Bryant Park

Summer in the Garden

May 23rd, 2007 was an important occasion for gardeners, among many others, as we celebrated the 300th birthday of Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist who developed the hierarchical system for classifying and naming all living things. Though Linnaean taxonomy, as it is known, is much changed since his time, we still rely on the principles its author outlined in his Systema Naturae. By way of paying homage, this issue’s Q & A briefly describes those principles.

When we think of a summer garden, we usually have in mind the brightly colored blossoms that flourish in the sun. But Bryant Park’s shady side — to the south, along 40th Street — has its own special character, made up of colorful foliage and a wide variety of textures, shapes, and heights. We feature three of our shade-loving favorites on the cover. The graceful, arching stems with pairs of small pendant white flowers belong to Polygonatum odoratum ‘variegatum,’ known commonly as Solomon’s seal. It owes the odoratum in its name to the sweet fragrance of its flowers and the ‘variegatum’ to the variegated leaves, whose white margins make them stand out nicely against the background.

Here, that background includes Hosta sieboldiana ‘Frances Williams.’ Its blue-green leaf, which can grow to the size of a salad plate, has a wonderful quilt-like texture and a bit of yellow on the margin. Anchoring the combination in composition and color is Coleus ‘Red Carpet,’ an annual “weaver” we often use to underplant the taller perennials. It’s a very vigorous and lowspreading plant whose dark burgundy makes a great foil for the delicate greens and whites of its companions.

-Maureen Hackett, Director of Horticulture

Summer Highlight: Knock Out Rose

Knock Out® is a lovely compact shrub, growing to about three feet in height and width, with blooms described as cherry red, fire engine red, or flourescent. The flowers, which have a light tea-rose scent, will bloom all the way to the first frost, making this one of the longest-blooming roses. The dark purplish foliage turns burgundy in the fall, and orange-red rose hips give the winter garden a spot of color. Knock Out® is exceptionally disease- and pest-resistant and easy to grow, even for beginners.

Garden Q & A

Q: How does the Linnaean system of naming work?

A: Its most important aspect is the use of binomial nomenclature, the combination of a genus name and a name referring to the particular species, both in Latin. Let’s take an example from our summer garden. Hosta designates the genus, always capitalized and italicized. The second word, sieboldiana, identifies the species; here it refers to the 19th-century botanist Phillip von Siebold, who introduced the plant from Japan. Following that comes the name of the cultivar: ours is ‘Frances Williams,’ so named for Mrs. Frances Williams, who in 1936 cultivated the sport of a variety known as ‘Elegans.’ (In biology, a sport is a mutation.) Modestly, she named the cultivar simply ‘Yellow Edge,’ which came to be known in the formal Latin as ‘Aureus Marginata.’ In the mid-1960s, Mrs. Williams’ contribution was recognized and the plant renamed in her honor.