March 2021 issue of Washington Gardener Magazine

MARCH 2021 VOL. 16 NO. 1

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the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

What Can You Do to Protect Your Garden from the Brood X Cicadas?

Lawn Equipment Maintenance Top Echinacea for the Mid-Atlantic

How to Ensure You’re Buying Quality Seeds Singing the Praises of Eastern Skunk Cabbage

Attracting American Robins How to Grow Perfect Parsnips Back to Our Roots at the GreenScapes Symposium A Pop-Up Arboretum at Oxon Run Park

2021 Year of the Hyacinth

Summer Creek Horticultural Soil Mixes HiDra2-Seed Starter MultiMix2–Raised Bed Mix Organic - Local – Sustainable – Pro Grade Most sustainable horticultural mixes available.

Available at Mom’s, Direct & select ACE Hardware www.summercreekfarm.com - Thurmont, Maryland

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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.

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

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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.

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FEATURES and COLUMNS

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Robin babies’ gaping beaks await juicy worms and soft-bodied insects.

According to the Cornell Lab, adult robins eat a lot of fruit in the fall and winter. When they eat honeysuckle berries exclusively, they sometimes become intoxicated.

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Got a Garden Question?

Got a gardening question you need answered?

Send your questions to KathyJentz@gmail.com and use the subject line “Q&A.” Then look for your answered questions in upcoming issues.

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While Eastern Skunk Cabbage is fairly deer-resistant, bears will eat the berry-like fruit. They also eat the roots after emerging from hibernation because the roots act as a laxative, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

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According to Virginia Cooperative Extension Agriculture Agent Kirsten Ann Conrad, the newly emerged cicadas are edible (by humans too) before their shells harden up and many recipes can be found online.

Win a Noot product kit.

See contest details on page 5.

BIRDwatch 19 American Robin BOOKreviews 20-22 Bee People, 50 American Public Gardens, Floratopia, Ecological Gardens, The Healing Garden DAYtrip 6 Pop-up Arboretum at Oxon Run EDIBLEharvest 7 Parsnip Growing Tips FILMreviews 12 Environmental Film Festival GOINGnative 18 Eastern Skunk Cabbage GREENliving 16-17 GreenScapes Symposium INSECTindex 14-15 Brood X Cicadas NEWPLANTspotlight 11 SunBelievable™ Sunflowers PLANTprofile 8-9 Enchinacea for the Mid-Atlantic TIPStricks 10 Year of the Hyacinth, Spring Lawn Equipment Maintenance, Determining Quality Seeds

DEPARTMENTS

ADVERTISINGindex BLOGlinks EDITORletter GARDENcontest GARDENDCpodcasts LOCALevents MONTHLYtasklist NEXTissue READERreactions RESOURCESsources

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In our March issue: Petal Porch Photos Yucca Plant Profile Ask the Expert and much more . . .

Be sure you are subscribed!

Click on the “subscribe” link at washingtongardener.com MARCH 2021

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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 Khloe Quill Intern Cover price: $4.99 Back issues: $6.00 Subscription: $20.00

Flocking Together on Our Petal Porches

While COVID-19 is still hanging its ugly head over this year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival (nationalcherryblossomfestival.org), the famous Tidal Basin cherry trees will still be blooming even though the annual celebration of spring will be gone. One of the ways the festival organizers have adapted during the pandemic is to bring the “parade” to the people.

“Petal Porch Parade was created to help bring the spirit of the National Cherry Blossom Festival to the community,” said Festival President and CEO Diana Mayhew. “We’re inviting residents of Washington, DC, as well as adjacent neighborhoods in Maryland and Virginia, to join in.

“Really, anyone anywhere can participate, particularly if they want to be active in the social media component of the program. We will only include addresses within the local DMV as part of the Porch Parade map.”

Early registrants will receive yard signs to display as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Neighborhoods that have the densest numbers of decorated houses, yards, and windows will be chosen for the inaugural Petal Procession and the Festival will process down their street in “blossom cars,” custom-painted by local artists. Participants will also have the opportunity to win Festival prize packs with official merchandise.

The timing of the Petal Porch event is March 20 to April 11, followed by a Petal Porch Procession on April 10–11.

Washington Gardener Magazine is taking part, too! We’ll have a pink flamingo theme around our gazebo. We will share photos of our plantings and decorations in our social media channels.

We encourage everyone to participate and decorate for spring! You don’t need a “porch” to participate. Decorations can be displayed in a window, on a sidewalk, or anywhere visible from the sidewalk. Visit our blog at https://washingtongardener. blogspot.com/2021/03/paint-town-pink-with-your-own-petal.html for decorating ideas and plant choices.

Happy gardening,

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

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• 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/ • 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 16, Number 1 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.

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Reader Contest

For our March 2021 Washington Gardener Magazine Reader Contest, Washington Gardener is giving away one Noot Sampler Kit, which has all three Noot products (Noot Plant Food + Measuring Syringe, Husky Mix, Rescue Mix), for a total of one winner, and four Welcome Kits (two tubes of Noot Plant Food + Measuring Syringe), one per winner for a total of four winners.

Noot is the secret sauce that keeps plants alive and thriving. With Noot, every watering offers no-fuss organic fertilizing that fuels long-lasting, natural growth.

Noot nourishes plants with 18 powerful organic ingredients combined with beneficial bacteria. Offered in three varieties, Noot makes caring for plants easy with monthly delivery. To use, just pour it on the soil and Noot converts ordinary water into a complex nutritional and microbial solution that every plant craves. Available at www.growwithnoot.com.

To enter to win one of the Noot kits, send an email to WashingtonGardenerMag azine@gmail.com by 5:00pm on Wednesday, March 31, with “Noot” 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 April 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.

February 2021 Issue I was so happy to read that article by Khloe Quill entitled “Botanical Backdrop for Generations College Students gets a Redesign.”

After driving my sons back and forth to UMD for the last six years, The “big M” was always a welcoming site to see on campus.

When my son told me that the Purple Line would be going right through it, I was disheartened thinking that such a pretty flowerbed would be eliminated; I did not know that it would continue. I will look for it the next time I go on campus. As the article said, it is nice to see that the Purple Line and the M can coexist. ~ Maureen Iler, Severna Park, MD Loved the article on Comfrey. It’s timely as I had purchased a few plants last year and am excited to try some of the compost ideas that were presented. ~ Christine Little, Stevensville, MD My favorite article was “Alice Tangerini, Botanical Illustrator,” since I’ve always admired botanical illustrations at museums, on posters, and especially the exquisite historical illustrations in exhibits (pre-pandemic) at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

As an amateur artist myself, and as a Master Gardener for 16 years, I appreciate both the beauty and the accuracy of botanical illustration; they’re helpful in accurate plant identification in helping to educate the public. Reading Alice’s take on changing demand for the profession (and being glad for her that she still finds work, despite challenges) made for an informative, entertaining article. ~ Jane Auerbach, Los Angeles, CA Enjoyed this issue of Washington Gardener, especially the February-March Garden To-Do List! You can easily Google to-do lists, but it is trickier to find one for my zone and this one is so helpful! ~ Claudia Hosky, Washington, DC

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.

I enjoyed “Wintersweet Plant Profile.” It is a plant that I had never heard of and I like to learn about new plants. ~ Ed Yemola, Drums, PA My favorite article in the last issue was “6 Houseplants that Thrive in Low Light,” because I have been looking for plants that do well in low light. ~ Katika Floyd, Washington, DC o MARCH 2021

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DAYtrip

Saplings in the City: Pop-up Arboretum Brings Breath of Fresh Air to DC

By Khloe Quill As we pass the anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown that kept us preternaturally inside, it becomes hard to imagine greenery beyond our ill-kept succulents and windowsill herb gardens. This goes double for those of us in large cities; steel and concrete forests were considerably less daunting when it was safe to escape the gray in favor of a woodsy weekend getaway.

These days, I’m pleased when there’s a patch of moss in my gutter.

Luckily, there’s no need to travel to the forest. The forest is coming to us, and you can thank DC’s Urban Forestry Division for the new development.

That’s right: Scattered throughout Oxon Run Park in Southeast Washington, DC, are 15 trees of varying species that make up the city’s first Pop-up Arboretum.

Oxon Run Park is DC’s largest publicly owned park, accessible by the Metro’s Capitol Heights Station or for those on foot, the corner of Mississippi Ave SE and 13th Street SE. It was chosen for its outstanding network of support by 6

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organizations like Friends of Oxon Run, whose About webpage emphasizes on improving the city’s tree canopy and ensuring the park remains a green space for future generations.

Dr. Kasey Yturralde, the Forest Health and Community Outreach Specialist at the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), was a key member in the arboretum’s conception. From the outset, Yturralde and her co-workers hoped to bring some sense of relief to their community by providing an outlet both mentally stimulating and physically calming.

