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Vol. 2, No. 4 — April 15, 2006
In This Issue:
Summer Flowering Bulbs
Fruit Growers' Gathering
April To-Do List
Spotlight Special: Trial Display Gardens
What's Blooming
Local Gardening Events
Welcome to the
Washington Garden Enews!
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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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We are no feverishly working on the May/June 2006 issue of Washington Gardener magazine. This issue focuses on Native Plants. It also includes a daytrip to a little-known Iris garden, how to deal with Crabgrass, Jack-in-the-Pulpit focus, 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.
Get a Headstart on Summer Flowering Bulbs
While your spring bulbs are just peaking outside, now is the time to start thinking about your summer bulbs. This issue, we bring you advice straight from the bulb growers, Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center, at www.bulb.com:
Summer bulbs such as canna, calla lilies, begonias, dahlias, and gloriosa are among the most dramatic flowers in the summer garden. They’re very easy to grow, but they’re also very sensitive to frost. In fact, in the trade, they’re called tender bulbs.
But tender bulbs respond incredibly well to a little tough love. Wake them up early and get a jumpstart on summer by potting them up indoors. It’s easy to do. This simple head start will afford you weeks more color from you bulb flowers in the summer garden.
Summer bulbs are available as bare bulbs for planting from late winter through late spring and as pre-grown bedding plants in pots in late spring through summer. In most parts of North America, tender summer bulbs can be started indoors four to six weeks prior to the usual last local frost date and then planted outdoors to begin their regular summer growing season.
Tips for Starting Summer Bulbs Indoors:
- Select bulbs (true bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, roots) that are firm to the touch.
- To get earlier blooms, pot them up indoors to start growing about six weeks before your planting-out date, the date in your area when the threat of night frosts is past. Choose clean containers with drainage holes. Good drainage is essential. Use a commercial potting soil mixed with equal parts peat moss and a drainage material such as sand or Perlite.
- Place bulbs in the soil mix, following the planting directions suited to that type of plant. Different types of summer bulbs require very different planting methods. Some are planted barely covered with soil, others deep, others laid in horizontally, some concave side up. For specific details related to planting depth and positioning, look for instructions on www.bulb.com (Summer Flowering Bulbs) or on bulb packaging.
- Warm humid settings are optimal for growth. Keep soil moist, but not wet.
- Once the threat of frost is past (May 15 in the DC region), transplant tender bulb plants to the garden or outdoor containers. Summer bulbs prefer warm soil, close to 60° F (15°C). This soil temperature is generally reached once nighttime temperatures have stayed at/or above 60°F (15°C) for about two weeks
Try the following bulbs out this summer:
Alocasia, Alstroemeria (Peruvian Lily), Amaryllis belladonna, Begonia, Bletilla (Chinese Ground Orchid), Caladium, Canna, Colocasia esculenta (Elephant Ear, Taro), Crinum (Swamp Lily), Crocosmia (Montbrecia), Curcuma (Gingers), Cyclamen, Cyrtanthus (Vallota), Dahlia, Eucharis (Amazon Lily), Eucomis (Pineapple Lily), Gloriosa Lily, Haemanthus, Hymenocallis (Ismene), Incarvillea (Hardy Gloxinia), Liatris, Oxalis, Polianthes tuberosa (Tuberose), Ranunculus, and Zantedeschia (Calla).
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
Pruning Workshop
April 21, 9:00am-12:00noon
Visitor Center, Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, 1644 31st St. NW, Washington, DC
Join Peter Deahl, ISA certified arborist and founder of The Pruning School in Warrenton, VA, for a how-to demonstration focusing on how to effectively prune a wide variety of woody plants, including boxwood and shrubs. In this workshop, participants will learn essential techniques for maintaining strong and healthy woodies along with how to avoid mistakes often made when performing this gardening task. Deahl will also answer questions concerning participants’ own gardens, drawing on his 30 years of professional horticultural experience. If possible, please bring hand pruners. Please feel free to bring photographs of your plants for home gardening Q & A.
Fee: $30 ($25 for Members and DC Master Gardeners). Preregistration is required.
For more information: call 202.965.0400 or go to: www.tudorplace.org.
History and Folklore of Flowers
April 27, 10:00am
George Washington Statue on Pilgrim Road, Washington National Cathedral, Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues, NW, Washington, DC
This walk will focus on identifying wildflowers and the natural history, religious symbolism and folklore of the flowers growing in the Olmsted Woods. Led by Annette Lasley and Nancy McGhee. Please wear sturdy water-proof shoes. Programs will be cancelled in the event of heavy rain.
Fee: $0/free. Preregistration is not required.
For more information: call 202.537.2319 or email: emullen@cathedral.org.
