Blog

By Raelie Mulvey

It is the busiest time of year for florists. As flower shops across the country gear up for Valentine’s Day and the flood of orders they will receive, some Philadelphia-area floral experts are also prepping busily for a different event: the 2019 PHS Philadelphia Flower Show, “Flower Power.”

“We have to be ready to put things in the Convention Center just eight days after Valentine’s Day,” says Robin Heller of Flowers by David, a Langhorne-based florist who has participated in the Flower Show for the past 23 years.

But first, they must survive the mad rush of February 14. As of February 9, Heller says she has about 40 orders, “but by Valentine’s Day, we’ll have hundreds.” Naturally, roses are in high demand, as are tulips. 

We invited Nick McCullough, a new Flower Show exhibitor from the Midwest, to share his design thoughts with us.

By Nick McCullough

I am so thrilled to be designing a garden for the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show.  I am a garden designer based in Columbus, Ohio.  I know, it doesn’t sound like an overly exotic location, however, I love the Midwest and it is a great place to garden.  The Greater Philly area holds a fond place in my heart.  It truly is America’s garden capital.  I have been fortunate over the years to travel to the area to explore many of the numerous gardens.  From Scott Arboretum to Longwood, the inspiration abounds!  Obviously, you guys know this.  I must confess, I can never get enough of Chanticleer.  Over the years, I have drawn great inspiration from my visits.

My exhibit at this year’s Flower Show, All Along the Watchtower, is inspired by standing on the Woodstock stage, looking out onto a mass of revelers. I designed this keyhole garden to overwhelm visitors in a haze of purple and riot of textures created by the power of infinite flowers. Reflection tricks the senses to enhance the impact of the blooms, blur boundaries and offer viewers glimpses of themselves within the landscape, emotionally connecting everyone to the garden.  The perimeter evokes the peaceful trance of the unspoiled land prior to the concert.

By Caitlin Gemmi

A great way to breakout of the winter weather blues is by planning your spring garden. Here are some ideas to spark new growth in your yard and containers this year.

Go Organic:

Make your garden more environmentally friendly this spring. By improving your soil using organic fertilizers and mulching. Make it a goal to learn how to create and use compost, which is the best way to recycle yard waste and food scraps. Compost enriches the soil, helps control erosion, and lessens toxins.

Reuse Rain:

To better manage stormwater, you can start a rain garden or invest in a downspout planter. Philadelphia residents can participate in Rain Check, Philadelphia Water’s residential stormwater program managed by PHS with the Sustainable Business Network. This program installs permeable pavers, rain barrels, downspout planters and rain gardens on your property to help soak up the rain, reuse it, and keep stormwater runoff out of the sewers. As Zach Popkin, PHS Program Manager, says, “You can add beauty to your yard while doing something environmentally beneficial. Taking advantage of these options is helpful to your plants and the planet.”

By Janet Evans, Associate Director, PHS McLean Library

Lavish, luscious, beautifully illustrated flower books are mainstays in horticultural and botanical collections, and some wonderful examples from the 18th to 20th centuries are housed in the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s rare book collections.  These works are not only splendid depictions of plants accurately executed by some of the most famous botanical artists of the day; they are, with their detailed, finely crafted engravings and sumptuous paper, wonderful examples of the art of the book.

The public is invited to look at large-format botanical plate books, some nursery catalogs, and herbals in the PHS McLean Library on Wednesday, January 30, at 3 p.m. 

Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal (1737), is a work with a fascinating backstory. Blackwell, who lacked formal training as an artist or botanist, was nevertheless able to quickly produce fine illustrations for her book, motivated by her desperate need for funds to release her ne’er-do-well husband from prison.

By Marion McParland, PHS Staff

Today is Poinsettia Day! This day honors Joel Roberts Poinsett. Poinsett -- a botanist, physician, and the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico -- spotted the brilliant red blooms on a trip south of the border in 1825. Enamored with their beauty, he shipped some back to his hothouse in Greenville, South Carolina.  It was there that he began propagating and sending the plants to friends and botanical gardens.  Bartram’s Garden received one of his plants and introduced it into commercial cultivation.

The Poinsettia was introduced to the American public in 1829 at the first Philadelphia Flower Show.

By Jenny Rose Carey, Senior Director, PHS Meadowbrook Farm

December is the month to plant indoor bulbs in containers for some early color and fragrance in your house. Plant your bulbs in succession – some now and some in a couple of weeks – to prolong the blooms in your house.

Take it Easy:
The easiest bulb to grow inside in the winter is the Paperwhite daffodil or Narcissus. I find that it is one of those ‘Love it or hate it’ plants, mostly due to the heavy floral fragrance that you either love or hate. My oldest daughter loves the smell as it reminds her of being at her great grandmother’s house as a child. Paperwhite bulbs are available at local shops or online. They are easy to grow, and this is a perfect project to do with your children or grandchildren.

Contain Yourself:
Find a container with no holes in it. An old dish, mixing bowl or thrift shop find is often the most fun container. It needs to be just deep enough to hold the bulbs. Add some stones, gravel, or my favorite --colorful marbles -- into the container.  The stones or marbles are used as a decorative element as this pot of paperwhites will be sitting in your living room or kitchen. The traditional paperwhite look was white pebbles that you had collected on your favorite beach the summer before. If you didn’t collect them, it might be too late now, but fun for next year!  If you don’t have pebbles or stones on hand, but you have potting soil, that works too! It is just needed to hold the roots. Another type of container is a taller vase that will support the foliage and flowers as they grow. There is a specific bulb-vase that you can purchase, or just improvise with a vase that you already own. Put pebbles into the bottom of the vase to hold the bulb upright.                        

