+ All Categories
Home > Documents > Verdant Views Issue 3

Verdant Views Issue 3

Date post: 22-Mar-2016
Category:
Upload: jay-potter
View: 226 times
Download: 0 times
Share this document with a friend
Description:
Cornell PLantations biannual magazine
Popular Tags:
26
every MEMBER matters help us grow! Cornell Plantations Your MEMBER BENEFITS • Reduced fees for Plantations’ workshops and classes. • Discounts on purchases at our Garden Gift Shop and Café. • Reciprocal benefits at over 270 public gardens in North America— including free or reduced admission, and discounts on garden and book shop purchases. • Invitations to special member-only events at Plantations and in the community. • Plantations’ biannual magazine, Verdant Views, and other publications. 1 cornellplantations.org One Plantations Road Ithaca, NY 14850-2799 Address service requested 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 Sketching in the Greenhouse FIVE SATURDAYS: MARCH 3, 10, 17, 24, 31; 1:00 TO 4:30 P.M. Inside, Outside: The Art of Landscape Painting EIGHT WEDNESDAYS, APRIL 4 THROUGH MAY 23; 2:00 TO 4:30 P.M. guided tours & walks Birds and Blossoms: Guided Spring Walks BIRD WALKS AT CORNELL PLANTATIONS ON FRIDAY: APRIL 27, MAY 4, 11, 18 & 25; 8:00 A.M. WILDFLOWER WALKS AT SAPSUCKER WOODS ON SUNDAY: APRIL 29, MAY 6, 13, 20, 27; 1:00 P.M. Evening Wildflower Walks THURSDAY, MAY 3 AND THURSDAY, MAY 24; 7:00 P.M. Botanical Garden Highlight Tours EVERY SATURDAY FROM JUNE 16–SEPT. 29; 1:00 P.M. Arboretum Highlight Tours EVERY SUNDAY FROM JUNE 17– SEPT. 30; 1:00 P.M. exhibitions Come see these upcoming art exhibits in the Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center at Cornell Plantations. March–April Landscape Paintings: Scenes of Ithaca in Bold Colors by Nari Mistry May–June Macro Images and Photo Montages by Nancy Ridenour July–August The Spirit of Place oil paintings by Patty Porter gardening & horticulture A Garden in Winter SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18; 1:00 TO 3:00 P.M. Saturday, June 9, 9:00 a.m. 397 Forest Home Drive Celebrate Public Gardens Day! MAY 12, 2012 www.nationalpublicgardensday.org Dinosaur Train Nature Trackers SATURDAY, MARCH 10; 1:00 TO 4:00 P.M. Join WSKG and Cornell Plantations for an afternoon of FREE hands-on activities including nature collecting, tracking & walks along with Dinosaur Train episode screenings! Get outside, get into nature and make your own discoveries! Location: Nevin Welcome Center in Plantations’ Botanical Garden, 124 Comstock Knoll Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850 Julie Magura
Transcript

every member

matters help us grow!

C o r n e l l P l a n t a t i o n s

Your member benefits • ReducedfeesforPlantations’

workshopsandclasses.

• DiscountsonpurchasesatourGardenGiftShopandCafé.

• Reciprocalbenefitsatover270 publicgardensinNorthAmerica—includingfreeorreducedadmission,anddiscountsongardenandbookshoppurchases.

• Invitationstospecialmember-onlyeventsatPlantationsandinthecommunity.

• Plantations’biannualmagazine, Verdant Views,andother publications.

1cornellplantations.org

One Plantations RoadIthaca, NY 14850-2799

Addressservicerequested

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 SketchingintheGreenhousefive saturdays: marCh 3, 10, 17, 24, 31; 1:00 to 4:30 P.m.

Inside,Outside:TheArtofLandscapePaintingeight Wednesdays, aPril 4 through may 23; 2:00 to 4:30 P.m.

guided tours&walksBirdsandBlossoms:GuidedSpringWalksBird walks at Cornell Plantations on friday: aPril 27, may 4, 11, 18 & 25; 8:00 a.m. wildflowEr walks at saPsuCker Woods on sunday: aPril 29, may 6, 13, 20, 27; 1:00 P.m.

EveningWildflowerWalksthursday, may 3 and thursday, may 24; 7:00 P.m.

BotanicalGardenHighlightToursevery saturday from June 16–sePt. 29; 1:00 P.m.

ArboretumHighlightToursevery sunday from June 17– sePt. 30; 1:00 P.m.

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

March–aprilLandscape Paintings: Scenes

of Ithaca in Bold ColorsbyNariMistry

May–JuneMacro Images and

Photo MontagesbyNancyRidenour

July–augustThe Spirit of Place

oilpaintingsbyPattyPorter

gardening& horticultureAGardeninWintersaturday, february 18; 1:00 to 3:00 P.m.

Saturday,June9,9:00a.m.397ForestHomeDrive

CelebratePublicGardensDay!MAY12,2012

www.nationalpublicgardensday.org

DinosaurTrainNatureTrackerssaturday, marCh 10; 1:00 to 4:00 P.m.

Join WSKG and Cornell Plantations for

an afternoon of FREE hands-on activities

including nature collecting, tracking &

walks along with Dinosaur Train episode

screenings!

Get outside, get into nature and make your own discoveries!

Location: Nevin Welcome Center in Plantations’ Botanical Garden, 124 Comstock Knoll Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850

Julie

Mag

ura

NewMem

bership M

embershipRenewal

GiftMem

bership Please complete the section below with the recipient’s inform

ation!

name/Recipient’snam

e ___________________________________________Cornell Class Year: _______________

Address ______________________________________City _____________

State ___________ Zip _________

Phone (day) ___________________________________E-m

ail: ________________________________________

Spouse/Partner Name _____________________________________________

Cornell Class Year: _______________ (for household m

embership)

THISISA:

QuESTIONSABOuTMEM

BERSHIP? Call 607-255-8734; em

ail: [email protected].

MEM

BERSHIPLEvELS:

$25 Student/Senior/Volunteer

$50 Individual

$75 Household

$100 Friend

ADDITIONALGIFTRECOGNITIONSOCIETIES:

$101–$499

Sustaining Mem

ber

$500–$999 Charter Society

$1,000–$4,999 Plantations Sponsor/Quadrangle Club

$5,000+

Tower Club

TOTALENCLOSED:$ ____________________(Please m

ake checks payable to “Cornell Plantations”)

MAILTO:Cornell Plantations

Attn: Mem

bership One Plantations Road, Ithaca, NY 14850

AllgiftstoPlantationsaretax-deductibletothefullextentallowedbytheIRS.

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: F. R. Newman Arboretum, Chris Kitchen

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.

2/12 2450 CP

verdant views Winter 2012

Plantations news

Natural Areas Academy Update 4

Making Plantations Mulch 6

Staff Favorites 7

Trialing New Plants 8

Our Mission in Action 10

Plantations on the Road 11

features

A National Botanical Garden of Haiti 12 by Don Rakow

Beautiful Bark 14 by Mary Hirshfeld

Living (Collections) for the Future 18 by Lynn Purdon Yenkey

Roots of Plantations: Comstock Knoll 21by Lynn Purdon Yenkey

Love Letter to a Garden 23by Marcia Eames-Sheavly

Errata—In Issue 2, page 21, the caption for the center picture should read, “Another summer-blooming butterfly magnet, golden hypericum (Hypericum kalmianum or H. frondosum) can substitute for butterfly bush in any type of soil, in sun or shade.” The plant pictured is not a Golden groundsel (Senecio aureus). Also on page 21, the bird pictured is a Common Yellowthroat, not an American Goldfinch as labeled.

2

YOuRGIFTMATTERSCornell 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.

BENEFITSOFMEMBERSHIPmembers 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

Every day

I see or hear

something

that more or less

kills me

with delight,

that leaves me

like a needle

in the haystack

of light.

It is what I was born for—

to look, to listen,

to lose myself

inside this soft world—

to instruct myself

over and over

in joy,

and acclamation.

Nor am I talking

about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,

the very extravagant—

but of the ordinary,

the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.

Oh, good scholar,

I say to myself,

how can you help

but grow wise

with such teachings

as these—

the untrimmable light

of the world,

the ocean’s shine,

the prayers that are made

out of grass?

Mindful

MINDFUL from the volume Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver, published by Beacon Press, BostonCopyright © 2004 by Mary Oliver, used herewith by permission of the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency, Inc.

Lynn

Pur

don

Yenk

ey

Ask the majority of visitors what first comes to mind when they think of a botanical

garden or arboretum, and they are likely to respond with thoughts of flowering plants

and majestic trees. Diverse plant collections certainly do form the traditional core of

public gardens. But societal needs and environmental issues are so pressing in our

contemporary world that many gardens have developed programs to aggressively

take on these challenges.

Among the societal problems that public gardens are best positioned to address are

childhood (and adult) obesity, disconnection from nature, and increasing rates of

extreme stress and depression. Through First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!

Museums and Gardens” initiative, public gardens are establishing programs to encour-

age more physical activity among young people and to foster healthier diets. Such

efforts take advantage of the beautiful, natural settings of gardens to entice participants

to get moving and feel better. In this issue of Verdant Views, you will read about

Plantations’ first “Let’s Move!” event and our plans for future programs.

Much attention has been focused recently on the increasing disconnect between

people, particularly children, and the natural world. This “Nature Deficit Disorder,”

as termed by author Richard Louv, can be associated with problems of information

retention, negative behavior, and, again, obesity. While it might be disorienting and

counterproductive to place kids, especially those from urban areas, into the middle

of a dense forest, public gardens are places where nature can be lively, welcoming,

and fun. From interactive children’s gardens to programs like our wonderful Judy’s Day

Family Learning Festival at Plantations, public gardens can make the world of plants

and nature come alive for people of all ages.

