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Vol. 1, No. 6 ?? June 15, 2005
In This Issue:
Annuals for Summer Heat
Gardening With Kids
June To-Do List
What's Blooming
Local Gardening Events
Welcome to the
Washington Garden Enews!
This is the free sister publication of Washington Gardener magazine.
Both the magazine and enewsletter share the same mission and focus ?? helping Washington DC area gardens grow ?? but our content is different.
In this monthly enewsletter, we will:
address timely seasonal topics and projects; post local garden events; and, include a monthly reminder list of what you can be doing now in your garden.
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Annuals for Summer Heat
Our July/August issue of the magazine is at the printer today and should be in your hands in 2-3 weeks. We are so excited about this one! We??ve devoted it to Water Gardens and have some incredible photos and tips to share with you. Also in this issue is a profile of Dr. Marc Cathey, a Poison Ivy primer, more ZoneBusters, and a new feature called BeforeAfter. This new feature will visit gardens around the area and look at how they were transformed from ???ow??? to ???wow.??? If you have not already subscribed to the magazine, we urge you to do so today. Treat yourself or a friend to a year??s worth of DC gardening for just $18. Please see the Subscription information at bottom of this newsletter.
Hot enough for you? Okay, it is due to cool off for a bit, but meteorologists are predicting this will be a scorcher of a summer for the DC area. So it??s best to be prepared. Here are some annuals (in no particular order) that have proven to survive and even thrive in our heat and humidity.
- Verbena ?? one plant can cover up to four feet diameter. You can??t beat it for filling in a bare patch on a slope.
- Marigolds ?? while detested by some for their odor and ???country??? appearance, these flowers do have their place in the garden. They are especially useful around tomatoes to keep away pests.
- Begonia ?? great for the front of the border and for lining your walkways. Look for the double-flowering or ???rose??? varieties for doing single-plant containers.
- Celosia ?? this is a good plant for long-term flower heads that you can leave on and let dry for fall arrangements.
- Petunias ?? the new varieties are making these flowering annuals almost ubiquitous. Look for new varieties that self-shed their flowers so you won??t have to constantly pinch off the spent blooms to encourage re-blooming.
- Impatiens ?? another DC area standard. One caution though these little darlings can wilt badly on hot afternoons. Keep them watered and out of the intense afternoon sun.
- Coleus ?? combine this beautiful foliage plant in containers with just about any flowering annual and you??ll be rewarded all summer long. Pinch out the top growth occasionally to prevent it getting leggy.
- Cleome ?? a bloom for the hottest part of our summer and quite a show-stopper. This is not for the front of your border as they get quite large. They self-seed readily as well so pick your site carefully as you??ll get them back every year.
- Cosmos ?? another self-seeder but one I wouldn??t live without. Mine are starting to bloom now and last year went right into November. They also make a sweet cur flower.
- Persian Shield ?? a new favorite of mine. The flower is not significant, similar to Coleus, it is the stunning foliage you want it for. Plant it wherever an accent is needed. I like it especially combined with hydrangea.
- Nicotiana ?? growing in popularity, this annual now comes in smaller, more compact forms that are better suited to city garden
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f a nice scent on a cool summer night.
- Zinnias ?? easy to grow and carefree though can have some powdery mildew problems if the weather is damp. Look for it in shocking pink and lime green for fun color combinations.
- Vines ?? hyacinth bean vine, cardinal vine, moonflower, morning glory, and sweet potato vine ?? are all good choices for their fast growing habits. Great for around a mailbox or birdhouse post. Note of caution: most of the.se self-seed and can grow rampantly
I hope these suggestions get your garden through the heat of summer with plenty of color and fun. When you shop for these at your local garden center, please tell them Kathy at Washington Gardener magazine sent you!
Happy Growing!
Kathy Jentz
Editor/Publisher
Washington Gardener
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Local Gardening Events
Here is a selection of upcoming events in the DC area of interest to gardeners:
DC
National Herb Garden Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Ongoing through 2005
United States National Arboretum, 3501 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC
The National Herb Garden in Washington, D.C., the largest designed herb
garden in North America, is kicking off a six-month celebration of its
25th anniversary. The celebration will include a series of special events, lectures, and
demonstrations planned to help visitors understand the central role
that herbs have played in societies for many centuries. On June 18, the Potomac and Philadelphia units of
the Herb Society of America (HSA) will demonstrate the making of herbal
crafts.
Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: call 202.245.4523 or www.usna.usda.gov
Evening in the Garden
June 21, July 5, July 19, August 2, August 16, and August 30 from 5-8:00 p.m.
United States Botanic Garden Conservatory, 100 Maryland Avenue, SW, foot of the U.S. Capitol
The USBG Conservatory is a special place in the evenings. For the summer, we will be open every other Tuesday until 8:00 p.m. Spend a few hours expanding your
gardening knowledge and exploring the Conservatory at night. Activities at the Garden could
include a lecture, guided tour, musical performance, or workshop.
Some evenings require preregistration.
For more information: call 202.225.8333 or www.usbg.gov
MD
Open House @ Environmental Concern
June 18th, 9am-2pm
201 Boundary Ln., St. Michaels, MD
Plant sale, tour, sale. Certified horticulturists will be available to answer your
gardening questions. Take a tour of the nation's first wholesale wetland plant nursery. Check on the progress of some of the 538,000 plugs of Spartina
being planted on Poplar Island this summer. See a Living Shoreline in action. Learn all about wetlands.
Free. Registration not required.
For more information: 410.745.9620 or visit www.wetland.org.
Wildflower Farm Tour
June 18th, 3pm (Rain date June 25)
Davidsonville, MD
Dr. Tangren will lead a tour through the wildflower production fields of the Carr family's farm in
Davidsonville, Maryland. Expect to see Virginia wild rye, prickly pear,
foxglove beardtongue, common milkweed, butterfly pea and much more. Jeff White will
lead a tour of our expanding woody plant area. A selection of native
flowers, grasses and woody shrubs will be available for sale.
Free. Registration required.
For more information: 301.580.6237 or visit www.chesapeakenatives.com.
Creating Gardens in a Digital Age
Tuesday and Thursday, 6/21 ?? 7/28 from 6-10pm
Montgomery College Germantown, MD campus
Introduces students to historical garden designs as well as current ecologically influenced trends, such as sustainable landscaping and native planting deigns. Through digital media, students will learn to apply these influences to create their own designs and to prepare graphic presentations, plant palettes and price quotes. Saturday field trips will look at garden designs that will form the basis of the students?? projects.
Tuiton Fee. Registration required.
For more information: 301.353.7803 or www.montgomerycollege.edu.
Founder??s Day Weekend at Behnke
July 9-10, 11:00am??5:00pm
At both Behnke locations - Beltsville, MD and Potomac, MD
Celebrating 75 years! Fun for everyone, including food, music, and special activities for kids of all ages. Expert garden advice.
Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.behnkes.com or call 301.937.1100.
PA
Pennsylvania Lavender Festival
June 17, 9am-5pm; June 18, 9am-5pm; June 19, 10am-5pm
Willow Pond Farm, 145 Tract Road, Fairfield, PA
celebrate lavender with speakers, food, garden tours, live music, cut-your-own lavender, Proven?§al table linens, a children's corner, an opportunity to make your own lavender wand, and lots and lots of lavender plants and products. A number of workshops covering crafting with lavender, aromatherapy, cooking with herbs, and other topics of interest.
Fee: $2; children 12 and under are free; separate workshop fees. Registration is not required, but recommended for workshops.
For more information: www.palavenderfestival.com or call 717.642.6387.
VA and WV
Carnivorous Plants
June 18, 10:00am-12noon
Green Spring Gardens Park, 4603 Green Spring Rd., Alexandria, VA
Most of us are familiar with Venus flytraps, but what other plants are carnivorous? Why are these plants carnivorous? Michael Szesze, owner of Carnivorous Plant Nursery, will astonish and amaze us with colorful slides, unbelievable facts and alluring plants. After the lecture, he will demonstrate how to create a miniature carnivorous garden and then participants will make one to take home. All materials supplied. Class appropriate for adults and children (10 yrs. and up).
Fee: $5 plus $25 for supplies. Registration is required.
For more information: www.greenspring.org or call 703.642.5173.
Potomac Lily Society's 44th Annual Lily Show
June 18, 12:30-5pm and June 19; 9am-4pm
Merrifield Garden Center, Fair Oaks Location
Lilies on display. Both cut flowers and floral designs will be presented. Answers from the experts.
Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.merrifieldgardencenter.com or call 703.968.9600.
