My tropicals at home are probably not thrilled with the cooler temperatures, but must be beside themselves with joy at not relying on me for water. I tended to be a bit stingy with it. As you may remember, about two minutes after watering plants the soil seemed as dry as before. It got to be quite a chore. And I’ve been fearing the monthly water bill ever since the drought started in earnest. Here at the IMA it was much easier to keep things hydrated, but to this day I confess there seems to be something different when the water comes from the clouds rather than the hoses.

Fall color is starting to kick in. At first glance it kinda surprises me. Then I remember tomorrow is October. I think it was so damn hot for so damn long that it’s still a little hard to believe change is possible. These ash in the main parking lot really caught my eye this week.

I don’t remember them in this completely red phase in past years. That does not in any way mean they have not done it every year. I just don’t remember if they have. Yea, they’ll probably succumb to the borers eventually.

I love unexpected surprises…… duh, like a surprise should be expected. Anyway, when I was walking about I found these Liatris in the Overlook. They have superb fall color, especially for a perennial.

They were providing a color echo for nearby oak leaf hydrangeas.

And of course there are the fall blooming perennials as well.

Not that either the plants or I have given up on summer. There is still tropical splendor and color all over the gardens.

Melissa is happy to be helping the environment.

Gardeners tend to be collectors with nurturing and thrifty natures.  These temperaments usually lead to garages and sheds chock full of flower pots that are “too good to throw away.”  The staff of the IMA Greenhouse and volunteers from the Horticultural Society would like to help you clear out the excess inventory with our annual pot recycling day.  We are particularly seeking those types of pots and flats we use regularly, including clay pots in any size, 4.5” plastic pots and smaller nursery pots.

In recent years, these donated pots have saved the Greenhouse thousands of dollars in new container purchases, allowing us to put our limited funds to better use.  As petrochemical costs continue to rise, plastic pot prices have skyrocketed.  Add in the cost of freight and terra cotta pots have gone up considerably, as well.  We are helping prevent limited resources and energy from going to the production of new pots.  Reusing the containers also keeps pounds of plastic out of the waste stream.  It is estimated that a 1 gallon plastic pot might take 200 years to breakdown.

We also get warm fuzzy feelings from sharing! There are times when more materials than we are able to use and store have been donated.  After past recycling events, we have shared with other not-for- profit groups including the IUPUI Greenhouse, Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Marion County Master Gardeners and Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society.  Also many items have been returned to the growers to help them keep their costs down so we can provide better prices to our shoppers!

Carole up to her elbows in reclaimed pots.

On Saturday, October 1 from 10:00 – 1:00pm your pots can be dropped in the Greenhouse parking lot.  You will be greeted by friendly volunteers from the IMA Horticultural Society.  The volunteers will sort, stack and sanitize the incoming pots to ready for reuse.  These folks literally get up to their elbows in this work.  Stop by with your donations and visit awhile. The weather forecast is for a bright sunny day and I can guarantee that the volunteers will have a sunny disposition, too.  For more information, please call 317-920-2652.

Want to create a paradise for your feathered friends? The IMA Greenhouse has an exciting new product for you…a Green Roof Birdhouse. You can actually plant a living garden in the rooftop tray of this cedar home for birds.

In order to create this home for your feathered friends, simply follow these step-by-step instructions:

First soak the wood with water, as well as the potting soil you’re going to use.

Add soil to the roof tray until it comes to within ½” of the top.

Take cuttings from a plant, hydrate the roots, and “stick” the cutting in the soil.

Add cuttings as desired.

Choose a contrasting plant, prepare a hole for the roots and plant. Continue adding plant material that pleases you. Remember to choose plants that have similar cultural requirements.

And know when to stop!

Spritz well with water to clean the soil from the leaves and water the plant roots thoroughly.

When your masterpiece is finished spritz well daily, or when the soil is dry to the touch, gently soak the plants. When planted, a Green Roof Birdhouse is so beautiful, you may want to display it indoors as a living object d’art! But if your birdhouse is really “for the birds,” it comes with two heavy-duty brass screws for fastening to a wall, fence or tree trunk. There is a side panel that swings open for easy cleaning.