A public garden like Cornell Plantations is also an ideal location to de-stress from

the pressures of modern life. Spending a half-hour in the botanical garden, jogging

through the Newman Arboretum, or walking around Beebe Lake can provide respite

and a sense of relaxation and rebalancing that no visit to the gym can equal. This

theme is central to Marcia Eames-Sheavly’s wonderful essay in these pages,

“Love Letter to a Garden.”

Through our plant conservation efforts and such programs as the Natural Areas

Academy, which are also described in this issue, you can get a sense of how

Plantations is addressing important environmental issues. Around the world, today’s

public gardens are prioritizing the preservation of biodiversity, countering problems

caused by invasive pests, and educating the public about the impact of global climate

change. As the steward of one of the largest collections of nature preserves held by

any U.S. public garden, Plantations is positioned to make real differences in these

areas, and to share our knowledge base with colleagues and the public.

As we look to the future, public gardens will likely become even more proactive in

identifying and addressing societal and environmental challenges. I joined leaders

from many U.S. and international public gardens in Haiti last October at a conference

on creating a national botanical garden there, and how it could meet a wide variety of

pressing needs in a country torn by entrenched poverty and natural disaster. Major

urban gardens such as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York Botanical Garden,

and Chicago Botanic Garden have programs that address youth unemployment,

neighborhood revitalization, and equal access for nontraditional audiences. These

gardens and others also are studying how changing weather patterns are impacting

plant and insect life cycles, and are exploring approaches to saving our most endan-

gered plant species.

A stroll down a flower-lined path will continue to be one of the best-remembered

experiences one might have in a botanical garden. But the next time you take such

a walk, I hope you will also recognize that there is likely much more going on at that

garden than merely cultivating eye-catching plants.

3cornellplantations.org

Director’s Message

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

Phot

o: C

omst

ock

Knol

l, Un

iver

sity

Pho

togr

aphy

Public Gardens Face the Future

Plantations news: PROGRAM AREA UPDATES

4 verdant views Winter 2012

Phot

os: U

nive

rsity

Pho

togr

aphy

The opportunity to learn how to help conserve the habitats of locally rare plant species drew 39 vol-unteers in the pilot year, 2010. Betsy Crispell was planning on a change of pace in her life, and when she saw the 2011 NAA announced in the Ithaca Journal, she knew it fit the bill.

“I knew I wanted to participate,” she said. “I have always loved the plants, animals, and wild places around me, and it seemed that this would be a great way to learn more of these things.” She had never volunteered before for Plantations, but her curiosity and determination to know and be in-volved in preserving her home ground was exactly the spirit NAA organizers were looking for.

Crispell was also able to dedicate the hours, acknowledging the time commitment and cost to participate. She and the rest of the 2011 group attended at least eight of 18 offered field trips on how to collect native seeds, identify trees by their bark, and propagate indigenous plants, to name just a few. Then volunteers put their new skills to work during 40 hours of required stewardship and research activities led by Plantations staff in nearly all our natural areas.

For one such three-day project, they drew upon their lessons to plan, conduct, and evaluate an ecological restoration in a degraded section of the Mundy Wildflower Garden. Working under the direc-tion of natural areas gardener Krissy Boys, NAA participants planned for the site’s needs in light of

its native plant community, evidence of invasive plant species, and land-use history. Then they conducted the restoration by planting seeds and plugs, and evaluated their work on the final day.

In other projects, NAA participants have helped collect seeds from some of the Finger Lakes’ rarest species, such as fringed gentian (Gentiana crinata); augmented and expanded Plantations’ native lawn demonstration site; monitored for hemlock wooly adelgid; controlled and monitored for woody and herbaceous invasive species; constructed deer browse exclosures; and repaired and maintained trails.

Todd Bittner, natural areas director, says, “If the NAA was a plant, the seed we planted in 2010 has germinated, and we have a healthy, young sapling growing—actually, a couple of dozen saplings!” He has been excited to see NAA members make connections and envision outcomes from different natural areas manage-ment approaches. He recalled a 2011 workshop on woody invasive species: “Volunteers combined lessons from natural history, invasive species ecology, natural community restoration, and botany gained through the NAA to recommend ap-propriate stewardship practices. These skills and knowledge will be invaluable in helping protect our local natural heritage.”

After finishing their year with the NAA, par-ticipants are encouraged to continue working in

Natural Areas Academy Grows In 2011, the Natural Areas Academy (NAA) program finished its second year-long ses-

sion with 27 new citizen conservationists prepared to assist Plantations in protecting

the distinctive ecology of the Finger Lakes region. The academy attracts people who

already appreciate the natural world and helps them become more environmentally liter-

ate. New knowledge combined with a commitment to protect precious wilderness leads

NAA graduates to proactive and semi-independent conservation roles within Plantations’

natural areas.

(Above) Todd Bittner, director of natural areas, speaks

to NAA participants in Cornell’s Crop and Weed Garden

during a June NAA Invasive Plants Workshop. Canada

thistle (Cirsium arvense) is in the foreground.

(Left) Pale swallow-wort (Cynanchum rossicum),

though attractive in flower, is another INVASIVE

THREAT grown for demonstration in the Crop and

Weed Garden.

Plantations news: PROGRAM AREA UPDATES

5cornellplantations.org

Plantations natural areas, both collectively and semi-independently with direction from staff. They are invited to be involved with future NAA classes as mentors, and may continue participating in NAA programs at no cost. But Bittner says they also are encouraged to use their new skills and knowledge in conservation work “wherever they choose, be it with a local scout group or the state park down the road,” just as NAA itself partners with other local conservation organizations.

As an example, Bittner describes a joint project with the Greater Ithaca Activities Center, where NAA participant Jessica Orkin is a leader of its Summer Conservation Corp. “We worked together with GIAC leaders on a project to repair and replace cages protecting one of Plantations’ rarest plants, dwarf cherry (Prunus pumila ssp. susquehanae), from excessive deer browse, to control invasive woody plants, and to remove old fencing at Plantations South Hill Swamp Natural Area. This example of teaching the teachers exem-plifies what the NAA is all about.”

Bittner sees the NAA becoming a signature com-ponent of Plantations’ educational programs and

a model for other organizations. Betsy Crispell’s personal motivations for taking part give voice to Bittner’s ultimate hope for the program—sparking individual drive in local citizens to make lasting contributions:

“I am just a regular person, not a teacher, Boy Scout leader, professor, outspoken advocate, writer, blogger, community leader, or nature center volun-teer. I have always loved the outdoors, starting from the time Grandma took me for walks to look at things in the woods when I was young. I like to know what things are, how they live, and what their relationship is with their environment and, if I can, get a better look. Mostly I am self-taught, but NAA was a way to learn more. I carry that knowledge with me when I am in the countryside.

I think conservation of the wild areas that re-main available to us is important. Once this diver-sity is gone, it is almost impossible to restore to its former level. Of course, we could try, but it is easier to protect something than it is to restore it.” l

Lynn Purdon Yenkey, freelance writer, editor, and photographer

Interested in Joining the Natural Areas Academy?

NAA participants are expected to work toward the program’s goals and receive

certification within one year by attending a minimum number of workshops,

field trips, and directed stewardship activities in Plantations natural areas.

There is a non-refundable application fee. Upon certification, participants are

conferred the title of natural areas mentor, and may continue to participate in

NAA activities at no further cost.

To see if the program is right for you and to register for the NAA Class of

2012, visit cornellplantations.org/naa or contact Nikki Cerra, natural areas

manager, at [email protected].

(Above) On a natural history hike through

Plantations Fall Creek South Natural Area,

Panagiotis Athanasopoulos and NAA participants

Gabriella Roman and Betsy Crispell listen to

leader Jules Ginenthal, natural areas stewardship

coordinator. (Left) NAA member James Hamilton

uses a hand lens to examine characteristics of a

native plant up close.

Plantations news: PROGRAM AREA UPDATES

6 verdant views Winter 2012

Phot

os: W

indr

ow, C

hris

Kitc

hen

Phot

ogra

phy;

Gard

ener

mul

chin

g, Ly

nn P

urdo

n Ye

nkey

On average, we use almost 3,000 cubic yards of mulch annually at Cornell Plantations, and in a new program are saving both natural resources and money by making our own. To make enough mulch to improve our gardens, we have joined with two university departments to maximize available materials and help the planet, too.

Many different natural and synthetic types of mulch are available today, but all perform at least three basic functions: they reduce soil water losses, suppress weeds, and protect against temperature extremes. Our new approach to making mulch resulted partly through trial and error, and partly out of financial necessity when the economy soured in 2008. Plantations’ lead arborist, Lee Dean, and other staff gardeners came up with the idea to combine bulk raw materials Plantations was already receiving: leaves left curbside every fall in nearby Cayuga Heights, and wood chips from tree trimming and clearing operations provided by local tree companies.

Sustaining Mulch Madness at Cornell PlantationsWood chips provided the carbon base, and

leaves provided the nitrogen catalyst hospitable to micro-organisms that would break down the organic matter, and “Plantations Mulch” was born. Through proper mixing, aeration, and a dash of nitrogen as needed, the end product provides the three main benefits of mulch while giving our plants an infusion of nutrients and soil-enriching compost, improving their overall health.

If you’ve been astounded by how many leaves collect in your yard, imagine the volume from the whole Village of Cayuga Heights! In 2010, Plantations used 1,800 cubic yards of fully to partially composted leaves to amend and mulch various herbaceous (non-woody) garden areas, and nearly 1,100 cubic yards of the Plantations Mulch throughout our woody plant collections. Relative to purchased hardwood mulch, this represents an annual fair market savings to Plantations of nearly $30,000. This wise use of re-cycled natural resources is part of our dedicated effort to meet the challenge Cornell president David Skorton charged the university with in his Climate Action Plan: to cut net carbon emissions to zero by 2050.

