Heritage Museums & Gardens Blog Spot

Simple Remedies

Autumn has descended in all its glory, but if you’re like us, you’re still making the most of the last of summer’s gifts: a handful of herbs fresh from the garden. Whether making a batch of pesto with the last of the basil or just savoring the scents of thyme, mint and marjoram, it’s hard to let go of that last lingering sprig of summer.  Of course, the grocery store stocks fresh herbs year round, but having them right outside the back door is a luxury for anyone who enjoys cooking (or eating, for that matter).

In colonial times, an herb garden was more necessity than luxury.  Far from mere seasonings, the herbs grown in the gardens of Cape Cod a few hundred years ago had medicinal and household uses far beyond making meals tastier.  In places where a doctor might live several days’ travel away, having a garden well stocked with fever reducing and antibacterial herbs might just save your life.

This summer the herb garden behind Heritage’s historic Wing House underwent a complete renovation by Susan Anthony of Doveflower Cottage Designs in Scituate.  Using historical herb gardens as models, Anthony redesigned both the garden’s layout as well as its plantings. 

In addition to favorite herbs like bayleaf, catnip and mint are dozens of new plants much less familiar to modern gardeners, but which were commonly in use in gardens of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. With evocative names like bloodroot, lady’s bedstraw and feverfew hinting at their uses, the plants found in Heritage’s new herb garden would have been put to work in a variety of ways in colonial times. Here are a few:

• Betony: With antiseptic and antibacterial properties, betony was practically a panacea, used to treat everything from cuts to sore throat to diarrhea.

 • Vervain: Also called verbena.  In some folklore traditions, vervain is thought to keep away evil spirits.

• Yarrow:  Yellow-headed yarrow goes by many names: nosebleed plant, devil’s nettle and soldier’s woundwort among them.  In historical times, it was used as an astringent for cuts and abrasions and as an anti-inflammatory for swelling, eczema, hemorrhoids and hayfever.  Its leaves are also believed to encourage blood clotting, which is where it gets the name “nosebleed plant.”

• Feverfew: With its multitude of daisy-like flowers, feverfew is beautiful in addition to being useful in reducing fevers and treating ailments like headaches and arthritis.

• Costmary: Costmary was often used as a spice for ale and wine, which is where it gets one of its other names, alecost.  (The root word “cost” comes from Latin and indicates a fragrant, resinous plant.)

• Bloodroot: This plant’s roots have a reddish sap that was used as a dye, but the plant was known even in historical times to be toxic if used medicinally.

• Lady’s Bedstraw:  Not surprisingly, this herb, when dried, could be used to stuff mattresses.  It was especially good for the purpose because its scent kept away fleas.     

Although we now rely on modern medicine rather than herbs for our wellness, a traditional herb garden has at least one health benefit that hasn’t changed over time: it’s still a serene and lovely place to sit and leave your stress behind. 

 

Peking to Paris, 1907 & 2010

 
In the summer of 1907, five teams of intrepid drivers, mechanics and navigators set out with an epic task in mind:  to race the 9,317 miles (14,994 km) from Peking to Paris.  The terrain was rough and navigation difficult; for thousands of miles there were no roads at all to follow.  The people who lived in those remote locales had never seen these  strange new contraptions, automobiles.  Fuel stations were set up at intervals, the gasoline transported on the backs of camels.  The race had no rules, only the goal to be the first car to arrive in Paris. 

Of the five teams, four completed the race. The winning car was an 1907 Itala, driven by an Italian prince, Scipione Borghese.  Despite his car periodically needing to be pulled or pushed over rocky terrain and falling through a wooden bridge at one point, Borghese won the race handily.   A Dutch 18hp Spyker, came in second, its driver, Charles Goddard, having never ridden in a car prior to the race, much less driven one.  Two French teams, both driving DeDions, finished 3^rd and 4^th.  An additional French team, in a Contal three-wheeled cyclecar, broke down in the Gobi Desert but was, fortunately, rescued by locals.  

 Borghese’s 1907 Itala upside down in a collapsed bridge.  Most bridges weren’t built for the weight of an automobile in those days.

Several times since 1907 adventurous souls have set out on this motoring odyssey, driving vintage and classic cars and even motorcycles halfway around the world through some of the remotest places on earth. Last year, Lloyd Dahmen and his navigator, Chuck Schwager, departed Beijing (formerly Peking) on September 10 in his 1949 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe and arrived in Paris on October 16. 

 
Here are Chuck and Lloyd just before shipping the car to China.  From what we gather, they remained this good humored and friendly even after spending more than a month  together in a car!