When Rachel Carson wrote her iconic book Silent Spring (1962) some say she launched the entire American environmental movement. Others say it began with Henry David Thoreau’s Maine Woods published in the late 1800’s. But whenever the movement started, we can all agree…GREEN is here to stay!

Yellow and blue always look good together in the garden. Here we have Iris pallida with a beautiful columbine.

White and blue look good too, this time Brunnera and Tiarella (false forget-me-not and foamflower).

The Tiarella is lovely on its own.

One of the best groundcover type perennials, Epimedium x versicolor “Sulphureum” (barrenwort).

Though they are in nearly every shade garden I still love hostas. Look of the variety of colors, growth habits, and sizes.

Gallium odoratum (sweet woodruff) a charming woodland plant.

Hellebores (Lenten rose) and Heucheras (coralbell) are two of the toughest perennials. These are Hellebore “Red Lady” and Heuchera “Frosted Violet” but we will have lots of varieties of both these species.

One of my favorite heucheras is “Caramel.” I love the coppery buff color of the leaves. Here it is with our native columbine.

And here it is with the columbine and an orange Primula (primrose).

I wish I had time to show you some more but I gotta get back to setting up for this weekend. See you in the sales yard.

So what to do instead? I was looking at the plants in my window and thinking that would be a good start. I brought several things in from home so I would be sure to take good care of them. It’s hard to ignore an Abutilon gasping for water when you can see it for eight-plus hours a day. And it is really paying off. The windows face…. What direction do they face? Just a second I’ll ask Chad. South. They face south. I actually figured that out before I asked him. But I did ask just to be sure. No wonder the plants are happy. That’s the Number One direction for a winter plant window in the Midwest. Hmmm, I’ll be damned. Isn’t that fortunate? Beats the hell out of a cubicle. Not that there’s anything wrong with a cubicle. But let’s go on.

Number one on my list of window plants that are making me super happy despite the crappy weather is Euphorbia fulgens.

Scarlet Plume appears to be the common name. I guess it does have a scarlet flower but it’s not a plume. Or not my idea of a plume. Anyway, it has beautiful burgundy leaves all year so it makes a great plant for containers in summer. I love the color and texture.

Don’t forget about texture when designing your gardens and containers. But if you bring Euphorbia fulgens in for the winter you get the flowers too. Now mind you, I’m not one for buying winter blooming plants as a rule. I just fail too often to keep them happy enough to bloom. We don’t even have to talk about the not keeping them happy enough to live. That’s a whole nother issue. When I’m plant shopping, if it is described as winter-blooming? Shooooot, I just automatically skip it, unless it has great foliage of course.

Back to the Euphorbia. I got my first one in 2008 from Baker’s Acres in Ohio (go there!). I killed it come winter. But Sue Nord at our IMA Greenhouse got one too. It was probably a two feet tall bush at the time I killed mine. And come that January it was blooming. Gorgeous scarlet red flowers. I had to have it. I got two more small plants from the Greenhouse (propagated from cuttings) in late winter/early spring 2009 but killed them – I think I actually over-watered them. People that know my overwintering regime know this fact is truly amazing as I am famous (or infamous) for not watering from November to May. You cull the weak stuff right fast that way, trust me. Anyhow, they died.

So in Spring 2010 I bought three more. Obviously I had to have the plant. I put each in its own container because I knew I wanted to save them and this way I didn’t have to re-pot or anything at the end of the season. I even added granite grit to the soil to increase drainage. The drowning still haunted me a bit. This stuff is great for any plant that needs extra drainage. I use it in all my succulent pots anymore. Not that you have to have it. It’s just nice in my opinion. It’s sold for feeding poultry.

