Out of the Woods, Into the Garden

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of days, you’ve probably been made aware that our very own Miss Americana, Taylor Swift, has announced her engagement to guy-on-the-Chiefs, Travis Kelce (sorry folks — you can’t get away from her, even here). While this is all very exciting for Swifties worldwide, it’s really the garden setting in which the proposal took place that has captivated even non-Swifties. Soft pinks and whites bloom ceremoniously around the cottage style garden, each belonging to a symbolic flower chosen serendipitously for the occasion.

Short, Sweet, Schizachyrium

The end of August heralds the end of summer, and with it comes an explosion of warm season grass seedheads preparing for their incredible textural display amidst the dewy fall morning air. Amongst these poetic Poaceae, our native bunchgrass, little bluestem, reigns supreme: upright blades of dusty blue embellished with striking purples, reds, maroons, oranges, and yellows paired with sideways sprays of fluffy seed plumes appearing as the daylight hours lessen and the temperatures fall, providing vertical structure and color everywhere from the naturalized meadow planting to the perennial cottage garden.

Horticulture for Honeybees

We love our novelty holidays here at Pleasant Run, especially ones celebrating the wonders of the natural world around us. August 16th, World Honeybee Day, is definitely one of the most deserving of novelty holidays, honoring our scruffy garden companions on each corner of the globe. This is not to be confused with World Bee Day on May 20th, which is dedicated to bee species of all shapes, sizes, and fluffiness. Honeybees belong specifically to Apis, the largest genus in the bee family, and are originally native to areas of Europe, Africa, and Asia, although their introduction as pollinating pets from country to country has helped them to proliferate on nearly every continent.

Despite their movement worldwide, human intervention and overdevelopment have significantly decreased honeybee populations, which have been impacted by factors such as pesticide use, habitat destruction, and introduced pathogens, resulting in a phenomenon of mass-scale bee deaths called Colony Collapse Disorder. While the EPA reports that instances of CCD have declined over the last five years, the threat remains at an all-time high due to the lack of available resources and the constant transport of pests and diseases brought in with international goods. One of the easiest ways to assist your local honeybee populations is to include plenty of beneficial food sources and eliminate the use of neonicotinoid pesticides.

Of course, it should be noted that not every source of pollen and nectar provides adequate nutrition. Honeybees, much like humans, require necessary quantities of proteins and carbohydrates for the colony to function properly. Incorporating a biodiverse selection of plants into our gardens and landscapes, limiting the use of monocultures, and utilizing only non-genetically modified selections are surefire methods of supporting your local honeybees. The female worker honeybees are responsible for foraging, gathering nectar and pollen for the hive, which are converted into honey and bee bread, a larval food source. It’s been found that some worker bees may be specialized to gather one or the other, and that some worker bees collect both pollen and nectar.

Honeybees tend to show favoritism towards certain flowering plants, visiting the same flower over and over to dutifully collect its bounty. Colony-wide, each bee visits a different flower, likely from a different plant, producing a nutritious medley of minerals, micronutrients, amino acids, vitamins, and metabolites. As it turns out, honey bees prefer plant nectar with a sugar concentration average between 30-50%, the optimal range closer to 60%, and their selections varying depending on the water content availability within their environmental nectar sources. Overly developed urban areas lacking green infrastructure critically reduce the resources available to honeybees and increase the risk of population decline if floral sources are scarce, monocultured, or unavailable altogether.

It’s been found that a colony that has access to multiple floral sources has a higher immunity to pathogens and an overall longer life span for worker bees. In their hunt for adequate resources, honey bees tend towards plant families with ornamentally significant members, including Fabaceae (the pea family), Asteraceae (the aster family), Apiaceae (the carrot family), Plantaginaceae (the veronica family), Fagaceae (the beech, chestnut, and oak family), Salicaceae (the willow family), Rosaceae (the rose family), Sapindaceae (the maple family), and Anacardiaceae (the sumac and cashew family).

Below is a helpful chart of plants that have been designated as beneficial forage for honeybees, although it is non-exhaustive and specific to the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Midwest, and Great Lakes regions, as well as the upper Southeast.

 

Patterns Reflected in Nature

Last weekend while conducting a horticultural therapy workshop including an activity focused on the creation of bouquets using native plants, the participants and I had a discussion on what makes a “good” bouquet versus a “bad” bouquet.  While explaining that odd numbers of things are considered more visually attractive to us than even numbered things, telling them to try to remember a ratio of 3 “thriller” flowers - 5 pieces of foliage - 8 pieces of filler, someone curiously asked, “Wait, but why is an odd number of flowers more attractive than an even amount?”

