Washington Gardener January 2021

JANUARY 2021 VOL. 15 NO. 11

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the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

Selecting the Right Tool for the Pruning Task Attracting the Northern Flicker

Native Broad Beech Fern Potato-Growing Tips and Tricks Monarch Butterfly Protection Status What to Do in the Garden this Month Culinary Sage Plant Profile Meet a Local Urban Homesteader Flower Arranging to Cure the Winter Blahs

BIG Garden 7 Trends for 2021

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RESOURCESsourc

Need a Garden Club Speaker?

Washington Gardener Magazine’s staff and writers are available to speak to groups and garden clubs in the DC region and ONLINE! Call 240.603.1461 or email KathyJentz@gmail.com for available dates, rates, and topics.

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Green Spring Gardens

www.greenspring.org

A “must visit” for everyone in the metropolitan Washington, DC, area. It’s a year-round goldmine of information and inspiration for the home gardener. It’s an outdoor classroom for children and their families to learn about plants and wildlife. It’s also a museum, a national historic site that offers glimpses into a long, rich history with colonial origins.

Located at 4603 Green Spring Rd., Alexandria, VA. Information: 703-642-5173.

RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL PLANTS FOR THE DISCRIMINATING GARDENER AND COLLECTOR Barry Glick Sunshine Farm and Gardens 696 Glicks Road Renick, WV 24966, USA Email: barry@sunfarm.com

www.sunfarm.com

Izel Plants

Online Marketplace for Native Plants

Ask Maryland’s Garden Experts extension.umd.edu/hgic

We offer cost effective options to cover a lot of ground, including containerized plants and retail-elusive plugs. Easily find the species that are best suited to your specific needs, from popular ones to those that are rare and hard to find.

$10 OFF your next order use code: WG191 at checkout.

Your Ad Here

Contact kathyjentz@gmail.com or call 301.588.6894 for ad rates. The ad deadline is the 10th of each month. Please submit your ad directly to: KathyJentz@gmail.com.

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INSIDEcontents

FEATURES and COLUMNS

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We have been locked down too long and isolated too long. Gardening is the single best activity to keep your mind, body, and soul working, and potato gardening is one of the very best gardening activities, according to Barbara Melera of Harvesting History. If you have never grown potatoes before, 2021 is the year to try.

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Win a set of C-BITE Plant Support Kits.

See contest details on page 5.

14 Vanessa Pierre wants to spread the word about local urban farming and homesteading. Photo by NovaScope Media.

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Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) tends to perch upright on a branch or treetop, like songbirds do, rather than clinging to a tree trunk like most other woodpeckers.

BIRDwatch 22 Northern Flicker BOOKreviews 18-19 Grow Your Own Spices, Plant Partners, Soil Science EDIBLEharvest 20 Potato-Growing Tips FLOWERfun 17 Arranging for Winter Self-Care GARDENbasics 7 Selecting the Right Pruning Tool GOINGnative 21 Broad Beech Fern INSECTindex 16 Monarch Protection Status NEIGHBORnetwork 14-15 Vanessa Pierre NEWPLANTspotlight 11 Purple Tears Switchgrass PLANTprofile 12 Culinary Sage PHOTOcontest 24 Entry Guidelines SPECIALfeature 8-9 2021 Garden Trends TIPStricks 10 Year of the Monarda, Ice/Snow Tips, Plant Root Clues

DEPARTMENTS

ADVERTISINGindex BLOGlinks EDITORletter GARDENcontest GARDENDCpodcasts LOCALevents MONTHLYtasklist NEXTissue READERreactions RESOURCESsources

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In our February issue: 2021 Garden Photo Contest Winners Growing Mushrooms and much more . . .

Be sure you are subscribed!

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EDITORletter

Credits Kathy Jentz Editor/Publisher Washington Gardener 826 Philadelphia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: 301-588-6894 kathyjentz@gmail.com www.washingtongardener.com Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Proofreader Cover price: $4.99 Back issues: $6.00 Subscription: $20.00 • Washington Gardener Blog: www.washingtongardener.blogspot.com • Washington Gardener Archives: http://issuu.com/washingtongardener • Washington Gardener Discussion Group: https://groups.google.com/g/ washingtongardener/ • Washington Gardener Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/WDCGardener • Washington Gardener Instagram: www.instagram.com/wdcgardener • Washington Gardener Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ WashingtonGardenerMagazine/ • Washington Gardener YouTube: www.youtube.com/ washingtongardenermagazine • Washington Gardener Store: www.amazon.com/shop/wdcgardener • Washington Gardener Podcast: https://anchor.fm/kathy-jentz/

Slowly, But Surely, Getting Back to Normal

This weekend, I was able to hold my first in-person workshop in months. I taught two sessions at Brookside Gardens about making Kokedema (moss balls). Each session was limited to eight students and held with ample spacing for each attendee in the large auditorium. Social distancing made some of it a bit awkward and we had skip our usual group photo at the end, but overall, it worked well. The COVID19 vaccine has started being given out in our area and we can finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We are rescheduling our live events that have been postponed. Those include our annual Seed Exchanges, which now will be held in early spring, rather than in midwinter. See more details about those in the Event listings on page 13.

We are also planning to take a group up to the Philadelphia Flower Show again.

It was pushed back from March to June and will take place outdoors instead of in a big convention hall. Those details are in the works and will be announced soon. In the meantime, stay healthy and safe.

Happy gardening,

• Washington Gardener is a womanowned business. We are proud to be members of: · GardenComm (GWA: The Association for Garden Communicators) · Green America Magazine Leaders Network · Green America Business Network Volume 15, Number 11 ISSN 1555-8959 © 2021 Washington Gardener All rights reserved. Published monthly.

No material may be reproduced without prior written permission. This magazine is purchased by the buyer with the understanding that the information presented is from various sources from which there can be no warranty or responsibility by the publisher as to legality, completeness, or technical accuracy.

All uncredited photos in this issue are © Kathy Jentz.

Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener, KathyJentz@gmail.com 4

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READERcontt

GARDENDCpodcast

Reader Contest

For our January 2021 Washington Gardener Magazine Reader Contest, Washington Gardener is giving away three sets of C-BITE Plant Support Kits (retail value of $29.99 each).

The 5' Plant Support Kit has everything a gardener needs to build a custom cage, trellis, fence, a-frame, tee-pee, or any combination of shapes for any size plant or container.

Featuring patented C-BITEs garden clips, the Plant Support Kit provides a customizable, reusable, and super-strong alternative to traditional plant supports. The only DIY plant support system on the market, C-BITEs click together easily and connect to standard garden stakes. Building structures with C-BITEs is quick and intuitive, making gardening a snap. From trellises to tomato cages, C-BITEs’ multiple points of connection and sturdy designs are limited only by the imagination. See more at thrivingdesign.com.

To enter to win a C-BITE Plant Support Kit, send an email to WashingtonGardenerMagazine@gmail.com by 5:00pm on Sunday, January 31, with “C-BITE” in the subject line. In the body of the email, tell us what your favorite article was in this issue and why. Include your full name and mailing address. The winner will be announced by February 2. o

Your Ad Here

Are you trying to reach thousands of gardeners in the greater DC region/MidAtlantic area? Washington Gardener Magazine goes out in the middle of every month. Contact KathyJentz@gmail.com or call 301.588.6894 for ad rates (starting from $200). The ad deadline is the 5th of each month. Please submit your ad directly to: KathyJentz@gmail.com.

GardenDC Podcast Episode Highlights

The GardenDC podcast is all about gardening in the greater Washington, DC, and Mid-Atlantic area. The program is hosted by Kathy Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener Magazine, and features guest experts in local horticulture.

The second season has started. The two most-recent episodes are: • Episode 41: This episode, we talk with renowned plantsman Dr. Allan Armitage all about New Plant Introductions. The plant profile is on River Birch and we share our virtual MANTS 2021 experience.

• Episode 42: This episode, we talk with Barry Glick of Sunshine Farm and Gardens all about Hellebores, as well native plant seed collection and propagation tips. The plant profile is on Smooth Hydrangea and we share an update on the National #SeedSwapDay project.

Listener Support Needed You can become a listener-supporter for as little as $0.99 per month! We will give you a thank you shout-out on the next episode. See how at: https:// anchor.fm/kathy-jentz/support.

Ask a Question Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) is an easy program to participate in and really does not take any extra resources than what you may have in your garden. In normal times, about 35 million people wonder where their next meal will come from.

Most of these are children. That’s where PAR steps in.

PAR is such a simple program: It urges gardeners to Plant A Row (or a container) dedicated to feeding the hungry, and then take the harvest to someplace or someone that needs it. Once you have donated, send an email to KathyJentz@gmail.com with the total (in pounds and ounces) of what you gave.

That is all there is to it. Easy. Effective. Adaptable and Helpful.

We welcome your questions and comments. You can leave one at https:// anchor.fm/kathy-jentz/message

Find Our Podcast

You can listen online at https://anchor. fm/kathy-jentz/ or at our blog: https:// washingtongardener.blogspot.com/.

We are available on Spotify, Apple, RadioPublic, Breaker, PocketCasts, Overcast, and Google Podcasts. We were recently also added to Podchaser and iHeartRADIO podcasts as well. o JANUARY 2021

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READERreactions

Our Readers React to the December 2020 Issue What a great issue! My favorite article was the summary of the Urban Tree Summit.

