For many, fall is best appreciated for the beautiful display of leaf color and irresistible weather – typically mild, sunny and dry here in central Indiana.  This fall, however, conditions were right for recognizing an old favorite in the landscape – giant puffball mushrooms.  We’ve found many of these delightful specimens throughout the IMA gardens; they keep popping out all over the place!  Giant puffballs are often found in more open woods and grassy areas, which makes them both visible and easily accessible.  Sadly, a good number were kicked apart prematurely by folks attempting to explode the trillions of spores encased inside the ballooning gleba (white mass that houses the spores) and release a puffy cloud of spores into the air.  I realize it’s irresistible, the desire to destroy these alien-looking, spongy bubbles.  How can one deny an urge that so exemplifies the spirit of a child’s delight with nature?  Yet I know that the anticipation was met with a rather anticlimactic squelching; the spores were not yet ripe.  The result was a disappointingly flat pile of flaky white chunks that just doesn’t garner the same reaction as that of a soaring spore cloud.

Result of dropping immature giant puffball mushrooms off the Interurban Bridge.

The mushrooms were fresh and new, with firm white flesh that is at its best for flavor and edibility.  It’s not until the puffball has turned brown, discolored and inedible, when the outer flesh has started to break apart, that they are primed and ready to be sent sailing through the air.  I wish people would wait until the mushrooms are ready, when they aren’t as visually appealing, so other people can enjoy seeing them in the garden and perhaps have the opportunity to share something unfamiliar and intriguing with their kiddos.  Please consider this before acting on perfunctory impulse.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

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

As a recent first-time home buyer, I’ve learned a lot of things that I did not know six months ago. From the actual home buying process to moving and settling in, it has been a crash course. Most recently, I covered a chapter in household plants.

My husband and I moved from a 750 sq. ft. apartment to a tri-level three bedroom house, so needless to say, we’ve started the search for furniture. Oddly enough however, the first items on our “to purchase” list were plants – who needs a couch, anyway? Now I must say, I have only owned one or two plants in my lifetime. I’ve always appreciated plants, especially the kind I can eat, but I’ve never really explored owning them until I purchased a home.

With the IMA’s Greenhouse Shop full of plants from which to choose, I knew where I wanted to shop, but had no idea what to buy.  No idea. One of the great things about working at the IMA is that each department is a resource, full of knowledge across a wide-range of topics, especially when it comes to horticulture. Thankfully, my green-thumbed colleague Lynne Habig agreed to some hand holding and plant teaching. When she started talking about all of the different types of greenery, she said something that really sparked my interest: clean-air plants.

And with that, my plant lesson was quickly interrupted by an impromptu guest-lecture on household pollutants. Pardon my ignorance, but this was the first I had heard of sick building syndrome. As Lynne broke it down for me, our indoor environments are full of pollutants (trichloroethylene, formaldehyde, benzene, etc.) that are espoused from common household items like electronics, adhesives, paints, cleaning products, and fabrics (yikes!). These chemicals are linked to everything from eye irritation and dizziness to liver carcinogens and even throat cancer. Sick building syndrome occurs when small spaces are tightly concealed in an effort to save energy, but in turn creates a harmful space where these pollutants can gather.

So what does all of this have to do with plants? For many years, NASA conducted a study on ways to purify the air both on earth and in space habitats which are perhaps the most contained work environments. The study found that common household plants are actually the best crime fighters for such pollutants.

I was sold. I wanted to fill my house with plants, but now I needed to fill it with clean-air plants. According to the study, the top plants found most effective in decreasing the amount of air-pollutants include:

• Bamboo Palm – Chamaedorea Seifritzii
• Chinese Evergreen – Aglaonema Modestum
• English Ivy- Hedera helix
• Gerbera Daisy- Gerbera Jamesonii
• Janet Craig – Dracaena ‘Janet Craig’
• Marginata – Dracaena Marginata
• Mass cane/Corn Plant - Dracaena Massangeana
• Mother-in-Law’s Tongue Sansevieria Laurentii
• Pot Mum – Chrysantheium morifolium
• Peace Lily - Spathiphyllum

With Lynne’s continued guidance, I picked out a selection from the Greenhouse Shop that fit the clean-air profile and my personal tastes: English Ivy, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, Golden Pothos, Peace Lily, Spider Plant, and Dracaena, all pictured below.

And while they might not bestow “clean-air” – I couldn’t pass up a few other nice looking gems.
For those of you now wanting to purify your own air, don’t worry, it won’t break your bank. The plants purchased range from only $3.95 – $7.95. If you’re still not sold, check out the video below of our 2011 Indianapolis Island resident Katherine Ball talking about her use of clean-air plants.

Filed under: Greenhouse, Horticulture

Wow. The end of another month. And quite a change from the end of last month. At long last some rain has fallen. The plants are certainly relishing this new found moisture.

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.

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Filed under: Horticulture