October - UT Gardens - The University of Tennessee

Longtime Friend Dr. Alan Solomon, a researcher
at the UT Graduate School of Medicine, has been
awarded a five-year renewal of a grant from the
National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer
Institute. Dr. Solomon is professor of medicine and
director of the Human Immunology and Cancer/
Alzheimer’s Disease and Amyloid-Related Disorders
Research Program. He has devoted 42 years to
the study, diagnosis and treatment of cancer and
amyloidosis. The grant is one of the longest active
NIH grants in NIH history and is the longest running
NIH grant in UT history. Originally awarded to Dr.
Solomon in 1965, the grant has been renewed
continually for the past 42 years and has provided
more than $12 million to fund Dr. Solomon’s work
at UT. Congratulations Dr. Solomon!
A new book collects 132 gardening columns of
Elizabeth Lawrence. Beautiful at All Seasons:
Southern Gardening and Beyond is edited by Ann
L. Armstrong and Lindie Wilson. Ms. Wilson has been
the owner and steward of Lawrence’s former home
and garden in Charlotte, N.C., for 20 years. The new
book showcases Lawrence’s vast knowledge, her
intimate, conversational writing style and her lifelong
celebration of gardens and gardening. For more
information visit www.elizabethlawrence.org.
In September, 68-year-old self-taught topiary
artist Pearl Fryar visited Knoxville as guest of
the Knoxville Museum of Art and the Knoxville
Botanical Garden. Fryar was discovered in
Bishopville, S.C., by Polly Laffitte, then curator
of art for the South Carolina State Museum. Ms.
Laffitte is now associate director of development
for the College of Arts and Sciences at UT. She
also directed photography for the documentary
“A Man Named Pearl,” which showed at Downtown
West in early September for a limited but well
received run.
Virginia Tech will establish a terrace garden at the
Hahn Horticulture Garden in memory of Jocelyne
Couture-Nowak, a victim of the April 16 shootings
and the wife of Jerzy Nowak, head of the
Horticulture Department at Virginia Tech. She was
an avid gardener and a French instructor at the
college.
We are always happy to include news about
members and gardening-related events. Please send
contributions to friendsoftheutgardens@utk.edu.
Letters
From Kerrie Wetzel Bradford, a UT 1999
alumna from Ornamental Horticulture and
Landscape Design who is now a teacher of agriculture
in Kingsport. She recently wrote eTorch,
the online alumni newsletter, along with many
other UT alumni to praise their best teachers.
Her choice was Dr. Don Williams:
“It was a real privilege to be a part of Dr.
Williams’s class. He was true to his profession
and fair in the classroom. He expected us all
to work as equals, even us girls in his landscape
construction class. He not only inspired
me professionally, but personally as well,
when he would open his home and family
life to us each semester for a department
social at his home. Because of him, I chose to
pursue teaching agriculture as a career, and
I strive to touch at least one person’s life like
he did mine. His passing was a true loss for
UT.” It was, indeed.
From new Sponsoring Friend Connie Gonzalez:
“The Gardens have been transformed since
I visited them a year ago. I did not realize
I could become a Friend of the Garden but
from now on my husband and I will be
contributors.”
From UT President Emeritus Dr. Joe Johnson
to executive director Theresa Pepin:
“Pat and I had a wonderful time on Sunday
afternoon, June 24, at the current year’s
Blooms Days Event. You, Mary Spengler,
Mary Collins-Shepard, John Hodges, Susan
Hamilton, and other fine volunteers of the
Friends of the Gardens did a grand job, even
though you had to work around the much
sought after new and impressive entrance.
Pat and I wandered, looked, appreciated
and enjoyed the beauty of the Gardens. We
shopped and bought two items and had cones
of ice cream. Thank you and your associates
for great and important work and leadership.”
Friends’ Gardens Reports
The Friends email inbox and listserv received
several comments from members about their
experiences in this year of the “frozen fries”—the
Easter Sunday freeze and the interminable
drought and heat that followed:
From Peggy Tippens, master gardener and owner
of Garden Bouquets & More:
In the last five months, we have had really weird
weather—a zapping freeze in April followed by
extreme summer heat and drought. Leaves now fall
on parched ground weeks before autumn is due to
arrive. Rain is scarce and seems to miss our street
when it does come. We experience patience and
perseverance when dealing with Mother Nature. But
there is good news. Nothing in our yard died. Yes,
the freeze nipped foliage on some roses, hydrangeas
and Japanese maples, but others came through
with no damage at all. Most trees, shrubs and perennials
were fine. We live on a hill with open exposure.
Most of our two acres is in full sun. It is hard
to understand why two blue ‘Nikko’ hydrangeas
had to be pruned back but two others produced
beautiful blossoms on schedule. The ‘Limelights,’
‘Annabelle’ and ‘Snowflakes’ are a bit late blooming
but snubbed their noses at the freeze. ‘Pee Gee’ and
‘Snow Queen’ appear healthy but blooms scarce.
Our collections of hollies, viburnums, nandinas
and magnolias were unaffected by the cold. Only
one ‘Sieboldi’ magnolia and one Viburnum ‘shasta
tomentosa’ were stressed. Both are still fighting to
recover due to brutal temperatures.
I believe two factors were involved in successful
recovery from the stress on plants of extreme cold
followed by extreme heat: First, WATER. If healthy
plants were well hydrated before the freeze, they
were quicker to recover. Professional experts
immediately advised not to prune back damaged
plants, to wait until the plant was no longer in
shock. Also, water well and continue watering as
needed while plants recovered. That factor worked
for us. With a small garden business, Richard and
I were already doing our scheduled irrigating and
maintenance chores.
The second factor is placement or exposure in
the landscape. It is interesting that neither protective
fences, trees nor the house served as barriers
from the freeze. Some unprotected plants were
not affected while some with less exposure got
zapped. Richard thinks the success or failure of a
plant is in its genes. Who knows? We are fortunate
that, although blooms were a bit late, everything is
alive and coping. The gardens are a joy so we are
counting our blessings.
From Laura Kreuzer, community calendar volunteer
for the Friends:
I live in a condo and garden in large tubs and lots
of big pots. I also have several water gardens that
have become very popular with the local bird population.
My regular customers are wrens and a dove
or two. But this summer I had everything from huge
crows to cardinals, robins and lots of hummers
taking advantage of the water supply. Quite a few
butterflies, too, along with ground squirrels and
regular squirrels.
I keep several big clay saucers filled with water and
those seem to be the most popular for bathing. A
small fountain that drips streams of water down
several levels is popular with the hummers. They
hover and drink from the streams. Thanks to
the birds, I have no bugs this year and no slugs,
because the birds usually stick around for a
free meal after getting a drink. I run a full service
bird spa!
From Sandi Burdick, owner of a large garden in
South Knoxville and chair of the Secret Gardens
2007:
Every crape myrtle in our yard, whether it is a
giant or one of the dwarfs, has bloomed more
profusely this year than ever. Although they all
suffered some dieback from the Easter Sunday
freeze, the blooms below the dead limbs are
smothered in gorgeous, colorful flowers. I only
recently cut the dead limbs off.
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