Washington Gardener November 2017 by Kathy J

NOVEMBER 2017 VOL. 12 NO. 9

WWW.WASHINGTONGARDENER.COM

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gardener

tthe magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

Scary Tales about the Spotted Lanternfly Latest Research Findings in Urban Forestry How to Prepare a New Bed Using the No-till Method

Plant Swap Finds Can Bring Home Noxious Weeds

Your Garden Task List Tips for Growing Amaryllis DC-MD-VA Gardening Events Calendar

Brushing Up on

Meet Filmmaker Karyl Evans

Brussels Sprouts

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RESOURCESsourc

Need a Garden Club Speaker?

Washington Gardener Magazine’s staff and writers are available to speak to groups and garden clubs in the greater DC region. Call 301.588.6894 or email KathyJentz@gmail.com for available dates, rates, and topics.

RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL PLANTS FOR THE DISCRIMINATING GARDENER AND COLLECTOR

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Barry Glick Sunshine Farm and Gardens 696 Glicks Road Renick, WV 24966, USA Email: barry@sunfarm.com

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www.sunfarm.com

Green Spring Gardens

www.greenspring.org

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WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017

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.

INSIDEcontents

FEATURES and COLUMNS

Corydalis incisa photo by Christina Andruk. The rose-purple flowers and deeply toothed leaves distinguish incised fumewort from its close relatives. Beware of this pass-along plant —it can become a garden thug as the pods explode and spread seeds.

Win a copy of Jessica Walliser’s Container Gardening Complete. See contest details on page 8.

Karyl Evans signs a DVD of her new documentary film, The Life and Gardens of BEATRIX FARRAND, at a recent screening and talk at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

David Austin English Rose ‘Bathsheba’ is a vigorous climbing rose with big, beautiful, apricot-colored flowers. It is David Austin’s first new apricot-hued climber in 20 years. Its strong myrrh fragrance has a warm floral character with hints of honey and tea. It blooms repeatedly from early summer until frost. Each shallowly cupped rosette is densely packed with up to 170 petals. Photo courtesy of David Austin Roses Ltd.

ASKTHEexpert 17 Damaged Tree Bark; Lemon Tree Woes; Cucumber Beetle BOOKreviews 12-13 Fairy Houses; Mini Bonsai; Perennials; Foliage First; Naturalist Notebook EDIBLEharvest 16 Brussels Sprouts Basics HORThappenings 22 Urban Ag Summit; Garlic Planting; MD Home Show INSECTindex 20 Spotted Lanternfly NEWPLANTspotlight 11 David Austin English Roses NEIGHBORnetwork 5-7 Karyl Evans SPECIALfeature 18-19 Trees Matter Symposium TIPStricks 10 No-till New Beds; National Ag Library Affiliation; Amaryllis Tips WEEDwatch 15 Corydalis incisa

DEPARTMENTS

ADVERTISINGindex BLOGlinks EDITORletter GARDENcontest LOCALevents MONTHLYtasklist NEXTissue READERreactions RESOURCESsources

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ON THE COVER

Organic Brussels sprouts from Home Farm Nacton. Photo by Nick Saltmarsh, London, UK [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

In our December 2017 issue:

Growing Cypress Trees A Visit to Tregaron and much more...

If your business would like to reach area gardeners, be sure to contact us by December 10 so you can be part of the next issue of our growing publication! Be sure you are subscribed! Click on the “subscribe” link at http://washingtongardener. blogspot.com/ NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

EDITORletter

Credits Kathy Jentz Editor/Publisher & Advertising Sales Washington Gardener 826 Philadelphia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: 301-588-6894 kathyjentz@gmail.com www.washingtongardener.com Call today to place your ad with us! Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Proofreader Maeve Dunigan, Uyen Nguyen, and Nicole Reisinger Interns Cover price: $4.99 Back issues: $6.00 Subscription: $20.00 The wedding reception of KC Kelly and Llewellyn McIntyre in Wheaton, MD.

Your editor posing in a giant bird’s nest in the Washington Youth Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum during the recent Garlic Planting Party event.

