Greetings, Hortus friends and fans!

I hope this summer season is treating you all well. For me, I can’t even believe August is around the corner, bringing with it slightly shorter days, some cooler evenings, tons of food, crickets and katydids at night, my birthday, and a big part of the editing process done for our new book, “Hidden Gems for the Home Landscape”, due out March 2027.

Here are a few events happening at Hortus that I want you to know about!

August 1st - Embroidery Class at Hortus with Flax Fiber Farm’s Adrienne Carlile.

An exploration of plants through embroidery, this class consists of a walk through the arboretum, looking closely at some plants, a show-and-tell of different stitch techniques and how to use them for plant designs, and the chance to either design your own plant mini-badge or stitch a pre-designed native flower! Suitable for beginners and advanced embroiderers alike, this is a class about learning how to look at plants and translate their details into stitches.

This class is limited to 10 people.

For more info visit here.

August 9th - Hortus is offering a Native Tour through the Arboretum. Come join us for a 2-hour walk looking at and learning about beautiful ornamental & edible native plants. Click here for tickets.

August 16th - Luke Sarrantonio will be back teaching 2 very different fungi classes at Hortus! We are so lucky to have Luke back teaching two very different classes; both are for all levels of interest. Bring a bagged lunch and picnic here and take both his classes.

Relationships with Fungi… It can seem complicated. For more information, click here.

Forest and Fungi Ecology Walk – Identification and Documentation. For more information, click here.

Are you growing berries? If you have the space and you aren’t, I hope to convince you that maybe you should! Why, you may ask since they can be easily bought at not just your local farmers market, supermarket and even box stores like Walmart, Target and Costco. If you know me you know my aversion to clamshells (not the ones from the beach), filled with berries. Sure, not everyone has the space to grow brambles, and not everyone wants to eat “in season” either. But for those of you who can may I suggest growing some thornless blackberries- a variety like ‘Chester’, ‘Arapaho’ or my favorite ‘Triple Crown’. Most berries are picked way before they are ripe and often are not fully ready for your mouth by the time you’re ready to eat them maybe a few are ripe, while others are on the way to becoming a science project.

This plant is literally dripping with fruit!

Have you ever tried a black raspberry? Once more popular than the ubiquitous red raspberry, these very special fruits are higher in antioxidants than their red relatives and sadly not available at even your local farmer’s market (please correct me if I’m wrong!) It’s probably one of my favorite of all fruits and relatively easy to care for if pruned correctly and given compost early in the season.

I love red raspberries as well, and although admittedly have not tried out tons of different varieties over time because the hardworking variety ‘Caroline’ not only has that quintessential raspberry flavor, the berries are everbearing, large and hang like jewels on almost thornless canes.

If you look closely at the photo below you will notice small “hairs” on the berry. In a previous life I did some foodstyling and was tasked with pulling them out (they are actually the stamens).

For those newer subscribers: Here’s an earlier post that goes into my background a bit which was the reason I started gardening..

Here’s a super interesting read by the talented food writer Julia Moskin who does a deep dive into the raspberry which she says can be found all over the world. Funny enough I know Watsonville well, the home of Driscoll berries, since my husband Scott was born and raised there. If you want to dig even deeper into all things Rubus - pull out our book ‘Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts’. If you don’t have a copy it can be easily purchased at any fine bookstore.

Come visit the arboretum! We are open on weekends from 10am -4pm. Lots to see including two gorgeous sculptures by the wife-husband team behind Nervous System.

Thanks for reading along. I hope this finds you enjoying whatever outdoor space you find yourself in.

See you in the garden,

Allyson

Hello friends, fans, and fellow flower fanatics!

As we slide into slightly shorter summer days, the light is hanging around long enough that we are sneaking outside after supper to stake up a flower stalk, cut back a rambunctious weed, and lovingly pamper those tomato plants.

This is one of my favorite times of the growing season, as I nostalgically think about how well (or not) all the spring flowering trees did (or not). I can see firsthand that the late April frost killed off the flower buds of two of my favorite flowering trees, the Fragrant Epaulette tree and the Dove tree! Luckily, that just adds to my anticipation for the following season, where I hope the flower buds will decide to become even more abundant due to the store of energy the tree is experiencing this year, since none of its energy has to go to developing seeds.

On the other hand so, so many of our fruiting plants are so completely fruitfully abundant, including the pawpaws, black raspberries, black currants and the beachplums, which have decided to fruit for a second year in a row!

Mark your calendar!

We’re excited to announce that our 6th annual Art in the Garden event will be taking place on July 4th from 12-4 pm. We will be featuring the artistic duo behind Nervous System, whose beautiful sculptural works will be in the arboretum for the season! So if you can’t make it to this event, you will be able to see the two works the rest of the season.

However, you will NOT be able to experience the wonderful pop-up artists that will be here for the day. Plus, the featured artists, Jessica and Jesse, will be present for this event!

Ben Ioffe from Lumi Leaves - I work with real botanical leaves – collecting, preserving, and engraving them. Each piece begins outdoors and ends as a one-of-a-kind work of art, shaped by the leaf's natural form.

Alaina Enslen - During the day, I’ll be sharing my plant-pressing process, demonstrating cyanotypes and printmaking techniques, and offering encaustic botanical jewelry and art inspired by the resilience and imagination of the natural world.

Thistle Pernot - Cordage Project - Thistle Pernot is exploring art as an interactive, interspecies, interdisciplinary practice. Their work is in collaboration with the flora, fauna, and fungs of the Hudson Valley.

Elinor Kwitney Stapylton - American chestnut leaf ID workshop with Microscopes and Nature journaling. Want to learn how to identify American chestnuts?

More Save the Dates:

August 1st - Embroidery Class at Hortus with Flax Fiber Farm’s Adrienne Carlile.

An exploration of plants through embroidery, this class consists of a walk through the arboretum, looking closely at some plants, a show-and-tell of different stitch techniques and how to use them for plant designs, and the chance to either design your own plant mini-badge or stitch a pre-designed native flower! Suitable for beginners and advanced embroiderers alike, this is a class about learning how to look at plants and translate their details into stitches.

This class is limited to 10 people. For more info visit here.

August 16th - Luke Sarrantonio will be back teaching 2 very different fungi classes at Hortus!

Relationships with Fungi… It can seem complicated. For more information, click here.

Forest and Fungi Ecology Walk – Identification and Documentation. For more information, click here.

I’m sorry that there’s no juicy tidbits about bugs, plants or any interesting garden-related tidbits to share, not that there aren’t any, but I’m now in the final stages of the developing edits of my next book, with a deadline of less than 2 weeks away, so that’s it for this newsletter for the time being!

Thanks for reading along and see you in the garden!

A quick newsletter to let you folks know what’s growing on at the arboretum!

On Sunday, June 14th, we have Levi O’Brien teaching 2 different classes.

Tree Identification & Woodlore.

To learn more and to sign up, click here for Tree ID

To learn more and to sign up, click here for Woodlore

Both these classes are for all levels of experience, and I can tell you from having taken both that there is always so much interesting information that he shares. I highly recommend taking one, if not both, classes. We have been fortunate to have him back for a third year, and each time the information he shares gets richer and richer!

On Saturday, June 20th, in partnership with the Garden Conservancy Open Day for Ulster County is taking place, and there are some wonderful private gardens that will be opening their garden gates for visitors to come check out, get inspired, and ask questions while supporting a wonderful organization that preserves gardens of all types. If you have never partaken in this event, I highly recommend it. Check out the garden guru Margaret Roach’s NYTimes article from last year on why we should all take advantage of this unique event.

We decided to hold our 6th Annual Art in the Garden Event on July 4th this year. This free event is an opportunity for us to celebrate another of our passions: ART! So bring your visiting friends and family and check out the work of the duo artists called Nervous System. We will also be hosting several pop-up artists for the day, doing interactive work, in addition to the gardens being open for folks to tour through.

The remainder is a little less newslettery and a bit more visually inclined due to the fact that I have begun editing the manuscript for our next book, due for a 2027 spring release and I am spending way too much time in front of the computer!

A cautionary word about the Eastern Filbert Blight (EFB). A native blight, Corylus americana has co-existed with this blight while its European cousin does eventually dies from it. We have noticed this present on plants that are older and established, and our 20+ year old ‘Rote Zeller’ has branches that exhibit the infection. There is little that can be done about it, and we have fully removed other European plants like ‘Harry’s Walking Stick’ (Corylus avellana), despite giving it all sorts of mud and Saran Wrap treatments! See my video below, mudding an infected branch- taken back in April 2024.

American Hazelnut is a wonderful multi-limbed, large shrub or small tree- but its nuts are small, which is a bit of a drawback for most growers. Luckily, many hybridizers have been working for years crossing both the European & the American, and there are some wonderful hybrids, two of which we grow called ‘Geneva’ & ‘Slate’ which produce sizable nuts that are extremely tasty and resistant to the blight!

The Annual Plant Sale was a BIG success. Thank you to all our members who pre-ordered plants and to everybody else who came out this past Saturday and bought lots of cool things. We still have lots of plants for sale, but you must come in person to purchase them.

In my last newsletter, I asked you to consider donating to help us expand our propagation area. Thank you to those who did contribute, but it was really a drop in the bucket. If everyone reading this donated $5, we would reach our goal of $5000 to redo the propagation area. That means doubling the size, building twice as many raised beds (another 8), fencing everything in from deer, and making a workbench station to actually pot things up. Please consider helping us! To donate and learn more, click here.

Time to get kicking on the manuscript edits.

Thanks for reading along!

See you in the gardens,

Allyson

Happy May!

Before I go into my newsletter, I just want folks to know that today, May 20 is Hudson Valley Gives, a big fundraising day for your favorite nonprofits in the area.

I try to keep our asks at a minimum, but if you can contribute to Hortus, this year we need to enlarge our propagation area. By doing so we will be able to grow more plants to sell to the public, (including our annual plant sale, more on that below), and also increase our holding area for rare and endangered plants which we need to grow out before planting in the arboretum because they are too small to put in the ground.

You can donate here!

The staff at Hortus is fond of sending me photos of “friends” they find when working…

When I began writing this 3 weeks ago we had just suffered a very hard frost with overnight temperatures in the low 20’s which sadly caused a lot of damage!

The evidence is becoming much clearer on how much injury the plants suffered.

Now, 3 weeks later, we are in a bit of a heatwave.

It should give us a moment to reflect on how our local ecosystems around us respond to these climatic shifts, including how insects and other wildlife react.

It should also make us reflect on the environmental conditions of the previous season, in this case, last autumn, and how it affected us this spring.

• A dragonfly in the first week of May

• Thousands upon thousands of Norway maple seedlings, which are considered invasive. We must have pulled up close to 10,000 seedlings (no joke!). And although this was for a client’s garden, and this tree wasn’t on her property, but on land owned by the city of Kingston, NY, its samaras seemed to whirlygig and descend into her garden!

• We also got big flushes of shiitake mushrooms that started much earlier in the season than what has been “normal” for us.

I’m also noticing the patterns of phenology. Are you?

This year, the fringed tulips began blooming way before the Fringe tree even showed signs of leafing out. In the past they were both in flower at the same time. A double Fringe moment. Many of the woody plants have delayed their flowering, including the tree peonies, which often open up during Mother’s Day Weekend.

