Category Archives: PRESERVATION

Thinning Your Plants? Donate Them!

by Steve Cagan

This spring the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes will be holding their 39th annual plant sale. It’s a major fund-raiser for the center, and every year there’s a stronger emphasis on native plants. This year the catalog will be only online, and you can find it here. Orders can be placed until April 17, or until their inventory is sold.

One of the popular activities in the sale has been the “homegrown” section. Local gardeners contribute plants from their own gardens. Last year, and this year, because of conditions imposed by the pandemic, we have offered this as a separate event. This year it will be on Sunday, June 13, from 11 AM to 3 PM, at the center. Sale day will be conducted according to US and Ohio public health social distancing guidelines.

We’d love to see you all there that day. In addition, we invite you to join other area gardeners in dividing and donating some successful perennials from your own garden for this year’s homegrown sale! 

We particularly seek donations of plants that have done well in your yard without being invasive, including:

  • Native or non-native flowering perennials
  • Ferns and other foliage plants that do well in shade

as well as:

  • Small shrubs or trees
  • Edibles
  • Houseplants

The Nature Center reserves the right to discard plants known to be invasive.

Donated plants should be potted up far enough in advance of the Sale to avoid transplanting shock.  A supply of empty pots is available for your use behind the Pavilion at the Nature Center.  Potted-up, sale-ready plants can be dropped off at the Nature Center Pavilion on Friday June 11 & Saturday June 12, from 9AM to 6PM.

We encourage you to contact us beforehand to discuss your donations.  It would be most helpful if you could provide us with an emailed or written list of what you plan to donate, so that we can prepare appropriate labels.  Please contact Dick Obermanns at 216-752-9776 or obermanns@aol.com.  Thanks for your support! 

Plant sale at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes
Plant sale at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes

Steve is a local photographer and birder. His work can be found at his website: http://www.stevecagan.com

Climate Change Visualizer

The Audubon Society published a Survival by Degrees report in 2019, and recently reminded Gardenopolis of its Birds and Climate Visualizer component. Type in your zip code and see how climate change is predicted to affect your area and the birds that visit your backyard.

Rising temperatures mean that many birds will lose habitat and struggle to survive. Gardenopolis supports efforts to slow climate change and preserve habitat for wildlife.

City Nature Challenge

Save the date! The City Nature Challenge will be held from April 30 – May 3, 2021.

Cities around the world compete to see who can document the most biodiversity in a single long weekend. The number of observations, the number of species identified and the number of people participating are shared and compared.

Mark your calendars and plan to join LEAP’s team on iNaturalist. Visit https://www.leapbio.org/events/city-nature-challenge for all the details.

USDA’s International Beech Leaf Disease Workshop

Registration is now open for the 2nd International Beech Leaf Disease Workshop. This will be a virtual meeting held on April 15th via Adobe Connect. We expect to have a wide variety of presenters, including University partners, State and Federal agencies, and private agencies. We will discuss current research results, recent survey and monitoring work, and future projects. 

This workshop gathers forest health experts from the United States and Canada to share information regarding Beech Leaf Disease (BLD), an emerging pest of American beech. Throughout the day, thirteen presentations will be shared on topics of BLD epidemiology, distribution, control, and research efforts. Registered attendees can earn continuing educations credits for the Society of American Foresters (SAF) and the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) for participating in the workshop.

View the list of speakers/presentations and register using this link:

Beech Leaf Disease Workshop Registration Page

Tree plantings and other events

Tree planting information by Laura Marks

The weather has turned autumn cool and moist, so many tree planting opportunities are coming up. Here are a few. Please lend a hand and your expertise if you are able and want your hands in the soil. Please remember to wear a mask to any events you attend.

Saturday, October 3
10:00AM Canterbury and Bradford, Cleveland Heights
Royal Heights neighbors are working to improve landscaping along the Bradford Rd cinder path. They are working from Canterbury towards the west while Peggy Spaeth and John Barber are working from Taylor Rd eastward. Trees will be planted this Saturday and the neighbors reached out asking for help from Heights Tree People. Check out the rebuilt historic WPA stone pillars that mark the pathway at each street!