???Potpourri of Color??? Art Exhibit
Through July 1, 9am-5pm
River Farm, American Horticultural Society, Alexandria, VA
Watercolors and pastels of Karin Sebolka and Marni Maree will be on display. Sebolka's work has proved to be very popular with lovers of Nature??s beauty. Her floral and landscape paintings reflect strength in composition and design. Marni Maree's favorite subject to paint is a flower, any flower. Whether the flower is painted as a part of a garden, as a portrait or as an abstracted close up, Marni sees so much beauty in a single flower that she will never tire of painting them.
Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.ahs.org or call 703.768.5700.
Daylily & Wine Festival
July 16, 9am-6pm and July 17, 1-6pm
Andre Viette Farm & Nursery, Fishersville, VA
Sample wines from many of Virginia's award winning wineries. Enjoy live jazz music while feasting on a wide variety of foods
offered by local restaurants. Stroll through a diverse range of artisans and crafters. Join horticultural experts in the Seminar Tent and learn new tips on landscaping and gardening.
Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.viette.com or call 800.575.5538.
To submit an event for this listing, please contact: editor@washingtongardener.com.
Our next deadline is July 10 for the July 15 edition of this enewsletter.
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What's Blooming
The first flush of spring blooms is fading out and now summer is settling in. Following are lists submitted by some of our readers of blooms during the week of June 5 working our way from north to south.
Jim Dronenburg up in Knoxville, MD, has in bloom: Styrax jap and S.j. Pink Chimes; various types of roses, deutzia, bearded, Japanese and Siberian iris, arisaemas, columbines,azaleas, rhododendrons, peonies, corydalis and hollies; Physocarpus 'Diabolo'; Lilium martagon hybrid (John Creech, I think?) deep brick red; Hawkweed; Pinellia; Valerian; Magnolia sieboldii 'Colossus'; Mockorange; Lithospermum; and a plant, hardy, wintered over in pot, labeled "Indigo" by wherever I got it from -- it is some sort of a legume, woody, Clethra-like thin spikes of deep, deep purple. Beautiful. Must plant it one of these days.
Ursula Sukinik of North Bethesda, MD, has: Alumn, Azaleas sp, Bletilla striata, Brunnera 'jack frost', columbine sp, Cornus Kousa, cornus sericea f. baileyi, dianthus sweet William, Dragon Arum (Dracunculus vulgaris)
Fringed Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia), Geranium maculatum & ???max frei??
Heuchera 'Pewter Veil', Hydrangea 'annabel', Hydrangea quercifolia, Impatients, Iris Siberian, Itea little henry, Jack in the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), Japanese Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis), Lobiela, Mazus reputans, Pentas spp, Polygonatum multiflorum 'Variegatum', rosa' knock out', Solomon's seal (Polygonatum biflorum), Strawberry Foxglove (Digitalis x mertonensis), tiarel
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', and Trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens).
In your editor's own garden in my Silver Spring/DC/Takoma Park border site are: Asstd. Annuals & wildflowers (mostly self-seeded) ?? nicotiana, alyssum, forget-me-not, cosmos, queen ann??s lace, bachelor??s buttons, etc.; roses ?? climbing white, mutabilis, mini, meidiland groundcover; and Lavender Munstead and Hidcote. Hardy begonia, Hardy geranium, Hardy pink water lily, Hollyhock, Blue-eyed grass, Dianthus
Sweet William, Creeping jenny, Asiatic lily, Common Tiger daylily, gallardia blanket flower, sedum stonecrop, wiegela ?? last of it, salvia, lamium pink, daisy, coreopsis
astilbe ?? pink & white, spiderwort, rose campion, and vine honeysuckle.
Jan Shea of Capitol Hill near Lincoln Park in DC says: all my lavenders are blooming, as are astilbe, hydrangea, coral bells, geraniums, roses, cat mint, chives, and clematis.
Cheval Force Opp of Dunn Loring, VA reports: Stella Dorr, Hydrange serrata bluebird, Seibold Elegans Hosta, Azalea "Betty Annn Voss,??? Kalmia Latifloia Freckles, Laurel Mt. Freckles, Waldsteinia fragarioides, barren strawberry, Indigofera dielsiana (Yunnan Indigo), Sunspot Euonymus Standard, Geranium Maculatum , wild geranium, Fothergilla gardenii Mt. Airy, Magnolia grandiflora Southern Magnolia, Primula Sieboldii, Clematis Arctic Queen, Geranium "Walter's Gift," Claytonia sibirica, Goats beard, foam flower, hellebores, peony, and comphrey.
