the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region
WASHINGTON g a rdener
Houseplant
Humidity Myths
What is Killing the Arborvitae?
Urban Tree Summit
Great Gardening Books Reviewed
Do’s and Don’ts of Mowing in Wet Conditions
Daffodil Planting Tips
When to Water Air Plants
American Pokeweed
A Sunflower Protest Garden
Saving Seeds from Natives
Pretty and Predatory Pitcher Plant
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.
RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL PLANTS FOR THE
Barry Glick
Sunshine Farm and Gardens
696 Glicks Road
Renick, WV 24966, USA Email: barry@sunfarm.com www.sunfarm.com
www.greenspring.org
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Green Spring Gardens
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.
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Houseplants
Landscape Architects Meet in DC
More than 6,500 landscape architecture professionals and students, and 315+ exhibitors, gathered in Washington, DC, in early October to celebrate the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)’s 125th-year anniversary. Attendees experienced four days filled with education opportunities, special events, exhibits, and tours exploring DC with their peers. I was fortunate to get a press pass and attend one day of the event.
While there, I met many local landscape architects and suppliers. It was fascinating to see the new trends and products in their field. The overall theme and emphasis was on sustainability and dealing with climate change. Many of the presentation topics focused on the needs of the future.
A few of the mini-sessions I attended were also of interest. One was about the cost of lawns and examined various landscape uses and compared their installation and ongoing costs. The results showed that lawns were the most expensive landscapes to maintain, excepting cultivated wetlands. This study was conducted in Florida, but still offered food for thought.
Another mini-session I went to was about boulevard gardens. The term “boulevard garden” was new to me. Here we call this the “hellstrip,” but I’ve also heard verge, tree lawn, and other terms for it. Basically, it is the narrow strip of land between the sidewalk and the street. The presenter described his campaign to photograph and document these gardens in his community. He has even started a walking tour of the best examples of boulevard gardens in his area.
While at the ASLA conference, I met up with a few fellow garden media members. I also ran into a few fans of this magazine and our GardenDC podcast. That is always gratifying to hear. I hope that the landscape architects who visited DC take lots of inspiration and ideas back to their home practices.
Sincerely,
Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener, KathyJentz@gmail.com
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
Zachary Intrater Intern
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Volume 19, Number 8
ISSN 1555-8959
© 2024 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.
One of the amazing playground installations on the ASLA 2024 conference exhibit floor.
Reader Favorites
Reader Contest
For our October 2024 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, we are giving away a $100 gift certificate for deerresistant bulbs from Flowerbulb.eu
While most experienced gardeners will say that deer will try almost anything, there are several plant varieties they tend to find unappetizing. Flowerbulb.eu has a solution to this: deer-resistant spring bulbs to safeguard spring blooms. These bulbs enhance gardens while bringing peace of mind to gardeners, who can know that their time and money invested are protected from deer browsing. Learn more at https://flowerbulb.eu/deer-resistant-bulbs/.
To enter to win the gift certificate, send an email by 5:00pm on October 31 to WashingtonGardenerMagazine@gmail.com with “Flowerbulb.eu” in the Subject line and in the body of the email. Tell us what your favorite article was in this issue and why. Please include your full name and mailing address. Winners will be announced and notified on/about November 1. Replies might be published. 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.
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.
Broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables. The best broccoli I’ve ever had was grown in a garden tower on my deck. I tried to grow it this year in my new raised bed from purchased starts and it failed to produce anything but leaves. Your article “Broccoli: In Spring or Fall” in the September issue was very helpful. I had heard that broccoli can be a fall crop (although July planting doesn’t equate to “fall” in my mind). The timing information in this article will definitely be used in my 2025 garden.
Thank you to all contributors and friends of Washington Gardener Magazine for continuing to provide timely and interesting information.
~ Sarah Jackson, Westminster, MD
My favorite article in the June 2024 Washington Gardener Magazine was “Eldergrow: Fighting Dementia Through Gardening” because Josh Panepento empathetically communicated how life-giving and sustaining gardening can be in the later stages of life. I loved how he described how herbs are favorites at the Ingleside Retirement Community, “because they remind residents of times in their lives and keep their minds active.” Josh’s article is an acute reminder of the many reasons why we love gardening, because it contributes to mental wellness and lifelong learning, as well as beauty and nourishment. Well done, Josh!
~ Don Truitt, Silver Spring, MD
My favorite article in the June 2024 Washington Gardener Magazine is “Vivacious Veratrum.” I was intrigued by the possibility of a false hellebore, and found the information about veratrums to be even more interesting. I enjoyed the story form of the article, and it’s always exciting to find out about a novel (to me) plant that is natural to our area. Thank you!
~ Mary Finelli, Silver Spring, MD o
A Sunflower Protest
By Zachary Intrater
The Polonne Sunflower Garden, a sunflower garden right across the street from the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, is meant as a symbol of resistance and protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The garden started in 2022 and has been going strong ever since, despite multiple incidents of vandalism.
One of the people involved in the garden is Connor, who served in the Peace Corps in Ukraine as an English teacher for two years. Connor lives right across the street from the Russian Embassy, so he found out about the garden when he happened to stumble across it on his way home one day. Since he lives so close, Connor has taken on the responsibility of taking care of the garden, along with many helpful volunteers.
Q: Tell us about yourself. Did you grow up in the Washington, DC region?
A: I am originally from Connecticut
and first came to DC in 2012 to do my undergrad at American University. In 2016, I graduated and went to Ukraine to serve in the Peace Corps to teach English. While there, I lived in a lovely little town called Polonne in the western part of the country. Ukraine is an incredible country and I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to serve there and work with so many amazing people. I still keep in touch with many of my former students, friends, and co-workers. I came back to DC in 2021 to get my master’s degree from Johns Hopkins. I live across from the Russian Embassy in DC, so it’s very easy for me to get involved in pro-Ukraine events that happen nearby. I strongly believe that the U.S. should continue to assist Ukraine as it fights off Russia’s invasion. Ironically enough, I don’t consider myself much of a gardener, so I am always on the lookout for tips on how to improve the garden and get better sunflowers.
Q: What are the origins behind the Polonne Sunflower Garden? Whose idea was it and why was it started?
A: The sunflower garden was the brainchild of an organization called the U.S. Ukrainian Activists, headed by Nadiya Shaporynska and a man named Benjamin Wittes. Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine, and since the war first began in 2014, they have become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression. When the full-scale invasion started in 2022, Ben and Nadiya decided to plant the garden in front of the Russian Embassy here in DC. Dozens of volunteers come every spring to plant the garden.
Q: How did you personally hear about it and get involved?
A: Since I live across the street from the Russian Embassy, I find out about most protests and other things simply by stepping out of my front door. In this case, it was April of 2022, and I was coming back from playing paintball with some friends when I saw dozens of people planting sunflowers in front of the embassy. I quickly changed and started to help them out. The garden didn’t really grow much that first summer, especially after it was vandalized early on, and I wasn’t really involved beyond the first planting.
In May of 2023, I heard of the second planting event and again helped out, watering all of the seedlings. When we were wrapping up for the day, I heard someone call out, “Who will water them? Otherwise, they will all die!” Everyone started looking around, and since I lived a literal stone’s throw away, I volunteered. For the rest of the summer, I would water the garden every other day unless it rained. One of my neighbors who lives a bit closer allows me to use their spigot. It was very rewarding watching the sunflowers grow week after week.
After a while, I realized most people walking past didn’t understand the meaning of the garden. I decided to do three things: Make a sign that explained the garden’s purpose, create an Instagram account for the garden (https://www.instagram.com/polonne_sunflower_garden/), and give the garden a name.
After consulting with Ben and Nadiya,
I decided to name it the Polonne Sunflower Garden, after the small town in Ukraine that I served in.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish with the garden?
A: We want the garden to serve as a symbol of Ukrainian victory in this terrible war of aggression, and for a future Ukraine to have peace, prosperity, and freedom. We want the garden to serve as a reminder to all Americans who see it that Ukraine needs additional help from the arsenal of democracy. Finally, since it is in front of the Russian Embassy, we want all the Russian diplomats who see it everyday to be reminded that they work for a regime prosecuting this horrific war, and that all of their efforts will be for naught, because Ukraine still stands strong.
Q: What has the overall reception been like from people in the area?
someone came and ripped all of them up again.
A: Very positive! I generally water the garden every other day (unless it rains), and people stop to comment on how nice the garden is or that they support Ukraine. The whole neighborhood is quite supportive of Ukraine. People like to take photos of the garden.
Q: Describe how the garden has been destroyed/vandalized in the past. What are your thoughts/reactions to that happening, and how do you respond to that?