Toward that end, last fall Plantations entered into a collaborative pilot program with the Cornell Farm Services Department and the Cornell Grounds Department. Farm Services provides the manpower and specialized windrowing equipment at its composting facility. There they blend and manage a 1,000-cubic-yard windrow of Plantations Mulch using the wood chips and leaves that we receive, combined with a third green byproduct from the Grounds Department called tub grindings. Tub grindings consist of large limbs, tree trunk pieces, and other woody plant parts that are too large for a conventional tree chipper and so are shredded by a much larger tub grinder. Wood chips comprise roughly 70 to 75 percent of our Planta-tions Mulch recipe, but are a rather unpredictable commodity as tree companies continue to find other outlets for this raw material. Tub grindings can help make up any shortfall and serve as a carbon source to produce enough mulch to satisfy our gardeners’ demands. l

Jim Mack, Horticultural and Landscape Operations Manager

An easy way to make free, sustainable mulch for your home garden is to simply blow or rake leaves onto existing woody plant beds instead of bagging them up or setting them by the curb. I use my lawn mower as both a leaf chopper for leaves on the lawn as well as a blower.

You may need to redirect some windblown leaves back into those beds several times until win-ter’s first heavy snow pins them down, and then nature will break down all but the thickest, largest leaves into a topping of crumbly leaf mulch within a growing season. Do the same with next fall’s leaves—as they break down, you’ll be building up the soil.

This method may not work as well with beds containing herbaceous plants due to the potential smothering effects of leaves, but works very well in tree-lawn spaces occupied by shallow-rooted trees within a mulched bed.

Mulch Madness at Home

Maintaining plant collections at public gardens takes a lot more than knowledgeable,

professional staff, quality plant material from verifiable sources, and a suitable climate.

It also takes mulch, and lots of it!

gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/mulch/mulchland.html

Plantations Mulch is maintained in a

1,000-cubic-yard windrow several hundred

feet long. “Windrow,” a word dating from the

1500s, means a row heaped up as if by the

wind, and is also used to indicate rows of

hay or grain raked up to dry. For large-scale

composting, Tom Richard of Cornell Coopera-

tive Extension says, “the size and shape of the

windrow are designed to allow oxygen to flow

throughout the pile while maintaining tem-

peratures in the proper range.” Using autumn

leaves, the typical windrow is about 8 feet tall

and 16 feet wide at the base, stretching out

as long as needed.

Plantations news: STAFF FAvORITES

cornellplantations.org

Phot

o: F.

Rob

ert W

esle

y

7

One of my very favorite Plantations natural areas is the Carter Creek Preserve, located about 14 miles southwest of Cornell on Connecticut Hill. While some of our preserves border on being overused, this one is much lesser known, though it is a remarkably beau-tiful wilderness. Beyond a small stream that cuts diagonally through the parcel, a pristine, old-growth forest stands as one of the natural showpieces of Tompkins County.

Connecticut Hill, like most of the land between Ithaca and Geneva, was divided into tracts and given as payment to soldiers who served in the Revolutionary War. Some areas of the preserve show a history of agricultural use, but as farming was abandoned due to shallow soil in its high elevations, the land returned to forest.

Two steep hillsides border Carter Creek, both crisscrossed by small tributary streams. Differing ages, sizes, and species of trees in the preserve show that the land experienced varied uses over its history. As is typical of northern hardwood forests, the most common tree species are hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), beech (Fagus grandifolia), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), and white ash (Fraxinus americana). Where land was disturbed, red maple (Acer rubrum), red oak (Quercus rubra), and hop hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) have filled in. In the understory, you can find partridge-berry (Mitchella repens), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), club mosses (Lycopodiaceae), goldthread (Coptis groenlandica), and Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense).

Careful eyes will discover several locally scarce species at home in Carter Creek, many of them ferns: broad beech-fern (Phegopteris

hexagonoptera), northern beech fern (Phegopteris connectilis), lance-leaved grape-fern (Botrychium lanceolatum), dwarf grape fern (Botrychium simplex), ground-pine (Diphasiastrum tristachyum), and stiff clubmoss (Spinulum annotinum).

A stand of white pine (Pinus strobus) and hem-lock with a very sparse understory dominates the northwest of the property. The lowland in the center near the creek is a rich forest of mostly white ash, basswood (Tilia americana), and black cherry (Prunus serotina).

Carter Creek Preserve is a wild 120 acres. Depending on your point of entry, you may need to cross a rocky stream and hike up a steep ravine slope before continuing into the woods. Be prepared with

a compass, sturdy hiking shoes, drinking water, and clothing appropriate for the season to make the most of your adventure. Visit more than once and I bet it will become one of your favorite Plantations natural areas, too.

Read more about Carter Creek Preserve at cornellplantations.org/our-gardens/natural-areas /carter.creek. Note that only the western parcel of Connecticut Hill is a Plantations natural area. The 146-acre eastern parcel is managed by Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources. Both are part of a large forested wild area that includes the Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area, managed by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. l

F. Robert Wesley, Botanist

ConnecticutHill Wildlife

ManagementArea

Newfield

Ithaca

Cabin Rd

Elmira Rd

ConnecticutHill Rd

Alpine Rd

CARTER CREEK PRESERVE

13

13

13

9696B

244

96

34

34

N

Carter Creek Rd

A favorite of Robert Wesley CARteR CReek PReseRve

Uncertain Future for Carter Creek’s Forests

I urge you to see the Carter Creek Preserve

soon; it may not remain as it is. Some

of the largest trees, and one of the most

abundant tree species in the forest canopy

in the old-growth parcel, are white ash.

The invasion of emerald ash borer has

reached New York, and these wood-boring

insects are only a few counties away.

Predictions vary, but their arrival could

mean the rapid death of all the ash species

in our forests. In addition, hemlock woolly

adelgid has been detected in the preserve,

which may have a devastating effect on

the hemlocks there.

Visit emeraldashborer.info to learn more.

Plantations news: PROGRAM AREA UPDATES

8 verdant views Winter 2012

It is once again that time of year when plant catalogs start arriving in our mailboxes, and newsletters in our email

inboxes entice us to look at what is new for the garden this year. I am always drawn in, eagerly scanning for novel or

innovative plant introductions in the “new this year” category. It’s easy since most catalogs place them front and cen-

ter so readers can find them immediately. Even though I am usually attracted to any new plant, I have come to learn

over many years of gardening that “new” may mean different, but does not always mean better.

Do New Plant Introductions Walk the Talk?

(Above) Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’

(Right) Echinacea ‘ Raspberry Truffle’

Plantations news: PROGRAM AREA UPDATES

9cornellplantations.org

A favorite of Robert Wesley CARteR CReek PReseRve

To give visitors the opportunity to see a selection of these plant newcomers and make their own assessments, last summer Plantations devel-oped two display plantings, one in the botanical garden to feature new herbaceous perennials, and one in the arboretum showcasing new shrub selections within one genus. Although several new cultivars will be added to the perennial beds each year, the shrub display will be renewed every three years to give the plants time to reach their full size and ornamental potential.

You can see the herbaceous perennial dis- play in the Herb Garden’s North Walk, where two beds flank a chipped path. The location’s sunny

exposure makes it a perfect place to test for heat tolerance, which is emerging as an important con-sideration for gardeners facing warmer climates and those who may want to reduce water use in their gardens. A diversity of genera are featured, including Echinacea (coneflower), Leucanthemum (Shasta daisy), Campanula (bellflower), Geum (avens), Oenothera (evening primrose), Coreopsis (tickseed), and Hibiscus (rose mallow).

Coneflowers have replaced coral bells (Heuchera) as the hottest group of plants on the market, and an astonishing number of new selections have arrived in the last two years. They differ primarily in shades and intensity of flower color and form,

ranging from hot pink to flame red, and from single, to semi-double, to almost fully double. Many of the selections with unusual flower forms that we planted in the display either partially reverted to single flowers on one stem, or pro-duced both single and semi-double flowers on the same stem, indicating that they are not very stable and had not been sufficiently trialed and field-tested prior to being marketed.

Coreopsis ‘Galaxy’ Big Bang™ Series is one of the new, more vigorous and floriferous hybrids introduced by plant hunter and breeder Darrell Probst. Reaching only 12 inches in height, this full, bushy perennial sported semi-double clear yellow flowers throughout the summer. Another outstanding performer was Oenothera fremontii ‘Summer Shimmer’, a very low-growing evening

(Above) Buddleja Flutterby™ Pink

(Left) Coreopsis ‘Galaxy’ Big Bang™ Series

primrose that produced a constant series of large, bright yellow flowers above slender, shim-mering silver foliage. The next test will be to see if they overwinter well.

The display bed for new shrub selections is along the edge of the Sculpture Garden, just west of Grossman Pond in the F. R. Newman Arboretum. In past years, this was a demon-stration bed showcasing the breeding work that researcher Peter Podaras was doing with Buddleja here at Cornell. This year it features six cultivars that he selected from his many crosses and introduced into the nursery trade under the trademarks Flutterby Petite™ and Flutterby Grandé™ Series. The plants are all complex hybrids, derived from a series of crosses using several species, and as a result are sterile. This is an important breakthrough for gardeners living in USDA Hardiness Zones 6 and higher, where Buddleja is an aggressive invasive plant.

Other nice features of Flutterby Petite types are their small stature and delicate, airy plumes of flowers, with silvery foliage on several. These selections are marketed as suitable for use as ground covers or container plants, and those in the display beds reached to only 24 to 28 inches.

The Grandé Series features plants that mature at 6 to 7 feet, and the two we have on display have very unusual flower colors. The tint of Peach Cobbler’s flowers is an entirely new color in but-terfly bushes, and Blueberry Cobbler has unusual bi-colored plumes, the flowers opening slate blue and aging to yellow-orange. Spring will reveal how winter-hardy they are in the Ithaca area.

