January 2008
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January 9
Bus Trip: Farmer Day at the Pennsylvania Farm Show
Wednesday, January 9, 8:30 am to approx. 6 pm
Departs from Scott Arboretum Offices
Experience Farmer Day at the Pennsylvania Farm Show! Agriculture has been Pennsylvania's leading industry for centuries. Since colonial days, farmers have been gathering to share information about their crops and livestock, compare notes on cultivation methods, and complain about the weather. Pennsylvania's founder, William Penn, organized an agricultural show in Philadelphia as early as 1686.
The concept of a farm show built around an educational theme, rather than a commercial one, appears to have originated in Scotland in the late 1700s. Pennsylvania's first statewide agricultural exposition (State Fair) was held in Harrisburg in 1851 and in addition to all types of livestock, wheat, beets, cabbage, carrots, celery, tobacco, apples, pears, peaches, grapes, wine, quinces, sweet potatoes, evergreens, cherries, lemons, oranges, cotton, jellies, butter, honey, bread, and cut flowers were also shown. In 1929, money was appropriated to build a Farm Show Building in Harrisburg which opened on January 19, 1931. Today the building is comprised of one million square feet of space under one continuous roof - the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show is the largest indoor agricultural event in the United States. It continues to focus on excellence in agriculture and provides over $300,000 in premiums to winning participants. We’ll start the morning off with a “behind the scenes” tour with the executive staff of the Farm Show. We’ll eat lunch in the food court which offers a variety of Pennsylvania products, from mushrooms to honey ice cream and even trout chowder. There will be plenty of time to explore all the activities of Farmer Day on your own before returning to Swarthmore. Registration is limited to 35 and includes transportation, beverages, and snacks. Please bring money to purchase lunch in the Farm Show Food Court and dress with comfortable shoes for walking.
Members: $ 45
Nonmembers: $ 55
January 12
A Winter Celebration: Botanical Expedition to Arunachal Pradesh, India
Saturday, January 12, 5 to 8 pm
Science Center 101 and Eldridge Commons
This popular evening is just the thing to beat the mid-winter blues. Join Harold Sweetman as he highlights his trekking adventures to one of the most remote regions in the world. Harold was fortunate to be invited to join an international botanical expedition to Aranachal Pradesh, India in October 2005. This remote mountainous region in the high Himalayas borders on Tibet and was never visited by the famous plant hunters of the past century. On a single three-day ascent to 13,000 feet, more than 40 different species of rhododendrons were identified. Expedition leader, Kenneth Cox, is a world authority on rhododendron species, an experienced plant hunter and has been on more than a dozen plant hunting trips. The scenery was spectacular with the towering summit of Namcha Barwa (25,531 feet) on the Tibet border visible in the distance. The great diversity of plants, as well as a rare glimpse into tribal culture in these high Himalayas was truly remarkable. Invitations will be mailed to members; nonmembers should contact the Arboretum Offices to receive information. Advance registration is required.
The cost is $40 for lecture and hors d'oeuvres.
~Harold E. Sweetman is the Executive Director of Jenkins Arboretum, a 46-acre public garden in Devon, Pennsylvania. Harold has been the Director since 1986 and oversees the development of the Arboretum's extensive collections of species and hybrid rhododendrons and azaleas. He also traveled to remote regions of Yunnan in Western China in 1993 to collect rhododendron species in the high Himalayas bordering Tibet and has established a successful propagation program to expand the botanical diversity within the Arboretum's permanent collections.
January 13
Guided Tour: A Winter Walk
Sunday, January 13, 1 to 3 pm
Tours depart from the Scott Arboretum Offices and are free and open to the public.
Join Shari Edelson, Curatorial Intern of the Scott Arboretum, for a free tour of the Scott Arboretum. See the winter wonderland of plants at the Scott Arboretum. The tour will begin at the Scott Arboretum Offices and is free and open to the public. In case of inclement weather, the tour will be canceled. For more information, please call the Scott Arboretum Offices at 610-328-8025.
January 14
Guided Tour: A Walk with the Curator
Monday, January 14, 2:30 - 3:30 pm
Tours depart from the Scott Arboretum Offices and are free and open to the public.
Join Andrew Bunting, Curator of the Scott Arboretum, for a new series of free tours at the Scott Arboretum. "A Walk with the Curator" program, previously only available to interns of the Scott Arboretum, provides an in-depth look at the collections, gardens, and plant selections through the eyes of the man responsible for curating the collection. Andrew Bunting will discuss the most recent accessions acquired for the collection, why plants were removed from the collection and maybe should be removed from your garden, as well as the latest garden designs at the Scott Arboretum. The tours are one Monday each month from 2:30 to 3:30 pm, and the topics are the curator's preference.
The tour will begin at the Scott Arboretum Offices and is free and open to the public. In case of inclement weather, the tour will be canceled. For more information, please call the Scott Arboretum Offices at 610-328-8025.
January 27
Lecture: Landscape Principles for Water Gardening
Sunday, January 27, 2 pm
Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema
This is the Joanne Walkovic Memorial Lecture for the Hardy Plant Society/Mid-Atlantic Chapter, our co-sponsors for this event.
A water garden may have water and different plants than your perennial border. Just the same, tried-and-true design principles of structure, form, and filler are always important, as much as color and combination. Learn from expert, Greg Speichert, how to put these fundamental landscape principles into practice for water gardening, too.
Greg Speichert is a distinguished speaker, educator, writer, consultant, breeder, and grower. He frequently lectures on how to grow, identify, and landscape with water plants, perennials, and tropical plants. He is currently chief horticulturist and landscape manager for Aramark Management Services, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois. He is charged with administering the Chicago Christian Industrial League, which teaches ex-felons and ex-addicts new life skills in horticulture and landscape, including the planting and maintenance of major landscape elements of the City of Chicago. He and his wife, Sue, founded Crystal Palace Perennials in 1989, which specialized in high quality water plants, and had the business until 2003. Greg has introduced several cultivars of perennials, annuals, and over 300 hardy and tropical marginals to the water gardening industry. He also introduced over 200 new cultivars of lotus from China and wrote the Encyclopedia of Water Garden Plants (Timber Press, April 2004). He is the author of Ortho’s All About Water Gardening (Ortho Books, January 2001) and co-author of Water Gardening in Containers with Helen Nash (Sterling Publications, Inc., August 1996). He frequently instructs courses on perennials, shrubs, annuals, bulbs, and water plants at Chicago Botanic Garden and the Morton Arboretum.
January 31
Lunchtime Lecture: Sweden's 300th Birthday of Carl von Linne', and the gardens and palaces of St. Petersburg, Russia
Thursday, January 31 from Noon to 1 pm
Free and Open to the Public
Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema
Join Joe Henderson, gardener at Chanticleer, and Jeff Jabco, Coordinator of Horticulture for the Scott Arboretum, to learn about Linnaeus' birthday celebration in Sweden and the botanical classification system he initiated. Then travel across the Baltic Sea to St. Petersburg, Russia to see the public landscapes, tour the city, and spend some time at the Summer Palace, Peterhof, famous for its formal garden layout and hundreds of water fountains.
Bring a bag lunch and join staff and guests of the Scott Arboretum for a visual tour of their travels to beautiful places. Free and open to the public, lunchtime lectures are an informal way to share what has been seen and discovered in various gardens and natural landscapes both in the United States and abroad.