Arboretum

The weather could not have been better.  Friday was Arbor Day in our part of the country and the Arboretum carried out a tree planting ceremony for the 113th time.  Faculty, students, staff and retirees turned out to take part and receive a plant dividend.

Last summer a massive red oak that graced the south west corner of Barclay Hall had to be relieved of its duties.  We believe the oak was planted soon after the completion of Barclay in 1878.  The tree’s shade and ultimate maturity was enjoyed for more than a century.  The Arboretum chose a Japanese umbrella-pine, Sciadopitys verticillata to be planted in the area of the old oak.   Arboretum Director, Bill Astifan and Horticulturist, Carol Wagner both addressed the participants and everyone pitched in by putting a shovel of soil in the hole.

Haverford’s trees serve a thankless role.  Their presence is quiet and comforting.  Trees planted as the last stones of Founders were being laid stand side by side with the newest kid on the block.

There are no Truffula trees in the famed Arboretum collection of species.  However, each year on Earth Day the Lorax visits Haverford College to make sure the old Once-ler is not creeping about.

Earth Day celebrations began this year in the Duck Pond meadow.  Students, faculty and neighbors joined in to assist the horticulturists planting hundreds of native plants.  Once the hands were sufficiently dirty, the activities migrated west to the front of Founders.  For the last five years I’ve been reading the story of The Lorax by Dr. Suess.  The participants enjoyed the sun-warmed front steps as I settled in to a rocking chair for the reading.  Music, frisbees and food kept people on the great lawn well in to the afternoon.

Thanks to the Arboretum for supplying a popcorn machine, the Earth Quakers for cookies and clementines and the 8th Dimension.  Thanks to the Arboretum student workers as well as everyone else involved.

Every day is Earth Day!

Last Sunday was a beautiful day.  Jeanne Quinn ’16, a volunteer student worker for the Arboretum office and Arboretum Director, Bill Astifan stationed themselves at a busy intersection between the Dinning Center and Founders.  In an effort to promote the up coming Earth Day events and bring awareness to the Arboretum, Jeanne and Bill assisted passers-by with potting a pansy for their windowsill and sold Arboretum t-shirts.

Earth Day on campus will be celebrated on Monday, April 22. The perennial favorite popcorn machine will be on hand!  Here are the day’s events:

10:30am – Horticulturist, Carol Wagner will give interested students and faculty a half hour walking tour of center campus.

11:00am-1pm – The sixth year of planting native plants in the Duck Pond meadow is always a favorite of students and faculty.

1pm – I will be reading the story of The Lorax by Dr. Suess on Founders front porch.  Make sure you bring fifteen cents, a nail and the shell of a great-great-great grandfather snail!

Yes, but it is much more than that.  Stachyurus praecox, commonly called Spiketail, is one of those shrubs that are not often encountered in gardens and can easily be overlooked in the wash of everything yellow this time of year.  The small flowers hang from the stem on 4-5 inch racemes.  They are formed in the fall of the previous year and stay exposed all winter.  For us they have fully opened in this second week in April.  The shrub on campus is located at the top of the walk approaching the GIAC.  It is planted in combination with Cornus ‘Mid Winter Fire’, a nice orange-apricot colored red stemmed dogwood.

The Arboretum obtained this plant as a gift from local friend Sue Langer.  At the time, about 6 years ago the plant was outgrowing its space in her garden.  My colleagues and I dug the plant and transported it to its current location on campus.  Now, it has adjusted well to life in the arboretum and is reaching a height of  9 ft x 6 ft.

There is not much in the way of aroma, it disappears as greenery through the summer and fall color is ho-hum yellow.  I know this is not a beaming endorsement but grow the plant for its uniqueness and wonderful spring flowers.

Everything yellow is not a forsythia!

Let’s play word association.  I’ll give you three things and tell me what you think:  robins banging their beaks in the ground in search of worms, shamrock shakes and the flowers of Black Pussy Willow.  How many of you immediately thought of spring?  Since I’m not an ornithologist or epicurean, I’ll talk about the Black Pussy Willow, Salix melanostachys.  Salix is the botanical genus for all of the willows and source of salicylic acid, the chemical derivative of the bark and leaves, the precursor of aspirin.  Melanostachys breaks down to black (melano) spike (stachys).

There are not too many plants whose flowers give the illusion of being black.  Take a close look at the male catkins (flowers) of this willow.  You’ll see the purple-black  catkins opening to bright red anthers.  This is no common member of the all too familiar image from movies and literature of the weeping willow growing at the water’s edge.  The Black Pussy Willow is by no means as graceful and pendent as its cousin.  This black sheep is nothing short of a neatly behaved blob !  It will reach 10 ft. in height and tolerates a wet site.  Every three to four years cut the plant to the ground to rejuvenate.

To enjoy the beauty of the classic weeping willow, you need to look no further than the Duck Pond on campus.  Our Black Pussy Willow is located in the mixed shrub border at the south end of the track known as the  Seamus McElligott garden.

And you know where to get your shamrock shake.