“Spending time in nature can reduce anxiety and depression while improving physical health. But residents don’t need to drive out of the city to find nature. We are hoping to encourage use of the park to enjoy nature locally. If there was any time the people needed healing and restoration, it’s now,” she wrote in an email.

For the uninitiated, an arboretum is a garden devoted to trees and often designed to be a walkable “museum”

for those hoping to broaden their botanical knowledge. From the outset, those working closely on the project aimed to capture that museum-like feeling and bring it into the open. At a safe distance, of course—the park’s spacious acreage is just another reason it was chosen as the arboretum’s launch site.

While most arboreta boast wellestablished growth, visitors to the park’s pop-up are met with young trees and a temporary sign with the tree species, information, a quick activity about how to identify the tree, and a fun fact.

The Smithsonian Gardens aided the arboretum by collaborating so users can take advantage of their web app, Garden Explorer, a database with which to search up the trees on display. Each tree has a sign with a QR code that visitors can scan for more information about the trees.

“This was my attempt at bringing that experience you get at a museum, exploring new things, or things you pass by every day, but maybe don’t normally notice,” Yturralde wrote.

The pop-up wouldn’t be possible without the District of Columbia’s Department of Parks and Recreation (DC DPR), Friends of Oxon Run, and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s support of the Urban Forestry Division.

There was interest as soon as Yturralde’s team pitched the idea to the aforementioned groups, which are always looking for new ways to engage local communities in the park. She hopes that with enough positive feedback, the pop-up project will be able to expand into an arboretum in every ward, perhaps even with a cross-ward scavenger hunt of sorts.

The group will update the signs at Oxon Run Park to focus on tree ID in spring and summer, at which point there should be new characteristics for identification, such as buds, flowers, and leaves. In the meantime, the Popup Arboretum’s winter run finishes at the end of March, so check it out before its spring redux! o Khloe Quill is a journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an intern this semester with Washington Gardener. She is a native of Frederick, MD. Oxon Run Park photo courtesy of Dr. Kasey Yturralde, DDOT.

EDIBLEharvt

Parsnip Growing Tips Parsnip ‘Sugar Hollow Crown'

By Barbara Melera Parsnips (Pastinaca sativa) have been cultivated for their sweet roots since ancient times. The Romans frequently grew the vegetables. In fact, Emperor Tiberius adored parsnips and every year, had them brought from France where the colder climate allowed the roots to develop a sweeter flavor. The British are particularly fond of parsnips.

It was British colonists who introduced them into the New World in 1609.

Parsnips are native to Europe, but they are grown throughout the world, and because they are so hardy, they now grow wild, having escaped from cultivated gardens in many areas. The parsnip requires a long growing season, but the distinctive sweet flavor of the root will only develop after a hard frost.

Although the parsnip is grown in the southern part of the United States, it has become a favorite of cold-climate gardeners. Because it is one of the hardiest vegetables, it can overwinter easily with careful mulching.

Parsnip Success Tips

When planting parsnips, remember that they take a long time to germinate—around three weeks. Make sure you keep the soil well-weeded until they begin to grow. (Well, that is a nonsensical statement! Make sure you keep the soil well-weeded, period.)

Parsnips require 130 days to mature if they are planted in the spring. That is a little over four months. When planted in July, parsnips require 156 days to mature. That is a little over five months, but parsnips become sweeter and

sweeter when they are exposed to cold and frosts, so the best time to plant them is July.

In our area (USDA zones 5-7), parsnips should be planted between July 1 and 10. If you mulch heavily before the ground freezes solid, you can harvest parsnips throughout most of the winter.

Parsnips can also tolerate being frozen solid in the ground. Many parsnip gardeners swear that the very sweetest parsnips are those that have been frozen solid and then dug out in the spring after the ground thaws. Being frozen in the ground does not compromise their texture as it does for other root vegetables.

Parsnips do not like rich, fertile soil.

They prefer average soil that is a loose loam. Turn your garden soil, rake it smooth, and then use your finger to draw a line in the soil approximately 1 inch deep. Sprinkle the seed along the line and cover with soil. Soak the soil and keep it moist until germination occurs, which will happen in approximately 21+ days in the summer. Once the seedlings are 2 inches high, thin to 3–4 inches apart. Fertilize with a highphosphorus-potassium fertilizer every two weeks for six weeks (three total applications).

Parsnips can be grown in containers, eight plants in a 14-inch container.

Plant seeds 1 inch deep, and when the seedlings are 2 inches tall, thin, leaving 4 inches between plants and 1 inch between the plant and the wall of the container. Make sure the soil remains constantly moist until germination

occurs. Fertilize with a high-phosphoruspotassium fertilizer once a week for 10 weeks.

When harvesting parsnips, dig, do not pull, the roots out after several hard frosts. The roots can be harvested throughout the winter if heavily mulched with straw.

L. H. Bailey, one of America’s greatest horticultural scientists and the author of a number of comprehensive horticultural books and encyclopedias, in 1901 wrote this about parsnips: “The average home-gardener thinks much of quick results. The drawback to parsnip growing, in (the average homegardener’s) estimation, is the length of time the crop requires for its development. When seed is sown, in early spring, the harvest seems a long way off. To offset this disadvantage, however, parsnips become available as green material when other things fresh from the garden are very scarce or entirely absent, that is, in open spells in winter, and in the very early days of spring.”

The story of the parsnip and its advantages could not be summed up in a better way. In the middle of the winter, to savor the flavor of summer sweetness is truly a gift to the home gardener. That is why in every garden a small space should always be devoted to the parsnip. 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.

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PLANTprofile

Captivating Coneflowers for People and Pollinators

By Sam Hoadley

After three years of evaluation, the Mt. Cuba Center has revealed “Echinacea for the Mid-Atlantic Region,” its latest research report, evaluating 75 species and cultivars of this immensely popular native perennial.

Mt. Cuba staff studied these selections and ranked the plants based on their floral display, health, and attractiveness for pollinators.

Loved by both urban and rural gardeners, elegant Echinacea are a lowmaintenance wildflower for perennial and pollinator gardens. Their colorful, daisy-like flowers can be found blooming across America.

Key findings from the report include: • This marks the second time Mt. Cuba has trialed the Echinacea genus.

• The first report studied 48 cultivars and species between 2007–2009.

• Echinacea has experienced a boom since the early 2000s and many of the cultivars included in the latest evaluation were introduced after the original trial was released.

• There was an overlap of a dozen cultivars and species, several of which proved to be excellent performers in both trials.

• Echinacea purpurea ‘Pica Bella’ earned the top spot in the latest evaluation and received top marks in Mt. Cuba’s first Echinacea trial. In addition to its established horticultural merit, ‘Pica Bella’ was also a preferred plant by insect pollinators in the trial. This plant is easy to incorporate in a wide variety of garden settings and is seasonally on display in Mt. Cuba’s formal gardens.

• Double-flowered Echinacea varieties represent significant breakthroughs in coneflower breeding that have increased the variety of the genus in the horticultural market. They have become popular in gardens because 8

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of their showy flowers and prolonged bloom times, but the Mt. Cuba research found double-flowered Echinacea to be less favored by pollinators.

• The latest Echinacea report also includes pollinator data. The researchers found that the vast majority of the pollinators that visited the Echinacea in the trial were bees and wasps, with butterflies making up only 5 percent of the total visitations.

• Mt. Cuba’s Pollinator Watch team, a trained group of volunteer citizen scientists, observed and recorded the number of pollinating insects visiting each of the coneflower accessions in the trials in 2018 and 2019. The top 15 pollinator-preferred Echinacea were exclusively single-flowered species and cultivars.

This report breaks out Mt. Cuba’s top 12 horticultural performers and six honorable mentions.

Detailed research reports from both of the Echinacea trials, and descriptions of all 75 plants included in the second

trial are available on the website at mtcubacenter.org/trialgarden. o Sam Hoadley is Mt. Cuba’s manager of horticultural research. Mt. Cuba Center is a botanical garden in Hockessin, DE. Mt. Cuba Center’s gardens are open to visitors.

For details, visit mtcubacenter.org.

All photos on pages 7–8 are courtesy of Mt. Cuba Center.

Top Echinacea Performers • Echinacea purpurea ‘Pica Bella’ • Echinacea ‘Sensation Pink’ • Echinacea ‘Santa Fe’ • Echinacea ‘TNECHKR’ (KISMET® Raspberry) [pictured below] • Echinacea ‘Snow Cone’ • Echinacea ‘POST301’ (Postman) (Postman) • Echinacea ‘Glowing Dream’ • Echinacea ‘Purple Emperor • Echinacea purpurea ‘Fragrant Angel • Echinacea ‘TNECHKIO’ (KISMET® Intense Orange) • Echinacea ‘Balsomcor’ (Sombrero® Hot Coral) •Echinacea ‘Julia’

PLANTprofile Purpurea with pollinator.