I was fascinated to learn more about how trees support one another through underground networks, making proximity planting important. Also, the information about best practices for trimming made me want to learn more. Overall, a really informative issue! ~ John Rebstock, Cheverly, MD My favorite article in the latest issue was “The Beauty of Bark.” Like everyone else, I have been spending far more time around my house and neighborhood these days. I worried about the onset of winter, thinking that it would be so boring and well, depressing, to walk on cold, gray winter days. But I have found that there is much to observe, even in winter. This article was yet another reminder of that fact. And it helped me put names to some of the trees I pass on my walks. ~ Barbara Delaney, Bethesda, MD I have to say, even without the lure of the gorgeous puzzle to enter the reader contest, I wanted to thank interviewer Lindsey Garbacik for the article “Alan Stein and Nancy Virts of Tanglewood Conservatories.” During a stressful COVID year in which gardening specifically and the outdoors generally have been a salve to my wounded soul, the allure and fantasy of the conservatories described only added to that balm! I’m sure I’m not the only reader who loved the movie Green Card because they, too, lusted after that rooftop conservatory and imagined living peacefully there surrounded by green. Garbacik’s interviews with the owners of Tanglewood Conservatories, and the photographs, allowed me to learn what inspired them to create such beautiful structures. Creation and Inspiration: Isn’t that what gardening is all about? ~ Paige Whitley, Chevy Chase, MD I enjoyed the easy-to-grow seeds article since I am getting my grand children interested in gardening. ~ Kathy May, Kensington, MD My favorite article from the December 2020 issue was the one on urban trees because I live in the city (Washington, DC) and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE TREES so care about them immensely. ~ Madeline Caliendo, Washington, DC I was thrilled to read about the garden spaces at the new MLK, Jr Memorial Library.

As a librarian, I have been following news 6

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of all the exciting interior components, but as a gardener, I find the exterior plantings just so beautiful. I can relate to the staffer who commented that the garden spaces have made his workplace more enjoyable.

The library customers will be in for such a treat when the building opens to the public!

Thanks for giving us a sneak peek.

My second-favorite article was the information on pruning camellias. Mine will definitely be shown some overdue love after they bloom this spring.

I also appreciate the detailed report from the Urban Tree Summit. Thanks to you and the interns! ~ Martha Sykora, Annapolis, MD I really enjoyed the winter bark issue. It’s a wonderful time of year to appreciate bark. It also reminded me about how much I’d love to plant a paperbark maple! Thanks for all the gardening advice and news this year. ~ Karen Sutter, Arlington, VA Thanks much for reviewing my book Adventures in Eden in the December 2020 issue.

Your intern did a fair job for a beginning reviewer of garden books, although the good people of Gifford, East Lothian, will be surprised to learn that they are German and not Scottish. I would also like to point out that high-quality garden photography doesn’t necessarily mean that the garden is “elite.” When I was choosing which gardens to include, I ignored a garden’s lack of pedigree and focused instead on the garden maker’s horticulture skills, creativity, and passion. ~ Carolyn Mullet, Takoma Park, MD I enjoyed learning about the new green spaces and gardens at the MLK library garden. The Mies building is wonderful, but stark in the downtown environment. The addition of plantings will add a new dimension. ~ Mary Augusta Thomas, Alexandria, VA My favorite article in the last issue was “The Beauty of Bark.” I do love using interesting bark in my landscapes designs and this was a good reminder of some of the trees that I had forgotten about. Great ideas for winter interest. ~ Dawn Szelc, Potomac Falls, VA Among the many excellent articles from the December 2020 issue of Washington Gardener Magazine, my favorite was “Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library Reopens with Garden Spaces Galore.”

I have been waiting with bated breath for the time when I can see the newly renovated main branch of the Washington DC Public Library. As a DC resident, heavy

library user, lover of architecture, and avid gardener, this project has captured my attention from its inception.

I am thrilled with the photographs shown and the information provided in the article.

I look forward to exploring the library and all its outdoor spaces when it is safe for me to venture there. As I had followed the project, I had not learned anything about the outdoor spaces of the reimagined library until reading this article. I now rejoice that the project includes beautiful outdoor spaces and addresses ecological concerns by cultivating a roof garden with native plants among many other outdoor delights.

Many thanks for your dedication to gardening in our area and sharing your knowledge and passion with the public.

All best wishes for a healthy and happy 2021! ~ Judith Daniel, Washington, DC As always, I appreciate the gardening to-do tips and cleanup tasks. I also liked the amaryllis bulb blurb. I had no idea you could use hairspray to coat the bottom of the bulb! I will try that next time. ~ Sonia Hudson, Silver Spring, MD My favorite article was “The Beauty of Bark,” because I don’t think people appreciate trees’ bark enough—especially in the winter, beautiful bark really stands out in a garden. ~ Wendy Bell, Takoma Park, MD My favorite article was on the MLK Library because it is a place I am looking forward to visiting when we can. ~ Doris Warrell, Washington DC My favorite article was the “Bird Feeding Tips” by Cecily Nabors. The paragraph describing the appearance of a common redpoll at the feeder struck home. This fall we’ve had two “life birds” at our feeders: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Red-bellied Woodpecker. Both Bellies! ~ Jason Gall, Germantown, MD My favorites article was “Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library Reopens with Garden Spaces Galore.” I liked this article because: 1. It shows us a new gardening space to explore in the reopening of Washington post-pandemic.

2. It shows the benefits of integrating gardening into Washington public spaces and the daily life of the city in those spaces.

3. It was written by an intern and I think it’s so important that Washington Gardener does so much to support young people coming up. ~ Jane Mandelbaum, Washington DC o

GARDENbasics

Select the Right Tool for the Pruning Task

By Melinda Myers

Photo courtesy of Corona Tools.

Deadheading, trimming, and pruning are part of growing and maintaining a beautiful and productive garden and landscape. Make sure you are outfitted with the right tool for the job. Matching the tool to the pruning task will help ensure a proper cut, reduce hand fatigue, and allow you to work longer.

Since most pruning cuts in the garden and landscape are between 1/4" and 3/4", a bypass hand pruner is a must.

These pruners have two sharp blades like scissors, making a clean cut that closes quickly. This helps reduce the risk of insects and disease moving in and harming your plants.

Avoid hand-held pruners that are too heavy or open too wide for your hand size. Those with a spring-action return help reduce hand fatigue as long as the opening matches the size of your hand. Make sure the pruner does not open wider than your hand can easily grip. Select a tool that fits in your hand, is comfortable, has an ergonomic grip, and is easy to control.

Matching your pruner to your hand size is as important as matching it to the cutting job. Opting for an oversized pruner to make larger cuts can lead to hand fatigue, frustration, and improper cuts. Measure the width across the palm of your hand at the base of your

fingers. Next, measure the height from the middle of the base of your hand to the tip of your middle finger.

A pruner rated for ½" cuts is a good match for those with small hands less than 3 ½" wide and 6 ¼" high. If your hands measure 3 ½ to 4" wide and 6 ½ to 8" high, you may want to purchase a ¾" pruner. Those with larger hands should do fine with a 1" hand-held pruner.

Size is just one factor to consider.

Hand strength also influences the diameter of the stems you will be able to cut. Just because a tool is rated for ¾" doesn’t mean everyone will be able to apply the needed pressure to make such a large cut. Invest in tools with compound levers or ratchets when you need a mechanical advantage to make cutting easier.

When the job is too big for you or the tool, select one better suited to the task. Employ a bypass lopper like Corona Tool’s ClassicCUT SL 15167 with soft grips that fit various hand sizes and cuts limbs up to 1 ¾" in diameter.

Loppers have long handles that give you greater leverage and extend your reach. This extra reach makes it easier to prune all parts of small trees, shrubs, and roses.

Invest in a foldable pruning Razor-

TOOTH Saw (coronatoolsusa.com) with a pull-stroke cutting action and ergonomic handle. You’ll be able to make cuts fast and easily, and minimize hand fatigue. Foldable saws allow you to tuck the blade into the handle for safekeeping and reduced storage space.

Saws are useful tools for cutting larger branches on trees and shrubs that you can safely prune. Although I am a Certified Arborist, I only prune small trees and shrubs. I save big tree work for my colleagues who climb and have the equipment and training to do the job safely.

Using the right size tool for the job is good for the health and beauty of your plants and self. You will enjoy a healthier, more-beautiful garden and extend your time in the garden by reducing muscle pain. o Melinda Myers has written numerous books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment television and radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Corona Tools for her expertise to write this article.

Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

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7 SPECIALfeature

Hello, friends. I’m writing to you from my home office. I trust you made it through the spring, summer, and fall safely to the other side, whatever that may be. While much has changed in the horticultural industry and out, we’re still here reporting trends. This year, we had to scrap many trends we had identified and examine shifts in behavior during the quarantine. Then we set out to predict how these shifts would shape the future of gardening.

How the world will change post-COVID-19 remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: We are in the middle of “A Great Reset.”

We’ve seen the error box; the screen has gone blank. No one knows how our lives will look once the reboot is over. However, we have no doubt the garden industry has an opportunity to come out ahead.