By Jenny Rose Carey, Senior Director, PHS Meadowbrook Farm

Here at PHS Meadowbrook Farm we have been busy getting the gardens sorted out for next year. It is a balancing act between dealing with immediate tasks and planning for the spring garden, but bulb planting can still be done, despite snow and ice.

Gather Your Bulbs
If you still have outdoor flower bulbs (like daffodils, tulips, or crocus) in your garage or mudroom waiting to be planted, don’t panic! You are not alone in wondering if you can still plant them. The answer is yes. Some gardens have already seen snow, ice and the usual Philadelphia “wintry mix,” but if you can get a shovel in the ground, go for it. Plant those bulbs. They are not going to look pretty sitting in the bag in the garage, but in the ground they will be able to put their roots down into the soil. Even if the top layer of the soil is frozen, you can go down a few inches right now and it will be okay.

By Sally McCabe, PHS Associate Director, Community Education

Take Stock:
Survey the damage in the herb garden wrought by the dropping temperatures. Lemon basil has turned gray, regular basil is curled and brown, but the Thai basil seems to have stood the test. Cut it now before super cold temperatures, and hang it upside down if you'd like to dry it. You could also process it in the microwave: Take all the leaves off the stems and put them on a plate in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, turning them frequently until they are crisp and crumbly. You can also take the fresh leaves and put them in the blender with enough oil to make a slurry. Freeze this in an ice cube tray until solid, then take out the cubes and put them in a ziplock freezer bag. Later you can mix them with hot pasta, adding garlic parmesan cheese and pine nuts to make a wonderful pesto. I never add the garlic at the blender stage because it makes my smoothies taste strange the next day.

By Janet Evans, Associate Director, PHS McLean Library

“What is a Bookplate?”  

When a young scholar visiting the library asked me this, I realized I needed to do more public programming to reach people who love books and are curious to learn more about them. That’s when I decided to give a Rare Book Talk on this topic (see details below). 

Bookplates are decorative labels stuck in the front of a book, bearing the name of the book's owner. They have been around almost since the beginning of printing in Europe. The PHS McLean Library has many examples of bookplates, from the 18th to 20th centuries. Early examples were often armorial plates, showing a family crest. Later bookplates could be small-scale designs that reflected the owner’s occupation or lifelong interests and passions.  Book-loving botanists and gardeners had extensive personal libraries and found clever ways to convey their intellectual pursuits on their bookplates.

By Marion McParland, PHS Staff

Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile. 
-- William Cullen Bryant

As the heat of summer dissipates, and the temperatures cool, trees take their cue to begin their spectacular show of color for the season. Brilliant reds, purples, oranges and yellows make their appearance, creating a kaleidoscope of colors in the landscape. 

But when, exactly, will these beauties take the stage? “Just like the weather, I think it is unpredictable,” says Barley Van Clief, PHS Tree Tenders Program Manager. “After all, we had cherry trees blooming in February last winter. It may be that the extra rain and heat we have experienced has delayed the fall color.”

Showtime:
Typically, the show begins around the third week of October in the Philadelphia area. This year, however, may be a bit delayed. “The best weather for brilliant fall foliage is a growing season with ample moisture, followed by a dry, cool, and sunny autumn with warm days and cool, but frostless nights,” says Van Clief.

Several factors affect when and how leaves change color and the hues the produce. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, these include many factors, including shortening days, cooling temperatures, sunlight, moisture, latitude and altitude.

By Jenny Rose Carey, Senior Director, PHS Meadowbrook Farm

The Gardens at PHS Meadowbrook Farm have officially closed for the 2018 season, but activities continue in the gardens so that we can get ready for the 2019 garden season.

Here are seven of the fall activities at Meadowbrook that you might want to do in your own garden in the next couple of months.

1. Take a long look at the garden before there is a killing frost. See what worked well this year and what you would like to change for next growing season. Look at whether you would like to add more trees or shrubs, as autumn is a great time to plant these. The soil is still warm for the next couple of months, so the roots can have time to establish. At Meadowbrook, our formal gardens are a series of garden ‘rooms.’ We will be looking at whether we need to plant any new hedges to make the ‘walls’ of these outdoor rooms.

2. As the temperatures fall we will be digging up tropical plants that we want to save for next year and storing them inside as growing plants or as dormant tubers in the basement (for example Dahlias, Colocasia, Alocasia and Cannas). They must be kept above freezing and kept moist (not too wet or they will rot, and not so dry that they desiccate).

3. Take out and compost any annuals or tropical plants that you are not saving after they are killed by a heavy frost.

4. If perennials have good seed heads or structure, and they are still standing upright, leave them as seed source for birds to eat and for winter interest in your garden. Cut down and compost any perennials that are mushy, floppy or uninteresting.

By Janet Evans, Associate Director, PHS McLean Library

Predating the motion picture, lantern slides were used for entertainment and to illustrate educational programs and courses. The PHS McLean Library houses hundreds of hand-colored glass slides dating from 1900-1940s, depicting plants and gardens from all over the world.

On Wednesday, October 17, I will be part of a panel of librarians, archivists and curators from Philadelphia cultural institutions who will be showing lantern slides from their collections in the Wagner Free Institute of Science’s popular annual Lantern Slide Salon. Step back in time and see slides projected from an historic lantern projector in the Wagner’s Victorian-era lecture hall.  This free event is part of Archives Month Philly, a celebration of Philadelphia’s rich repositories located in the many archives, libraries and museums in the city.