In this week's edition of Growing at ReimanGardens, Butterfly Wing Curator, Nathan Brockman, highlights various butterfly feeding methods used in the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing. These methods may be adapted for use in any garden. Many butterflies prefer feeding from nectar plants, such as the Common Lantana (Lantana camara), Egyptian Star Cluster (Pentas lanceolata), Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus), Porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis), Flame of the Woods (Ixora coccinea), Panama Rose (Rondeletia leucophylla), and the Pygmy Melon (Psiguria umbrosa). Other feeding methods used at ReimanGardens include preparing artificial nectars of sugar water and pollen or a dilute Gatorade solution, rotten fruit, and sap blocks. Butterflies will also display a behavior called puddling, in which individuals will take in minerals and salts from moist areas.
It is spring-time once again and it is time to get that garden into shape! On this episode of Growing at Reiman Gardens, outdoor horticulturist, Sarah Rummery, takes us through the basics of cutting back perennials and grounds covers. She will also show us how to trim the perfect rose bush that will not only look beautiful, but be less prone to fungal disease. Finally, we will see a few good ways to cut down ornamental grasses.
On this episode of Growing at ReimanGardens, Butterfly Wing Curator, Nathan Brockman, explains the fascinating nightly dance that the butterflies partake in each night in the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing.
The butterflies from the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing display mentioned in the video include; Zebra Longwing (Heliconious charitonius), Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes), and the Giant Wood Nymph (Idea leuconoe).
This episode of Growing at ReimanGardens is all about winter interest in the garden. Aaron Steil, Education & Plant Collections Coordinator at the Gardens shows us some of the plants and garden areas at ReimanGardens that are making the gardens a beautiful place despite the snow. Learn about some of the characteristics to look for in plants that make them good additions to the winter landscape and see some specific species and cultivars growing at the Gardens helping to make it a striking and interesting place year-round.
On this special episode of Growing at ReimanGardens, Butterfly Wing Curator, Nathan Brockman, takes a unique look at butterflies under Ultraviolet (UV) “light.” UV light is a type of wavelength that is shorter to those found in visible light. It cannot be seen by humans without the aid of special tools, such as black light. Certain species of insects can see ultraviolet patterns exhibited by plants and other insects which go unseen by most mammals. On this episode, Nathan briefly describes visible and UV light then shows examples of butterflies and flowers which exhibit an ultraviolet pattern.
The butterflies from the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing displayed in the video include; Postman Butterfly (Heliconius melpomene), Tiger Longwing (Heliconius hecale), Numata Longwing (Heleconius numata), Sara Longwing (Heliconius sara), Sapho Longwing (Heliconius sapho), Ismenius Longwing (Heliconius ismenius), Common Mormon (Papilio polytes), Emperor Swallowtail (Papilio ophidocephalus), and Constantine’s Swallowtail (Papilio constantinus). For more information on ReimanGardens please visit www.reimangardens.com.
The second part of this two-part series on holiday decorating features Betsy Eness, the indoor horticulturist, demonstrating how to make evergreen garlands. She uses white pine, noble fir, Austrian pine, and balsam fir. Next, she explains how to make a ribbon bow to use in the garlands and then shows a few creative ideas of how to use the leftover pieces of evergreens and cranberries to create centerpieces. Other tools necessary to make these are cylinder vases, paddle wire, floral wire, and scissors.
This episode of Growing at Reiman Gardens is the first of a two-part series on homemade holiday decorations. The indoor horticulturist, Betsy Eness, demonstrates how to make elegant kissing ball decorations. She creates one type of kissing ball using cranberries, ribbon, Spanish moss, greenery, and glitter and the other is decorated with Christmas-colored potpourri petals. Extra materials needed are foam balls, a metal plant stake, floral wire, floral water tubes, glue gun, quilting pins, and craft glue.
In this week's episode of Growing at Reiman Gardens, outdoor horticulturist, Ed Moran, teaches a class on how to make festive mixed green wreaths from fresh evergreens. The conifer clippings he includes in his wreaths are Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Noble Fir (Abies procera), Silver Fir (Abies alba), Arbor Vitae/Eastern Red Cedar (Thuja occidentalis), White Pine (Pinus strobus), and Juniper (Juniperus sp.). He also includes a few broadleaf evergreens, such as Camellia (Camellia sp.), Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), and Holly (Ilex opaca). The simple process he demonstrates creates a beautiful and impressive wreath.
In this week's episode of Growing at ReimanGardens, assistant director, Lisa Orgler, hosts the conservatory change-out of December 2007. It shows the time-lapse version of the change-out condensed from 8 hours to 8 minutes! You can watch the bustle of the workers change the scene from cardinal and gold to a tropical sanctuary.
In this week's edition of Growing at Reiman Gardens, Sarah Rummery, our outdoor horticulturist, teaches us the methods used when planting your bulbs for next spring. Listen in on how to prepare the bed space, how far down and apart to plant the bulbs, and even a few hints on keeping those pesky rabbits and deer away from your, soon to be, beautiful flowers!
Have you been searching for a flowering plant to add beauty to your fall garden? Mums are very hardy in autumn weather and provide vibrant colors. In this week's video of Growing at Reiman Gardens, the indoor horticulturist, Betsy Eness, uses mums to demonstrate how to pinch the buds off of plants in order to produce a variety of sizes and appearances of flowers.
On this episode of Growing at ReimanGardens; Nathan Brockman, Butterfly Wing Curator, introduces us to a unique species of butterfly, Greta oto, commonly called Glasswing or Clearwing. This distinctive butterfly has clear wings that are lacking the usual tiny overlapping scales that most butterflies have to create their colors and patterns seen. To learn more about this interesting species, tune in now!
Are you having trouble keeping the Japanese beetles away? Are you looking for unique fall plants to put in your garden? In this episode of Growing at ReimanGardens, Ed Moran, the outdoor horticulturist, highlights particular plants that make a fall garden vibrant. These plants include ornamental grasses and native flowers and shrubs. Next, Nathan Brockman, the entomologist and butterfly wing curator, explains how we use pheromone traps to lure the Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) away from the specific plants they prefer and to reduce their presence in the gardens.
The plants Ed highlights are Zebra Grass (Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus'), Goldenrod (Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'), Henry's Garnet (Itea virginica), Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale 'Mardi Gras'), Pink Turtlehead (Chelone lyoniia 'Hot Lips'), Red Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum rubrum).
This week on Growing at Reiman Gardens we visit with Sarah Rummery, an outdoor horticulturist at Reiman Gardens, for a quick introduction in to ground covers. Sarah will highlight some of the different types of ground covers found at the Gardens and briefly discuss some of their uses in a landscape. The plants highlighted in this episode include: Bugleweed (Ajuga), Periwinkle (Vinca minor), Lily Turf (Lirope), Jacobs Ladder (Polemonium), Creeping Juniper (Juniperus horizontalis), Pig Squeak (Bergenia cordifolia), Perennial Geranium (Geranium), and False Forget-Me-Not (Brunnera).
The biofuel industry and stustainable gardening are both very popular topic these days. This week on Growing at Reiman Gardens, Aaron Steil, the Education and Plant Collection Cordinator at Reiman Gardens explains the gardens Biowalk tour. Individuals which participate in the Biowalk tour see what biorenewable plants look like, learn about their cultivation requirements, weigh the issues that surround biorenewable plants, learn about our new Sustainable Rose Garden, and how you can incorporate sustainable practices in your own garden.
This self-guided tour includes a free audio tour that you can take using your cell phone.
This self-paced cell phone tour allows you to call at anytime from anywhere and hear more information about biorenewable plants and sustainability in the garden.
