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November 2011 Chandor Gardens News

In This Issue In The Gift Shop Did You Know Reserve the Gardens Upcoming Events Talk of the Walk Chandor Memories Master Gardener Alert Weddings Thank You Stuart Nursery Plant of the Month Closed for Thanksgiving   Chandor Gardens will be closed in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday November 24th through November 27th. In The Gift Shop Take the Gardens Home with you. There are postcards, notecards, prints, calendars and even t-shirts sporting The fabulous images of Chandor Gardens In our gift shop. We feature unique handmade items by a variety of local artisans specializing in textiles, stained and fused glass, jewelry, painting, photography and much more. Shop early for truly special holiday gifts!   Did You Know Did you know... ALL of the stone you see at Chandor Gardens was brought in from various places around Texas and Oklahoma? Most of the stone used in the garden is sandstone from Palo Pinto County, but there are many other types used as well, including white limestone, Leuders sandstone, and crushed granite. We surmise that Douglas Chandor did not like the appearance of the native stone under the gardens---a dirty white stone, peppered with fossilized shells, that breaks into irregular chunks. So...we got to wondering what that stone is called. Our answer, courtesy of Jim Diffily at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History: "It is commonly called the Walnut Shellstone. The Walnut Formation (a named series of related rock layers) is composed of beds of oyster shell (called Gryphea) that formed in the bays of a rising Cretaceous sea. The shell beds alternate with yellowish clays. The shell beds cap NW trending ridges that extend into the sandy outcrops of the Paluxy (sand & clay) Formation. It's all a bit over 100 million years old." So... now you know! Contact Information Chandor Gardens 711 W Lee Avenue Weatherford, TX 76086 Karen Nantz Manager Phone: 817-613-1700 Fax: 817-598-4354 email KNantz@ weatherfordtx.gov Steven Chamblee Horticulturist email SChamblee@ weatherfordtx.gov Public Hours Monday-Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturdays 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Sundays noon to 4:00 pm Closed all City Observed Holidays. Admission Adults: $5 Children 12 and under: Free (Children must be accompanied by an adult.) Private Tours and Events Available year-round by appointment. ChandorGardens.com Now Booking Book the Chandor mansion for your holiday party! Dates are filling up fast. The beautifully decorated Chandor Gardens mansion is perfect for your Holiday gathering or office party. The rental includes the 5600 square foot historic home, all tables and chairs, plenty of parking and on site staff. Your guests will also have access to the gardens. The mansion is available for bookings seven days a week from 9a.m. to 10p.m. Call 817-613-1700 for questions or to make your reservation. Find Us on Facebook Newsletter Archive ChandorGardens.com Chandor Gardens Newsletter November 2011 "A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself." -May Sarton   Welcome back! We hope you are enjoying getting to know Chandor Gardens.   The sun is setting on another successful gardening season; however, fall has arrived and mother nature has worked her magic adding a beautiful hue to the leaves. To complement her splendor, the staff at Chandor Gardens has introduced additional color with seasonal planting. All in all, it is the perfect time to enjoy the sights and sounds of Chandor Gardens.   Take a peek at the activity to come...   Happy Thanksgiving! The Chandor Gardens Staff Upcoming Events NOVEMBER Schedule a docent-guided tour of the gardens and the mansion. We also offer a buffet style lunch for groups of 10 or more. November is a beautiful month at Chandor Gardens - come out and see for yourself! For more information or to schedule a guided tour call 817-613-1700 or email - - - - - - - - - - DECEMBER Chandor Gardens Annual Holiday Open House Saturday, December 10, 2011, 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm Admission: Free Celebrate the Holidays at Chandor Gardens! Enjoy a stroll through the gardens and a tour of the Chandor mansion all decked out for the season. Area singers and musicians will be entertaining throughout the gardens. Santa will be here for the kids (of all ages). Our open house event is free. For additional information call 817-613-1700 or email Chandor Gardens Open House is sponsored by 360 West Magazine. Our Holiday Open House is held in conjunction with the Parker County Heritage Society's Tour of Homes. This year's Candlelight Tour of Homes is the 30th time that owners of some of Weatherford's oldest homes have opened their doors and welcomed visitors. Tickets for venues other than Chandor Gardens are available at Weatherford Chamber of Commerce as well as the Doss Heritage and Culture Center. For more information or to purchase tickets online go to: www.parkercountyheritagesociety.com John Tracy Christmas Concert A Night of Live Christmas Music & CheerDecember 10, 2011 8:00 to 10:00 pm After the Open House Come share the joy of the Season as we join together inside the beautifully decorated Chandor Mansion for John Tracy's 3rd annual Christmas concert. Bringing us his favorite Christmas classics, adapted with his acoustic guitar signature, he is sure to fill your hearts with glad tidings. So mark your calendars now and invite your family, friends and neighbors