Tag Archives: history

Educational Opportunities, Horticulture History

Celebrating Fredrick Law Olmsted

by Karen McCarthy, Newburgh Master Gardener Volunteer

Logo: Olmsted 200, Celebrating Parks for All People (The 0s in the number 200 are trees.)Last year, 2022, marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of the father of American landscape architecture, social reformer, and author Fredrick Law Olmsted. For Olmsted 200 events were planned by the National Association of Olmsted  Parks, The Garden Clubs of America and many local garden groups. This year, the celebration continues.

Photo: Sepia photo of Olmsted in 1855
Frederick Law Olmsted in 1855

Olmsted was born to a family of wealthy merchants in Connecticut over 200 years ago on April 26, 1822.  He had a varied work career, eventually becoming passionate about gardens after a walking tour of the British Isles in 1850.  Exchanging ideas with Andrew Jackson Downing of Newburgh, New York, and his business partner, the English-born architect, Calvert Vaux was a turning point for Olmsted.  At the time Downing was the foremost writer on gardening and a promoter of public parks in America.   These men rejected the geometric gardens with formal, compartmentalized flower beds that conveyed the idea of man over nature.  They proposed instead the English garden style that had a more natural, informal flow of plants.  Rather than “conquer” they wished to “enhance” the beauty of a site.  They believed that free, open public parks could be a healing space, could combat the stress of the growing industrial cities and “civilize” individuals in a new nation.  Such parks would allow for healthy recreation and the quiet contemplation of nature.

Map of Central Park circa 1879
Map of Central Park circa 1879

Following the tragic death of Downing in 1852 in a steamship fire, Olmsted and Vaux teamed up to put these then innovative ideas into the many parks they designed, starting with Central Park in Manhattan.  Ponds were dug, swamps were drained, areas were flattened for open meadows, hills were built up and boulders were exposed or moved to make everything look “natural”, as if it had always been there.  Meandering pathways and carriage roads led up to views of informal gardens or groupings of trees, tying the park together. The design of plantings created an illusion of space and removed the visitor from the sights and sounds of the bustling city.  When possible, trees formed a natural periphery instead of fences.

A major part of the American park concept was “communitiveness”, a term Olmsted coined, meaning that the park was to serve the needs of the community. Parks were not intended only for the rich with carriages, as so often they had been in Europe.  Parks were planned as a democratic space where all society could meet and feel welcome. This “social democracy” of American parks is reflected in ”Parks for All People”, the theme of Olmsted 200.

Photo of an engraving of Olmsted in 1893. It is a profile of Omsted sitting wearing a dark jacket. He is an old man, bald on the top of his head with long white bear.
Fredrick Law Olmsted in 1893

In his lifetime Olmsted worked on some 500 commissions, including 100 parks,  200 estates and 40 academic and other institutions. Besides Central Park, Olmsted is associated with Prospect Park in Brooklyn, as well as parks in Boston, Albany, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Montreal, Louisville and so many other cities.  He was also a prolific writer although he claimed not to enjoy that part of his legacy.

During the Civil War Olmsted served as the Director of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, overseeing the health and medical supplies for the Union Army.  Much later in his career Olmsted worked as the site planner in the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago.  His work emphasized the importance of collaboration between engineers, architects, and landscape architects.

Photo: Various types of trees including a weeping willow on the grassy bank of a pond. The pond extends to the edge of the photo. Half of what you can see is reflecting the trees, the other half is covered with green algae.
Downing Park – Newburgh, NY

Central Park in Manhattan, designed in 1857, was Olmsted’s first park.  His last design was Downing Park in Newburgh, in 1895, also done with Calvert Vaux, Vaux’s son, Downing Vaux and Olmsted’s stepson, John Charles Olmsted.  This small (35 acres) park, set on a former farm acquired by the City of Newburgh, is the only park designed for free as a memorial to Olmsted and Vaux’s acknowledged mentor, Andrew Jackson Downing.  It includes all the features of Central Park in miniature:  a water feature, meandering pathways and roads that lead to views of the Hudson River, hills, boulders, informal gardens and a “great lawn” for informal recreation and community events.  In recent years Downing Park has been a “stand in” for Central Park in several films.

Photo: Trees on the grassy bank of a pond. The trees are varying shades of green with one dark purple colored tree. A bright blue sky with several white clouds takes up the top half of the photo. The runs to the bottom of the photo and the trees and sky are reflected in it.
Downing Park – Newburgh, NY

Once maintained by 30 gardeners, Downing Park now is a completely volunteer effort.  The Garden Club of Orange and Dutchess Counties has been working with the Downing Park Planning Committee through a grant to restore the area of the amphitheater by trimming healthy trees and removing dying trees. A thousand daffodils were planted by adults and school children in the fall of 2021. These daffodils bloomed in time for the Olmsted 200 Celebration in Downing Park on Saturday, April 23, 2022.

The celebration continues, learn more about Olmsted and upcoming events that celebrate his legacy.

Learn More

Upcoming Events

Webinars

Thursday, February 9, 2023 @ 6:00 pm

Tuesday, April 25, 2023 @ 2:00 pm

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Guided Tours and Exhibition
Gardening Knowledge

Is Broccoli Man-Made?

by Joan Kean, Pine Bush Master Gardener Volunteer

Head of broccoli growing on a broccoli plantIs broccoli man-made?  This was a question recently posed to me by a newcomer to the Community Garden that I frequent.  I had no idea as to the correct answer, so I told the gentleman that I would have to research the topic and would share the results with him as soon as possible.  What follows in this article are the results of my research.

