Sweet Auburn Magazine 2022 Vol. 2 | Page 23

sweet auburn | 2022 volume ii
Curator ’ s Corner :

Summer Rains and Summer Drought in the Merriam Lot

By Dennis Collins Horticultural Curator
Stachys byzantina ‘ Countess Helen Von Stein ’
he Merriam Lot on Fountain Avenue , adjacent to the south side of

T Story Chapel ( and our future columbarium pathway mentioned on the previous page ), features an exquisite marble monument commemorating

Civil War veteran Lt . Col . Waldo Merriam ( 1839 – 1864 ) Commander , 16th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and is a popular attraction . When the masonry repairs on Story Chapel were completed in 2021 , it was time to plant the lot . The location gets full sun all day long and is in fact one of the hottest and driest sites in the Cemetery . Hence it seemed perfectly suited for xeric , drought-resistant plants .
As luck would have it , 2021 was one of the wettest year on record , with 52.3 inches of rain and 21.7 inches of snow . By the end of the summer rains , one of the plants that we used , Stachys byzantina ‘ Helen von Stein ’ ( Lamb ’ s Ears ) looked ready for the compost pile , and alternative replacement plants were added . Fast forward to the summer of 2022 , which saw extreme drought conditions and record-breaking heat , conditions that Lamb ’ s Ears would have loved . It was an uncomfortable summer for all of us , but the irony of the Merriam Lot planting added insult to injury !
We are keenly aware of global warming . The climate is changing , however imperceptible it may be from one year to the next . Historical records show that for much of Mount Auburn ’ s existence , the weather didn ’ t vary much from one decade to the next , although there was a gradual warming during the twentieth century . It ’ s only been in the past 50 years that more dramatic changes have occurred . How fast and how far the changes will go in the future is unknown , but unpredictability and erratic weather can now be considered “ the new normal .” Weather patterns and events in the future will likely include excessive precipitation ( intense snow / ice / rain events ), prolonged droughts and heat waves , extreme high and low temperatures , and strong wind conditions . The effects of all this on plants and plant communities will be significant and , unfortunately , without precedent .
Despite this gloomy assessment , we persist and look forward . Species diversification has been one of the guiding principles in our horticultural initiatives for many years . Given the potential risks and uncertainties that climate change will bring , increasing diversity in the plant collections seems a sound strategy . In the past 10 years , we have increased the number of different species represented in the plant collections by 31 percent . If you happen to notice some Camellias and Crape Myrtles at Mount Auburn in the future , you ’ ll understand why .
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