If you are looking for something new to add to your garden, stop by Plantations in summer to see if these new plants measure up to their glowing catalog descriptions. l

Mary Hirshfeld, Director of Horticulture

Phot

os: N

orth

Wal

k, Ly

nn P

urdo

n Ye

nkey

; Bud

dlej

a Fl

utte

rby™

Pin

k, P

eter

Pod

aras

10 verdant views Winter 2012

Phot

os: J

udy’s

Day

, Uni

vers

ity P

hoto

grap

hy; W

ildflo

wer E

xplo

ratio

ns, L

ynn

Purd

on Y

enke

y

Plantations news: PROGRAM AREA UPDATES

Our biannual Judy’s Day Family Learning Festival continues to be wildly successful. This year’s theme, “Harvesting History,” engaged kids (and their parents) in hands-on activities based on the real diaries of two young 19th-century Ithacans, showing how crucial plants were in their daily lives. Nearly 2,000 visitors came out to the F. R. Newman Arboretum and experienced what it was like to get staple foods by grinding

A Mission with a Message: We Need Plants

In the education department here at Cornell Plantations, we remember this in all we do:

It’s a theme threaded into every class, in all our interpretive signs, exhibits, workshops,

and lectures. We even etched it into the glass vestibule in the Nevin Welcome Center!

In a wide variety of programs over the past year—some time-honored, some connecting

us to contemporary national concerns—we strove to help visitors register and feel the

importance of plants in their own lives.

A Judy’s Day visitor cracking black walnuts, an everyday occurence in

the 19th century.

Ithaca third-graders looking closely at native wildflowers as part of our Wildflower Explorations program.

“Plants are essential to human survival and wellbeing. They feed us, heal us, protect us, and enrich us.”

flour; shucking, shelling, and grinding corn; rolling oats; and peeling and pressing apples for cider and apple butter. Beyond showing the dietary importance of plants, Judy’s Day exhibits taught children about their more utilitarian uses. Visitors had fun extracting fiber from flax to make linen thread, made brooms from sorghum and broom corn, and even raised and disassembled a barn with timbers, showcasing the many varied plants in our lives—both yesteryear and today.

The lives of most American children today are vastly different and much less physically demand-ing than in the 19th century. Recognizing the importance of outdoor experiences to help combat childhood obesity and to encourage children to reconnect with nature, we joined First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative, which is dedicated to raising a healthier generation of children. Fami-lies came out for great exercise and a big dose of “Vitamin N” (for nature), walking around Houston and Grossman Ponds and hiking in the Fall Creek Natural Area. This was the first of a series of “Let’s Move!” events we have planned, and the first of its kind in Ithaca.

In 2011 we celebrated the 25th anniversary of our Fall Lecture Series, a cornerstone program growing in new directions. Among the highlights:

11cornellplantations.org

Phot

os: L

ectu

re, C

hris

Kitc

hen

Phot

ogra

phy;

Shak

espe

are

and

Win

ter S

olst

ice

tour

, Uni

vers

ity P

hoto

grap

hy; D

on R

akow

, Jes

se W

inte

rPlantations news: PROGRAM AREA UPDATES

Our work at Cornell Plantations often takes us out on the road and away from our garden havens. From coast to coast and around the world, we are engag-ing a variety of audiences about the importance of plants and the natural world.

Donald Rakow, the E. N. Wilds Director of Cornell Plantations, has in the past led tours through some of New York City’s botanical landmarks, including the New York Botanical Garden and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. A new collaboration with the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan’s Upper East Side has us working in the city again. The 92Y offers music, art, educa-tional, and health programs for New Yorkers of all denominations and ages. Plantations and Cornell University are sponsoring the “Changing Earth” lecture series, part of 92Y’s First Class Science adult education program.

The year-long lecture series kicked off in November, featuring speakers from Cornell and other organizations. Nina Bassuk, professor in Cornell’s Department of Horticulture, delivered the first Plantations lecture in December, “Why Do

On the Road with Cornell Plantations

Clockwise: Lecturer Olivia Judson; the Ithaca Shakespeare Company’s

performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the arboretum; participants

in our winter solstice program.

*Watch video of last fall’s lectures at

cornellplantations.org NOTE: Olivia Judson’s lecture will be

available from April 5-12 only at

cornellplantations.org/judsonvideo

Dan Hinkley regaling us with tales of exploring the farthest reaches of the globe to find exciting new plants; tasting tea and discovering the staggering variety and cultural significance of teas with Cornell alumnus Michael Harney, owner of Harney and Sons Teas; learning about the unique evolutionary paths life has taken by biologist and New York Times bestselling author Olivia Judson through a collaborative effort with the Boyce Thompson Institute; and taking a cultural tour of the backyard vegetable garden with Garden Rant blogger and author Michele Owens.*

Outside in our gardens and natural areas, and in the inviting spaces of the Nevin Welcome Center, many more Plantations programs had visitors laughing, listening, playing, learning, and creating—all about plants. It is our hope that they felt themselves growing, too. l

sonja skelly, Director of Education

We Need Trees?” She is the co-author, along with Cornell landscape architecture professor Peter Trowbridge, of Trees in the Urban Landscape, and leads the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell. Bassuk, who also chairs Plantations’ Collection and Design Committee, used our urban tree collection in research that led to the invention of CU-Structural Soil®, a medium that enables trees to thrive along city sidewalks and in other urban environments.

On March 14, Don Rakow will give the second Plantations lecture, “Why Do We Need Green Spaces? The Importance of Gardens and Parks in our Communities.” He’ll talk about how the roles of parks and public gardens are changing dramati-cally in this era of increasing environmental crises.

In April, Rakow will lead “The Spectacular Gardens and Culture of Spain,” a study tour guiding participants with Cornell’s Adult University through some of Spain’s best private and public gardens. He’ll discuss influences from France, Baroque and Renaissance Italy, and the Moorish tradition, and explore how contemporary gardens reflect the con-tinuing Spanish interest in art and culture.

Then in May, Rakow will meet with alumni, giving plant-focused lectures and leading tours of public gardens in Portland and Seattle. l

Billy kepner, Marketing and Retail Coordinator

See the 92Y event schedule at www.92y.org/Uptown/Classes/Interest/Science/Changing-Earth.aspx. For more about Cornell Adult University, go to www.sce.cornell.edu/cau.

Community: a garden’s power to heal

12 verdant views Winter 2012

Before September 2010, I had never heard of William Cinea. Then I re-

ceived an email inquiry from Francine Jasper, associate program coordinator for the Humphrey Fellowship Program at Cornell. She asked if I could mentor a new Humphrey fellow from Haiti who had an interest in botanical gardens.

As I quickly learned, William possessed far more than an interest in botanical gardens! His driving passion had already led him to create the Cayes Botanical Garden in his hometown, and the Haitian newspaper, La Matin, named him one of the most in-fluential Haitians in 2011. While at Cornell, he intended to learn as much as he could to prepare himself for his ultimate goal: the cre-ation of a national botanical garden of Haiti.

The natural disasters and other tragedies that have befallen Haiti caused me to ques-tion the practicality and even the value of a national botanical garden in this ravaged land. Shouldn’t needs like earthquake relief and the elimination of poverty and cholera, I thought, take precedence over creating a public garden?

Through our frequent dialogues, William convinced me that a national botanical garden would serve multiple vital roles, such as educating Haitians on ways to restore native vegetation and rein-vigorating agricultural production of such appropriate crops as breadfruit.

To William, normal conventions could not be allowed to deter him from his dream. When he shared with me that he planned to organize an international con-

A National Botanical Garden of Haiti: from Dream into Reality By Don Rakow

William Cinea had broad ambitions

for his Humphrey Fellowship at Cornell, the

Fulbright Exchange Program for international

leaders in agriculture, environmental and

natural resource management, biotechnology,

and city and regional planning. He hoped

to reverse environmental mismanagement

and devastation in Haiti, improve global

perceptions of his country, and inspire and

educate Haitians about the possibilities of their

land and themselves. His agent for change:

public gardens, to restore not just indigenous

plants but agricultural independence,

encourage ecotourism, and give the people of

Haiti places of pride and peace in their land.

More on Cinea’s work is at haitigarden.org.

Phot

os: W

illia

m g

radu

atio

n, F

ranc

ine

Jasp

er; W

illia

m w

orki

ng o

n Ki

enzle

Ove

rlook

, Uni

vers

ity P

hoto

grap

hy

Max Pfeffer, senior associate dean of the College of

Agriculture and Life Sciences, presents Cinea with his

Natural Resources Management certificate.

Cinea put his thirst for botanical knowledge to work in every Plantations garden, as here at Kienzle Overlook, weeding, planting,

pruning, mulching, and watering. He also tended some of our more unusual plants in the greenhouse and learned about records

and mapping with our plant record specialist.

Community: a garden’s power to heal

13cornellplantations.org

ference on establishing a national botanical garden, I strongly supported this goal and told him that such undertakings normally require 12 to 18 months of planning. “Oh no,” he countered in his ever-polite broken English, “we must do this in fall”—four months from that point.

Given what I had already experienced of William’s exceptional drive, I shouldn’t have been surprised that he was, in fact, successful in convening the International Workshop on Establishing a National Botanical Garden of Haiti this past October, and that he engaged some of the top leaders in the public garden field as presenters. Among these were Dr. Peter Wyse-Jackson, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden; Chipper Wichman, CEO of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii; Gilles Vincent, president of the Montreal Botanical Garden; and Leigh Morris, director of education for the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.

When I arrived for the conference, nothing could have adequately prepared me for what I saw and experienced in the devastated city of Port-au-Prince. The ramshackle airport was surrounded on two sides by a sea of blue tarp tents,

all populated by families who lost their homes, and likely all their possessions, in the January 2010 earthquake.

The street scenes in the city are mani-festations of controlled chaos: vehicles ignore established lanes and weave in and out as they jockey for position. Residents line the sidewalks, hawking their wares, which vary from bananas to bed stands. Everywhere one sees decimated infra-structure: former homes lying in piles of rubble, enormous chasms disrupting the roadways, and even the presidential palace reduced to a flattened pancake.