to be a part of this Christmas elebration! Tickets can be purchased in advance for $15 by calling (817) 933-9102. Tickets will also be available at the door on the night of the concert. To hear samples of what is in store for you, visit www.johntracymusic.com. Holiday Brunch Sunday, December 18th For details and reservations call 817-613-1700 or email . Talk of the Walk by Steven L. Chamblee What have people been talking about around the garden? This month it's been the annual vines. Moonflower (Ipomoea alba) Moonflower is actually a very large, white morning glory. A tropical vine that can grow to almost 100 feet tall, it freezes in Texas winters, so we grow it as an annual vine. (The 2011 vine at Chandor Gardens exceeded 25 feet in length!) When the daylight hours shorten in autumn, Moonflower is triggered to bloom, producing loads of those monstrous, 6-inch wide, intricately-pleated blossoms that open in the late afternoons. Each lightly citrus-scented bloom lasts about a day in warm weather, up to two days in cooler temperatures. Spanish Flag (Ipomoea lobata) Native from Mexico southward to Brazil, this slender, tightly-twining annual vine produces an unusual, one-sided spike inflorescence, tipped in red with a lightening color gradient that descends through orange, yellow, and finally white. It is also known as Fire Vine and Firecracker Vine. Interestingly enough, it is also closely-related to the morning glories, and even though the flower structure is quite different, the fruit is very similar. Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) Rounding out the trifecta of morning glories is the Ornamental Sweet Potato. Yes, they were developed from edible sweet potatoes, but the plant breeders' focus on beautiful leaf color resulted in a rather unpleasant-tasting tuber beneath the soil. The most popular varieties are 'Marguerite' (chartreuse) and 'Blackie' (dark purple), each capable of producing rambling vines 15 feet long Air Potato Vine (Dioscorea bulbifera) A startlingly attractive vine from Africa, the air potato features large, lustrous, heart-shaped leaves that align beautifully when grown up a trellis or other vertical support. The vines on the Silver Garden pergola produced long string-like inflorescences this summer...the first I've ever seen on this plant! I am hoping they will develop fruit before the deep freezes get here. The namesake "potatoes" that are produced along the vine are definitely NOT edible, and the plant is not botanically related to any of the edible varieties of potato. In tropical and sub-tropical areas (like Houston), Air Potato grows and spreads so fast that is considered an invasive species. Chandor Memories This postcard photograph from the 1940's shows the "ceiling" of wisteria that hung over many of Douglas Chandor's original garden rooms. The white bridge spans a canal, home to many beautiful fish. Chinese symbols carved in the walkway just over the bridge bid visitors luck, peace, prosperity and happiness. Master Gardener Alert! It's time to change the annual color beds at Chandor Gardens, and that means the Parker County Master Gardeners will be at work. Twice a year, we strip out the old color plants, prep the beds, put the new color down...then get outta the way! They go to work like frenzied bees, and about two hours later, all the new color plants are in! And just so you know, they come out twice a month to help us with the gardens. Hats off to our Parker County Master Gardeners! Weddings at Chandor Gardens   "Your happily ever after begins here." Reserve your special day. Dates are filling up fast for 2012. We will be holding our second annual Bridal Event at the Gardens in March 2012. Thank You Stuart Nursery Tree Honoring 10-Year Anniversary of September 11 Screwbean Mesquite is native to West Texas and Mexico, where it thrives in shallow, rocky soils. The namesake fruits do indeed resemble threaded screws, and are produced in clusters. We extend a special note of thanks to Stuart Nursery in Weatherford. We needed a unique tree to plant on September 11, to honor the ten year anniversary. I went over and picked out a Screwbean Mesquite (Prosopis pubescens) at their nursery, and went to pay for it. When I mentioned the occasion, they refused to accept payment for the tree, saying they were honored to do anything they could to support our military personnel. The tree is planted at the Lee Avenue entrance to Chandor Gardens, near the American flag. Plant of the Month - Fall Aster (Aster sp.) Billows of blue blossoms are the hallmark of the Fall Aster, attracting butterflies, bees, and people to their beauty. These asters came from a plant production facility in Aledo, and were planted as six, one-gallon containers back in April. I like asters because they resemble nice, full, fast-growing shrubs during the spring and summer, providing a nice green foil that highlights the surrounding plants. In October, they burst into bloom. By December, they will die back to the ground level rosettes, just as all herbaceous perennials do. Next March, they will begin another spectacular season. I always recommend asters as one of the most easy, fool-proof plants for novice gardeners. I've heard that the only way to kill an aster is to back over it with a dually pick-up truck...three times! We look forward to seeing you in the Gardens. -The Chandor Gardens Staff Copyright 2011 Chandor Gardens and the City of Weatherford, Texas. All rights reserved. eNewsletter production by Pro Epic.

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