Digitalis: A Dazzling Dance with Death

With native pollinator plants claiming their throne as the kings and queens of ecologically-minded gardening and landscaping, some of the classic landscape selections that have held steadfast for centuries have started to wane in popularity, being outclassed by straight species endemic to their geographical zones and ignored for their “lack” of pollinator resources. Many non-native, non-problematic perennials and ornamental shrubs do, in fact, offer critical nectar resources for roving insects, especially in nutrient-poor ecosystems lacking in green infrastructure and design.

Some of these selections, such as compact and low-growing Nepeta ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ (PP31127) and fragrant, easy-growing Rosa rugosa are so heavily populated by buzzing bees that they could easily fool an unsuspecting plant novice into believing they’re beneficial natives.

Belonging to this eclectic group of non-native pollinator plants exists a genus of flowering perennials that have been utilized in medicinal, formal, cottage, pollinator gardens, and everything in between, starting in at least the mid-1500s and persisting into modern landscaping: the foxgloves, Digitalis.

Although Digitalis purpurea is typically the species that comes to mind when one thinks of foxgloves, there are actually over 20 species within the genus, each endemic to regions of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Considered biennials or short-lived perennials that are capable of seeding themselves into their landscapes, foxglove species most always produce towering, upright rosettes of bell-shaped flowers ranging from white to ivory, pink to purple and magenta, yellow to peach – there’s a foxglove color for nearly every palette imaginable.

The individual flowers are responsible for this plant’s namesakes, both common and scientific, referring to the bell-shape of the blooms as perfectly tailored mittens for sneaky foxes to tromp through henhouses without being detected by leery chickens. Digitalis, from the Latin digitale, meaning “finger-like” or “finger stall”, also refers to the shape of the flowers, which somewhat resemble thimbles, and are even called Finger-hut flowers in Germany for this reason. The Irish moniker for this plant is lus mór, pronounced lus-more, meaning “big flower”, although it is more commonly called Great Herb throughout Celtic botanical history.

Despite their known toxicity that makes foxgloves undesirable to rabbits and deer, Digitalis was historically used for treating heart failure due to the presence of a compound known as digoxin, which is still used today in small amounts for cardiac support. Be wary, though - ingesting even small amounts of foxglove leaves or flowers can result in hallucinations (not the fun kind), vomiting, cardiac arrhythmia, and death. Interestingly and somewhat conspicuously, the medicinal dosage versus the toxic dosage of Digitalis is eerily similar, making it all the more curious as a plant capable of reaching into both the physical and astral realms of human existence. It is perhaps this dance with death that has cemented Digitalis’ role as a magical plant, its folkloric history steeped with tales of the otherworld, of fairies and witches and unseen creatures. The bell-shaped flowers are said to be hiding spots for fairies, encouraging some esoteric gardeners to leave small amounts of honey and milk within the tiny vessels as gifts for the faefolk who watch over their gardens. It’s believed that a bent foxglove stalk indicates the presence of otherworldly beings who are sheltered within the blooms.

Fairies aren’t the only beings you may find visiting your foxglove flowers, however, as they are prime pickin’s for hungry bumblebees that can fit their entire hairy bodies into the flower cups. The lower lip of each individual bloom is appliqued with a landing strip designed to attract various bee species, specifically long-tongued bees, who begin their harvest by visiting the lowest and most open flowers first, making their way up the stalk to the closed upper blooms before starting the process over again on the next nearby foxglove. Digitalis flowers are rich in nectar, and despite not being native to North America, are still a favorite of our native bees who can be seen eagerly diving in and out of each bell-shaped bloom. As one watches a patch of Digitalis in bloom, they are greeted not only by African honeybees, but scruffy Bombus species of all types, hover flies, and even the rogue hummingbird delighting in the large trumpet-shaped blossoms.

The vertical stature and pronounced floral structure of Digitalis make it the perfect punctuating companion to the back of the perennial border or cottage garden, while its long-lasting bloomtime makes it suitable for fresh cut flower arrangements despite the Irish belief of never bringing foxgloves inside, as it was thought to bring misfortune to the household. Irish superstition aside, according to the Victorian Language of Flowers, gifting foxglove flowers symbolizes the notion of “insincerity”, although it may also signify one’s motivation: “I am ambitious for you, rather than for myself”, making a bouquet of the ostentatious blossoms either a thoughtful gift for cherished loved ones or a warning of deceitfulness. Regardless of their ultimate fate, whether it be for the cut flower garden, the pollinator garden, the witch’s garden, or as a protective bane planted outside a doorway or threshold, Digitalis is more than deserving of a revival in our North American landscapes.

Our foxgloves are in full bloom late in the season!

Add them to your next order, and the bees and fairies will thank you!

Digitalis purpurea ‘Dalmatian Peach’ #1 | (133)

Digitalis purpurea ‘Dalmatian Purple Improved’ #1 | (167)

Digitalis purpurea ‘Dalmatian Rose’ #1 | (206)

Digitalis purpurea ‘Dalmatian White Improved’' #1 | (137)

Digitalis purpurea ‘Foxy’' #1 | (179)