A lot of positive energy was born from this disruption; what will you do with it? In the first half of 2020, something ended. But something new is starting And without further ado, here are the highlights of the 2021 Garden Trends Report. To access the full report, download it from: http://grow.gardenmediagroup. com. o Katie Dubow is creative director at Garden Media Group, a women-owned and -run public relations firm specializing in the home and garden industry and celebrating its 30th year in business. Dubow lives and gardens in West Chester, PA, with her husband, two daughters, one dog, and six chickens. Find her in the garden with her children, practicing yoga, or dancing to Zumba. Her goal is to convince people that brown thumbs can, in fact, be turned green.

The Great Reset

Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez on Unsplash.com.

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This is truly the closest shared experience we as a world will ever have—connected to everyone, whether next door or across the globe. We’ll see many changes, but one overarching shift will shape many of them. Collective action.

And it’s not just the global community that is connecting; The magnifying glass is on communities banding together more than ever. You may have seen this in your community, whether online or in real life.

But the shift in community collective is real, and it is powerful.

What’s more, gardens are tools for building more-resilient and -connected communities and neighborhoods. We’re seeing neighbors getting to know each other, helping each other, and being available. And a good healthy, garden is full of diversity.

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Photo by Maria Lupan on Unsplash.com.

By Katie Dubow

BIG Garden Trends for 2021

Broadacre Cities

One hundred years ago, famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed a settlement called Broadacre City. These were super-grids of one acre+ family homesteads designed to help communities thrive.

“Quality is in all, for all, alike,” Wright said. “Citizens of the future will have production, distribution, self improvement, and enjoyment within a radius of 150 miles of [their] home.”

However, this model never truly took off, and our cities grew and grew. But today, the coronavirus is challenging the assumption that Americans must stay physically tethered to high-cost, smallspace cities for access to the best work opportunities.

Workers will get out more during the workday, so public spaces, parks, and trails will become an integral part of daily life, not just used after work or on weekends.

Downtown areas will beautify their streets and stores will need interiorscaping to make their space more inviting.

Cultural activities that allow for freedom of movement, particularly those outdoors, will benefit from increased demand upon reopening.

People will want entertainment and experiences in those outdoor spaces.

There will be even greater demand for houseplants and home office plants, whether people are setting the stage for virtual meeting backdrops or just wanting to improve concentration.

People will also be creating garden rooms and bringing nature indoors.

The trend in tropical is leafy interest.

SPECIALfeature Photo by Ainur Imane on Unsplash.com.

More than half of American adults are spending two additional hours a day outside during quarantine than before the coronavirus outbreak began.

Research shows we picked up 16 million new gardeners during COVID-19, many of whom are under 35.

According to the National Gadening Association survey, the 35- to 44-yearold age bracket had the highest mean spending ($608.54) of all the age groups in 2019. Many in this group are raising a family, own a home, and have established a career.

The term “Victory Garden” spiked on Google on April 5, 2020, reaching its all-time peak popularity as a search term. With the surge in home cooking and the fear of food scarcity, many Americans are discovering the joy of growing their own food. An astonishing 67% of adults are growing or plan to grow edible plants.

Most importantly, they’re interested in reducing stress and increasing health and wellness. According to Mintel, adults are more motivated than ever to set goals to improve their health and wellness, feel happier, look better, and take control.

Photo by Kristine Tanne on Unsplash.com.

Photo by Aryo Lahap on Unsplash.com.

Garden Newbies

Impatient Gratification

Dim the Lights

We said gardening is hot , but specifically, “mini” plants are hot, especially in edible gardening. Tiny plants finish growing faster.

The miniature trend is hot, and houseplants are hopping on the bandwagon.

You may live in an apartment or small home and struggle to squeeze your large, leafy friends onto crowded windowsills.

If your home is dark, windowsill space with enough light might be limited.

Bring nature into your small office space or green up a corner of your desk.

“Cuteness aside, tiny plants are the perfect choice for plant-keepers with limited space and time,” said Leslie Halleck, Halleck Horticultural LLC. “Tiny plants grown on your windowsill, under grow lights, or under glass can feed your plant addiction without cramping your style.”

Plant Big Trees

According to Chrissy Balk from Davey Tree, trees add cooling shade to your yard. Plant them correctly to improve the energy efficiency of your home.

Photo by Jan Huber on Unsplash.com.

According to Nature’s Best Hope, the latest book from Doug Tallamy, we should all be building conservation hardscapes, and the best way to do that is to turn out the lights.

Lighting up the sky at night is one of the major causes of insect decline.

White lights draw insects all night long, exhausting them and making them easy prey for bats and birds.

If each of the millions of lights we turn on in this country kills just a few insects each night—well, you can do the math—in 5 minutes of extra darkness we could literally save billions of insects every season.

“We will create a sustainable balance between humans and other earthlings, and we will do it by living with nature instead of living apart from it,” said Tallamy. “Instead of denaturing our environment, our new national pastime will be to renature our surroundings.”

If you’re concerned about security, install a motion sensor, so your lights only turn on when provoked.

Even easier: Change out the bulbs and put in yellow LED bulbs. That will save energy, and they’re the leastattractive to insects.

Take care of life on your property.

It seems a lot easier than trying to save the entire planet, but it’s the same thing.

You can’t reverse insect declines by yourself. If we each do our small part, we can not only restore insect populations, but also create the largest collective conservation effort in history.

Design Abundance

Garden design will move away from mulch and eco-dead plants to being cocreated with nature.

Gardens are not only human spaces, or just the parsley around the turkey, but richly woven, ecologically functional spaces. o JANUARY 2021

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TIPStricks

Snow and Ice Tips to Protect Our Yards Photo credit: Marie Johnston, SSSA.

Aboveground Traits Can Predict What Certain Species Look Like Below

We can tell a lot about plants by looking at them. We can see their leaves, stems, and overall structure. But we can’t see what the roots look like under the ground, like root depth or structure.

The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Soils Matter Blog (soilsmatter. wordpress.com) explored how scientists can use aboveground traits such as bloom time and height to predict what plants look like underground.

Blogger Marie Johnston explains, “We also wanted to know if plants that bloomed at the same time in the season (flowering phenology) would have similar characteristics, and if plants with a similar shape (crown morphology) would share characteristics.

Information about the species when grouped this way might be useful in picking one plant or another for a city planting.”

Johnston and her team inventoried which prairie plants were used in city plantings, chose 16 species, and grew each species separately. When species reach the end of their flowering phase, the plant is usually done growing new leaves. When this happened, the research team cut down each individual specie and removed the roots from the soil.

They found that the shorter, earlyflowering plants had large leaves for their size, and that some of the midseason or late-season flowering plants (or, forbs) can develop robust root systems that are as massive as the roots of grasses. These differences in traits were consistent with what was known about how plants share space and resources such as water and sunlight when growing together as a plant community. o 10

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With the pandemic keeping people sheltering at home, more people are extending their outdoor time in the winter by adding fire pits, outdoor heaters, and other features. Even in the wintertime, it’s important to take care of your yard. The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, an international trade association representing power equipment, small engine, portable generator, utility vehicle, golf car, and personal transport vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, based in Alexandria, VA, offers tips to keep your yard in shape for winter use.

• Stop trimming your lawn once it freezes. Trim your grass to the height recommended for your lawn variety before it freezes. Cutting your grass too short can leave it dry and exposes it to the elements, not to mention insects and disease.

• Add a thin layer of mulch to your lawn. This can protect your grass roots from snow and frost. It can even prevent deeper layers of soil from freezing, making it easier for your lawn to bounce back in the spring.

• Check your trees for dead or damaged limbs. Removing these limbs before inclement weather arrives is one way to protect your shrubs and yard from damage (not to mention people and pets!). Snow and ice can weigh heavily on dead branches and make them snap and fall. Use clippers, a chainsaw, or a pole pruner, following safety precautions, to remove any dead branches. Consult an arborist for problematic trees.

• Mark the areas that you will need to clear of snow and ice, as well as areas you want to avoid, such as flower beds.

Stakes or sticks can help.

• Older plants and trees should enter winter well-hydrated, so continue watering even after the leaves have dropped.

Even in the wintertime, hardy evergreen plants continue to lose moisture through their needles and if it’s a dry winter, they need supplemental water.

• Remember to get outside, even when it’s chilly. It’s good for our mental and physical well-being to spend time in our yards and breathe in the fresh air—and it also helps us connect to each other and with nature. o

2021 is year of the Monarda (also known as Bee Balm or Wild Bergamot).

The National Garden Bureau shared the following Monarda tips.

• While some Monarda species come from seed, most newer selections are vegetatively propagated and quite easy to care for in average soils.

• Monarda will die back to the ground in our Mid-Atlantic climate. They can then be cut back to 1–2 in. stems. It’s also a good idea to remove dead leaves and stems from the area, especially if mildew has been observed on the foliage.

• As Monarda emerges from the roots/rhizomes in the spring, they may be pinched to create a bushier habit if desired.

• In the full sun, they will produce a plethora of brilliant flowers, beginning in mid-summer. Pair these with Achillea, Agastache, or Phlox for a smooth transition of garden color into fall.

