Daily Archives: March 9, 2017

Saturday, March 18, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – The Rabbit’s Eye View: Long-Term Plant Performance with Noel Kingsbury

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This half-day Berkshire Botanical Garden workshop on Saturday, March 18 from 9 – noon aims to encourage participants to observe garden and landscape plants, focusing on their growth through the season and over the years, looking at how they compete with each other, and assessing prospects for their longevity and their suitability for a variety of garden locations. Noel Kingsbury addresses questions about how the garden will evolve: How long will plants live? How far will they spread? How will a newly planted border look in five years, or ten years?Gardeners and designers can then use this knowledge to maximize garden interest while minimizing maintenance. This workshop teaches participants about how plants are linked to their natural habitats and ecology, and how this connects to the way gardeners can use such plants in the garden to best effect. Students will walk away with a rabbit’s eye view—a perspective that will enable them, through close observation of growing habits and life cycles of various plants, to be better gardeners and designers, and to more deeply appreciate the traits of the plants that they grow.

The price ($75 BBG members, $85 nonmembers) of this workshop includes admission to the 1pm lecture, Wild about Perennials with Noel Kingsbury, on the same day. The workshop is limited in size and is likely to sell out. Reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis. A bagged lunch can be ordered separately for an additional fee. Please call 413-298-3926 to order lunch.

Friday, March 17 – Deadline to Acquire Arnold Arboretum 2017 Arbor Day Seedling

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Grow a part of the Arnold Arboretum in your own landscape. As a part of its mission to promote horticulture and the cultivation of exceptional woody plants in our region, the Arnold Arboretum distributes exceptional plant material to other botanical institutions and to members of the Arboretum community. It continues to honor and build upon this legacy through the Arbor Day Seedling Program, which makes a seedling of a tree, shrub, or vine available in early spring to members of The Friends of the Arnold Arboretum as a benefit at the Sustaining ($100) level and above. Inaugurated in 1970 as the Spring Plant Dividend, the Arbor Day Seedling Program invites our members to cultivate a living part of the renowned collections in their own landscapes. Members may elect to receive the plant by having it shipped to their preferred address or by picking it up in person on the designated pick up day.

If you are not currently a qualifying member, join at the Sustaining level or upgrade your membership by March 17 to receive the 2017 Arbor Day Seedling. To join visit https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/support/membership/ or call 617-384-5767.

The 2017 Arbor Day Seedling is Chinese dogwood (Cornus Kousa var. chinensis). This form of kousa dogwood was discovered by Arboretum plant explorer Ernest Henry Wilson on his 1907-09 Expedition in China and was introduced by the Arboretum in 1907. C. kousa var. chinensis offers spectacular ornamental qualities in all seasons. Foliage emerges dark green, morphing to reddish-purple or matte scarlet in autumn. The true flowers, borne in June, are small rounded umbels, but the four creamy-white bracts surrounding each flower provide the real show. Produced in abundance, these large tapered bracts persist for over six weeks. Bracts of Chinese kousa dogwood are larger at up to 2½ inches long, compared to the straight species. Fruits set in August, and the pinkish-red to red edible aggregates provide for a striking effect suspended among fall foliage. The tree’s exfoliating bark reveals an exquisite mosaic of gray, tan, and rich brown, best admired following leaf drop. A lovely small tree, it grows up to 15-30 feet with an overall vase shape and strong horizontal branching. It performs best in moist, well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. Arboretum Founding Director Charles Sprague Sargent described this noteworthy tree as one of the greatest gifts to North American gardens. An outstanding individual growing near the Bussey Street Gate on Hemlock Hill Road was collected as seed during the NACPEC (North American China Plant Exploration Consortium) Shaanxi 1996 Expedition, and offers an excellent example of its fine qualities as a specimen tree.