A: The garden has been attacked multiple times, including several times this past summer, with sunflowers being ripped up and signs that I place there being stolen. Each time the sunflowers are destroyed, Ben Wittes comes to collect the damaged ones and dumps them in front of the Russian Embassy. Once I caught a man doing it. He was drunk and belligerent. I called the police, but they arrived 30 minutes later, after he had already left. Nadiya, a few others, and I worked to save a few of the sunflowers and nurse them back to health. However, this past weekend,
Usually when the garden is attacked badly, we gather the community and do a large replanting. We refuse to be intimidated—we just replant and continue to stand with Ukraine. It is easier to destroy than to build, as it always is, but we don’t let that stop us. With this recent attack, since it is almost the end of the season anyway, we have instead decided to go a different route. Ben has a laser projector that he uses to project Ukrainian symbols onto the Russian embassy at night. He has publicly stated that for each sunflower destroyed, he will project for another night. We are looking forward to his light shows this fall. The fact that someone is cowardly and petty enough to rip up a garden of sunflowers is quite disappointing, but not entirely surprising. Russia is currently kidnapping children and bombing civilians. There are plenty of people in the U.S. bending over backwards to excuse Russia’s brutality. While the destruction always saddens me, I know I have to get back up and think about the future, and what we can do next to rebuild and improve.
Let me note that everything I say here is my own opinion and not on behalf of the Peace Corps or my employer.
Q: How many people are involved in the garden and what are their different roles?
A: Ben, Nadiya, and I are the chief people formally involved, but we could not have done much without the support of various volunteers in the DC area. Every year, we have dozens of people come to plant sunflowers. We hope this level of support continues, although I hope the war does not. o
Zachary Intrater is a senior in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. This fall semester, he is an intern at Washington Gardener Magazine
The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City is all about small-space gardening solutions! By
Kathy Jentz and Teresa Speight
Published by Cool Springs Press/Quarto Homes Order it today at: https://amzn.to/3yiLPKU
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 episodes include interviews with experts on Heuchera and Southern Apples.
You can listen online at https:// washingtongardener.blogspot.com/ or on Spotify, Apple, etc o
Pitcher Plant
By Kathy Jentz
The flowers emerge in spring on a slender stem and last for two to three weeks.
There are about eight species of pitcher plants and they can hybridize easily to create hundreds of complex hybrids, backcrosses, and cultivars.
They come in a variety of colors and patterns, ranging from white with spots to streaky yellows to deep, veiny maroons.
Pitcher plants are native to the United States from southern Alabama, through Florida and Georgia, to the coastal plains of southern Virginia and the Carolinas. They are hardy to USDA Zones 5 to 9.
They can grow to 3–4 feet tall and have a clumping habit.
They prefer to grow in full sun. They are a true bog plant, so they require moist soil that never dries out entirely, but is also well-draining. The ideal soil mix is a blend of sphagnum peat moss and sand or perlite at a 2-to-1 ratio. Do not use any fertilizer, and avoid chlorinated water.
After their winter dormancy when the pitchers die back, you can repot and divide the large rhizomes to create more plants from each growth point.
Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia spp.) is a carnivorous perennial plant that looks like a tall tube with a hood over the top.
Kathy Jentz is the editor of Washington Gardener
Collecting Seeds
American hepatica (Hepatica nobilis Schreb. var obtusa (Pursh) Steyer mark [Ranunculaceae]) and Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria (L.) Bernh. [Fumariaceae]).
Shooting star (Dodecatheon spp. L.[Primulaceae]) and Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica (L.) Pers. ex Link [Boragi naceae]) have capsules that open quickly upon maturation, while native orchids (Orchidaceae), such as nodding ladies tresses (Spiranthes cernua (L.) L.C. Rich) and cranefly orchid (Tipularia discolor (Pursh) Nutt.), have dust-like seeds that are dispersed immediately. Such small seeds and fruits can also be difficult or timeconsuming to collect seeds from.
By Barry Glick
A grower cannot be in all places at all times, especially when producing and collecting seeds from hundreds of species. Ripening seeds are a temperature-dependent phenomena, and this is further complicated by each species having its own prolonged period of fruit maturation and dispersal strategy. At Sunshine Farms and Gardens, we collect seeds and grow many of the most desired southeastern U.S. woodland species. Many of these species can be challenging to collect seeds from, due to unique dispersal mechanisms of the fruits or dispersal agents, or simply the small size of the seeds and fruits. We have come up with an efficient and effective method to address this challenge.
Southeastern woodland species are as diverse in their dispersal strategies and fruits as in their wide range of attractive flowers and growth forms. Spotted geranium (Geranium macula-
tum L. [Geraniaceae]) is a classic example of explosive dehiscence, where the seeds are spring-loaded and catapulted away from the plant when the fruits mature and split along the sutures.
Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla (L.) Pers [Berberi daceae]) produces a unique seed pod that resembles a hooded pouch with a lid at the top that opens with a hinge-like attachment when mature. Similarly, several violets (Viola spp. L. [Violaceae]) have small pods that explode upon maturation.
Alternatively, seeds may be dispersed by an external force such as raindrops, which disseminate the tiny black seeds of miterwort (Mitella spp. L. [Saxifragaceae]) from its opened saucer-shaped capsules. Ants are also important dispersal agents in woodlands and rapidly carry away the seeds of bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis L. [Papaveraceae]), Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense L. [Araceae]),
To collect seeds from such a wide range of species, we have designed specially made collection bags that we place over our stock plants in the nursery as seeds approach maturation. The bags are made from a mill-spun polyester fiber that is rot- and UV-resistant and lasts for many years. Bags are available in 1.2 x 1.8 m (4 x 6 ft.), 1.2 x 2.4 m ( 4 x 8 ft.) and 1.2 x 3 m (4 x 10 ft.) sizes from our nursery. We tie the bags over stock plants as the fruits are maturing and add a couple of marbles to help weigh them down.
After collection, seeds are passed through a metal strainer to separate seeds from debris. Finally, we run our seedlots through a fanning mill, using various size screens to provide clean seeds. This year, we will collect tens of thousands of seeds from hundreds of different species of plants in our nursery, many of them by using this method. This ensures that we capture seeds when they are ripe and protects them from loss.
Our bags can also be used for wild collections of many other species that have rapid dispersal or present other problems for the seed collector 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.
Daffodil Planting Tips
Who doesn’t love them: spring flowers! They are the first blooming signs of joy in the garden. Flower bulbs are amazing at giving off positive vibes while the rest of the garden is still asleep. Fall is the perfect time to plant them.
If you are keen to have these fresh, cheerful flowers in your garden, plant them from late October until the ground freezes and can no longer be worked. Daffodils will happily grow in any soil type. Make sure to put them in a welldrained spot. Too much moisture will cause putrefaction. They prefer to shine in a sunny spot, but they will also thrive in partial shade. Depending on the variety, plant them 5 to 8 inches deep at a planting distance of 4 to 6 inches apart.
Daffodils are naturalizing bulbs. This means that they will grow in number every year; you don’t have to do anything.
The flowering period runs from February to the end of May, and each daffodil chooses its individual moment.
Daffodils also thrive in pots. Do make sure there is proper drainage by placing potsherds in the bottom of the pot and making a hole in the bottom.
Cut away faded flowers to prevent them using energy to form seed. You should not remove the leaves, however, because they are where the bulb gets its nutrients for the next year.
You can find more inspiration and information about flower bulbs at www. flowerbulbs.com. o
Do’s and Don’ts of Mowing in Wet Conditions
Mowing the lawn is a regular task for most homeowners, but what happens when it rains? You may be tempted to mow wet grass, especially when it’s overgrown, but is it safe or effective?
According to Sod Solutions (www. sodsolutions.com) content strategist, Valerie Smith, mowing your lawn while it’s wet isn’t the best choice, and there are several reasons to consider waiting until it dries out. While it might seem harmless, wet grass can create more problems than you might think.
Wet grass is slippery, increasing the risk of accidents while mowing. The combination of water and electric mowers—especially those with extension cords—can be dangerous, posing a risk of electric shock.
If your lawn has slopes or uneven terrain, wet conditions can make mowing even more hazardous.
Mowing wet grass doesn’t produce a clean cut; it often tears, resulting in ragged edges that are more susceptible to disease and stress. Wet conditions also promote fungal growth and the spread of pathogens, because the mower can transport spores across your lawn.
Waterlogged soil is also easily compacted under the weight of the mower, leading to ruts, rivets, and uneven cuts, which can stress the lawn and damage the soil structure.
Mowing when the soil is mushy can also exacerbate weed issues by spreading seeds stuck in clumps of wet grass, allowing them to root in new areas.
Wet clippings often clump together, clogging the mower and creating piles that smother the grass, leading to unsightly dead spots.
Wet conditions also cause soil to become soggy, leading to ruts and uneven cuts as mower wheels dig into the ground.
Using an electric mower in wet conditions poses a safety hazard due to the potential for electric shock from moisture exposure.
Mowing wet grass can significantly impact the maintenance and longevity of your mower. Wet clippings stick to the underside of the mower deck, increasing the need for frequent clean-
ings, which can be dangerous if done improperly. Frequent cleaning of your mower is needed, which can be dangerous if done improperly.
Constant exposure to moisture can also dull mower blades faster and lead to rust, reducing cutting efficiency and requiring more frequent sharpening or replacement. Prolonged exposure to wet conditions can cause other mower components to rust or corrode, resulting in costly repairs and a shortened lifespan for your equipment.
Mowing after rain depends on various factors, including the type of mower, conditions, and your safety judgment. Before mowing, perform a touch test: If the grass feels wet, it’s too soon. Dewy grass in the morning might be manageable, but rain-soaked grass is not. o
Gardening with Gratitude
Scientific research has demonstrated that gratitude has many health benefits. According to Harvard Health, studies have shown that taking time to reflect on things we are thankful for has a positive association with personal wellbeing and health.
In the United States, Thanksgiving Day has been celebrated since 1621 but was not officially a national holiday until President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it one in 1863. In 2015, the whole month of November was designated National Gratitude Month. Gratitude is not a new concept, but its November monthly observance is, and continued research shows that practicing gratitude has a multitude of benefits.
According to the National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (https:// consumerhort.org/), expressing gratitude improves both physical and mental health. Grateful people have fewer health problems and get better sleep that can contribute to longer, healthier lives. In addition to improving happiness and decreasing depression, gratitude reduces negative emotions while enhancing empathy and sensitivity to others and improving self-esteem.
We all have the ability to practice gratitude by taking a few moments each day to focus on things we are grateful for. A good place to start is the garden. There are many things to be grateful for in our gardens and landscapes. o
New Plant Spotlight
Phlox paniculata Super Ka-Pow™ Fuchsia (Phlox paniculata)
This Phlox paniculata series features super-sized blooms, a super-sized habit, and better branching than other leading paniculata series.The excellent branching characteristics of this Phlox series ensure an abundance of flowers throughout the summer.
Plant Facts:
Hardiness Zone: 4b–9a
Hardiness Degree: -30°F (-34°C)
Blooming Season: Late Spring, Summer, Late Summer
Plant Habit: Upright
Characteristics: Low-maintenance and frost-tolerant
Attracts: Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds,
Pests: Rabbit-resistant
Water: Medium
Fertilizer: Once a month
Spacing: 18–20" (46–51 cm)
Height: 18–20" (46–51 cm)
Width: 16–18" (41–46 cm)
Exposure: Sun
Breeder: Darwin Perennials (https://www.darwinperennials. com/) o
Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts
• Heuchera
• Carrot Harvest
• In Memoriam: Stanton Gill
• Dahlia Days
See more Washington Gardener blog posts at WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com o
October–November Garden To-Do List
• Cover pond with netting to keep out fallen leaves and debris.
• Harvest sweet potatoes.
• Plant garlic.
• Force the buds on Christmas Cactus by placing in a cool (55–60 degree) room for 13 hours of darkness.
• Apply deer-deterrent spray.
• Prevent the spread of disease by cleaning up all infected plants and disposing of them in your trash—not your compost pile.
• Plant cover crops in your vegetable gardens and annual beds (i.e., rye, clover, hairy vetch, winter peas).
• Set up a cold frame, then plant lettuces, radishes, and carrots from seed.
• If you have a water garden, clean out the annual plants and compost them. Cut back the hardy plants and group them in the deepest section of the pond.
• Leave seedheads on Black-eyed Susans, Echinacea, Goldenrod, Sunflowers, and Thistles for the birds to enjoy over the winter.
• Check for bagworms; pick off, bag, and dispose of them.
• Dig up and store potatoes in a cool, dark spot.
• Continue to divide and transplant perennials.
• Rake leaves and gather in compost piles.
• Pick pumpkins at a local pick-your-own farm or visit a local farmer’s market.
• Cut garden herbs and hang to dry in a cool, dry place indoors.
• Start feeding birds to get them in the habit for the winter.
• Attend a local garden club meeting.
• Mulch strawberry beds for winter.
• Turn your compost pile weekly and don’t let it dry out. Work compost into your planting beds.
• Plant evergreens for winter interest.
• Weed.
• Plant spring-flowering bulbs.
• Sow wildflower seeds, such as California Poppies, for next spring.
• Collect dried flowers and grasses for an indoor vase.
• Clean, sharpen, and store your garden tools.
• Lightly fertilize indoor plants.
• Pot up Paper Whites and Amaryllis for holiday blooming.
• Check that all vines are securely tied against winter’s cold winds.
• Collect plant seeds for next year’s planting and for trading.
• Pull out spent summer annuals.
• Plant hardy mums and fall season annuals.
• Water evergreens and new plantings to keep them hydrated this winter.
• Fertilize your lawn and re-seed if needed.
• Dig up any nonhardy Gladioli bulbs, cut off foliage, dry for a week, and then store them inside for the winter.
• Transplant trees and shrubs.
• Gather seeds and label them carefully. Store in a dry location.
• Keep an eye out for the first frost date and insulate plants as needed. In Zone 6, it is expected between September 30 –October 30; in Zone 7, it is predicted for October 15–November 15. o
TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS
• Saturday, October 19–Sunday, October 20
Loudoun County Fall Farm Tour
The Loudoun Fall Farm Tour offers a cornucopia of experiences for visitors of all ages, featuring a diverse array of farms showcasing the finest products that Loudoun County, VA, has to offer, including honey, mushrooms, traditional vegetables, garlic, and craft beverages. Attendees will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Loudoun’s agricultural heritage. Details at https://loudounfarms.org/farmtour/.
• Saturday, October 19, 10am–3pm Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild Fall Festival
The Franciscan Monastery’s very first Fall Festival will have pumpkins, plants, herbs, bulbs, and their award-winning honey available to purchase. There will also be family-friendly games and activities, along with tours of the vegetable garden and the 118-year-old greenhouse. Entrance to the grounds will be at the intersection of Otis Street and 16th Street NE (3700 16th St. NE, Washington, DC).
• Monday, October, 21, 7:30pm Your Indoor Food Garden Talk Don’t let the cold weather stop you from growing at least some of your food indoors—and not just lettuce and herbs. Speaker Kim Roman will start with assessing your growing space and site preparation, and feature some unique ideas to get maximum production from a small indoor space. While writing her latest book, her main growing area was a 4'x9' space in her home office and included tomatoes, cucumbers, ginger, turmeric, and much more. Hosted by the Silver Spring Garden Club. Held at Brookside Gardens Visitors Center/Education Building, 1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, MD. Free.
• Thursday, October 24, 7–8:30pm Dealing with Deer and Other Mammal Pests in Your Garden
Bambi may be cute, but he would love to make a feast of your garden. Learn some proven and humane tactics to keep your edible and ornamental gardens safe from deer, rabbits, rats, squirrels, groundhogs, and other warmblooded creatures. Instructor Kathy
Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener Magazine, will also touch on design strategies and plant selections. This is a Live Zoom lecture with audience Q&A. Recordings will be made available afterward to registered students. Sign up at ActiveMONTGOMERY. Course #PBG0153. Fee: $15.
• Friday, October 25, 9–11am Plant Health Care Tour
Held at the historic Arlington National Cemetery during the beautiful fall season, this unique tour offers an opportunity to appreciate nature’s splendor amid the hallowed grounds of the nation’s most revered cemetery. Their knowledgeable guide will lead you through the vibrant foliage, offering insights into the diverse tree and plant species throughout the cemetery. Learn about the essential role of plant health care in maintaining these natural treasures, including proper pruning techniques, disease management, and soil nutrition. This tour is not only a feast for the eyes, but also a learning experience. Understand the strategies implemented to protect these trees from pests, diseases, and environmental stressors. All tours meet at the Welcome Center Information Desk. Arrive early to allow time to go through security. For more information, go to https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/ Media/News/Post/13751/ Fall-Horticulture-Tour.
• Saturday, October 26
Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance (UCFA) Fall 2024 Workshops
Session topics include seed cleaning, starting a farm, beekeeping, food policy, growing herbs, okra oils, and more. Held in Accokeek MD. Details at https://ujamaafarms.com/2024workshops%2Fconvening.