• As flowers fade, deadheading is beneficial to encourage additional flowering.

• The plant is deer- and rabbit-resistant.

• Monarda brings a lot of charm and interest to the garden. En masse plantings in naturalized areas are a showstopper and create a high-traffic area for butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees.

• Enjoy these as specimen plants paired with your favorite summer-intofall bloomers in the middle of the garden. When they are in full flower (with a few to spare), you can pick a few flowers and leaves to make a batch of iced Bee Balm tea and watch the garden grow, or dry some and save it for hot Oswego tea on a cold winter’s night.

See https://ngb.org/year-of-themonarda/ for more about Monarda. o

GARDENnews

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts • Top 10 GardenDC Podcast Episodes • Top Garden Books of 2020 • Plant Profile: Hellebores • Bulb Forcing 101 See more Washington Gardener blog posts at: WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com o

January–February Garden To-Do List

New Plant Spotlight

Purple Tears Switchgrass Panicum virgatum ‘Purple Tears’ Renowned plantsman and designer Piet Oudolf introduces a new Switchgrass that’s destined to be a classic. He discovered this delightful selection in a nursery plot in Hummelo, Netherlands.

Panicum virgatum ‘Purple Tears’ bears flowering spikes with soft-gray color at the top, followed by splendid purple seed heads. With a manageable height of 4', its narrow, upright habit makes it perfect for a range of landscape applications. It has the same toughness and adaptability you’ll find in other Switchgrass cultivars.

P. virgatum ‘Shenandoah’ is the mostlikely parent, based on appearance and proximity in the growing area. But while ‘Shenandoah’ has dark green foliage that develops red-orange color, ‘Purple Tears’ offers a lighter-green color that persists throughout the season. Its purple seed heads, gray-tipped flowering spikes, and graceful habit stood out for Oudolf in his garden.

Hoffman Nursery (hoffmannursery. com) is the first nursery in the U.S. to offer this selection. It is licensed through Future Plants and asexual propagation without permission is prohibited. o Photos courtesy of Hoffman Nursery.

• Prune any dead or diseased wood from your small trees and shrubs.

• If you purchased a live Christmas tree, plant it now.

• Cut off the flower stalk on your amaryllis once flowers fade. Leave foliage to grow.

• Keep poinsettias in a well-lit area, but out of direct sun and away from drafts.

• Buy a few new houseplants.

• Fertilize only your winter-blooming houseplants, such as violets.

• Give your houseplants a quarter turn every few weeks.

• Build a compost bin.

• Repair your shed and repair/paint your fences.

• Clean out your cold frame or build a new one.

• Collect large plastic soda bottles to use as cloches. (A cloche is a clear, bellshaped cover used to protect tender plants from frost.)

• Clean and refill bird feeders.

• Wash and refill the birdbath or set out a shallow bowl of water in icy weather.

• Check on stored summer bulbs and seeds. Discard any that have rotted.

• Buy seeds and order plants from the new garden catalogs.

• Prune summer bloomers such as Hydrangeas, Rose of Sharon, Crape Myrtles, and Butterfly Bushes.

• Till and add organic matter to annual/vegetable beds.

• Weed—especially check fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.

• Place a floating ball or small plastic soda bottle filled two-thirds with water and a tablespoon of salt in your pond to stop it from icing over entirely, especially if you have fish. If ice forms, remove the ball by pouring hot water on it.

• Insulate outdoor containers with bubble wrap or landscape fabric.

• Check that newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials have not been heaved out of the ground due to freezing-and-thawing cycles.

• Take hardwood cuttings from willow and dogwood to propagate them.

• Look for evidence of pest or fungal damage throughout your garden.

• Clean out your greenhouse and wash those windows.

• Set out your live potted evergreens from holiday decorating in a protected outdoor space to harden them off before planting them.

• If we do get more snow in the DC area, gently dislodge snow from trees and shrubs with a broom to prevent damage to branches.

• Start hardy herbs, onions, cabbage, pansies, and perennials.

• Clean and tidy up pots and seed trays to get a good start in February.

• Use leftover holiday greens and cut-up tree branches to mulch beds and create windbreaks.

• Do not step on frozen soil in flower beds or lawns.

• Keep all houseplants out of drafts and away from heat vents.

• Use de-icer sparingly or a nonchemical substitute such as sand, grit, fireplace ashes, or non-clumping kitty litter.

• Volunteer at a local public or historic garden.

• Paint a few terracotta pots in spring-like colors.

• Pot up any leftover bulbs that did not make it into the ground by now and force them for indoor blooms. o JANUARY 2021

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PLANTprofile

Culinary Sage

By Kathy Jentz

Sage (Salvia officinalis) is a small woody shrub that is hardy from Zones 5 to 9. This herb is used for culinary and healing purposes. It has an intense flavor that works well with pork and poultry dishes, as well as with winter squash or as a tea.

Sage grows best in well-draining soils. It can also do well in a container. Plant it in full sun. Do not fertilize sage. It may grow faster, but fertilizing will result in lessflavorful leaves.

Snip off the tender tips of each branch in the morning to use them fresh. To store sage for later use, harvest no more than half the plant about twice during the growing season. Sage is easy to dry by hanging cuttings in a well-ventilated area. You can bind up dried white sage and create a smudge stick to burn for a cleansing ceremony.

After a few years, your sage plant will become woody and not taste as good. You can then take cuttings or layer it to start new plants.

Several varieties of sage are commonly available. One of our favorites is Purple Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’), which looks lovely in the garden and is an RHS Award of Garden Merit winner.. o Kathy Jentz is the editor and founder of Washington Gardener.

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TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events Listing Classes and Webinars • Tuesday, January 19, 11am–1pm Winter Sowing: Following Mother Nature’s Way to Jump-Start Your Gardens Winter sowing offers the perfect opportunity to help you increase your plant diversity and harvests by getting a head start on your spring, summer, and fall gardens. You will be able to grow more flowers and food with very little effort and minimal supplies. By using the winter sowing method, you are literally following the ways of the master of all gardeners: Mother Nature. Held via Zoom.

Presented by certified Master Gardener Linda Jones, Elements of Nature. Fee: $10. Register at www.eventbrite. com/e/winter-sowing-following-mothernatures-way-to-jump-start-your-gardenstickets-125695433425?ref=eios.

• Saturday, February 6, 9am–12n 3rd Annual Native Plant Symposium “Stop Mowing, Start Growing!” Whether you are new to native plants and what they can do for your property or looking for alternative landscaping ideas, this event is for you. Fee: $5. Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ stop-mowing-start-growing-3rd-annualnative-plant-symposium-for-beginnerstickets-133260322211.

• Wednesday, February 10, 12:30pm Fill Your Garden with Fabulous Ferns Have a damp or shady yard where it is difficult to grow flowering plants? Consider using ferns They come in a wide variety of forms and can add texture and interest to spaces that are not suitable for sun-loving flowers. Extension Master Gardeners share excellent picks for standout color, texture, and easy care. Zoom registration at https:// forms.gle/rhSRAcCngurYMBKQA. • Thursday, February 18, 4pm Flowers and Plants Introductions for the New Growing Season Interested in how new plants evolve and make it to the garden centers each spring? Follow the path: e.g., hybridization, environmental suitability, and test gardens. Then be introduced to the “Stars for Spring 2021!” Speaker:

Kathy Jentz, Editor, Washington Gardener Magazine. Fee: $10, Register at: https://www.paypal.com/ donate?hosted_button_ id=L4L7AZ6RG55QQ. Hosted by the National Capital Area Garden Clubs District IV. The presentation will be via Zoom and available on demand for 10 days afterwards.

• Friday, February 19, 9:30am GreenScapes Symposium Leveraging native plants to restore the environment. Keynote by Doug Tallamy.

Register at activemontgomery.org.

• Saturday, February 20, 9:30am 17th Annual EcoSavvy Symposium – Virtual Program Join in from the comfort of your own home or office. In this year’s symposium, “Integrating Storm Water Management in Landscape Design,” Dr. Laurie Fox, horticulture associate at Virginia Tech Hampton Roads Agricultural Research & Extension Center, and Christine Horner, water quality engineer for the Town of Vienna, will present innovative techniques to capture, store, and redirect rainwater on your property.

This program will be offered virtually with an emailed link. Fee: $26. Register online at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/ parktakes (code ITG.QARB).

• Thursday, February 25, 6:30pm Garden Book Club Meeting Discuss “A Gentle Plea for Chaos” with Washington Gardener Magazine’s Garden Book Club via Zoom. Order your copy now at our Amazon link: https:// amzn.to/2WOdS4m, then RSVP and see the event details at: https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2020/12/ discuss-gentle-plea-for-chaos-with.html.

• Starting the week of January 25 Spring 2021 Landscape Technology Program, Montgomery College Courses include Plant Sciences, Pesticide Safety, Fruit Trees, Landscape Management, and Garden Design. Register at www.montgomerycollege.edu.

Seed Exchanges On National Seed Swap Day (seedswapday.com) this year, January 30, 2021,

Washington Gardener Magazine will host a free, live chat from 2:00-4:00pm Eastern time for seed swappers everywhere. We will explore ways to hold in-person seed swap events during the COVID-19 pandemic and other options for swapping seeds safely. This event will feature surprises and special guests talking about everything seed-related, from seed collecting tips to easy propagating tricks.