It was against this background of loss that the workshop speakers from botanic gardens in Canada, France, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the U.K., and the U.S. provided avenues of hope for Haiti’s future. The participants addressed issues such as how to establish and administer a brand new botanical garden, select and design the site, develop collections and programs, and reach out to the population. The level of enthusiasm among both presenters and participants could not have been higher.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the participants declared that the roles of a new National Botanical Garden of

Haiti would be diverse, multi-faceted, and aimed at meeting national needs in a wide range of sectors and disciplines. At the top of the list is helping to develop the nation and alleviate poverty through contributions in the fields of tourism, agriculture, forestry, horticulture, sci-ence, health, and education. The national botanical garden would lead ecological restoration efforts; assist in recovering, protecting, and managing threatened spe-cies; rehabilitate and protect watersheds; and guide soil conservation efforts.

Plants with socioeconomic importance would be given special attention, and the garden would introduce, evaluate, propa-gate, and disseminate fruit trees, vegetable species, fuel wood crops, medicinal plants, and other species used for crafts and local and national economic purposes. It would promote tourism as an important and developing national industry, and present the wealth of Haiti’s flora, natural envi-ronment, and culture to international and national visitors.

The conservation of rare and endan-gered native plants would be aided by developing off-site collections of threat-ened species and evaluating current and future threats to Haitian plants. As with environmental protection under-taken anywhere, education and raising aware-ness by Haiti’s people would be paramount, communicating the impor-tance of plants and delivering practical training in horticulture, arboriculture, and other plant-related fields.

My initial concerns about the present-day value of a national botanical garden in Haiti are more than allayed, but much work lies ahead to bring these goals to fruition. The proceedings of the con- ference must be disseminated to key

decision makers, a national committee for the establishment of the garden needs to be formed, a site with secure land title must be obtained, and a mission and vision will need to be crafted.

William will continue to focus on these efforts under the auspices of and with sup-port from the Missouri Botanical Garden. All of the other public gardens that were represented have also pledged forms of assistance that will be much needed in the months and years ahead. William and I will remain in close contact, as my and Plantations’ contribution will be to help guide the difficult initial stages of garden establishment.

Participating in this effort, I was re-minded of the bubble of comfort in which most of us live. But I was also inspired by the Haitian people who, despite every-thing they have suffered, refuse to give up, and by one individual whose ambitious drive and determination is motivating pro-fessionals from Edinburgh to Honolulu to join forces to realize a dream. nDon rakow is the Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director of Cornell Plantations.

Scenes of devastation such as the destroyed National Cathedral and daily hardship are present everywhere in Haiti. Gilles Vincent, president of the Montreal Botanical Garden,

being interviewed by the Haitian media about the prospect

of a National Botanical Garden of Haiti.

Phot

os: H

aitia

n st

reet

, iSt

ockp

hoto

; Nat

iona

l Cat

hedr

al a

nd p

ress

con

fere

nce,

pro

vide

d by

Gill

es V

ince

nt

Gardening: beautiful bark

14 verdant views Winter 2012

Phot

os: C

ornu

s al

ba, U

nive

rsity

Pho

togr

aphy

, C. A

lba

‘Bud

’s Ye

llow’

, Jul

ie M

agur

a

Beautiful Bark By Mary Hirshfeld

After autumn’s brilliant bouquet of foliage and fruit has passed by, many plants and trees continue providing

color and interest throughout the winter. Bark, an ornamental attribute that can easily be overlooked during

the summer, can add beauty and variation to the snow-covered winter landscape, and Cornell Plantations is

peppered with fascinating examples.

Gardening: beautiful bark

15cornellplantations.org

Colorful Shrubby DogwoodsSeveral of the shrubby dogwoods, namely the Tatarian dogwood (Cornus alba), bloodtwig dogwood (C. sanguinea), and red osier dogwood (C. sericea), offer cul-tivars with bright red, orange, or yellow bark. Cornus alba is native to China and Korea, C. sanguinea is a native of Europe, and C. sericea is a North American spe-cies. Though all are denizens of moist soil in their respective native habitats, they make remarkably adaptable landscape plants, tolerating dry conditions and per-forming well either in sun or partial shade. The three are interchangeable as land-scape plants, suckering to form colonies of slender stems that brighten the winter landscape considerably.

Among the three, many cultivars have been selected that broaden the bark color palette. Siberian dogwood (C. alba ‘Sibirica’), is probably the most widely grown of the red-twigged varieties. Un-fortunately, plants sold under this name are not uniform, and some are better than others. Be sure to inspect plants at a nursery to make sure you are acquiring ones with rich, red bark. From the JC Raulston Arboretum in North Carolina comes an excellent, vigorous selection with bright, blood-red stems, aptly named ‘Bloodgood’. The planting in Plantations’ Mullestein Winter Garden, a real standout in the winter, has also proven quite resistant to the disfiguring leaf spot that plagues most shrubby dog-woods during the summer. Cornus sericea ‘Cardinal’, introduced by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, flaunts bright, cherry-red stems, distinctly lighter and brighter than the typical mahogany seen in most shrubby dogwoods.

The yellow-twigged C. alba ‘Bud’s Yellow’ was selected for its resistance to twig canker, which causes unattrac-tive brown patches along the stems. This disease is very common on the widely grown yellow-twigged C. sericea ‘Flaviramea’. Better to find ‘Bud’s Yellow’, plant it,and enjoy rich yellow unblemished stems during the winter months!

If you can’t decide between red and yellow, have both with C. sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ and ‘Winter Flame’. Their stems shift from red to orange to yellow, reminiscent of the gradations in the flames of a cozy campfire. Both are twiggier, stiffer, and slower growing than other selections, so plant them quite close together for the best display. Both de-velop nice pale yellow fall leaves, showier than the usual deep purple-red of most shrubby dogwoods.

Eye-popping as they are in winter, all shrubby dogwoods tend to display nondescript brownish or greenish-yellow twigs during summer. They are best planted in large drifts, where the sheer number of stems makes a bright splash against the snow, or where they can an-chor a grouping of white birches to make a durable, pleasing winter display. Unlike many trees that require a certain degree of maturity before displaying unusual bark patterns, shrubby dogwoods lose their bright stem coloration with age, and bark becomes brownish and drab. Coppice them—cut stems back to three to four inches above ground level in early spring—to ensure an annual crop of viv-idly colored young twigs to enjoy over the coming winter. Cornus alba ‘Bud’s Yellow’

Gardening: beautiful bark

16 verdant views Winter 2012

Whimsical WillowsWith diligent and persistent spring pruning, many arboreal willows can be kept at shrub height and encouraged to produce dense stands of colorful young twigs. For example, if left on its own, the coral bark willow (Salix alba ‘Britzensis’) will develop into a 50-foot-tall, rather uninteresting tree with rough yellow-brown bark. But if you regularly coppice it, you can maintain the willow as a multi-twigged shrub with coral red bark. As with the shrubby dogwoods, young stems are the most vividly col-ored, so prune regularly in spring. Once ‘Britzensis’ establishes a strong root system, it can produce five-to seven-foot stems in one season, so annual coppicing may be needed to keep it within bounds.

Other worthwhile willows to enjoy in winter include Salix ‘Scarlet Curls’, the corkscrew willow. Red or golden young twigs elegantly twist into loose, idiosyncratic corkscrews. Look for Salix ‘Golden Curls’ for golden stems, ‘Scarlet Curls’ for bicolor gold and scarlet stems, and ‘Snake’ for nearly black, wavy rather than tightly curled stems. Since all will mature into very large trees with the curled and colored new growth carried high up in the canopy, coppice them yearly to keep stems close to eye level.

Trees for All SeasonsGardeners with plenty of room can plant trees with attractively patterned or textured bark to break up winter’s monotones. Our native river birch (Betula nigra) is a lovely, gracefully branched tree with tan and black bark

that exfoliates, peeling away from the trunk. Betula nigra Heritage® is one cultivar selected for its highly ornamen-tal cream-and-buff bark. Papery strips peel away from the trunk as it increases in girth, revealing underlying shades of amber, pink, and cream. Reaching 50 to 60 feet high, it tolerates dry soils and is resistant to the bronze birch borer that can disfigure or kill many of the white bark birch species.

If you choose to plant Heritage®, look for a multi-stemmed specimen with three to four trunks to provide more bark atop a striking winter silhouette. For smaller gardens, look for Betula nigra Fox Valley®, a dwarf form with similar ornamental bark that can reach to 15 feet with age.

The paperbark maple (Acer griseum) is without a doubt the jewel of the winter landscape, producing attractive dark green leaves that transform to a brilliant purple-red in fall, all displayed against burnished, exfoliating cinnamon-brown bark. Growing slowly to 20 or 30 feet, it an ideal specimen tree for smaller gardens, but has remained both costly and scarce in the nursery trade because it is difficult to propagate from seed. Visit Plantations’ paperbark maples in the cool, sheltered location at the Flat Rock entry to F. R. Newman Arboretum.

Several selections have recently been made from crosses of A. griseum and A. maximowiczianum, formerly the Nikko maple (A. nikoense). Two of these, ‘Girard’s Form’ and ‘Gingerbread’, offer A. griseum’s attractive copper bark on a more vigorous and heat tolerant tree.

Three-flower maple (A. triflorum), another small Asian maple, makes an

Corkscrew willow (Salix ‘Scarlet Curls’)

River birch (Betula nigra Heritage®)

Gardening: beautiful bark

17cornellplantations.org

Phot

os: S

alix

‘Sca

rlet C

urls

’ and

pap

erba

rk m

aple

, Jul

ie M

agur

a; B

etul

a ni

gra

Herit

age,

® U

nive

rsity

Pho

togr

aphy

See Them at Plantations

Shrubby dogwoods:

Mullestein Winter Garden

Willows:

Mullestein Winter Garden

River birch:

Mullestein Winter Garden

and Bioswale Garden

Paperbark maple:

Flat Rock entry to

F. R. Newman Arboretum

Three-flower maple:

Gymnosperm Slope and

the edge of Slim Jim Woods

Japanese stewartia:

Comstock Knoll and

Mullestein Winter Garden

exquisite specimen tree, with a round head, three-parted leaves that assume reddish-orange tints in autumn, and bark that sheds in curls like cinnamon sticks. Place three-flower maple where you will see it often to best appreciate its delicate bark pattern.