A Hidden World Revealed

As the leaves drop off the trees and the freezing temps shrivel up my perennial foliage, things are slowly revealed in my garden. I found an American Robin’s nest in the crook of a branch, mere inches from a pedestrian call button on my busy street corner. Now open and naked to the world, I cannot believe it existed in such a hidden, yet exposed, location. This might be the same Robin who follows my weeding and planting efforts—staying just inches from my heels—waiting impatiently to dive onto any revealed worms. I cut the base of a English ivy vine that was snaking up an oak tree. A few weeks later, the top of the vine started to thin out and die back. I looked up to check its progress and saw several pairs of eyes staring back at me. A raccoon family was none to happy about my exposure of their once-sheltered tree spot. Cleaning out my community garden plot, I found the unmistakable fluffs of rabbit fur. A mom bunny had made a cozy little den in the midst of my Asparagus patch. That explains the repeated nibbling-to-death of all my green bean seedlings! They say there is a hidden world beneath our feet in the soil, but that is only the tip of the wildlife habitats and secret worlds all around us. Happy gardening!

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

WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017

Address corrections should be sent to the address above. • Washington Gardener Blog: www.washingtongardener.blogspot.com • Washington Gardener Archives: http://issuu.com/washingtongardener • Washington Gardener Discussion Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ WashingtonGardener/ • Washington Gardener Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/WDCGardener • Washington Gardener Facebook Page: facebook.com/ WashingtonGardenerMagazine • Washington Gardener is a womanowned business. We are proud to be members of: · Garden Writers Association · DC Web Women · Green America Magazine Leaders Network · Green America Business Network To order reprints, contact Wright’s Reprints at 877.652.5295, ext. 138. Volume 12, Number 9 ISSN 1555-8959 © 2017 Washington Gardener All rights reserved. Published quarterly. 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.

NEIGHBORnwork and her knowledge of plants was exceptional. She was also innovative in her field; building plant nurseries on university campuses to help them save money; designing college campuses with educational benefits in mind and with restraint—using mostly trees and grass to allow students to actually use campus green spaces; and using native plants when possible along with highlighting the natural ecology of the site. Beatrix Farrand’s career is impressive and inspiring. She is also a compelling figure in a very personal way. My mother was a plant geneticist, trained at Cornell in the early 1950s, when it was very rare for a woman to be working in that field. My undergraduate degree was in horticulture with an emphasis in landscape architecture and then I earned a master’s degree in filmmaking. Most of my peers were men when I was a television producer and director in California in the early 1980s. Farrand became a landscape architect in the 1890s, when very few women worked in that profession and was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects— the only woman in the group. I admire her for her courage and tenacity and for succeeding so completely in the field she wanted to work in, refusing to be shut out because she was a woman.

Meet Filmmaker Karyl Evans By Maeve Dunigan

Karyl Evans is a six-time Emmy Awardwinning documentary filmmaker whose documentary, The Life and Gardens of BEATRIX FARRAND, became the first documentary ever produced about female landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. The documentary follows Farrand’s life and takes viewers on a captivating journey through her greatest works. In late October, Evans visited Washington, DC’s National Building Museum where she spoke about her work at a screening of The Life and Gardens of BEATRIX FARRAND. After the event, Washington Gardener staff asked the filmmaker about her craft, her inspiration, and her time in Washington, DC.

Why do you find Beatrix Farrand to be so captivating and inspiring? Beatrix Farrand’s landscape design work is exquisite—she was brilliant at her chosen profession. Nearly a century after she began her work at Dumbarton Oaks [in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC], people are still restoring her gardens, studying her designs, writing books about her work, and making movies about her. So what is all the fuss about? Farrand was passionate about her work; she was highly educated—arranging for her own education at Harvard and Columbia, and traveling to Europe to study landscape architecture. Her eye for design was extraordinary; she knew how to work with her clients and meet their needs,

What makes Beatrix Farrand’s story especially suited to a documentary format? A documentary film is a visual medium. Beatrix Farrand’s landscape architecture work is stunning in its visual intensity—her extant restored gardens, historic photographs of her past gardens, her detailed design plans, and the drawings and watercolor paintings of her commissions all work together with narration, sound effects, and music to present a visually compelling documentary film. Describe your process when crafting this documentary—what were the most challenging aspects? When crafting a documentary, the first element is the story—is there a compelling story? And with Farrand, it was a definite “yes.” She was a woman who, against all odds, managed not only to NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