2nd Annual Spring Gardeners’ Day
April 29, 10:00am-3:00pm
Hillwood Museum & Gardens, 4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
Whether you’re a longtime gardener or an avid beginner cultivating a green thumb, Hillwood’s 2nd Annual Spring Gardeners’ Day is the perfect outing for you and the family! While taking in Hillwood’s spectacular spring gardens, join the horticulture staff for expert instruction and activities, including a Container Gardening Demonstration, Spring Floral Arrangement Demonstration, and Shade Loving Trees and Shrub Walk. Throughout the day, Washington Gardener editor Kathy Jentz answers questions and offers plant advice. Kids and adults can participate in a variety of fun—and sometimes dirty! activities: Dig In! Hands-on Plant Potting, Meet the Garden Critters, and Haiku Workshop in the wonderful Japanese-style Garden. Everyone is invited to putt around Hillwood’s historic Putting Green!
Fee: $15. Registration is required.
For more information: call 202.686.5807 or www.hillwoodmuseum.org
Flora of Virginia
May 5, 12:00-1:00pm
United States Botanic Garden Conservatory, 100 Maryland Avenue, SW, foot of the U.S. Capitol
Virginia has the greatest diversity of vascular plants of any similarly sized state in the United States. Through a beautifully illustrated slide presentation, Ms. Lobstein will introduce us to the flora of Virginia. She will explain what a flora is, why we need it, and who uses them. Her talk will be based on the many years of research she has conducted while working on the book, The Flora of Virginia.
Fee: $0/Free. Preregistration is required.
For more information: call 202.226.4082 or www.usbg.gov
MD and PA
Heirloom Vegetables
April 17, 8:00-10:00pm
Brookside Gardens, Visitor's Center, 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton, MD
The Silver Spring Garden Club monthly meeting hosts this interesting talk on Heirloom Plants. Going back in horticultural time, Barbara Melera, co-owner of D. Landreth's Seed Company, will share some of the unique stories about vegetables and flowers which have become a part of our everyday gardens. Come here Ms. Melera's history and fascinating facts from the owner of the oldest seed company in America.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: 301.962.1400 or www.brooksidegardens.org.
Towson Gardens Day
April 27, 10:00am-3:00pm
Towson Courthouse Fountain Plaza, West Pennsylvania and Baltimore Avenues, Towson, MD
The festival will focus on Towson's official flower, the azalea. A plaque will be presented to the Azalea House of the Year by the District Three-Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland, sponsor of the event. A guided tour of the courthouse gardens will be offered from 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Self-guided tours of Towson's Secret Garden will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission for the Secret Garden tour is $1. This is the only day of the year that the garden is open to the public. More than 100 exhibitors and vendors with flowers, plants, crafts and food will be featured. Free garden seeds, free tree seedlings, and booths offering gardening information will be available.
The rain date is April 28.
Fee: $0/free. Registration is not required.
For more information: call 410.357.0714.
Plant It & They Will Come! Wildlife Garden Tours
May 13 and May 14, 9:00am-3:00pm with guided tours at 10:00am, 12:00noon & 2:00pm
Elk Ridge NatureWorks, 283 Elk Ridge Lane, Grantsville, MD
Ron Boyer and Liz McDowell, Elk Ridge NatureWorks, will be hosting several open house events at their native plant nursery in Garrett County, MD. Tour their wildlife garden to see a variety of conservation landscaping & wildlife habitat practices that individuals can use to enhance biodiversity around their homes, schools, & businesses. Experience the joys of conservation landscaping: a garden filled with bees, birds, butterflies & beautiful plants. Native plants & habitat boxes will be available for purchase.
Fee: $0/free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.elkridgenatureworks.com or call 301.895.3686.
VA and WV
Green Roofs
April 23, 2:00-3:30pm
Potomac Overlook Regional Park, VA
Join us for a fun and informative talk and demonstration about the conservation practice at the top of everyone’s minds––green roofs! Nancy Striniste, landscape designer and green roof owner, and green roof expert Greg Long will share their experience with green roofs in Arlington and other places around the world. The case study of Ms. Striniste’s green roof will provide home and business owners with practical information and guidance for exploring possibilities for their own projects. Limit of 30 participants. Sponsored by Potomac Overlook.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is required.
For more information, call 703.528.5406.
Friends of River Farm Plant Sale
April 21, 9:00am-6:00pm and April 22, 9:00am-3:00pm
AHS headquarters at River Farm in Alexandria, VA
Dozens of vendors will be offering a vast array of trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, vines, and hanging baskets. Some of the best introductions from recent years, including ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangeas and ‘Knockout’ roses, will be available, along with exciting new selections such as the highly disease-resistant ‘Lady Elsie May’ rose and the delightfully-scented hosta ‘Fragrant Dream.’ In addition, The Care of Trees will have a certified arborist on hand to answer tree care questions and will be giving out free samples of compost tea. Local photographer Don Chernoff will be signing copies of his new book, Wild Washington, which features photographs of wildlife around the Washington, DC area, including River Farm. The AHS members-only preview sale will take place on Thursday, April 20 from
4 to 8 p.m. Members must present a valid AHS membership card for admission. All proceeds from the sale will benefit the gardens and grounds of River Farm.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.ahs.org or call 703.768.5700 x137.