A number of other trees display bark with a checkered cream, buff, and gray pattern as small plates of older bark drop away from the expanding trunk. Japanese stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia), an exceptionally ornamental small tree that develops outstanding bark patterns with age, is one of the best in this category. Its single white camellia-like flowers blossom in midsummer. These are soon followed by interesting beaked fruit capsules, and eventually by rich purple autumn leaves.

Since Stewartia is on the borderline of winter hardiness in the Ithaca area, specimens like those on Comstock Knoll and in the Winter Garden are planted in protected locations. They require good soil that is not permitted to dry out. Like many trees with attractively pat-terned exfoliating bark, Stewartia takes many years to develop this characteris-tic. The bark on young trees is an undistinguished dirty gray showing little indication of its future varied pat-terns of amber, cinnamon, and cream.

If you plant young trees, reward your patience as they grow by enjoying the color bursts and whimsical forms of the many smaller and mid-sized shrubs available, either at Plantations or in plantings of your own. nMary Hirshfeld is director of horticulture at Cornell Plantations.Paperbark maple (Acer griseum)

Conservation: a spectrum of goals

18 verdant views Winter 2012

Phot

os: A

. sac

char

um ‘M

onum

enta

le’,

Plan

tatio

ns A

rchi

ves

Insurance Policy for Rare Plants“On a global or national scale, the North-east is not a hotbed of rare plants,” says Todd Bittner, Plantations’ director of natu-ral areas. “The factors that create ende-mism (species found in just one locale) are not at play here, like those found in Hawaii for example.” But Northeast species that grow in small numbers can become threat-ened due to land-use changes, which has been the fate of the American globeflower (Trollius laxus). Two centuries of clear-ing, grading, grazing, farming, and other human development have paved over, flooded, dried out, degraded, or otherwise obliterated most of the wetlands where this plant takes root. On top of that, Ameri-can globeflower is picky, preferring cold alkaline water upwelling in fens, conditions the glacial limestone deposits of the Finger Lakes area provide perfectly. In fact, half its global population is in the Ithaca area’s Fall Creek watershed, with communities in two of 44 Plantations preserves.

Natural areas staff realized they were well-positioned to help protect this spe-cies, and so in 2006 Plantations joined the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC). An affiliation of 37 botanic gardens, the CPC works to prevent the extinction of

America’s native plants and maintains the National Collection of Endangered Plants, containing more than 750 of what it calls the nation’s most imperiled indigenous plants. It is the only coordinated national program that conserves rare plant material off-site, either as seed, rooted cuttings, or mature plants, and makes them available for a range of restoration efforts.

Ohio’s Holden Arboretum first peti-tioned the CPC to preserve American globeflower, and was already the designated sponsor when Plantations came aboard. Like it and other institutions working with globeflower, Plantations protects existing plant populations by safeguarding their habitats. Whereas most CPC members work on government or private land, Plan-tations is able to do this work on our own preserves, Salt Road Fen and Eames Bog, where we manage deer populations, prevent beavers from damming and flooding the area, remove invasive woody plant species, and manage trails.

Successful as we can be in that work, Bittner explains that the risk with so few globeflower habitats is that they can be-come genetic islands, inbreeding and losing variability within the population.

The tall

and

short of it

Living (Collections) for the FutureBy Lynn Purdon Yenkey

What does a sugar maple have in common with an American globeflower? One is a towering em-

blem of the Northeast, while the other is found—if at all—low down in about 40 known wetlands

scattered from Connecticut to Ohio. The sugar maple is grown widely for its economic potential

and fall color, while the globeflower is little-known and threatened. Yet both embody the expres-

sion and the idea of “living collections” at Cornell Plantations. The two species represent opposite

ends of a spectrum of conservation goals and activities, and fulfilling these means keeping alive

not only the plants but the promise of their genetic diversity far into the future. It’s what com-

pels Plantations to reach beyond its regional borders to join national and international networks

working to understand where plants need protection and how best to do it collaboratively.

Acer saccharum ‘Monumentale’, bordering the Zucker shrub Collection

Conservation: a spectrum of goals

19cornellplantations.org

Phot

os: S

eed

colle

ctin

g an

d pr

opag

atio

n, F.

Rob

ert W

esle

y

With that, the plants lose the ability to adapt to changes in their environment. The simple act of collecting and saving seed is the insurance policy against that and subsequent population loss. Plan-tations staff and volunteers collect 10 percent of seeds from roughly 10 percent of the almost 2,500 globeflower plants in our natural areas, keeping track of lineages in the process to capture diversity.

Seeds are then preserved and packaged using CPC protocol, methods developed to ensure seeds remain viable for 10 to 100 years and that maximize their poten-tial to germinate. Like all the plants in Plantations’ living collections, American globeflower seeds preserved for the CPC are accessioned. Some are banked at the Chicago Botanic Garden and some at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Ft. Collins, Colorado, to be stored frozen at -20 degrees Celsius. However, Plantations retains ownership of the seed. We and other CPC participating institutions may take seeds out, again fol-lowing CPC protocol, to test viability, for research, to revive populations, or to grow plants to replenish their seeds. If another interested group would like to try propa-

gating globeflower, it can request seed and, with the approval of the CPC and Plantations, attempt to do so using CPC standards.

A portion of the seeds Plantations collects each year are reserved to grow new plants used to bolster local popula-tions, particularly in Eames Bog, where a 2011 census found just 169 globeflower plants. “It wouldn’t take much to lose a small population like Eames,” says Bittner, who remains optimistic. “The plants we propagate and that have flow-ered in Plantations’ greenhouses speak volumes about the success of the pro-gram.” With time, those individual plants might just help create a stronger, more adaptable American globeflower.

Exclamation Points, Sweet Trees, and Other Reasons to CollectThough conservation efforts for rare wild plants tend to draw the most public attention, Plantations takes equal care in cataloging and preserving the genetic infor-mation in our cultivated collections, which includes cooperative efforts with other organizations. Since 2001, Plantations has been a member of the North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC), a program of the American Public Gardens

Association. We are among 12 NAPCC institutions growing and monitoring maples (genus Acer), and one of 19 with a collection of oaks (Quercus).

Having a variety of plant groups like Acer collected nationally and internation-ally provides reliable reference points for identifying species and cultivated variet-ies, called cultivars. It’s also the best way to preserve their germplasm—the genetic material necessary to propagate plants—for scientists studying taxonomy, breeding plants, or doing other research. Plantations compares its plant inventories with fellow NAPCC institutions to find duplications and gaps, sometimes swapping holdings or even eliminating them.

“Cornell Plantations represents culti-vated material in the NAPCC,” says Mary Hirshfeld, director of horticulture. “Some arboreta focus exclusively on docu-mented wild material, and some that had cultivars have sent them to us to graft and add to our collections, and then cut their cultivars down.”

After decades of thoughtful plant acquisi-tions and serving as a test environment for university horticulturists, Plantations is home to several old, unusual cultivars not readily seen in today’s nursery trade. If you’ve been to the Zucker Shrub Collec-tion in the F. R. Newman Arboretum, you might remember one of them. A twinset of skinny sugar maples rises out of the north border there, with a form and presence that call to mind the cypresses of Tuscany, except for their unmistakable maple leaf shape.

“It’s an exclamation point in the land-scape,” says Hirshfeld of Acer saccharum ‘Monumentale’, once prolific in the early 1900s but little seen in contemporary gar-dens. Its useful narrow form paired with

gorgeous maple foliage might one day draw growers back to it. If it makes a comeback, Plantations could well play a part, provid-ing not just genetic material for propagation but two of the few mature examples.

The 25 A. saccharum trees bordering the arboretum’s sugar maple trail (as it is informally known) that leads uphill from Houston Pond don’t look unusual at all. But if you could test them with a hydrom-eter you would find high concentrations of sugar in the sap. Known as sweet trees, they are examples of Cornell’s plant breeding history that might yet contribute to a new sustainable economic venture for New York and the Northeast.

Maple syrup producers have long known that sweet trees have less water in the sap, meaning less time and fuel required to boil it into syrup. The problem has been find-ing enough of them in one location to make syrup production more uniformly efficient. A project begun in the 1960s by the U.S. Forest Service to breed sweet trees continues today under Cornell’s Sugar Maple Tree Improvement Program. It began with the task of identifying sweet trees in North-eastern forests, and 21,000 sugar maples were tapped and tested. Of these, 53 had the desired sugar levels. To clone them, the team pioneered methods to develop roots on maple cuttings, and also grafted cuttings onto root stock. These were planted in two clonal banks, one at Cornell’s Uihlein Sugar Maple Field Station in Lake Placid, to pro-vide seeds to grow and test whether progeny from the original sweet trees would inherit this desirable trait. Indeed, seed-grown trees showed that genetics are partially respon-sible for maple sweetness. The best of the progeny have been planted in a seed orchard in Lake Placid to produce sweet tree seed for maple growers in the region.

Conservation: a spectrum of goals

20 verdant views Winter 2012

Walking along Plantations’ sugar maple trail, especially in its fall glory, a visitor might enjoy its echoes of old New York farm driveways, unaware that they walk among maples containing 50 percent of the germplasm from the Sugar Maple Tree Improvement Program, representing 40 years of genetic research and collaboration by the university, the federal government, and rural landowners.

