. Strong horizontal branching patterns cre-ate interesting shadows on snowy ground. Flowers are crystalline white, five-point-ed bells, borne in profusion along the length of the branches. Elegant, Amelanchier ‘Autumn Brilliance’. Ph

oto:

Am

elan

chie

r ‘Au

tum

n Br

illia

nce’

, Jul

ie M

agur

a



oval, grey-brown seed capsules later dangle on long stalks, accentuating the branching pattern.

Styrax forms available from nurseries are often seed-grown, so individuals vary slightly in height and form. If you prefer to know exactly what your selection will look like, choose from several cultivars. ‘Emerald Pagoda’ is somewhat more upright in habit, with larger leaves and flowers than most. ‘Pink Chimes’, also more upright, has soft pink flowers, while ‘Carillon’ takes a round-headed, weeping shape.

The fragrant snowbell (S. obassia) is less common, with a reputation of being hardy only to Zone 6. However, trees at Plantations have proven reliably hardy in Zone 5, even coming through extreme winters with minimal dieback. Large rounded leaves can obscure the flowers a bit, but provide bold texture unusual in a small tree. Far more upright in habit than S. japonicus, the fragrant snowbell comes into flower earlier, displaying small white bells held in slender, pendulous clusters. Both are happier as understory trees in sites protected from wind, bright sun, and winter extremes.

Late summer ColorFor floral excitement later in the summer, try the Korean evodia (Tetradium daniel-lii, formerly Evodia), the golden rain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata), or the seven-son flower (Heptacodium miconioides). Korean evodia is a fast-growing tree that reaches a height of close to 30 feet in Ithaca, al-though specimens farther south can reach 50 feet. Evodia appreciates a protected site, especially when young, when it can suffer dieback in severe winters. Amelanchier ‘Princess Diana’ in the F. R. Newman ArboretumPh

oto:

Am

elan

chie

r ‘Pr

ince

ss D

iana

’, Ire

ne L

ekst

utis



Usually multi-stemmed, evodia can be gawky when young, but with age usually bulks up into a nice round-headed tree. Long, glossy green leaves are pinnately compound, and though they lack fall color, remain lush throughout summer. Evodia is a member of the rue family (Rutaceae), and like the common herb, produces sharp-smelling oils most noticeable when a leaflet is bruised. Perhaps it’s this unappe-tizing trait that keeps leaves free of insect damage and of such good quality through-out the growing season. In July, evodia’s profuse clusters of small white flowers become a beacon for honeybees. The tree is outstanding in fruit, with bright red seed capsules—a specimen near the arbore-tum’s Caldwell Road entrance never fails to draw praise in August and September.

Similarly sparely branched and round-headed, golden rain tree is one of the few winter-hardy members of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae), native to China, Japan, and Korea. Still, Koelreuteria pushes the envelope in Ithaca, and may suffer dieback during severe winters. It usually never approaches the 35-foot heights attained in warmer areas. Glossy scalloped foliage is twice pinnately compound, each leaflet deeply lobed or divided, providing a dark backdrop for triangular, foot-long, upright clusters of yellow flowers in July. Later on, translu-cent seed capsules, inflated like Japanese paper lanterns, age from green to yellow and finally tan. For August color, try ‘Rose Lantern’; its young, papery seed heads are tinged with pink.

Koelreuteria is not fussy about soil and will grow nicely in shade, but will be leggier and less floriferous. It is not seen much in this area, perhaps because of hardiness concerns or because not enough

gardeners visit local nurseries in the heat of midsummer, when they could see the decorative golden rain tree in bloom.

Seven-son flower (Heptacodium miconioides), a member of the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae), can be grown as a small, single-stemmed tree, or a large, multi-stemmed shrub. As it ages, its long branches become clothed with tan, shaggy bark that exfoliates in long, slender strips. Oval, slender-tipped foliage carries a curved impressed vein on either side of the midrib that makes the leaf center stand out.

Even with these attractive traits, you can still pass by Heptacodium during spring and early summer, when it blends demurely with surrounding shades of green. Then, in late summer, billowy, loosely triangular heads of small, fragrant white flowers open. The blooms are welcome at the dusty end of summer, but the striking, bright pink, persistent sepals that remain long after the petals have fallen are the star attraction. Heptacodium is an obliging plant that will grow almost anywhere, even tolerating poorly draining clay soil so common here, though with slower growth than in more fertile, well-drained soil.

You can visit these trees in bloom throughout the summer at Cornell Plantations. Amelanchier abounds in the F. R. Newman Arboretum and Koelreuteria rubs elbows with large viburnums in the Zucker Shrub Collection. In the botanical gardens, a magnificent Japanese snowbell on Comstock Knoll, near the Nevin Welcome Center, spreads its branches beneath the overstory of white pine. nMary Hirshfeld is director of horticulture at Cornell Plantations.