While there are many edible plants that can be foraged in the wild (i.e. asparagus, berries, onions, etc.), broccoli is not one of them.  Broccoli is in fact a human invention.  It is not known exactly how many years ago broccoli was created, but it is believed that early varieties of this plant were cultivated in the Mediterranean region during the Roman Empire in the 6th century BCE.  After its creation over 2000 years ago, broccoli continued to be improved through artificial selection in parts of what is now Italy.  Then in 16th century broccoli was introduced in other parts of Europe which eventually lead to cultivation in those areas.  Although broccoli was brought over the United States in the 17th century it was not grown commercially until the 1920s.

Drawing of Brassica oleracea highlighting th leaf, flower, and root structure
A wild variety of Brassica oleracea

Broccoli is a derivative of the Brassica oleracea, also known as wild cabbage or wild mustard.  The leaves, stems and flowering heads of wild mustard are edible, but bitter.  In an effort to improve its palatability, farmers identified characteristics in some wild mustard plants that they wanted to keep and planted seeds from those plants, gradually emphasizing certain traits. This process is a type of genetic modification known as selective breeding or artificial selection.

Selective breeding is an extensive and lengthy process.  Plants with favorable characteristics such as larger or tastier fruits and/or greater yield are propagated.  Propagation is not only achieved by seed from the desired plants, but also from asexual propagation from cuttings, grafting, layering, etc.   Eventually a plant is produced that has the desired characteristics and when reproduced retains those unique characteristics.   This new plant is considered a cultivar and has a genetic makeup that differs from the wild type of the plant.

The obvious disadvantage of selective breeding is that it is a very long and laborious process, requiring many years to obtain the desired results.  Yet selective breeding is an important process as it is not only used to improve taste and yield, but also to obtain plants that are more resistant to disease and pests as well as withstand harsh environmental conditions, such as low temperatures, drought, wind, and salinity.

Diagram: HIghlighting the parts of the wild mustard plant (Brassica oleracea) that were selectively breed to create cabbage (terminal leaf bud), kale (leaves), broccoli (flower buds/stem, and cauliflower (flower buds)Many of the vegetables included in the Brassiceae family are not actually different species, just cultivars of wild mustard.  Plants with a large terminal bud were bred to produce cabbage.  Plants with desirable leaves eventually became kale and collard greens.  Brussels sprouts were developed from plants with large lateral buds while those with larger stems became kohlrabi.  In the case of broccoli and cauliflower, the flowers were the focus.

Just as broccoli is man-made, all the fruits and vegetables you see in the grocery store today are all a result of thousands of years of genetic manipulation.

Learn More

Crop Breeding – Crop Science Society of America
A great primer on plant breeding – what it is, how it is done, how it affects you.

How to Make a GMO – Science in the News – Harvard University
A great primer on how genetically modified organisms are created using genetic engineering.

VIDEO: Everything is Broccoli – Science in Real Life
A bit technical, but highly entertaining and educational video!

Wild Greens – Academy of Nutrients and Dietetics
Nutritional information about several wild greens that you can forage in your own backyard.

 

Uncategorized

The Story of Kudzu

The Story of Kudzu: From Exotic Rarity to Unwanted Invasive

By Cecille Jones, Monroe Master Gardener Volunteer

This article appeared in the December 2020 / January 2021 Issue of Gardening in Orange County.

Kudzo blanketing a natural area covering bushes tall trees and open ground
Without natural pests and plants to keep its growth in check, the non-native, invasive kudzu has overtaken this swath of land, destroying biodiversity and altering native habitats.

Today, we know kudzu (Pueraria montana) as an invasive vine, an unwanted interloper.  Nicknamed the Vine That Ate the South or the foot-a-night vine, poet James Dickie labeled it a vegetable form of cancer.

This climbing vine flourishes in the Southeast, where heat and humidity provide a paradise for the perennial legume. Today, kudzu has covered millions of acres of land, trees and abandoned buildings and has been spotted as far north as New York and Massachusetts. Non-native and aggressive, kudzu can lead to the extinction of native plants, destroy biodiversity and permanently alter habitats.

Map of kudzu range
Kudzu’s current range

As reviled as it is today, kudzu’s reputation didn’t start out that way. Kudzu made its American debut in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Thirty-seven countries participated in the 100-year celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and nearly 10 million people showed up. At the Japanese pavilion, people admired the exotic rarity called kudzu.

Purple flower of the kudzu plant
Kudzu flower

From there, kudzu was marketed in the Southeast as an ornamental vine meant to shade porches with fragrant flowers. By the 1920s, Charles and Lillie Pleas of the Glen Arden Nursery in Florida discovered that animals would eat kudzu and so they promoted it as forage as well.

A decade later, severe drought and incorrect farming methods helped to create the Dust Bowl. Turning to kudzu to control soil erosion and feed cattle, the government distributed up to 85 million seedlings and paid farmers as much as $8 an acre to plant kudzu. By 1946, there were three million acres of kudzu.

Meanwhile, Channing Cope became the plant’s most famous advocate. Through his daily radio program, he promoted the virtues of “the miracle vine.” At the height of its popularity, there were kudzu beauty contests, clubs, and even recipes.

Much to Cope’s disappointment, in 1953, the USDA removed kudzu from its list of recommended cover plants. By 1970, it was classified as a weed. Seven years later, kudzu made the Federal Noxious Weed List.

Herd of goats grazing on kudzu. THe trees are still coered, but the ground is bare.Today, the cost to control and combat this invasive plant runs in the millions of dollars annually. From herbicides to persistent clearing, scientists have also discovered that Angora goats take to kudzu like candy. Perhaps it’s time to call in the goat busters?

Read more about Kudzu

Kudzu – New York Invasive Species Information

Lessons Learned from Six Years of Kudzu Research – New York State Integrated Pest Management Program

The True Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Never Truly Ate the South – Smithsonian Magazine