In conversation with Matthew Martin of Restoration Horticulture, The Native Plant Podcast, and teacher of Arboriculture at Essex Tech.
Matthew grew up in Salem, Mass., in a neighborhood with a view of the power plant, to loving parents who worked in factories. His parents recognized that he was fascinated by the natural world and encouraged his curiosity. He graduated from the former Essex Aggie vocational technical high school and Northern Essex Community College where he was mentored by excellent teachers.
While attending Northern Essex, he interned at Walt Disney World and the Arnold Aboretum, working with world-class horticulturalists and diverse plant collections. Both Disney World and The Aboretum are visited by throngs of people and meticulous maintenance is essential. He applied what he learned when he became the Horticulturalist at Glen Magna Historic Garden in Danvers.
Glen Magna has been owned by the Danvers Historical Society since 1963 and is a popular wedding venue. In 1926, Glen Magna was awarded the Hunnewell Gold Medal by The Massachusetts Horticultural Society for rare and ornamental trees and shrubs. By the time the historical society purchased 11 acres of the original estate it was in serious need of restoration.
Wedding revelers provide challenging problems for formal landscapes, but Matthew was uniquely qualified after his internships. In addition to mitigating the damage that follows parties of people liberally drinking, Matthew had to provide scrupulous attention to the formal areas. His methods included crisp edged beds containing exuberant flower combinations such a Dahlias with Milkweed. He successfully created a pleasure garden that was also a wild life habitat.
Matthew began keeping a garden journal and introducing more native plants. During Covid the weddings stopped and he had time to implement more sustainable methods and to experiment with plant combinations, combining natives with non-invasive plants from other parts of the world. He had time to observe insect and wildlife pressures and to create social media content featuring his work and observations which captured the interest of John Magee who invited Matthew to co-host the Native Plant Podcast.
Matthew and I discussed how “our conditions are no longer native”, how many native plants are under siege and how plant migration is occurring due to our warming climate. We both agreed that “native plant advocacy can be over-zealous and emotional rather than logical”. People need to take a holistic approach to plant selection and design.
Recommendations…
- Plant Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) in drifts. Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
- Read The Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World, by Emma Morris
I’d like to thank Matthew for this inspiring conversation, for his candor and dedication to our shared profession. I am certain he will continue to add value to horticulture and be responsible for improving the green industry on the North Shore through his teaching. I’d like to thank Massachusetts taxpayers for supporting vocational education. ♦
Ida Wye is the principal of Ida Wye Designs, offering landscape design, consultation, implementation, and restoration. Ida was green long before it was fashionable. She is committed to creating gardens that heal our planet, one landscape at a time. Ida graduated from U. Mass. Amherst with a B. S. in Plant and Soil Sciences before working for the U.S. D. A. and teaching Horticulture. After studying Landscape Design at Radcliffe, she began working independently. She later studied Urban Forestry and Wetland Science. www.idawyelandscapes.com
