Two arboretum staff members traveled to plant-rich Azerbaijan in September to collect seeds, plants, and herbarium specimens. Floral and Nursery Research Unit horticulturist Martin Scanlon and Gardens Unit botanist Stefan Lura were part of an international team collecting in this tiny country in the Caucasus Region. For its relatively small size, Azerbaijan has a wealth of biological and genetic diversity, due largely to a wide range of climate and topography. The team made three journeys, each in a different direction, from Baku: the first part of the expedition went north along the Caspian Sea coast to the northeastern part of the country near the Russian border. A second leg led through the arid steppes west and north to the region of Zagatala, with its forested mountains and valleys. The third and final trip required an airplane to reach the Nakhchivan region, a tiny exclave of the country surrounded by Iran, Armenia, and Turkey.

Scanlon's goal was to collect wild relatives of ornamental trees and shrubs for the Woody Landscape Plant Germplasm Repository. He collected wild forms of the ornamental and highly drought-tolerant silver-leaf pear, Pyrus salicifolia; Meyer's hawthorn, Crataegus meyeri, a plant with a showy display of red fruit; a suite of juniper species; and Celtis tournefortii, a seldom cultivated species of hackberry with melon-colored fruits. Lura was tasked with looking for perennials and shrubs with herbal uses, potential as garden ornamentals, or for use in cut-flower production. He collected a vulnerable species of non-twining bindweed with fuzzy silver leaves, Convolvulus persicus, from the sandy dunes of the Caspian Sea; a thyme with a fruity, complex perfume; a single intact seed pod of the rare tulip species Tulipa florenskyi camouflaged among wild irises; a towering, six-foot-tall mint; and a hardy, shrubby jasmine, Jasminum fruticosum, with yellow summer flowers that may possess greater cold-hardiness than material currently in cultivation.

Other members of the collecting team were Mallikurjuna Aradhya from the Davis, California, National Clonal Repository and Zakir Igramhimol and Vahid Fazzaliyev of the Azerbaijan Genetic Resources Institute (GRI) and Azerbaijan Central Botanical Garden. The trip was a result of a cooperative agreement between the USDA National Plant Germplasm System office and Azerbaijan's GRI.

Martin Scanlon (left) collects seed from the large-leafed maple species Acer velutinum near the village of Topchu with Vahid Farzaliyev, Deputy Director of the Central Botanical Garden in Baku, as a cowherd drives his cattle along the road.	Capparis spinosa, the edible caper, growing in an area in Azerbaijan with temperatures closer to those of the Washington, D.C., area than of warmer Mediterranean sites where the plant is also found. The arboretum's botanist collected seed, hoping to grow the plant successfully in the National Herb Garden.	Snake Mountain, visible from Nakhchivan City.

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Arboretum Director Guest of Chinese Academy of Sciences

During his visit to the U. S. National Arboretum in May, Dr. Lu Yongxiang, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), invited arboretum director Dr. Thomas Elias to tour four botanical gardens in southern China. Elias accepted the invitation, and in October visited the South China Botanical Garden in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province; the Kunming Botanical Garden in central Yunnan Province; the Xishaungbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in extreme southwestern Yunnan Province; and the Wuhan Botanical Garden in Hubei Province. The purpose of the trip was to discuss cooperation on botanical research, germplasm exchange, and the exchange of ideas regarding botanical garden management and operations. Elias gave a lecture about the program and activities of the National Arboretum during tours of each facility. The staff of the Chinese gardens was especially interested in the USNA's tree and shrub breeding programs, plant collections, germplasm preservation and evaluation, and herbarium activities. As a result of the trip, the USNA will establish exchanges of information, seeds, and other plant specimens, and propose collaborative research efforts with some of the Chinese gardens.

Seventeen botanical gardens are part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and each of them have been experiencing major new construction of buildings and considerable expansion of staff and domestic and international programs and activities. Each of the gardens associated with the CAS has graduate education programs to train new scientists at the master's and doctoral levels; each garden has between 150 and 250 graduate students. The Chinese often referred to this as the "Golden Age of Science in China."