This Japanese snowbell Sytrax japoncius on Comstock Knoll exhibits the strong horizontal branching pattern typical of these trees.


Donald A. Rakow, the E. N. Wilds Director of Cornell Plantations and Sharon A. Lee, consultant and former deputy director of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA), are the co-authors of Public Garden Management, the first textbook on the establishment and operation of public gardens.

The history of public gardens dates to the 16th century, when European universities created gardens to teach medical and pharmaceutical students about plants that were believed to have medicinal benefits. Half a millennium later, public gardens are still unique museums with living collections, offering beautiful landscapes and research and educational programs that enhance our understanding of plants and their contributions to our lives.

Public Garden Management covers every aspect of creating and running a public garden, including design, facilities, administration, educational programming, outreach, and research operations. Rakow said, “We undertook this project to address the pressing need for a fundamental text on all aspects and functions of the many types of public gardens, including botanical gardens, arboreta, display gardens, historic land-scapes, zoos, and conservatories.”

Co-published earlier this year by John Wiley & Sons and the APGA, the book has chapters contributed by 26 experts in the field. Lee notes that the book actually serves three purposes: “It’s a textbook for under-graduates majoring in horticulture, a guidebook for those visionaries who want to establish a new public garden, and an operations manual for staff at existing public gardens.”

Today’s public gardens are in the forefront of institutions committed to promoting plant and habitat conservation and developing sustain-able practices that support the environment. In the foreword to the

book, Dr. Peter H. Raven, renowned environmentalist and emeritus director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, states, “We need public gardens and environmental awareness if we are to increase our ability to live as members of a world that can sustain us and everyone else on earth in a stable system.”

Now students pursuing careers in the field and the professionals who manage public gardens have a comprehensive reference book to guide them in establishing and maintaining gardens that engage, inspire, and help their communities reconnect with the natural world.

A New Resource for Public Garden Managersby Beth Anderson

Paul

Sch

mitt

Liberty Hyde Bailey: His words and vision


“More than 56 years after his death in 1954, it only makes sense that we would ask why we still need Liberty Hyde Bailey,” says Scott J. Peters, associate professor of education at Cornell, Bailey scholar, and historian of the land grant mission and extension system. Using Bailey’s own words, he explains why he’s certain that we do.

The getting of

information is but

the beginning of

education.1

Early in Peters’ research, he discov-ered that Bailey’s vision was about much more than horticulture: “It was about the meanings of democracy, science, and edu-cation, and the relations between them. It was about our relations with each other,

Scott Peters on Why We Still Need Liberty Hyde Bailey by Lynn Purdon Yenkey

and with all life on the planet. It was about the beauty of the everyday and the ordinary, and the mystery of the cosmos.”

Much more than a gifted and productive scientist, Bailey was revealed to Peters as “a prophet and philosopher of democracy and education, of rural life and agricultural sustainability, of a biocentric worldview” when that term was little known or under-stood. “He was not just a lover of plants, but of life itself.”

Building on a movement in the 19th century toward ecologically minded agri-culture, and with a deep commitment to what we refer to today as sustainability, Peters says that Bailey “helped to refine, enrich, and deepen that perspective. It culminates in The Holy Earth, his most important book.” Released in 1915 and recently republished, Peters calls it one of the most significant statements in the history of conservation philosophy, making the case for a moral obligation to the Earth, not just humankind. It

Bailey is a name that resounds around Cornell. From the con-

cert hall, hortorium, conservatory, and many programs named

for him, Liberty Hyde Bailey’s legacy is entwined with the

university. But how many know whether or how far the ideas

of the first dean of the College of Agriculture still resonate? As

Plantations’ programs evolve along with culture, horticulture,

and in response to the pressures of climate change, who re-

members it was Bailey who gave us our vision and our name?

Baile

y pho

to: c

ourte

sy o

f the

L. H

. Bai

ley H

orto

rium

, Cor

nell

Univ

ersi

ty



Scott Peters on Why We Still Need Liberty Hyde Bailey by Lynn Purdon Yenkey

profoundly influenced Aldo Leopold, conservation’s more widely known leader, and its principles underpin the missions of public gardens and nature preserves across the country.

The greatest thing in

life is the point of view. It

determines the current

of our lives.2

Bailey’s worldview similarly shaped the vision for Cornell’s agricultural exten-sion program, where he served as its first director during the 1890s. Together with Anna Botsford Comstock, he helped develop the theory and practice of nature study for schoolchildren and adults as a means of fostering sympathy for nature. He viewed extension as a means of awakening farmers to a new point of view on life, and he believed that knowledge was not just something to be extended by scientists, but to be created by everyone “through deep experimental engagement in the world,” says Peters.

At odds with the technocratic mindset holding that true science was to be per-formed only in experiment stations, with answers disseminated outward, Bailey’s approach was holistic and deeply demo-cratic. He encouraged local initiatives, engaged ordinary people, and empow-ered them “as researchers and knowers,” explains Peters, asking them “to become their own experimenters, to develop and test their own knowledge.” His vision is alive in extension today, as in Cornell’s Small Farms Program, which encourages research, collaboration, and mentoring among area farmers.

The happiest life

has the greatest number of

contacts with the world, and

it has the deepest sympathy

with everything that is.3

Plantations’ youth programs foster children’s “sympathy for nature” through fun and engaging hands-on lessons.

Providing places for Cornell faculty, students and the general public to engage with and learn from the natural world is at the core of Plantations’ mission and Bailey’s vision.

Liberty Hyde Bailey at a Junior Extension Group school picnic, May 26, 1905.

Phot

os: P

lant

atio

ns yo

uth

prog

ram

, Uni

vers

ity P

hoto

grap

hy; C

orne

ll Cl

ass,

Uni

vers

ity P

hoto

grap

hy; B

aile

y, Co

rnel

l Uni

vers

ity A

rchi

ves



Peters especially appreciates that essay because of its “against-the-grain simplic-ity and also for the ways in which we can still find new meaning in it 100 years later, in the midst of the changes that technologies are generating in our cul-ture.” Now that we have indeed become citizens of the world, the concept of being a good neighbor means more than ever as gardeners, families, institutions, and towns contemplate and trace the impacts their choices make not just on local lands and people but on those around the globe.

At Plantations, we honor our founder with gardens and programs at help spark ideas and sustain inspiration.

The Small Farm Quarterly is a resource publication of Cornell’s Small Farms Program, which encourages research, collaboration, and mentoring among farmers.

The Ithaca Farmers Market is a present-day example of Bailey’s vision for “small and local” food and community movements.

Bailey was born in 1858, a year before Darwin’s Origin of Species was published. Living through extraordinary technical and cultural changes inspired him to help everyday people “glimpse possibilities that expressed the fulfillment of the ideals that they held,” says Peters, including new insights and ideas about the theory of evolution and the changing and growing concept of democracy. According to Peters, Bailey believed that the fundamental lesson of evolution is cooperation. “He saw life as a great democracy with cooperation as the central reality in life.” Bailey wrote about his particular enjoyment in speaking to small neighborhood meetings, extolling the value of community, as in this excerpt from his essay, “The Neighborly Gathering”:

Now that we are becoming

citizens of the world by means

of telegraph and telephone,

the city paper, the universal

market, the traversable roads

and the automobile, and are

watching the sky for flying-

machines, we must take care

that we do not lose our

neighborhood feeling. A man

is not a good farmer—as we

think of farmers these days—

unless he is a good neighbor.4

Every family can have a

garden. If there is not a foot

of land, there are porches or

windows. Wherever there is

sunlight,plants may be made to

grow; and one plant in a tin-

can may be a more helpful and

inspiring garden to some mind

than a whole acre of lawn and

flowers may be to another.5

Teaching that staying connected to the natural world and plants is essential—however small the container—shows Bailey’s deep concern for people, to help them enjoy and expand their notion of what it means to be part of Earth’s living system. Peters calls him “revolutionary

Phot

os: C

orne

ll Pl

anta

tions

Pou

nder

Her

itage

Vge

tabl

e Ga

rden

, Kev

in M

oss;

Itha

ca F

arm

ers

Mar

ket,

Univ

ersi

ty P

hoto

grap

hy



recommended reading

Liberty Hyde Bailey: Essential Agrarian

and Environmental Writings, edited by

Zachary Michael Jack (Cornell University

Press, 2008).

Liberty, L. H. (1915). The Holy Earth,

reprinted by Michigan State University

Press, 2008.

Morgan, P. A. and Peters, S. J. (2006).

“The foundations of planetary agrarianism:

Thomas Berry and Liberty Hyde Bailey.”

Journal of Agricultural and Environmental

Ethics, Vol. 19, No. 5: 443–468.

Peters, S. J. (2006). “Every farmer should

be awakened: Liberty Hyde Bailey’s vision of

agricultural extension work.” Agricultural

History, Vol. 80, No. 2: 190–219.

To read more of Scott Peters’ selected quotes from Bailey’s works, please visit

cornellplantations.org

in his thinking and views, calling for a transformation of not just farming and agriculture but of human society. He was no backward romantic, but people see him that way because his civic and environmental sensibilities led him to celebrate the small and the local, and that was against the grain of the period.”

Today, as “the small and the local” discover their champions through growing food and community move-ments, with the constant need for na-ture’s inspiration in fast-paced lives with little time left for reflection, and with increasing potential for personal choices to negatively impact neighbors and environments worldwide, Bailey’s words indeed sound prophetic. They guide us to keep considering our highest ideals, striving toward our best selves even as we place life, not self, at the center. n

lynn Purdon Yenkey is a freelance writer, editor, and photographer in Ithaca, New York.

