A Cool Change

The garden is looking wonderful even though few eyes have seen its colors. Volunteers are back in the motions of stepping up plants for future areas, tending the various collections, and awaiting new tasks. The cool weather has nipped a few tropical plants while the vast majority has enjoyed a subtropical slowdown. Staff is enjoying the chilly days and slower weed germination as well.

Garden construction has really made progress with the dry conditions overriding the past mud bog. Lakes have taken shape, perimeter plantings are going in, and the gardens hard-scapes are already being poured. Raymond Jungles visited the site recently and was thrilled at the advancements. Brazil’s spectacular tree line arbor is quickly taking shape. Below this arbor is where the mosaic wall by Roberto Burle Marx (pictured) will be displayed. “The mosaic will be visible from the Bayshore road entry!” Raymond proclaimed.

The current mosaic garden will receive several renovations, such as a new entry and removal of large and crowded trees. The garden staff is busy root pruning trees and removing understory plantings located in these areas so they can be moved into future bosques and garden perimeters. We are open this month on the 17th, 19th and 24th for a distant peek at the construction and to enjoy the tropical mosaic garden.

Bounty of Books and More

The library is increasing in size! By books that is! We’re in the process of receiving a number of horticulture and landscaping books from Steve Trudnak, a landscape architect. They range from general horticulture to design. It has been a welcomed addition and Joyce McBride, our volunteer librarian, is most pleased!

On December 1, we picked up a collection of palm seedlings from Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables, FL). These included the following: Prestoea acuminate: seed collected in Trinidad, Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii: collected on Maui, near Hana, Pritchardia glabrata: collected on Maui, at Kahanu Gardens, and Pritchardia elliptica: collected on the Island of Lanai.

It’s interesting that with the Pritchardia palms, there are approximately 19 native species in the Hawaiian Islands. Many of these are endangered, rare or vulnerable. Each Island has at least one distinct species or a variety (example: Pritchardia affinis var. gracilis and Pritchardia affinis var. halophila). So you might ask “What’s with the variety?” Pritchardia affinis is only found on the Big Island (the one with the active volcano). However, the geography of an Island can dictate the evolution of a species. Some of these palms may have become isolated in a valley, or on a mountain. They’re all very close (genetically) to the same, but, there are a few subtle differences (again genetically) to warrant a different variety, but not a different species.

Construction is moving rapidly. In fact, along the West edge of the garden, a privacy wall has been put up and the planting of buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus) has begun! In addition, the front entrance along Thomasson Drive has been revamped by the NBG team. The following shrubs have been added: Ixora ‘Red Maui’, Ixora ‘Yellow Maui’ and Ixora ‘Dwarf Red’. Other plant additions included Ilex cornuta 'Carissa', flax lily (Phormium spp.), green island fig (Ficus microcarpa) and a small leaf clusia.

In front of the large Garden sign, we’ve removed the caladiums (which had done very well) and replaced them with yellow lantana.

Words of Winter

A change in the temperature sure indicates that winter is amongst us. From the slow down of weed growth to the northern songbirds that have migrated south, it is a warm welcome. Last week the garden celebrated its 5th annual fundraiser, ‘Hats in the Garden’. The grounds were in tip-top condition as 400 people converged onto the grounds. A new 5 ½ minute video showcasing the garden, that had literally just been completed, was unveiled.

This week we had our ‘Thanks-for-Giving’ potluck, with volunteers and staff. We all enjoyed turkey, stuffing, potatoes and the endless supply of homemade dishes! Volunteers had the opportunity to see the new video as well, while enjoying the feast. Three 1st graders from Avalon Elementary school read their paper on “What I’m thankful for”.

The Lifelong Learning Program has begun! There were two programs this week and both were enjoyed by many! The first program was on ‘Growing and Preparing Herbs’, by Pat Johnson. She demonstrated how to make herb flavored vinegars and tea mixtures. Each participant made a bottle of flavored vinegar and also took home a number of dried herbs. And I will say this, I stepped into the room after the class was completed, and it smelled wonderful!

The second program this week was ‘Utilizing Native Plants in Your Yard’ and was taught by NBG Natural Area Manager, Chad Washburn. Chad talked about native plants and how they can be used in the landscape. This class was nearly full to capacity!