These are just two stories behind the 195 species and cultivars in Plantations’ NAPCC collection of 308 maples. Trees in this collection vary widely and require different conditions, and so are spread throughout the arboretum and gardens. Other notable specimens are paperbark maples (A. griseum) near the Flat Rock en-try to the arboretum, and Acer x freemanii ‘Jeffersred’ Autumn Blaze®, a cultivar of a hybrid of red (A. rubrum) and silver maple (A. saccharinum), which grows alongside the bioswale next to the Nevin Welcome Center parking area.

You can also see Autumn Blaze® at the base of Slim Jim Woods at the southern edge of Newman Meadow, along with the cul-tivars ‘Celzam’ Celebration® and ‘Scarsen’ Scarlet Sentinal™. From across the meadow, you can compare their crown shapes and branching structure with the understory of shade-loving maples, including snakebark maples, and other small trees similar to the Japanese maple, such as A. shirasawanum and A. pseudosieboldianum.

Plant Inventories Go Global Beyond North American plant conserva-tion efforts, Plantations has made our collection inventories available to Botani-cal Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). With more than 700 members in 118 countries, BGCI develops policies

to protect plant diversity and “ensure the world-wide conservation of threatened plants, the continued existence of which are intrinsically linked to global issues including poverty, human well-being and climate change.” Its Global Strategy for Plant Conservation seeks to inventory every collected plant in the world, identify gaps, and collect what is missing. Rare or unusual specimens can be propagated and distributed to any participating garden that can grow it.

Last September, Plantations branched further into international conservation territory when the F. R. Newman Arbore-tum received Level III accreditation (the second highest level) through ArbNet, recognizing excellence in collections and programming. Sponsored and coordinat-ed by The Morton Arboretum in Illinois, in cooperation with the American Public Gardens Association and BGCI, ArbNet is an online, interactive community of arboreta around the world. It provides a means for them to share knowledge, experience, and resources to help each achieve a common purpose: “to encourage the planting and conservation of trees and other plants for a greener, healthier, and more beautiful world.”

The next time you’re able to take in the maples, oaks, and perennials growing in Newman Arboretum or walk among the delicate native plants in the natural areas of Cornell Plantations, consider again that term “living collections.” Even as we protect these inspiring plants for today, we are actively preserving their precious genetic diversity for life-times to come. nlynn Purdon Yenkey is a freelance writer, editor, and photographer living in Chicago, by way of the Finger Lakes.

American Public Gardens Association: www.publicgardens.org

ArbNet: arbnet.org

Botanic Gardens Conservation International: www.bgci.org

Center for Plant Conservation: www.centerforplantconservation.org

Cornell sugar Maple Research & extension Program: maple.dnr.cornell.edu

North American Plant Collections Consortium: www.publicgardens.org/content/what-napcc

Phot

o: S

lim Ji

m w

oods

, F. R

ober

t Wes

ley

A grouping of maples at the base of Slim Jim Woods displays several varieties of Freeman maple (Acer x freemannii), calling attention to differences in canopy shape and fall color.

Roots of Plantations: Comstock Knoll

21cornellplantations.org

To start at the true beginning, go back roughly 10,000 years, to the end of

the last ice age. What we know as Fall Creek was flowing and cutting through glacial sediment in the valley as it snaked along in a meander loop. The creek eventually cut through the loop to take a more direct path, leaving behind gravelly deposits and the small hill that had been at the core of its old meander: the knoll.

Jump ahead to 1903. Cornell entomol-ogy professor John Henry Comstock, bought the knoll, known as the Pinnacle, to build a home for himself and his wife, Anna Botsford Comstock. He paid $1,100 (about $27,600 in today’s dollars). Anna, in secret, also bought land, paying $450 for a plot just east of the Pinnacle. Where the Robison York State Herb Garden now lies, she had hoped to keep a cow.

Their ownership was short, however. In 1910, the Comstocks sold the knoll to the university for $10,000—almost $251,000 today—to fund publishing of Anna’s Handbook of Nature Study. Written in 1911 for public elementary school teachers, the Handbook has been printed in more than 24 editions. Anna had been teaching nature study at Cornell since 1897 and was made Cornell’s first female assistant professor in 1899, but a year later her title was revoked by the Board of Trustees and changed to

A Brief History of Comstock

Knoll

lecturer. She taught 20 more years until her full professorship was reinstated in 1920.

Cornell’s aim for the land was as out-door classroom for the nascent forestry department, and beginning in 1912, Comstock Knoll was planted with red and white pines (Pinus resinosa and P. strobus). The forestry department was not long-lived, and the knoll’s height has been the downfall of some of those great pines—several at the top were killed by a heavy snow storm in 1978. More recently, lightning struck and destroyed a Japanese umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) on the eastern slope. Now lightning wires protect most of the tallest trees in the botanical garden.

Best known today as home of the Bowers Rhododendron Collection, Comstock Knoll was first planted with rhododendrons in 1964. Then it was

simply a place to grow them while the Mary Rockwell Azalea Garden was built on central campus. Later, Richard Lewis, Plantations director from 1966 to 1982, selected it to trial rhododendrons for har-diness, since the light shade and winter protection provided by the pine canopy made the knoll ideal. The collection is named in honor of Clement Gray Bowers 1923, MS 1925, a Cornell horticultur-ist and faculty member noted for his expertise in rhododendron classification, selection, and hybridization, particularly for those suited to cold climates.

When the Nevin Welcome Center opened last year, its location alongside the knoll and its second floor opening onto the plateau made the rhododendrons even more visible to Plantations visitors.

lynn Purdon YenkeyHistorical research by Meredith Keuny ’12

As Plantations Visitor

Education Intern during

summer 2011, Meredith Keuny ’12, was charged with

researching and delivering a tour to the public. She

recognized that there were limited programs focused on

the history of Cornell Plantations, and excitedly immersed

herself in researching the complex topic. She not only

structured a lesson plan for delivering her tour, but wrote

a detailed timeline of events that shaped Plantations. We

are fortunate to have her report and the archival material

she uncovered and organized. It is a resource that will be

extensively used and much appreciated for years to come.

see a video of keuny’s August 2011 garden tour, “A Place Where things May Grow,” at cornellplantations.org.

Phot

os: C

omst

ocks

, Rar

e an

d M

anus

crip

t Col

lect

ions

, Cor

nell

Univ

ersi

ty L

ibra

ry; M

ered

ith K

euny

, Phi

l Syp

hrit

verdant views Winter 201222

xxxxxxxx: xxxxxxxxx

Gifts of the garden: cultivating humanity

23cornellplantations.org

Marcia Eames-Sheavly

gave the keynote address at

Plantations’ annual donor luncheon

in June 2011, and has graciously

provided her text for readers of

Verdant Views.

Two and a half years ago, both of our sons went off to school, one to college in

Manhattan, and the other to a small high school in northern Vermont. Almost overnight,

our house became so quiet. I missed them. As my husband and I began to adjust to a new

manner of living, I found myself pondering the question: how do you love at a distance?

I know you can mail letters, travel for visits, and send cookies, but those are physical

manifestations, gestures, of something deeper.

How do you love at a distance?

This question took me headlong into a practice that has brought an amazing

richness to my inner life, my way of moving through the world in recent years.

On September 8, 2008, I began to get up early, to sit in the dark and quiet, and send love across the miles. I began with ten minutes or so, just holding my sons

in my heart. I began to see this as an important part of my day, as vital as eating and sleeping. It felt so good to be so still, as a way to honor them, to send them a big wave of love intentionally before the dawn arrived, and before everything began to move a little more quickly.

As this loving kindness meditation expanded, it sort of naturally spilled over to others. The rest of my family, and my friends. Coworkers, board members, neighbors, dear ones that I hadn’t seen in a long time, relatives who live far away.

After a few months, it even became a little easier to include the curmudgeons and meanies in my life, including those with whom (I must confess) I harbored grudges, had held spiteful feelings for. A member of our public school system. Someone who I believed had hurt me and treated me poorly a long time ago. Others with whom I just could not seem to connect. I learned that sending even them, perhaps especially them, an early morning dose of loving kindness, was one of the most powerful gifts I could offer to them, and ultimately to myself. I even tried to include some of our highest government officials. Oh, I can tell you that this entire part of my practice is definitely still very much a work in progress!

So lately, this journey has begun to shift, and I find myself grappling with another question.

How do we love when we’re too busy? How do we care for one another in an over-stimulated, tightly wound world, in which none of us often take time to eat our lunch without glancing at the computer?

Love Letter to a Gardenby Marcia Eames-Sheavly

Phot

os: P

lant

atio

ns N

orth

Wal

k, P

aul S

chm

itt;

Mar

cia

Eam

es-S

heav

ly in

her

gar

den,

Lynn

Pur

don

Yenk

ey

Gifts of the garden: cultivating humanity

24 verdant views Winter 2012

How do we find hope, and a way to open our hearts, when our hearts are closed because we are rushing too much? And, where are the places we can turn to, to decompress and to rejuvenate our tired bodies and minds?

Being “too busy” has become the drumbeat of our time and it dominates our collective conversations. From sunup to sun-down, we all seem to struggle with excessive multitasking and the demands of having a plate that is quite simply too full. People feel pressured to work longer hours, and some of us haul our laptops home to keep on work-ing into the night or on the weekend. Smart phones put people on call all the time, and so-called down time for children has become frightfully scheduled.

Even my retired friends and family members say that they are busier now than

they ever were, wondering how they ever managed a work life with all that they are currently juggling. A new phrase is entering our dialogue: “crazy busy,” and the busy contest is eating into meaningful discourse. Somehow, I had the impression that the information age was supposed to make our lives less complicated, and yet, I don’t know anyone who is not, in some way, dealing with this. Of course, here at the university, it seems as if there have never been such over-worked staff, faculty, and students.

So now I’d like to step back, to tell you a little bit more about myself. I am a spouse, parent, and a daughter. I work hard as a garden-based learning educator, university teacher, and more recently, as a 4-H youth development specialist. I gain deep pleasure from painting, music, cooking, and from

the peace and respite that comes from deep engagement in what I am almost a little embarrassed to admit is home and garden.