Birds, Blossoms, & Blues Festival
May 11-14
Norfolk Botanical Garden, 6700 Azalea Garden Road, Norfolk, VA
The 2006 Festival combines the Garden’s popular annual plant sale with guided tours to restricted-access birding areas, and adds the beat of blues and bluegrass as a backdrop for family activities. The Mother’s Day weekend festival kicks off with a blues revue concert on May 11th. For birders, bird-watching will get wild with trips to guided-only sanctuaries, including the Great Dismal Swamp, Piney Grove, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, False Cape State Park, the Weyanoke Sanctuary, and Savage Neck Dunes Natural Area Preserve. Join the prowl for owls at Seashore State Park, or the entire family can tour the waters of Lake Whitehurst on the Nature on the Lake Boat Tour. Also new this year is an up-close look at the Garden’s family of American Bald Eagles. The Garden’s new “eagle cam”
lets visitors see the eagles nesting on live video via monitors in Baker Hall Visitor Center. On a variety of walking tours within the 155 acres, knowledgeable guides will answer questions about the 95 species of birds that call the Garden home. The gardening-inclined will enjoy guided walks highlighting the Garden’s Flowering Arboretum, Virginia Native Plant Garden and the new Hummingbird Garden.
Event Fees: $4-45. Registration is encouraged.
For details, go to www.norfolkbotanicalgarden.org or call 757.441.5830 ext. 346
To submit an event for this listing, please contact: editor@washingtongardener.com.
Our next deadline is May 12 for the May 15 edition of this enewsletter.
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Spotlight Special: Trial Display Gardens
What local growers and sellers have in store for your gardens in the seasons ahead.
Before garden plants can reach the general public, they go through several years of breeding and experimentation. Then they are grown in trials at various proving "trial" grounds. A Trial Ground is a test site that conducts side-by-side comparison trials. The Trial Ground is supervised by a judge who is responsible for the growing and methodical evaluation of flowers, fruits, or vegetables. Trial grounds near our area are at Doylestown, PA, and University Park, PA. They are run by All-America Selections (AAS). AAS is the oldest, most established international, independent testing organization in North America for flowers and vegetables grown from seed.
After going through trials, AAS judges pick the best of the best as their winners. The winners are then marketed to the public. They are also planted across the country in display gardens. In the DC-area, there are number of AAS display gardens. You are welcome to visit and get a look at these tested and proven plants. You can evaluate for yourself how well they really do in our region at these locations:
- Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallen Avenue, Wheaton, MD
- Cylburn Arboretum, 4915 Greenspring Avenue, Baltimore, MD
- Longwood Gardens, US Route 1 South, Kennett Square, PA
- Norfolk Botanical Garden Society, 6700 Azalea Garden Road, Norfolk, VA
- Oglebay Resort & Conference Center, Route 88 North, Wheeling, WV
- Potomac Gardens,#1 D.C. Village Lane, S.W., Washington, DC
- U.S. Botanic Garden, 245 First Street, S.W., Washington, DC
Take a few days this spring and summer to visit the display gardens before you make your seed and plant buying decisions. Find more display garden locations and more about trial grounds at the AAS web site www.all-americaselections.org.
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What's Blooming
Welcome spring! Now, if we could just get a few more early morning showers, we'd be all set. Our readers reported the following blooms and items of interest in their gardens during the first week of April:
Jim Dronenburg of Knoxville, MD, has: Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), Camellia April Dawn and one other, deep red, tag not found, Cercis Canadensis - regular and white, Corydalis lutea, Corylopsis gotoana; C. spicata, Cyclamen (coum? Purpurascens? Very dark purple). Daffodil, 14 varieties, no labels, this is by guess and by G-d, Daphne mezereum f. alba, Dutchman's breeches, Erythronium multiscapum and a lavender Asian one, can't read my own writing, Grape hyacinth, Helleborus thibetianus " x orientalis (lots), " x'Sunmarble. " foetidus (really over but the flrs go to green leather and stay on the plant), Forsythia regular, Forsythia – Kumson. Fritillaria raddeana, acmopetala, one that looks like persica but is in bloom a month plus early if it is....chocolate brown-purple flrs
about 1/2" long , spike of about 30 flrs about 9" hi, erect, total height about 18". I THINK I bought it as persica but it hasn't bloomed in 10 years, until now, Hermodactylis (sp?) selected color form, Magnolia stellata, x. Lois, x. Wada's Memory, x. (?) pale yellow. St. Barbara's herb (a weed but I like it & leave it to flower), Winter honeysuckle (Lonicera), Viola odorata Queen Charlotte, Confederate violet, pansies; SURVIVED: Double white Lady Banks rose, first winter; Davidia involucrata, have killed 3 so far but this lived; a potted hydrangea that I thought was a nonhardy florists' variety & did not plant. Early leaves: about 8 varieties of crinum and amarcrinum; at least 5 varieties of lily; Cardiocrinum giganteum & cathayense. BUDS: Lots more fritillaria, daffodils. Tight buds
visible on tree peonies. Three more varieties of camellia. DISAPPOINTMENTS: Two kinds of Edgeworthia, flower buds blasted....again.
