The Smithsonian Institution Archive of American Gardens

Recently, I received the "Newsletter" devoted to The Catalog of Landscape Records in the United States, published by Wave Hill, the glorious public garden in The Bronx that overlooks the New Jersey Palisades. Under the heading of Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Gardens, I found the website for their database and all the American gardens so recorded. Upon reaching the web site for the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) at the top of the circle you merely click "Archives & Manuscripts," then select "Search." On the next page enter my name as Loewer, Peter, in the box labeled "Enter your search term here." You will be taken to the next page with my name in the first line, set in blue type. Click it and enter the list of images. Click "View Long Record" on the left to access the image in full size. The site features our garden on Kenilworth Lake, using nineteen color shots of most of the garden, spanning spring to early fall. The gardens are part of those included in the Garden Club of America Collection, and special thanks go to Gaye Symmes of Asheville for submitting the chosen gardens to the Smithsonian.

We had a snow and wind storm on Monday, March 19. Early that morning the top forty feet of an old red oak, snapped, then fell both on and below our formal perennial border, the garden that overlooks the Kenilworth Lake. There's still forty foot of oak standing to the left of the garden and thanks to alternate branching that occurred some eight years ago (when that oak lost a very large lateral branch), there seems to be enough foliage to allow for the possibility of survival. Meanwhile, the cleanup job is immense and how to remove one very large branch that is buried in the ground near the amilliary sphere is anybody's guess. But time and tide (not to mention the rushes of spring) wait for no gardener and the cleanup will continue.

Jerry Birdwell sent me this picture of an angraecum orchid blooming at his home. These marvelous salutes to the exotic, burst forth with drama at odd times through the year. Once open, they send forth a scent that combines the lure of the mysterious with the powerful clout of a tropic night. This orchid belongs to the genus Angraecum. They're famous for the long spur that extends out from the rear of the blossom and flowers must be pollinated by a special moth that has a tongue to match the spur's length. Madagascar's A. sesquipedale has a 12-inch spur. In the 19th Century, when told of this plant's existence, Charles Darwin predicted it would need a pollinating moth with a 12-inch tongue to do the job. They found the moth in the 1920s and, sure enough, it had a 12-inch tongue. Jerry's is a fairly large plant--as angraecums go--standing well over two-feet high. Older plants not only branch but form basal keikis, or pups, that will bloom at an early age. The greenish flowers usually turn whiter with age, have a white lip, and often last more than a month, producing that sweet fragrance night after night. Because of their Madagascar heritage most of the plants prefer intermediate temperatures with a minimum of 55°F. They naturally bloom from early spring right into summer. Like most orchids, their requirements are small when compared with the joy of their bloom!