Monday, October 19
1:30 PM Washington Blvd, CH
We have requests for 7 trees to be planted in the block of Washington Blvd from Lee to Cottage Grove. It seems like a great opportunity for a HTP to plant together. These trees will all be planted on private property, not treelawns.

We have begun planting! Last week Margy, Kathy, Bill, and I worked with Western Reserve Land Conservancy to plant 17 treelawn trees on E130 street between Shaker Blvd and Larchmere. In addition, Bill and I have planted several trees in Cleveland Heights in the past week.

Over the summer we accumulated a list of about 50 trees to plant this fall. In addition, I am working with the City of Cleveland Heights to get permission for us to plant a tree on vacant lots in the City; there are 177 vacant lots, not all are appropriate for a tree, however most are. If you want to join us to plant, please let me know your availability and we will welcome your help.

I could also use a second person to help do a tree inventory of Taylor Rd between Cedar and Fairmount. The Cleveland Heights Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) is about to recommend that the speed limit on Taylor Rd be reduced and consistent at 25 MPH. One way to reduce actual car speed is to have fully planted treelawns. The TAC requested I count availability of treelawn tree planting sites.

If you know Heights friends and neighbors who want trees, please get them to sign up for one. The best way to do this is to have them contact me at this Heights Tree People email address. (heightstreepeople AT gmail DOT com)

Laura Marks

Other events, compiled by Elsa and Heather

Upcoming virtual events

Cleveland Museum of Natural History Discover-E
Fall Foraging with Jeremy Umansky of Larder: A Curated Delicatessen and Bakery
October 5, 7 pm
http://1023.blackbaudhosting.com/1023/DISCOVER-E-Fall-Foraging-with-Larders-Jeremy-Umansky

Kirtland Bird Club
How a CLE Birder-Photographer aids conservation efforts in Colombia
October 7, 7:30 pm
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-a-cle-birder-photographer-aids-conservation-efforts-in-colombia-tickets-112905912624

Cleveland Museum of Natural History Explorer Series
Discovery… Technology… Hope
Lecture with Dr. Dawn Wright, Chief Scientist, Environmental Systems Research Institute
October 14, 7 pm
https://1023.blackbaudhosting.com/1023/Explorer-Lecture-Series-Virtual—DISCOVERY-TECHNOLOGY-HOPE

Living with the Anthropocene
October 14, 10 pm
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/living-with-the-anthropocene-webinar-tickets-120320171873

20th Annual NAPPC Conference
October 20-22, 2020​
https://www.pollinator.org/nappc/registration

LEAD for Pollinators Conference
October 24-25, 2020
https://leadforpollinators.org/registration/

Nature Underfoot by Dr. John Hainze
November 2, 10 pm EST
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nature-underfoot-by-dr-john-hainze-registration-117436976157

Streaming anytime

OSU ZoomBees Pollinator Webinar Recordings 2020
https://u.osu.edu/certify/zoombees-webinar-recordings-2020/​

Important Late Summer and Early Fall Plantings to Aid Pollinators and Migratory Species
Presentation given by Judy Semroc at the bi-monthly LEAP meeting
https://vimeo.com/458967411/a07cd72ee0

Kiss the Ground
Film about regenerative agriculture, available on Netflix
https://kisstheground.com/
https://www.netflix.com/title/81321999?

From the hinterlands of Clover, South Carolina

Gardenopolis Cleveland visits the Botanical Gardens at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte

by Elsa Johnson

What do gardeners/garden designers/environmentalists do when we visit relatives in other climes?

Weather permitting, we get out and hike, or seek out public gardens. Or both.  Over the holidays this December, after chalking up one day to non-stop cooking, and another to non-stop eating (g r o a n), we managed to stay pretty active three out of five days. There are good hiking sites just a little west of Charlotte, in a connected series of parks in South and North Carolina comprised of King’s Mountain (S.C.), The Pinnacle, and Crowder’s Mountain (both in N.C). On an unnaturally balmy (even for South Carolina – 70 degrees) December 26th we dedicated our overeating penance to the climb up the Pinnacle, a metamorphic outcrop.