From my last newsletter, I wrote about the Chinese Wisteria:

Of course, wouldn’t you know that after growing Wisteria sinensis for close to 25 years, this is the year that it finally has more than 6 blooms and is actually loaded with flowers! I will be covering it up just cause! Of course, that’s a reason to grow our wonderful native Wisteria macrostachya ‘Aunt Dee’, which, for us, opens later (more like May in our area), with beautiful flowers (albeit smaller) that never get frost-kissed.

So I never did get around to covering up the Wisteria’s flower buds!

But the vine ended up having lots of flower buds that made it!

Is it because it is growing on the other side of the gate? Or that the buds were higher up on the vine??

But then yesterday I went and looked and noticed that there were a handful of flowering racemes growing where I thought everything else was blasted.

P.S.: I will prune this Wisteria vine back hard. After growing it for this long I can honestly tell you that although it is a beast, if properly pruned and maintained it can be contained. People think that once you plant something you are absolved of taking care and doing anything else for it. That is a garden myth, and I am resolved to keep gardeners of all levels reminded of this. Sure there are low-maintenance plants that require lets inputs, but overtime, pruning, rejuvenating the soil and other necessary chores are required for the health and well being of your woody plants.

SAVE THE DATES:

June 6th - The Hortus Plant Sale.

Hortus will be offering many plants propagated from the arboretum that are often not available locally.

We will also be joined by 3 other growers, including Hazelmor Nursery, Treadlight Farms, and Vly Ridge Farm. Members will have early access to the online Hortus plant sale list, as well as early entry on the day of the event. Want to have earlier access? Become a member? Membership also allows you free entry to hundreds of participating gardens across the U.S. Sign up here.

June 14th - Levi O’Brien will be back at Hortus to teach 2 classes! Click on the links to learn more and to buy your ticket(s), Tree ID & Woodlore. Bring a lunch and take both classes for a reduced fee.

**If you’re not familiar with him, his account is a school on all things trees! Check him out.

June 20th - Garden Conservancy - Open Garden Day - Ulster County

July 4th - The 6th Annual Art in the Gardens - The featured artist this year is Adam Holland. Also on this day we will have a “pop-up” artists as well. Check the website to learn more about this free event.

August 16th - Luke Sarrantonio is back this season. He is offering two classes! Click on the links to learn more and to buy your ticket(s), Relationships with Fungi & Forest and Fungi ecology walk. Bring a lunch and take both classes for a reduced fee.

August 29th - Bonnee Pecquex is back this year and offering 2 classes. Eco-printing on silk & Bundle Dying class. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information and to sign up.

The Summer Art Residency is currently accepting applications.

Do you know a visual artist who works with natural material or whose work deals with the natural world? If so, please forward this unique opportunity to stay and have access to the botanical gardens 24/7 for 1 week.

The juror is Negar Zonoobi, the 2026 Spring Art Resident.

Below is information about the June 6th plant sale and an interesting article about woody plants and why they are important, for subscribers only.

Thanks for reading along.

See you in the gardens!

Allyson

Members of Substack, you too will have access to the Plant Store earlier than nonmembers. The store will not be open by the time you receive this newsletter, because we are still assessing which plants made it and are ready for new homes.

I’m not sure when the list is going live, but it will be soon. We will be adding plants to the store everyday, so please check back often. If you want to have early access please send me a message!

I found this intriguing blog from the very interesting mail-order nursery called Woodlanders. Although the article is specifically about plants for the Southeast, its relevance is applicable no matter where this newsletter finds you. And of course, we are growing all of those “Southeastern” plants here at Hortus.

Thanks for reading along.

See you in the gardens!

Allyson

I am looking forward to letting you know what I have been up to here as spring has arrived, sometimes with days more like winter, but thankfully with enough glimpses of a true springy day. Hot sun sparkling through the clouds and triggering awake lots of early flowering ephemerals, bulbs, perennials, flowering trees, and shrubs that don’t mind the occasional brisk morning and late night temperatures lingering in the high 30’s and mid 40’s range. Most likely this newsletter will go out during the week we reach temperatures in the high 70’s and 80s.

Well, that didn’t happen as I continue to add to this newsletter, since I have been watching my phone’s weather app, and see that what was initially 2 nights of below freezing temps is now about 8 hours of below 32 degrees. Yet even several hours at 28 degrees can cause damage to both opened and closed flowers! Let’s see what happens. The precocious Magnolias, which flower before leafing out, are always at risk for damage.

Of course, wouldn’t you know that after growing Wisteria sinensis for close to 25 years, this is the year that it finally has more than 6 blooms and is actually loaded with flowers! I will be covering it up just cause! Of course, that's a reason to grow our wonderful native Wisteria macrostachya ‘Aunt Dee’, which, for us, opens later (more like May in our area), with beautiful flowers (albeit smaller) that never get frost-kissed.

As many of you may know, we (that includes Scott, my partner/husband and co-director of the arboretum), had spent the entire winter glued to our computers working on our next book. This new book, tentatively titled “Hidden Gems for the Home Landscape” is a reference book, in a similar vein to our first book, “Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts”, with information about each plant’s history, growing conditions, etc., plus we added a section on designing with each specific plant.

Thank you to all the past paid subscribers who chimed in about which photos I should choose for certain chapters; it was really appreciated.

I want to share some Save the Date events with you.

Ticket sales are open now.

May 9th - Soft Opening Day for the Town of Rochester Spring Garden Tour.

May 10th - Opening Day (Mother’s Day) free entry for all moms.

June 6th - Plant Sale at Hortus.

June 14th - Levi O’Brien is offering two classes! Tree ID & Woodlore.

July 4th - Art in the Gardens - Featured artist is Adam Holland.

August 16th - Luke Sarrantonio is offering two classes! Relationships with Fungi & Forest and Fungi ecology walk.

** Stay tuned for more events!

Some things I learned along the way:

According to the Village of Chester in Orange County, Mayor John T. Bell, said the presence of the endangered bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii), may have been the reason ICE decided not to proceed with plans for a detention center in the town. While ICE did not directly confirm the bog turtle's role, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stated that only ICE could say whether the turtle's presence impacted their decision-making.

Is your bird feeder, especially the flat ones, (which include those “smart” bird feeders) a culprit when it comes to spreading diseases around bird populations??

The verdict isn’t fully out, and really who can deny the joy it brings to see a feathered friend eating some seed as you are washing your dishes? But the reality is most people do not clean their feeders on a regular basis. What can you do? Check out this article that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife has.

My bigger concern is that where is all this bird food coming from? It certainly isn’t local, and I highly doubt it was even raised here in the U.S., so are we really okay with having a big footprint on a seed source that most likely isn’t organic? My thought is that you should put in plants that produces, berries, or those that produce seeds that birds in your area enjoy. Even if you don’t have a large space, you can easily plant some smaller stature sunflowers in a pot to put on your steps/stoop. If you just have some window boxes, annual flowers like Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena haageana) and Marigolds (Tagetes erecta) not only provide color and beauty but also provide fodder for the birds. This is a fun resource to check out and learn about more flowers you can plant to feed the birds in your area.

Also birdbaths are another way that visiting birds spread pathogens among themselves. If you are changing the water daily, and washing it out weekly than you’re all good. I’m not saying to dish the dish, because I know how much delight it brings to folks to see birds bathing in a water bath, but if you’re not following the prescribed recommendations, you may want to consider changing up your routine!

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Lets talk about Arbor Day for a second which is on Friday April 24th. Like Earth Day, this is a day which we celebrate nature.

Excuse me, why do we delegate just ONE day for celebrating nature and specifically all things trees? Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE trees and I am a tree hugger, but why just this one day? Julius Sterling Morton, an avid tree planter and enthusiast, is responsible for coming up with Arbor Day in 1872. It’s estimated that nearly one million trees were planted in Nebraska City, Nebraska on that day. That’s terrific, but lets not stop planting trees after this coming Friday!

However, now that I have had my rant, and in the spirit of Arbor Day, here are some fun facts I learned along the way to share with you:

• Arbor Day is always celebrated on the last Friday of the month of April.

• By 1885 Arbor Day had become a legal holiday in Nebraska.

• Arbor Day was almost called “Sylvan Day”, which translates to “wooded”.

• Within 20 years of its creation, the holiday was celebrated in every state except Delaware, which eventually joined in.

Hortus Arboretum is a nonprofit organization that is funded by YOU our supporters.

Other ways you can show your support:

• We are also looking for volunteers to help us. For more information please contact us!

• Consider becoming a member. Membership privilege also extend to many other public gardens throughout the Northeast and beyond!

• Or becoming a paying subscriber to my Substack page which supports both these newsletters and the occasional notes I write, like this one:

  Hortus Gardens is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

  

  See you really soon in the gardens.

Allyson

It’s not because I don’t have much to say. Indeed winter months are slower but there is still much going on. Taking care of hundreds of plants that have been placed inside the greenhouse, the sunroom, the sunroom annex and just inside our home!

There’s seed sorting, seed sowing and seed dreaming.

But the past two months I have been working on our new book. In this case when I say I, I mean my cohort in all things green, my fellow hortisexualist, Scott. Here’s a short video to show you a little of the process of doing the research…

A few things to share before I need to go back to my deep dive of researching & writing here’s somethings I want you to know…

A fellow worker shared with me the failed progress on the Chestnut tree project that the American Chestnut Foundation was sponsoring with the Environmental School of Education, (ESF) for the past 10 years. It came to light last summer that the pollen that was being used was not from the correct specimen.

The “Darling 54” tree, originally misidentified as “Darling 58,” contains a critical genetic defect caused by the unintended deletion of the SAL1 gene, weakening the tree’s health and resilience. According to The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF), which helped fund and develop this project, Darling 54 suffers from:

• Stunted growth and poor survival

• Inconsistent or declining blight resistance

• High mortality, especially in genetically engineered (GE) trees compared to their non-GE siblings.

These are not minor issues—they are systemic failures that make Darling 54 unsuitable for restoration.

Read more here!

If you’re interested in a deeper dive I can forward you his article.

Here are a few “take aways” from it.

Already progress has been made to restore the American chestnut. Crossing American trees with at least 50% of the Chinese species has proven to be blight free and contain some of the characteristics of the American. The American Chestnut Foundation locates blight resistant American chestnut individuals and breeds them creating more blight resistant pure American strains which is a lengthy process. Also wild blighted American chestnuts that grow, get blighted and resprout again and again seem to be growing larger each time showing that it is learning to ward off the blight just like the Chinese chestnut accomplished by coevolving with it for thousands of years.

Perhaps we have done so much alteration to the environment like new species introductions and climate change that preserving a totally pure American species is a misguided goal. Sometimes crossing plant species creates genetic defects such as crossing European/japanese chestnuts with Chinese which can create brown rotten nuts and sometimes it makes them stronger as seems to be the case with Chinese/American hybrids. It’s a puzzle we have to observe and perfect through time.

We love our ‘Dunstan’ Chestnut trees and devoted a chapter in our book, ‘Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts’.

If you follow me on Instagram you will note that I discovered that this particular hybrid will produce nuts as a single tree. No need to have two, which is particulary nice if you have a small yard, or just don’t need gobs of tasty nuts. All literature, including whats in our book says you need 2!

We tap our Black Walnut trees these days. And we both think it is yummier in flavor than maple, with notes of caramel and butterscotch. We got a few 1/2 pints of syrup catching an early run of weather and hopefully will continue to do so when the weather reaches up to above freezing days and cold (but not necessarily single digit nights), aka March??

We are selling seeds this year! If you would like me to send you a seed list please just ask! All seeds are organically grown at the arboretum. You can respond to this newsletter, DM me, or send me an email.

**Subscribers and members to the arboretum will get an extra packet of seeds for every five packs ordered.

*** Sorry we have already sold out of this special variety!***

The Spring Visual Art Residency is open now for applications.

This opportunity is from: MAY 4th -MAY 11th, 2026

To learn more about the Visual Arts Residency at Hortus and to see past residents please click this link.

The juror is the 2025 Fall Resident: Laurie Shapiro.

The rest of the content is for paid subscribers. Please consider becoming one. They will be helping me choose some images for our next book!!

Thanks for reading along!

Allyson

It’s been awhile my lovely and supportive paid subscribers that I’ve done anything SPECIALLY done for you. I know that is not why you have decided to support my work as a horticulturist and as a writer of all things horty, but to show you my appreciation with your financial support, help me choose what photos to send to the art department team.

Blue Bean (Decaisnea fargesii)

First up is flowers!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

They may appear similar, but there are differences in all of them. When I send them in I cannot crop or use filters…that is the art departments “job”. My job is to take the photos. Please let me know which 2 or 3 are your favorites.

Do you ever wonder how trees can deal with the winter conditions? Unlike people where we can add on layers, or simply just go back inside when it is too cold, icy, windy or snowy, different tree genera have different ways of coping.

The National Forest Foundation has a cool and easy to understand article. Read more here

Have you heard about William Beal? He wondered how long seeds could remain viable underground, (think about that annual Japanese stilt grass…)

Here’s a link to a story on npr .

(YES, another reason to support your local public radio!)

That’s it for now.

Thanks for reading along and for all your support, and see you in the gardens.

Allyson

I wanted to say a BIG thank you for supporting Hortus in any way that you have!

If you had the opportunity to visit the arboretum last year, or take a class, join us for a walking tour, attend the “Art in the Garden Event”, or just follow us on Instagram, thank you so much. Thank you for becoming a garden member or making a donation. Your support helps us to continue to grow.

I hope this finds you well recovered from being around family & friends (or not), and from indulging just slightly too much. I’d like to think of you all perhaps sitting around with a big stack of plant & seed catalogues, with my book nearby, trying to figure out what type of plants to put in for the 2026 season. I mention my book, Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts, but it was, in reality, a fully collaborative effort with my husband-partner-fellow plant enthusiast, Scott Serrano.

Together in 2017 on a trip in Bali as we were visiting a local nursery, and buying a few Blood Lily bulbs to bring back (Scadoxus multiflorus), trying to figure out what exactly they were, and how to grow them, since we didn’t know how to say “Kami hanya bisa berbicara sedikit bahasa Indonesia”- “we speak just a little indonesian.”

We realized we sounded a lot like the folks who come visit the gardens wanting to know what something was, and how to grow it. That’s when we came up with the notion of writing our own book! Now, almost 4 years after its debut publishing day, we have heard from so many folks how useful the book has been.

Thank you!

If the book has been helpful to you please consider giving it a review on Amazon (even if you didn’t buy i through them). Reviews are very helpful!!

Plus, we love seeing it being promoted in plant catalogues, “Lots of research and growing information on 50 of the more obscure food-bearing woody plants for the north. Focus is on varieties with little if any diseases and pest issues.” (courtesy of Burnt Ridge Nursery & Orchards).

Currently, we are working on our next book, doing the same amount of research and writing on plants that we consider “Hidden Gems”.

You may have noticed that I have been posting less and less. Forgive me, please! If you are a paying subscriber on Substack, thank you for your patience. You will have noticed less content specifically for you over the past several months! SO because of that I am working on some special content - a special collaborative surprise in the making, so stay tuned for that.

For all you “regular” subscribers, have you read one of my notes? I will start up on those once again, perhaps even sharing some “rough” drafts on some of the plants I am writing about.

If you live in the Tri-state region, we will be giving two talks this year at NOFA-NY on 1/10. We are thrilled to be asked back, and because of this, we endeavour to give presentations that are different each time. Our 2 talks this year are on Native Plants (mostly) for Agroforestry Systems, and the other on Berries. As founders and managers of an arboretum/botanical garden, we have had lots of hands-on experience growing different plants, especially food ones, and we want to share some suggestions for what to grow and how to grow them on both these topics.

It seems like every newsletter I mention the Spotted Lantern Fly (Lycorma delicatula). Although there is a lot of noise out there about things that are helping to kill the insects including- Milkweed plants (Asclepias spp.), and some birds like Cardinals, Catbirds and chickens, the truth of the matter is WE humans need to take this on.

SO… this is a good time to get outside to look for Spotted Lantern Fly (SLF) egg masses! Really, plus you need a break from looking at all the seed and plant catalogues…

The egg sacks are a little more challenging to spot than Spongy Moth eggs, often blending in effortlessly with the tree bark. But nevertheless, on a sunny and above-freezing day, it's a good incentive to get outside and do something proactive towards reducing the numbers of this insect.

Interestingly, I came across an article that discusses how some honey bees are feeding on the honeydew of the SLF and how this is affecting the resulting honey.

Read/or listen to this article from NPR: Honey flavor reaches new depths with... spotted lanternfly droppings

Click on the photo below to see how one place is dealing with it.

Although I have yet to taste it myself, this is A THING. (And yes- I did purchase a bottle to try!!)

Not only is it being sold as something yummy, but a nearby confectioner is making use of the honey and putting it in their candies. I couldn’t find a photo of a honeybee visiting the SLF sap but I did have one for a yellow jacket in a video, so that you can get the idea of how insects are utilizing the “honeydew”…

When I was living in Manhattan in my early 20’s and saw Christmas trees on the curbside in all sorts of dress or undressed mode. I remember thinking that I should start documenting all these discarded trees with my camera, which I did for a short period of time, but honestly, it was a bit depressing. However, every year since I wish I had taken on that photographic series!

Cutting down a tree to bring inside my house to then discard back outside in a matter of weeks has never been something that made sense to me.

Recently, I’ve seen some interesting posts about how folks are recycling, or shall I say upcycling, their trees. One is from a cookbook published in 2020, where the author offers up recipes for using them for cooking!

Another writer, Tom Kimmerer who I just started to follow on Substack, who writes about all things trees, (and who you should follow), offers up a note/post about how they are being utilized for fish habitat…super interesting!

I just want to acknowledge that I know that there are so many accounts out there to subscribe to and follow, so if you have read this much so far, my appreciation cannot be said enough! Thanks for reading along, and happy New Year.

May it be a happy, healthy & productive 2026 to you all!

Allyson

Happy November!!

As I begin this newsletter we have experienced several “soft” frosts, tempered by a few errant snowflakes as I begin this newsletter. And though the gardens have been closed for the season for the past two weekends, one would think things have slowed down a bit here. In fact, the opposite is true and we are as busy as ever, maybe even busier as we race to bring in non-hardy, almost hardy, and marginally hardy plants to the greenhouse, the sunroom, and inside our home, which becomes more like an indoor jungle, with hundreds of plants on every level (and that’s just the ones inside!)

A lot of good news to share!

Regenerate New York Grant is Complete!

We have completed our 3-year contract with the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) for the “Regeneration” Grant, a project that involved installing deer fence on the 10 acres of land that we call the Northwoods (see above map). This grant was a partial reimbursement grant that partially paid for labor & materials.

For those that don’t know, this wooded, partial wetland was almost purchased by a developer back in 2021 to build 2 (if not 3) houses. We could not allow this to happen near the arboretum, and luckily enough, the seller, who had seen us design and build the gardens on the 8 acres of land we purchased in 2010 (now the South Gardens, see above map), told us he would much rather know that the land would be protected rather than built upon, and eventually sold to us!!

Conservation Easement is Officially in Place!

Other exciting developments on the subject of preservation are that after 3 years of working with the Rondout Esopus Land Conservancy (RELC), we have put all 21 acres of what is Hortus Arboretum under a conservation easement! This is exciting news and means specifically that the land can only ever be a botanical garden/arboretum or used for agricultural purposes. We did this for our community because what it shows is the beginning of keeping this area where the gardens are located, called “The Vly” as a green zone. If you are reading this and live in The Vly and want to know more about protecting your land from further development, please contact me or the RELC. Putting an easement on your property does not mean you cannot build on it- get the facts! By spreading the word I hope that in 50 to 100 years, a place called The Vly Arboretum and Botanical Gardens exists up here.

The Pinetum is Open!

Since good news often comes in threes, the other exciting news this season was we finally tore off the fencing that separated the South Garden from our newest garden, called the Pinetum. A Pinetum is essentially a collection of conifers, and we have been selecting and planting those that are seldom planted, rare, as well as aesthetically interesting in both form and cones. We are excited that visitors will be able to see the beginnings of a new garden. Although we have been working on it for the past seven years, and have planted over 40 different conifers there, the work of landscaping, to make it more accessible, is now the work at hand.

This is where YOU, our supporters, can help.

We did not get the $21,025.00 Stanley Smith Horticultural grant for “Improving and Expanding the Conifer Garden”. Our application went up against established larger gardens like the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, NYBG, and the Chicago Botanic Garden to name just a few.

If you know us, not getting this grant will not stop us from doing the work-which is where you can help. Your donation will help us realize this project on what we hope will be a quicker timescale.

If you are able, please consider a legacy gift of any size so we can make this garden more accessible for folks to enjoy and learn about this collection of beautiful trees.

More news…

Check out my article on Medlars in the American Horticultural Society’s magazine, The American Gardener. If you’re not a member, is’s a great way to support this organization, plus, besides getting access to this magazine (and back issues too!), it allows you free membership to gardens that are part of the network, like Hortus.

If you would like me to send you a PDF copy of the article, just send me a request.

We will be speaking at the 2026 NOFA-NY conference in January at Purchase College. We are giving two presentations so come listen to us talk!

And lastly, I will be going a little quiet on the newsletters for a while because we are working on our second book!!! Super excited to be researching and writing on what we think are very special plants that deserve to be in your front or back garden, your street, your community garden, really any place you would grow a tree or shrub.

Didn’t know we wrote a book?? Check it out here (it makes a great holiday gift, hint, hint.)

The Winter Residency for the Literary Arts is open now and taking submissions. The juror is Kelli Huggins, the 2025 Writer in Residence.

Click here for more information.

Once again, please consider supporting not only my writing, but the work that Scott & I have been doing for over 24 years in creating a “public” garden.

There is NO other botanical garden-arboretum in Ulster County and the work that we do and have been doing, is to make sure that Hortus WILL be that place for future generations. To serve as an educational resource, and a living textbook for the diversity that can be grown in this area and beyond.