Echinacea are clump-forming herbaceous perennials that emerge each spring to form a lush rosette of lanceolate foliage. Some species, including Echinacea purpurea, produce leaves with relatively few foliar hairs, while others, like Echinacea pallida and Echinacea tennesseensis, are densely pubescent. In mid- to late spring, flowering stems push their way above the basal foliage and eventually reach a height of 2'–4', depending on the species or cultivar.

Most coneflowers produce taproots that allow them to grow in competitive habitats where water is at a premium.

In contrast, Echinacea purpurea produces roots that are more fibrous and are consequently better-suited for average garden soil. All coneflowers, however, require soils that are well-drained to persist and thrive in a garden setting.

While the majority of the Echinacea in the trial bloomed for a five-week period from the end of June through July, gardeners can prolong the display of many coneflowers through deadheading. By removing flowers that have finished blooming, the energy that would typical-

ly be channeled to seed production is rerouted into producing more flowers.

This practice might benefit pollinating insects due to an extended flowering time, but the food source for seed-eating birds, particularly goldfinches, would be delayed or eliminated altogether. Mt. Cuba recommends allowing Echinacea to complete their blooming cycle naturally to provide a balance of benefits for birds and insects. Delaying a garden cutback until spring also allows the ornamental qualities of the Echinacea seedheads to be enjoyed in the winter landscape.

A common complaint about Echinacea is their perceived tendency to “revert” to different color forms in garden settings. While it can appear that some plants make spontaneous changes in color and habit after years of consistency, seedlings are most often at the core of this confusion. Coneflowers are not self-fertile, meaning that they can’t produce seed without being fertilized by pollen from a different flower. Seedlings will remain consistent in appearance if the two coneflower parents share similar traits or are of the

same species. If there is a diversity of genetically distinct Echinacea present, as in the Trial Garden, seedlings have the potential to be highly variable.

The ability for Echinacea to hybridize has been used to great advantage by plant breeders but can just as easily occur in a garden with the help of pollinating insects. After pollination, any seeds that are not consumed by goldfinches in late summer germinate the following spring, each a unique and potentially beautiful plant.

While most of these seedlings were removed in the Trial Garden, they occasionally evaded detection. In some cases, these rogue plants appeared very similar to an intentionally planted cultivar, at least until they bloomed.

These garden volunteers can potentially out-compete a struggling parent plant or simply fill gaps where the original coneflower has died, making it appear that a plant has undergone a sudden change. Even with their potential for variability, garden origin seedlings can ensure the persistence of Echinacea beyond the lifespan of the parent plants. o MARCH 2021

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TIPStricks

According to the Home Garden Seed Association, quality seed is determined by germination rate, vigor, “trueness to type,” purity, and above all, freshness.

Germination potential is highest when the seed reaches physiological maturity, but for practical reasons, seed harvesting must wait until the moisture content decreases slightly. Seed that is harvested at the proper moisture content strikes the balance between maximum germination and safe storage.

A germination test measures the number of normal seedlings produced by a sample of seed under optimal conditions. Seeds offered for sale must meet minimum germination standards.

These standards differ, depending on the vegetable type, but most are between 60 and 80%. Some seed companies post the germination percentage of the seed lot on their packets.

Seed vigor means that the seeds can withstand less than optimal conditions and still germinate. Tests for vigor, although not required, go beyond the germination tests and help predict seed performance under varying practical conditions. One such test calculates the germination percentage under simulated cold, wet field conditions.

Trueness to type is determined when producers or certification agencies do field inspections to verify the identity of the seed and check for the presence of weeds or other unwanted plants.

Inspectors also ensure that off-types— plants that differ in some way from the desired cultivar—are not present.

Seed purity means that the seed packet contains only the stated variety, and no weed seeds, other crop seeds, or inert matter.

Information on seed packets often includes the following: • “Packed for” and/or “Sell by” dates • Number of seeds in the packet • Days to germination • Days to maturity • Plant description • Planting information, such as starting time, seed depth, and spacing Reputable seed companies offer good customer service and provide detailed information about the seeds they sell.

They stand behind their products. o 10

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Hyacinth ‘Miss Saigon’. Photo credit: National Garden Burea.

How to Ensure You’re Buying Quality Seeds

How to Grow Hyacinths

2021 is the year of the Hyacinth. Flower lovers began cultivating hyacinths more than 400 years ago. During the 18th century, these were the most popular spring bulbs in the world, and Dutch growers offered more than 2,000 named cultivars. Today, there are fewer than 50 cultivars in commercial production, but the flower’s beauty and sweet perfume are as enchanting as ever.

Commonly called Dutch hyacinths or garden hyacinths, they are hybrids of a single species (Hyacinthus orientalis) that grows wild in Turkey, Syria, and other areas of the eastern Mediterranean.

Hyacinth bulbs are planted in mid- to late fall, at the same time as tulips and daffodils. Choose a planting location with well-drained soil that never gets soggy. Full sun is best, although hyacinths will also grow in light shade.

Plant the bulbs in groups of five or more, spaced about 5" apart on center, and buried 4 to 5" deep. In our hardiness zones, hyacinths grow well in outdoor containers, on their own, or mixed with other spring bulbs. Consider planting extra hyacinths to cut for indoors.

Like tulips, hyacinths always look their best the first spring after planting. For this reason, most gardeners plant fresh bulbs every year or two. While the bulbs will usually rebloom for several years, they will gradually revert to the original species, with single florets that are widely spaced along the stem.

To help the bulbs save energy for future flowers, cut off the flower stalks after the blossoms fade and allow the foliage to grow until it dies back in early summer. Learn more at https://ngb. org/year-of-the-hyacinth/. o

Spring Lawn Equipment Maintenance Tips

Kris Kiser, president and CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, offered the following tips to get lawn equipment ready for spring.

• Refresh your knowledge. Read your equipment owner’s manuals and follow all manufacturer guidelines.

• Look over equipment. Lots can happen in a garage or storage shed over the winter. Check the air filter, oil level, and gasoline tank. Watch for loose belts and missing or damaged parts.

Replace any parts needed or take your equipment to a qualified service representative.

• Protect your power. Use only E10 or lower fuel in gasoline-powered outdoor power equipment. Most manufacturers recommend a fuel stabilizer be used, especially if you don’t use up all the fuel in the tank right away. Any fuel containing more than 10 percent ethanol can damage small engine equipment not designed for it.

• Store fuel safely. Label fuel cans with the date of purchase and ethanol content of the fuel. If you don’t know the date of purchase, dispose of the fuel safely and buy fresh gasoline. Store fuel out of the reach of children or pets and in approved containers.

• Don’t mix up your battery packs.

For battery-powered equipment, use only the charger specified by the manufacturer. A charger that is suitable for one type of battery pack may create a risk of fire when used with another.

Follow all charging instructions and do not charge the battery pack or tool outside the temperature range specified in the instructions.

• Stash batteries safely. When the battery pack is not in use, keep it away from other metal objects, such as paper clips, coins, keys, nails, screws, or other small metal objects, that can make a connection from one terminal to another. Shorting the battery terminals together may cause burns or a fire.

• Tidy up. Clean equipment will run more efficiently and last longer. Clean equipment and store it in a dry place.

Remove dirt, oil, or grass. Never store equipment in a damp or wet place.

For further information, go to www.

LookBeforeYouPump.com o

GARDENnews

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts • Rose Pruning Tips • Yucca Plant Profile • DIY: Flamingo Planter • RootingDC Wrap-Up See more Washington Gardener blog posts at: WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com o

March–April Garden To-Do List

New Plant Spotlight

Photos courtesy of Monrovia.

SunBelievable™ Brown Eyed Girl Sunflower (Helianthus) This plant does double duty, brightening any garden or container outdoors, and serving as a cut flower indoors. Unlike typical seed-grown sunflowers that produce just a few blooms, SunBelievable doesn’t produce seed. This sunflower puts all of its energy into blooming, providing plenty of flowers for enjoyment in the garden or in a bouquet.

The heat of summer is no sweat for SunBelievable. This annual is very heattolerant, making it the perfect addition to full sun containers, sunny borders and other hot areas of the landscape.

“It’s great for filling in any space in the garden, as just one plant will grow to about 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall,” says Georgia Clay, new plants manager at Monrovia. “It allows you to plant less and still get more color.”

SunBelievable provides constant enjoyment and consistent color even when other annuals fade. Because there are so many blooms on the plant, there are no worries about cutting a few for flower arrangements.

Move over, mums! Sunny yellow blooms surround beautiful deep-brown centers, offering the perfect color palette for fall. In fact, the cooler nights enhance the hues of the foliage and bloom centers, bringing warm fall tones to the garden. For more information, see http://Monrovia.com. o

• Avoid walking on and compacting wet soil in the garden.

• Prune grapevines.

• Put up trellises and teepees for peas, climbing beans, etc.

• Plant peas, potatoes, beets, turnips, radishes, cabbage, mustard greens, onion sets, carrots, and kale.

• Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.

• Get a soil test.

• Do soil preparation—add lime, compost, etc., as needed.

• Mulch beds with a light hand.

• Start or update your garden journals.