1 Liberty Hyde Bailey, The Nature-Study Idea.2 Ibid.3 Ibid.4 Bailey, “The Neighborly Gathering,” in L.H. Bailey,

York State Rural Problems, Volume II (1913).5 Bailey, Garden-Making (1898).

At the celebration of his 90th birthday, Liberty Hyde Bailey told the story of his name, also his father’s, bestowed by his grandfather, whom he described as an ardent abolitionist, one of the earliest in Vermont:“Call him Liberty—for all shall be free.”

When it came time in 1944 for Bailey to name Cornell’s newly established botanical garden and arboretum, it was perhaps this history and his own passion for democracy and education that led him to choose Cornell Plantations. He purposely chose to dismiss old associations with slavery in favor of the proper meaning of the word, plantations: “areas under cultivation” or “newly established settlements.”

The name fit Bailey’s grand vision for a place that would be not “merely an adjunct to a department that teaches botany” but have a far broader purpose. Plantations’ mis-sion still guides us to serve both scientific study and spiritual renewal—providing and preserving places where, as Bailey said, “utility, personal interest, fertile suggestion, and beauty of localities and landscape may be brought to bear in a noble concept of education.” l

Cornell Plantations: What’s in a Name?

Lectures Series: two points of view from 2010


Does Plant

Provenance Matter?

Invasive species, whether hemlock woolly adelgid

or garlic mustard, are high on our list of concerns

at Plantations, as we continue to study, monitor,

and attempt to control them. Two speakers from

our 2010 Fall Lecture Series offered new points to

consider on this topic as they spoke from unique

perspectives on the value, benefits, and detriments

of plants based on their provenance. Together, they

represent the topical breadth of critical issues that

we aim to explore through the series. Both authors

have generously provided summaries of their talks

for readers of Verdant Views. Two Points of View



The Case for Indigenous Plants in the Garden by Carolyn Summers

We gardeners are a hopeful, well-

intentioned lot, digging in to spread

beauty and fruitful bounty far and wide.

most of us tend landscapes constrained

by the property lines around our homes.

But, while no gardener or landscape

professional would ever intentionally

harm the environment, no garden is an

island. as our human footprint expands

ever outward, we must consider the

individual and collective effects of our

gardens on the larger landscape.

Landscape architect Carolyn Summers, author of

Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East, asks us to consider the effects

of plant choices for our home gardens on the larger

environment, championing indigenous plants for the roles they play in

local habitats.

Two Points of View

The American species of wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) has repeated blooming throughout summer.

Gardening: using water wisely


Experienced gardeners know to choose plants that will do well in the soil, mois-ture, and light available. Beyond that, personal preferences determine plant selection. A plant’s origin has usually not been a consideration, but awareness is growing about the myriad benefits pro-vided by indigenous plants—those that have evolved uncultivated in the same habitats we now find them. Today scien-tists, landscape architects, and nursery and other green industry professionals are making the case, based on an accumula-tion of scientific studies, that plant origin is very important to consider.

When Frederick Law Olmsted designed New York City’s Central Park in 1858, he made extensive use of nonindigenous Norway maples (Acer platanoides), never guessing that this species would aggres-sively invade and change surrounding forests. Scientists studying the spread of Norway maples into regional forests have discovered they decrease survivability for native flora and fauna. Their trait of leaf-ing out especially early prevents adequate light from reaching many species of spring wildflowers, making it impossible for them to reproduce. Because the leaf chemistry

Red maple (Acer saccharum), seen here in Plantations’ arboretum, is an indigenous maple and a better choice than Norway maples (Acer platanoides).

of Norway maples is different from that of sugar and other indigenous maples (Acer spp.), its leaves are unpalatable and cannot be eaten by many native insect larvae (cat-erpillars), leaving much less food for baby birds that depend on them to survive.

The indigenous plants of the Northeast evolved during the advance and retreat of glaciers, before the arrival of European colonists. The fortunate fact that our mountains range from north to south al-lowed many plants and animals to migrate south to escape encroaching glaciers, and then back as they receded. This shared history of migration and evolution under-lies the key role of indigenous plants as the foundation of the food web. As plants and animals evolved together, they became interdependent in ways we do not yet fully understand. Indigenous plants are, in most cases, the only tolerable source of food for indigenous insects. As entomologist Doug Tallamy explains in his fascinating book, Bringing Nature Home, many Northeast-ern butterflies, moths, and other insects are host specific: at the larval or caterpillar stage of their life cycle, they are utterly de-pendent on a very few species of host plants for food. Some caterpillars are limited to a single species, like the endangered Karner blue butterfly, which eats the Eastern lupine (Lupinus perennis) exclusively.