You can help us do that by;

• becoming a member

• buying a signed copy of our book (through me)

• making a donation

• making a legacy gift

As always thanks for reading along!

Allyson

Right off the bat, I’m going to be a proud mom for a moment. My son, who drank the Kool-Aid as we like to say, is all in as a horticulturist and naturalist. Maybe you’ve seen him at the venerable Stonecrop Gardens tending to the alpines or in one of the conservatories repotting up some 50-year-old Draba rigidia, which was growing right over the planting bed. But recently he found a species of Asplneium, A. bradleyi, that had been presumed extinct, having not been seen in NY for the past 130 years. Recently confirmed by NY state botanists, this is very exciting!

Click on the post below to read more about his discovery in his own words.

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4 Dates to Know About

~ October 18th - Private event - Closed to the Public

~ October 19th - Levi O’Brien - Tree ID class. We are fortunate to have Levi here once again to teach us about the native and naturalized trees that many of us have in our backyards, pass by every day when walking our dogs, or that surround us in the beautiful woods nearby.

10am - 12pm - Click here for more details.

~ October 25 & 26th - Last weekend open to the public.

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It has been an amazing season and we are grateful for everyone who has taken a class, a tour or who came for an event, or just visited the gardens one weekend. There are many ways to support the work that we are doing here and we hope you can help us continue to grow by donating or becoming a member.

Laurel wilt is present in NY state in LI, and its just a matter of time until we see it here…or not? Hopefully not, although I learned about it while doing research for our first book, at the time, it was considered a “southern” issue. The pathogen, Harringtonia lauricola, is a fungus carried by a tiny ambrosia beetle, and infects only plants in the Laurel family (Lauraceae). Even worse is the fact that this beetle is just a bit larger than the size of President Lincoln’s eyebrow on a penny!!

In New York state and the Northeast region, the two most important native plants that would be susceptible are sassafras and spicebush. Don’t get fooled by the name Laurel though. Only plants in the Laurel family are hosts, not plants that just happen to have common names that include laurel in it, like Mountain Laurel or Cherry Laurel.

Unfortunately, it was either brought up north by the transport of firewood or nursery stock. First reported in 2002 near Savannah Georgia, the insect and the fungus most likely entered the country on wood packing material from Asia. To get more in-depth information on this disease and how to keep an eye out for it please check out this great factsheet.

And since I’m discussing insects, here’s one that I’ve been posting a lot about now on my Instagram feed, as a PSA of sorts. Click on the post below to watch.

I CANNOT stress enough that NOW is a really good time to go out and kill these jumping bugs because this is their mating season. We have already seen egg masses on tree trunks here at the arboretum.

Much like Spongy Moths egg masses, its best practice to have a soapy bucket of water to scrape the eggs into. But if you’re just out and about and see an egg mass but don’t have the soapy water, it’s still best to scrape them off and/or smush with a rock.

We are coming to a close on two big projects that we have been working on for the past three years and I look forward to sharing that news with all of you in the next newsletter. Until then get outside, but leave the leaves. Instead save seeds, harvest the last of the tomatoes even if they’re green and enjoy the foliage as it begins to color.

And as always, thanks for reading along and see you in the gardens.

Allyson

My mom with the largest North American Butterfly, the eastern giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes), in its caterpillar stage.

A while back one of our part-time workers brought their dad to the arboretum. Although not a gardener himself, his daughter showed off and explained many of the plants that she had been exposed to here, worked with, and had come to call her friends. Father and daughter spent more time walking through the different gardens, more than I would have thought, and at a certain point, I even forgot they were still at the arboretum.

That is, until he saw me as they were returning to the visitor center, and made a beeline for me. A seemingly buttoned-up man, he had an air of authority that, although not unnerving, had been stiff, at least during our initial introduction. But as he approached me, I could see that his whole face had totally changed, and there was a youthful aspect that softened his eyes and cheeks that I hadn’t noticed initially.

With the biggest smile on his face, he shared with me the absolute joy he experienced eating some ripe raspberries. He said that pulling the fruits right off the vines and eating the berries reminded him of his youth and spending time with his grandmother, eating and harvesting berries from her garden.

The triggering of that memory for him, of a time many decades ago, by the act of handpicking and eating the berries, recalling a time that he had not thought about, or perhaps even remembered until the flavor exploded in his mouth, reminds me of the importance of gardening and why we all should grow a little patch of something.

For ourselves and for our future generations.

Dates to know about:

• October 5th - Please join us for a guided tour highlighting some of our favorite edible and ornamental plants.

**Please note this is our last guided tour of the season.

2pm - 4pm

Register here

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October 18 - Closed for a Private Event

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• October 19th - Tree ID with Levi O’Brien

Join Levi in exploring the world of tree identification! We will cover foundational skills, as well as many advanced techniques for identifying both native and non-native tree species. All levels of experience will be met with new insights. In addition to identification, we will touch on many adjacent topics including wood, horticulture, ecology, propagation, physiology, history, and much more. Come with questions and, if you want, something to take notes with.

10am - 12pm

Register here

• October 25th & 26th will be the last open weekend to the public.

I am taking a recent “Substack Note” and modifying it for this newsletter because quite frankly I am completely overwhelmed with tasks to do. Plus, if you were aware that I try to write a “Note” on Substack a few times a week or so. It is a lovely opportunity to read a quick ramble of whats going on in the gardens and in my mind.

Tis the season of picking. Well if you plan it right, you can plant pretty much from March (spinach, wintered-over carrots, and mache) through December (red cabbage, potatoes, summer-sown carrots) without the use of a greenhouse are all possible with some mulch and ingenuity.

Most folks wouldn’t necessarily think of fall as an abundant time besides the tomato harvest, but the gardens are full of things to pick. Both food stuff and non-food stuff.

Yes the food stuff is obvious; fall-bearing raspberries, Hickory nuts, Quince, both Baltic and Flowering types. American Persimmons are falling from branches as are the latest garden food hero the pawpaw.

I already beat the squirrels to gather the hazels, but they beat me to the Heartnuts (Japanese Walnuts), although I did retrieve a whopping 2 nuts this season. The Asian Pear crop was much better than expected considering we had a porcupine destroy huge parts of the tree, not just sampling the fruits, but eating the branches and foliage which is what they do.

The beans that are grown here are for dried purposes, and can wait a while unless we get copious amounts of rain which may make them begin to mold, though generally just on the outside). The shiitake mushroom logs have been fruiting with wild abandon pretty much over the last 6 weeks or so and the Chestnuts are not to far off and I will try to retrieve them prior to them beginning to crack open to avoid the native Lesser Weevil from laying eggs in them (ya know that little brown spot on a raw Chestnut, right?) So I will be harvesting them in stages and letting them complete ripening in buckets indoors-so we’ll see about the nuts carrying extra protein.

But picking also involves removing not just food but insects as well. Here at the arboretum and like many places in the Hudson Valley and more generally speaking the northeast, the Spotted Lantern Flies have pretty much all reached their adult stage and will be (if they haven’t already) mating

The other day in about 30 minutes I was able to hand pick around 75 of these bad boy bugs. I think the heavy deluge of rain that we received the previous two days definitely slowed them down! But if you can get them to jump 3-4 times, by the last time they are generally too tired to do anything other than open up to scare you with their red wings.

My tactic for not getting too crazy about these pests is to mix up my yucky picking with my yummy picking throughout the day.

If you are not a member to the American Horticultural Society you don’t recieve their magazine, the American Gardener, which is a shame because there’s lots of useful and interesting information for all different levels of gardeners.

Plus an article that I wrote will be in the November/December issue.

Just saying.

As always thanks for reading along and see you in the gardens!

Allyson

I want to use this newsletter as an opportunity to reintroduce myself and the work I have been doing with my husband, Scott, since 2001. Over the years, we have fallen head over heels for all types of plants, and in our pursuit to cultivate a diverse range of plants, we have become not just plant collectors but plant stewards. Initially, we started by purchasing native perennials and lots of edible fruiting trees and shrubs, some native and some not. In 2009 we were able to purchase the 8 acres of land directly across the road from the original 3 acres we had purchased in 1999; and right in time too, because we really had run out of space to continue expanding the collection with all the underutilized, rare, and endangered plants that we became interested in and began collecting, raising, and growing out many of these plants that first started as seeds, or seedlings. Although our area is rated as zone 6b, we are testing out plants that are zone 7 and even zone 8 to see how they adapt over time to our warming environment in the lower Hudson Valley.

In 2019 we established Hortus Arboretum as a nonprofit organization, and when Covid happened, we saw the need to open up the gardens to more of the public, especially in the beginning, when not even the NYBG or BBG were opening up their gardens.

That really made it clear to us that Ulster County needed an arboretum-botanical garden, so why not Hortus? We were already growing over 250 different genera, so the roots of what we hope to turn into a public garden were already growing and spreading. Post pandemic, we have continued to offer programming with tours and classes, as well as open weekends to visit from May through October. In 2021, we purchased a 10-acre parcel that abuts the Property, Native Woodland and Field Gardens, which not only stopped the development of potentially three houses, but is now what we call the Northwoods.

So at a total of 21 acres, we hope to continue to expand, but also are cognizant that we need to protect what we have started for future generations, which is why for the past 3 years, we have been working with the Rondout-Esopus Land Conservancy to put a conservation easement in place, so that the use of the land is only for a botanical garden or for agricultural use for perpetuity. That is our commitment to the work we are doing for our community and for our environment, and we will continue to do so for as long as we can.

We intend to help steward future partnerships to keep Hortus not only alive, but thriving. Please help us offset some of the costs, which involve hiring a conservation surveyor and the fee to the land conservancy. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Make a donation here.

SAVE THE DATES!

September 6th - Flower Dye Workshop with Bonnee Pecquex - Learn how to make your own plant dyes from using both familiar and some unfamiliar plants, and make a book of colors in wool! - $50 includes all materials

September 6th - Eco-Printing class with Bonnee Pecquex. By carefully arranging leaves, flowers, and other plant materials on the surface of the fabric and applying pressure and heat, the pigments and tannins present in the plants are transferred, resulting in stunning, one-of-a-kind designs. - $60 includes all materials

September 7th - Garden Conservancy Ulster County Open Day - For more information and to register please click here.

September 7th - Please join us for a guided tour highlighting some of our favorite edible and ornamental plants.

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

$20 - non-members

$10 - members

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Other ways you can support the arboretum is to become a garden member! Your membership to the garden also allows you free entry to a large number of other gardens as part of our involvement with the American Horticultural Society reciprocal garden benefits.

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I suspect by the end of the month many Magnolias seed cones will show off their beautiful red seeds too, adding a dangling spot of red to highlight the ornamental effect. However, there are still quite a few flowering friends that wait until now to show off their gorgeous flowers.

But what’s really rocking in the gardens now are the fruit and nut plants. In the hope of not jinxing anything I will venture to say that this years collective critters consisting of chipmunks and squirrels is decidedly a lot smaller than last years brood which stupidly pulled off any hazelnuts on all of the shrubs and trees, way before they were even ripe, as well as pulling down the the Heartnuts (I believe they left me one last year!) However when one thing no longer appears to be a problem, then some other animal arrives to give you agita!