 On the way, they saw amazing sights most people never see and blogged about it for the folks back home.  This Sunday, at Heritage’s annual Melber Lecture, Lloyd will share some of his experiences “on the road” through Asia, the Middle East and Europe.  He’s bringing with him the car that went the distance—you can check it out during his presentation.

 The Melber Lecture is held in honor of Heritage’s much admired former auto curator, G. Robert Melber.  It’s free, but reservations are required. You can get more info here. 

 And if Lloyd inspires you to take to the wide open roads of Mongolia, you’re in luck. Another Peking to Paris Motor Challenge is planned for 2013! 

Colors of Heritage: Summer Sun Yellow

Colors, we are told, have meanings.  These days, blue is for boys and pink for girls, though the reverse was true no more than a century ago.  According to popular wisdom, a vivid red, the color of passion, can rev up both the pulse and the appetite, while cooler greens and blues are held to be calming, and lavender can soothe you to sleep.  A recent study  indicates that surrounding yourself with particular hues might even help you to accomplish certain tasks.  And if you haven’t already, you’ll want to find out what your “birthday color” says about you.  Didn’t know you had a birthday color? Congratulations! Let’s hear it for yet another way to navel gaze! 

But science and pseudo-science aside, there’s no denying that color can evoke powerful responses in people.  It may have something to do with the balmy weather and long daylight hours, but here at the height of summer we find ourselves surrounded by that most summery of colors—bright and sunny yellow.  It’s in the gardens and the exhibit cases, in the sundresses of toddlers enjoying a carousel ride and among the busy bees and watering cans of Hidden Hollow.  We can’t help but think it both lightens our mood and widens our smiles.  Summer won’t last forever, so enjoy it while you can.  In that vein, here are some of our favorite sunshine-yellow things at Heritage to brighten your day!   

List of objects from top to bottom, left to right:

1. Hercules Ferris Wheel tin toy, c. 1936. 2. Red-eyed Vireo birdcarving by A.E. Crowell, c. 1910-1960  3. Carousel horse detail from 1908 Looff carousel.  4. 1937 Cord Convertible Phaeton. Photo by Alan Hudson (c) 1983.  5. Dahlia 6. Birthday Game by Parker Bros., c. 1918.  7. Leaping Trout woodcarving, by an unidentified maker, c. late 19^th century.  8. Military miniatures, “Captain Michael Huffnagel’s Company of 8^th Pennsylvania Line (1777),” by Norman & Lisl Cooke, c. 1950s. 9. Dolphin Candlestick, Boston & Sandwich Glass Company, c. 1840-1860.  10. Child’s mug, c. 1840-1850.  11. Child’s mug, c. 1820.  12. Lesser Yellowlegs birdcarving by A. E. Crowell, c. 1949.  13. Hummingbird and sunflower.  14. Schoenhut Humpty-Dumpty Toy Circus (Box), c. 1905-1935.  15. Rhododendron ‘Yellow Gate’  16. Whale Oil, William F. Nye Co., c. 1850-1900.    17. Lizard-shaped fetish, possibly Cheyenne, c. 1900.  18. Carousel horse detail from 1908 Looff carousel.  19. Bicycle Rider tin toy, c. 1910-1920.  20. Blooming ‘Golden Chain’ tree.  21. Glass Compote, Boston & Sandwich Glass Company, c. 1840-1860.  22. 1915 Stutz Bearcat.  Photo by Alan Hudson (c) 1983.  23.  Daylily  24. License plate, New York, c. 1915.  25.  Early Sandwich Factory Ruins, by Eliott Orr, watercolor, c. 1980. 26.  Tally-Ho Coach & Four Cast Iron Toy, c. early 20^th century.  27. Hibiscus.  28. “Bloomer” Puzzle Toy, c. 1896.  29. The Josoelyn Brothers, by J. G. Chandler, oil on canvas, c. 1851.  30. Robinson Crusoe tin toy, c. 1883. 

A Motorcycle Fun Fact Treasury

Caption: 1951 Indian Chief.  Courtesy of Dick Shappy Classic Cars.

Sometimes (okay, every time) when we’re creating an exhibit there’s just way more good stuff than will fit.  We end up letting go of a lot of great stories and snippets because there just isn’t room for them. This was especially true with the Born to Ride motorcycle exhibit on view now in the Auto Museum. 

Caption: 1931 Crocker.  Courtesy of McGraw Family museum. 