You know the term “rare as hen’s teeth”? Well that’s because chickens don’t have teeth. They grind their food in their gizzard. The grit in the gizzard helps grind it all up. Now if your chickens are running loose they will get little rocks and the like from the soil. But if they are confined then it’s a good idea to supplement with some grit. I bet you all were just dying to have some chicken knowledge dropped on you. Better chicken knowledge than chicken poop, I say.

Back to the plants. I noticed buds forming on my plants a month ago I bet, maybe longer. Two weeks ago they started blooming. All three plants have blooms and more buds coming. Unfortunately, they face south toward that sunlight. But they are right pretty from the backside.

Look at this:

Doesn’t it just seem to say “Please. Please let me have some sun. I need some sun. Sun. Sun? Where are you, Sun?” Took the words right out of my mouth.  Oh, I meant to talk about more plants but I’m already past 900 words. And shoot we need a video. I was feeling kinda blah until I really started looking at the Euphorbia fulgens. But now, why I think this will chase away the last bit of those winter blues.

With that, we are pleased to announce the new and improved online Shop Section:

With the launch of the online shop, users (that’s you) will now be able to purchase tickets and memberships right along side any books, cards, or jewelry you may decide to buy.  Whether you’re shopping the IMA Store, the Design Center, or the Greenhouse Shop, you’ll immediately receive a 10% membership discount on items when you are purchasing a membership.  If you already have a membership, you will just need to login to take advantage of the discount.

The shop also received a dramatic visual overhaul, bringing featured products and categories to the front.  And all based on the 960 grid system as previously discussed by Matt. Happy shopping!

The first plants that make me think along these lines are the hostas. Hostas as many of you know are THE perennial foliage plant. Who knows how many amateur breeders are out there, spreading pollen from flower to flower in hopes of creating the next “great one”. The more advanced are using irradiation on seeds. Plus they mutate more than fruit flies living at Chernobyl. There are probably 20 million cultivars. Blue ones. Yellow ones. Green and white ones. Green and yellow ones. Blue and white ones. Blue and yellow ones. Blue, green, and white ones. Blue, green, and yellow ones. Green ones. Giant ones. Miniature ones. Some want more shade. Some want more sun. But very few are grown for their flowers. In fact many look much better if you deadhead them while in bud. But some of them, some of them you grow for the flowers. One of my favorites is the August lily, Hosta plantaginea ‘Grandiflora, with its giant white flowers smelling sweeter than a French whore in Casablanca on Saturday night.

The bright green foliage is reasonably sun tolerant also. This antique favorite is a must have for an evening garden and hard to do without in any garden. This plant has been used in the creation of several hostas with delightfully scented blooms. Another plain green hosta, this time a darker green, that I like for the flowers is Hosta clausa.

The blooms never open but remain in a beautiful urn shape. The flowering stems are also bright magenta/purple. I would love to see someone working in a cross of this one with H. plantaginea. Can you imagine the purple color of clausa with the bloom size and fragrance of plantaginea?  Oooo la la (in keeping with the French whore theme). An added bonus with clausa is it spreads by runners so you could have a very nice groundcover as well. Both plants are great cut flowers too.

My love of tropicals causes me much angst, teeth gnashing, fret, and worry as the forecast temperatures drop closer and closer to that all important point of no return – frost. Frost, the very word can cause expletives to fall out of my mouth faster than the leaves off the trees. I just need one more week to get the house organized to handle the sudden onslaught of tropical immigrants.  One more week-end to wash the bugs off before the plants come inside. One more day to label the dahlias before the frost makes them all look like the same pile of black mush. One more hour of daylight so I can dig the really tender stuff that can’t even take a light frost. It’s hell. And every year I say I will do less but then this one is just too pretty and that one has a really good mature structure and the other one was so hard to find and….. Get the picture?

But there is one tropical I can leave out in the garden, a banana no less. Musa basjoo, the Japanese fiber banana, or more simply stated, the hardy banana. In truth it is not the only banana that is rated as a zone 5 plant but it is the most commonly available. I’ve only attempted one other species to no avail. Musa basjoo has survived in my friend Terry’s garden on the Southside for 5 years. Usually the largest stalk from the previous year rots out over winter but the surrounding smaller growing points come back and create a very nice clump. Ours at the IMA has been in the ground 2 years. It admittedly is planted in a very protected site between the greenhouses.