SO a bear ate three of our hens (who even knew they did that?); but one of the real nemesis of the gardens is the porcupine- (I will completely skip over trapping 8 raccoons, which because of our timing left us with barely any Double Red Corn because raccoons seem to like maize a month before the maturing cob is fully ripe).

The porcupine on the other hand prefers Pyrus, and has been destroying both the contra-espalied European Pear trees as well as the multi-grafted Asian Pear!! After scouring the internet we have done all of the “no-fail” tricks, including salty wood, salty pears, and dog food (which is a raccoons soft-spot and gets them every time).

We have made nuisance boards to thwart the porcupine from climbing up the tree. We got this idea from the DEC because we needed a way to keep the bear from eating the other hens. Since we were not in a position to buy electric fence to protect the flock we essentially did this all over the chicken coop area.

So far it has worked for keeping the bear away, but NOT the porcupine.

The only good things that has come with the destruction of both of the espaliered European Pear trees is the decision to remove them now because they are blocking off the walking area to the ‘Yellow Sun’ Magnolia (and we need to be able to see those seed cones!) Plus more importantly its been many years since those pears produced a passable crop for just eating out of hand. Even cooking them down into a sauce or dehydrating due to all the divets, stoney cells and screwy shapes of the pears makes them so much work to process! However the Asian Pear is such a wonderful fruiting tree, especially since we planted a multi-grafted tree with 3 different varieties. Again this is a fruit that if you’re lucky, maybe one, possibly two varieties of Asian Pear can be available at a good grocery store or maybe even a local farmers market

.

Like ALL fruit, if you are able to grow your own it is not only worth the effort, but truly rewarding!

And if you are wondering what fruiting plants to put in, or looking to “refresh” on some ideas of what other edible plants to add to your garden I am going to tell you to put in some raspberry canes. Everybody who has some space to garden should be growing them. This may seem to contradict what I just said about making space in your garden to grow foods that you cannot purchase at your local market. But if you ever ever tasted red raspberries right off a thorny vine you know how worth getting prickled is, and your battle scars from picking may be just as red stained as your fingers and lips.

So no surprise here that Driscoll, or some other large grower is supplying the berries both in and off season found in your local supermarket. The main issue is that these clam-shell types have no real flavor. Sure they look nice, and can often be large, but they lack that true red raspberry flavor. Ok, maybe one or two in a half-pint vaguely remind you of late summer in your mouth, but the rest sitting on top of their little diaper blanket are often moldy, or squished. Raspberries do need some supervision, but to my mind there is no summer fruit that tastes like sunshine and yumminess in your mouth.

If you’re like us and have an excess of fruit and want to prepare something other than jam here’s a recipe from The Secret Ingredient, that Harrison the creator of that content made. Super simple, his recipe for Raspberry and cream is really on point for end of summer vibes.

The native Sun garden has really taken off in its second year of growth! Originally where all our Prunus trees were, the 23+ trees were removed late in the season of 2023 and I have been adding what I consider “choice” plants for the area.

Here’s a list of many of the plants that are currently growing in this area. Since it is a work in progress, (as all good garden projects should be), there are many plants I forgot to add on to the list including, Chamaecrista fasciculata (Partridge Pea), Agastache foeniculum (Anise Hyssop), Agastache scrophulariifolia (Purple Giant Hyssop) and Helianthus annuus (Common Sunflower) which does occasionally self-sow in the gardens.

Lastly I want to give a shout out to getting dirt under your fingernails.

I have come to believe over the years that the microbes in the soil which are crammed deep down into my nails have been one of the factors for me staying healthy and not getting a common cold, flu or even allergies. I have no substantial proof on this, but both Scott and I are very rarely sick. In the most current issue of the magazine, American Horticultural Society I came across an article that made me have an “Ah-ha moment”- “Urban indoor gardening enhances immune regulation and diversifies skin microbiota — A placebo-controlled double-blinded intervention study”. If you don’t subscribe to the magazine you should. If not here’s a link to their referenced source through a ScienceDirect article.

Check it out, because I feel that it supports my sentiment on this subject.

Once again thank you for reading along.

See you in the gardens,

Allyson

As we whip through the month of August, which for me is the quintessential month of summer, where tomatoes are bursting with ripeness, melons are beginning to grow from baseball to softball size, and the sunflowers oversized flowers are buzzing with bees. But not just insects but birds too, is that a red vireo waiting on the post for the seeds? It is also the month where the day’s temperatures dip down enough at night to warrant a light sweater, while the darkness descends noticeably earlier than it did the week before.

August is also the month of the almighty Katydids with their incredible nocturnal songs! I consider the Katydid an undervalued and under-appreciated insect. Did you know there are 255 species in North America alone? Here’s a great website that lists all the species broken down into separate sub-families. In the U.S. there are four species. There is little research about the importance of nighttime insects on pollination, let alone on the Katydids native to where I live, but I would suspect that they contribute to the act of pollination, although maybe not as much as a moth might.

Here’s a great article from Missouri Department of Conservation publication: Missouri Conservationist: May 2020 that delves into nocturnal pollination.

Also known as “bush crickets”, the Common True Katydid (Pterophylla camellifolia) is most often found in the canopies of deciduous forests, particularly in oak trees. They are known for their distinctive "katy-did" or "katy-didn't" call. Katydids will stop singing when nighttime temperatures hit 52°F degrees so we still have a little while longer of their beautiful chorus. This website also has a few recordings, but of course, I think you should listen to mine taken the other night while walking the Hortus hounds.

Who says the countryside is quiet?

SAVE THE DATES:

August 23rd - The Garden Conservancy - Digging Deeper: Creating your Own Woodland Shade and Wildflower Sun Gardens with Scott & Allyson. Join us as we look at two distinct native gardens at Hortus Arboretum. Although both are fairly “young” spaces, they will be used as examples of how to create your own woodland shade garden and or a “wildflower” sun garden using native plants, and more importantly, how to maintain and sustain both types.

3pm-5pm

Tickets can be purchased here

ALSO:

August 23rd - The Garden Conservancy - Digging Deeper: Dynamic Successional Mosaic Landscape. Join our friend and amazing gardener, Dave Nyzio as he discusses how he created a diverse plant and animal community that has become increasingly stable over time, requiring less invasive species removal.

12pm - 2pm tickets can be purchased here.

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September 6th - Flower Dye Workshop with Bonnee Pecquex - Learn how to make your own plant dyes from using both familiar and some unfamiliar plants, and make a book of colors in wool!

September 6th - Eco-Printing class with Bonnee Pecquex. By carefully arranging leaves, flowers, and other plant materials on the surface of the fabric and applying pressure and heat, the pigments and tannins present in the plants are transferred, resulting in stunning, one-of-a-kind designs.

September 7th - Garden Conservancy Ulster County Open Day - For more information and to register please click here.

September 7th - Please join us for a guided tour highlighting some of our favorite edible and ornamental plants.

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

$20 - non-members

$10 - members

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If you were to ask me what is the most summery of summer fruits I would have to say the blackberry. And although I have gotten lost happily & purposely in a patch of wild brambles where the experience felt like having a mouth orgasm, (is that a morgasm?), so much so that we ripped up canes to take home with us to plant. That was a long time ago, and those canes never did produce large juicy fruits with the same level of sweetness that their parent stock did. So we said enough with the thorns and opted from that point on to only grown the thornless varieties including, Triple Crown, Black Satin and Columbia Star.

These days we have only been growing thornless Blackberry varieties, and our canes this year are loaded with fruits, perhaps thanks to the wet spring we had.

It is one of the most satisfying crops we grow at the arboretum.

Pictured above are shiitake’s, probably a warm-weather strain I got from Field & Forest. We’ve been cultivating shiitakes for over two decades, and the simple joy of the overabundance on a log is enough to make one giddy with thoughts of soups, omelets and possibly even a risotto. Over the years the specifications for how to grow them has definitely changed and the rule of thumb used to be that you could only inoculate logs at a very specific time of the year, generally right before the tree was to break dormancy in the spring. I remember the days walking around looking at our red maples (which is decidedly the dominant maple here) and choosing the tree for Scott to cut down. Once the tree was down you would have to wait a certain amount of time, but not too long, before cutting it up into 4-feet logs, after which I would take the long-corded but most powerful drill we have, drilling holes in a diamond-shaped pattern to pound shiitake spawn into. Then I would cover each spawn-filled hole with wax and forget about it a year of two later until they began fruiting.

How to harvest your bounty seems to have changed, and snapping them off is now okay in the event you don’t have your little mushroom knife. I seem to never be prepared for the harvest so I’ve always been a “snapper”. A long skirt comes in handy too!

When we have an abundance of schrooms we dry them for future use for stocks and soups, but it also is a amazing barter item and we were able to trade for some peaches before they went to brown rot! If you know anything about us you know that based on where we are located we can not grow peaches, apricots, plums and cherries without going into battle which includes all manners of chemicals (yes, they may be organic chemicals, but they are still chemicals).

I am willing buy the stone fruits from my local farmers, (even if they are sprayed with organics) because I would much rather grow gooseberries, Muscat grapes, Myoga ginger and Five-flavor berry, all foods that I cannot buy at even the finest farmers market. Ok maybe the local market may have a few half-pints of gooseberries, but have they figured out what the best varieties of Gooseberries for eating yet?? We have! After growing a dozen different types over the years we can tell you that ‘Invicta’ and ‘Jahn’s Prairie’ types are THE BEST for eating straight off the shrub.

Yes, its a plug for our book, Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts, published by Chelsea Green.

Did you know this environmental issue seems to effect pretty much everyone in Ulster County we know who grows peaches, (peaches are not native folks they are from China). But if you harvest them before the brown presents itself on the otherwise beautifully blushed fuzzy skin, they are perfectly fine for jam and sauce making. But you have to be quick because once the brown takes hold they’re a nasty mess.

I don’t think I can go without mentioning in the newsletters a reminder about Spotted Lantern Fly (Lycormis delucata). The most recent verdict is don’t get too crazy about them. I mean yes, squish every adult you can. I have found that by the second time that they have been bothered it is very easy to step on them, or in my case pick them up and put inside a container to be later frozen and then used as art material.

A recent article in National Geographic about this hopping insect says it is being discovered that more and more predators are beginning to eat them including, birds such as Blue Jays and Cardinals, chickens, bats, spiders and yellow jackets, (yay a great reason to rah for the otherwise annoying yellow jacket!). There are some that are saying that SLF are being killed by eating Milkweed (Ascelpias spp.) which is toxic to everything other than the Monarch caterpillar and butterfly. If this is more than just anecdotal then another good reason to grow milkweed!

Currently at the arboretum many are molting from their last instar to their final stage as adults to mate and lay eggs.

Hey locals (and kinda-locals)!

My art is in a group show in Rosendale, NY with the opening reception on August 24th and I’ll be there from 2-5pm. Come by and wish me a happy birthday!

Lifebridge Sanctuary -333 Mountain Rd, Rosendale, NY 12472

As always thanks for reading along!

See you in the gardens.

Allyson

This is about both my work as an artist and as a gardener. There is also a fun print interview I gave as part of the featured artist series for Inside+Out.