• Clean out any old debris from last season from your growing beds.

• Turn your compost pile.

• Repot root-bound houseplants and start fertilizing them.

• Clean leaves and debris from your water garden.

• Do not be alarmed if your pond turns green from algae bloom—this is natural until your water plants fill the surface area. Add a barley ball to combat it for now.

• Cut back ornamental grasses.

• Water during dry spells.

• Cut your daffodils for indoor bouquets, but do not combine daffodils with other flowers in one vase. They give off a toxic substance that may kill off your other blooms prematurely.

• Weed by hand to avoid disturbing newly forming roots.

• Walk your garden to look for early signs of fungal disease.

• Divide perennials and herbs.

• Fertilize new growth.

• Plant and prune roses.

• Transplant small trees and shrubs.

• Buy or check on your stored summer bulbs (such as dahlias and caladiums). Pot them and start to water if you want to give them an early start on the season.

• If you started seeds last month, thin them and start the hardening-off process.

• Start some more seeds—try flowering annuals like impatiens and petunias.

• Prune fruit trees as their buds are swelling. Check for dead and diseased wood to prune out. Cut a few branches for indoor forcing, if desired.

• Build a raised bed for vegetables. Add lots of manure and compost.

• Buy an indoor plant to liven up your office space. Try an orchid or African violet.

• Cut back and clear out the last of your perennial beds.

• Feed birds and provide nesting materials (try dryer lint), as well as houses, for the start of their family season.

• Plant a tree for Arbor Day. Arbor Day falls on different dates in different states.

In our area, it is the first Wednesday in April for Maryland, second Friday in April for Virginia, and last Friday in April for DC. In addition, many local groups and towns have their own celebrations.

• Read a good gardening book or magazine.

• Cut some branches (Forsythia, Quince, Bittersweet, Redbud, etc.) for forcing into bloom and enjoying indoors. o MARCH 2021

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FILMreviews

By Khloe Quill Planned for early March of 2020, The Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF) was the first major event in Washington, DC, to be cancelled last year. Before the world had begun to adjust to masks, social distancing and constant Zoom calls, as Tom Hanks was getting sick in Australia, and the NBA was pulling the plug on its season, the longest-running environmental festival in the America was faced with the tough decision to cancel their entire festival, just one week before it was set to begin. After exactly one year of life in lockdown, with vaccines finally making the rounds and a new administration that prioritizes climate change, DCEFF is excited to return with an all-virtual festival, including nearly 100 films, special guests, and panels, from March 18–28.

Apart from the virtual setting, this year’s festival will be unique in that many of the films were made over the last few years, when progress on the climate emergency felt at its bleakest.

Now, with a glimmer of hope, DCEFF will complement its film presentations with several panels and post-screening discussions, updating where issues in those films now stand, given a new administration working to put climate at the forefront of their policy approach.

“It will be really exciting for audiences to not only watch this year’s slate of films, but to have several of them accompanied with updates on where things stand now that better climate policy is being put into place,” says Christopher Head, executive director of DCEFF. “A major benefit of being all12

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virtual is that, for the most part, literally anyone in the world with an internet connection can participate, learn where we stand at this pivotal moment, and what more can be done to advance the cause of our planet,” says Head.

Most of the films will be available for viewing throughout the entire 11 days of the festival. Due to viewing restrictions, tickets to some of the more-popular screenings will have a cap and likely sell out fast. Individual films vary in cost, from free to $10. Tickets are still available. More information, a full list of films, descriptions, and other details can be found via DCEFF’s website at: https://dceff.org.

Here are reviews of two of the gardenrelated titles in the festival.

Follow the Drinking Gourd Follow the Drinking Gourd is a moving look into an underrepresented and nearly forgotten group in the American agricultural system. Its critiques on the way racism eliminated Black farmers in the 20th century and on capitalism are hefty topics for an independent documentary, but the filmmakers and those featured in the hour-long production handle said content with the expert touch of those learned in the art of cultivation.

The film tackles racism as it pertains to farming and offers historical context to back up the ways Black farmers in the U.S. were eliminated, from having their land ripped away from them to being the victims of discriminatory practices when applying for agricultural government aid that their white counterparts procured with ease. All of this leads to a lack of knowledge in at least one group of youths, shown helping out on a farm throughout the documentary. One boy is shocked to learn both eggs and KFC come from chicken. One strength of the film is the way it lets its subjects tell their stories. When dealing with experiences like racism, generational trauma, and the healing from these things, we should be listening to the stories of those who have experienced them.

There’s also a large message about sustainability: how planting crops is more cost-effective and how we as a community can heal the Earth just

by taking the time to listen and let it heal. It denounces the capitalistic consumption of crops and provides proof sustainability is possible in the same breath: Cut to a co-op and a farmer’s market, all provided for and run by the community.

Follow the Drinking Gourd manages to balance the vast amount of information with a unique narrative voice centered around healing. This is an important piece of media that people should watch, especially those of us in the gardening community.

Plant Heist Plant Heist is a thrilling noir-esque short film about a succulent-smuggling ring in California. It all starts one day with a long line at a post office when dirt falls out of the packages. Cue a stakeout, a manhunt, and a whole lot of articles about a ring of succulent-stealing, succulent-smuggling thieves. I won’t spoil it all for you, but the interviews from law enforcement paired with a dramatic orchestral track is so much fun that you should definitely spend the 17 minutes it takes to watch this, if only to see one officer break out his legit camo-gear to stalk the offenders.

Really, though, the film deals with the ways native species are treated in the modern world and the ways in which an underground “plant black market” can threaten local ecosystems and local economies.

It’s informative, it’s dramatic, it’s got sweeping cuts of the California coast, and it’s only 17 minutes. Go watch it.

Taming the Garden Taming the Garden is another title that we think gardeners will be interested in, but a screener copy was not available by this issue’s deadline. We plan to post a review shortly on our blog at https:// washingtongardener.blogspot.com/.

The film is about “a powerful man, who is also the former prime minister of Georgia. He collects century-old trees and commissions his men to uproot them and bring them to his private garden.” o Khloe Quill is a journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an intern this semester with Washington Gardener. She is a native of Frederick, MD.

TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events Listing Classes and Webinars • Every Wednesday 6:30–8:30pm, March 3–May 5 DPR Urban Grower Webinar Course This online course is focused on teaching people all the basics of urban growing, from building and maintaining a home garden to cooking and preserving your harvest. Register at https://web1. myvscloud.com/wbwsc/dcwashingtonwt.wsc/search.html?module=AR&type= Urban%20Gardening. If full, sign up for the waiting list to receive class recordings for free.

• Saturday March 20, 9:30am–3pm 34th Annual Lahr Symposium The program will be virtual this year and includes presentations on the ecology and impact of invasive species, explaining how the entomological world affects and reflects sustainability efforts in the urban landscape, and the many ways native plants and ecosystem-based design bring beauty and ecological benefits to the home garden and wider world. Hosted by the U.S. National Arboretum virtually. Registration required, $75 ($60 for FONA members). See www.usna.usda.gov.

• Sunday, March 21, 2–3:30pm Spring Garden Preparation This talk is hosted by the Potomac Rose Society (PRS). Larry Ichter and Olivia Devereux will discuss spring prep, with a thorough review of all the steps necessary to get your roses and gardens ready for spring. Ichter is a committed rosarian and long-time PRS member and supporter. Devereux has a M.S. in soil science. Free and open to the public. See more at PotomacRose.org.

• Tuesday, March 23, 12n–1pm Adaptive Gardening The benefits of gardening to our health make quite an extensive list.

At any time during our lives, injury or just aches and pains can curtail our activities in the landscape. Adaptive gardening seeks to keep you comfortable in the garden by making small modifications. Gardeners of all ages and abilities will benefit from the tricks and tools that instructor Pat Reilly,

Merrifield plant specialist, will share, including tips to avoid injury, raised and vertical garden beds, and helpful gardening accessories. Register at www. merrifieldgardencenter.com.

• Thursday, March 25, 12n–1pm Caring for Orchids at Home Explore the fundamentals of growing orchids with Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection’s Lead Horticulturist, Justin Kondrat. Justin will walk us through each element needed to successfully grow orchids at home, including how to encourage reblooming. He will discuss common challenges and best practices for watering, choice of nutrients, repotting methods, light requirements, air circulation, and the optimal supplies required for home orchid cultivation. Free. Register at gardens.si.edu.

• Tuesday, March 30, 12m–1pm Herbs: It’s About Thyme This is the sixth of seven workshops in the “UMD Backyard Farming Gardening Sessions.” This session includes tips, tricks, and advice for vegetable gardeners to get the season started. A second presentation of this workshop will be held at 7pm. Register at https:// go.umd.edu/getgrow.