NEIGHBORnwork work in a profession not open to women in her day, but she also ran a highly successful business employing three to seven women over the course of about 50 years with 200 commissions. Next, are there visual elements available for a documentary? The answer to this question was another “yes, definitely.” Her extant gardens today, photographs of her gardens in the past, and countless books and articles about her and written by her are all available. I have been making historical documentary films for over 30 years and have six Emmy Awards for my work, among many other awards, so the actual making of the film was not difficult for me professionally. The most challenging part of this particular project was the fact that I had no funding to make this film so I took no salary for making the film for three years and I paid cash out-of-pocket for all the expenses associated with the project myself. For the images of Farrand’s surviving gardens and other sites related to her, I traveled from Maine to California to Washington, DC, and around the country to various archives. Then I had to pay for all the rights for all the visuals for the film. At the end of the process, I was lucky enough to have the Beatrix Farrand Society give me some finishing funds to help defray the cost of some of the rights to use the images in the film, so I could actually show the film publicly. I also paid for a composer to write an original score and sound recording time to record the narration. I also commissioned an image of Beatrix Farrand to use for the film, as well as many other costs, so I would say lack of funding was my biggest challenge. I now have a website, BeatrixFarrandDocumentary.com, where people can donate to my on-going research of documenting Beatrix Farrand gardens, buy DVDs, and schedule screenings of 6

WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017

offices to learn as much as she could about how the office was run and organized, and then incorporated that information into running her own business. At the peak of her career, she had an assistant at each of her three offices, one in New York City, one in her Bar Harbor office, and during her California years, she had an assistant running her California office. Then she had designers who would be assigned various tasks to keep projects moving forward when she was working on multiple projects. Farrand was also a living role model for other women who wanted to pursue landscape architecture as a profession. When society said women were not capable of working in the landscape architecture profession, she was the role model. my film, all of which helps support my work. What is the message you hope people walk away with after viewing the documentary? Women are smart, creative, ambitious, and capable of doing whatever they choose to do and Beatrix Farrand is a great example of that fact. Her work as a landscape architect was extraordinary and the proof of that is that people are still maintaining, reviving, and studying her work today. Her work is beautiful and timeless and still worth restoring and studying today. In what ways do you think Farrand paved the way for female businesswomen living during her time? One of the things that separate Farrand from some of the other female landscape architects who worked around the same time is that Farrand ran a professional office much like professional landscape architect offices are run today. She had visited the Olmsted

You mentioned that you lived in DC for a time. What were your favorite aspects of living in the area? Living in Washington, DC, as a graduate student in filmmaking and journalism was very exciting for me. I was an intern with Daniel Schorr at CNN, so my work felt significant and important. I was assigned to go to a wide variety of events, including press briefings at the White House. I also attended the opening of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the [National] Mall, which was a memorable experience. For a graduate student, Washington, DC, was a very exciting place—I felt like I was in the very center of our country. What makes Dumbarton Oaks one of the most outstanding residences and gardens in the region? When you visit the gardens at Dumbarton Oaks, you instinctively know you are looking at a masterwork. When you look at the old photographs of the hilly topography before the gardens were built, the blank slate Beatrix Farrand

NEIGHBORnwork had to work with, you realize she had to envision all of the land contouring, hardscaping, and transitions between gardens before anything was there. After she designed all of the varied “rooms” of the garden based on the land contours and the needs of the client, she also had to figure out what should be planted, keeping in mind their blooming times as well as their eventual height, texture, color, and growth patterns. She did all this while keeping in mind her overall philosophy of designing more formal gardens closer to the house and allowing the formal gardens to gracefully transition into more naturalistic gardens further out from the house. When I was conducting researching at the Beatrix Farrand Archives at the University of California at Berkeley, where all her plans for Dumbarton Oaks are preserved, there were hundreds of detailed drawings for this property—she designed all the seating, the sculptures throughout the garden, the iron work, terraces, stairs, fountains, gates, even the brick patterns for the paths; really every element of this garden was designed by Beatrix Farrand, which is awe-inspiring. In the years after she retired from her consulting work at Dumbarton Oaks, subsequent landscape architects have changed some of her work, but the great majority of the garden design visitors see today is still the work of Beatrix Farrand. The complexity, sheer beauty, and mastery of her art take your breath away!