Curators collect information from lots of places when doing research for an exhibit. The collectors who lent us their motorcycles are full of fantastic anecdotes and tidbits about the histories of their bikes. Our own research into the early history of motorcycles also unearthed some fascinating material.  Director of Collections & Exhibitions Jennifer Madden, who curated the show, had a hard time choosing among them.  It seems a shame to waste it, so here we’ve gathered some of the great material that was left on the cutting room floor, as well as some gems from the exhibit that you might have missed.

• Dog-powered bikes?! The merging of bicycle with motor seems to have occurred to multiple manufacturers in the 1880s.  At that time folks were experimenting with different modes of power.  They tried all kinds of possibilities including steam engines, clockwork mechanisms, even dogs running in cage-like rear wheels!  Eventually the new (and much more practical) internal combustion engine took the lead.

• Early steam power:  If you count the first successful additions of engines to bicycles as the world’s earliest motorcycles, several people seem to have tied for that honor. Paris blacksmith Pierre Michaux invented a steam-powered bicycle (or velocipede, as they were called) in the late 1860’s.  At the same time, Sylvester H. Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts invented his own steam velocipede, which ran on a coal-fired boiler that sat between the wheels. Talk about lighting a fire under someone!

• Death in the saddle:  In June 1896, Roper died of heart failure while riding his latest model steam velocipede near the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• Moto Bicyclettes:  French brothers Michel and Eugene Werner began experimenting with what they called “moto bicyclettes” in the 1890s.  They had varying degrees of success installing gasoline engines in the early models, one of which tended to burst into flames.  But by 1901 they had developed what would be the form of the modern motorcycle by splitting the frame in front of the pedals and mounting the engine in the gap. This new layout with the engine low and centrally located gave the machine much better balance.

• Motorcycle innovation races ahead: Once this basic form was in place, the number of motorcycle manufacturers skyrocketed, with many small companies getting in on the action. Competition was fierce and was driven by the new and popular sport of motorcycle racing.  With its powerful incentive to produce tough, fast, reliable machines, motorcycle racing pushed manufacturers to experiment and innovate, creating better bikes that then quickly found their way to the general public.

• Ford’s Model T gives more transportational bang for the buck: By 1911, some 150 makes of motorcycles had already been built in the United States, sales were buoyant, and the future seemed bright for the industry. Indian, whose products were exported worldwide, was the biggest manufacturer in the world. Then came the hammer blow:  in 1908 Henry Ford’s everyman’s car, the Model T, debuted and within a few years became cheaper than many motorcycles. By the mid 1920s, the number of significant motorcycle manufacturers had shrunk to just three – Indian was the largest, followed by Harley-Davidson, and finally Excelsior, whose machines were built in Chicago by the Schwinn Bicycle Company.  In the end, Harley-Davidson was the only one to survive the Great Depression in good shape.

Caption: 1909 Pierce. Courtesy of Glen Wiglesworth.  Photo (c) Kevin Sprague 2011.

• It’s me or the bike!  The 1909 Pierce had been in pieces for nearly a century before being put back together for our Born to Ride exhibit. When the original owner asked his sweetheart to marry him, she had one condition: get rid of that dangerous bike!  Love conquered all, and the bike was disassembled and packed away for decades. The current owner purchased the boxes of parts nearly 40 years ago but never fully reassembled it until this year.  Among the interesting features of this bike is its original early Massachusetts medallion license plate.  And if you’re looking for the gas tank, it’s in the bike’s frame!  The upper and rear frame tubes could hold seven quarts of fuel while the front downtube carried five pints of oil. This bike went 55 mph, almost unheard of at that time. No wonder his sweetheart was worried!

Caption: 1911 Flying Merkel.  Courtesy of Dick Shappy Classic Cars.

• The fabulous Flying Merkel:  Along with its signature bright orange body and memorable name, the Flying Merkel had a number of great advertising slogans.  Among them:   “The only motorcycle that doesn’t shake the daylights out of its rider,” “The next thing to flying,” and “All roads are smooth to The Flying Merkel.”

Caption: 1936 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead.  Courtesy of David Howland.

• What a Knucklehead: The arrival of Harley-Davidson’s overhead-valve Big Twin inspired ecstasy among dealers. The unveiling of the “Knucklehead” caused such excitement that one Texas dealer shot the chandelier with joy.

You can learn more fascinating “fun facts” in our Born to Ride exhibit, on view through October 31^st.

Hidden Hollow’s Treehouse Debuts!

The treehouse, Hidden Hollow’s most anticipated new feature, will open its leafy heights to visitors on August 18th! 