• Saturday, April 3, 10–11:30am Small Trees (and Large Shrubs) for Urban and Small Gardens Join Kathy Jentz as she explores the diverse range of small trees and large shrubs that perform well and look great in small urban and suburban lots. Tailored to the DC region and what grows best here, the choices will cover natives, edibles, and ornamentals—from full sun to full shade conditions. These small trees and large shrubs were chosen for their beauty, hardiness in the Mid-Atlantic region, and eventual size. This class will provide you with a great selection of plants that can be used as interesting focal points in your garden. Whether you have a postagestamp-sized rowhouse lot or a yard with room to include several of these, these specimens will make a great addition to your garden. For every place, there is a tree that is a perfect fit. Even if you only

have a few pots to plant in, a tree can add value to your garden. FOBG: $10/ $12 nonmember. Register at https:// apm.activecommunities.com/montgomerycounty/Activity_Search/small-treesand-large-shrubs-for-urban-and-smallgardens/102050.

• Wednesday, April 7, 7–8pm No Fail Container Gardening From what type of soils to use to what plants do best in our region, Kathy Jentz will cover the basics of growing successful container plantings. She will cover both ornamental and edible containers, as well as the different styles and fashions in container gardening. This event is on Zoom. Please register in advance at homesteadgardens.com.

Seed Exchange 2021 Our in-person Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Exchanges will take place on Saturday, April 3, at Brookside Gardens. (The event at Green Spring Gardens is canceled.)

Because we are following all COVID protocols and maintaining social distancing, the event will be very different in format from previous years and require advance registration.

We have invited last year’s attendees to register first for time slots.

Next, we are opening time slots to current Washington Gardener Magazine subscribers. The registration link is https://www.signupgenius.com/ go/30E094BADA822A64-washington.

Finally, we will open up any remaining slots to the general public after March 24.

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

Join by emailing WashingtonGardenersubscribe@googlegroups.com.

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 April 5 for the April 2021 issue, for events taking place after April 15. o MARCH 2021

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INSECTindex

The Song of 2021: Featuring Brood X

The hottest hit this season will debut in late spring in our region. No, it’s not the latest rock band, but closer to a flash mob event as millions of 17-year cicadas make their emergence.

Where: Maybe in your backyard? Do you remember 2004? Did it sound like a chain saw crew was working in the woods?

When: Starting in approximately mid-May and lasting until perhaps July, depending on the temperature.

Washington Gardener Magazine interviewed Mike Raupp, professor of entomology and an extension specialist at the University of Maryland, also known as “The Bug Guy,” to get the best information about this year’s natural phenomenon: the emergence of the 17-year cicada, affectionately known as Brood X. Q: Mike, I was surprised to learn that there are actually three different species of cicada that make up Brood X; Magicicada septendecim, M.cassini, and M. septendecula. Will they have staggered breeding times that would mean the noise would last for a longer period of time?

A: Their emergence is driven by soil temperature and other factors. When soils reach 64°F, they will start to emerge. The three species found in our area prefer different eco-habitats, with WASHINGTON GARDENER

A: Soil disturbance, such as that seen in agriculture or a housing development, will remove the nymphs. Those new homeowners will probably not see the cicadas unless there is a bit of remnant woodland nearby.

The effects of the Derecho? The nymphs do move around while underground and probably moved to another food source when their trees died. That would make an interesting study.

Q: Can we expect to see an uptick in the squirrel population next year?

By Carol Allen

14

owners in new developments expect to experience this phenomenon? Also, it has been eight years since the Derecho wind storm took down so many area trees. Will that cause a decrease of cicadas emerging in those neighborhoods?

MARCH 2021

M. septendecim found in upland conditions, M. cassini preferring bottom land habitats, and M. septendecula being the rarest of the three; it is not found very often.

It seems the cicadas prefer to emerge at dusk and climb up a vertical surface (trees, vegetation, or manmade structures) to shed their hard, nymphal skins. They expand their wings and when their exoskeleton is dry, they climb and fly to the tops of nearby trees. They are most vulnerable during the four to five days it takes to dry and mature their bodies. This mass emergence, called predator satiation, is thought to be a way to ensure their survival. Although they are eaten by many birds, small mammals, reptiles, and your otherwise-dainty little dog, sufficient numbers survive by overwhelming the predators. The males then aggregate and begin their seductive songs.

The females will be attracted to the sounds the males make by vibrating their tymbals, which are membranes in their abdomens. These sounds can reach nearly 100 decibels, about the level produced by a chain saw or a string trimmer. The insects then mate, and the females disperse to lay their eggs.

Q: So much of our area has been developed in the last 17 years. Can home-

A: Studies have shown an increase in bird populations after an emergence.

We can expect the local animal populations will all benefit from this abundance.

Q: I understand there was an early emergence in 2020 of the Brood X in some areas. Will that affect this year’s emergence? Will there be fewer cicadas for those folks?

A: The 2020 emergence will not put a dent in this year’s Brood X emergence.

Cicadas can do a four-year time jump and emerge in a different year. This is called an acceleration, and some years see “stragglers” that emerge off by one or two years from their brood.

Stragglers will not have the survival advantage of predator satiation. For example, the 2017 “acceleration” of Brood X was exceptional, and this phenomenon could be the initiation of a new brood if enough insects survived to reproduce.

Q: I still remember in 2004, there were a lot of dead cicadas littering the ground. Can they be composted?

Is that a carbon source or a nitrogen source?

A: Yes, they can be composted! The exoskeletons will be high in carbon and the dead insects will be high in nitrogen. o

INSECTindex

What Can You Do to Protect Your Garden?

After mating, the female cicadas fly to a branch of a tree or shrub. They are attracted to long, thin (about the diameter of a pencil) branches. Once there, they slit the outer layer of the branch with their ovipositor and deposit 20–30 eggs. Females can lay 600 eggs in their short life spans. The nymphs drop to the ground after 6 to 10 weeks of development. They immediately burrow into the ground, where they will feed on plant roots for the next 17 years. The nymphs have sucking mouthparts, but they do very little damage to their host plants.

The damage to a large tree due to the oviposition is minimal, even though a lot of branches are affected. For the home gardener or nursery owner, the damage to young trees can be significant. The egg nests or point of oviposition will cause a weak spot in the branch and the small branch will break at that point. This is called flagging. This summer, area residents will see trees covered with the brown tips of branches hanging down.

The cicadas prefer trees that are on the edge of a woodlot. This edge habitat provides just the right amount of sun and shade. This sun/shade interface can describe the typical homeowner yard as well. Mike Raupp, a professor of entomology and an extension special ist at the University of Maryland, suggests some strategies to help homeowners cope: 1. Delay planting this year until fall if possible.

2. Use netting to cover young or small trees. The mesh openings must be no larger than ¼" by ¼". Bird netting will not work! There are many suppliers of this smaller mesh netting on the internet. Start covering the trees sometime in mid-May or when the sounds of the cicadas are first heard. Remember to remove it when the cicadas have finished mating and laying. The netting can be draped over the top of the tree and secured at the lower trunk with nylon wire ties to keep it from blowing off. If the net gapes at the sides, close it up with more ties. You want to create a barrier with no openings.

3. If a tree exhibits flagging, prune cleanly at the next side shoot or leaf cluster. A clean cut will be easier for the tree to close.

4. Do not be tempted to use any kind of pesticide. They simply won’t work, and the environmental damage by killing birds, butterflies, and other beneficial insects would be devastating. Trials have been done using kaolin products that coat the leaves and twigs of a tree, but they have been found to be ineffective.

The Hogmire study done in 1990 shows the near-zero number of egg scars where 1.0 cm (1/4") netting was used in comparison to untreated trees, using larger netting, and pesticides. The conclusion of this study is that the small-mesh is considerably more effective than any pesticide.

The Ahern study done in 2006 looked at the number of egg nests when smallmesh netting was used as compared to imidacloprid applications. Again, the smallmesh netting was much more effective than the imidacloprid. o

The Department of Entomology and its “Cicada Crew” (Drs. Shrewsbury and Raupp, and a group of graduate students) have created a Cicada Crew UMD website (https://cicadacrewumd.weebly.com/) that answers questions about periodical cicadas and will help everyone learn more about these amazing insects. Brood X, the largest of the broods, will emerge this May. Explore the website and join in the excitement about the upcoming Brood X cicada emergence. The site has frequently asked questions and additional resources sections.

There is also cicada merchandise store at https://teespring.com/stores/umdento-students-store. All profits go to the Entomology Graduate Student Organization (ESO).

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 ISA-Certified Arborist. She can be contacted at carolallen@erols.com.

All cicada photos in this issue are by Michael J. Raupp, Ph.D., Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. MARCH 2021

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GREENliving

By Anne Hilliard and Khloe Quill On February 19, 2021, more than 875 individuals attended the virtual GreenScapes Symposium, hosted

by Brookside Gardens. (Washington Gardener Magazine is an in-kind sponsor of GreenScapes.) Attendees from 24 states and Ontario, Canada gathered to hear discussion about restoring natural ecosystems and how they can become advocates for restoring our ecosystems.