The next lecture will be on Tuesday, December 2nd at 10 AM. It will be ‘Tropical Fruits Made Simple’. Have you ever wondered what the secret is to making your fruit trees fruitful? Join local experts David and Jenny Burd as they share their successes in growing tropical fruits in Collier County.

Now, in closing, there was a spectacular site just outside the back doors this morning. A juvenile bald eagle perched itself up in the pine tree and was just calling away. It looked so majestic sitting there against the deep blue sky, just resting. It still amazes me how big these birds are!

Gifts Galore and More

Christmas came early with a surprise gift in the form of a GEM (Global Electric Motorcar). The little red buggy looks like a toy (see picture, attached) but it’s completely street legal, reaches a maximum speed of 25 mph, and is cute as a button. The unexpected gift came from Jeannie and Christopher Smith, the brother of David Smith, who, with his wife Vicky, is underwriting the Children’s Garden. Jeannie and Christopher have been involved with the Garden for several years and are campaign supporters. A test drive demonstrated GEM’s street worthiness and had us whooping and hollering like kids. Hort has been told it’s not a utility cart in no uncertain terms --- no dirt on this sweet baby.

Another surprise came after this past weekend’s Southwest Florida’s Yard and Garden Show. The Croton Society, which had a booth at the sale staffed by Terry Seeley of Croton Connection, donated its unsold plants to the Garden. Terry stopped by Monday with a truckload of some 40 crotons of all types — strap leaf, petra leaf, interrupted leaf --- in every color combination imaginable. If you haven’t looked at crotons lately, take another look. They are enjoying a renaissance of form and color and bear no resemblance to the Buicks of yesteryear. We are thrilled to add them to the Garden’s growing collection of crotons.

Ever wonder what it would have been like to exist in the Everglades in the 1800s? The Bucket Flower by Donald Robert Wilson takes you there through the life of 23-year-old Elizabeth Sprague. This young woman heads for the Everglades to study the plant life — a radical idea for a young woman back then. Considered a "bucket flower", a term for someone pampered and soft, she must get tough fast or perish. She faces enough terrifying animals, savage men, and the rigors of the swamp to make us modern Floridians count our blessings.

The Thomasson Drive approach to the Garden never looked so good. That area has been plagued by torpedo grass (Panicum repens) and nutsedge (Cyperus). The final planting went in the ground last week just before the rain, completing the renovation of that landscape. Nursery foreman Kurt Van de Wouw and Carlos Lopez planted dwarf pitch-apple (Clusia major ' Nana), natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa ‘Emerald Blanket’), red ixora (Ixora ‘Taiwan Dwarf’), yellow ixora (Ixora ‘Maui’), Ficus microcarpa 'Green Island’, flax lily (Dianella ensifolia), and Philodendron x ‘Xanadu’.

Another dramatic change is the visitor parking lot. In preparation for Hats in the Garden, the Garden’s fundraiser on November 12th, a hedge had to be removed. Vanquished are the golden dewdrop (Duranta erecta) and three satin leaf trees (Chrysophyllum oliviforme), one of Florida’s loveliest native trees. This makes way for the giant tent that goes up for the occasion.

Not to be missed is Colville's Glory (Colvillea racemosa), just inside the wall along Thomasson Drive. This ferny tree comes from Madagascar and is closely related to the royal poinciana (Delonix regia). The tree gets its name from the British Governor of Mauritius, Sir Charles Colville. Racemes of flower buds start out looking like clusters of bright red grapes, which is where we’re at right now. Each tight flower bud unfolds gradually, darkening to red and revealing a yellow stamen. Eventually it forms woody flat capsules of seeds.

Drum roll please. The Lifelong Learning Program is back! David Webb, manager of education, has come up with a list of exciting lectures and hands-on workshops that are sure to get you back here. Be forewarned: Continuing education is addictive. I speak from firsthand experience --- that’s how I got hooked on the Garden many years ago.

Topics in this series range from orchid how-to and fruit-tree growing to landscaping with native plants and a talk by award-winning landscape architect and designer Raymond Jungles on his plans for the Garden’s Brazilian Garden as well as 20 other design projects. Peruse the whole list (attached). For registration information please visit http://www.naplesgarden.org/ or call 239.643.7275.