Planning for the treehouse began in July of 2008, when staff met with Pete Nelson, master treehouse-builder and co-founder of The TreeHouse Workshop, Inc., based in Seattle, WA.  He is widely recognized as the nation’s foremost authority on treehouses. It was designed based on one of his renderings. Mr. Nelson’s philosophy is that “each tree or group of trees has within its natural shape a perfect treehouse design that will fit safely and efficiently.”  Each treehouse should, therefore, be unique.

He worked with Heritage Arborist Gary Childs to choose two oak trees that would thrive with a treehouse among their branches.  The design he presented for HH’s treehouse was inspired by Norwegian stave churches, medieval wooden churches with post and beam construction related to timber framing.

Architect Greg Jones (who also designed the new wing of the Auto Museum) modified Pete Nelson’s design, creating the final design and working blue prints.  Jones worked with the instructor at Upper Cape Tech to create a design that was buildable for the students.

Students from the Carpentry program at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School, a regional school district in Bourne that serves the towns of Bourne, Falmouth, Marion, Sandwich and Wareham.  Teachers in this program instruct students in mill and house carpentry planning and construction projects. Carpentry students develop their expertise at off-campus community building projects such as this one.  The goal is to broaden students’ occupational capabilities by providing practical and relevant cooperative work experiences that connect their academic and technical experience to the real world.

The carpentry students also built the stage in Hidden Hollow and the pump house for the Flume Fountain. 

Under the supervision of instructor Kevin McFayden, nearly two dozen students volunteered many hours of hard work on the treehouse during the 2009/10 and 2010/11 school years. Kevin describes this as a spectacular opportunity for his students, “the kind of project that would only come along once in two lifetimes.” We think they’re the kind of people who only come along once in two lifetimes!

During the first school year, the students completed the footings and the first floor decking.  Kevin describes creating the footings as the greatest challenge of the two year project.  It was critically important that they be structurally sound to provide a solid base for the treehouse. Digging the deep footings and setting the brackets while working on a steeply sloped hillside with concern for not damaging the surrounding vegetation was challenging.  The upper floors and roof were constructed during the second school year. 

 

Weather was a constant challenge. Kevin quickly realized that some of the fabrication would need to be done at the school.  He came up with the ingenious solution of drawing a full scale treehouse on the floor of their carpentry shop at the school.  The students did the measuring and precut the wood in the shop, then assembled the pieces at HMG.  Kevin reports that this method worked beautifully – “like a well-designed jigsaw puzzle” – and that there was never one piece that did not fit perfectly on site, a great lesson in prefabrication for the students.

The treehouse decking is made of ipê (EE-pay) wood, from a tropical tree also called poui or trumpet tree. Ipê is very durable and resistant to insect damage. The boardwalk through Hidden Hollow is made of ipê. The treehouse’s framing is red cedar, the support posts locust and the handrails mahogany.  Unique to a treehouse, the first floor is completely accessible to visitors with disabilities.      

Treehouses bring out the kid in all of us.  They represent freedom and inspire dreams.  This treehouse provides an incredible vantage point for surveying the unique landscape of Hidden Hollow from a bird’s eye view.  We envision it being used in many ways: as an observation tower, a family play space, a retreat, or just a place where kids can let their imaginations run wild!

 

Start Your Engines!

Despite some threatening weather the night before, the annual Heritage Auto Show went off without a hitch Saturday, July 9^th, to the delight of more than 800 visitors. Nearly a hundred fantastic vehicles turned up for the event, representing a century of American and European automotive history.

A ’62 Corvette was the twin of Heritage’s own—right down to the ‘fawn beige’ paint.

Matt Ellis brought his 1924 REO Speedwagon Schoolbus, known around town as the bus that used to ferry bright-eyed Sandwich children to their studies back in the day. 

A Model T kit car based on Heritage’s 1915 Stutz Bearcat got a unique photo op, since the museum had brought the Stutz out on the field that day.

Members of Heritage’s Auto Committee made up the judging panel. One committee member commented that it was a tough decision—there were just so many fine cars to choose from. But eventually they came up with a winner, as did a group of automotive students from Cape Cod Technical School in Harwich who were judging for their own award. In recent years, the school has partnered with Heritage to work on some of the antique cars in the Automobile Collection. It’s beneficial for both; the students gain practical experience and the museum’s cars get some TLC. For their Auto Show award, the students presented the winner with a pen set handmade in their carpentry shop.        