We all enter the gardening/landscape/horticultural world differently, but I think it’s pretty safe to say most folks get into gardening to grow flowers. And once that feels like you may have a green thumb, and are ready to take the next step forward, which naturally is the desire to grow your own food. Whether it’s in a community garden plot, a rooftop, or even containers, those of us growing food crops depend entirely on Mother Nature to deliver the right conditions of not too wet, and not too dry. With August right around the corner its easy to forget that it wasn’t too long ago that we were complaining about the lack of heat, and the crazy amount of precipitation perpetually pounding down on all of the crops like the tomatoes, which were struggling to produce any flowers because the soil was still so cold the plants only standing up because they had been tied to their cages. But summer is here, and with two weeks in a row of several days of a heatwave, if you’re not paying attention, you may now have zucchini which is two feet long!

August always signals to me the bounty of food that is to be harvested now and for the next few months. Yay! It’s so crazy to contemplate that the overlapping succession of sweet, small fruits like Honeyberries, Gooseberries, Currants, Goumis, and Blackcaps is all gone. Lingering as sweet memories and in jelly jars.

Of course those of us who love to grow food probably started by growing vegetables. Tomatoes are the obvious. If you master that, you may lean into basil and peppers, maybe some beans, and probably both zucchini. The National Gardening Association has a list worth checking out, and carrots and beans can still be sowed now! Other ones that are not on the list but which we are still sowing are: salad greens, asian greens, kales, chards, and spinach, to name a few.

Over the past 25 years, we have had the good fortune to grow an astonishing abundance of all sorts of varieties of vegetables from artichokes to asparagus and okra to orach.

This season, we decided to change the greenhouse from a mostly veggie farmers’ greenhouse to one that featured more subtropical plants, both edible and not.

We had already planted an Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro Persimmon, a “finicky”, zone 6 persimmon inside the structure and has graced us with some really delectable fruits in the past several years. A ‘Brown Turkey’ Fig was initially planted before the frames were covered.

A Himalayan Chocolate Berry, which did fine outside for a few years until it died, and insisted on planting it inside the greenhouse, later realizing it only died outside because I pruned it too early in the season. The dead stems should be left in place before all danger of frost is gone. The stems are hollow and can suck in the cold and stay wet, essentially killing the plant’s root system.

Back when we originally planted these, our area received a higher amount of sub-zero days than we currently do. Last winter we had none.

Essentially, we went from a zone 5b to a zone 6b growing conditions in the last twenty years.

Nowadays, these plants would most likely survive growing outside of the greenhouse at the arboretum, especially if the plant had been grown out for a while, to establish a hardier root system before being planted in the ground. This year, these fruiting plants have been joined by two pomegranate bushes. We actually grew a pomegranate plant last year, which fruited!!

But because it was our first time harvesting, we let the fruit stay on the tree too long, and it had begun to rot inside.

So if you’re new to the obsessively fun pastime of growing your own food, and the joys of biting into just-picked berries, or eating a raw beet salad that only minutes ago was growing in the ground, stop reading now because I have a spoiler alert! Skip ahead.

Because… along with the joys of grilling up some yummy earthy potatoes with your just-picked garlic and dill, come the pests like the pesky and persistent potato bug, which, depending on the growing conditions can sometimes last for weeks, causing serious damage to the crop. I think most of us understand that insects just come with the territory, especially if you are growing food with minimal interventions. And when you do have to intervene, it is through IPM management techniques which include organic practices. But sometimes the “pests” are larger, and will include all sizes of animals including rabbits (bunnies sound too cute); groundhogs, which have lived underneath both the root system of the above fig tree, and the goji berry stand but somehow didn’t kill manage to kill the entire plant; porcupines who like to munch on branches by breaking them, and if the branches happen to have not-quite ripen fruit on them, so be it!

Raccoons at the arboretum cannot make up their minds what they like to destroy more- corn or persimmon, so whenever possible, they do both!

Hopefully, you find that you’re only main problem is what to do with all your homegrown food. If you are looking for inspiration for recipes, a fellow substack writer adapts hit restaurant recipes for easy home cooking. Check him out!

SAVE THE DATE!

August 23rd - The Garden Conservancy - Digging Deeper: Creating your Own Woodland Shade and Wildflower Sun Gardens with Scott & Allyson. Join us as we look at two distinct native gardens at Hortus Arboretum. Although both are fairly “young” spaces, they will be used as examples of how to create your own woodland shade garden and or a wildflower sun garden using native plants, and more importantly, how to maintain and sustain.

3pm-5pm

Tickets can be purchased here

August 23rd - The Garden Conservancy - Digging Deeper: Dynamic Successional Mosaic Landscape. Join our friend and amazing gardener, Dave Nyzio as he discusses how he created a diverse plant and animal community that has become increasingly stable over time, requiring less invasive species removal.

12pm - 2pm tickets can be purchased here.

---

One of the fun things about gardening, especially if you have been at it for awhile is to see plants that you didn’t think would survive, survive. Many of us have put in plants that we could have sworn we killed, but somehow they manage to pop up several months later. And if it’s woody, like a shrub, tree, or vine, it may even show some signs of life the following year. But what about those annual plants? At Hortus some of our favorite annuals that we depend on for reseeding, are Spiderplant (Cleome), Dwarf Tamarillos (Solanum abutiloides), and all sorts of Poppies (Papaver spp.), and the occasional sunflower! However, two “supposedly” non-hardy plants have “popped up” that are not even close to being zonally hardy.

Meet the toothache plant, Acmella oleracea, also formerly known as Spillanthes oleracea.

I knew this plant maybe 15 years ago when I grew it as a curiosity annual. Back then, it was called Spillanthes, and it is also affectionately called Electric Daisy or Szechuan Buttons. All of these descriptive names lead one to think that these are tingly, and even numbing flowers. Even a small piece of the individual yellow flowers will give you a zingy-numbing effect. This is rated for zone 9. We garden in a zone 6b environment. Obviously, some seeds of last year’s plant had the ability to overwinter under much colder conditions!!

Snake gourds (Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina) are known for needing a really long, hot summer. They are not known for perennializing in a zone 6b garden since most sources say the vine is hardy to zone 8. But for a third year in a row, that is exactly what’s happening in the Field Garden in two different growing areas! And although it’s survived here in the past, this is the first year we are actually seeing flowers.

Snake Gourds can be eaten when small, but after they pass the size of 3-4” its best just to let them grow and do their thang.

I am easily seduced by Hydrangeas. Actually, I think its one of the most user-friendly introductions of a gardening plant there is. I mean, even people who don’t garden seem to know what a Hydrangea flower looks like, (I would argue they really just know the “snowball-type”).

Hydrangeas were having such a decent year and were looking so well until the past week of near 90 degrees and above temperatures, with no relief from rain. The Hydrangea collection in the Property gardens has been receiving some supplemental water and is looking forward to the next downpour.

As I am too!

Until then, see you in the gardens and thanks for reading along,

Allyson

And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

When you spend a good majority of the day outside, and if you’re paying some attention, (and sometimes not) insects and bugs are bound to happen. Sometimes on purpose, like the backwards tape which is meant to pick up the Spotted Lantern Fly (Lycorma delicatula) larvae. Our two summer interns have been monitoring, and squishing whenever feasible, the larvae whenever they see them. But these little nuisances are quick to jump so we’re trying different strategies that don’t involve spraying.

Another insect that was not a catch and release was the little “spider-like” critter I am holding with my fingers is a weevil, (sorry mom for the dirty fingernails! I never could have been a hand model). I’m thinking its a nut weevil of one type or another, (curculio spp.), since I pulled it from a real nice clusters of Japanese Heartnut aka Japanese Walnut (Juglans ailantifolia).

UPCOMING EVENT

July 13th - Mycorrhiza: A Thriving Community Beneath Our Feet with Luke Sarrantonio.

11am - 1pm at Hortus Arboretum.

To learn more about this class and to sign up please click here.

SAVE THE DATE!

August 23rd - The Garden Conservancy - Digging Deeper: Creating your Own Woodland Shade and Wildflower Sun Gardens with Scott & Allyson. Join us as we look at two distinct native gardens at Hortus Arboretum. Although both are fairly “young” spaces, they will be used as examples of how to create your own woodland shade garden and or a wildflower sun garden using native plants, and more importantly, how to maintain and sustain.

3pm-5pm

Tickets can be purchased here

August 23rd - The Garden Conservancy - Digging Deeper: Dynamic Successional Mosaic Landscape. Join our friend and amazing gardener, Dave Nyzio as he discusses how he created a diverse plant and animal community that has become increasingly stable over time, requiring less invasive species removal.

12pm - 2pm tickets can be purchased here.

Hurry, the deadline is July 11th to get in your application for the Summer Residency program, which runs from August 4th - 11th. For more information and to apply check out this link.

Thank you for reading along! This newsletter continues on for paid subscribers. Can you support my work this way?

Thanks for reading and see you in the gardens

Read more

I’m good with saying goodbye to spring. Even today, as I start to write this it was another soggy Saturday. Someone mentioned we have had a string of saturated Saturdays for several months now. The overcast sky and lack of sun certainly make things seem so much cooler. When we do have sun, it’s as if the thermostat has been dialed way up to tropical temperatures with heat and humidity trying to get a foothold into summer. I’m guessing many folks who put their tomatoes and other hot crops into the cool soil are dealing with seedlings that should be more robust, but just haven’t been able to really root into cool soil. On another note, my spinach has never lasted this long into June.

JUNE Save the Dates!

Sunday, June 22 – Ulster County Open Days & Digging Deeper classes co-sponsored with The Garden Conservancy.

Explore these private gardens, open to the public exclusively today! To learn more and to purchase tickets, please click here.

June 28th - The 5th Annual Art in the Garden event - 12-4pm

Lori Merhige is the featured artist this year!

There will also be several pop-up artists doing their thing on that day that include,

-Sergey Jivetin

– Roberta Trentin

– Adrienne Carlile

– Chris Baker

– The Ambient Harpist

Come meet all the artists, and walk through the gardens!

This is a free event, and donations are welcome.

JULY Save the Dates:

July 6th - Walking Tour: Join us for our monthly guided walking tour highlighting some of our favorite edible and ornamental plants. There may be gooseberries, and currants to try! Reserve here.

July 13th - Mycorrhiza: A Thriving Community Beneath Our Feet with Luke Sarrantonio

This will be a general class, covering the major types of Mycorrhiza, where they’re found, who they associate with, why they’re so important and how we can partner with them in our growing practices. Then we’ll walk the land, looking at examples of plants that form these relationships and examine some root tips. Bring all your mushroom questions!

Reserve here

Summer Residency for Visual Artists - August 4th - August 11th 2025

Deadline to enter – July 11th 2025 -

The 2025 Juror is Yihsuan Sung ~ 2025 Spring Artist Resident

Visit here for more details.

Okay lets talk about where are all this years Cicada’s?? Having missed last year’s two large periodical broods, XIX and Xlll, mostly because I live in New York. Don’t doubt for a second that I did contemplate taking a roadtrip to go check it out, but best laid plans…Someone tried to make me feel better about the fact that broods happen all the time (not true), and last years emergence of both these broods at the same time had not been seen since 1803.