• Saturday, October 26
Persimmon Festival
A day of orchard tours, persimmon tastings, and more. Held at Edible Landscaping in Afton, VA. Details at https:// ediblelandscaping.com/.
• Weekends of October 26–27 and November 2–3
Glorious Golden Ginkgoes
Visit the golden ginkgoes at the State
Arboretum of VA–Blandy. Several snack and/or coffee trucks and extra bathrooms will welcome visitors near the parking entrance, before a 10-minute walk to the grove. Details at https:// blandy.virginia.edu/.
• Saturday, November 2, 9am–2pm Eco-savvy Gardening Faire
Immerse yourself in sustainable gardening information hosted by the VCE Master Gardeners. Featuring keynote speaker Kathy Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener Magazine, speaking about urban and small space gardening. Held at Green Spring Gardens, 4603 Green Spring Rd., Alexandria, VA. Fee: $35. Register at https://www.fairfaxcounty. gov/parks/green-spring/eco-savvy-gardening-faire/110224.
Scholarship Notice
The Ladies in the Landscape Scholarship has been created to support young women who are interested in pursuing a career in the horticultural industry, (from Integrated Pest Management (IPM), golf course management, and commercial distribution to retail business owners, and landscape designers) by awarding $500 toward their higher education.
Requirements:
1. High school student graduating the following academic year
2. Minimum of a 3.0 GPA (unweighted) 3. Looking to enroll or already enrolled in a college or university in a horticultural-related field
Submit here: LIL Scholarship https://ladiesinthelandscape.com/ scholarship/.
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 November 5 for the November 2024 issue, for events taking place after November 15. o
Houseplant Humidity: Myths and Tricks!
By Savannah Scollar
In the realm of houseplant care, humidity is a common talking point. It’s the subject of all sorts of myths and misunderstandings, and it’s something that’s pretty under-researched. We say plants “need” humidity, but experience proves otherwise. We say succulents hate humidity, but many of them live by the sea, in places like California. What’s going on here?
Here’s what’s most important: When the air is dry, plants play it safe, keeping more of their water in, and not photosynthesizing quite as much. This means they don’t grow as much, either. In an over-watered terrarium, humidity gets ridiculous, and the plants aren’t able to breathe. The air is totally full of water vapor! This, as expected, will eventually kill the plant. It ends up melting into goop.
A lot of things get blamed on humidity, when it’s generally not the culprit—at least, not directly. Fertilizer burn is a much more common cause of crispy leaves. Too much fertilizer will pull the water out of your plant’s roots via some fancy science thing called osmosis. That hurts! When your plant has more humidity, it’s able to photosynthesize more, using the fertilizer faster, and lowering the chances of it building up into something harmful.
Another cause of crispy leaves is thrips. Check your plant for teeny-tiny sprinkle-shaped things that move when you poke them. They’re the size of a hangnail. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of a better comparison.) Curling on the crispy parts is a huge red flag for a thrips invasion. Treat them with
slimy water: a mix of water and castile soap. I don’t even measure. I just use enough soap to make the water slightly slimy. You’ll have to treat several times to make the bugs go away.
There are a few more humidity-related myths to look out for. Pebble trays are a myth that runs rampant. Adding a tray of pebbles and water underneath your plant will only increase the humidity by around 3%. It’ll get really nasty, too. That sitting water can get rancid. It’s totally not worth it.
Spray bottles are another myth. The humidity provided by a spray bottle will spread out into the air in a matter of minutes, moving away from the plant and not really contributing anything at all. Spray bottles, however, can be a fun way for kids to “take care of” plants when you’re worried about them overwatering. They can also help blast the dust off of leaves, making it easier for your plant to breathe.
I have a few tricks for boosting humidity. My favorite move is to use a thrift store drinking glass, vase, or fish bowl. Plastic containers from the party section of a Dollar Tree are a great option as well. When the walls of the container are higher than the top of your plant, your plant will have its own personal humid environment to enjoy.
Imagine the water vapor as ladybugs. Your plant has the magical ability to generate these “ladybugs.” They escape from the leaves of the plant and from the soil as well. Putting your plant at the bottom of a vase gives the ladybugs a bit of extra time to find their way out into the room. You end up
with a lot of ladybugs lingering around your plant, since it takes them longer to move somewhere else. All this to say that by using a vase as an open-top terrarium (or as a saucer with ridiculously tall edges), your plant will have a lot of water particles floating around it. Nice and humid.
For even more humidity, add a lid. Be careful, though. You can’t water your plant too heavily or it’ll rot. We don’t want too much water in there, remember? An over-watered terrarium makes it so your plant can’t breathe. Things should stay slightly moist, never soggy. With a closed lid, barely any water will escape, so you won’t have to water often at all. Probably once per month; maybe even once per season.
When taking a plant out of a humid environment, be careful. Plants with super-thick leaves won’t mind the change, but others can get crispy or wilt. You’ve got to let your plant adjust slowly, by gradually lowering the humidity of its environment. If a new plant arrives in the mail, I remove the packaging a little bit at a time. I’ll take a bit more off every hour or so.
A closed box is very humid, and the plants have basically let their guard down in that environment. They know they’ve got plenty of water vapor in there, so they aren’t as careful about preventing water loss. If you were to suddenly take your plant out of the box and place it in a less humid environment, it might not be able to adapt in time. Water vapor will escape through the leaves before the plant is able to stop it.
The same applies for taking plants out of terrariums. I move the lid halfway off at first. The next day, if the plant is okay, I’ll take the rest of the lid off, then give the plant a bit of water. The day after that, I can move the plant into a pot.
Now, dump out those stinky pebble trays, breathe a sigh of relief, and opt for some cute vases instead. Your plants will thank you. o
Savannah Scollar opened Easy Little Plants (easylittleplants.com) in July 2023 at age 21. It’s a houseplant shop in Olney, MD. She loves doing research, teaching private workshops, decorating with houseplants, and arranging adorable terrariums.
Ask the Expert
By Miri Talabac
Slew of Dead Arborvitae
Q: Arborvitae seem to be dying in several places around the DMV that I’ve visited in recent weeks. Is there a pest or disease going around?
A: I’ve seen the same, and my primary suspect is drought, with any pest or disease involved (if any) being secondary. Nearly all of the area has been under some degree of drought status this summer, and many counties have been in drought nearly continuously for the past several months. Western Maryland has been hit the hardest. You can explore the U.S. Drought Monitor web page to keep track of the map, which is updated weekly (https:// droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/ StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MD).
Let’s look at ‘Green Giant’ Arborvitae for a moment, one of the most popularly-grown selections and also the one I’ve seen turning brown in the past month or so. They’re commonly used as living fences or accents at the corner of a house. It’s a hybrid cultivar, with parents Western Redcedar (Thuja plicata) and Japanese Thuja (Thuja standishii). Both are native to habitats with moist soil and cool forest conditions, analogous to where Eastern Hemlock grows wild in our area in wooded stream valleys. These Arborvitae are not known for their tolerance of drought.
Even Eastern Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), also a popular landscaping element, has most of its native range well north of us; the only locally native wild populations occur in the sliver of the Appalachians that runs through western Maryland. I’ve seen a few wild specimens in Washington County, and they are surrounded by deciduous trees and moss-covered boulders. Up north, where summers are less hot, they grow wild in more sun, but still near sources of moisture.
We often plant both types of Arborvitae in conditions more like a mini grassland (exposed to sun, wind, and generally drier conditions; often surrounded by turfgrass) than in a forest at the foot of the mountains. While
impressively resilient, considering all of the non-natural sites where they are used in gardens and commercial landscaping, but they do still have their limits. This summer’s drought pushed many that weren’t irrigated over the edge of those tolerances.
If wood-boring insects or fungal diseases were involved in their demise, it was as secondary opportunists, taking advantage of stress-weakened plants and hastening dieback. Browning foliage may have looked sudden, but the damage that led to the loss of the plant was probably building up for weeks or months. The fungus that causes Botryosphaeria canker, fatal to branches or entire shrubs, can coexist with its host plant for a long time without causing disease. When plant stress is too great, though, the opportunist infects and causes incurable dieback. Rhododendron, Viburnum, Redtwig Dogwood, and Redbud are other common victims.
When monitoring plants for watering needs (perennials, shrubs, and trees), feel the soil about six inches deep. If somewhat dry to the touch at that depth, watering is probably needed. If damp when checked, watering can probably wait. Manual irrigation is generally going to put more moisture into the root zone than rain, unless it’s a steady day-long rain (not a drizzle, not a deluge that can run off before soaking in much).
