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Vol. 2, No. 3 ??” March 15, 2006
In This Issue:
Dealing with Deer
Men's Garden Club Opens Membership
March To-Do List
Spotlight Special: Patio Clematis
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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The March/April 2006 issue of Washington Gardener magazine is now out. This issue includes a primer on azalea care, a list of trees for small yards, a before/after pictorial of an urban, corner yard, and much, much more.
Your Garden Photos Wanted!!! Send us a photo of your garden and you may see it published in our next magazine issue. Tell us in a short essay what makes your garden special or unique. Please include your name and location of the garden. Send high-res photo files to: editor@washingtongardener.com or send actual photo prints (no slides, please) to: Washington Gardener, 826 Philadelphia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910.
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Dealing with Deer
Deer are an increasing problem and are not going away. Over and over again, we hear the sad tale of DC area gardeners who have given up on gardening due to this menace. The deer problem is worst in the late winter and early spring when plant materials may be scarce and during heavy snow coverage. Short of buying a shotgun and going "Cheney" on them, what strategies can you use to cope?
According to Chuck Schuster, Extension Educator, Commercial Horticulture, University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, there are some deer repellants that work very well, His fellow researchers at the university tested different products on Taxus baccata (European Yew), which are a deer favorite. They had remarkable results with just two applications of Deer Away. Chuck said this year there was not too much moisture to wash it off, but in times with additional precipitation you may need to reapply more often. (We found Deer Away available online at www.deerbusters.com.)
Chuck said, ???I live in Howard County and I have a horrible deer problem myself. I personally use electric fencing for my small nursery and garden.??? He installs two strands of it ??“ one hip-height and another one placed about a foot inside of it. You can also place two on the same post at 10 inches and at 30 inches in height. Chuck recommends, ???Bait it with peanut butter. The deer get shocked and it teaches them to avoid the area.??? He assures home gardeners that the shock won??™t kill any domestic animal but it will give quite a sting. He prefers it over the high, plastic deer fencing as it is not as intrusive looking and not as unwieldy to install.
Your next best strategy is to choose plants for their deer-resistance. As many gardeners have learned, deer will consume just about anything when they are hungry enough, so there are no guarantees. The smart strategy is to plant those items less attractive to deer on the periphery of your property and your more ???delicious??? items closer in. There are several source for lists of deer-resistant plants. Here are three that base their list on actual field research Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, the University of Maryland, and the West Virginia University Extension Service.
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
Easy Gardening With No Work
March 23, 6:30-8:00pm
United States Botanic Garden Conservatory, 100 Maryland Avenue, SW, foot of the U.S. Capitol
Do you feel as if you spend hours in the garden, but never get everything done? Andr?© Viette, well-known horticulturist and author, will share his tips on how to design a garden for low maintenance. His beautifully illustrated slide lecture will highlight a palette of plants for our area and how to maintain them using proper horticultural techniques.
Fee: $12. Preregistration is required.
For more information: call 202.226.4082 or www.usbg.gov
Cherry Blossom Self-Guided Tour
March 25 - April 9, 8:00am - 4:30pm
US National Arboretum, 3501 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC
Cherry trees don't only bloom at the Tidal Basin! Discover some of the regions' best flowering cherry trees in this self-guided tour at the U. S. National Arboretum (by car, foot, or bicycle). Includes breathtaking specimens of weeping cherries plus acres of cherry tree research fields. Pick up tour brochure in Visitor's Center.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: call 202.245.2726 or www.usna.usda.gov
Spring Community Tree Planting
April 1, 9:00am-1:00pm
Meet at Riverside Center located at Division Avenue and Foote Street, NE (one block south of Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave., NE), Washington, DC
Join your neighbors and volunteers from Casey Trees, Washington Parks & People, DC Habitat for Humanity, Watts Branch Community Alliance, and Home Depot to plant
trees in and around one of the great parks of Washington, DC. Help us to beautify and prepare the park for the special renaming ceremony on the anniversary of Marvin Gaye??™s birthday on Sunday, April 2nd at 3PM. Tools, training, and refreshments provided.
Fee: $0/free. Preregistration is requested.
For more information: call 202.833.4010 or visit: www.caseytrees.org.
Cathedral Garden Tours
Wednesdays, April 1 through October 31, except during August; 10:30am
Herb Cottage on South Road, Washington National Cathedral, Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues, NW, Washington, DC
Docents guide visitors on a one-hour tour of the gardens. Groups are asked to please reserve in advance.
Fee: $0/free. Preregistration is not required.
For more information: call 202.537.2319 or email: emullen@cathedral.org.