We hope you can join us for the live session, but if you cannot, we will record the event and have it available on YouTube to view anytime. The link for the live session will be posted online at SeedSwapDay.com shortly and the recording link will be shared here afterward as well.

Our in-person Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Exchanges will take place on Saturday, March, 27, at Green Spring Gardens in Fairfax County, VA, and on Saturday, April 3, at Brookside Gardens in Montgomery County, MD. The event registration links will be posted in early March.

We expect our in-person events to have several changes for safety during the pandemic. First, there will only be advance registrations and none at the doors. Next, we may change the format to eliminate the speaking sessions and instead, schedule swapping groups in staggered shifts. Finally, because the events are later in the growing season, we will encourage swappers to bring not only seeds and plant cuttings, but started seedlings as well. These details will evolve as local COVID-19 procedures and restrictions allow.

Event Listing Updates See updated event listings on the Washington Gardener discussion list.

Join the list at https://groups.google. com/g/washingtongardener/.

How to Submit Events To submit an event for this listing, email washingtongardenermagazine@gmail. com with “Event” in the subject line.

Our next deadline is February 5 for the February 2021 issue, for events taking place after February 15. o JANUARY 2021

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Vanessa Pierre is a backyard farmer in the White Oak neighborhood of Silver Spring, MD. She works as a para-legal, but her passion is food security. She joined both the Capital Area Food Bank‘s Client Leadership Council and Montgomery County Food Council, where she advocates for growing healthy foods, self-sufficiency, and gardening as a revolutionary act.

Tell us about your background.

I am the daughter of two Jamaican immigrants who moved to South Florida a little bit before I was born. I was raised by a single mother who had the support of her very large family and still struggled in a foreign country, but they had each other. I grew up with a deep sense of community both in the US and home in Jamaica. My grandparents own a farm in the country and our summers were spent as children learning to tend to the garden and livestock.

I can’t say that I appreciated the experience as a child, but have come to cherish those memories that set me apart from my American peers. It was like stepping back in time. There was no grocery near the property and the livelihood depended on the business of farming. Growing up with that “you don’t grow it, you don’t eat” mentality stuck with me.

Back in the US, every member of our family and friends gave what they 14

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had. We had a plumber, a handyman, a mechanic, someone who caught fish, and those who grew different things.

What was just a bunch of plantains would become an entire meal when we came together. Our needs were handled by and within the community we lived in. This concept of community is so ingrained in me that when I moved to the DMV (DC-MD-VA area) in 2016, its absence was apparent and I longed for it. I also saw it as the only way to fix the issues I saw my neighbors experiencing and that I, too, began to experience for the first time.

What started your interest in homesteading?

Let me first start by saying I had no idea what the term or lifestyle of homesteading was when I first started. I’ve always been curious, and working with my hands brings me peace. When I was a child, I would look at something in the store that I knew I couldn’t have and figure out a way to make it at home. Well, at least, something similar. When I got older and had kids of my own—two, in fact, that were 18 months apart by the age of 20—I found myself in a situation where I had to again rely on those same skill sets.

As you can imagine, things were extremely tight and it just made sense to make things instead of buy them.

Also, as a new mother, I was very con-

cerned with the quality of the products I used and the food I gave my children.

If I made household cleaners, I would know what was in them. If I made baby food, I could control the ingredients.

To me, that is the essence and the overwhelming draw of homesteading— regaining control and being as selfsufficient as possible.

How do you balance working full-time and homesteading?

As I’m sure you can imagine, I get this question a lot. I still don’t have a good answer. The act of gardening has always been like therapy to me. It helped me through some of the hardest times of my life. When I am not able to go outside, I start to get antsy and anxious. I’ve found that just like other forms of self-care, you just have to make it a priority. Just like my work in the community: It is bigger than me so I make the time.

The flip side of this is having boundaries and balance. When it comes to time with my family, I don’t allow distractions. I do what I can with the time I have. Staying organized and choosing which activities to give my energy to also plays a big part. I’m very much a systems person, in that I try to find a way to automate most tasks in the garden. While this does not work for everything, it definitely saves time and every little bit helps.

Photos of Vanessa Pierre by NovaScope Media.

Vanessa Pierre, Homestead Hustle & Healing

NEIGHBORnetwork How has life changed for you during the COVID-19 pandemic?

I would have to say, how hasn’t it changed? The biggest change for me has got to be that I went from being the “crazy plant lady” or farming fanatic to being asked for my opinion on the matter. The pandemic has opened everyone’s eyes to the deep-rooted flaws in our food supply chain. We never thought that the grocery stores would be without food and there we were— completely caught off-guard. I’d been gardening and teaching others how to garden for a few years at the time the pandemic first started, and now people in the community wanted to know how they could get started.

As far as my household personally, I would have to say that we’ve been extremely blessed and that has allowed us to be a blessing to others in our community. My job allowed me to work from home and that allotted me more time in the garden without having to commute back and forth to DC. The kids being home allowed me to get more time with them and make growing food a part of their social and emotional development curriculum. In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, all we wanted was more time. More time with our loved ones, more time at home, more time to focus on us. Although none of us could have imagined the means by which it would be granted to us, we got it, and I was not about to take this time for granted.

What are your mission and goals?

The mission for me is and will always be to empower minorities in my community to take back their lives. How can we expect families experiencing food insecurity to worry about community issues, become involved, and become advocates? The only concern for those in this position is, where is the next meal coming from? Dinner may be covered, but what about breakfast? Having to make such a decision and living in a constant state of anxiety prevents real change from happening anywhere else.

If we can give these families a bit of control back into their lives through gardening and homesteading, we can put more money in their pockets and clear some of their headspace for brighter conversations.

In black and brown communities, we often see change coming from the outside. That’s not because the people in the community don’t care; it’s because we’re hurting. We’re hurting inside our homes, heads, and hearts.

Community issues just cannot compare to the day-to-day decisions these families have to make. I aim to change this: Empower the community to save itself. We’re doing that through several initiatives apart from the online community, including a school gardening curriculum, farmers markets with Market Match programs for SNAP/WIC recipients, and gardening education.

What is some of our best advice for folks new to DC-area gardening?

The two main pieces of advice I always give to new gardeners is to (1) JUST START. Start where you are with what you have. It is so easy to get overwhelmed. There is a lot of information out there and it’s easy to get bogged down in the details. Nature is beautifully simplistic and plants have survived way before YouTube and Google. Pay attention, start slow, and make a plan.

(2) Fail forward. There are no failures in the garden. If you plant five tomato plants and only one survives, you still have one and were able to feed your family the absolute best. There are only lessons in the garden, and seeds are in abundance. Shake it off and try again.

In this region, we are gifted with a relatively long growing season. Make succession planting your best friend.

What are your favorite plants to grow?

It depends on the year. This growing season, my favorites were zinnias and watermelons. The zinnias provided a beautiful pop of color in the garden and they were a delight to watch in bloom.

This year, I experimented with growing watermelons vertically on a cattle panel arch, and they were wondrous! Walking through the arch and seeing the watermelons defy gravity was so satisfying.

What do you do when you’re not working or gardening?

When I’m not out in the garden, working, or in the community, I am usually with my kids. I’m big on creating memories and they come first. We have a good time watching movies, playing board games, and having random dance parties.

Anything else you want our readers to know?

Get curious! I would love to challenge the readers to get out and get curious about their local food supply chains.

Ask questions, do your research, and make a plan to support your local farmers and markets. Your voice matters.

Use it to influence change in your community. If you don’t see change, be the change. We can all do something.

They can contact me on Instagram at @homesteadhustlehealing or on Twitter at @Homesteadtoheal. o This interview has been edited for grammar, length, and clarity.

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A male Monarch (Danaus plexippus) in Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC. Photo courtesy of Katja Schulz. CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

INSECTindex

Monarch Butterflies Denied Endangered Species Status

By Carol Allen

On December 15, 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent the petition to grant the monarch butterfly endangered species status back into the waiting line. They allowed that it was warranted, but there were too many other petitions of higher priority. However, the monarch is now a candidate and its status will be reviewed on an annual basis.

What is the advantage to being listed under the federal Endangered Species Act? 1. Uniform protection. That is protection over and above state laws or in the case of a lack of state laws, governing capture, collection, and habitat destruction.

2. Education and awareness. Although there are many state and private groups working for monarch butterfly protection, being listed with the federal Endangered Species Act grants a higher level of recognition.

3. Economic. There would be federal technical and financial assistance in support of local programs.

4. Jobs. Jobs would be created for communities dependent on wildlife.

5. Habitat. Millions of acres of habitat have been protected under the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act is not without its critics and is woefully underfunded, but gaining endangered species status would only serve to 16

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enhance the work of the many other organizations protecting the monarch butterfly.

How will this affect conservation efforts? A tremendous number of organizations are involved in monarch butterfly conservation. Due to its unique migration, conservation efforts are best if they span the three countries touched by its migration route: Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

The Monarch Joint Venture (www. monarchjointventure.org) brings together federal and state agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), businesses, and academic programs.

It focuses on monarch habitat in the United States.