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Arboretum Horticulturist Member of Collecting Team in China

Gardens Unit horticulturist Christopher Carley traveled to Shaanxi Province, China, in September with representatives from the Morris Arboretum and Morton Arboretum, partners in the North American China Plant Exploration Consortium. Carley's objectives were to bring back new germplasm (plants and seeds) to augment the arboretum's Asian Collection and to collect seeds of Fraxinus (ash) species, which are underrepresented in American arboreta. Due to the devastating effects of the introduced emerald ash borer on native ashes in the Midwest, and the appearance of the pest in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, the Asian ash species are a subject of interest to tree breeders. The collected seed will hopefully provide borer-resistant trees that will be used in breeding programs conducted by USDA and state forestry organizations.

The collecting team visited locations in an area of China that has been farmed for over two thousand years. Forests and wild areas remain, however, on steep mountainsides, inside ecological parks. Beside the American collectors, a guide from the Beijing Botanic garden and local guides facilitated collecting. "The mountains of China are truly awesome, huge granite outcrops, lush with plant life," Carley relates. "We were able to identify seven different species of snakebark maples in a single morning hike. We collected Sinowilsonia henryi, Lindera pungens, and a Cardiocrinum lily in just one rainy afternoon."
Carley's trip was funded by the Friends of the National Arboretum Chadwick Fund in support of the Asian Collections.

Chris Carley collects maple seed with Mr. Wang and Mr. Li.

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Arboretum Researchers Awarded Grant to Develop Universal Plant Virus Microarray

Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit (FNPRU) research plant pathologists John Hammond and Ramon Jordan are part of a group of researchers who were awarded a USDA National Research Initiative grant of just under one million dollars over three years. The grant "Development and validation of a Universal Plant Virus Microarray for detection and identification of plant viruses" is a collaboration between FNPRU, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, with Dr. Hammond as principal investigator and project coordinator.

The goal of the project is to develop a microarray system including thousands of oligonucleotides (short synthetic nucleic acids) representing nucleic acid sequences conserved between viruses of a particular taxonomic grouping, and other oligonucleotides specific to individual viral species. Unlike most other virus detection methods, this approach requires no specific knowledge of which virus may be present in an infected plant – all viruses should be detected with similar efficiency. This technology also offers the potential for simultaneous detection and identification of each component of mixed infections when a plant is infected by more than one virus; additionally, the ability to identify previously unknown viruses to the genus level will speed characterization of the causal agent of newly emerging diseases and aid regulatory agencies in preventing new viral diseases from being introduced and becoming established through international trade. Initial applications of microarray detection technology are most likely to be in quarantine situations and in testing high-value nuclear stocks of newly introduced plant varieties prior to large-scale propagation.

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FONA Distinguished Lecture Series Features Rick Darke

On Saturday, November 15th, the Friends of the National Arboretum's Distinguished Lecture Series featured Rick Darke, a widely published author, photographer, and design consultant who specializes in regional landscape design, planning, and conservation.

Rick's multimedia presentation, Sustaining the Vision of the New American Garden, covered his first association with the National Arboretum 30 years ago and continued with the changes in gardening that have occurred since. Using global examples of progressive design, he explored what changes might be ahead in the landscape, and in what direction gardens and design will evolve.

Through the Friends of the National Arboretum's generous support, the National Arboretum is able to host major names in horticulture like Darke.

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Tree and Bench Dedicated to Dr. H. Marc Cathey

A memorial tree and bench were dedicated on November 23rd to commemorate the contributions of former U.S. National Arboretum director Dr. H. Marc Cathey, who died October 8th at the age of 79. The Franklinia alatamaha and nearby bench are located just south of the National Capitol Columns on the Flowering Tree Walk. Cathey served as director from 1981 to 1991, during which the National Capitol Columns came to the arboretum, the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum was named and expanded, and the arboretum achieved much greater public visibility. He conceived and developed the National Country Garden, a colorful display of vegetable and flower gardens in living walls, towers, and beds that was located near the National Grove of State Trees from 1984 to 1988. He spearheaded the 1990 development of a detailed version of the USDA Hardiness Zone Map. He contributed greatly to the scientific understanding of environmental control of flowering responses in a variety of ornamental plants in work he completed for the Agricultural Research Service prior to serving as director.

