Matt Lobdell – Curatorial Graduate Student 2011-2013

As seems to be the case with many who have elected to pursue a career in public horticulture, my introduction to thefield was unexpected and fortuitous. Although I've alwayshad an interest in plants and nature, my undergraduatetraining was largely in liberal arts. e summer prior to mygraduation, I took a horticulture internship at the Polly HillArboretum. e three months spent working among the collection and learning about a variety of uncommon plantssuch as Magnolia macrophylla and Araucaria araucanastimulated an interest in and respect for the diversity of theplant kingdom, and a desire to learn more. Aer graduatingfrom Kenyon College, I completed an internship and apprenticeship at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, returned to the Polly Hill Arboretum to serve asa Collections Management Intern, and, most recently,worked as a horticulturist for the Rose Fitzgerald KennedyGreenway Conservancy.

Aer spending four years in the field, I realized that my skillsand interests were best suited to the academic and research

UDBG FRIENDSUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE BOTANIC GARDENS

March/April 2013

Matt Lobdell at Polly Hill ArboretumImage by Tom Clark

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cont’d on page 6

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Schedule of Events

Friends Lecture: Looking Up: Elevating Your Garden’s Interest with Climbers and EspaliersWednesday, May 8, 7 – 9 pmLocation: e Commons, Townsend Hall

Gardeners are usually very down to earth people, but theirgardens do not necessarily have to be. Vertical gardening provides an opportunity to extend and expand one’s gardening domain─not only physically (the area in whichone gardens) but also horticulturally, climatically, andaesthetically. Whether one uses walls, free standing structures, or even other plants, the “sky is the limit”. Join usin this illustrated lecture on vertical gardening by LandscapeArchitect Dennis McGlade.

Dennis McGlade, a partner at OLIN and Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, earned degrees inlandscape architecture om the University of Illinois and theUniversity of Pennsylvania, where he studied under renownedlandscape architect Ian McHarg. Highly regarded in the field ofdesign as well as horticulture, his projects include a broad range

of sizes and types. Noted works include: J. Paul Getty Centerand Fran and Ray Stark Sculpture Garden in Los Angeles, redesign of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 5th AvenuePlaza in New York City, and a spiritual retreat in Connecticut.An author and equent lecturer, Mr. McGlade sits on theBoard of e Cultural Landscape Foundation and serves invarious teaching positions at the University of Pennsylvaniaand Temple University.

UDBG Friends members: FREE; Nonmembers: $10

Art in the Garden ReceptionWednesday, May 1, 4 – 5:30 pm

Location: Front of Townsend hall

Reception for UD sculpture students’ display of art works.Each year, sculpture students from the Department of fine Artsand Visual Communications install art in the UD BotanicGardens. Join us for a reception and garden tour as studentsdiscuss their sculptures. Sculptures remain on display duringMay. Many pieces are available for sale.

APRIL 2013

PLANT SALE EVENTSPatron Reception and Plant SaleWednesday, April 24, 4:30–6:00 pmis intimate evening is a thank you to those who havecontributed $130 or more to support UDBG’s StudentIntern Program. Enjoy conversations with knowledge-able plant folks, a private plant sale, refreshments, andthe first crack at all other plant offerings. If interested in attending or for more information, please call 302–831–0153 or email mzoehrer@udel.edu.RSVP required

Plant Sale, ursday, April 25, 3 - 7 pm, Open toUDBG Friends members only. On this day only, wewill offer a select group of perennial plants at $2.00 off the catalog price.

Plant Sale, Friday, April 26, 3 - 7 pm, General Public

Plant Sale, Saturday, April 27, 9:30 am - 4 pm, GeneralPublic (this is also AgDay)

MAY 2013

Salix sachalinensis ‘Sekka’ Image by Rebecca Pineo

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Director’s Corner

You don’t have to wait for warm weather, just look outside tosee the hues of the season. Observe the bright colors of winterdisplayed by the fruit of Ilex ‘Bienville Gold’, Nandina domes-tica ‘Firepower’ and Myrica. Or possibly note the brilliantstems of Cornus ‘Winter Flame’, Itea virginica ‘Merlot’ and themottled bark of Lagerstroemia ‘Arapaho’. Not yet spring andnature’s colors already beckon to the inquisitive. Hamamelis‘Barmstead Gold’ displays it sweetly fragranced, bright yellowflowers, and Salix melanostachys buds slowly unveiling theirpussy willow flowers. Jasminum nudiflorum teases its brightgreen stems to reveal their progression of bright yellow flowers,and Edgeworthia papyrifera boldly struts its pendant yellowflowers, its fragrance driing on the garden air. ese are but asampling of the colorful plants that could be outside your win-dow next year since all of these plants are available in the 2013spring plant sale. To indulge your senses and awaken the year-round gardener in you, look throughout this issue for plantswith late winter interest.