Interdependence and the food web in a healthy, deciduous forestWhile native trees are still bare, sunlight wakens the spring ephemerals, flowers that transform and carpet the forest floor. In a burst, they complete their repro-ductive cycle before trees have finished leafing out. These first flowers attract and provide nectar for newly aroused flies, bees, and other insects. Migratory birds

Central Park, New York

Phot

os: C

entra

l Par

k, E

dwar

d L.

War

e; R

ed M

aple

, Ire

ne L

ekst

utis



Golden groundsel (Senecio aureus) is a beautiful substitute for any of the exotic evergreen ground covers. A spring-blooming member of the daisy family, its glossy green leaves look great all year.

Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is a lovely substitute for butterfly bush, blooming in midsummer to attract butterflies, and later, birds that enjoy its berries.

arrive to nest and reproduce, many of them dependent on the insects that feed on the abundant flowers. As tree leaves gradually unfold, caterpillars and other insect larvae come out of winter shelter to feast, just in time to provide food for newly hatched birds. In autumn, the reproductive cycle comes literally to fruition, as mi-grating birds devour the abundant berries pro-duced by trees, shrubs, and vines of the forest, spreading seeds far and wide. The timing of these events—flowering, leafing out, fruiting, feeding, and nesting—is exquisitely synchronized in a complex dance, worked out over millennia.

Healthy ecological processes are self-perpetuating in the absence of, and

sometimes in spite of, human influence. Plant communities are adapted to natural disturbances, such as storms, fire, or drought, which may delay or temporar-ily suspend some processes, but rarely cause long-term damage. The introduc-tion of nonindigenous plants, insects, and diseases, on the other hand, disrupts ecological processes long after the initial disturbance, since these biological organ-isms have their own self-perpetuating mechanisms, much as cancer behaves in the human body. Before human settle-ment, even a large fire or hurricane oc-curred within the natural matrix; damage was contained and surrounded by the intrinsic elements that would repair the

damage. With the rise of human- dominated landscapes, the reverse is true. When bulldozers level 500 acres or open up roadside swales, the area devoid of vegetation is like an open wound inviting invasive plant seeds to act like infectious agents.

The reproductive traits of the most successful invaders allow rapid coloniza-tion of disturbed areas, many producing an overabundance of seeds. Their main advantage seems to be immunity from indigenous predators, since nonindig-enous plants and other organisms did not co-evolve with our flora and fauna. They left behind the pests and diseases that would keep them in check.

Indigenous plants promote a healthy food web, providing many resources for birds and insects. Ph

otos

: Am

eric

an g

oldfi

nch

and

mon

arch

buu

terfl

y, Pa

ul S

chm

itt; G

olde

n gr

ound

sel a

nd e

lder

berry

, pro

vide

d by

the

auth

or



Carolyn Summers is a landscape architect, an adjunct professor for continuing education at Westchester Community College, and author of Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East (Rutgers University Press, 2010), about which she spoke during Cornell Plantations’ 2010 Fall Lecture Series. You can watch her presentation at www.cornell.edu/video (search for “Plantations”). Learn more about her work at www.carolynsummers.net.

showy indigenous substitutes for the northeastern garden

instead of… substitute an indigenous plant

burning bush (Euonymus alatus) highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)

Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)

Norway maple (Acer platanoides) sugar or red maple (Acer saccharum or A. rubrum)

asian wisterias american wisteria (Wisteria japonica or W. sinensis) (Wisteria macrostachya)

exotic grasses little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

exotic evergreen groundcovers golden groundsel (Senecio aureus)

butterfly bush (Buddleja spp.) elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) or

golden hypericum (Hypericum kalmianum or H. frondosum)

What’s a caring gardener to do?Virtually every American garden con-tains plenty of nonindigenous species. Knowing the consequences of their overuse, gardeners can carefully weigh decisions to introduce more. Use non-indigenous plants in the garden as you might use a particularly pungent spice when cooking—sparingly. Look first for

indigenous species that can deliver the functions and ornamental values you desire. The ultimate landscape goal should be a stunning garden with an abundance of indigenous plants, along with an occasional nonindigenous plant that carries ornamental, sentimental, or historical value to the gardener—the opposite of what most now have. n

-

the goal when using nonindigenous plants is to eliminate their un-

controlled reproduction, which can have negative consequences far

beyond the boundaries of a single garden. the responsible gardener’s

motto should be, “What grows in my garden stays in my garden.”

Knowing that gardeners occasionally find certain nonindigenous plants

irresistible, follow these “safe sex” principles to guide more responsible

choices.

Most trees will outlive us, so choose indigenous trees that support multiple species of in-sects over many lifetimes.

Avoid the latest plant introduc-tions from other regions and continents—their potential impact on local species and habitats is unknown.

Avoid using plants identified as invasive species in your region.

Avoid plants with seeds that are wind-dispersed.