Cathey promoted a more naturalistic style of gardening long before the advent of more informal landscapes and anticipated the importance of environmentally friendly gardening before it became a popular theme. He developed the SmartGarden™ program while serving as president of the American Horticultural Society, a post he took after his tenure at the arboretum.

Speakers at the dedication ceremony included former National Herb Garden curator and current U.S. Botanic Garden director Holly Shimizu; arboretum Boxwood Collection curator Lynn Batdorf; and representatives of the National Capital Area Garden Clubs, Inc. (NCAGC), president Rilla Crane and Friendship Garden Committee chair Ellen Spencer. Floral and Nursery Research Plants Unit leader John Hammond, in his role as acting director, read statements from Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA) chair Jeanne Connelly and National Bonsai Foundation (NBF) president Felix Laughlin. Dr. Cathey's widow, children, and grandchildren attended the event as did many former co-workers and friends. FONA, NCAGC, and NBF generously provided catered refreshments.

Dr. Cathey's wife and children on his memorial bench and in front of the Franklinia tree dedicated in his honor.

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New Brochure for the Asian Collections

A brochure for the Asian Collections joins the family of brochures the arboretum has been creating over the past few years. The brochure follows a template design with an artist-drawn, bird's-eye view illustration of the collections and descriptions of each of the five sections: Asian Valley, China Valley, Japanese Woodland, Korean Hillside, and Camellia Collection. Staff photographs of plant details and landscape views complement the text.

The arboretum's interpretive specialist works with the Agricultural Research Service Information Staff to create the garden and collection brochures. In addition to the Asian Collections, brochures for the Azalea Collections, Friendship Garden, and National Bonsai & Penjing Museum have been completed. Staff hopes to produce brochures for the National Herb Garden and the Fern Valley Native Plant Collection in 2009.

The Friends of the National Arboretum, in conjunction with the Dorothy Jordan Chadwick Trust, provides substantial financial support for the Asian Collections, which in 2008 included funds for printing the new brochure.

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New Irrigation Systems Under Construction

Two new irrigation systems being installed this winter will help the arboretum conserve resources—both natural and human. The aging irrigation system in the Azalea Collections will be replaced by a new one that may be programmed to apply water at night and early in the morning when evaporation losses are low. A new system in the walled Morrison Garden and the Lee Garden will use stationary impulse sprinklers on fixed risers. The Glenn Dale Hillside will receive underground hose bibs that will allow for placement of risers where they are needed. All of these systems will help reduce staff time in moving and setting up hoses. During construction, portions of the Azalea Collections may be closed. The project should be completed before spring.

Contractors will also install a new irrigation system in Nursery 5, located near the center of the arboretum. This system is notable because it includes a solar array that will provide power for the electrical components. The use of solar energy as an alternative to electrical power is part of the arboretum's new Go Green initiative. The system should be running by spring as well.

Conceptual plans for remaining irrigation systems on the grounds are part of the design phase of this project. Funds to support the design and construction are from a special Congressional appropriation supplied specifically for irrigation upgrades.

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Fern Valley Construction Nears Completion

Construction in the Fern Valley Native Plant Collection continued throughout the autumn months in a second phase of path renovation. Handicapped-accessible paths will replace existing ones that are too steep to meet the requirements for accessibility. A new boardwalk will carry pedestrians along the side of the pond. In a separate contract, rustic railings will be added to all the bridges, observation platforms, and boardwalks. The old tool shed will be demolished and a new one installed near the old entrance. All trails in the collection will be closed during construction, which should be completed by early spring 2009.

Sample of railing for the new bridges and overlooks in Fern Valley.