Any tree roots in the area will steal much of that irrigation moisture, and their canopy also intercepts some of the rain. When it wasn’t as dry earlier this year, I’ve witnessed an example of a foundation garden bed that was soggy after a rainy weekend and a flower bed less than 30 feet away on level ground, under a mature river birch, that was nearly bone-dry just an inch or two beneath the surface. It is sometimes surprising how much (or how little) rain can contribute to soil moisture over the short term.
When to Water Air Plants
Q: I’m new to growing air plants. How do I determine when to water, since they don’t live in soil?
A: Although this can vary depending on the species, one cue I use with my air plants (Tillandsia) is the curling of the leaves. For species that normally have flattened foliage, look for the edges to start curling inward as an indication of dehydration. (Picture someone with their tongue stuck out, rolling up the sides.) Species with slightly twisting or very long leaf tips (like the popular Tillandsia xerographica) can develop more curling on the leaf ends the drier the plant gets. For species with very fuzzy, slender leaves, though, it’s harder to judge dryness other than going by plant weight.
Misting Tillandsia will not rehydrate them enough or keep them from dry -
Drought-killed Arborvitae. Photo courtesy of Ask Extension.
ing out. When it rains in many of the habitats where air plants grow, it pours, or the dew that forms on them is pretty heavy. At home, they’ll need the occasional drenching to really soak up enough moisture. I soak my Tillandsias about twice a month, but the frequency can vary depending on household humidity and how much light and airflow the plants receive.
I use a restaurant-style bus tub/tote because it’s very sturdy and holds several gallons of water that I need to dunk multiple plants, although any container that lets you submerge the plants will do. How long to soak depends on whom you ask, but I tend to do about six hours, based on the fact that some professional Tillandsia growers suggest an overnight soak when a thorough rehydration is needed. (I soak during the day, though, so I can shake the water off them and put them back to air-dry before the “sun” goes down, which in my setup is grow lights with a gentle fan.)
Avoid growing Tillandsia in a terrarium or enclosed area, because they thrive on good airflow. While an enclosure’s high humidity might slow down their water loss, it increases the risk of rot if plants don’t surface-dry promptly after being soaked. Stagnant air plus water caught in the crown (the central growth point) can lead to rot and plant death, which is another risk when misting. o
Miri Talabac is a Certified Professional Horticulturist who joined the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center in 2019 as a horticulture consultant. She is a graduate of UMCP with a focus in entomology. To ask a gardening or pest question, go to http:// extension.umd.edu/hgic and select “Ask Extension.” Digital photos can be attached.
“Inspire. Connect. Grow.”
The National Garden Bureau is a nonprofit organization that exists to educate, inspire, and motivate people to increase the use of garden seed, plants, and products in homes, gardens, and workplaces by being the marketing arm of the gardening industry. Our members are experts in the field of horticulture and our information comes directly from these sources. Find out more at https://ngb.org/
Dehydrating Tillandsia.
Photo by Miri Talabac.
By Zachary Intrater
More than 270 professional arborists, landscape designers, city foresters, and tree lovers united under one roof at the 13th annual Urban Tree Summit on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. The event, held at the Silver Spring Civic Center in Silver Spring, MD, included a number of expert speakers in the forestry industry who had unique perspectives and insights to share about a number of forestry-related topics. It was co-hosted by Casey Trees and Montgomery Parks. Washington Gardener Magazine was a media sponsor of the event.
Urban Forestry’s Frontline Challenges
The first speaker was Leslie Berckes, Executive Director of the Urban and Community Forestry Society (UCFS). Berckes first discussed her background in forestry, saying that she used to work for a nonprofit in Iowa called Trees Forever, where they would employ teens to help care for trees. She now works for the UCFS, a membership-based organization that works to “build the confidence, competence, and camaraderie of all professionals who manage trees and forests to create and sustain more livable communities.”
Berckes shared interviews with some
UCFS workers, who gave insight into what it’s actually like on the frontlines. They discussed some of the challenges that urban forestry is facing, such as many people in certain areas not recognizing the value of trees, thus making it difficult for the agency’s work to get the proper support that it needs. Berckes even said that there is currently a “polycrisis.” She remains optimistic, though, saying that she does see a light at the end of the tunnel. She closed with an encouraging message for the hundreds in attendance: “We need you. You’re not alone.”
Zoning Matters
The next presentation was given by Brian Keightley and Dr. Eric Wiseman. Keightley is the Director for the Urban Forest Management Division in Fairfax County, VA, and Wiseman is an Associate Professor of Urban and Community Forestry at Virginia Tech. During their presentation, they went over the results and findings from a study they conducted that analyzed Fairfax County’s tree conservatory ordinance. The ordinance mandates that land developers fulfill specific canopy requirements within 10 years of development. It was enacted in 2009 to mitigate the environmental impact of rapid urbanization. Keightley
and Wiseman’s study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of this ordinance, as well as look into factors that contributed to the success or failures of different land developers in meeting their requirements.
One interesting finding from the study was that the percentage of parcels that met their canopy requirements varied greatly based on zone type. For example, more than 80% of residential parcels met their requirements, as opposed to only 33% of industrial parcels, given a limited sample size.
This data is very helpful because it helps the county know where to focus its energy. The study also found that parcels that tended not to meet the requirements were often smaller and more intensely developed.
The presenters ultimately concluded that while there still is room to improve, the ordinance did yield positive results. They closed by discussing the future implications of their findings and what else can be done, such as awarding credits for planting trees, implementing standards for preserving trees, and reaching their goal of achieving 60% tree canopy with at least 40% coverage in every census block by 2030, while prioritizing areas of highest socioeconomic need.
The Tree Supply Chain
The next speaker was Nancy Sonti, Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service. A main focus of Sonti’s presentation was urban tree selection, and why it’s important to make your tree selection based on your environment. She started by establishing the distinction between artificial selection, the selection of desirable traits by the breeder, and domestic selection, which combines artificial selection with decisions by nurseries, growers, load managers, and urban forestry practitioners.
Sonti shared findings from a supply chain analysis that conducted interviews across sectors to understand the motivations behind choosing specific species/cultivars to reproduce. The interviews found that superficial factors, such as aesthetics and name recognition, are key drivers in many planting decisions, and that tree diversity goals can be difficult to enforce through the somewhat convoluted network of sectors. Sonti said that based on the interviews, she believes policy initiatives could be needed to increase production and availability of certain species, and that it’s important to facilitate communication between sectors to improve understanding and overall success.
Sonti also went over a project contracted by the Chesapeake Bay Trust looked at some of the challenges facing urban tree supply, and how these challenges could be addressed. The project included a focus group that found a few main factors affecting production and purchasing are availability, tree performance/sustainability, and climate change considerations. The project concluded that some ways to overcome urban tree supply challenges are increased communication, funding/ resources, and partnerships.
Sonti closed by discussing Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources (RNGR), a team working within the USDA Forest Service to develop and deliver resources to improve plant materials for reforestation and restoration.
Stormwater Mitigation
Asia L. Dowtin, Assistant Professor of Urban Forestry with Michigan State University, talked about the ecosystem services provided by trees—mainly
stormwater mitigation. When it rains, trees are able to intercept the precipitation, which prevents flooding and helps protect the environment. Dowtin talked about the different traits of a tree that make it more or less effective at intercepting precipitation, such as shape, size, texture, roughness, etc. She also said that while precipitation interception is a valuable trait in many areas, some areas/communities, such as ones that are more susceptible to droughts, would actually want trees that would be less likely to intercept rain during storms. This is why it is important to understand what the right tree for the right area is; in other words, it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation.
Dowtin also talked about the important process of connecting community partners with natural resource managers to achieve certain ecosystem service goals. This process includes establishing relationships with community partners, identifying the community’s needs, establishing and using planting sites, collecting data, analyzing that data to create goals for future plantings, and rinse and repeat.
Dowtin concluded by emphasizing the importance of understanding different tree types, data collection about urban tree performance, and collaboration with community partners to execute urban tree planting goals.
Back to Basics
The final speaker was Richard Hauer, Director of Urban Forestry at Eocene Environmental Group and Professor Emeritus of Urban Forestry at the University of Wisconsin. Hauer talked about the importance of tree care standards. He started by describing some factors that can cause urban forests to fail, such as water supply, arboricultural practices, infrastructure conflict, and climate change. He then talked about how being thorough and up-to-date with tree care standards can help mitigate some of these issues and increase the lifespan of trees.
He discussed the ANSI A300, a set of performance standards for the care and maintenance of trees, shrubs, and other woody plants. Hauer emphasized the importance of having this set of standards because before they were
created, people did not have a guide to look to and sort of just did whatever they wanted when it came to tree care. He also talked about pruning trees, going over some of the do’s and dont’s, whether it’s really necessary, and the five systems for pruning trees.