Here are the winning cars and owners:

Heritage Auto Committee Choice:

 Timothy Andrade’s 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

 

Tim Andrade accepts his award.

Cape Cod Technical High School Students’ Award:

Paul Paddock’s 1968 Ford Galaxie XL Convertible

The judges from Cape Cod Technical School  await the announcement of their award.

Participants’ Choice:

Robert Beckwith ( in blue) and his 1931 Packard 840 Roadster

Spectators’ Choice:

Ken and Rose Laytin’s 1954 Buick Roadmaster Convertible

Ken and Rose Laytin with the award for their 1954 Buick.

Thanks to all the participants for a great show! We’ll see you back again next year!

Free Fun Fridays

Who got free admission to Heritage on Friday, July 1^st? This friendly little guy and 2300 friends! (Note: they weren’t all rabbits, but just imagine if they had been…wow. Okay, moving on.)

With a generous grant from the Highland Street Foundation, Heritage was able to offer free admission to visitors that day and, boy, did they take us up on it! 

The Highland Street Foundation is doing some great work for the public this summer.  They’ve made it possible to visit THREE DOZEN museums, zoos and cultural destinations for free with their Free Fun Friday program this year.  Each Friday from July 1^st to August 26^th, a new group of destinations is featured.  Get the list here and make plans to spend some quality time with your family this summer. 

Check out the fun we had on Heritage’s Free Fun Friday:

All day Hidden Hollow was packed with kids and their adults. 

Kids of all ages enjoyed a musical performance by Jackson Gillman in Hidden Hollow.

The carousel, as always, was the highlight for many visitors.  

Thanks to Highland Street Foundation for all the free fun!

Friends with Trowels are Good to Have

Maria Hickey’s cottage garden at the front gate.

Hidden Hollow isn’t the only place where we’re getting a little help from our friends. If you’ve strolled through our grounds lately, chances are you’ve stopped to admire one of our landscape partners’ gardens.  All over Heritage you’ll find these horticultural gems, all made possible through the generosity of local landscape companies. 

C. L. Fornari and Hyannis Country Garden designed the Windmill garden.  

Paul Miskovsky’s garden outside our Administration building.

Heritage is known for its beautiful gardens, so our community partners really gave it their all, producing some gorgeous and thoughtful interpretations of the spaces they were given. 

Visitors enjoying a rest amid the tropical plantings at the Heald Center.

Many took the opportunity to experiment, playing with unusual plantings like the broad-leaved tropicals  by Maffei Landscaping outside the Auto Museum or the high contrast of deep, velvety purples against spring green ferns to be found in Lewis Landscaping’s garden outside the Museum Store.  


Shade loving plants that are also visually interesting given their deep coloring.

Others, like the Rose Man’s garden near the front gate and Michael P. Neath’s lovely spot near the History Museum, aim for a profusion of lush summer blooms that attract the bees and perfume the air.

This hybrid in the Rose Man’s garden is called ‘Oranges and Lemons.’


Catmint, delphinium and petunias attract a host of bees and hummingbirds, while the aquasphere fountain provides a unique focal point for this garden by Michael P. Neath.

The Police Gazette garden at the Art Museum has been reinvigorated with vibrant-colored, leafy container plantings, giving it the air of a placid oasis on even the hottest summer day.

Thanks to Mary LeBlanc Designs, Hoxie Landscaping and Brick Kiln Nursery for their beautiful reviving of the Police Gazette garden.

Several of our landscaping partners incorporated edible plantings alongside more traditional annuals and perennials.  The baby pineapples outside the Auto Museum entrance are a delight for visitors to discover and the container plantings by Soares Flower Garden Nursery nearby incorporate the delicate ruffles of green leaf lettuce among purple elephant ears and sprays of tiny red-orange blossoms.

M. R. Soares Flower Garden Nursery created several gorgeous containers placed around the Auto Museum and Ticket Office area.     

It’s not often you see baby pineapples growing on Cape Cod!

If you’d like to learn how to incorporate edible plants in your own flower beds, or if you just want to know how to grow a better tomato, stop by Heritage Wednesday, July 6^th at 10:30am for a Mornings in the Garden talk with our own horticulturist, Jeanie Gillis.  Click here to learn more.  It’s free with admission or membership, so you can check out all our sponsors’ wonderful gardens while you’re here!

Fake Artifacts and Mock Disasters

 

No one wants to think about the worst that could happen. Preparing for a disaster that might never occur can seem expensive and time consuming, especially with so many more immediate metaphorical fires to put out. But the newspapers are full of just such events—floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, not to mention the nuclear catastrophe in Japan—and by the time one appears on your own horizon, it’s too late to start thinking ahead.  What you do in the 24 to 48 hours after a disaster occurs can tip the balance between saving a museum collection or losing it completely.      