Avoid plants that reproduce vegetatively by means of vines or underground runners.

Avoid plants that produce berries.

Use sterile plants or male dioecious plants like hollies and gingkos.

Use annuals; avoid those that self-sow.

Use heirloom plants, such as peonies and shrubby lilacs, not known for causing problems.

Use a single specimen as an accent only, if possible.

Use a single cultivar per species; most are clones that cannot reproduce without cross-pollination.

When in doubt, deadhead.

Principles of “Safe Sex” in the Garden:a guide when using nonindigenous plants



Given that cities are human creations that have wiped out most of the original vegetation that once grew there, one can make the argument that spontaneous plants have become the de facto native vegetation of the city. Indeed, my basic premise is that the ecology of a city is defined not only by the cultivated land-scapes that require ongoing maintenance to survive, and the remnant native landscapes found in protected natural areas, but also by the abandoned landscapes that occupy the neglected interstices of the urban environment.

Wild Urban Plantsby Peter Del Tredici

my primary goal in writing Wild Urban

Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide,

was to help the general reader identify

plants growing spontaneously in the

urban environment, and to develop an

appreciation of the roles those species

play in making our cities more livable.

these are the plants that fill the vacant

spaces between our roads, our homes,

and our businesses. they take over

our neglected landscapes and line the

shores of streams, rivers, lakes and

oceans. some are native to the region,

here long before our cities existed,

some were brought intentionally (or

unintentionally) by people, and some

arrived on their own, dispersed by wind,

water, or wild animals. they are the

plants thriving in the city without being

planted or cared for by people. they are

everywhere and yet they are invisible to

most of us.

Research scientist Peter Del Tredici, author of Wild Urban Plants, invites us to

better appreciate plants that grow spontaneously and

uncultivated in the urban environment, and suggests

how, even though they might not be native, they can make

our cities more livable. The vegetation that makes up this wasteland flora—that no one plants and no one takes care of—occupies a signifi-cant percentage of the open space in many American cities, especially those with faltering economies. Recent research from both Europe and North America has begun to show that this so-called emergent, cosmopolitan vegetation, if left undisturbed long enough to develop into woodlands, can provide cities with critically important social and ecological benefits at very little cost to the taxpayer. Such con-tributions include temperature reduction,

Phragmites australis. gigantissima grows up to 20 feet tall in Boston’s Back Bay Fens.

Phot

os: P

rovi

ded

by th

e au

thor



erosion control, bank stabilization, and the absorption of excess nutrients in wetlands, especially nitrogen and phosphorous.

There is no denying the fact that many, if not most, wild urban plants suffer from image problems associated with being labeled as weeds or, more recently, invasive species. From a plant’s perspec-tive, invasiveness is just another word for successful reproduction, which of course is the ultimate goal of all life forms. From a utilitarian perspective, a weed is any plant that grows by itself in a place where people don’t want it to grow. It’s a value judgment that we apply to plants we don’t like, not a biological characteristic.

Calling a plant a weed gives us license to eradicate it. In a similar vein, calling a plant invasive allows us to blame it for ruining the environment, and it’s certainly easier to blame a plant than to blame ourselves. From the biological per-spective, weeds are plants that are adapt-ed to disturbance in all its forms, from bulldozers to acid rain. Their pervasive-ness in the urban environment is simply a reflection of the continual disturbance that characterizes this habitat. Weeds such as the common reed (Phragmites australis) or mugwort (Artemesia vulgaris) are usually the symptoms of environmen-tal degradation, not its cause, and as such

they are poised to become increasingly abundant within our lifetimes.

Developing the list of wild urban plants was a lengthy five-year process. Part of the difficulty arose from trying to distinguish between the terms urban vegetation, invasive species, and weed. Given that the meaning of these terms varies depending upon who is using them, I had to develop definitions consistent with my goals. I use the term urban to refer specifically to any part of a city or town where more of the land is covered with pavement and buildings than not, and all traces of original native habitats are long gone. The urban environment is typically characterized by high levels of

disturbance associated with pedestrian and vehicular traffic, infrastructure mainte-nance, and new construction. I refer to plants that can survive and reproduce under such conditions, regardless of where they come from, as spontaneous urban vegetation. From a plant’s perspective, it is the abun-dance of paving and disturbance, rather than the density of the human population, that define the urban environment. In other words, a sidewalk crack is an urban habitat whether it’s in a city or a suburb.

Spontaneous urban vegetation displays, to a greater or lesser extent, an ability to colonize disturbed ground across a broad range of unmanaged urban habitats. From the ecological perspective, most of these plants are disturbance-adapted,

Acer plantanoides is among the most commonly planted street trees in the Northeast. In the 1950s and 60s it was used extensively to replace American elms wiped out by Dutch elm disease. Because it tolerates shade well, it also dominates disturbed urban woodlands.