When the population of a little town swells to more than three times its 364 day head count, there must be a big deal.  That one day is February 2.  Travelling south from Interstate 80 takes people to Gobbler’s Knob in Panxsutawney, PA.  For 127 years Panxsutawney Phil has been a boom for the local economy and now is quite a TV and digital media event. The world waited for Phil’s prediction and he predicts an early spring!

I like to keep a close watch on the ground.  Waiting for the early signs of plants breaking ground is all the cue I need.  Alas, there won’t be 20,000 people flocking to campus in anticipation of the Hellebores blooming.  However, I am happy to announce the hellebores and witchhazels have woken up and are inviting us to put on an extra flannel shirt, go outside and see what’s new in the garden.

Helleborus orientalis, oriental hellebore is a tough and treasured small perennial that is at home in a shady garden.  The flowers emerge through last year’s foliage so a quick cutting back of the leaves on a warm January day sets the stage for their arrival.  There is a nice planting on the back side of Hall building behind a bench.  This locale is a bit warmer than some garden settings in that it receives a bath of warming winter sun and reflected heat off the stone building.  Native to Asia, they are in the Buttercup Family and every part of the plant is very poisonous to eat.  Combine this with any of the early spring bulbs like snowdrops, crocus, winter aconites and the like.

Oriental hellebore behind Hall building

Helleborus orientalis on a warm January day

For those of you who are reading this locally, you can join Arboretum Director, Bill Astifan this Sunday, February 10 at 1:30pm.  Bill will lead a walk titled “After the leaves are gone…fine beauty in the winter landscape”.  The tour departs from in front of Whitehead Campus Center.

To be worn out is to be renewed.

Lao-tzu

Compassion, trust and hope, we start the year refreshed.

Peace to all in 2013

Horticulturist, Carol Wagner began her career here at Haverford in 1988, earlier that same year she graduated from the Professional Gardener (PG) Program at Longwood Gardens.  For many, Longwood Gardens is a horticultural destination and a local attraction where we take visiting family and friends.  What most people do not know is that Longwood is deeply engaged in educating future leaders in the industry.  This was decreed in the living legacy of founder Pierre S. du Pont.

The current class of PG graduates were honored at their commencement ceremony last week.  Since the PG Program began in 1970, there have been 261 graduates and 85% are working in the field of horticulture.  Carol was presented with the Lois Woodward Paul Award that day.  This is bestowed to an alum that has made outstanding horticultural achievement and is voted on by members of the PG Alumni Association (PGAA).  She has served the PGAA as Secretary, vice President, President and editor of the association’s newsletter, in addition, she has dedicated herself on many levels serving the college community and the Haverford College Arboretum.

Congratulations, Carol and it is a pleasure working with you!

December 12, 2012 Carol receives the Lois Woodward Paul Award at Longwood Gardens

When Charles Rankin, Class of 1939, passed away not long ago, his family made a thoughtful gift to the Arboretum in his memory.  Charles had been a life member of the Arboretum Association since 1984.  He adopted a large Taxodium distichum, bald cypress that stood on Founders Green because it was outside his window when he lived in Barclay Hall.  This tree was the tallest on the Green and unfortunately a strike of lightning brought it down in July of 2005.  We were able to get a ring count on the trunk and determined that the tree was approximately 107 years old.  The Arboretum replaced it in kind that same fall.

We wanted a tree to be planted for Charles, but where?  The Arboretum staff thought long and hard as to how to honor a great friend of the  Arboretum. The Meeting House walk came to mind.  This walk was traveresed by the young men (and recently women) attending Haverford before, during and since Charles’ time on their way to weekly Meeting.  As you may know, the venerable allee of stately Ginkgo biloba, line the walk only part way.  We decided to use the gift from family and friends of Charles as a starting point for the continuation of Meeting House walk trees.  Two young male ginkgo trees Ginkgo biloba ‘Autumn Gold’, were planted in step with the old guard and is the first phase of a determined effort by the Arboretum to complete the old walk with young, non-fruiting ginkgoes.

I would never use this forum to talk about college football.  So, with that being said, I have to incorporate this wonderful result of my Alma mater, Texas A&M University beating the #1 ranked University of Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday into the Haverford College Arboretum’s blog.

There are some 4000 species of red algae.  These are particularly abundant in the warm and tropical waters, although many can be found in cooler regions of the world.  A red tide (Crimson Tide) occurs when there is a higher than normal concentration of one of these species, thus causing a “bloom”.  Their elevated populations turn the water a reddish brown hue.  Red tides are responsible for respiratory irritants in some individuals (coughing, sneezing, and tearing).  In extreme outbreaks it has caused the shout down of commercial fisherman from harvesting clams, oysters, and mussels.  The factors that contribute to red tide outbreaks is not completely understood. However, levels of nutrients, sewage runoff, ocean salinity, temperature, wind, light and many other factors all play important roles.

Great game, a few trivial facts, not a bad segue.

My Texas A&M Aggies defeat top ranked Alabama.