The November topics are:
Growing and preparing herbs
Monday, November 17, 10am
Join herbalist Pat Johnson as she demonstrates the mixing of herbs to make teas, vinegars, and oils. You will leave this hands-on workshop with a few samples of your own herbal creations and ready to make new blends at home.
$20 member/ $30 non-member; maximum 30

Using native plants in your yard
Wednesday, November 19, 10am
Discover the benefits of using native plants in your yard, which species are ideal and some simple tips for success as Chad Washburn discusses why native plants are low-maintenance, inexpensive, and attract birds and other wildlife.
$15 member/ $20 non-member; limited seating

See you around the campus!

Climb every mountain…

The highlight of the week — hands down — was a swamp buggy tour of the construction site. We donned those fashionable hard hats and climbed aboard. Within seconds Hort manager Brian Galligan had steered us up a slight grade onto the future parking lot and Garden entrance. This plateau is just adjacent to the existing employee lot. Future rows of parking spaces are divided by swales between sections for drainage.

Then he swung the buggy around in the direction of the highest point on the site --- Melaleuca Mulch Mountain. The buggy climbed to the top. What a vista! Unlike my first trip a few months ago, things didn’t look so raw. In fact, when Brian pointed out where the first gardens are to materialize — Children’s, Brazilian, and Caribbean — we could actually see their approximate locations. The lakes are taking on more natural shapes. At a distance, you could see the boardwalk leading up to the James & Linda White Birding Tower, which was perched over a vast area of wetlands.

We left the buggy on the mountain and hoofed it, clamoring down, inspecting the islands in the Preserve that Chad Washburn, the Natural Areas Manager, has been working on. We wandered over to a second boardwalk, which awkwardly stands where the future lakes will meet. We dubbed it “the boardwalk to nowhere” for the moment. The best viewpoint was standing in the birding tower. Off to one side you could see ghostly stumps punctuating the south wetlands where the melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) used to be and the cattails have taken over.

Back in the buggy, our course hugged the construction perimeter coming around to the “old” boardwalk to the preserve and then to the new nursery location where Gumby, our sea-faring gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba) and all the other donated trees and plants await their call to duty, which will be very soon.

Returning volunteers are asking if there is anything left to do? The answer is, you betcha! So, after consulting with the rest of the folks in the horticulture group, we’ve come up with a list of tasks you could help us with. If you’re interested, give Sally Richardson a call (239-643-7275) or email (srichardson@naplesgarden.org).

Weeding pots in the nursery; beds in Tropical Mosaic Garden; pots in shadehouse; the ground around pots in the old nursery; the cracks between bricks and pavers in Pink Courtyard and Allee
Watering pots in nursery or newly installed plants; Windstar Garden Room (plant knowledge needed to know how much)
Planting seedlings into larger containers; cuttings (dipping in rooting powder) in pots; existing plants into larger containers; seeds in small pots and flats
Mulch pots in nursery with palm fiber (see below)
Scouting for blooms so plants can be ID’d for bloom color; for insect and disease problems
Cleanup of leaf material around pots in nursery; trash around the perimeter (outside the wall) and inside
Training vines in pots in nursery or on trellis off the loggia
Staking existing plants; newly planted specimens
Securing label tags to pots; making plant labels
Raking oval lawn (dethatch)
Straighten and clean plant labels
Spread snail bait (non-toxic, earth friendly formula) and fire ant bait
Gathering palm seed
Removing fallen palm fronds

Remember the experiment we tried with shredding newspaper for mulch in the nursery pots? Turned out it wasn’t practical for the amount we needed. Now we’re onto palm fiber. It’s that stringy stuff that chokes even the biggest wood chippers and never seems to break down. We’ve had several loads of it dropped next to the new nursery. It is definitely smothering tiny weeds already in the pots. The real test will be in the spring when the weeds grow faster than they can be plucked.

This past week the Garden was open twice for Tropical Mosaic visits. These intimate peeks at the existing Garden remind me of White Flower Farm, Litchfield, CT, which used to have an annual open house. They’d have lawn chairs under big shady trees and serve cucumber sandwiches and iced tea. For our open house, Sally Richardson and several volunteers serve iced tea and cookies and talk about the flowers in the Garden. The next visiting days are just after Thanksgiving — can you believe it? — November 28th and 29th. We still get, on a regular basis, mind you; the curious visitors who “innocently” wander in passed the “Closed for Expansion” sign.