film, “The Life and Garden of BEATRIX FARRAND,” or by making stand-alone documentary films about them. This seems like a particularly fitting idea to do with Dumbarton Oaks, which deserves its own documentary because it has a wonderful story to tell about the Bliss family and Beatrix Farrand. As a Yale Fellow, I have a great deal of interest in Farrand’s work at Yale. I am working with a group on campus to promote the idea of restoring some of her gardens on campus or, at the very least, commemorating her work on campus. I have recently been hired by Yale University to produce a short documentary about Farrand’s work at Yale, which will be used to educate people about Farrand’s work on campus. In addition, my longer film on Farrand has been used by the Yale Planning Department to help campus planners better understand the significance of Farrand’s work on campus. Because video is such an effective educational tool, I hope to get my current film out to as many people as I can—to garden clubs, chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects, libraries, and students of landscape architecture. I would also

like to find the funding to document as many Farrand gardens as I can around the country as well as her one commission in England. I would like to produce films about all of the current locations that have extant Farrand gardens. In that process of research and discovery, much more will be learned about each Farrand garden site that will help illuminate the genius of Beatrix Farrand. Eventually, I would like to produce an “American Masters” episode for PBS about Beatrix Farrand because she deserves the designation—“American Master.” Her contributions to the landscape architecture profession should not be lost, and I would like to be part of the effort to document her contributions to the field of landscape architecture. o Maeve Dunigan is a senior multiplatform journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park. In the past, she has worked in science journalism and as an intern for the University of Maryland’s Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, and studied media abroad at The Hague University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands. This autumn, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

Y ou Can Make a Difference. . . by

Sharing Your Harvest

Going forward, how do you want to continue your work with Beatrix Farrand? This is the first-ever documentary produced about the life and gardens of Beatrix Farrand. I have completed a good, comprehensive, 40-minute documentary film, that is a survey of much of Farrand’s most-interesting work, but there are dozens more Farranddesigned gardens to locate, research, document, and make films about to help people become more aware of her work. This could be done by either incorporating these newly documented gardens into the current edition of my

Plant an extra row in your garden and deliver the harvest to a local food bank or shelter. The need is great! With your help, PAR can continue to make a difference for America’s most vulnerable. Call our toll-free number (877.GWAA.PAR) or visit our website at www.gardenwriters.org/par for more information. NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events

Reader Contest

For our November 2017 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, we are giving away a copy of Container Gardening Complete. The new book by Jessica Walliser will be the most-comprehensive container gardening book on the market. It hands readers everything they’ll need to create a gorgeous and productive container garden, including potting soil recipes and lists of the best container-friendly vegetable and fruit varieties, herbs, and ornamentals. Container Gardening Complete also features 20 cool DIY container projects that illustrate step-by-step instructions for building creative containers and filling them with the best plants. You’ll get to know the ins and outs of gardening in a small space, from the importance of drainage, irrigation, and other watering concerns to ornamental combinations of plants, and the very best vegetables, fruits, and nonedibles for container gardening. It is coming out December 12 from Cool Springs Press/Quarto Publishing. To enter to win a copy of Container Gardening Complete, send an email to WashingtonGardener@rcn.com by 5:00pm on November 30 with “Container Book” in the subject line. In the body of the email, tell us what your favorite article was in this issue and why. Be sure to include your full name and mailing address. The winner will be announced and notified on December 1. o 8

WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017

• Sunday, November 19, 2-4pm Get Your Garden Gorgeous--Hillwood Style Join Drew Asbury, horticulturalist at Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens, to learn how to choose perennials and annuals that can enhance any garden. Drew will discuss how to identify and care for the right companion plants for roses, but his advice works on a wide variety of garden plans. Members of the Potomac Rose Society will also be on hand to informally discuss rose care one-on-one before or after the meeting. Start now to design your perfect garden for next spring! Brought to you by the Potomac Rose Society. Held at the Silver Spring Library, 900 Wayne Street, Silver Spring, MD. This talk is free; no need to register in advance. • Monday, November 20, 8–9:30pm The Allure of Naturalism Gardeners around the world are enthusiastically embracing naturalistic planting. Taking its cue from the way plants grow in the wild, this planting style focuses on arrangements of perennials and grasses to achieve an artful spontaneity. In this talk, Carolyn Mullet will lead you to an understanding of what naturalism is and then suggest simple steps you can take to introduce this style to your garden. The talk will be illustrated with photos taken on her garden tours to Europe. Talk hosted by the Silver Spring Garden Club. Held at Brookside Gardens Visitors Center/ Education Building, 1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, MD. • November 23 –January 1 Season’s Greenings: Roadside Attractions at the U.S. Botanic Garden Celebrate the season with festive decorations and iconic holiday plants. See hundreds of poinsettia blooms, a holiday train show where model trains chug around models made from plant parts, a holiday concert series, and more. Details: USBG.gov/SeasonsGreenings. Free; No pre-registration required. • Sunday, Dec 3, 12n–4pm Gardeners Holiday Treat yourself to a day of holiday fun

as we celebrate the holiday season with members and neighbors at Green Spring’s annual Gardeners Holiday Open House. The Horticulture Center and the Historic House will feature festive holiday decorations and seasonal displays. At the Horticulture Center, live harp music by Jim Dronenburg will fill the air as you delight in the holiday displays and enjoy complimentary refreshments. Handmade ornaments, fresh holiday greens, and tasty selections of home-baked breads will be available for purchase. Back by popular demand, a collection of miniatures from Happily Ever After will be on display in the library. See: friendsofgreenspring.org. • Thursday, December 7, 6pm Create & Sip: Fresh Greens Workshop Decking your halls with fresh greens makes the holidays come alive inside your home by infusing it with the freshest fir scents of the season. Join the Merrifield Garden Center design team at the Gainesville, VA, location to create your very own fresh green arrangement filled with mixed evergreen textures and berries, while tasting a few of their favorite holiday wines. There is a $45 supply fee for this course, which includes the container, oasis, greenery, and wine. Additional embellishments may be purchased during the class. Space is limited to 30 guests. Guests must be 21 years of age or older to participate in the wine tasting. Details at: https://www.merrifieldgardencenter. com/events/. • Saturday, December 9, 10am—3pm Holiday Open House at River Farm Stop by to enjoy seasonal refreshments and festive decorations in the Estate House. Each room has unique decor, including trees adorned with botanically themed ornaments. In the morning, new American Horticultural Society (AHS) President & CEO Beth Tuttle will be on hand to welcome visitors. Community choir Southside Singers will entertain with holiday favorites and singalongs at 10:30am and 12noon. The Garden Shop will be open for those searching for holiday gifts. Browse gardening books for all ages and a variety

TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ November 16–December 15, 2017 of unique items hand-crafted by local artisans. AHS members receive a 10% discount. AHS memberships also make great gifts and can be arranged in the Garden Shop. River Farm is located at 7931 East Boulevard Drive in Alexandria, VA. See: ahsgardening.org. Please note: The grounds of River Farm will be closed to the public from December 25 to January 1. • Sunday, December 10, 10am–12n Wreath Workshops: Herbal Capture the warmth of Christmas this season and craft your own herbal wreath at Tudor Place in Washington, DC. Intertwine fresh-cut foliage with fragrant herbs and spices like cheery cinnamon, dried orange, and aromatic lavender to create a unique centerpiece sure to fill any room with Christmas spirit. Dress it up or leave it simple to suit your decorating desires. No experience required! Workshop registration includes all materials needed for one wreath per participant. Fees: members: $45 and nonmembers $55. Details at tudorplace.org. • Friday, December 15 and Saturday, December 16, 5:30–9pm Christmas Illuminations at Mount Vernon Kick off your holiday season with sparkling fireworks overlooking the Potomac River! George and Martha Washington will also be on site to greet Mount Vernon’s holiday guests. Watch as colonial artisans demonstrate the 18th-century process of creating chocolate. Keep toasty by warming up by a bonfire, visiting the blacksmith shop, or enjoying some hot chocolate or cider. Additional food will be available for purchase. Fees: $34 adult/$24 youth with Mansion tour. $30 adult/$20 youth without Mansion tour. • Through Sunday, January 7, 2018 Winter Walk of Lights Bring your family and friends to be dazzled by the magical Winter Walk of Lights at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. Every year from mid-November until just after New

Year’s Day, the garden is transformed into a half-mile, walk of lights. Revisit perennial favorites such as the animated Lakeside Lights, the Fountain of Lights, and the Holiday Nature Walk and look for new displays each year. Put on your walking shoes and bring the family to experience a Northern Virginia festive tradition. Round out your visit by roasting marshmallows and sipping on hot beverages by the fire. (Available for purchase at Light Refreshments concessions). Fees: $8–13. Details at www. novaparks.com.