The annual GreenScapes Symposium (formerly Green Matters) aims to build awareness of the positive role plants and horticulture play in improving environmental quality. This year’s virtual symposium offered a plethora of delightful speakers presenting a range of informative and environment-related topics.

Doug Tallamy started the day by speaking on “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.” Tallamy’s presentation discusses the importance of landscaping for caterpillars and insects. Life as we know it depends on insects, he said.

Caterpillars are the top food source for nestlings because they are soft, large, nutritious, have a low percentage of chitin, and are the top source of carotenoids, which birds require. Birds need thousands of caterpillars to successfully raise nestlings. It is therefore not enough to landscape for pollina16

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tors; it is important that landscapes support the caterpillars that become food for vertebrate animals.

The plants we choose are important because only 14 percent of native plants produce 90 percent of the caterpillars. These are considered keystone plants. To find out what are the keystone plants for our region, visit the “Native Plant Finder” at www.nwf.org.

(Hint: They are Oak trees!)

Human activity also contributes to insect decline. Light pollution is a major problem and steps can be taken to stop this, including turning off outdoor lights, switching to yellow light bulbs (especially LED bulbs), or using motion sensors on outdoor lights.

Also contributing to insect decline is spraying for mosquitos. Even though these sprays are advertised as a “natural product,” they do not just kill mosquitos, but affect all flying insects.

Tallamy instead suggests filling a bucket with water, adding some hay or straw, allowing it to ferment, and adding a Mosquito Dunk (https://amzn. to/38Rkwx4) to kill the larvae.

He told us to also leave dropped leaves on the ground under trees. He advocated avoiding hard-packed soil or cement. He proposed using native plants or ground covers around tree root zones.

Tallamy finished by pointing out the missteps that humans have taken.

We haven’t pushed nature as essential; instead we have looked at it as entertainment, he said. We all bear

responsibility for the Earth’s ecosystems since we all depend on a healthy ecosystem. To become part of the solution, join the grassroots call to action at HomegrownNationalPark.org and consider getting on the map.

The second speaker for the day was Kim Eierman. Her talk was about “The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening.” This is also the title of her new book. Eierman discussed how we can use our landscapes to help pollinators that are in decline. She also talked about how small changes can make dramatic improvements. Topics covered

by Eierman included types of pollinators, succession blooming, plant diversity, natural habitats, and providing food for pollinators. More information is on her website, ecobeneficial.com and on the GardenDC Podcast interview with her (https://anchor.fm/gardendc).

Eierman was followed by Claudio Vazquez, co-owner of Izel Plants.

Vazquez’s topic was “Selecting and Sourcing Native Plants for Diverse Landscape Needs.” His subsequent involvement in gardening came about when he became interested in native plants and found himself in a predicament.

“We were disappointed by the amount of information that we were able to find online. This goes back to about 2008 and it’s important to remember that back then if you Googled a plant—not just a native plant, but any plant—Wikipedia didn’t even have results,” he said.

GREENliving Vasquez described his journey to build a database of native plants for others seeking environment appropriate species. The database included attribute filters such as flower color, bloom time, and even searching plants by your location.

By 2014, Vasquez had begun selling plants sourced from multiple nurseries, a network that today includes 12 nurseries across the Midwest. He sells them through his website, Izel Plants (IzelPlants.com).

The presentation went over invasive species as threats to the native ecosystem, highlighting the importance of growing native plants.

“It’s not just a plant that’s aggressive… I’ll often hear people say, ‘Well this plant is non-invasive. I have it growing in my yard and it hasn’t spread.’

Unfortunately, the world doesn’t end in someone’s backyard,” said Vasquez. “It is displacing native plants that existed before this plant got introduced and it is the source of environmental harm.”

Native plant nurseries are also a product of local plant communities and are limited by the techniques they use to propagate their seeds, propagation being a time-consuming act in and of itself. This results in nurseries trading seeds and propagation material with each other to better cover their bases, so to speak. In fact, some nurseries double as propagation projects, making them a great place to find native seeds.

Vasquez then cleared up misconceptions about cultivars. Quick summary: Cultivars are, well, cultivated plants: they’re grown for specific purposes.

Misconceptions surrounding cultivars include the impression that they are always part of breeding programs and that they’re all clones. The controversy lies in the fact that cultivars are not genetically diverse and are often sterile.

So what’s good about them? Sterile cultivars are benign—they can’t crosspollinate with native plants and so they pose no threat to native wild plant populations.

The session was most informative and enlightening about the struggles of non-native plants and their impact on local ecosystems. Vasquez provided definitive answers about why native plants are important and offered acces-

sible resources and advice about how to choose environmentally conscious seeds moving forward.

To help us determine native plants for our sites, Vazquez said local native plant societies are a good source to help us choose appropriate plant for our region.

The final speaker of the day was Emily McCoy. Her topic was “Evidence-based Design in Landscape Architecture and Planning for a Sustainable Future.” McCoy’s presentation discussed ways that landscape designers and planners can strive to improve our environments, while making them beautiful and multifunctional.

Issues that have to be addressed include climate change, which creates inequities in the distribution of resources across the globe. These are exacerbated by expansion of housing into low-lying communities.

Another issue is rising urban heat that causes increases in ozone, which in turn affects human health, especially in more-vulnerable communities.

Urban heat also affects biodiversity and habitat throughout much of the United States. As hardiness zones are rapidly changing, the plants, insects, and animals can’t keep up.

Also, pests are on the increase due to urban heat. Pests’ natural predators are not overlapping with the pests’ lifecycles as natural weather cycles are thrown off.

McCoy explained that these issues can be addressed by Landscape Performance—a measure of the effectiveness with which landscape solutions fulfill their intended purpose and contribute to sustainability. Landscape Performance has adapted in a number of forms. First, it moves beyond designing and towards aesthetics, for designers and planners to encourage making our landscapes multifunctional, which includes positive uses of the environment.

Landscape Performance plans for the future and is not dependent on past designs. Proper planning and designs can also help to bring equity in the distribution of resources to communities and populations that are most-affected by pollution and water issues.

Lastly, designers and planners need

to return to their designed sites and go through a “reflective learning” process to determine what they can improve in the future.

The GreenScapes presentations taught participants about the interconnectivity between the environment, plants, animals, and insects.

We learned how we can and need to restore the web of life by planting native plants and restoring natural habitats, and the actions we can take today. o Anne Hilliard is the recording secretary of the Silver Spring Garden Club.

Khloe Quill is a journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an intern this semester with Washington Gardener. She is a native of Frederick, MD.

GardenDC Podcast

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 and national horticulture.

The latest episode includes a talk with Ruth Rogers Clausen and Gregg Tepper, authors of “Deer-Resistant Native Plants for the Northeast.”

You can become a listener-supporter for as little as $0.99 per month!

See: https://anchor.fm/kathy-jentz/ support.

You can listen online at https:// anchor.fm/gardendc or at our blog: https://washingtongardener. blogspot.com/. We are available on Spotify, Apple, RadioPublic, Breaker, PocketCasts, Overcast, and Google Podcasts. o MARCH 2021

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GOINGnative

Skunks Anyone?

By Barry Glick

What a perfect time of year to be singing the praises of Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). And why is this the perfect time, you ask?

Because late winter, early spring is the time of year when this unusual plant performs its magic trick.

Before I tell you about the magic, let’s dispel with the obvious negative.

First of all, this plant does not smell at all like a skunk; although the specific epithet foetidus suggests it, this plant does not stink. Of course, if you should happen to bruise the foliage, it does present a strange “fragrance” that some folks may not embrace.

The magic comes in as the flower, which is called a spathe and is very similar in design to its cousin, Jack-inthe-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), musters up its springtime sexuality and generates enough heat to melt the snow around it as it emerges.

Symplocarpus foetidus is typically found in very wet soil such as wet seeps, bogs, and marshes, and that is the best place to locate it in your garden. However, I also have grown it for decades in average garden soil with no supplemental watering. It does go dormant around early summer in that situ18

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ation, but in a wetter location, persists well into autumn.

Here in the “Mountain State,” we call them “West Virginia Hostas” and they do somewhat resemble a Hosta with their huge leaves and robust growth.

I’ve had them grow up to almost 36" tall and attain spreads of up to 48" during years of heavy rainfall, a very imposing stature in the garden.

Once established, they are very difficult to transplant because the root system can be larger than the plant above ground. They rarely produce offsets, so seed is the best way to propagate them, but you must sow the seeds immediately when ripe, as they are very ephemeral.

This giant is bothered by no pests nor varmints because the foliage contains heavy amounts of oxalic acid, as do all members of the Araceae family. In fact, that’s the substance that numbs your tongue when you put a piece of Dieffenbachia in your mouth.

(Why do you think that they call that familiar houseplant “Dumb Cane”?)

Philodendron is also a member of the Araceae family, as are many tropical root vegetables. Plants in this family are known as Aroids.

