[Magdalen] Horticulture.

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

It's amazing what they will pack into the little monthly, "Horticulture"  
magazine.
 
There are articles in the current issue about:
 
(1) The tropical Abbey Gardens on Tresco, one of the Scilly
Islands off the Cornwall coast of extreme SW England.  There is
an immense collection of tender and often rare species.  I've 
wanted for a long time to tour these islands which are frost
free secondary to being surrounded by the Gulf Stream.
 
(2) The Osage Orange tree (Maclura pomifera) which in its native
area is found only in East Texas and adjoining Oklahoma and
Arkansas.  A few specimens were planted in the Eastern USA
where the largest individuals of the species are found on the  properties
of some of the plantation owners (Jefferson, Washington, Henry).
I have a feeling this attractive tree would not be hardy here in zone
6a, but I'm going to check into it.
 
(3) Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum).  I haven't had any in
this area of Pennsylvania, but they were commonly seen in the Upper
Midwest because of the great number of flowering  crabapples bearing
fruit there.  In their usual flock activity, they can strip a crab of  fruit
in 5 minutes.
 
David S.