Members' Forum
 

Puzzling Perspective

I have visited Thuya Gardens in Maine many, many times as we go to Northeast Harbor on our sailboat every summer. I looked and looked at the photograph on page 46 of “Acadian Adventure” in the July/August issue, then I looked some more. Something just didn’t seem right. Then I figured it out: You flipped the negative. From where the photograph was taken, the apple tree should be on the right-hand border. I’m sure I was not the only one who was puzzled.

Thuya Gardens never disappoints me. The flower combinations are often surprising, but it’s always lovely and stimulating and gives me lots of ideas for the use of color in the garden. It’s a pity you didn’t have a photograph of the garden in peak bloom showing the wonderful flow of color.

Mary Ann Olteanu - Wilmington, Vermont

Editor’s note: Oops! We did indeed inadvertently flip the photograph of Thuya Gardens.

Bees Deserve Better

I got a laugh reading Joseph Scalia’s “Offshoots” article in the July/August issue, but as the caretaker of two hives of bees, I was disappointed by the article’s overall portrayal of bees and their ways. Our native bees and even the domesticated European honeybees have virtually disappeared from the wild, so the author should consider himself lucky to have bees in his yard at all. Many species of bees and wasps increase flower and fruit production, and most are not aggressive unless provoked.

I was particularly disturbed by the description of indiscriminate use of bug spray. Most pesticides are highly toxic to bees and many other beneficial insects. Gardeners should do their best to protect these organisms, not destroy them. I hope none of your readers will follow Scalia’s example in viewing bees as enemies to be destroyed!

Anyone who encounters the situation Scalia describes should step back and visually locate the hive, and then proceed with slow, steady movements with hand pruners, being careful not to bump or jostle the hive. This is best done before sunrise or after sunset—when the bees have bedded down for the night. If a hive of honeybees needs to be removed, most beekeepers will be more than happy to take it. Better yet, honeybees can be moved to a hive box, where the honey can be harvested for home use. Most bee books explain how to keep bees in the city without disturbing the neighbors, and beekeeping is very compatible with gardening.

I suspect Scalia was embroidering the truth somewhat for humorous effect. For the bees’ sake, I hope so.

Melanie Hunt - Nashville, Indiana

Editor’s note: We hoped our readers would get a chuckle out of Scalia’s tongue-in-cheek description of his encounter with a recalcitrant rose bush inhabited by what he viewed as hostile bees. It was certainly not our intent to promote the indiscriminate use of pesticides.

To follow up on a point made in Ms. Hunt’s letter, anyone who finds an unwanted honeybee colony in the garden should contact his or her local Extension service. It will likely maintain a list of local beekeepers who would remove the hive for little or no cost.

Also, anyone who is allergic to insect stings should, obviously, not attempt to prune out or move an active hive.

Botany 101

I enjoyed the September/October issue of The American Gardener, especially Colston Burrell’s article on late-season anemones. I would, however, like some more information on plant anatomy: When discussing the structure of anemone flowers, Burrell states “they are composed of five or more colorful sepals,” as are many members of Ranunculaceae. To be more botanically precise, are these not tepals rather than sepals? According to Botany for Gardeners (by Brian Capon, Timber Press, 1990), tulips and clematis are among those plants, like anemones, which have perianths with only one whorl of modified leaves called tepals, not sepals.

William Latimer - Overland Park, Kansas

C. Colston Burrell responds: I am glad you enjoyed the Anemone article. On your point concerning the proper name of the floral structures of anemones, I must hold to my original designation of the structures as petallike sepals. The term tepals is used to refer to flowers with petallike structures that are not clearly distinguished as either petals or sepals. Plants with this characteristic include tulips, alliums, and some lilies. When petals are absent, as in anemones, clematis, and many other Ranunculaceae, then it is the sepals that are colorful and resemble petals.

Wild Gardenes…

I subscribed to Wild Garden and was sorry to hear that the magazine has ceased publication. While I am delighted to know that the American Horticutural Society will be picking up the remainder of the subscriptions, I am already an AHS member. I do not know how much time I have left on my Wild Garden subscription, but can that subscription just be added to my current AHS membership? It seems a waste to be getting two copies of The American Gardener—although, of course, I can always give the extra copies to friends!

By the way, I have always enjoyed your magazine, but in the July/August issue I was particularly pleased to see the article on Ron Gass and Mountain States Wholesale Nursery. Ron has done some excellent work and has helped show people in the Southwest that their gardens don’t need to be—and shouldn’t be—like gardens in Virginia or Washington State to be pretty. Keep up the good work.

Mary Anne Pickens - Columbus, Texas

P.S. I was the 1997 president of the Native Plant Society of Texas, so I am particularly interested in native plants. I think it is so important that we all use what is native in our area along with other easy-to-grow, adaptable plants.

…on the American Gardener

When Wild Garden appeared on the market, I thought it was the right time for such a publication and that it could be a hit. Like many subscribers, I’m disappointed to learn of its demise.

About the time I discovered Wild Garden at the newsstand, I also found The American Gardener, which I’ve read and purchased several times. Now I’m looking forward to its arrival in my mailbox on a regular schedule! Thank you to both publishers for coming up with this pleasant solution to the problem of subscription fulfillment.

Anne B. Wagner - Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Editor’s note: We have heard from a number of former Wild Garden subscribers, including quite a few who, like Ms. Pickens, were already American Horticultural Society members. Some of these members slipped through the computer program designed to catch duplicate memberships and received two copies of our July/August issue.