This weekend is the annual SW Florida Yard and Garden Show out at the Extension Service (14700 Immokolee Rd. by the Fairgrounds). Plant nerds come from near and far to peruse a wide variety of plants and wares. They’ll have talks, demonstrations (non-political), and more than 35 vendors, including Top Tropicals and the Croton Society. Yours truly will be there on Saturday demonstrating our “virtual” garden; Kurt Van de Wouw takes over on Sunday. For more information, call 239-353-4244. See you there!

I only went out for a walk...

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. -- John Muir, 1913.

That sentiment is one all of us feel strongly about, otherwise why would we be supporting a botanical garden? My husband’s only complaint is that I forget to come back in. My favorite time in the garden is at dusk when the light is changing and wildlife starts murmuring. I wipe the sweat off my brow for the umpteenth time and know that whatever task I was working on is done for the day, finished or not.

Some of the tasks around the Garden this week were driven by the preparation for the Marco Island Men’s Club Thursday, October 9^th, and the bridal show put on by the Wedding & Party Professionals of Naples (WPPN) Sunday, October 12^th. The visit by the Marco club brought out nearly 50 Marco Islanders. After the group had lunch in the Windstar Garden Room, Brian Galligan and Chad Washburn pointed out the highlights of the Tropical Mosaic Garden.

WPPN’s event on Sunday afternoon was for anyone planning a wedding. There were 40 or so vendors around the grounds and in the Windstar Garden Room selling everything from wedding gowns, cakes, honeymoon travel, planning and catering services. A giant tent over the runway on the oval lawn made a perfect setting for the fashion show.

For these visits, the grounds were spruced up (that sounds like a northern term, doesn’t it?), including the Windstar Garden Room. New plants were deftly tucked into the coral planters and fresh palms dropped in behind them. The Pink Courtyard pots were refreshed by yours truly. Some pots needed more color or reining in of chocolate sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas ‘Blackie’). Plants that had run their course were replaced by whatever I could find in the nursery. One such find was young silver agaves (Agave americana ‘Blue Huntington’), which I placed in the middle of two pots overflowing with sedum rosettes, possibly Sedum cauticola 'Lidakense'.

The bed under the caesalpinias (Caesalpinia granadillo ‘Bridalveil’) and white begonias (Begonia alba) enjoyed color from yellow gaillardias (Gaillardia pulchella) most of the summer. Those fading blooms were replaced with cockscomb (Celosia argentea) in every shade of the rainbow. It’s a hot, dry spot that’ll test its stamina.

In our continuing search for special plants, Carolyn Miller and Brian Galligan took to the road again to visit a nursery in Sarasota owned by Faith Bishock called Rare Palms & Tropicals. This was a lead we gleaned from the Croton Society meeting I attended in September. Besides obtaining a highly desirable assortment of young palms, the owner donated an African Palmyra palm (Borassus aethiopum) in her husband John’s name.

Speaking of the Croton Society, I took a ride up to Tampa on Saturday to assist that group in their fall plant sale at the University of South Florida’s Botanical Garden. While lending them a hand I learned more about crotons. I brought back two cultivars for the Garden collection: ‘Congo’ and ‘Queen Victoria’. While at the sale, I interviewed one of their charter members, Phillip Stager, for a future article in the Croton Society newsletter. After the sale, Phillip gave me a tour of his croton collection in St. Petersburg. The Garden joined the Croton Society this year and will be depending on its experts to help us identify the cultivars we have and still need.

The Garden announced this week that Kraft Construction is the sponsor of the Garden’s 2008-09 season of events. “Kraft is known as the builder of our community, so it is natural that they have joined with us to lay a strong foundation of the Garden’s events,” said Brian Holley, Executive Director. “Kraft has been such a great supporter in many ways – last year they were presenting sponsor for our golf tournament. And, of course, we are partners on our expansion.”

This season’s events include the Fifth Annual Hats in the Garden on Wednesday, November 12^th, 2008. This event, the largest fundraiser of the Garden’s social season, is nearly sold out. That’s our high-society lunch under the tent in the parking lot. It’s quite the fashion show for hats and other elegant apparel, as you can imagine, and we always hope it won’t be windy.