e featured plant for the 2013 Spring Plant Sale is floweringquince. A Victorian plant that has demonstrated staying powerthrough decades and generated new interest with the manynew cultivars recently released, the spring flower display is sec-ond to none. Small to medium shrubs with white, pink, red,salmon or orange flowers, flowering quince are ideally suitedfor home landscapes as foundation plants or in mixed borders,such as hedges. is versatile plant can even remain on theporch as a bonsai. Check out the great selection in the plantsale catalog, along with our other plant offerings.

is winter, two undergraduate students initiated projects toaugment the plant descriptions on the UDBG website. LilyNewton, a 2012 summer intern, and Robert Cronshaw dili-gently gathered information, sied through facts and updatedthe information available on the website under Gardens andPlants, Plant information section.. ey continue to add infor-mation on trees and shrubs in the UDBG collections even asthis newsletter is published. Working on independent studyprojects, both Lily and Robert are building and refining theirown knowledge of plants as they help the UDBG serve otherstudents by providing technical information on the UDBGplant collection. It is a delight to work with these students andwe greatly appreciate their help. is is part of a larger projectto gradually revamp the website. Visit oen and see how muchthey have accomplished.

e generosity of our plant sale Patrons is reflected in theircontributions to student programs. Summer interns are largelyfunded by these contributions. e student interest in thisprogram is evidenced by the many applicants we receive. Butthe Student Internship Program is not the only way studentshelp the UDBG. We have continued to attract energetic un-dergraduates who volunteer their enthusiasm and time. Cur-rently, Abby Walter, Samantha Shevach, Emma Brown, MollyGartland, and FeiFei Wang are working in the greenhousesand gardens. In fact, Abby Walter has volunteered for the lastthree years. ey work on projects ranging from garden main-tenance and greenhouse production to curatorial help andwebsite maintenance. We are enormously grateful for theirgenerous support and the opportunity to continue their edu-cational experience outside of the classroom. Education, in allits forms, is integral to our mission.

Nandina domestica Image by Susan Elliot

Hamamelis ‘Barmstedt Gold’Image by Melinda Zoehrer

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VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT – MARY GOTSCH

You’ve been a member since 2010. How did you hear aboutthe UDBG?I first heard about the UDBG in a class I took at the Acad-emy of Lifelong Learning. I started going to the Spring Saleto fulfill my desire to plant natives in my garden. It wasn’tuntil I met UDBG member and volunteer Dilly Schwartz ina knitting group that I became involved. Dilly told me whatshe did at the UDBG and gave me the name of a contact. Iwas apprehensive my first time at a potting session, because Ididn’t know if I had enough experience. Within 5 minutes, Ifelt confident and fit in with the other volunteers.

You’re a passionate gardener. Have you always been?What/who sparked your interest?I had no exposure to gardening as a child. I grew up inChicago where we had a yard the size of a postage stamp. Myinterest in gardening developed aer I married and live in ahouse with a yard. By that time my parents had moved toDelaware, and became interested in gardening. My mothergave me perennials that she had divided, or “volunteer”shrubs she dug for me. I was hooked. I now find it a real joywhen giving a plant from my garden that originally camefrom my parents.

You’ve been volunteering since the fall of 2009. What madeyou decide to get involved?Aer I retired and with too much time on my hands, I wantedto volunteer and have some fun at the same time. e UDBGseemed the perfect solution, and I have enjoyed every minute.

What types of activities do you assist the UDBG with? I volunteer both with potting and garden sessions, at which Iplant, weed, prune and yank things out. I also assist at boththe fall and spring plant sales. I now have a real appreciationfor all the behind-the-scenes work necessary to ensure thosewonderful plants are ready when the sale begins.

You volunteer at Winterthur, too. What do you do?I volunteer from March through November, assisting a mem-

ber of the gardening staff with whatever needs to be done. Iwork primarily in the Peony Garden and Winterhazel Walk.I've helped plant bulbs and azaleas, prune shrubs, rake leaves,dead head peonies and daylilies, and cut back bamboo. Andthere are always weeds to pull. One of the best perks of vol-unteering at Winterthur is the chance to see all the changesthat take place in the landscape each week.

What’s it like to volunteer? Any regrets?Volunteering at the UDBG has been a wonderful experience.Each time I learn something new from the UDBG staff andfrom the other volunteers. It’s a great group of people whoenjoy gardening as much as I do and who freely share theirgardening experiences. We also share plants from our homegardens. It never ceases to amaze me how much a group ofpeople can accomplish in a two-hour garden session and havefun doing it. In the winter I enjoy participating in the indoorsessions, potting and propagating for the plant sales. It givesme an opportunity to get my hands back in some soil at atime of year when I can't work in my own yard.