In Mexico, the Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve encompasses 217 square miles of over-wintering habitat and is part of the Mexican Federal system of protected areas. Two other organizations in Mexico work toward protecting habitat: Forests for Monarchs (www.forestsformonarchs.org) and Alternare (www.alternare.org).

In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife without Borders– Mexico Program works in conjunction with Mexican authorities and NGO’s funding projects that protect and restore the monarch’s winter habitat.

The North American Monarch Conservation Plan is a long-term cooperative between Canada, Mexico, and

the United States working to conserve the monarch butterfly (www.fs.fed. us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_ Butterfly/news/documents/).

The Trilateral Monarch Butterfly Sister Protected Area Network (www.trilat.org) is a partnership of wildlife refuges and national parks in the United States and Canada, and natural protected areas in Mexico, working together on monarch conservation projects.

These are only a few of the organizations working in monarch butterfly conservation. On the local level, there are Girl and Boy Scouts, garden clubs, church groups, and others who build butterfly gardens. One notable effort is MonarchWatch.org. Through this organization, one can get involved in tagging and counting, as well as planting and registering a monarch way station.

From the number of the conservation efforts aimed specifically at monarch butterflies, it would seem that even without endangered species status, these groups have made the monarch butterfly recognizable nationwide. o Carol Allen describes herself as a committable plant-a-holic. She has more than 25 years’ experience in the horticulture industry, with a special interest in plant pests and diseases; is a Licensed Pesticide Applicator in the state of Maryland; and is an ISACertified Arborist. She can be contacted at carolallen@erols.com.

FLOWERfun There’s an old saying: “Flowers love people.” Actually, though, it’s the other way around. We usually associate flowers with beauty, but they have a lot more going for them than that.

Flowers make us happy; having flowers around unconsciously gives us a more-positive impression of others, and flowers lift our spirits and make us feel more relaxed. There’s simply something about flowers that actually makes us feel good. It’s no wonder people love them! Just because it is winter doesn’t mean you cannot treat yourself to a big bouquet of blooms from your local florist. Why wait? Get busy with flowers yourself. You’ll enjoy it and feel better at the same time!

Selecting Your Flowers

How do you start to make your own bouquet? First, visit a good florist where you can buy individual flowers. Choose three or four kinds of flowers that you think are absolutely gorgeous or incredibly special. Flowers may be good for you, but they also have to please the eye. Don’t be afraid that their colors might clash. Unusual combinations are often the prettiest. Summer flowers like dahlias, lilies, gladioli, and calla lilies are perfectly suitable for a bouquet with the effect of a tall wildflower meadow.

Getting Started

Once you have your flowers back home, the fun part starts. Your little rays of sunshine are going to make a splendid bouquet.

First of all, use a clean knife to trim the stems at an angle. From each stem, remove any leaves that might fall below the surface of the water in your vase. Your flowers are now ready to bind into a bouquet or simply insert individually into a vase.

Binding Together

A fairly simple way of binding flowers is known as the overlapping or hand-tied method.

1. Lay the flowers out in front of you.

2. Pick up a flower in one hand and then transfer it to your other hand. Do this with three flowers. Make sure that each flower stem is arranged at an angle over the flower stem beneath it.

3. Give the three flowers in your hand a quarter turn.

4. Now, add another three flowers, one by one, over the first three.

5. Repeat until you have used all your flowers.

6. Bind the bouquet with a piece of twine or a rubber band.

As you will see, this method produces a beautiful round bouquet.

Inserting into a Vase

Maybe what you want is a bouquet with a more-casual look. If so, use the insertion method. This will give the impression of having just picked some wildflowers, and it’s also easy to do.

1. Sort the flowers according to size.

2. Insert the largest stem into a vase with water.

3. Pick up the largest stem you have left and insert it at an angle next to the first flower so their stems form an X. 4. Repeat this process by criss-crossing the stems in the vase until you have used all the flowers. o

Making Your Own Flower Arrangements for a Winter Boost

Article provided by www.ilsysays.com.

Photos courtesy of iBulb.

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BOOKreviews

Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden Author: Jessica Walliser Publisher: Storey Publishing List price: $24.95 Order link: https://amzn.to/3oTHKbW Reviewer: Andrea F. Siegel Companion planting has been practiced for eons, but it isn’t clear why some plants “like” each other.

We may know that in nature, plants don’t grow in blocks in tidy rows, and that they flourish in a mix with other plants. But we may need some help with creating an interplanted vegetable garden—the kind that uses companion planting to grow a better vegetable garden.

Pennsylvania horticulturist Jessica Walliser has collected a trove of this information in a new volume. Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden takes companion planting out of the realm of folklore and speculation and into current science, where research has examined plant partnerships. There really is a science-based reason why tomatoes and basil are good companions, and broccoli and crimson clover are a winning pair. Using this information, gardeners can help their crops and the soil, as well as pollinators and beneficial insects drawn to the garden’s buffet and habitat.

While many of us think of companion planting as placing two (or more) plants together to benefit one or both, Walliser extends that to mean that the plants don’t have to grow together at

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the same time. That starts with soil improvement—cover crops. Oats, for example, die in winter’s freezing temperatures, and a grower can start earlyspring cold-tolerant vegetables, like radishes and broccoli, through the oat debris—debris that cuts down on weeds in addition to contributing organic matter to the soil.

Walliser intersperses flowers and herbs with vegetables, and she encourages a garden that can become a colorful mix of plants at varied heights, alive with plants, pollinators, and beneficial insects.

Walliser says certain plants serve as living mulch while they create a habitat for the insects that help vegetables grow. Still others can be living trellises for vines, like corn with pole beans twining around its stalks—although due to the amount of corn that has to be planted for cross-pollination, MidAtlantic gardeners with smaller spaces might prefer a tee-pee of sticks.

Walliser’s book also reminds us that plants are not so passive. Among other things, they not only actively compete for resources, they share resources (think nitrogen-fixing legumes).

Walliser addresses pest management, disease management through interplanting, and biological control: using plants to lure and support pestdevouring beneficial insects. She also points to drawing more native bees to blueberry bushes by using crimson clover, which boosts not only the bumblebee population but the blueberry harvest.

Of course, plant “matches” are specific, and Walliser includes many, attaching the research to the companion matches, satisfying the curious reader. It is all highly readable and understandable, and it gives gardeners, whether beginners or experienced, the information they need to make good, informed decisions.

The book would be of special interest to vegetable gardeners who want to rely on natural pest and biological controls, as well as those who want to improve their harvests. o Andrea Siegel is a Master Gardener in Maryland.

Soil Science for Gardeners: Working with Nature to Build Soil Health Author: Robert Pavlis Publisher: New Society Publishers List Price: $18.99 Order Link: https://amzn.to/3nWdnjE Reviewer: Stacey Evers I have several friends who despise winter because they see it as the time that everything outside is “dead.” But we gardeners know that these cold months are when important work is happening underground.

Important work can also occur in a comfy chair in your warm home, as you deepen your gardening knowledge while reading Robert Pavlis’ Soil Science for Gardeners: Working with Nature to Build Soil Health. At less than 200 pages, the book can be absorbed in a sitting or two—although if your chemistry is shaky, you might want to pay a few additional visits to take in all of the science lessons.

The author reframes that old gardening lament—“What’s wrong with my plant?”—to put the focus on soil. “After 45 years of gardening experience, I realize that growing plants is very easy if you understand the soil below them,” Pavlis writes. “If you create healthy soil, you can grow anything that is suitable for your climate.”

His goal is to encourage gardeners to stop robo-memorizing rules about when and how to do specific garden chores

BOOKreviews and start learning the scientific principles pertinent to soil health. By understanding the science (how soil aggregates, how plants absorb nutrients, how decomposition works), gardeners can interpret what’s happening in their plots independent of stock rules, he argues. They also can evaluate garden techniques and fad products to decide which ones really are good for the garden and, if so, when to use them.

Author of the GardenMyths.com blog, Pavlis includes many myth-busting sidebars. He digs deep into the science, explaining such things as ions, cation exchange capacity, pH, chelation, and exudates. Don’t worry if you don’t fully understand these terms, because you will by the time you get to the last page.

The text is divided into three sections: understanding soil, solving soil problems, and developing a plan for improving your soil’s health (complete with assessment forms for the reader to fill out). The author intends for the reader to start on page 1 and read straight through. However, he must realize that some will use the book as a reference guide because the final section repeats helpful explanations from earlier chapters. o Stacey Evers is an environmental educator and co-chairs the Fairfax Food Council’s Urban Ag Work Group.

Grow Your Own Spices Author: Tasha Greer Publisher: Cool Springs Press List Price: $22.99 Order Link: https://amzn.to/3ikyLho Reviewer: Beth Py-Lieberman To my thinking, spices like cardamom, turmeric, saffron, ginger, paprika, and cinnamon derive out of the mists of antiquity. These are the raw materials that traveled east to west along ancient global trade routes. Modern spice trade means the stuff that comes dried and processed in uniformly made glass bottles and is stored at home haphazardly in the pantry. They are not the sort of things I would have imagined growing in a Silver Spring, MD, garden.