Other dates include the

· Seventh Annual Trunk Show in the Garden Thursday, February 19^th through Saturday, February 21^st, 2009

· Naples Flower Show, Saturday and Sunday, March 28th and 29th, 2009

· Ninth Annual Swing into Spring Golf Tournament on Monday, April 6^th, 2009

For those of you in town, there are more opportunities to visit us. There are two dates for Tropical Mosaic visits this week — Wednesday and Saturday, October 15^th and 18^th. Please call 643-7275 to make a reservation.

Another way to visit is volunteering. There’s plenty to do, in the dirt or otherwise. We’d love to see you, either way.

Busy, busy, busy…

A gardener’s work is never done, and that goes double for an expanding botanical garden like ours. The hum of heavy machinery has become a constant. That humming will stop soon, however, and the focus will change to getting plants in the ground. The goal for having the future Gardens planted is June 2009. Can you believe it?

Kurt Van de Wow, nursery foreman, keeps chipping away at all that has to be done with the help of Carlos Lopez – of course, while maintaining what we already have:
Potting up Brazilian seedlings
Digging up plants in honeycreeper section of butterfly house in preparation for moving them out – at that point the orchid collection will be moved in when the orchid shade house makes way for the Education and Research Center

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  Starting cuttings in the mist room from rare plants in honeycreeper section of butterfly house


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  Organizing and redesigning irrigation in the orchid shade house


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  Germinating seeds in the mist room for plants for future Garden


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  Using new tank sprayer to foliar feed nursery stock


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  Fertilizing large potted plants


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  Fall fertilizing of Tropical Mosaic Garden


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  Renewal pruning and thinning out existing plantings


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  Organizing and repotting anthurium collection


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  Starting cuttings of rare cordyline hybrids donated by Searle Brothers
  
  Ongoing is a project to renovate the plant beds along Thomasson Drive. For sometime now they’ve been embarrassingly overrun with torpedo grass (Panicum repens) and nutsedge (Cyperus). The thatch palms (Thrinax radiata) and dwarf variegated bougainvillea (Bougainvillea sp.) planted earlier this year have established themselves and will be the backbone of the planting. Once the weeds are under control, we can dress the beds up with some colorful, low maintenance plants.
  
  Dr. George Wilder, our herbarium curator, recently was asked by Collier County to give a class on invasive plants, specifically Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council’s (FLEPPC) Category 1 plants. George always does things thoroughly—he gave a 3-day intensive class for 19 or so Conservation Collier and Park Rangers, among others. His classes included lectures, a lab exercise on leaf morphology, field trips and quizzes to cover the 67 plants on the list.
  
  The class textbook was the 2nd edition of University of Florida's Identification and Biology of Nonnative Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas. It’s a beautiful book. The 2nd edition is just out (see the attached cover).
  
  This was an amazing presentation and took him a lot of time to prepare for. He donated the $800 he received for the class to the herbarium. If the class would be useful to others in the area—other county employees, landscapers, certified horticulturists, master gardeners, etc.—he’s indicated that he’d be interested in earning more money for the herbarium.
  
  In the Garden, we continue to delight in the fragrance of the fiddlewood (Citharexylum spinosum). It’s positioned by the gate so that we brush the cascading branches on our way into work. Tassels of white flowers adorn the ends of pendant branches and contrast nicely with the shiny, dark green foliage. Its flowering season is waning – soon the black berries will begin to form. This is my favorite native shrub.
  
  Around the base of the fiddlewood, bright pink petals signal pedestrians to look up. Hovering high above is the floss silk tree (Chorisia speciosa). This tree is our grafting experiment in progress. Volunteer Crafton Clift, a horticulturist, world traveler, and grafter extraordinaire, has been grafting on branches of other later-blooming chlorisias such as ‘Double Tem’, ‘Sunset,’ ‘Santi,’ ‘Elsie Page,’ and ‘Willis Red’.Signs indicating the names of the grafts dangle from the branches. The goal is to find a cultivar that blooms later in the season so that more guests can enjoy the tree’s annual display.
  
  New grow lights installed in the Windstar Garden Room already add much needed light and will aid plant growth. Horticulture will soon begin to update the display for the bridal show on October 18th. The coral troughs stand empty, ready for new plants. The show will feature 35 to 40 vendors displaying all manner of wedding items. Public hours are 2 to 5pm.
  
  There are more opportunities coming up to visit the Tropical Mosaic Garden. Wednesday, October 15th and Saturday the 18th from 9am to 12pm. Please call ahead at 239-643-7275.