A recent tweet to the IMA asked the following : @imamuseum are the flower gardens still alive?

Now my first reaction I admit was –Well, what the hell do you think? Was there a nuclear holocaust I missed? But then the reasonable part of my brain kicked in and I figured they were probably really wondering about the annuals and tropicals. Most of these are indeed gone, either damaged by last week’s frost or removed so winter materials could go in.

You will still find a few that were not badly damaged or we simply have not got round to. Don’t let a little frost stop you from coming out to see some “flower gardens”.
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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Greenhouse, Horticulture

Though the weather has been scrumptious, it is the time of year for change in the garden. I don’t always like admitting it. I’m having to accept that my wonderful tropical season is nearly over.

That soon the land will be covered in a deathly blanket of brown and gray. All my intense oranges, bright pinks, and glowing chartreuses will be gone. GONE! Just like that.

And then, then I’m faced with life filled with neutrals. It’s almost too much to bear. Not that I don’t appreciate the change in the seasons, but come early February……. sheesh!

I usually wait until frost before removing annuals and tropicals, getting every last drop of summer beauty from the plants. Plus some of the plants I overwinter go dormant a bit better if they are hit by frost before digging – elephant ear (Colocasia, Alocasia), Canna, dahlia, and banana (Musa, Ensete) are good examples. All of these can spend the winter in a state of suspended animation in the basement. Tropicals that cannot tolerate cold and are kept growing over the winter do, of course, need to be dug before frost.

But if my tender plants are in a garden area that gets a winter treatment, well, you do what you must. Some years you cannot wait ’til frost and you have to respect the available time for doing the change-out. Thus was the case this week with Nonie’s Garden right in front of the main museum building entrance. Over a three day period, the garden went from summer glory to winter joy.

The garden had filled in rather nicely.

The salvias were in full bloom, the tall S. splendens “Van Houttei” and its dwarfer color echo, S. splendens “Vista Burgundy.”

The Justicia fulvicoma (Mexican plume) was at its peak.

Now, not everything was at its peak, I admit. The Leonotis leonurus  (lion’s ear) was just beginning to show color. The Hedychium “Tara” (ginger) I planted to fill space (and hoped might bloom despite a late planting) did fill space. It was not that great a summer for growing, even the tropicals.

On the other hand, the Colocasia esculenta “Elena” was beautiful.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Greenhouse, Horticulture

Our newest installation in 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks art and Nature Park, Mary Miss’ FLOW: Can You See the River?, is all about community engagement. What better way to talk about community efforts than by asking one of our partners to highlight some of the ways that they will be reaching out to people. The EcoLab at Marian University is just one of many partnerships brought about by Miss’ work and we are happy to have them share some opportunities that they will host over the next couple of days.

The Marian University Ecolab is 55 acres of wetlands, forest and prairie in the heart of Indianapolis. Besides being an incredibly diverse and beautiful area, the EcoLab is committed to environmental education through interaction with the environment.  We were very excited when Mary Miss approached us with an art-in-nature collaboration and knew it was a creative fit to our mission.  An art exhibition like this is another ingenious way to help connect the community to nature.  During FLOW week we are offering a number of FREE events, all of which will engage the visitor in his/her surroundings and help them see how “all property is riverfront property.”

FLOW-focused field trips: The EcoLab will be offering free FLOW-focused programs to school groups throughout festival week and will continue to offer similar programming through the duration of the installation. These programs will include a short presentation on the importance of the White River in our daily lives, a nature hike highlighting the several installation points on the EcoLab grounds, and a hands-on restoration project that will benefit our watershed.  For more information about how to schedule a FLOW program for your class during the week of the festival or anytime following, please contact Shannon Unger, Environmental Education Coordinator, at 317-524-7700 or sbigham-unger@marian.edu.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Local, Public Programs

Mary Miss has decidedly sparked many Indianapolis residents’ curiosities with the installation with her newest citywide project, FLOW: Can You See the River? with her unmistakable markers. Miss’s project hopes to make the local community aware of the White River’s functions, history and most notably, what we can do as area residents to be more aware and environmentally friendly. This project showcases the river, its watershed and how it sustains us. Mary Miss, who hails from New York, has done many projects of this scope that focus on the environment, history and sustainability.

The red fiberglass balls, juxtaposed against nature, serve as markers for points of ecological importance. The balls and mirrors (on certain markers) are complete audio descriptions that are accessible by cell phone, and links to the the project’s very own mobile app, Raindrop.  The descriptions inform and encourage visitors to recognize how their daily lives affect the White River, and conversely, how the White River and its history affects us.  (Coincidental note, the red balls were fabricated locally by artist Brian McCutcheon’s studio.  An exhibition of his work just opened at the IMA entitled, Out of this World featuring himself and his adorable son and muse, Angus).

This project extends beyond the markers with talks from Mary Miss herself and other local environmental groups. Through these collaborations, this exhibition moves beyond the museum for a truly citywide effect.

This project came upon me, an intern, in a very ambiguous form and in bits and pieces at the beginning of the summer –I did not know how these complex pieces would fall together.  Very quickly did my small part in the project become clearer as the spreadsheets and countless Word documents that I stored on my desktop had a course of action. The Mary Miss team had detailed the exact latitude and longitude of each of their markers.  Through the course of a few weeks, I input each individual marker into FLOW’s website, learning a lot a lot about a city I had recently become a new resident of. The end result is a map of Indianapolis covered in these red dots, these ecological points of importance. You may find one very close to your home or your workplace.

Come and mark the opening of Indianapolis’ very own ecological scavenger hunt (in a way) by participating in the Flow: Can You See the River? festival beginning today, along with the launch of the interactive map (and be sure to visit the website!).

Come to the IMA this evening for a talk by Mary Miss at 7pm in celebration of the opening. Join us earlier at 6pm for a reception in the lobby.

Filed under: Art, Art and Nature Park, Contemporary, Local

The moderate weather over the last couple weeks has been glorious. Just to get a break from the relentless 90s helped to heal the body and spirit. And the 60s at night? Oh my lands. Too wondrous for words. I think it did the plants as much good as it did me. Of course, I’d liked to have a bit more rain with the cooler temps, but if it had to stay dry I’ll take cooler and dry over hotter and dry. Sometimes you gotta bargain a bit with nature.

I wanted to touch back on a blog I wrote in January, the first one in 2011. In that blog I talked about Hydrangea paniculata Little Lime™.

This was a new cultivar from Proven Winners^® and Spring Meadow that was supposed to be more dwarf than “Limelight.” Well, according to my plant at home, it really is. I put a two or three gallon plant in last fall. As you may remember (it has been awhile), we had a very wet spring. Hydrangea paniculata prefers wet over dry. I also had mulched my garden with rabbit manure. My soil is already pretty good. Despite all those conditions for large growth I am happy to report my Little Lime™ is in full bloom and barely 2 feet tall. But look how wide it is compared to height. Very nice.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture