Indholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2024 i Horticulture

“I tell people that if you don’t like Pulmonaria ‘Diana Clare’, you won’t like my garden,” Stan Elliott said. “That’s because it’s just everywhere.” Photographer Jack Coyier and I visited Stan’s Cincinnati garden last fall, resulting in “At Home With Plants” (page 40.) Indeed, we spotted ‘Diana Clare’, a hearty lungwort with silver leaves, throughout our exploration of the garden, from the dry shade of the entryway beds to the back garden’s color-themed formal border and more rustic paths. Stan considers ‘Diana Clare’ a “workhorse plant”— one with self-sufficiency and ease of division (hence its ubiquity). Our conversation prompted me to think about the workhorses in my own garden. I’d put clumping alliums (namely, ‘Summer Beauty’, Summer Peek-a-Boo and ‘Windy City’), autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora ‘Brilliance’) and a different Diana,…

The need to conserve water in the garden is increasingly becoming a challenge throughout many parts of the United States. Some areas of the country, like California, the Southwest and Texas, have naturally arid climates, while many other spots are experiencing extended periods of drought during the growing season. As a result, more gardeners are starting to use plants such as succulents and deep-rooted prairie natives in their ornamental plantings to mitigate the impacts of low water in the garden. There are hundreds of outstanding plants that have adapted to dry conditions and will thrive in the garden, including kinds of cactus. The South African ice plants (Delosperma) are growing in popularity. We should consider, too, the myriad of rock-gardening plants that have adapted to the harshest of conditions. I…

When I was in high school, my mom and I went plant shopping and came across several lemon trees at the garden center. Living in Wisconsin, the idea of growing citrus trees seemed far-fetched, but seeing them in the nursery inspired me to take on the unique challenge of growing lemons in a container. Of course, it took some trial and error to understand the best way to care for that lemon tree, and I’m still learning today. WHY POTTED CITRUS? Many of us know the satisfaction of growing our food, and producing your own citrus fruits brings that same good feeling, especially if you live in a cold climate. And it’s not just lemons. You can grow oranges, limes, kumquats, tangerines and hybrids of these fruit. While the fruit…

NOTES FROM THE GARDEN ONE OF THE FIRST signs that green and flowering life will actually return to the temperate areas of the world after the depths of winter is the emergence of clumps of the cheerful little snowdrop. When I return from a Florida winter stay, I am greeted by large, luminous patches on my lawn of what truly looks like remnants of receding drifts of snow. While I’m away, neighbors who walk by my house keep me informed of their progress, often sending me pictures of the first dabs of white that have peeked out even in the middle of a cold Rhode Island February. It is generally known by my acquaintances that they may have as many snowdrop bulbs—about the size of string bean seeds—as they need.…

GARDEN VIEWS REBECCA MCMACKIN is a horticulturist who currently works as the Arboretum Curator at the historic Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, N.Y. She previously served as Director of Horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park, a groundbreaking East River greenspace where urban ecology thrives. With a passion for biodiversity and environmental equity, she shares her knowledge through lectures, writing, consultation and design work. She can be found online at rebeccamcmackin.com. SCOTT BEUERLEIN is the Manager of Botanical Garden Outreach at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. He interviews a fellow professional in the gardening world for each issue of Horticulture. SCOTT BEUERLEIN: Where did you grow up and how did you come to realize your passion for gardening? REBECCA MCMACKIN: I grew up on a small farm in Connecticut, and I…

Yes, gardens have their dark side. But—surprise! A garden’s darkness can be good, not sinister. Indeed, I mean to enlighten you about how darkness at night can improve your garden’s ecological function. Many gardeners today are trying to work with, not against, nature. We’re learning more about our garden’s effect on local ecosystems, and we’re choosing plants that support native bees, feed caterpillars of butterflies and moths and provide birds with food and habitat over the winter. ILLUMINATING A PROBLEM We know pollinators are decreasing worldwide because of habitat loss and pesticide use, and we are creating eco-friendly gardens to help combat that loss. But another factor has come to light—namely, artificial light itself. Too much of it is shining on our gardens at night. Landscape lighting has many practical…

There is a green-thumb moment in every gardener’s life when we realize that our plants truly want to grow. This may not always appear to be true; there is not a gardener among us who hasn’t lost a plant along the way. But when given the right conditions and cared for early on, every plant possesses the power to thrive. Happily, this potential to grow is something gardeners can tap into when we want to make more plants. Good gardening means working with nature and taking cues from the plants in our care—for example, the fact that all plants in the wild propagate on their own, through seeds and other means, one of which is a process called layering. Layering allows gardeners to make use of a plant’s impulse to…