“It’s sex, drugs and zombies,”. This is referring to this year’s brood of Periodical 17-year cicadas in Brood XIV that were/are expected to emerge late May into June. This brood is one of the largest 17-year cicada broods! The last time they emerged was in 2008!

After spending those years slowly growing underground, they emerge when the soil surface temperatures reach 64 degrees, which is just beginning to happen now. Check out this cool app that shows you the approximate soil temperature for your area. As taken from Scientific America, above ground, flightless cicada nymphs transform into black-bodied, winged adults, ready for a month-long bacchanal of song and sex. But for many cicadas—possibly tens of millions—mating will be a gruesome parody of procreation in which their body is turned into a disintegrating puppet by the deadly fungus Massospora cicadina, which only infects 13-year and 17-year cicadas.

An infected insect will try to mate even though its genitals have been consumed by the fungus and replaced by a plug of fungal structures called conidiospores, which spread their “zombification” effect on contact. The fungus also floods cicadas with cathinone, a stimulant that also occurs in khat, a plant chewed as a recreational drug in some parts of the world. In cicadas, cathinone may boost hypersexualized behavior.

Do you live in one of these states? Did you see a big Cicada outbreak already?? Or was spring still squatting in your area? Here is a great sources to learn more about Cicadas!

With all this precipitation lately, certain genera are showing off some very floriferous blooms!

Now emerging in your front yard, your backyard, your neighborhood park, rooftop garden, and so on..

..the larvae of the Spotted Lantern Fly is out and about. I swear this one was following my movements! Do what you can now to prevent them from becoming adults!!

Thank you to everyone who was able to order plants from the Online Plant Store, as well as those who were able to shop up in person. It was a great “first” time plant sale that we will continue to do this way in the future!

However, we always have a small selection of plants available for sale at the arboretum, so if you’re planning a visit ask us whats currently available.

Work continues in the conifer garden, also know as a Pinetum by continuing to remove Barberry, Multiflora Rose, and Asian Bittersweet to name a few of the “woody” plants that have been allowed to grow there as a type of a “fence” before we got actual deer fencing put in this past winter, thatnks to the virtual fundraiser we held that allowed us to accomplish this!

By doing a combination of pruning the branches down, weedwacking and then digging up the root system, as much as possible, we are starting to eradicate these plants. However, this is not a one time task. You too can do this at your home too, but remember it is a process and expect that this is something you will be doing over a period of a season or two, maybe even three. But you will see each successive time that the plants will grow less and less robust!

As I close out this newsletter, Summer has hit hard with just a few days left before the solstice hits. Not complaining, just observing. Get outside and do some.

Thanks for reading along and see you in the gardens,

Allyson

This plant sale is a big fundraising event for Hortus, so please support the arboretum by purchasing some of the wonderful edible plants that have been propagated from the arboretum.

We will also be selling both edible & beautiful ornamental plants!

How it works.

The Plant Store is a first-come first serve. You may see limited numbers of availbility. The store has been open to members, and we have a limited supply.

We will have many more plants on Sunday that we just didn’t have time to put online.

We will also have 2 other nurseries joining us on Sunday. Treadlight Farms & Hazelmor Nursery.

I will be sending out a “proper” newsletter soon with more save-the-dates as well as my usual ramblings. You can check out my daily Substack notes (which haven’t been so daily lately…)

See you Sunday in the gardens…

Allyson

We hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend, and are ready to embrace slightly warmer temperatures if you live in the Hudson Valley or any of the surrounding areas in NY. It’s been a wet, damp, moist, saturated, drenched, and sometimes thoroughly soaked spring. I keep hearing from everyone how much they don’t like it, but then quickly acknowledge that the plants must be loving it!

Save the Dates

This coming weekend Hortus will have two amazing teachers here to share their knowledge!

May 31st - Magnolia workshop with Wendy Hollender & Draw Botanical.

This special class will spend all day at the arboretum drawing and learning from Wendy, a worldwide-acclaimed botanical artist. She just happens to be our neighbor and comes to Hortus to sketch certain plants for her series on plant families. Come join her and learn about techniques for capturing flowers just so.

You can visit here for more details.

June 1st - Tree ID class with Levi O’Brien - Levi is back, and he will explore the different characteristics of native and naturalized trees to help you build confidence in your own tree identification practices. Levi’s classes are always fun, informative and mind-blowing with the amount of information he has on trees, whether native, naturalized or introduced.

June 1st - Woodlore and Cultural History Class - Led by Levi O'Brien - Join Levi in exploring the vast history of tree use and cultural importance. Learn how trees have shaped the history of humanity.

More cool classes…

June 7th - Eco-Printing with Bonnee Pecquex - Eco-printing is an artistic technique that involves using plant materials to create unique and intricate patterns on fabric. Bring your own material or use some from the arboretum to make your own scarf.

For more information and to sign up, click here.

June 8th - Join us for our monthly guided walking tour highlighting some of our favorite edible and ornamental plants. Reserve here.

June 15th - The Annual Plant Sale Redux - This year, we have invited Hazelmor Nursery, and Treadlight Nursery to sell plants alongside us.

Members to the arboretum can ask for a preorder link for the Hortus plant list. Ordering and payment will happen online. Your plants can then be picked up on June 15th. We will also be selling plants not on the plant list that day, so come check it out!

If you are a paying Substack supporter, I will also send you an early bird ordering link—just request it!

Sunday, June 22 - Ulster County Open Days co-sponsored with The Garden Conservancy. Explore these private gardens, open to the public exclusively today! click here for more information.

June 28th - The annual Art in the Garden event - Lori Merhige is the featured artist this year! There will also be several pop-up artists doing their thing on the day. More on that in the next newsletter!

Did you know the arboretum gives private group tours or that you can rent out the gardens for an event? Contact us for more details.

At Hortus we are transitioning from using tools and equipment that require fossil fuels to using battery-powered ones. We received a grant from The Rondout Valley Growers Association (RGVA- of which we are members of) to purchase TWO battery-powered mowers.

Do you consider yourself a patient gardener? Are you able to wait it out for a decade or even longer to see a plant finally flower?? We saw this beauty in berry at the wonderful Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plains, MA, over fifteen years ago. With bright blue metallic berries, Scott and I couldn’t resist! Symplocos paniculata also known as Sapphire berry is native to Eastern Asia and as you can surmise a slow-growing shrub. At Hortus, the first one we put in has finally flowered and we will be preparing another site nearby to ensure cross-pollination to get the gorgeous fall berries (no this is not an edible plant!)

Here’s another sensational tree that, if you read about it in the books, says that from planting time, it takes 10 years for it to flower! I am happy (or not so happy) to confirm that is the case, and last year, on its tenth year in the Chinese gardens, it did bloom! Luckily, we had it flower for a second year in a row, and this time, it looks like there are viable fruits!

Read more

Hello friends and fans, and all of you that fall in between and so wonderfully open this newsletter. Thank you for that!

This is a reminder that the arboretum opened this past Saturday for the season. It’s still messy, and a work in progress, and we hope that will make you all feel better about your own gardens.

Save the Dates & More

May 31st - Magnolia workshop with Wendy Hollender & Draw Botanical. This special class will spend all day at the arboretum drawing and learning from Wendy an acclaimed botanical artist. You can visit here for more details.

June 1st - Tree ID class with Levi O’Brien - Levi is back, and he will explore the different characteristics of native and naturalized trees to help you build confidence in your own tree identification practices.

June 1st - Woodlore and Cultural History Class - Led by Levi O'Brien - Join Levi in exploring the vast history of tree use and cultural importance. Learn how trees have shaped the history of humanity.

& More

Rhododendron update - Many of us are still talking about this past winter’s weather, and although we were delighted about the “permafrost” of sorts that the plants experienced, there were also destructive wind events and icestorms that made for several weeks of icy on plants

We’ve also seen a lot of damage on Scotch Broom (Cytisus spp.) and Redbuds. What plants got hit the most in your garden?

We will begin inventorying the plants for next month’s sale. Members to the arboretum can ask for a link to preorder first. Ordering and payment will happen online. Your plants can then be picked up on June 15th. We will also be selling plants not on the plant list that day, so come check it out!

If you are a paying Substack supporter, I will also send you an early bird ordering link—just request it!

If you live anywhere in the countryside, ‘tis the season of migration. One of the most horrible things to see on the road now is a flattened turtle. Disaster is bound to happen, cars are fast, turtles are slow (relatively), but if we can, during this period, be a bit more mindful right now as we drive at the speed limit (or maybe even slightly under), that the pinecone down the road may actually turn out to be a baby snapping turtle!

Speaking about migration, I just love my Merlin App! This past week has been an amazing time to hear/see what’s happening near me.

So the exciting news I mentioned in an earlier newsletter that I would share at a later date is:

Scott & I are writing another book with Chelsea Green Publishers! More to follow in the near future. Whohooooo. Didn’t know I co-wrote a book???

In the meanwhile I’ve also been posting a (more or less) daily note on Substack that goes over my day. Part diary, part work log, and part the practice of literary arts I encourage you to check it out. Here’s one from August..

Don’t you love when you meet gardeners who are even geekier then yourself??

Here’s a plant nerd lovers tree:

Snakebark Maple:

Acer capillipes known as Snakebark maple is native to mountainous areas of Japan. It is a deciduous tree with absolutely beautiful bark, with diamond shaped lenticles, breaking through the interesting patterning. Slow-growing, it may eventually grow to 40’, but in a cultivated setting will probably grow to 25’.

Thanks for reading along!

See you in the gardens,

Allyson

Finally we have some semblance of what we think about when we think of spring weather.

Unfortunately, we will not be opening this coming weekend because the colder temperatures did not allow us to accomplish the work needed to have the grounds safe and ready. We are offering a Walk & Talk Tour on May 4th (see below), and the arboretum will officially open on May 10th to the public.

But if you CANNOT wait until then we have two special events happening the weekend before that. One at Hortus, so a sneak preview of sorts, and the other offsite that we hope you will join us at:

May 3rd - We will be speaking about native plants at Stonecrop Gardens (see below), so please come and learn about all the wonderful plants that we hope will inspire you to put one (or many) in your garden.

May 4th - Curators Walk & Talk Tour - Join us for our first walking tour of the season, where we will highlight some of our favorite plants happening in early May

May 10th - Hortus is officially open! Members, come by and pick up your “thank you for being a member” gift.

May 31st - Magnolia workshop with Wendy Hollender & Draw Botanical. This special class will spend all day at the arboretum drawing. Visit here for more details.

June 1st - Tree ID class with Levi O’Brien - Levi is back, and he will explore the different characteristics of native and naturalized trees to help you build confidence in your own tree identification practices. Levi will be offering 2 different sessions on tree ID, and they will not cover the same material.

June 7th - Eco-Printing with Bonnee Pecquex - Eco-printing is an artistic technique that involves using plant materials to create unique and intricate patterns on fabric. Bring your own material or use some from the arboretum to make your own scarf. For more information and to sign up check out the calendar.

June 15th - The Annual Plant Sale Redux - This year, we have invited Hazelmor Nursery, Second, and Treadlight Nursery to sell plants alongside us. Check their websites for preordering or just come that day and check out all the plant goodies.