Symplocarpus foetidus has a cousin on the Left Coast—Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), similar in its love of wet feet, but it can’t perform the same magic trick of its eastern cousin. There is also an Asian cousin, Lysichiton camtschatcensis.

If you have a hospitable area for Skunk Cabbage, try it. It’s a very worthwhile plant to grow and garners many a double-take and conversation from garden visitors. If your garden doesn’t have any wet-to-moist areas, build yourself a bog and enjoy many of the very cool wetland plants that are available to the home gardener. If you have average soil, don’t be discouraged. You can give this remarkable plant supplemental water with extra mulch or just enjoy it for a shorter growing period. 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..

BIRDwatch

The American Robin

By Cecily Nabors

Jaunty, handsome, and full of beans (okay, worms and berries), the American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a favorite garden companion. English colonists named our bird for the European Robin, a much-smaller bird with a redder breast. The adult male American Robin has a dark back, black head, and brickred chest. Females are paler.

Often thought of as harbingers of spring, this most-common member of the thrush family actually lives with us all year. Migrants may move south to avoid cold weather, in a sort of sideways shuffle, but here in the MidAtlantic, our yards often play host to big flocks of robins all winter.

As spring approaches, the flocks of robins disperse. Some move north; others stay here or nearby; all begin courtship activity with song and display.

Males caroling from the treetops are among the earliest singers that wake us up in spring’s dawn chorus. Our “rockin’ robins” have rich, wonderful voices.

Their lively songs can be rendered as “Cheerily, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up.”

Song is often accompanied by calls that sound like a soft, rounded “pup pup pup.”

Displaying males strut, flare their tail feathers, and puff their stripy white throats, hoping to dazzle the ladies.

They also display against other males,

and vigorously defend their territories against rivals, as anyone knows who’s had a robin launch frenzied attacks at his reflection in a window.

Robins can raise up to three broods in one breeding season, each time laying three to five eggs that take roughly 14 days to hatch. Females usually pick nesting sites tucked away in thickets or on inner tree branches, but will occasionally use building ledges. When a pair of robins built a nest in a cedar outside my study window, I watched as they brought twigs and leaves to start it, then moss and mud, followed by fine, soft grass. The female would push herself down into the cup to shape it to her body.

She did all the brooding of her four “robin’s-egg blue” eggs. Although the nest was hidden from above and well-camouflaged, looking much like a natural part of the shaggy cedar bark, something found it. Sad to say, her eggs vanished one day. Perhaps grackles, blue jays, or crows found the nest, or perhaps a snake took the eggs.

Later, it made me happy to find another nest, with demanding baby robins holding up pointed yellow beaks.

Both parents hunt to feed the youngsters (and themselves). Robins belong to the “stop, look, and listen” school of hunting: Run and pause, stand upright, cock head, lunge, and triumphantly pull forth a worm. Recent studies show that when vision is limited, robins search for earthworms by sound as well as sight.

In spring and summer, robins also feast on beetles and caterpillars, spiders, and flies. Fruits and berries form the major part of their winter diet.

To lure robins to your yard, plant shrubs and small trees for nest sites, have some open area, for foraging for worms and insects, and choose native species whenever possible. Fruits of red cedar, greenbrier, dogwood, and pokeweed are popular with robins. Shrubs that produce berries, like viburnum, winterberry, and American holly, provide great winter foraging.

To complete a robin’s happiness, just add water! Like all thrushes, robins are enthusiastic bathers. A water feature or a birdbath hangs out a “Robins Welcome” sign.

If we want robins to remain our favorite lawn ornaments, we must remember that pesticide use years ago resulted in near-disaster, as Rachel Carson documented in Silent Spring. She pointed to the decline of the iconic and beloved American robin, along with many other avian species. Avoid the use of pesticides on lawns and flowers; sprays used against mosquitoes in our yards kill many other insect species—not just pests, but also pollinators. Let the unwanted bugs become robin-food.

The American Robin rebounded well and is among the top 10 mostwidespread birds in Maryland and DC, according to Breeding Bird Atlas data. Populations have been growing over the past 40 years, but are currently trending down in our area. May our springs never again go silent. o Cecily Nabors is a retired software manager who has been watching and counting birds for much of her life. She publishes the Good-Natured Observations blog at cecilynabors.com.

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BOOKreviews and the ill-prepared. These kindred spirits each work with a collective intention to cultivate hives throughout a time of disconnection with wildlife.

The Bee Man’s passion seeps through the pages of his book, accompanied by humor and captivating anecdotes of his own journey to mastery.

Most importantly, Mortimer delivers a testament to protecting the existence of the invaluable creatures on Earth.

The book encourages all to expand their interest in the busy creatures, as well as to remember, “At its core, beekeeping is about caring for other bee-ings.” o

Bee People and the Bugs They Love Author: Frank Mortimer Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp List Price: $25.00 Link: https://amzn.to/2KayYDD Reviewer: Charlotte Parker Dulany With help from his friends, Master Beekeeper Frank Mortimer guides readers into the fascinating secret world of bees in his novel, Bee People and the Bugs They Love. Badger, Rusty, Scooby, and the Berserker are all curious characters and fellow beekeepers who are determined to protect the small creatures that have been dwindling in numbers in recent years.

The informative book follows the story of how Mortimer first became interested in bees as a hobbyist before moving to expert level. Today, Mortimer is a seasoned beekeeper who practices how to best manage healthy survival for bees in his own backyard hives—cultivating the bees, attending to and growing their colonies, and aiding them in honey production.

The book is an adventure for discovering the friendships, curiosity, missteps and serendipity that all come with beekeeping. Mortimer always felt a connection to bees, with a persistent fascination that accompanied his maturity, but beekeeping attracts a diverse array of personalities, who all approach the pastime differently, such as the Surgeons, the Cowboys, the Poseurs, ex-corporate cogs, Youtube-informed, 20

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Charlotte Parker Dulany graduating from the University of Maryland last May with a multiplatform journalism degree. She was an intern in the spring 2020 semester with Washington Gardener.

50 American Public Gardens You Really Ought to See Author: George Weigel Publisher: Garden House Calls List price: $7.95 Order link: https://georgeweigel.net/ Reviewer: Khloe Quill This book is a comprehensive list of 50 public gardens across America. I’ll admit it. I didn’t even know there was such a thing until reading this book.

If you’re like me and new to the world of public gardens, author George Weigel has you covered! He has a great love for public gardens and their accessibility for all folks, even those lacking a green thumb.

The book opens to a massive table of contents fit for a book of this caliber.

Each entry is labeled with the garden’s name and location, so one only needs to run their thumb down the list to find their state and gardens within that region.

Each listing begins with the location of the garden, website for the garden, phone number to reach the garden and photographs taken by Weigel himself.

With the logistics out of the way, readers can move to an overview of the garden that covers acreage and a bit of the location’s history.

Beyond that are highlights of the garden in question. Take, for example the Ladew Topiary Garden in Monkton, MD, featured on page 26. Each garden is given one page of the book, so the highlights must be succinct, but Weigel still manages to capture what is sure to have enthralled him about the gardens in the first place.

“The signature scene is topiary hounds chasing topiary foxes while topiary riders on topiary horses follow,” he writes, painting a vivid image for one of the garden’s many attractions.

You’ll be glad to know that each entry ends with a bit of commentary straight from the author himself, titled “George’s Take.” In these, the garden traveler extraordinaire leaves us with what he found most impressive about the garden in question, with comments ranging from compliments on floral displays to the sheer size of certain gardens. Closing bits like these are imperative in such a highly specialized book for readers who are just dipping their toes into visiting public gardens. If you can’t trust yourself to pick the right garden, trust Weigel. Trust me, he’s seen enough of them to know what he’s talking about.

The book closes with a list of gardens that didn’t quite make the top 50, as well as a list of gardens the author hasn’t visited yet. Go to these at your own risk, but if they’re anything like the ones Weigel’s documented thus far, they might just be worth the journey. o Khloe Quill is a journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an intern this semester with Washington Gardener. She is a native of Frederick, MD.

BOOKreviews

Floratopia: 110 Flower Garden Ideas for Your Yard, Patio, or Balcony Author: Jan Johnsen Publisher: Countrymen Press List Price: $30.00 Order Link: https://amzn.to/2OytuIO Reviewer: Beth Py-Lieberman Some people are called to their passions at an early age. Such is the case of the gardener, horticulturalist, landscape designer, and flower sage Jan Johnsen, who as a child collected seeds, planted them in tomato sauce cans, and grew them in the windowsill of her parents’ New York City apartment.

Johnsen’s storied career as an award-winning designer is surpassed only by her penchant for writing, photographing, and producing beautiful garden books. Her first is nearing classicstatus, the 2014 Heaven Is a Garden, in which she encourages her readers to “reawaken an awareness of the wonders of Nature.” In a recent episode of the GardenDC Podcast (https://anchor. fm/gardendc), Johnsen is interviewed and listeners are treated to her deep garden knowledge and wisdom.

