Volume 2, Issue 10 Miller Library 30th Anniversary Celebration
This year marks thirty years of service for the Elisabeth C. Miller Library! Stop by Wednesday, October 14, anytime between 3 and 7pm for refreshments and a chance to hear clips from our oral history collection. We'll also be featuring a display of rare books, a sneak peak at new titles in our children's collection, and a tour of our web resources.
Please say you'll come! RSVP to hortlib@uw.edu or (206)543-0415.
Ask
the Plant Answer Line:
Can I move my Embothrium coccineum?
Q: Last year we had our beloved Embothrium coccineum removed and
the stump ground after the wind blew over the tree. Now I have six new starts
of Chilean Fire Bush ranging in size from one to three feet, which I assume are
growing off a live root. I'd like to transplant them to more appropriate places
in my yard, but the buyer at a local nursery advised against moving them. What
can you advise me about transplanting?
A: The people at the nursery may be
thinking of Embothrium's reputation for resenting transplanting. According to
Graham Stuart Thomas's book, Ornamental
Shrubs, Climbers, and Bamboos (Timber Press, 1992), Embothrium coccineum seldom
thrives when transplanted. However, I think he is talking about the difficulty
of transplanting a mature tree, not a small seedling. Simon Toomer's Trees for the Small Garden
(Timber Press, 2005) confirms this: "It has a reputation for being
difficult to transplant when large and so container-grown plants of moderate
size should be used."
Local gardening expert Ciscoe
Morris has said of Embothrium: "Only buy it if it's a small seedling. They
hate pots and if they are pot-bound for very long, won't survive
transplanting.” Since you have several starts, why not try transplanting
at least one or two of them to an ideal spot in your garden? Try to get as much
root system as you can when digging them up, and if more than one start comes
up, don't try to cut them apart if it means you will lose any roots. (Read the full question and answer on
our website.)
Hidden Gems of the Miller Library, Part I: A Guide to the Wild Flowers (1899) and Southern Wild Flowers and Trees (1901) reviewed by Brian Thompson
In this ongoing series, Library staff share favorite finds from among the many diverse resources found here.
Alice Lounsberry and Ellis Rowan were a formidable
botanist/botanical artist team at the turn of the twentieth century,
exploring much of the east coast of America, describing and drawing their
findings based on observations in situ. The Miller Library has two
of their books, A Guide to the Wild Flowers (1899) and Southern Wild
Flowers & Trees (1901). In the preface of the latter book,
Lounsberry describes their methodology:
“To learn something of the history, the folk-lore and
the uses of southern plants and to see rare ones growing in their natural
surroundings, Mrs. Rowan and I travelled in many parts of the south, exercising
always our best blandishments to get the people of the section to talk with
us. Through the mountainous region we drove from cabin to cabin, and
nowhere could we have met with greater kindness and hospitality.”
New to the Library September 2015
Pollinator
sampling and habitat restoration /
by Cameron John Newell. THESIS NEWELL 2015
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