For centuries, the global trade in spices delivered profits so richly rewarding that mystery and secrets surrounded the care and cultivation

of these exotic plants. It would be the rare gardener who practiced the art of growing and harvesting these unusual botanical wonders, known for their flavorful seeds and potent roots. But as author and self-proclaimed “epicurean homesteader” Tasha Greer proclaims, spices are the “final frontier in home food production.”

Greer, along with herbalist Lindsey Feldpausch and illustrator Greta Moore, makes a compelling case for the home cultivation of more than 30 types of spices. In this well-organized DIY compendium, the ancient secrets are revealed and the mysteries of cultivation are rendered in simple, easy-tofollow guidelines with tips for harvesting, threshing, and storing. Feldpausch also reveals a world of medicinal and health benefits with care and caution.

A few takeaways to spur interest include: • Fenugreek, which is used as an imitation maple flavoring for American pancake syrup, is an easy fast-germinating, drought-resistant, fragrant plant that is used medicinally to soothe irritated tissues.

• Cinnamon, on the other hand, is a challenge. Grown in the Seychelles, it is aided by birds that eat and distribute the seeds. But home gardeners must take exhaustive steps to get the plant to thrive.

• Capers, which grow wild in Italy under the Tuscan sun, are xerophytic

and can thrive in a rock garden or in planted pots of aged compost, gravel, and potting mix.

• Turmeric, which has 53 different names in Sanskrit, grows easily and— similarly to ginger—from rhizomes. The harvested turmeric fingers are boiled, dried, and ground into a fine powder that can be used as a flavoring, a coloring agent, or an anti-inflammatory supplement.

• Poppy, which in some places might be illegal to grow (they are the stuff of the opium trade and the substance of the modern opioid epidemic), is harvested by simply popping open the plant’s seed pods and pouring a generous measure of the contents straight into a jar.

For me, the idea of growing spices is a challenge that might bring new impact to my garden. I’m ready to follow in Greer’s well-trodden footsteps, who offers her readers this sage advice: “As a gardener, I know that every plant I grow also grows me.

Spices seem to have an uncanny ability to deepen my connection to the earth and all its inhabitants.” o Beth Py-Lieberman is Smithsonian magazine’s museums editor. She gardens at home with visiting deer in Silver Spring, MD, and is the volunteer liaison for the Fenton Street Community Garden.

Note: These book reviews include links to Amazon.com for ordering them.

Washington Gardener Magazine may receive a few cents from each order placed after you click on these links.

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These books were reviewed by volunteer members of the Washington Gardener Reader Panel. Reader Panelists may also be asked to review new gardening plants, tools, and seeds.

To join the Washington Gardener Volunteer Reader Panel, send an email with your name and address to: KathyJentz@gmail.com. We look forward to having you be a vital part of our local publication and its gardening mission. o

JANUARY 2021

WASHINGTON GARDENER

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EDIBLEharvt

Potato Growing Tips

By Barbara Melera

Of all the vegetables that you can grow in your home garden, potatoes (with the exception of tomatoes) are the most-rewarding. Potatoes are easy and fascinating to grow. They can be grown in Hardiness Zones 3–10. They are an absolutely terrific way to get children hooked on gardening. You can make so very many recipes from potatoes, including side dishes, soups, casseroles, and candy.

Potatoes in the Ground

Plant potatoes when the soil temperature has reached 45 degrees. They prefer a loose, loamy soil that is slightly acidic, but they are not fussy and will grow in almost any soil environment as long as the soil is not constantly wet. Potatoes should be rotated on a three-year schedule, which means that after three years, they can be planted in their original beds. Several weeks before planting, work a small amount of compost and dehydrated cow manure into the soil. Potatoes do not like very rich soil.

One to two days before planting, cut the seed potatoes into chunks. Each chunk should contain three “eyes” or buds.

There are two schools of thought on planting potatoes—one suggests that you mound potatoes; one suggests that you trench potatoes. If you are a “mounder,” plant the seed potatoes 6 inches deep, 15 inches apart, in rows, 2 ½ to 3 feet apart. When the stems of the plant are approximately 8 inches tall, mound dirt up around the stem, burying half the stem. Repeat when the stems have grown another 8 inches.

The mounding will prevent the potatoes from growing out of the soil.

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If you are a “trencher,” dig a trench 15 inches deep and place the seed potatoes 15 inches apart, in trenches 2½ to 3 feet apart. Cover the potatoes with 6 inches of soil. When the stems of the plant are approximately 4 inches tall, fill in the trench around the stem, burying the plant leaving only the top leaves exposed. Repeat when the stems have grown another 4 inches, and continue to repeat until you have filled in the trench.

Plant the seed potatoes 6 inches deep, 15 inches apart, in rows 2½ to 3 feet apart. When the stems of the plant are approximately 8 inches tall, mound dirt up around the stem, burying half the stem. Repeat when the stems have grown another 8 inches. Again, the mounding will prevent the potatoes from growing out of the soil.

Harvest baby potatoes two to three weeks after the plant has flowered.

Harvest mature potatoes two to three weeks after the plant has died back in the fall. Harvest by digging around the plant about 12 inches from the stem.

Potatoes can be as much as 12–18 inches deep. Potatoes can be harvested as long as the soil can be worked and, if mulched, can be harvested throughout most winters.

Potatoes in Containers

Potatoes are actually easy to grow in containers and today, most garden centers offer “potato sacks” for growing them. These potato sacks are a great way to grow and are an efficient use of space. You can make your own potato sack by using the black, heavy-duty trash bags available at your hardware store. I would double them. Make sure you punch lots of holes in your potato

sack because the most-frequent problem with these sacks is water retention, which rots the tubers and the plants.

To grow potatoes in containers, start in late winter. Line the container with 4 inches of soil, such as topsoil from the garden center. Do not use any specialty soil mixes. Remember, potatoes do not like rich soil. Place one chunk of potato with completely dried flesh in the center of the container and cover with 4 inches of soil. As the potato plant emerges from the soil, cover it with straw (not hay: straw) and continue to do so until you have stacked at least 15 inches of straw on top of the soil layer.

The potatoes will form along the stems of the plant. If you want new potatoes, remove some of the straw from the plant two weeks after the potato blossoms fade. Mature potatoes can be harvested two weeks after the plant dies back in the fall.

If you have limited space and are considering growing potatoes in containers, we suggest trying one variety each of a red, white, and blue potato.

Potato Success Tips

1. Never plant potatoes in rich, wellcomposted soil. Potatoes do best in average soil. Rich soil will cause them to develop scabs all over their skins and to look horrid.

2. Potatoes are among the easiest of all vegetables to grow. Potatoes need average soil, good drainage, full sun, and nothing else.

3. If you are just getting started with raising potatoes, you should expect to get 5–10 pounds of potatoes per plant your first year. As you gain expertise, you can expect a healthy potato plant to produce 20–30 pounds of potatoes.

4. If you are a young parent or a grandparent who has decided to garden with children, in my opinion, there is no better vegetable to teach a child to grow than the potato. Together, you will learn so much, laugh so much, and relish the process of gardening and cooking the harvest. Memories like these grow the best lifelong gardeners. o Barbara Melera is the president of Harvesting History (www.harvesting-history.com), a horticultural company founded in 2016 to provide horticultural and agricultural products, largely of the heirloom variety, along with garden tools and equipment.

GOINGnative

Broad Beech Fern (Phegopteris hexagonoptera)

By Barry Glick

Before we commence to chatting about my favorite fern of all time, let’s get the nomenclature out of the way (nomenclature: a fancy, $10 word for the name of the plant). We use a binomial system (binomial: a fancy, $10 word for two names) created by the Swedish naturalist and plant explorer Carolus von Linnaeus in the mid-1700s. Nowadays, plant names change faster than the plants grow and it’s always a heated topic for gardeners to complain about, even though most of the time there’s a logical, scientific reason, but that’s a topic for another column.

I bring all this up today because this fern that I’ll be raving about has a storied history of name changes and synonyms, my favorite being the one I used in the title of this article: Phegopteris hexagonoptera. What a delightful mouthful of syllables. Start spitting out a plant name like this and your friends will think that you have a PhD in horticulture. Other remarkable scientific names include, but are not limited to, Dryopteris hexagonoptera and Thelypteris hexagonoptera. The

common name that I use is “Broad Beech Fern,” but it’s also known as “Southern Beech Fern” and just plain “Beech Fern,” among others. The first words in the name, the genus, comes from the Greek word Phegos, meaning Beech, and Pteris, meaning fern, possibly because it was found to be growing among Beech trees, Duh! The second word, the specific epithet, means sixangled wings, I still haven’t sorted that out yet.

Enough about the name. The photo of the plant was taken in the heat of August toward the end of a six-week drought and still the plant looks lush, doesn’t it? Even though this is a fern that you’ll find in nature to be growing in light to deep shade, this particular specimen is getting quite a bit of afternoon sun and growing in not-so-rich soil, another testament to how easily adaptable it is to cultivate; in nature, it favors humusy, acidic, medium to wet, welldrained soils.

Under optimum growing conditions, it spreads somewhat quickly by underground rhizomes, but don’t let that

scare you from growing it. I grow it in a variety of situations and it has never been overly aggressive. Also, it’s easy to pull up a rhizome if it starts growing in a direction that you don’t want and to place it in another spot you want to fill.