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New Enclosure Planted in the Holly Magnolia Collection

An original landscape feature in the Holly Magnolia Collection has a new look. In the late 1950s, a ring of Ilex cornuta 'Rotunda' surrounded a majestic black oak near the center of the collection. The planting provided a formal enclosure at the end of an allée of deciduous magnolias. Over the past several years, the oak declined and had to be removed. In renovating the space, staff decided to keep the original design intent, but to replace the Ilex cornuta hedge with new cultivars of Ilex and Magnolia that are well suited to a formal design. Magnolia grandiflora Alta™ 'TMGH', a cultivar of the southern magnolia that has smaller leaves and an upright growth habit, forms one half of the enclosure. The other half showcases Ilex Patriot™ 'Conot', a red-fruited holly with a heavy berry set and a pyramidal form that responds well to shaping. An appropriate replacement tree for the center of the enclosure will be added soon. The new planting will provide year-long interest for visitors to the collection.

New enclosure with Ilex Patriot™ 'Conot' on the left side and Magnolia grandiflora Alta™ 'TMGH' on the right.	Magnolia grandiflora Alta™ 'TMGH'.	Ilex Patriot™ 'Conot'.

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Research Horticulturist Attends Meeting in Korea

Dr. Mark Roh, Research Horticulturist, Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit, attended the International Symposium on Plant Genetic Resources and Biotechnology in Young Pyung, Korea, in September. He presented an invited talk on "Collection, maintenance, evaluation, and characterization of plant germplasm (woody ornamental plants)" to the more than 200 participants. Roh was one of several international speakers from countries including India, Malaysia, and China.

During his trip, Roh made contacts important to his research. He made arrangements with scientists from the Russian Far East, People's Republic of China, and Korea to receive needle samples of Abies nephrolepis and A. koreana. He visited a colleague at the Chungnam National University, Daejeon, to discuss an ongoing collaborative research project on the genetic diversity within Pinus koraiensis. He also visited Seoul National University and discussed the future direction of the Pinus parviflora project conducted by a student who had returned to the campus after spending two months in Maryland working in his laboratory, and planned a future visit of a Ph.D. candidate to participate in an ongoing experiment to characterize Abies koreana and A. nephrolepis complex in 2009. To support these research projects, Roh collected 20 needle samples each of A. nephrolepis and A. holophylla from Mt. Odae, and also 20 needle samples of A. koreana from Hantaek Botanical Garden. These samples will be used to study the genetic diversity and possible gene introgression of A. nephrolepis into A. koreana growing at Mt. Jiri and Duckyoo. Abies koreana growing at Mt. Hanla, Jeju Island, has distinct morphological characters (left image, below) from those growing at Mt. Jiri and Duckyoo (right image, below) which is similar to the shape of A. nephloepis and A. holophylla.

A. koreana at Mt. Hanla.	A. koreana at Mt. Jiri and Duckyoo.

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Research Physiologist Visits Japan

Dr. Kathy Kamo of the Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit visited Osaka, Japan, in November. She was invited by scientists at Kinki University because of their interest in establishing a patent committee. Kamo has served on the USDA Life Sciences Patent Committee for 8 years, and she presented a seminar that described the role of this committee in the process of getting a patent in the U.S. She gave a second seminar entitled "Genetic engineering for disease resistance in floral plants." Kamo also visited the floriculture and horticulture researchers at the local prefecture where she toured the greenhouses and lab. The local prefecture researchers in Japan have recently discontinued all work on genetic engineering in response to public pressure. Kamo met several professors at Osaka University who have written a letter in the journal Nature Biotechnology requesting that the ban on genetic engineering in Japan be removed. Distinguished professors from several universities in Japan signed the formal letter. She also visited the botanical gardens in Wakayama and the beautiful Japanese gardens at the temples in Kyoto and Mount Koyasan.

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Arboretum Scientist Presents Research at International Maple Society Symposium in Japan

Kawaguchi city and Saitama prefecture, near Tokyo, have been at the center of the Japanese nursery industry since the 17th century, when the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled Japan from the new capital of Edo (now Tokyo). Nurseries sprang up in this area to supply plants and gardening expertise to the developing city and have been vital to the area's economy ever since. Olsen arrived several days early to visit the nurseries and to renew contacts with many Japanese nurserymen, many of whom still recall the visits of arboretum director Dr. John Creech and others over the last several decades.