Within 50 years of introduction to North America in the early 1800s, Tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus attissima) had naturalized across the urban and rural United States.


August 24 William H. and Jane Torrence Harder Lecture

Literature, Life, and Gardens: The Influence of Vita Sackville-West Molly Hite and David McDonald

September 7 William J. Hamilton Lecture

The World Condensed: A Global Pursuit and Passion for Plants Dan Hinkley

September 21 Learning from the Nature of New York: The State and Environmental Policy David Stradling

October 5 Elizabeth E. Rowley Lecture

Glad to Have Evolved Olivia Judson

October 19 Audrey O’Connor Lecture

Tea’s Flavors: A Celebration of Humans Working with Nature Michael Harney

November 2 Class of 1945 Lecture

Grow the Good Life Michele Owens

Peter Del tredici is a senior research scientist at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard Univer-sity where he has worked since 1979. He is also a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, teaching landscape architecture students about plants and soils. He is author of Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide (Cornell University Press, 2010), and was a speaker for Cornell Plantations’ 2010 Fall Lecture Series. You can watch his presentation at www.cornell.edu/video (search for “Plantations”). Learn more about his work at www.peterdeltredici.com.

early-successional species—fast growers requiring high light to get established, such as the ubiquitous tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima). There are a few species, however, such as the Norway maple (Acer platanoides), which can be

considered late-successional for their ability to grow in the shade of other trees and eventually dominate a woodland. In the absence of maintenance, the default vegeta-tion of Northeastern cities is a cosmopolitan collection of plants from around the world. They establish themselves on their own and thrive without the input of human energy, so well suited to urban conditions that they can legitimately be considered its natural vegetation.

It is a foregone conclusion that the world as we know it today will continue to change over the next few decades as people con-tinue to pump more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and more acid rain falls back to earth to pollute both the water and the soil. The worldwide migra-tion of people from the countryside into cities is also contributing to environmental degradation, because land that was once home to temperature-reducing vegetation is being covered with buildings that generate heat and pavement that retains it. The confluence of climate change and urbanization, acting in concert with the globalized spread of invasive species, has set the stage for spontaneous vegeta-tion to play a major ecological role in the human-dominated landscapes of the future. Regardless of how we feel about this brave new ecology, wild urban plants are well adapted to the world we humans have created and, as such, they are neither good nor bad—they are a reflection of us. n

Join us for the 2011 Fall Lecture

Series

Visit cornellplantations.org for more details.

The common reed (Phragmites australis), introduced from Europe in the early 1800s, grows in dense colonies up to 15 feet high, dominating fresh and saltwater wetlands throughout the temperate world. It can be used to stabilize soils and to remediate wastewater from sewage treatment plants.

Page topper here?


Students

Gain Awareness

of Invasive Species

through Artby Lynn Purdon Yenkey

“Trees,” Caitlyn Rosiek ’11 (top)

“Invaders,” Laura Kennedy ’13These two prints express the ominous

sense of danger found in most of the students’ works.

“Massive,” Frederick Grois ’12 This lithograph is trying to convey a strong impression of a root system

strangling any possible potential of any other growth. The drawing approach gives the image a chiseled or scraped effect for the roots.

Molly Messersmith ’09 This piece expresses a time of day and

the tree in a state of decay. The tousche wash seems to assist in the success of

conveying this message.

27

Though at the core it was a course integrating drawing techniques with fine art lithography, Page, associate

professor of art, had broader goals in mind when he chose the invasive species theme. The first, rooted in his own passion for nature and gardening, was “to get students out-side the studio into nature and show them what a beautiful campus they have to learn on, especially Plantations.” The second was to create awareness of invasive species.

“I wanted students to experience the spectrum of how they could look at a subject,” says Page, to consider how to research it, understand its broader contexts, and then in-terpret it. With new knowledge of both the invasive species topic and the lithographic process, students created three portfolios. Their plant-based portfolio was displayed in the Nevin Welcome Center lobby during April in an exhibit titled, “Expending Turf.”

The concept of turf has stayed with Page since his own days as a student, when he was assigned his first earth-centered project: to dig up a piece of turf and observe it from all points of view. “I’ve held on to the idea of earth as turf,” he says, that can be worked with “as something flexible, breathing, and alive.” For this project, he and the students considered turf “as something consuming, spreading, and

expanding,” and how invasive species were affecting turf. They then furthered the connection to the earth by making prints using stone lithography.

In teaching about stone lithography, Page says “I try to relate the plant works to that same kind of activity of the stone’s formation from nature. You’re literally drawing on this rock that you can pull an image, an impression, from. It’s one way of translating what you’re seeing directly onto a natural source.”

Page sees a strong awareness of invasive species in his students’ finished pieces, a sense of encroachment and the notion of something being taken over. The ominous sensi-bility comes in part from the medium of lithography, which Page says is recognized for its beautiful rich darks, subtle values, and atmospheric effects.