It seemed that half of Charlotte had the same idea. Not counting the small girl having a total meltdown on the way down after tripping on a tree root, it was delightful — and steep, and sweaty — for we found ourselves in the company of a friendly global community of every color and place of origin, which was delicious, and we felt right at home. Of course, we are getting older, and I am still recovering from my knee replacement and needed to stop and rest every couple hundred feet in the steepest places near the top, while the younger hikers politely breezed past. The next day, a bit sore, we stayed closer to Clover, and walked in the very flat city park, with its interesting naturally exposed bedrock.

On our final day, rather than revisiting Stowe Botanical Gardens, which we have been to many times, we drove to the Botanical Gardens at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. This is comprised of a greenhouse, which was not open, and two distinct gardens set within a hilly glen with a small stream flowing through.

The less interesting of these, at this time of year, was the entirely natural (in its aesthetic) Ralph Van Landingham Glen, located entirely within a gated exclosure. The Glen, we  are told, contains a major collection of  rhododendron and azalea shrubs, as well as 900 species of native trees, wildflowers, vines, and ferns, but, although pleasant, there was nothing in bloom – everything was dormant — so there wasn’t much to see.

The more interesting garden at this time of the year was the more “designed” (mostly in an architecturally Oriental theme) three acre Susie B Harwood Garden. There was a waterfall feature and a stream running through the valley, an Asian style gazebo, various other designed water channels, and a moon gate where we took each other’s pictures to send out as New Year greetings. Many foliage plants looked tropical and very green and thriving, though it is technically winter. The camellias were in bloom, and there were late season figs on a fig tree – imagine that!  

Our last stop was Freedom Park, just south of downtown Charlotte, on the edge of an affluent neighborhood. Whoever was not hiking the Pinnacle and Crowder’s Mountain seemed to be there. Once again – a very cosmopolitan and global population. We were looking for demonstration community gardens I had read about, run by local Master Gardeners. Alas, we never found the gardens, but during our search we encountered some lovely examples of flowering humanity.

Here’s to 2020!

Death Avenue: Then and Now

by Lois Rose

In the 1880s, the High Line was constructed as a street level railroad delivering mostly food products to lower Manhattan. Tenth Avenue became known as Death Avenue due to the large number of fatalities at railroad crossings (540 by 1910!). In the 1920s, the West Side Cowboys on horseback helped pedestrians avoid collisions with the trains. The city took note of the hazardous conditions, and by 1924 called for the construction of an elevated line, which is what we now know as the High Line.

The elevated tracks were fully operational by 1934, and due to increased truck traffic were in disrepair by the 1980s. In 1999, CSX opened the area to proposals for reuse.

On a sub-freezing sunny Saturday morning in October, I finally had my first encounter with New York’s High Line.  The former rail line was retrofitted as a public park starting in 2006 and mostly completed by 2014.  This 30- foot elevated botanical masterpiece runs along 10th Avenue for 1.45 miles.  Camera in hand I documented everything in sight, with nary a person blocking my view.  I took in many of the 400 plus types of trees, shrubs, perennials, vines and grasses (a lot of grasses) that despite the freeze and lateness of the season looked pretty good.

The designer of this showpiece was Piet Oudolf, best known in the US for the Lurie Gardens at Millennium Park in Chicago. He was required by the funders to reflect some of the natural environment in the plant community that existed on the High Line before renovation.  The plants he chose perform a function and meet a specific visual outcome.  They will contribute, according to Oudolf, to biodiversity by supporting habitats where insects, birds and other animals can survive.

Over fifty percent of the plant material is native.  The volunteer organization that maintains the High Line Park, the Friends of the High Line, have plant lists and garden zones detailed on their website.

As a few more people arrived while I was there, I noticed that most of them did not seem to notice the plants at all. They took photos of the streets below, the architectural stand outs along the way, and each other.  But not the plants.

Now, no cowboys are needed to protect pedestrians, except perhaps on very crowded summer days when the place is packed with tourists.

For those looking for more history about the High Line, check out the following resources:

https://www.livinthehighline.com/the-original-urban-cowboy/ (includes video)
https://www.thehighline.org/history/
https://ny.curbed.com/2019/5/7/18525802/high-line-new-york-park-guide-entrances-map

Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Summit

Gardenopolis Cleveland’s editors are looking forward to tomorrow’s event: Sustainable Cleveland’s 2019 Summit. Every year, 500+ community and business leaders, government officials, students, and residents work together to help transform Cleveland into a “green city on a blue lake.”