It feels great to work as part of a team to keep the UDBGlooking good and getting ready for the two annual sales. eonly regret is not getting involved sooner!

Volunteer Mary GotschImage by Melinda Zoehrer

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June 6-9, 2013 SymposiumEARTH PERFECT? Nature, Utopia, and the Garden

UDBG Volunteers Moonlightas Artisans

A four-day symposium showcasing the garden as an emblemof the ideal human relation with nature is set for June 6 to 9.e symposium is designed for the general public, gardenprofessionals, and an academic audience interested in the sig-nificance and meaning of gardens.

Events include themed garden tours (at Longwood Gardens,Chanticleer, Winterthur, Mt. Cuba, and Delaware Center forthe Contemporary Arts); exhibitions, lectures and academicpaper sessions focusing on the following topics: wellness andthe garden; environment and society, historic preservationand land use; green textiles; CSAs; the garden in the visualarts; the garden in literature; the meaning and function of do-mestic and public gardens; architecture and the garden; thespiritual associations of gardens; gardening the planet in theface of ecological decline; political aspects of gardening; andeconomies of the garden.

is symposium is interdisciplinary and international in scope.Participants will be both academics and non-academics fromaround the world working in a wide range of fields includingart, art history, architecture, anthropology, agriculture, philos-ophy, literature, horticulture, botany, nutrition, landscape ar-chitecture, garden design, and law as well as earth and lifesciences, more generally. While this topic is appropriate forany age, it is particularly appropriate now when people aremore than ever engaged in discourse about our relationshipwith and responsibilities towards the natural environment.

To find out more:http://www.udel.edu/ihrc/conference/earthperfect/

UDBG volunteers and staff, led by Catherine Buckminster,spent a January evening creating glass sculptures that will beavailable for purchase at the 2013 UDBG Spring Plant Sale.e sculptures give new life to plates, vases, goblets, bowlsand other types of glass and crystal oen found gatheringdust in the far reaches of a china cabinet, flea market, or second-hand store. ese one-of-a-kind sculptures are theperfect addition to the garden, reflecting the sun and providing an eye-catching contrast to plantings. e sculptures will be priced at $30.

Images by Valann Budischak

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Matt Lobdell cont’d

opportunities provided by a plant-focused, detail-orientedcareer in Plant Records and Curation. Earning a degree inplant science was requisite for such a career, and the master’sprogram and UDBG Curatorial Assistantship quickly re-vealed itself to be ideal given my interests and needs. eUniversity of Delaware has a well-established Plant & SoilSciences department, which provides the opportunity to ex-perience multiple subdivisions of the field. e location ofthe University is an advantage as well, since the close proxim-ity to institutions such as Longwood Gardens and Chanti-cleer Gardens presents numerous opportunities for training,collaboration, and professional development. One of thelargest benefits, however, is the ability to manage the plantrecords system for UDBG. My primary responsibility is ac-cessioning, the addition of new plants to the database andgarden inventory. Upon entering the collection, plants musthave their names checked, identities verified, locationsmapped through use of a GPS-unit, and be affixed with a 3 ×1” engraved plastic label displaying their botanical name andaccession number. Additionally, the freedom to run this sys-tem allows for the potential to pursue numerous curatorialprojects of interest, as well as experiment with various tech-niques in order to seek a system which best maximizes boththe quality of the records, and time effectiveness for theirentry and verification. My largest project to date is an inven-tory of the UDBG collections, in many cases checking thestatus of plants that had not been verified for a decade.

During my time at the University, I've completed courses in arange of topics including Botany, Biochemistry, MuseumStudies, and Geographic Information Sciences. I also serve asa teaching assistant in the Plant & Soil Sciences Department,serving as the laboratory instructor for courses such asBotany, Plant Morphology, and Indigenous Woody Plants ofthe Eastern US, the latter of which heavily utilizes theUDBG living collection as a teaching tool. My thesis re-search has focused on an examination of the genus Styrax,which despite containing an estimated 130 species, is onlysignificantly represented in cultivation by 2-3. e two most

commonly collected species are the East Asian Styrax japoni-cus and Styrax obassia. UDBG does not currently have an ac-cession of the latter, but does have several specimens of theformer including both wild collected material and cultivarssuch as ‘Pink Chimes’ and ‘Emerald Pagoda’, and also collectsseveral of the North American and East Asian species rarelyencountered in cultivation. rough detailed library researchas well as several site visits to botanical gardens and herbaria, Ihave documented the status of many of the rare species andhope to bring them to greater prominence in the field.

As I prepare to leave the university this spring, I feel my ex-periences here have provided me with a solid foundationupon which to begin my career as a curator, and hope to findjob placement as such, or enrollment in a doctoral programfocusing on Plant Systematics.