True confession: in a nearly prideful way, I have very purposely avoided some of what I think of as traditional university activi-ties—living here at night, obtaining a Ph.D. and being the hamster on the treadmill that I associate with the tenure process, working weekends, and a kind of self-absorption that I have come to think of as our institutional disease. And yet, here I am, stuck at times in a very similar box! This past early fall, my work-life balance got off-kilter, and I felt as if I lost my center. My plate has been too full, and like everyone else, I have at times found myself whining about being too darned busy.

Time for a pop quiz. When I am in a chronic hurry, I am likely to:• Forget my basic manners, and show an

embarrassing loss of courtesy.

• Lose a little compassion.

• Feel a dip in my creativity.

• Sleep poorly.

• Choose my own convenience over a choice that supports our beautiful green earth.

• All of the above

No doubt, you all got A’s on that one. A student describes the busy dilemma this way in a piece of reflective writing:Being at Cornell has brought many things to my life, but I blame this place for stifling my creativity and steal-ing too much of my time. I am no longer able to express myself as I once did because I am too tense and too criti-cal to let myself go. I lost the flow somewhere between the chemistry labs and the all-nighters and term papers and prelims, to the point where it is extremely difficult to bring myself either to tears or satisfaction by something I have written or created when I do actually find the time to attempt to express myself.

From a recent faculty work-life sur-vey, this short quote seems to sum it up: “Nothing is ever enough. The week after my book came out, several people asked me what I had done lately.”

And even if you’re not steeped in the current university culture, no doubt you encounter loved ones who are up to their ears, or find yourself there as well.

What on earth do we do about this? How are we going to make it stop, or at least, slow it down? And slow down we must, or from what I can tell, we will all self-destruct. This is the current national health crisis that we haven’t quite caught up to. It’s also the big fat elephant in the room that we cannot continue to avoid.

I am convinced that part of the answer to this conundrum lies in a place that is at once mysterious and awe-inspiring, and ordinary. It comes from taking time to celebrate the normal day, in reclaiming the uncomplicated satisfaction of the true human bond, and in intentionally pausing to notice the commonplace in the present moment. When we encounter those mo-ments brimming over with simple joy, that encounter often takes place in and through everyday circumstances. Inevitably we cultivate our inner lives not just in quiet solitude and meditation, but in the activity of everyday life.

Yes, we cultivate what it is to be truly human, in the midst of chaos, at our work place, and in our homes and offices, even here at Cornell University. Most especially, we cultivate it when we step outdoors, into the park-like setting of this beautiful campus with its gardens and arboretum. We find it in our backyards and gardens, where we pause to notice the astonishing beauty that is contained in a hellebore or a beech tree. Rural, suburban, or urban

A Cornell student relaxes on a sod sofa on campus. Eames-Sheavly created this and other large earth art forms in collaboration

with her students.

Gifts of the garden: cultivating humanity

25cornellplantations.org

Phot

os: U

nive

rsity

Pho

togr

aphy

oases of green can calm our souls and soothe our tired spirits.

The author Elizabeth Berg seems to rec-ognize the need for this beauty. She writes about the most ordinary folks, people we already know and live with. And, she has this way of turning the ordinary into something rich, something to be celebrat-ed. In Berg’s novel, The Art of Mending, a quilter named Laura finds herself, now in her fifties, in the midst of an unsettling and messy family crisis. It is in spite of, or perhaps, because of, the events of this chaos that she pauses and considers:

There are random moments—tossing a salad, coming up the driveway to the house, ironing the seams flat on a quilt square, standing at the kitchen window and look-ing out at the delphiniums, hearing a burst of laughter from one of my children’s rooms—when I feel a wavelike rush of joy. This is my true religion: arbitrary moments of nearly painful happiness for a life I feel privileged to lead. Think of the way you sometimes see a tiny shaft of

sunlight burst through a gap between rocks, the way it then expands to illuminate a much larger space—it’s like that. And it’s like quilting, a thread surfacing and then disappearing into the fabric of ordinary days. It’s not always visible, but it’s what holds everything to-gether (Elizabeth Berg, The Art of Mending [New York: Ballantine Mass Market Edition, 2006], 148).

What is the tiny shaft of sunlight bursting through the gap of rocks that is your every day? What is the thread that holds the fabric of your ordinary life together? I would be willing to bet that, like Berg’s character, you find it in a bed of flowers. Like me, you find it in a well-known gesture from a loved one, a gesture that makes you smile with its familiarity. It comes in a simple kindness given to you by someone you don’t know who beams and holds the door open for you when your arms are full.

There are too many of those shafts of sunlight for me to name, but here is a

sampler. These are some of the things that cause moments of nearly painful happi-ness for a life I feel privileged to lead:

Hearing either of our sons say that he is happy.

Spending time in our beloved backyard with my husband.

The pleasure of being able to step away from my office and, in just minutes, be among rhododendrons in full bloom on Comstock Knoll.

Hearing from enthusiastic students about their “discovery” of some of these special places here on campus, and knowing that this discovery has become essential to their emotional well-being.

Fresh basil, my mother’s home-canned peaches, and the intoxicating scent of lilies in midsummer.

And this, too: during two long days in the hospital with my mother, my dear friend and colleague Lori texts me there. “What kinds of happy hour-type things take place in those hospital parking lots?” she wonders. Not having a clue what she’s thinking, I reply, “only one way to find out.” “Be there in two hours,” she says. Awhile later, I’m out the door and into the raw, biting wind and rain, intrigued with what she has up her sleeve. I hear her coming from quite a distance by the roar of the muffler, and see her whip-ping around the corner. I jump into her car, expecting a lukewarm glass of wine, and instead am presented with choices that include, among many other treats, a chocolate martini.

She fixes a small one for me, and I sip it and eat the snacks she’s brought, while we sit bundled as the windows steam up with our laughter. Soon I must get out and go back inside. I’m grinning like a fool and my heart is brimming over. The rain is

gentle on my face, and now I can pause to appreciate it, noticing, too, the lovely plant-ings placed around the hospital. This is a brilliant shaft of sunlight, and I can coast on it for a good, long while: a friend taking time from her chaotic schedule to offer, with delight and humor, a chocolate martini on a miserably cold and rainy day.

I wonder why it is that we’re collectively having difficulty to stop and pause, to reflect on the subtle delights of our day. What prevents us from really experiencing our ordinary lives? What are we afraid of? Perhaps if we paid attention to a perfectly grown sweet pea, we wouldn’t make such a mess of the planet. Maybe if we slowly savored each mouthful of lovingly pre-pared local food, we wouldn’t need to stuff ourselves so.

An important part of our collective health—again, that elephant in the room we often do not attend to—is how appal-lingly busy and stressed out we are. What on earth happened to turn the peace, love, and brotherhood generation into the stressed-out, over-worked, over-achievers? More than what we teach them, young people are watching us; we are modeling for them. What on earth is it that they observe, if we are truthful? And if we can’t simply pause—to deeply listen to them—then how can we expect them to do the same?

We complain about youth and their texting, while we hammer away at our keyboards. Do we really think that young people will exercise self-care, compassion, reflection, thoughtfulness, peace, and turn their open hearts in a hopeful way toward the future when we ourselves are too busy? Will some of them find these places if we don’t take the time to guide them here? Hmmm, I think we need to engage in a little self-honesty here.

Rhododendrons on Comstock knoll

26 verdant views Winter 2012

I would send this message to all those I know in positions of authority, in- cluding those at the university, those who are heads of households, and those in villages and cities, corporations and not-for-profits: strong, healthy leaders understand the action-reflection balance, and they model the need for replenish-ment. They also know that working more does not always equate with working innovatively and efficiently.

They respect the simple pleasures of life, and they honor and support our need to pause and enjoy them. They might even be known to step away from their desks to value the phenomenal beauty of this arboretum, those trees, the ponds. They cultivate a caring attitude toward this lovely earth we’re spinning around on; they encourage others to pause to notice it, and ultimately, to care for it.

Intellectually, I know that our own self-care may begin with taking a deep breath—and then, a long walk, starting a meditation practice, going home on time at the end of the day to hang with family, offering gratitude to those around us, or transforming a patch of concrete into a garden—whatever it is that helps bring equilibrium back into our lives. I think it also begins by slowing down to see those ordinary moments instead of

passing them by in rush. We’ll miss them if we are not looking. However, these are individual choices.

What may be missing is a shared deci-sion to help each other do all of that. Let’s make a commitment to one another, here today, as we enjoy this sublimely unique place on campus, Cornell Plantations. It takes a village to keep each other from liv-ing life on auto-pilot. It takes a village to spread the news about the power of the plant world to provide a calming center for us when we are scattered and overwhelmed.

In this place high above Cayuga’s waters, this divine landscape that surely is the most beautiful campus on the planet, if we can somehow find a way to open our united eyes to its phenomenal beauty and to notice the astonishing goodness in each other, we can bring one another optimism in our normal lives, every day.

I cannot think of a more apt way to close than with a poem by Mary Oliver. This sits pressed open on my coffee table, stained, with the binding torn from wear. In the same way that I’m still working at that loving kindness meditation, this poem has come to occupy a special place in my heart, and I am trying to honor the kind of awe that it teaches us. Trust me, I am trying. And yes, it gives me hope for a calmer future. n

Marcia eames-sheavly is the children and youth program leader for Cornell Garden-Based Learning in the Department of Horticulture, where she teaches several courses. She is the 2005 recipient of an American Horticultural Society’s Great American Gardener Award, the Jane L. Taylor Award, given for inspiring and nurturing future horticulturists through her efforts in children’s and youth gardens. In 2009 she received the Innovative Teacher Award for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Eames-Sheavly is a 2009 Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellow, an honor given for her commitment to academic service learning. She is also an artist whose work has been shown widely in New York. F. R. Newman Arboretum

Gifts of the garden: cultivating humanity


Recommended