Sustainable Cleveland launched in 2009, and on Wednesday they will celebrate 10 years of progress and build their future.

The one-day Summit at Cleveland Public Auditorium will start at 8am and last until 5pm, followed by an evening reception. The Summit will include remarks from Mayor Frank Jackson, keynote presentations, recognition and awards, facilitated discussions on key priorities going forward, and much more. Sustainable Cleveland will:

  • Celebrate Cleveland’s progress in sustainability and share stories of collaboration and action inspired through the SC2019 initiative
  • Recognize individuals, organizations, and businesses leading by example to advance sustainability in Cleveland
  • Feature keynote presentations focused on taking climate action, transportation equity, and creating a circular economy
  • Advance Cleveland Climate Action Plan priorities that depend on the whole community, such as reaching 100% renewable electricity, access to trees and green space, sustainable transportation, clean water, and waste
  • Chart a path forward beyond 2019

We hope to see you there!

A Short Trek, a Great Experience: Secrest Arboretum

by Lois Rose

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to join Master Gardeners and others in an all day seminar at Secrest Arboretum, entitled “How Plants Mate”. Needless to say it attracted a good crowd.

Jason Veil with Hydrangea quercifolia

We spent a lot of time indoors at the new tech- savvy center getting the low down on the intricacies of stamens and pistils and bracts and the myriad mechanisms of mating in the plant kingdom.  At the end we saw plant parts exposed under the microscope—imagine an eight -foot high pistil, glistening on the screen…a huge ovary—well you get the idea.

Aesculus pavia under microscope

But even without the in depth explanations this was a beautiful day in the arboretum, where restorations after the tornado have been highly successful. 

Abelia mosanenesis Fragrant abelia

This lovely space is only an hour and a half away, and is season by season full of a large variety of carefully curated shrubs, trees, perennials. Our hosts were the Curator, Jason Veil, and Ann Chanon, ANR educator in Lorain County and an authority on buckeyes.

Ann Chanon with Aesculus x carnea ‘Fort McNair’

I hope this little article will tempt you to take out your botany textbook and delve into the many wonders in your garden that are just below the surface. 

Exbury hybrid azalea Rhododendron ‘Golden Pom Pom’
Rhododendron ‘Gibralter’ Exbury hybrid azalea
Cornus alternifolia (white “petals” are bracts, small “true” flowers are in center)
Developing fruit of P. suffruticosa
Paeonia suffruticosa Tree Peony
Deutzia
Alchemilla mollis with rain drops
Cornus alternifolia
Baptisia ‘Purple Smoke’
Vaccinium corymbosum
Enkianthus campanulatus
Cercis canadensis ‘Royal White’
Deutzia gracilis
Chionanthus virginicus
Aesculus hippocastanum ‘Baumannii’
Iris sibirica “Caesar’s Brother”
Calycanthus ‘Hartlage Wine’ hybrid sweetshrub
Photinia villosa, large specimen

Thomas Jefferson: Landscape Architect

by Greg Cada

Gardenopolis editors recently heard Greg speak on this subject at Holden Arboretum, and asked him to share his expertise with our readers.

Shortly after Thomas Jefferson’s 1801-09 presidency during which, much like today, the mud of slander and volatile allegations was slung by both parties, our third president wrote to the mâitre d’hôtel of the President’s (now, White) House:  “I am constantly in my garden or farm, as exclusively employed out of doors as I was within doors when at Washington, and I find myself infinitely happier in my new mode of life.”  Jefferson’s love of architecture and landscape design was a side of his life which also left a footprint on America.  We will briefly look at the influences and products of this aspect of his life.

National Portrait Gallery; Gilbert Stuart

Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 at Shadwell, near Charlottesville, Virginia, in the backwoods of Virginia to Peter and Mary Jefferson, respectively, a prominent surveyor and a Randolph.  The Randolphs were probably the preeminent family in Virginia, which provided Jefferson easy entrée to the better homes, many of which had elaborate gardens as the Colonial aristocracy favored ornate gardens to impress the populace by demonstrating their control over nature in the rugged New World.  Meanwhile, in England, where the land had long since been denuded, the trend had evolved toward restoration of natural, picturesque gardens.  The wealthy moved untold amounts of soil and rerouted bodies of water to make the land look natural.