MD and PA
Inspiration and Translation: Botanical and Horticultural Lithographs of Joseph Prestele and Sons
March 1 through May 31 on weekdays, except federal holidays, 8:30am - 4:30pm
National Agricultural Library, 10301 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD
The 112-piece exhibition features original watercolors and lithographic prints by Joseph Prestele and sons, plus an array of other items that document the family's work for botanists and horticulturalists of the late 1800s. A catalog of the exhibition is for sale at the NAL. The Prestele family produced botanical illustrations for USDA and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as for the nursery and seed trade. Their watercolors and lithographs are highest-quality scientific illustrations, as well as fine art.
Fee: $0/free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.ars.usda.gov or call 301.504.6503.
Hydrangeas and Their Relatives
March 20, 8:00-10:00pm
Brookside Gardens, Visitor's Center, 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton, MD
The Silver Spring Garden Club monthly meeting features Carole Bordelon, Supervisory Horticulturist at the U.S. National Arboretum. She will discuss the world of Hydrangeas - cultivars, popular species, pruning techniques, common diseases, and much more.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: 301.962.1400 or www.brooksidegardens.org.
Grow Your Own Cut Flower Garden
March 25, 10:00-11:00am
Behnke Nurseries, Beltsville, MD
Make beautiful floral arrangements using flowers from your own garden. Enjoy fresh, fragrant flowers in every room ??” or give them as gifts! Jill Gonzalez and Marian Parsley, Behnke Staff, will get you growing and suggest some of the best plants to grow.
Fee: $0/free. Registration is recommended.
For more information: www.behnkes.com or call 301.937.1100.
A Gardener's Tale: The 18th-Century World of Annapolis Silversmith William Faris
Opening March 26, Wed-Sun, 10:00am-5:00pm
Maryland Historical Society Museum, 201 W. Monument Street in the Mount Vernon Cultural District, Baltimore, MD
A glimpse into 18th-century Annapolis as seen through the eyes of a craftsman and passionate gardener. Based on the book, The Diary of William Faris: The Daily Life of an Annapolis Silversmith, edited by Mark B. Letzer and Jean B. Russo and published by the Maryland Historical Society Press, A Gardener's Tale explores Faris' world of gardening and silversmithing. The exhibit includes the largest collection of Annapolis silver ever exhibited, including silver pieces produced in Faris' shop; the only-known surviving 18th-century American silversmith shop drawings; as well as many other artifacts from the collections of the Maryland Historical Society, private collectors and other institutions.
Fee: $8. Registration is not required.
For more information: 410.685.3750 or www.mdhs.org.
VA and WV
EnviroYard Workshop
March 18, 9:30am-1:30pm
Arlington Central Library, 1015 North Quincy Street, Arlington, VA
Join us for an in-class session on controlling invasive plants, landscaping with native plants, and creating rain gardens and wildlife habitats. Then practice your newly learned skills by helping to remove English Ivy from landscaping beds at Arlington's Central Library??”and replanting beds with native plants. Pizza lunch included. Come dressed to work.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is required.
For more information: email starnay@arlingtonva.us or call 703.228.7636.
Gardening with Native Plants
April 6-7
AHS headquarters at River Farm in Alexandria, VA
Participants will learn about many of the beautiful grasses, perennials, trees, and shrubs that are native to North America and how to design with them. Practical tips and techniques about plant selection and combinations as well as design advice will be offered by guest horticulturist and author Carole Ottesen, AHS horticulturalist Peggy Bowers, plantsman Kurt Bluemel, author Rick Darke, native woody plant expert Richard Bir, landscape architect Darrel Morrison, and Rick Lewandowski, the director of the Mt. Cuba Center in Greenville, DE.
Fee: $465 ($435 AHS members). Registration is required.
For more information: www.ahs.org or call 703.768.5700 x137.
Women in Horticulture
April 6, 6:00pm
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Lakeside and Hilliard Avenues, Richmond, VA
Open to individuals in central Virginia who have a professional interest in the green industry. Intro led by Kelly Riley, Children??™s Education Coordinator, a 1992 graduate of JSR. Tours of the Conservatory are planned. As weather permits, peeks at the "Garden in Springtime" may be possible. Round-table information-sharing and light refreshments will follow.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is required.
To register, email horts@lewisginter.org or call 804.262.9887
To submit an event for this listing, please contact: editor@washingtongardener.com.
Our next deadline is April 12 for the April 15 edition of this enewsletter.
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Spotlight Special: Patio Clema
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What local growers and sellers have in store for your gardens in the season ahead.
Your editor had the privilege of sharing lunch at the Philadelphia Flower Show with Raymond J. Evison
of The Guernsey Clematis Nursery Ltd. Mr. Evison is a nurseryman and breeder, horticultural exhibitor, horticultural judge, acclaimed lecturer, author, and photographer. He has more than 40 years of experience growing and introducing new clematis to the world's gardeners. One of his greatest loves is to search worldwide for plants either in the wild or in cultivation and he has been responsible for introducing many new Clematis into cultivation for the world's gardening market.