Post conference trips included stops at Shinto and Buddhist shrines and temples in Nikko and Kyoto, which are famous for their collections of native Japanese plants, including maples, which were in peak autumn color. Other stops included brief visits to natural areas to see maples in the wild and Japanese nurseries that specialize in moving large tree specimens. Plant highlights included seeing mature specimens of Acer pycnanthum, the Japanese counterpart to our native red maple, Acer rubrum; the hornbeam maple, A. carpinifolium; and lime-leaved maple, A. distylum, in the wild; and 800-year-old sugi, Cryptomeria japonica, in Nikko.

A 600-year-old cryptomeria in Nikko.	Japanese maples in peak fall color at the Nanzen-ji temple complex in Kyoto.

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Horticulturist Represents USNA at Tree Meeting in New Mexico

Susan Bentz, Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit horticulturist, travelled to Las Cruces, New Mexico in November to attend the 15th meeting of the Metropolitan Tree Improvement Association (METRIA). She presented a talk on the arboretum's woody plant breeding program. The theme for the conference, "Trees and the Global Environment," was particularly appropriate for Las Cruces, a city located in the Great Chichuahan Desert, which receives 12 inches of rain in a good year and about 350 days of sunshine—quite a challenge for any tree or gardener. As Bentz explained during her presentation, meeting such challenges are some tough tree species with which arboretum researchers work: Chilopsis linearis, the desert willow, a Catalpa relative in the trees breeding program, and Celtis reticulata, an elm relative and part of the taxonomy program's study of the native Celtis species. Bentz collected seed of several Celtis accessions for the arboretum at Las Cruces near the base of the Organ Mountains and at the NRCS Los Lunas Plant Materials Center, Los Lunas, New Mexico.

Bentz participated in several post-conference tours, which emphasized water management. Sites she visited included pecan plantations, White Sands National Park, a local container nursery, and a retail nursery. Bentz reported that she was pleased to discover a National Arboretum Pyracantha introduction and 'Muskogee' crapemyrtle for sale in a local retail nursery in Las Cruces. Also, thriving at Los Lunas were 'Valley Forge' and 'New Harmony,' American elms sent from the arboretum for evaluation more than 10 years ago. Her travel concluded with Chilopsis sleuthing at the Rio Grande Botanic Garden in Albuquerque and making contacts for future exchange of information and plant materials.

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'Natchez' Crapemyrtle Featured at Annual Trade Show

The National Arboretum's research programs were on display at the Southern Nursery Association (SNA) Trade Show, held in August at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The show is known for providing nursery professionals with a showplace for plants, equipment, tools, and other green goods. The National Arboretum's display highlighted its work on cultivar release. It featured a special "anniversary" exhibit celebrating 50 years of crapemyrtle research at the National Arboretum and the 30th birthday of 'Natchez' crapemyrtle. The display included the unveiling of the three new USNA posters, highlighting the arboretum's best crapemyrtle, shrub, and tree releases. The posters were distributed along with commemorative magnets and USNA brochures to SNA attendees.

Arboretum booth at the Southern Nursery Association Trade Show.

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Sustic Returns to Curator Role in the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum

Jack Sustic, the third curator of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, returned to his former position in November following the retirement of curator Jim Hughes. Sustic first served in an internship in the museum in 1996. He returned in 1998 as assistant curator and became curator in 2001. During that time, his main effort was to improve the health of the museum's bonsai and penjing. He played a major role in preparations for the 5th World Bonsai Convention in 2005. Sustic resigned his position shortly after the convention and returned to his family home in Michigan to assist his father in the operation of their horse farm. Sustic states that his first order of business is to "keep the trees healthy, vigorous, and in their best aesthetic condition."

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New Education Program Coordinator Hired

Lindsay McEachern Hicks became the new Horticultural Education Programs Specialist in November. Hicks graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in Horticultural Science and has worked in various areas of horticulture, including the Agricultural Extension Service, landscaping, and greenhouse plant care. She also managed a wholesale nursery/vocational training program in Washington State. Hicks has been a member of the arboretum's Education and Visitor Services Unit staff since 2004, when she was hired as a temporary information receptionist. Over the years, she has filled in as the unit's volunteer coordinator, the intern coordinator, and most recently, the education program coordinator.

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Last Updated   January 6, 2009 5:30 PM