Or take that errant section and pot it up as a great gift for a fellow fern lover, and who doesn’t love ferns?

In all the years that I’ve been growing Phegopteris hexagonoptera, I’ve never seen any insects visit it and it appears to have no disease problems. Best of all, as with all ferns, the varmint’s pay it no mind. The plants in my garden average about 18–24" in height. Did I hear someone say “perfect plant”? o Barry Glick, a transplanted Philadelphian, has been residing in Greenbrier County, WV, since 1972. His mountaintop garden and nursery is a mecca for gardeners from virtually every country in the world. He writes and lectures extensively about native plants and Hellebores, his two main specialties, and welcomes visitors with advance notice.

He can be reached at barry@sunfarm.com, www.sunfarm.com, or 304.497.2208..

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BIRDwatch

Northern Flicker

By Cecily Nabors

The Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) is a large and handsome woodpecker.

Our Eastern flickers belong to the “yellow-shafted” group, with yellow winglinings and undertail color. For sheer startle and flash, it’s hard to beat the sight of a Northern Flicker coming in for a landing. As the bird flares wings and tail to land on tree or feeder, sunfloweryellow dazzles the eye.

Male and female flickers have the same stylish plumage: black-barred brown back, red crescent on the nape, and black bib above buffy spotted belly.

Males, however, sport a black malar stripe on each cheek, forming a mustache.

Here in the Mid-Atlantic, we are flush with flickers all year, although their numbers swell during spring and fall migration. Now, in winter, leafless trees allow us easy observation of their behavior.

Last February, I watched as a Northern Flicker inspected our serviceberry’s trunk near the top. A moment later, he was kicking up leaves and dry grass on the ground. Did he fly down? No. He stepped down the trunk backward, like a firefighter backing down a tall ladder.

The bird accomplished that athletic descent by using the woodpecker’s specialized tools: heavily clawed feet (two toes forward, two toes back) and stiff prop-up tails, which allow them to be adept tree ramblers. Unlike other woodpeckers, though, flickers spend a lot of 22

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time on the ground. They may often be seen hunting for ants and other insects around tree roots and in gardens.

Northern Flickers may be most famous (or infamous) for their rat-a-tat drumming on resonant wood or metal, such as rain gutters or chimney flashing. Why don’t they get headaches from all that pounding? Their skull-bones are thick and absorb the impacts. Their drumming serves as communication and a claim of territory. Both sexes may do it as part of courtship and pair-bonding. But flickers have great voices, too, issuing long, loud ke-ke-ke calls; soft wicka-wicka calls; when two birds are near each other; and a high-pitched downward yelp, eee-ow.

Flickers use their long, powerful bills to excavate deep nest holes high in dead or diseased tree trunks or large branches, and may reuse the same hole the next year. When our pin oak died, we trimmed off the branches and left about 25 feet of the trunk standing. Flickers accepted the gift, drilling nest holes near the top.

Males do most of the drilling, and most of the incubation of the eggs. A pair will raise one or two broods a year.

Both males and females regurgitate food for the young.

Flickers eat nuts, berries, and beetles, but ants are their passion, making up almost half their diet. The birds dig into anthills or old stumps, lapping up the fleeing ants or unrolling their long, sticky tongues to feast on ants and pupae in

their tunnels. Not many birds eat ants, which are protected by their formic acid, so flickers are a boon for gardeners.

Why? Aphids, which can damage tender plants, are sometimes “farmed” by ants for their sweet honey-dew; flickers help keep ants in check.

Northern Flickers don’t often visit birdseed buffets, but they will drink at bird baths or other water features, and they will snack on suet. Choose an upright suet feeder that allows this big bird to stand on a bar or platform, rather than try to cling to a feeder that dangles.

The ideal territory for flickers is a mixture of tall trees for nest sites and open ground for foraging. If you’re near woods, watch for flickers investigating the edges. To help make your yard flickerfriendly, plant native berry-producers like Spicebush (Lindera), Dogwood (Cornus), Serviceberry (Amalanchier), and nutbearing trees. Many avian species will thank you with their presence.

Northern Flickers are widespread and common, but their numbers have been decreasing. The introduced European Starling, another cavity nester, is a strong competitor for nest sites.

As nesting season approaches, one of our early signs will be staccato rhythms as the Northern Flicker begins the drumming volleys of courtship. May all welcome those “good vibrations” to their gardens. o Cecily Nabors is a retired software manager who has been watching and counting birds for much of her life. She publishes the GoodNatured Observations blog at cecilynabors. com.

Both sides of a Northern Flicker’s primary wing feather. The upper side is perhaps more beautiful, but the underside is stunning in its own way. You can also see why the birds are called “yellow-shafted.”

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You’ve seen those gorgeous garden photos published in magazines and newspapers. Enter this year’s competition and have a chance of getting your images published, too! Whether you take the photos in your own backyard, a nearby public garden, or while visiting friends and family in their local gardens, there are so many photographic opportunities to be found. Let’s show off the best in DC-area gardening!

This contest offers an opportunity for all photographers to present their best shots of gardens in the greater Washington, DC, area. Contest entries will be judged on technical quality, composition, originality, and artistic merit.

More than $500 in prizes will be awarded! Winning images will be published in Washington Gardener magazine, displayed during the Washington Gardener Seed Exchange, and appear in a local photo exhibit.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Each entrant is limited to a total of 10 images. Each electronic file must be identified with your last name and entry category. For example, GardenCreature1-Jones.jpg or SmallWonders8.-Smithjpg.

All photographs should accurately reflect the subject matter and the scene as it appeared in the viewfinder.

Nothing should be added to an image and, aside from dust spots, nothing should be removed. Cropping and minor adjustments to electronic images to convert RAW files are acceptable.

If an image is selected as a finalist, a high-resolution digital file might be required before finalizing our results.

Digitally captured images should be taken at the camera’s highest resolution (3 megapixels or larger). For preliminary judging, digital files must be submitted in JPEG format sized to 1,000 pixels on the longest side at 300 dpi.

If photos are taken with a film camera, they must be scanned in and submitted in JPEG format sized to 1,000 pixels on the longest side at 300 dpi.

Contest entries can be submitted via email to DCGardenPhotos@aol. com. Use the subject line “WG Photo Contest” and include an entry form for each image in your email’s text field.

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15TH ANNUAL PHOTO CONTEST Entries can also be sent as a CDROMs. Please verify their integrity by making sure they are readable and not damaged. We reserve the right to disqualify any disk that is unreadable or defective. Please check your CDs with the latest virus-detection software. We will disqualify any disk that appears to contain a virus or a suspicious file.

Label each CD and case with your full name. We strongly suggest mailing CDs in protective cases. We are not responsible for disks damaged during shipping. No CDs will be returned, but they can be picked up after judging.

Send your entries and entry fee to: Washington Gardener Photo Contest, 826 Philadelphia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910. Mailed entries must be received by January 22, 2021.

You can print out blank entry forms from the Washington Gardener blog (WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com) or from our Facebook page.

We will verify all entries so please ensure your email address is included on all items.

Entrants must not infringe on the rights of any other photographer, landowner, or other person. Photos involving willful harassment of wildlife or destruction of any property are unacceptable.

The entrant must have personally taken the photo. By entering, you state this is your work and it is free of copyright elsewhere.

Failure to comply with any contest guidelines will lead to disqualification.

category or submit all 10 in one category.

Photos must have been taken during the 2020 calendar year in a garden located within a 150-mile radius of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. • Garden Views: Beautiful, dramatic, or unusual perspectives of a garden landscape, including wide shots showing the setting. Subject can be a private or public garden.

• Garden Vignettes: Groupings of plants in beds or containers, unusual color or texture combinations, garden focal points, and still scenes. Subject can be photographed in a private or public garden.

• Small Wonders: Tight close-up images or macro shots of single flowers, plant parts, fruits, vegetables, etc.

Subject can be photographed in a private or public garden.

• Garden Creatures: Images of insects, birds, frogs, pets, etc., in a private or public garden setting.

COPYRIGHT NOTE

CONTEST ENTRY FEE

Your entry to this contest constitutes your agreement to allow your photographs and your name, city, state, and photo description texts to be published in upcoming issues of Washington Gardener and used for other related purposes including, but not limited to, Washington Gardener Photo Contest promotions and online, live presentations, and gallery exhibits. Entrants retain ownership and all other rights to future use of their photographs.

CATEGORIES

Each entrant is limited to a total of 10 images. You may submit a few in each

PRIZES

Prizes include gift certificates to area camera stores, gardening tools, new plant introductions, and much more!

If you would like to be a prize donor or sponsor, contact us today.

WINNERS’ OBLIGATION

Photo contest winners will need to provide high-resolution versions of their images for publication and an 11x14 print suitable for framing. Winners may be asked to provide additional information for press and media coverage.

The entry fee is $20.00 or $15.00 for current Washington Gardener Magazine subscribers. The fee includes up to 10 total image submissions per entrant.

Please send a check or money order made out to “Washington Gardener” or send a payment via www.PayPal.com to DCGardenPhotos@aol.com.

DEADLINE

Entries are due by midnight on January 22, 2021.

QUESTIONS?

Please call 301.588.6894 or email DCGardenPhotos@aol.com. o