Trees Matter
Overall, the 2024 Urban Tree Summit was an insightful and informative day that ideally left those in attendance feeling a little bit more optimistic about the future of urban forestry. Until next year!
Zachary Intrater is a senior in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. This fall semester, he is an intern at Washington Gardener Magazine
IS OUT NOW! By
Kathy Jentz
Published by Cool Springs Press Order it today at:
https://amzn.to/3IlYHYL
“Groundcover Revolution is must-have book for anyone who is interested in having less lawn, fewer weeds, and reduced mulching. The properties charts will save the reader time and money, the pictures provide inspiration, while the detailed plant portraits give the focused information needed for creating beautiful, functional landscapes.”
―C.L. Fornari, GardenLady.com
From Wasteland to Wonder: Easy Ways We Can Heal Earth in the Sub/Urban Landscape
Author: Basil Camu
Publisher: Leaf & Limb
List Price: Free/$10.75
Order Links: https://www.leaflimb.com/ wonder/
Reviewer: Zachary Intrater
In From Wasteland to Wonder, author Basil Camu goes over how our current environmental practices are unsustainably damaging to the Earth and need to be changed.
He opens with an introduction section where he explains how he became so passionate about this topic. He writes that when he began working for his dad’s company, Leaf & Limb Tree Service, his goals were essentially just to make money by chopping down trees. As he learned more about the complexity of trees and soil, he realized their importance to the planet and decided to transform Leaf & Limb from a company that cuts down trees, to a company that cares for them.
The book is broken up into five sections, the first of which is entitled “Four Fun Essays About Healthy Natural Systems.” This section is meant to serve as informative context about environmental processes and systems such as photosynthesis and soil formation for later sections in the book when Camu elaborates on these topics.
The essays in this section serve their purpose beautifully, providing a fundamental explanation and background of these processes in a way that is eas-
ily understandable to a beginner and helps them follow along later in the book.
The second section is “Four NotSo-Fun Essay About Broken Natural Systems.” In this section, Camu continues talking about the systems that he discussed in Section One, but now he explains how humans are damaging these systems and hurting the Earth. Some of the negative things that he discusses in this section are how we are destroying forests and grasslands, turning soil back into dirt, and releasing carbon back into the atmosphere.
While this section of the book is a tad depressing, it is also super-important, because you need to understand the damage that we’re doing as humans to understand why it’s so important that we start making some changes. Similar to the previous section, Camu does a great job of taking some complex processes and explaining them in simple terms to provide the reader with a solid basic understanding of them.
In the next section, “Fast & Easy Ways to Help Heal Earth,” Camu goes over a number of different things that we as individuals and as a society can do to help heal our planet and combat some of the negative actions that were discussed in Section Two. He starts with an obvious one: planting trees. Camu specifically talks about planting saplings, which he explains are a good option due to their low carbon footprint, cheap cost, and ideal root structure. He goes into detail, providing tips for planting saplings and step-bystep instructions for the whole process, from assessing growing conditions all the way to caring for the tree after it’s been planted.
In addition to planting trees, other things we can do to help the planet, according to Camu, are saving existing trees, retaining all organic matter; creating specialized houses to help bats, birds, and pollinators; turning off exterior lights; no longer using harmful chemicals; and more. This section is probably the most important one in the entire book, because it is where the reader can learn what it is exactly that they can do to make a difference.
In the fourth section, “More Powerful Ways to Help Heal Earth,” Camu
expands on the previous section, providing two more ways that we can help the planet. The first is by replacing lawns, which he describes as “ecological disasters,” with meadows from seed. He starts by sharing some scary facts about the effects that lawns have on the environment, such as how onethird of all annual water use in the sub/ urban landscape in the United States is used to water our lawns, and that we use an estimated 1.2 billion gallons of gas every year to tend to the sub/urban landscape. He explains that meadows are a much more eco-friendly alternative, due to their deep roots that build rich soil, their resilience in the face of drought and damaging pests, and the fact that they don’t need to be irrigated, fertilized, aerated, or sprayed with any chemicals. Camu then provides step-by-step instructions for growing meadows from seed. The next piece of advice that Camu offers in this section is to plant pocket forests, which are small, densely planted areas of trees and shrubs that mimic the structure of a natural forest. Camu offers some of the benefits of pocket forests, such as their lower need for resources and their greater resilience and stability. He then provides step-by-step instructions for planting a pocket forest.
In the final section of the book, entitled “Lead & Inspire Communities to Help Heal Earth,” Camu introduces the readers to Project Pando—a nonprofit organization by Leaf & Limb that connects people with trees to help heal the planet. Camu explains that through his experiences working with non-profit tree-planting organizations, he noticed that a main challenge for these organizations is budget restrictions, which limits their ability to plant trees. This caused Camu to want to start his own non-profit that grows trees for these organizations for free. He also found that a challenge for many tree-planting non-profits is that the technical expertise required to plant traditional nursery trees also limits planting efforts. So with Project Pando, they focus on planting saplings, which require less technical expertise and are better for the environment.
Overall, this book is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to do their
part in helping heal the planet. Camu does a great job of explaining some of the specific issues with current environmental practices in a manner that is thorough yet easily digestible, while also providing solutions. Another great thing about this book is that all of the potential solutions and recommendations that Camu offers are things that can be easily done by your average reader. From Wasteland to Wonder is practical, informative, and useful—do yourself and our planet a favor, and give it a read! o
Zachary Intrater is a senior in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. This fall semester, he is an intern at Washington Gardener Magazine
The
Garden Against Time: In
Search
of a Common Paradise
Author: Olivia Laing
Publisher: W.W. Norton and Company Order Link: https://amzn.to/404y2sH and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9780393882001
List Price: $27.99
Reviewer: Beth Py-Lieberman
In January of 2020, Olivia Laing, a British essayist, novelist, and memoirist, discovered a Suffolk home with an abandoned garden formerly owned by designer Mark Rumary, known for his work at the award-winning nursery Notcutts. Laing had recently married poet Ian Patterson; and their combined income afforded the third-of-an-acre property, located about two-and-a-halfhours northeast of London.
That month would kick off a year of universal anxiety. Its hallmarks included the onslaught of the pandemic, the steady drumbeat of Brexit isolationism, and the racism and hate that dripped from the lips of a U.S. president. This was the backdrop for Laing’s own counter progressive musings and meanderings in The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise
In this magnificent read, essays featuring a vast tapestry of classic literature, the decorative arts, and histories both classic and contemporary are set against Laing’s own hard labors to rediscover Rumary’s horticultural vision.
“I would restore [the garden],” Laing
writes, “but I would also trace how it had intersected with history, as even the smallest garden invariably must, since every plant is a traveler in space and time.” The garden would serve as refuge at a point of urgency, “poised on the hinge of history, living in the era of mass extinction, the catastrophic endgame of humanity’s relationship with the natural world.”
Laing, who is in her 40s and goes by the pronouns of she and they, had never owned a garden; and yet, was experienced having gardened all their life, but always under the threat of having to move on from one rental to another. Their divorced parents shared custody and Laing’s father’s visits always included trips throughout the countryside to various National Trust manors and estates.
Like nearly every child, Laing read Francis Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden and took visionary guidance from the notion that something spectacular lurked just beyond that mysterious door in the wall.
When Laing took possession of the 18th-century, three-bedroom home in that gloomy year, the garden was where they went first. “As soon as we got the keys, I went straight into the garden,” Laing writes. Four themed garden “rooms” contained a Moorishstyle raised lily pond; a 400-year-old mulberry; two figs that grew from cuttings taken at Sissinghurst Castle, home of the poet Vita Sackville-West; and a Japanese laurel that had grown up from a cutting taken from Chopin’s
grave in a Paris cemetery. The garden had been neglected by the former owners, so grass strangled the hellebores and bindweed grew up the crumbling brick walls. A greenhouse in disrepair was filled with the remnants of dead tomato seedlings.
“I stripped the greenhouse, hauling ancient pots and bags of compost onto the grass…I scrubbed the staging and stowed my tools,” Laing writes. Rumary’s “cobwebbed gardening apron” still hung on a hook in the potting shed. Now, like the sickly and jaundiced Mary Lennox, Laing was a guest in a secret garden.
Laing is an accomplished and awardwinning author, whose works include the 2018 novel Crudo, the 2011 To the River, the 2013 The Trip to Echo Spring, and the 2016 The Lonely City, among others. They have written art and cultural criticism for the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Financial Times, along with a host of catalogue essays about Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin, Derek Jarman, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Chantal Joffe.