Sheryl Hovey-Feldmesser of Oakton, VA, has: Southern magnolia tree's huge white blossoms with their heavenly scent, Mountain laurels, Columbines, Johnny Jump Ups, Hardy purple verbena, Old English tea and floribunda roses
Honeysuckle, Jackmani and violetta clematis, the last of the Forget-Me-Nots and Brunnera macrophylla (false forget-me-not), Sweet alyssum, Dianthus, Edelweiss, Primrose, Hardy geraniums, Penstemon, Spirea, Yellow loosestrife, Spiderwort, Creeping Jenny, Ixia species
Japanese iris, and Sage. I believe that about covers it. I often feel I don't have much in bloom; but I guess my list proves otherwise. Just thinking about all of these wonderful plants and looking out the window at so many of them has brightened my day.
Let us know what is blooming in your garden during the week of July 3. Please include your name, city, state, and plant list. You may also send low-res digital images. Send to editor@washingtongardener.com by July 10 and we??ll note it in our July 15 issue.
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June To-Do List
Summer is just days away and there is plenty to do out there. Pick and choose
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lowing list and do them as time, weather, and inclination allows.
- Water newly planted trees and shrubs weekly or as needed.
- Contact an arborists to have your trees?? health inspected.
- Check on your container plants daily and keep them well watered.
- Celebrate the Summer Solstice on June 21 with a cool drink out in your garden.
- Watch for insect and disease problems throughout your garden.
- Mow in the early evening and cut off no more than 1/3 of the grass height.
- Leave grass clippings on the ground to provide nutrients.
- Add barley straw to your pond to improve water clarity.
- Take cuttings from azaleas and roses to start new plants.
- Harvest herbs to use in salads and summer dishes.
- Try a few new tropical plants on your patio.
- Shape your evergreens.
- Look for slug trails in the early morning and put out slug bait as needed.
- Tie-up climbing roses and other wandering vines.
- Fill in bare spots in the garden with annuals.
- Deadhead spent flowers to encourage reblooming.
- Prune flowering shrubs as their flowers fade. Last chance for fall blooming camellias.
- Spray roses with Neem oil every two weeks.
- Start a sunflower patch with help from a few kids.
- Harvest strawberry beds daily.
- Cut a few flowers to enjoy at your workplace.
- This is the perfect time to apply grub control.
- Change the water in your birdbath daily and throw in a mosquito dunk.
- Put in supports for tomatoes and tall-blooming plants such as dahlias.
- Order spring flowering bulbs.
- Take photos and update your garden journal.
- Inspect your garden hose for leaks and tighten all connections.
- Weed.
As the heat and hunidity move in, take it easy and leave the big projects for this fall. For now concentrate on maintaining the beds you've already established and nurturing your new plantings.
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Gardening With Kids
Doug Green of SGF
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s offered our readers a free e-book called Gardening With Kids.
Here is a sample from the text:
Started plants are easier and faster and kids have faster success with them. Water started plants thoroughly after planting. However, you can do some great long-term life
lessons with seeds. It??s a great way to teach responsibility etc. If you start seeds in the garden, ensure you do not bury them too deeply.
Deep planting, such as provided by an enthusiastic child kills seeds. It is often a good idea (if a sneaky one)
to go out and replant the seeds in the proper way and depth after the children have had their turn and gone
inside.
Marigolds are the #1 easiest flower for kids to grow. Do water their seeds at least once a day if they are garden sown. If you have decided
to do the indoor garden thing ?? start with either marigolds or beans. Both are very easy to
grow, relatively fast (remember we??re talking short attention spans here.) and almost pest
and trouble free. Bury each only as deep as the seed is wide ?? for marigolds that??s only a scratch of a covering while a bean can
go a ?? inch deep...
Go to www.simplegiftsfarm.com and click on the Gardening With Kids book cover to download the full version.
Feel free to pass both the book and the link along to your friends.
Next Issue
The July issue of Washington Gardener Enews will cover Outdoor Safety Tips.
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Edited by Kathy Jentz
Contact: editor@washingtongardener.com or 301.588.6894.
?©Washington Gardener 2005
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