What I'm most excited about is his Raymond Evison Clematis Patio Collection. These new Clematis cultivars are ideal for the urban garden and really for anyone growing in small, tight spaces. Hailed to be the first of its kind, the Patio Clematis Collection?„? was bred to be contained, providing container gardeners with vertical columns of color from spring to fall. These long-blooming plants include: Cezanne?„?, a glorious violet; Picardy?„?, pinkish-red with contrasting yellow sepals; and, Versailles, a wine red.
Evison selected the patio cultivars over a period of years for their vigor, disease resistance, long flowering habit, and their improvement over other older cultivars. ???These free flowering beauties reach only three to four feet in height when grown in a container,??? said Evison. ???They are perfect for small gardens and can be used on a patio, deck, front porch or balcony, or planted in the garden as a ground cover.??? Each of these container clematis plants feature a high flower and bud count. The blooms cover the entire vine with richly hued flowers, creating a striking tower of color from spring through fall. They are hardy to zones 4.
Very soon, area home gardeners can purchase these special Clematis at an independent garden centers. Online sources include: www.donahuesclematis.com, www.waysidegardens.com, and www.whiteflowerfarm.com.
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Last week we had an early preview of springtime. What a blessing! Our readers reported the following blooms and items of interest in their gardens during the first week of March:
Jim Dronenburg of Knoxville, MD, has: Eranthis, various crocus, sp not Dutch; 4x witch hazels, pussy willow, Sarcococca humilis, Rijnveld's Early Sensation daffodils. Helleborus foetidus still in bloom, H.x hybrida starting - two plants with open flowers out of about 60. Snowdrops, pansies.
Cheval Force Opp in Dunn Loring, VA, has: daffodils; camellia JPN April Melody and April Kiss; crocus; hellebores; Hammamelis x Inter Sunburst, Witch hazel.
In your editor's own garden in my Silver Spring/DC/Takoma Park border site: Flowering Plum tree, forsythia, violets, crocus, snowdrops, heather, primula, winter jasmine, 'February Gold' and 'Jetfire' daffodils.
Seen around downtown DC in bloom: Redbud, Bradford pear, iris, violets, witch hazel, pansies, ornamental cabbage, winter jasmine, camellias, daffodils, crocus, and snowdrops.
Let us know what is blooming or of particular interest in your garden during the week of April 2. Please include your name, city, state, and a plant list in alphabetical order. You may also send low-res digital images. Send to editor@washingtongardener.com by April 12 and we??™ll note it in our April 15 issue.
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Washington Gardener Gear: T-shirts, totes, mugs, calendars, hats, mouse pads, and more!
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March To-Do List
We've completed a whole year of garden to-do lists for our region. Last year's March list can be found in our March 2005 issue. Here are a few more tasks and ch
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o the previous listing:
- Avoid walking on wet soil in the garden.
- Prune grapevines.
- Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.
- Get a soil test.
- Repot root-bound houseplants and start fertilizing them.
- Clean leaves and debris from your water garden.
- Do not be alarmed if your pond turns green from algae bloom, this is natural until your water plants fill the surface area. Add a barley ball to combat it for now.
- Cut back ornamental grasses.
- Water during dry spells.
Have you read any good gardening books lately?
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Men's Garden Clu
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In a major move, breaking from its 60-year tradition, The Men??™s Garden Club of Montgomery County has changed its name and has opened its membership. The club is now the Metropolitan Washington Garden Club. The doors are open to ???Serious Gardeners ??¦ and Those Who Just Love Gardening,??? regardless of their gender.
The change in name for the garden club has geographic implications as well. Since being founded on May 23, 1946, this club has served gardeners primarily in Montgomery County but also from various parts of the Washington metropolitan area. It is hoped, under the new name for the club, that interested gardeners from nearby suburban communities will be made to feel more welcome.
One of the highlights of the club??™s activities for many years has been a big social event in March. Another tradition involves the ordering of bulbs from Holland at a substantial discount over garden center prices. A monthly newsletter, The Saturday Leaning Post, heralds upcoming gardening events, guest speakers/topics, and reports on other club activities. The Club also published a book, Successful Gardening in the Greater Washington Area, revised last in 1990.
The club meets on the first Wednesday of the month (September through June) with garden tours or other special events during the summer months. Meetings are at 8:00 PM in the lower level of the Bethesda United Methodist Church at 8300 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD. Annual membership is $20 per household. For more information on the club, call 301.340.1588 or email: sengfarm@juno.com.
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Next Issue
The April issue of Washington Gardener Enews will cover Summer Flowering Bulbs.
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Edited by Kathy Jentz
Contact: editor@washingtongardener.com or 301.588.6894.
?©Washington Gardener 2006
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