Mine at home went in the ground in late May this year but is already nearly 10 feet tall with 3 new stalks 4 to 6 feet tall.

I will mulch heavily come freezing weather. I have a second one that went in much later and in more shade with less moisture. It doesn’t look as promising for survival. I may dig it and put it in the basement and try again next year. See what I mean? There’s another one to be dug. The big advantage of course is that it can be overwintered dormant. Oh, and I bought 2 in August on super sale at Lowe’s for $3.50 each. I just moved them to bigger pots instead of putting them in the ground. That’s 2 more to the basement. Oh yea, I’m cutting way back this year.

In many ways museums have been required to wear many hats for a while now. They have found themselves in precarious places, needing to get a piece of that proverbial cash pie, necessitating competition with movies, sporting events, zoos and other, much flashier leisure time attractions. This unfamiliar and uncomfortable competition led to horrible things like the invention of the word “edu-tainment.” As a museum educator turned new media super-star I have seen this scenario from a couple of angles. One was the need to tie everything a museum did to some educational goal that had to do with something more obviously valuable than “art.” Art and science, art and math: boy, were art museums thankful for da Vinci! Of course, for many of us, a more enlightened 21^st century point of view has evolved and now we are comfortable asserting that art is valuable, all by itself. Learning about art and how people make it is a worthwhile endeavor for every man, woman and child, and sometimes by chance, or even on purpose, art actually relates to those other things that kids learn in school.

But even after this realization, we are still multi-tasking, still trying to find a variety of angles that will allow us to pitch our work to the world. You’ve read IMA blog posts about social networking, seen us on iTunes U, and we have engaged in other technological exploits. These are examples of how IMA is trying to insert itself into the lives of unsuspecting internet users all over the world by using the same tools gimmicky (and successful) companies use. As a member of the new media team, I can honestly say that all we do is multi-task, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. But it is definitely a different variety of juggling from the previous thematic exploits of many museums. These days we look at an exhibition, a program, a topic and think about all the potential audiences and ask, who are they really and what do we want them to know? Why would they care about Roman art, or contemporary art or any kind of art? In order to get answers that matter, new media talks to marketing and both of them talk to education and curatorial reps. We struggle to keep up with all this communicating, but we work really hard at it in the hopes that if we can pull it all together we might find the best way to tell you about what we’re all doing at IMA. Thus we blog, maintain a Facebook page, create web content, edit videos, and we have those galleries full of art, too. We have trouble figuring it all out and keeping it all straight. What is marketing’s job? What does new media do exactly? How should we divide it all up? The short answer, I think, is we shouldn’t. Instead we should do what we’ve been doing, rolling with the punches, talking a lot and trying not to be fussy about who does what until someone does nothing. Daniel is best at this, but I am trying hard to get up to speed.

Under Daniel’s leadership we (the royal we) have taken these ideas to heart, as a cross-departmental team, and created firm plans with great ambition that combine the best of many worlds. Collaboration on many levels is the thing that makes us genre-defying. You might find new media poking around in conservation (supervised and with permission, of course) or in the greenhouse shooting a video about that. We work with education to coordinate video for guest lecturers and talk to artists when they visit IMA thanks to tip-offs from the contemporary department. All of this internal networking results in all the stuff you see from us on the web.

Now that technology has a hold on all of us, it is essential that museums understand how to harness it. And IMA is working hard. Watch for some big things this year. We might still be students in some regard, but at least we show up for class. So when 2008 wraps, don’t be surprised to find that IMA is listed among all the other genre-defying juggernauts out there. And if we’re not…well, then you’re not reading the right blogs.

P.S. – I tried really hard to work in a reference to Aerosmith and RUN DMC being genre-defying, and I am really sad I couldn’t, thus the existence of this pathetic add-on.