Jarman, an avant-guard British film director and activist, who died of AIDs in 1994, is a spirit guide for Laing. Jarman left London in 1986 after his diagnosis, to live as a gardener and bon vivant on a craggy Kent coastline at Dungeness. His 1991 diary Modern Nature was foundational for Laing. From its pages, they wrote: “I developed a sense of what it meant to be an artist, to be political, even how to plant a garden (playfully, stubbornly, ignoring boundaries, collaborating freely).”
Laing surmises they had read Jarman’s book “at least 20 times” and now took it up again, “reading under the magnolia, which cast rippling shadows across the pages.”
Gardens are the through line in this chronicle of rebuilding one, but significantly, Laing is searching for the backstory of the garden and its many origins. One nearby estate is Shrubland Hall, built from the riches acquired off the backs of the brutally enslaved. The multigenerational Middletons prospered in the slave trade as they landscaped their English manor to include long sweeping vistas from the front porch of their home. Their vast exclu-
sive parkland and landscapes were, as Laing points out, a “garden of empire.”
Laing brings their own wide-ranging perspective to a host of stories and gardens in this complex read, from the Biblical Eden to the Persian origins of the word “paradise.” She revisits Milton’s Paradise Lost and returns to W.J. Sebald’s travel memoir The Rings of Saturn. Laing’s own youth was spent as an outcast after their mother’s lesbian relationship was outed and the family had to leave town seeking refuge from the onslaught of hateful abuse.
Essays in this book seek to understand the heritage, both historic and cultural, of land ownership, while sharing stories at the intersection of the sublime and the sinister. Take, for example, a perambulation through London’s post-World War II years as the city recovered from war-time bombings, when wild flowers grew up in burnt-out buildings, seemingly as a sentinel for hope.
Every chapter proves new territory for those not steeped in British history, with fascinating accounts of 19thcentury poet John Clare and designer William Morris, among others. Laing believes that access to common lands is a birthright and writes immersively about the powerful land grab that began in the early 18th century as Britain privatized more than five million acres of commonly shared lands under the legal auspices of the parliamentary enclosure laws.
Laing is soon to offer a companion volume, A Garden Manifesto, that they have edited with Richard Porter, answering the question: “What do gardens mean and how can they change the world?”
The garden, Laing writes, is “inescapably political.” o
Beth Py-Lieberman is the author of the 2023 book The Object at Hand: Intriguing and Inspiring Stories from the Smithsonian Collections. Until her retirement in December, Py-Lieberman served as senior museums editor at the award-winning Smithsonian magazine. Over a 37-yearcareer, she frequented the halls and galleries of the Smithsonian museums, educating readers about their history, art, and science collections, and exhibitions.
Butterflies of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia: A Field Guide
Authors: Harry E. LeGrand, Jr., Jeffrey S. Pippen, Derb S. Carter Jr., and Pierre Howard
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
List Price: $35.00
Order Links: https://amzn.to/409hU9b and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781469678566
Reviewer: Carol Allen
If you grew up using the Peterson Field Guides or Audubon Society field guides, this it-takes-two-hands-to-hold volume will seem like something for the library only. It will slip into a mediumsized back-pack, so you could take it into the field, if for no more reason than the exquisitely detailed butterfly descriptions. Is it of conservation concern? What are some similar species? What is the flight period? And the coup de grace: a county-by-county map of its occurrence.
There are 184 butterflies covered in this guide of the 202 different species that are found in the four-state southeast region of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. This represents one-quarter of the butterflies found in the lower 48 states. To bring this wealth of knowledge to one publication involved the efforts of hundreds of butterfly enthusiasts, working under the guidance of the team of the authors and their associates.
It might not surprise some naturalists, but butterfly watching is the upand-coming activity, right along with
bird-watching. This is the other valuable attribute of this book. The first 40 pages dive into not just a detailed anatomy of the species included, but also a guide to finding, observing, studying, and attracting these beauties.
This book is a pure pleasure to explore but it makes me sad. I live in Maryland! o
Carol Allen describes herself as a committable plant-a-holic. She has more than 25 years’ experience in the horticulture industry, with a special interest in plant pests and diseases; is a Licensed Pesticide Applicator in the state of Maryland; and is an ISACertified Arborist. She can be contacted at carolallen@erols.com.
New Nordic Gardens: Scandinavian Landscape Design
Author: Annika Zetterman
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
List Price: $35.00
Order Links: https://amzn.to/3YsPvtw and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9780500296141
Reviewer: Nancy Eyl
New Nordic Gardens: Scandinavian Landscape Design by Annika Zetterman is a 280-page coffee table book that was first published in 2017 by Thames and Hudson. It was printed in China and came out in paperback in 2021. Each of the nine chapters is supposed to explain one distinct characteristic of Scandinavian design and show how the characteristic is applied in contemporary garden design and outdoor composition. Chapter titles are Simple, Silent, Fragile, Pale, Naked, Attuned, Bold, Open, and Caring.
One positive aspect of this book is that most of the 291 photos are pretty, soothing, and interesting. Most of the illustrations and photos are by the author’s firm, Zetterman Garden Design, but there are also photos of designs by 28 other Scandinavian designers. In addition to photos of plants, trees, grasses, and flowers, the author includes photos of contemporary architecture, water features, walkways, and sculptures. The photos of gardens by the water’s edge are particularly lovely.
However, a curious gardener might not be satisfied because the captions for the photos usually leave out details.
There is a plant listing at the back, but the page numbers do not always correspond accurately. I wished for more details about the specific plants featured.
I found the text of the book slightly difficult to read. From a physical standpoint, the type size is not only small, but also is light gray. In addition, there is quite a bit of white space on the page. Rather than using the space to make the type size larger, there are half pages that are essentially blank. As for the content, I could not “get into” the text for some reason. Maybe because it is a coffee table book, not meant to instruct or inform, but rather meant for readers to browse.
The author explains that the book is the result of an idea she had for more than 10 years working as a garden designer in Sweden and abroad. It seems that she has showcased her favorite garden designs and wishes to convey the simple Scandinavian style. While I do like the photos, I do not know how much value this book offers to fellow gardeners in the Mid-Atlantic region o
Nancy Eyl is a lawyer by day and avid gardener on the weekends. She lives in Takoma Park, MD, and works in Washington, DC.
The Garlic Companion: Recipes, Crafts, Preservation Techniques, and Simple Ways to Grow Your Own
Author: Kristin Graves
Publisher: Storey Publishing List Price: $26.00
Order Links: https://amzn.to/4eZWgZu and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781635866865
Reviewer: Tony Sarmiento
It’s time to plant garlic! This handsome, engaging book was released in
September 2024, just in time to inspire novice gardeners and nongardeners alike to put some cloves in the ground. Remember those survey courses you took in college? This book provides a broad introduction, especially if you have little or no prior knowledge about or experience with garlic.
Author Kristin Graves left her career in health care and returned to her fifth-generation family farm in Alberta, Canada, to grow vegetables and herbs. She now grows more than 75,000 garlic bulbs. In the preface, Graves aptly describes the goal of her book: “My love for garlic has only deepened… I hope to ignite that same enthusiasm in you through recipes featuring fun, new methods of cooking with garlic; gardening advice for those who want to grow their own; and more ideas for sharing the beauty of garlic with family and friends. I invite you to join me on this journey!”
and primarily folklore. Probably the best online resource of research-based recommendations is the garlic page of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture. On Facebook, the Friends of Garlic is worth following.
Like a good survey course, The Garlic Companion strives to persuade you to learn and do more with garlic. Every two-page spread has at least one fullcolor photograph to illustrate the text.
The initial brief chapter describes garlic’s social history and folklore, garlic festivals, and the types/varieties of garlic. The second chapter is 85 pages of sweet as well as savory recipes, 36 in all, most requiring only a handful of ingredients. The third chapter describes how to make various garlic crafts, including soft- and hardneck garlic braids, wreaths, and a tied garlic crown. The final two chapters (about a quarter of the book) explains how to cultivate, harvest, and preserve a garlic crop.
After completing this survey course on garlic, you’re likely to want to pursue a specific topic and learn more about it, probably online. You’ll find many garlic recipes on the Internet. Similarly, Google will link you to an abundance of guidance about garlic growing and cultivation, but much is not evidence-based
Readers looking for a beautiful, well-researched, in-depth and comprehensive reference book on garlic should consider Ted Jordan Meredith’s The Complete Book of Garlic: A Guide for Gardeners, Growers, and Serious Cooks (2008, Timber Press, 332 pages). Like The Garlic Companion, The Complete Book of Garlic includes beautiful photographs, but contains no recipes. Instead, Meredith devotes a chapter on garlic as a cooking ingredient and another chapter on garlic’s therapeutic value. Nearly three-quarters of the book focuses on cultivation, cultivar varieties, and other botanical aspects of garlic.