Her current book Floratopia is singular, “a paean to flower gardening in all its guises,” writes Johnsen. In other words, those of us whose shelves groan with the weight of our garden book collections might toss them all for this one. Flower growers from beginners to the very expert are sure to find useful tips in this fabulously designed, richly illustrated volume. The book is a fast-paced romp into the world of growing flowers in every niche, nook, cranny, region, range, ecosystem, season, and theme. In steady doses, the reader is educated about soils, seeds, watering,

care, pollinators, color combinations, and design.

“Flowers are,” she writes, “the jewels of the green world.” Their singular goal is to reproduce and they do this with a flair, wearing their sexy and provocative petals evolved for the purpose of attracting their pollinators to produce the fruit and seed that brings on the next generation. And just imagine for a moment, suggests Johnsen, what our world would look like if it didn’t have flowers.

Suitably, Johnsen as flower goddess, presents herself in the gardener’s most-unflattering position in one of the book’s first full-page images. With one knee bent, hind quarters to the sky, and head down, she is in a luscious landscape, where she offers this insightful tip: “Don’t go on your knees when you plant out flowers. Kneeling compacts the soil and prevents you from moving easily; instead, straddle the bed or stand beside it and bend, if you can.”

With sage wisdom, Johnsen treats the reader to hundreds of similarly useful tips, apparently gathered from a lifetime dating from that early tomatosauce-can garden to prestigious positions in the world of horticulture and landscaping. She was mentored by the master French gardener Alain Grumberg, who trained at Versailles, before taking up his post alongside Johnsen at the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York. As a landscape architect, she traveled and studied in Japan before launching her own business, Johnsen Landscapes and Pools, in Westchester, New York.

No matter the choice of flower garden required, the offerings are to be found here. We begin with pottery and container gardening, where she goes well beyond the typical thrillers and spillers. One choice flower she introduces to this knowledge-seeking container gardener is noteworthy for its topicality: The sun-loving Bidens apparently trump all others of the daisy-like variety, delivering a “happy pop” (and we’re all feeling that!) with “copious flowers and unique foliage.”

My favorite tip that I hope to establish this year in my garden, and especially in our community garden, is her

suggestion for a “flower highway” to control insect pests. Organic farmers know this tool well: to plant flowers in the rows between their crops to make an ecosystem that works to attract good bugs that dispatch bad bugs.

Science is saying that flowers that grow from the planting of poppies, cosmos, cilantro, and dill attracted ladybugs that feed on pests and reduce crop damage by 61 percent. Wildflowers like coneflowers, columbines, black-eyed Susans, clover, hyssop, and goldenrod should be planted around vegetable gardens to help with the reduction of aphids, mites, and scale.

The best of Johnsen’s offerings is in the pages of themed gardens. What gardener doesn’t know the delightful Secret Garden in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 classic? Wouldn’t you like to create that literary splendor with Johnsen’s fine guidance? Other themes include Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood, a ferny bower, a cottage garden, Van Gogh’s sunflowers, and a midsummer night’s dream garden.

The pleasure-seekers coming to these gardens that Johnsen creates throughout these pages will not be disappointed no matter their ambitions.

But for all of us, approaching this new season, happy in the era of sun-glorying Bidens and readying ourselves for a coming springtime in America after such a long, long, desperate winter, this book should be among our go-to guides. 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.

The Ecological Gardener: How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity from the Soil Up Author: Matt Rees-Warren Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing List Price: $24.95 Order Link: https://amzn.to/38NH9md Reviewer: Andrea F. Siegel How would you create a diverse, sustainable, ecologically sound garden that would not only be a pretty haven for wildlife but also nurture your bond to the wild outdoors?

You’d be creating a garden habitat MARCH 2021

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BOOKreviews whose elements would work naturally in harmony, from the soil to the sky to the plants in between, and creatures would love it.

Matt Rees-Warren, garden designer and ecological gardener, offers a guide to just that.

What you’re not getting into with How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity from the Soil Up is a neatly manicured garden. Forget about your monoculture lawn.

Think about meadows. Think of nature’s own variety.

Think of a healthy ecosystem, with birds and pollinators and other wildlife.

Rees-Warren is among environmentally minded gardeners, designers, and writers who urge us to garden for the future and reimagine our gardens now, as we try to mitigate eco-crises. Photos show attractive walks on the wild side.

The book is not a control-the-outdoors guide. It’s a work-with-what-nature-provides guide. The author promotes an understanding of the ecological whats and whys, and advises readers how to use nature’s tools advantageously. Featured are some how-tos and step-by-step instructions as Rees-Warren writes about formulating your design with considerations of symbiotic relationships, garden layers, and plants chosen so each has a turn to shine. He has instructions on such things as how to draw a design and mark a path. Elsewhere, he’s got how to make a clay-lined pond, put together a hedgerow, and create compost—and a reminder that this wonder of digestion will feed your garden.

Especially valuable is how to make the four elements—earth, air, fire (sun/ heat), and water—work for gardeners. An example: Knowing not just the climate’s rainfall pattern but where water flows through the property, collects, and settles, allows gardeners to design with less use of water from the hose. Instead, they can use rainfall coursing through a garden to water it and topography to slow the flow as desired. They can site a pond to consider the sunlight it reflects—and humidity it provides as water filters into the groundwater. Ponds are centers of wildlife activity.

Readers should be aware that when Rees-Warren names plants that are 22

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native or were introduced some centuries ago or are sustainable, he is writing largely about Britain, as he is in the UK, not US. But his point crosses oceans, as he writes that we work with conditions where we live—microclimates and the broader climate, soil types, etc. Our gardens should reflect that.

You want your garden to be pretty and thriving, and you can do that in a way that contributes ecologically and is a haven for wildlife. ReesWarren reminds us that we garden for our privacy, too.

We are not looking to block an invasion; rather, we are seeking a haven for ourselves, too. o Andrea Siegel is a master gardener in Maryland.

The Healing Garden: Herbs for Health and Wellness Author: Deb Soule Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press List Price: $25.95 Order Link: https://amzn.to/2OJ1B0q Reviewer: Stacey Evers Eighty pages into Deb Soule’s The Healing Garden, around the part where she describes collecting summer herbs for sun tea, I stopped being aware that I was reading. Instead of sitting on the couch, holding a book, I was in my imagined garden on a humid summer day, running my fingertips over the soft flowerheads of aromatic herbs.

The Healing Garden offers that kind of inspiration, conjuring the sense that not only can you save herbs and make healing concoctions with them, but that you should. As such, this isn’t just a how-to manual. Soule, founder of Avena Botanicals, aims for it to also be a spiritual guide to nurturing and honoring all forms of life, saying at the start, “This book is more than information about herbs.

The words and images are prayers on a page.”

Her peaceful and harmonious values suffuse every chapter, creating an herbal companion to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s lauded Braiding Sweetgrass. That doesn’t mean, though, that instructions are lacking. Soule gives detailed procedures for every step of the herbalist’s process, from digging up and chopping

roots to successfully storing prepared tonics.

The Healing Garden is divided into four parts: Gathering with Gratitude, Drying Herbs, Preparing Herbal Medicines, and Healing with Herbs. The bulk of the 200+-page text focuses on how to make a variety of medicines, such as tinctures (alcohol-based herbal extracts) and glycerites (non-alcoholic herbal medicine using glycerin), as well as vinegars, honeys, syrups, baths, oils, and steams.

The directions in this section are precise regarding measurements, but vague when it comes to which specific plant types to use, with Soule saying she often picks whatever herbs and flowers call to her. But hold on—she’s saved specificity for the final section, where she provides details regarding herbs ranging from anise hyssop to teasel: the plant’s place of origin; its healing qualities; its growing, gathering, and drying information; and safety considerations for its use.

All along, Soule urges readers to be in tune with their plants, the contours of their gardens, and the ever-changing movements of the sun and moon. In this holistic spirit, the resources at the end go well beyond herbal and biodynamic education, offering up an impressive list of books, websites, and podcasts that also address social, racial, and environmental justice. In closing, Soule issues her final prayer, “May herbal remedies find their rightful place in every household and community clinic, not as commodities but as beloved friends.” o Stacey Evers is director of Grow a Row FC in Virginia and co-chair of the Fairfax Food Council’s Urban Ag Work Group. Thanks to this book, she will be doubling the space for herbs in this year’s garden.

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MARCH/APRIL 2005 • Landscape DIY vs. Pro • Prevent Gardener’s Back • Ladew Topiary Gardens • Cherry Trees

MAY/JUNE 2007 • Roses: Easy Care Tips • Native Roses & Heirloom Roses • Edible Flowers • How to Plant a Bare-root Rose

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JULY/AUGUST 2007 • Groundcovers: Alternatives to Turfgrass • How to Pinch, Prune, & Dead-head • William Paca House & Gardens • Hardy Geraniums

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MARCH/APRIL 2008 • Patio, Balcony, Rooftop Container Gardens • Our Favorite Garden Tools • Coral Bells (Heuchera)

T!

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