Ursula Sabia Sukinik of North Bethesda, MD, has: Amelanchier canadensis, Erythronium americanum, Forsythia suspense, Gladiolus acidanthera, Helleborus argutifolius, Helleborus Royal Heritage, Jasminum nudiflorum, kerria japonica, Mahonia bealei, Narcissus, Pieris japonica, Prunus subhirtella 'Pendula', Pulmonari, Sanguinaria canadensis (pictured here), Scilla, and Stylophorum diphyllum.
In your editor's own garden in my Silver Spring/DC/Takoma Park border site: azaleas, daffodils, flowering plum, flowering crabapple, flowering weeping cherry, forsythia, heather, hyacinth, lilacs, muscari, pansies, PJM rhododendrons, primrose, saxifrage ‘purple robe,’ scilla, tulips, veronica, vinca, and wild violets.
Seen around downtown DC in bloom: glorious tulips in the National Park Service (NPS) "Bulb Library" near the Tidal Basin. The NPS has provided us with a PDF of the library listing the bulb varieties and their locations. If you would like the file emailed to you, please contact your editor at editor@washingtongardener.com
Cheval Force Opp in Dunn Loring, VA, has: Bleeding heart ,Dicentra spectabilis; Camellias: April Kiss, April Dawn; Daffodils : Dogwoods, : Epimedium; Hellebores; Witch Hazel: Japanese Pierris: Andromeda Flaming Silver and Dorothy Wycott : Muscari armeniacum, Grape Hyacinth: Kerria japonica, Pleniflora; Primulas, Pink Snowflakes, Sunshine Star, Copper Kettle, SeiboldII: Rhododendron PJM Carolinianum cross: Stylophorum diphyllum, wood poppy: Vinca minor: Periwinkle: Quinces, Chaenomeles speciosa 'Cameo" superba 'Texas Scarlet'.
Let us know what is blooming or of particular interest in your garden during the week of May 1. 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 May 12 and we’ll note it in our May 15 issue.
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April To-Do List
We've completed a whole year of garden to-do lists for our region. Last year's April list can be found in our April 2005 issue. Here are a few more tasks and chores to add to the previous listing:
- Do not set out seedlings or tender annuals until after Mother's Day (traditional last frost date for our area).
- Build raised beds with leaf compost and soil.
- Water during dry spells.
- Prune winter damage on evergreens.
- Make compost tea and use on seedlings.
- Turn your compost pile
- Plant fruit trees.
- Sharpen tools.
- Prune flowering shrubs when they finish blooming.
- Repot and fertilize houseplants.
Set aside a few hours each weekend for upcoming garden shows and tours
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Learn Fruit Growing at Summer Meeting
Ever wanted your own apple, peach, or fig tree? You can learn fruit growing at the North American Fruit Explorers (NAFEX) Annual Meeting this August.
Tour fruit research facilities, learn the latest practical fruit-growing techniques, and network with other amateur and professional fruit growers at the NAFEX gathering which begins Wednesday, August 30 at the Holiday Inn North in Lexington, KY.
The three-day event includes workshops on novel varieties for the home grower, bagging fruits for no-spray pest control, growing fruit in small spaces, and more. Twenty-five programs on various aspects of fruit growing are scheduled. One day will be devoted to field tours, which include the University of Kentucky's Horticultural Research Fruit Farms and private orchards.
Cost for the workshops, field tour, a wine tasting, and a banquet is $104. Tickets for the workshops only are $50. Detailed program information and a registration form are at www.nafex.org.
NAFEX is a network of professional and amateur fruit growers devoted to the discovery, cultivation, and appreciation of fine fruits and nuts. They exchange ideas, information, experience, and propagating materials. All methods of horticulture are embraced -- organic and chemical management systems. Members are bound by the spirit of fellowship and cooperation in the common quest for the best in fruit.
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Next Issue
The May issue of Washington Gardener Enews will cover Annual Water Plants.
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Edited by Kathy Jentz
Contact: editor@washingtongardener.com or 301.588.6894.
©Washington Gardener 2006
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