As dedicated lovers of the “stinking rose” know, there is much to learn and yet to be learned about garlic. For instance, are there really hundreds of varieties or just hundreds of names for less than a dozen cultivars? For more about this topic, it’s worth reading the following scientific article—with an intimidating title: “Phenotypic Characteristics of 10 Garlic Cultivars Grown at Different North American Locations,” by Gayle Volk and David Stern (2009).
Thanks to authors and enthusiasts like Graves and Meredith (and Ron Engeland and Lloyd Harris, who preceded them more than 30 years ago), our scientific knowledge about garlic is growing, along with the number of students seeking to learn more about our favorite allium o
Tony Sarmiento was tagged as a “garlic guru” by the Washington Post in 2018. A full-time pensioner, he currently serves on the board of the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming, which operates the only urban farm in Montgomery County, MD, in downtown Silver Spring.
Pretty in Purple: American Pokeweed
By Rick Borchelt
We’re all familiar with the phrase “the tip of the iceberg” to denote something the true magnitude of which is out of sight. But Washington-area gardeners might well have a different spin: the tip of the pokeweed.
In early autumn in our area, American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is at its most majestic—a six-foot-tall or better perennial herb, as wide as it is tall, thick red stems festooned with drooping racemes of purple-black berries. Impressive as these towering stalks might be, the bulk—literally—of pokeweed is below ground, and that’s what makes pokeweed such a challenge as a weed in the yard or garden.
As we’ve noted before, not all weeds are introduced foreigners; many are native plants that grow best under the same conditions that our gardens do— open ground, friable soil, abundant light, and little competition from grass. Weeds are often the first pioneers to move in after a fire, heavy grazing, or cultivation. Pokeweed is no exception.
You may not even notice it the first year among your plantings. It’s a modest seedling with bright-green leaves and pink stems, content to simply throw out a few leaves and perhaps a flowering stem or two the first year. Under the soil is another matter entirely.
Within just a month of germinating, the slender taproot of pokeweed is already thickening into a gargantuan rootstock that, after a few years, can be a foot or more long and as big around as a weight-lifter’s arm. A root that big can throw up a massive pokeweed the size
of a small tree, producing 7,000 or more berries every year.
All parts of Phytolacca americana are poisonous to human and this toxin load may seem at odds with pokeweed’s popularity as an early-spring edible herb, a popularity that gave rise to such common monikers as poke salad (or sallet), poor man’s asparagus, and Indian greens. Colonists learned from indigenous peoples, though, that it was only the very early spring growth that was edible, and even then, only after being boiled and drained twice to remove the toxins.
Many gardeners like the look of pokeweed in the garden. I confess I do, too, in moderation. The leaves, up to a foot long, are deep green against the purple-red stems, and the glistening black fruit clusters are striking against the yellows and reds that dominate the fall garden palette.
weed was pigeon berry, since it figured so prominently in the diets of the (now extinct) passenger pigeon. Today, mockingbirds and catbirds especially relish the berries, as do migrating thrushes. These same birds have an unerring ability to poop out the seeds afterward in the most inaccessible places in my yard, where they germinate with abandon. Bird droppings in my neighborhood this time of year have a decidedly purple tinge to them.
The purple stain is what gives the plant its Latin name, phyto for leaf and lacca for the color of a brilliant red dye derived from the scale insect, Kerria lacca
The berries can be crushed to make a fuschia-colored dye much admired by weavers, since it requires only vinegar to make the dye stable (or fixed). But take care with the toxic berries, especially when kids are around, and wear gloves to avoid excessive skin contact.
The best time to get rid of pokeweed is before those roots start to bulk up. The seedlings are easy to smother in mulch, or die when the soil is raked or hoed. But after as little as two months or so of photosynthesizing, there’s already enough root built up to sprout again and again even, when the top of the plant is chopped off.
European gardeners were quick to import this showy American perennial for their gardens, and it’s quickly become a nuisance in the Continental countryside. Birds certainly agree that pokeweed can be desirable in the garden; the toxins seem specific to mammals, and pokeweed berries seldom last long in my yard if I somehow fail in my horticultural duty to cut down the stalks before they fruit. Another early common name for poke-
More desperate measures are then required. You can be aggressive in cutting the stalks down as soon as they emerge in the spring, and continuing to cut them off during the season before they can deliver much food to the roots. You also can dig them out, being sure to get as much of the root as possible or new plants will continue to spring up. You can also dig out the roots and plant them in pots that you leave in an unheated garage or shed for the winter. Come spring, you’ll have a ready source of poke greens! o
Rick Borchelt is a botanist and science writer who gardens and writes about natural history at his home in College Park. Reach him with weed ID questions at rborchelt@gmail.com.
Pokeweed can be a pleasing addition to the autumn plant palette…in moderation. Photo credit: Oakland Co., MI.
Pokeweed is easiest to eradicate as young seedlings. Photo credit: Rick Borchelt.
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MARCH/APRIL 2005
• Landscape DIY vs. Pro
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MAY/JUNE 2005
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JULY/AUGUST 2005
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006
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MARCH/APRIL 2006
• Top 10 Small Trees and Large Shrubs
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MAY/JUNE 2006
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JULY/AUGUST 2006
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007
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MARCH/APRIL 2007
• Stormwater Management
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MAY/JUNE 2007
• Roses: Easy Care Tips
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JULY/AUGUST 2007
• Groundcovers: Alternatives to Turfgrass
• How to Pinch, Prune, & Dead-head
• William Paca House & Gardens
• Hardy Geraniums
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2007
• Succulents: Hardy to our Region
• Drought-Tolerant Natives
• Southern Vegetables
• Seed Saving Savvy Tips
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007
• Gardening with Children
• Indoor Bulb-Forcing Basics
• National Museum of the American Indian
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
• Dealing with Deer
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MARCH/APRIL 2008
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MAY/JUNE 2008
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SUMMER 2009
• Grow Grapes in the Mid- Atlantic
• Passionflowers
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FALL 2009
• Apples
• How to Save Tomato Seeds
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WINTER 2009
• Battling Garden Thugs
• How to Start Seeds Indoors
• Red Twig Dogwoods
• Unusual Edibles to Grow in Our Region
SPRING 2010
• Community Gardens
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• Dwar f Iris
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SUMMER 2010
• Fragrance Gardens
• Watering Without Waste
• Lavender
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FALL 2010
• Vines and Climbers
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• Russian Sage
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WINTER 2010
• Paths and Walkways
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SPRING 2011
• Cutting-Edge Gardens
• Final Frost Dates and When to Plant
• Bleeding Hearts
• Onions
• Flavorful Fruiting Natives
JULY/AUGUST 2008
• Landscaping with Ornamental Grasses
• Edible Grasses to Graze On
• Slug and Snail Control
• Sage Advice: Sun-Loving Salvias
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008
• Autumn Edibles — What to Plant Now
• Beguiling Barrenworts (Epimediums)
• Best Time to Plant Spring-blooming Bulbs
• 14 Dry Shade Plants Too Good to Overlook
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008
• Outdoor Lighting Essentials
• How to Prune Fruiting Trees, Shrubs, Vines
• 5 Top Tips for Overwintering Tender Bulbs
• Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009
• Compost Happens: Nature’s Free Fertilizer
• Managing Stormwater with a Rain Garden
• Visiting Virginia’s State Arboretum
• Grow Winter Hazel for Winter Color
MARCH/APRIL 2009
SUMMER 2011
• Ornamental Edibles
• Urban Foraging
• Amsonia/Arkansas Blue Star
• Growing Corn in the Mid-Atlantic
FALL 2011
• Herb Gardens
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WINTER 2011/EARLY SPRING 2012
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SPRING 2012
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SUMMER 2012
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MAY/JUNE 2009
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• Salad Table Project
• Grow and Enjoy Eggplant
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WINTER/EARLY SPRING 2014
• Ferns for the Mid-Atlantic
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Jentz Prints
Antique Botanical Prints for the decorator, collector, connoisseur, and art lover.
Jentz Prints can be purchased most weekends (weather-dependent) at the world-famous Eastern Market.
Antique prints are affordable—most in the $10-$30 range—and they are the perfect gift idea for that plant lover in your life. And don’t forget to buy a few for yourself!
For more information or to get a detailed show schedule, please contact Jentz Prints by email at UllrichJ@aol.com.