On June 14^th Heritage held an Emergency Response and Collections Salvage Workshop with conservator Mary Jo Davis.  Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, this workshop was offered free to staff and volunteers of local cultural institutions and was attended by a score of folks from museums and historical sites in southeastern Massachusetts. 

 
Conservator MJ Davis talks about disaster preparedness.

Mary Jo (MJ) Davis has made a career of preserving the rare, the unique and the irreplaceable. Alongside her conservation business, she has been training museum people to handle emergencies for more than a decade.  In 2003, she organized the state-wide Vermont Emergency Response Team for Cultural Institutions. 

 
Prints recovered from the mock disaster.

MJ gave workshop participants plenty of new ways to think about their own disaster prep.  How are objects in their museums protected from flooding, earthquakes (which have happened in New England!) or the water, wind and glass of a window broken during a hurricane? Does their museum have a generator or a stash of emergency supplies? Does the museum have a formal Disaster Plan? Have they practiced it? What are the town or city-wide disaster plans? Much of being prepared hinges on people working together, both within an institution and between the instution and the larger community.  MJ showed participants why it’s so important to make those connections ahead of time.  

In addition to telling workshop participants what to expect after a disaster, MJ had participants try their hands at salvaging a few fake artifacts that were specially “damaged” for the occasion.  Water damage to museum collections is among the most common problem after a catastrophic event.  Different materials will behave in different ways when they get wet; ceramics and glass are, not surprisingly, fairly resilient, where ivory and leather can be easily ruined.  It’s important for the museum staff who might have to salvage collections in an emergency to know how to handle various materials and whom to call for further assistance. 

 
Filling the pools with faux artifacts.

MJ and Heritage collections staff staged four kiddie pools with a variety of “artifacts” collected from yard sales, thrift stores and their own basements.  The pools were filled with a couple inches of water and left to soak for several hours.  The realism of the manufactured disaster was aided by a light rain that fell on the pools while the objects got damaged.     

 
Mock disaster soup.

Then the real fun began. The first thing to do was get organized, which meant assigning specific tasks to each member of the salvage teams.  Once the initial assessment of the overall damage was complete, teams came up with a plan for the salvage operation.  As each object came out of the pool, it was recorded on an inventory, carefully transported to the triage area, its condition assessed and a treatment carried out.  Most often, these treatments are not the final recovery of the object, but preparation for the limbo stage of freezing.  If the damage affected a lot of objects at once, it may not be possible to carefully dry each of them right then, especially if the building where they usually live has flood damage!  Groups of wet objects are often frozen in commercial freezer trucks so that later they can be dried a few at a time. 

 
Assessing the situation.

 
Carefully transporting a damaged artwork. 

 
Treating the objects at the Triage Station. 

 
A series of photographs hung to dry.

As the workshop attendees worked, they discovered that some objects were relatively undamaged and that others couldn’t be saved. They also learned that even with recovery treatment, objects once damaged by water would never be as good as they were before.  It is better (and a lot cheaper) to prevent damage from happening in the first place. Having no plan at all is a completely avoidable disaster.

Get Lost

If you haven’t seen it yet this season, the Maze Garden is looking more lush and verdant than ever thanks to a spring makeover by Maffei Landscaping of Mashpee, Massachusetts. The Maze is home to Heritage’s growing (no pun intended!) Vine Collection and several new vines have been added as part of the renovation.  Around each corner you’ll find containers full of vibrant tropical annuals such as hibiscus and mandevilla that add color and focal interest to the Maze environment.  Last month the canopy of wisteria was hung with lavender flowers;  if you looked closely you could spot the little English wren who’d built her nest among its leaves. 

Honeysuckle, clematis, hops and anemone are all busy climbing the mesh supports that define the maze.  Vines like these are great for home gardens where they can form a “living fence” to create more privacy without having to wait years for hedges to grow.  Trained onto a support, they provide a wonderful vertical element in gardens.  Vines like sweet potato, with its distinctively shaped purple or green leaves, are perfect for adding variety to container gardens.       

You can learn more about vines and how to use them in your own garden this Wednesday, when Horticulturist Jeanie Gillis will lead a Mornings in the Garden talk all about vines.  The talk is free with admission and begins at the Ticket Office at 10:30am. 

 
Lose yourself among the vines in the Maze!