Daphne genkwa Image by Melinda Zoehrer

Helleborus × hybridus Image by Melinda Zoehrer

PLANT SALE

GIFT CERTIFI

CATES

MAKE SENSE!

For more inform

ation,

call Melinda at (

302) 831-0153 o

r email

mzoehrer@udel.

edu

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Patrons as of March 22, 2013

Up to $129Marjorie E. Adams Kimberlee C. BalasCarmine and Laura BalascioKathleen D. BarrowcloughAnn Claiburne CaseJoseph Paesani and Jacquelyn CusumanoDonald DiefendorfMarilyn and Dominic DiToroNicole DonofrioShirley J. DuffyCharles W. Dunham Laneita DunphyGarden Club of Wilmington Roseann H. HarkinsJudy and John HerdegDemaris HollembeakRussell O. JonesRichard A. Harder and Susan Kadel Dr. and Mrs. William LarsenUta LeeLorraine LehmickeCarol LongDoris MiklitzLinda OlsenJon and Nancy OlsonDavid and Dorothy OnnCarla PastoreMary PritchardPhyllis C. RawlingRenee LettJohn and Jane RittersonDelia SchwartzSuzanne I. SeubertJanine SherrierMarlene A. SnellingBeth StarkKaren L. SteenhoekGail TentorBarbara Wallace

Natalie R. WeymouthKate D. WilhereGeraldine Zuka4 Anonymous Gis

**$130–$249Alistair and Pat ArnottSusan S. BartonRichard P. BowenPat Boydomas and Mary Lou BrockenbroughPage Nelson and Anne CanbyMae and Robert CarterRuss and Donna CrookRuth S. CrossanPage W. DwyerGlenn Hardcastle and Donna GerstMary L. GotschDavid and Lauri HermanRichard Jolly and Charles Ingersoll*Jonathan Kissell and Denise MagnaniNina M. LordDavid and Roselynn MalarekJim Damewood and Robin MorganJo Ann PayneWilliam P. Petit de MangeCharles and Rosemary PhilipsLaura PoltroniereKristine QuallsDr. James F. ReschRon and Patti RomanKaren RossWendy Mahoney RussellPaul Dennison and Sue SchaefferKen SchillingJoan K. Short, M.D.Leonard Saari and Brenda SmythJim and Sue SwaseyP. Coleman and Susan Townsend, Jr.Bettie von FrankenbergJane Wrenn

Stanley and Lucille Yackoski1 Anonymous Gi

$250–$499Marvin and Kathy AndersenMelinda Zoehrer and Rick DarkeWilliam O'Neill and Green Man GardeningMarilyn HaywardGrace K. IsaacsDebra Rodgers and Paul MeyerDana M. ParkerMr. Nathaniel H. PufferAlice D. ReillyWalter and Beverley RowlandMarion G. ShirkeyMarion SillimanTom and Connie SimsWilliam E. Trescott, Jr.

$500–$999Peg and Steve CastoraniMr. and Mrs. Harold A. DavisRaymond M. Martin and Dr. Mary MartinRichard Miller, Jr. (in Memory of his wife, Ann Miller)Mrs. Christopher L. MoseleyJeanne O. Shields

$1,000–$4,999Mrs. George P. Bissell, Jr.Evelyn C. BurnamAndrea EverardJohn and Jeanne FrettBill and Melissa LaffertyElizabeth A. SharpBob and Betty Shellenbarger

$5,000Robert E. Lyons

OUR SINCERE APPRECIATION to the individuals listed below for their generosity to the 2013 Spring Plant Sale. Your gis directly support UDBG’sStudent Internship Program, a vital component of the UDBG which provides students a paid opportunity to gain practical experience and training.

**Correction: Jonathan Kissell and Denise Magnani gave a gi of $200, not $100 as stated in the catalog

Hamamelis japonica ‘Shibamichi Red’ Image by Melinda Zoehrer

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The University of Delaware is an Equal Opportunity/Title IX institution. Please visit www.udel.edu/ExecVP/policies/personnel/4-40.html to read our anti-discrimination policy in its entirety.

Cornus sanguinea ‘Winter Flame’ Image by Kathy Barrowclough

Salix melanostachys Image by Rebecca Pineo

http://ag.udel.edu/agday

Visit the UD Botanic GardensUDBG is open to visitors everyday from sunrise to sunset; admission is free.

Please obtain a visitor parking pass (fee: $3.00) on-line at ttps:udel.t2hosted.com/cmn/auth_guest.aspx or use the metered parking near the UDairy Creamery.

Contact Information • Telephone (302) 831-0153 • http://ag.udel.edu/udbg/Newsletter editor: Susan Baldwin • Director: Dr. John Frett

Assistant Director: Melinda Zoehrer • Volunteer and Education Coordinator: Valann Budischak