Integrating the artistic process with messages from sci-ence and the natural world fulfills Page’s interest in tran-scending technique: “My interest is having students become interested in plants, to be lovers of gardens and have appre-ciation of horticulture and growing things. This is one way I feel I can inspire them, and I had fun seeing students ex-perience places they might not otherwise see. They seemed elated to be outside, to be introduced to these areas.” n

Students in the 2010 spring semester of

Cornell Professor Gregory Page’s special topics art class

visited Plantations to inspire their work, but did not go to the Herb Garden or F. R. Newman Arboretum,

locations Page and other instructors frequently choose for their beauty and grand vistas. They explored

Plantations’ Edwards Lake Cliffs Preserve with Todd Bittner, director of natural areas, who explained

the powerful effects of invasive plants in this sensitive ecosystem and gave them a

first-hand look at the subject for their work in a unique course,

Turf: Invasive Species as Art.

YOuR GIFT MATTERSCornell Plantations’ members are important partners in our efforts to reconnect people of all ages with plants and the natural world. Memberships and other gifts from friends and alumni provide 25–30 percent of Plantations’ annual budget and strengthen every aspect of our mission. Your member-ship gift enables us to purchase new plants for our living collections, to preserve irre-placeable natural areas, and to create new programs that help people learn about the importance of plants.

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIPMembers enjoy discounts on Plantations’ classes and workshops, and at our Garden Gift Shop and Café. In addition, you will receive reciprocal benefits at over 270 other public gardens, arboreta, and conservatories in North America, includ-ing free or reduced admission, access to events, and discounts on garden and book shop purchases. All members also receive invitations to special member-only events at Plantations and in the community, as well as our biannual magazine, Verdant Views, and other publications.

joinPLANTATIONS

today!cornellplantations.org

607-255-2400


One Plantations RoadIthaca, NY 14850-2799

Address service requested

Nonprofit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDCornell

University

Upcoming events at Cornell Plantations

visit cornellplantations.org or call 607-255-2400 for more information about all of our classes, exhibits, tours and events!

JOIN US FOR ANY OF THESE ENGAGING AND DIvERSE PROGRAMS!

botanical arts classes Nature Journaling (16 & older)SATURDAY, JULY 9 , 10:00 A.M–1:00 P.M.

Mixed Media BotanicalsMONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS, JULY 11, 13, 18, 20; 6:00–9:00 P.M.

Sketching the Streamside GardenMONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY, JULY 25, 27 AND 29; 10:00 A.M. TO 1:00 P.M.

Flowering Moments: Drawing and Painting with Colored PencilMONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS, AUGUST 8, 10, 15 AND 17; 9:00 AM TO 12 NOON

Painting Plantations LandscapesMONDAY TO FRIDAY, AUGUST 22 TO 26, 9 A.M. TO 12 NOON

The Joy of Botanical IllustrationSIx THURSDAYS, SEPTEMBER 8, 15, 22 29, OCTOBER 6, 13; 2:00 TO 5:00 P.M.

Crafting the Nature Poem (16 & older)SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1; 1:00 TO 4:00 P.M.

Fall Flower ArrangementSATURDAY, NOvEMBER 12; 1:00 TO 4:00 P.M.

Holiday Floral DesignSATURDAY, DECEMBER 3; 1:00 TO 4:00 P.M.

guided tours&walksBotanical Garden Highlight Tours EvERY SATURDAY, JUNE 18–SEPTEMBER 3; 2:00 P.M.

Arboretum Highlight Tours EvERY SUNDAY, JUNE 19–AUGUST 28; 2:00 P.M.

gardening& horticulturePlants for Free: Hands-On Plant PropagationSATURDAY, AUGUST 13; 1:00 TO 4:00 P.M.

exhibitionsCome see these upcoming art exhibits in the Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center at Cornell Plantations. Step back in time

to experience the lives of children in 19th-century Ithaca.

Enjoy hands-on activities, music, and food at this free learning festival in the beautiful outdoor setting of

Cornell Plantations F. R. Newman Arboretum.

Bring your friends and families too!

SuNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 1–5 P.M.

FREE PARKING with a SHuTTLE BuS to the arboretum at Cornell’s B-Lot off Route 366.

Handicapped parking ONLY in the arboretum.

Judy’s Day is brought to you by Cornell Plantations in collaboration with the History Center of Tomkins County.

May–JuneChanging Vistas:

Arboretum Landscapes in Pastels

by Carol Abitabilo Ast

July–august

Flowering Moments– Beautiful though Briefbotanical watercolors & mixed media

by Paula DiSanto Bensadoun

september–october

A Tribute to Floraquilted wall hangings by Alice Hunt

Date post:	18-Mar-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	jay-potter
View:	226 times
Download:	0 times

Verdant Views Issue 2

Documents