From 1745-52, the Jefferson family relocated to Tuckahoe Plantation near Richmond on the James River, where Peter Jefferson acted as guardian of his best friend’s son after the friend died.  The Tuckahoe manor had been expanded 1734 such that from the air its footprint looks like an “H.”  This may help to explain Jefferson’s like of buildings with perpendicular extensions like shoulders and arms.

Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg from 1760-62, and then read law with George Wythe, a prominent attorney and jurist.  His stay in Williamsburg and association with the Royal Governor afforded him exposure to the gardens in Williamsburg, then the wealthiest capital in Colonial America.

Construction of Monticello began in 1768.  The manor was central to terraces which formed shoulders and arms ending at pavilions.  A large west lawn was surrounded by a serpentine flower walk, with oval gardens at the front and back of the house.  This demonstrates that Jefferson had already rejected the formal gardens of the past, but still somewhat popular in Virginia, and adopted the newer, more-English picturesque designs.  He also had orchards, vineyards, berry squares and an experimental 2-acre, 1,000 foot long vegetable garden on a terrace.  He grew 330 varieties of more than 70 species and 170 fruit varieties of apples, peaches, grapes, and more grew in Monticello’s orchards.  Despite his efforts, his wine was never very good because native grapes did not produce good wine, and his imported European grapes succumbed to diseases.  His meticulous records indicate many of the plantings and their locations.

While minister plenipotentiary to France from 1785-89, he observed horticultural matters throughout Europe, beyond his visits to Versailles and Fontainebleau.  During a visit to Minister to England John Adams, he visited 16 English county gardens in 13 days.  After he returned to America and became President Washington’s Secretary of State, he assisted Washington and L’Enfant in the design of Washington, D.C., with some crediting him with overlaying the perpendicular street grid to facilitate transportation.  While in France, he sent various plants and seeds to America in an effort to bolster its agriculture, and conducted exchanges after his return.  He tested plants in his Monticello gardens and forwarded some plants to more suitable climates.

From 1806-12, he constructed Poplar Forest, his home near Lynchburg, often called his “summer retreat.”  Because it was a satellite plantation, it is a smaller home with only one shoulder.  Beyond the octagons incorporated into Monticello’s design, Poplar Forest is an octagon composed primarily of octagonal rooms—even the nearby privies are octagonal.  His writings do not indicate what was planted where, which has hindered restoring the plantings, but advances in garden archaeology have recently provided some guidance.

Jefferson designed and oversaw the University of Virginia’s construction from 1814-23.  It consists of a central rotunda for the library, with two shoulders connecting to arms extending downhill flanking the top of a ridge.  Each arm contained five pavilions in which professors lived and conducted their classes.  Each pavilion was designed differently for architectural instruction.  Student rooms were between the pavilions.  Below these arms, at each base of the ridge, was another row of student rooms separated by three “hotels” in which students would dine and have laundry and other services done.  The hotels lined up with the pavilions near the top of the ridge.  Each pavilion had a garden behind it running down to the lower row of student rooms, but the pavilions aligned with hotels only had half a garden, with the pavilion having use of the other garden half.  There are no records of the original garden plantings, so an eclectic variety of colonial revival gardens have been planted.

Father of the University of Virginia was among the three accomplishments he directed to be recognized on his grave marker.  The other two were author of the Declaration of American Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom.  He died on July 4, 1826, fifty years after the Declaration was approved.

Throughout his life, Jefferson found peace in the garden.  As he wrote to Charles Wilson Peale on August 20, 1811, “I have often thought that if heaven had given me choice of my position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot on earth, well watered and near a good market for the production of the garden.  No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.  …”

This article is extracted from a Speakers Bureau presentation of OSU Extension’s Master Gardeners of Cuyahoga County Program.  For presentations, go to cuyahogamg.org/MGSpeakersBur/MGSpeakersBur.html.