June 28th - The annual Art in the Garden event - Lori Merhige is the featured artist this year!

OFFSITE EVENTS

May 3rd - Stonecrop Gardens - Scott & I will be giving a presentation that will focus on how to grow, care for, and maintain some of the lesser-known but very garden-worthy native plants. We will have signed copies of our book, ‘Cold-Hardy Fruits & Nuts’ after the event. Click here for more info.

May 17th - Beatrix Farrand Garden - Come join me as I discuss native trees & shrubs. Using the plants at the Wild Garden at the Beatrix Farrand Garden, I will go over best planting practices, basic cultural information, as well as aesthetic considerations. This is a free event. I will sell signed copies of our book, ‘Cold-Hardy Fruits & Nuts’ after the event. Click here for more info.

This newsletter is going to be on the shorter side as to the fact that there is so much to do outside to get the gardens ready for visitors. I do want to address why so many Rhododendrons look(ed) like this:

This is from winter injury and drying winds. Patience is key as you wait for the plant to bounce back, which it very well may do. In the meantime, you can remove dead leaves to make way for new ones. Symptoms of winter injury and drying can be varied, but are usually characterized by browning of leaves, dieback of tips and branches, desiccation of growing tips or twigs, and longitudinal rolling of leaves along the midvein. All of these traits are exhibited in the above photos.

These symptoms present on shrubs of all ages and on those growing in both wind-swept and sheltered locations. Often these injuries are the result of many environmental factors that often have little in common other than they occur during the winter. They can include sudden temperature fluctuations, excessive or late season fertilization, lack of snow cover, drying winds, and late spring frosts. The most common type of winter injury on rhododendron is excessive drying. This results from factors that create a water deficit in the shrub. This type of injury occurs when water evaporates from the leaves on windy or warm, sunny days during the winter or early spring. Drying occurs because this water is not replaced since the roots cannot take up enough water from cold or frozen soil. In the Hudson Valley we had a particulary windy winter and early spring.

Hard-hit can be recently transplanted shrubs that lacked well developed root systems and established shrubs of all sizes and ages that had root systems that were predisposed and damaged by excess water or drought. Giving your Rhododendrons sufficient moisture in the root zone before the soil freezes is one way to avoid desiccation, and this can be accomplished by giving the shrubs a deep watering before the ground freezes in the fall. Because rhododendrons roots are very shallow, it's important to use a thick layer of mulch to provide protection from the cold which also increases moisture retention in the winter.

Avoid late summer and early fall fertilization—this stimulates and encourages growth late in the season that may not harden-off properly for the winter (this is really applicable to all woody plants, not just Rhododendrons.)

Although you can do very little about the environmental conditions you can try making a windbreak made from burlap, lattice or a snow fence can help prevent damage from winter's drying winds. Patience is key as you wait for the plant to bounce back.

I have been trying to do a daily “Note” on Substack about what I did “gardening” wise for the day, to try and capture what some of my daily tasks are. They’re short, and I was writing them at night before my bedtime, but I found they were putting me to sleep. Hopefully that doesn’t happen to you, but maybe if you have trouble sleeping, its a good thing.

Thanks for reading along and see you in the gardens!

Allyson

Happy April and with any luck I’ll be able to get this newsletter out prior to May, but as you know once the winter jackets are left on the hook, the gardening gloves are on and we’re far away from the computer.

Yay for all the early spring bulb as they punch their way through last year’s debris. The garden, any garden is in truly a raw state after several months of freezing temperatures, windy conditions, and low sun. For some gardeners, it may seem like an overwhelming task, easy to put off until the outside temperatures reach into the 60’s (at least), and there is the assurance of no more bare branches, but rather a complete covering of green, even better when adorned with flowers of a multitude of colors. So right now in the Hudson Valley we are still in that awkward phase- still cold, and even below freezing temperatures at night, with highs ranging in the 50’s, and if the sun is out it can feel like a spring day in May. But there is a large segment of the gardening population who have happily jumped into it deep right away. Obviously managing an arboretum is a bit different since we really never stop- we just slow down.

At Hortus, we have been carefully digging up plants, often large shrubs and even trees, and moving them to other "forever homes” within the gardens. If you have a shrub, vine, or tree that is no longer in its best place and you want it to be moved the time to do it is now, right before it breaks dormancy, if it hasn’t already! The optimum time for transplanting a more mature specimen is on a cool, but not cold, overcast day with rain forecasted for the following day.

The best thing when you are planting a new woody plant, whether it’s a tree or a shrub is to try to imagine that plant years from now. You’re most inclined to have that in mind when you are preparing the space. But not just 5 or ten years, but twenty and beyond. How big will it get if it’s allowed to reach its full potential? For those who are just in their early years of being a gardening addict, this is a very important, early lesson.

There are many reasons why the well-known gardening saying, “the right plant for the right place” makes sense as an adage. The reality is different and depends a lot on where (is it a rooftop, balcony or large backyard?) and how you garden, (weekend, versus whenever you can). It takes years to hone the sense of when too much is too much, and plant addiction is real. Just look it up! How many of us have just bought a plant on an, “I just gotta have this even though I have no idea where it will go.”

But sometimes unexpected events happen in the garden, and transplanting established trees or shrubs makes sense when a plant is no longer getting the same amount of sunshine it did, or when other faster-growing plants begin to crowd in. In our case, this Chinese Fringe Tree (Chionanthus restus) was planted in an area that we decided five years ago to use for a conifer & Magnolia collection, so it no longer made sense where we had originally thought and it had to be moved.

**Notice the buckets behind me in the photo. Those are full of the soil from the tree which we will use as the soil when we pot up the tree. She will then be put in a shady area, watered frequently until we can both agree on where her “new forever home” is.

We’re so excited about this upcoming season and the programming that we are able to offer this year! Check the website’s calendar for more details.

Your support means everything. We would not be here without your help. There are so many ways to do this; by taking a class, a tour (we do offer private tours which make a great gift!), becoming a garden member or just visiting the gardens.

This year’s Annual Plant Sale is on Sunday, June 15th, and we are doing it a bit differently. We will still honor members first in terms of ordering online plants (more on what’s available in the next newsletter), AND we will also be setting up a bunch of tables that day to include other plant vendors, Hazelmor Nursery, Second, and Treadlight Farms will also be here selling their wonderful selections. You can prepay and order directly on their websites and pick up your advance order at the arboretum; but they will also be bringing other goodies so we recommend having a field trip to the arboretum that day

SAVE THE DATES

ONSITE EVENTS

April 27th - A soft-opening day at Hortus - While it may still be messy, many flowering plants are starting to do their thing. It is a good time to come and get inspired for your own garden(s) or landscape.

May 4th - Curators Walking Tour - Join us for our first walking tour of the season where we will highlight some of our favorite plants happening in early May.

May 31st - Magnolia workshop with Wendy Hollender & Draw Botanical. This special class will spend all day at the arboretum drawing. Visit here for more details

June 1st - Tree ID class with Levi O’Brien - Levi is back and will explore the different characteristics of native and naturalized trees to help you build confidence in your own tree identification practices. Levi will be offering 2 different sessions on tree ID and they will not cover the same material.

June 7th - Eco-Printing with Bonnee Pecquex - Eco-printing is an artistic technique that involves using plant materials to create unique and intricate patterns on fabric.

June 15th - The Annual Plant Sale Redux - This year we have invited Hazelmor Nursery, Second, and Treadlight Nursery to sell plants alongside of us. Check their websites for preordering or just come that day and checkout all the plant goodies.

June 28th - The annual Art in the Garden event - Lori Merhige is the featured artist this year!

OFFSITE EVENTS

May 3rd - Stonecrop Gardens - Scott & I will be giving a presentation will focus on how to grow, care for, and maintain some of the lesser-known but very garden-worthy native plants. We will be selling signed copies of our book, ‘Cold-Hardy Fruits & Nuts’ after the event. Click here for more info.

May 17th - Beatrix Farrand Garden - Come join me as I discuss native trees & shrubs. Using the plants at the Wild Garden at the Beatrix Farrand Garden, I will go over best planting practices, basic cultural information, as well as aesthetic considerations. This is a free event. I will be selling signed copies of our book, ‘Cold-Hardy Fruits & Nuts’ after the event. Click here for more info.

If you’re relatively “new” to Hortus or its been a while since I’ve talked about how Hortus began, so let me give you the two-minute elevator speech about what we’re doing here.

Since 2001 Scott & I (plus an ever-changing cast of amazing garden workers) have been creating what is now the nonprofit Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Garden. We started with 3 acres of land which at the time seemed so expansive considering so much of it was lawn. Fortunately for us, just as we were running out of space to put in one more plant without overcrowding an already packed garden, we were able to purchase the 8-acre parcel directly across the road (thanks to a big art commission!) Today that acreage is known as the South Gardens which is where the newly created Pinetum (conifer) garden is. There is also a garden guesthouse on the edge of the land past the conifer garden. In 2021 we purchased 10 acres of land that is adjacent to the Field Gardens, (thanks mom!) to stop the development of at least two houses being built there. We now call that land the Northwoods, and we are in the process of installing deer fencing on the 10 acres. The purpose of enclosing this area is to allow the forest’s flora (and thus fauna) to regenerate and grow without being deer browsing.

We do not use any machinery other than our bodies to protect the soil from any additional compaction.

We think the most important thing for you to know is that there is no official arboretum or botanical garden in Ulster County.

Our personal goal is to ensure the continued growth of what we know is a special place and to that end, we are working with our local land conservancy to protect the current 21 acres under our stewardship by leaving this for Ulster County as their arboretum-botanical garden for the future generations. If you are a neighbor to Hortus in the Vly area we encourage you to think about making your property forever green, and join us in making this entire area a green zone for the next fifty to one hundred years.

How we do this without having a lot of money has been a challenge, but we are proud to say we are doing it thanks to all our donors and members, and by opening up the gardens to the public on weekends, telling our story to anyone who will listen (or read it dear subscriber).

Once visitors walk through the gardens they see that we are serious, by our collections.

The collections include rare, and endangered plants, not-fully zonally hardy trees and shrubs - since we need to be foward-thinking about climate change and adaptability to a changing environment. Our goal is to inspire others to put plants into their own gardens, even if they may never have heard of them before.

There are so many ways to support the work we are doing here. You can do it by donating, by becoming a garden member, by volunteering (we need help with many things, not just weeding), or by supporting this Substack newsletter.

If you like a little art with your gardens (YES PLEASE!) please go visit the wonderful Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, NY where my artwork is part of a group show “Hudson Valley Sampler”. Plus we will be speaking there on May 3rd!

This poem sent by a Hortus friend sets the tone perfectly…

Malachy Moran\

Chionodoxa Do Not Understand Tariffs

I tried to explain to the flowers
on the banks of Akerselva
that they honestly had chosen
an awful time to sprout.

I detailed all the nuance
of international tariffs
and suggested that they wait a bit
to see how things shake out.

They swayed with polite attention
as I outlined my position
on effects of the weakened dollar
and the day’s stock market rout,

but I do not think they listened
as they lifted heads defiant
or at least their azure petals
did not betray their doubts.

---

See you soon real soon in the gardens!

Thanks for reading along.