• Saturday, February 24, 9am–4pm The Maryland Horticultural Society and the Perennial Plant Association present their winter seminar: Perennially Inspired, a day-long program with horticultural experts discussing perennials. This event will be held in Baltimore, MD. See https://mdhorticulture.org.

• Through Sunday, January 7, 2018 Spectacular Gems and Jewelry from the Merriweather Post Collection For centuries, extraordinary gemstones have been the centerpieces of stunning jewelry made to adorn royalty, aristocracy, high society, and Hollywood stars. More than 50 pieces of jewelry that once belonged to Marjorie Merriweather Post tell the story behind some of the remarkable stones and jewelry into which they were transformed, weaving in seminal moments of Post’s life as one of the greatest jewelry collectors of the 20th century. The pieces give visitors the opportunity to examine the great quality and beauty of the gems in the collection, their historical significance, and the evolution of jewelry design from the 1900s through the 1960s. Exhibit entry included in suggested donation at Hillwood. Details at www.HillwoodMuseum.org.

How to Submit Local Garden Events

Save These Future Dates •The Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) is currently celebrating its 48th year of success. MANTS will hold its 2018 show from January 10-12 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD. MANTS is where the industry comes to buy, shop, meet, see, and be seen every January. See MANTS.com to register. • Washington Gardener Magazine’s 2018 Seed Exchanges are on January 27 at Brookside Gardens and February 10 at Green Spring Gardens. Stay tuned for more details soon.

Still More Event Listings

See even more event listings on the Washington Gardener Yahoo discussion list. Join the list at http://groups.yahoo. com/group/WashingtonGardener/.

To submit an event for this listing, contact kathyjentz@gmail.com — put “Event” in the subject line. Our next deadline is December 10 for the December 2017 issue, for events taking place December 16–January 15. o

Advanced Landscape Plant IPM PHC Short Course January 8–11, 2018

For registration information, contact: Short Course Assistant University of Maryland Department of Entomology 4112 Plant Sciences Building 4291 Fieldhouse Drive College Park, MD 20742 Tel: 301-405-3911 E-mail: umdentomology@umd.edu

 Your Ad Here

Contact kathyjentz@gmail.com or call 301.588.6894 for ad rates. The ad deadline is the 10th of each month. Please submit your ad directly to: KathyJentz@gmail.com. NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

TIPStricks

How to Prepare a Plot Using the No-till Method

Smother the area you want to use for planting next season to kill the grass and weeds beneath and soften the area for planting later. When using newspaper (5–10 sheets thick), be sure to quickly come in behind it with something to weigh it down, such as compost or wood chips, or spraying it with water. Cardboard is actually easier to work with, said Joe Lamp’l, creator and host of Growing a Greener World; it breaks down over time. Next, add layers of organic material above the cardboard or paper. Use something that will break down quickly, such as rotted leaves, aged manure, compost, straw, or a mixture of them. You can also add some bulk and weight by adding one more layer of shredded wood chips; it will also ultimately break down to improve the soil. Then add supplemental nutrients. Joe Lamp’l, who is the “Joe” behind joegardener.com, said he uses an organic nitrogen source (Milorganite)—to help the material breakdown quicker. Finally, once all your organic material is in place, strive for at least a 6-inch mound aboveground. In a matter of months, if you keep it moist, all that you’ve added will break down and integrate into the soil. It will also serve as the first new, nutrient-rich plantable layer. Pull away just enough material where you want to sow your seeds or plant your seedlings. In the off–season, as an alternative to mulch, you could plant cover crops, or green manures as a living mulch layer. They add nutrients and improve soil compaction, aeration, and drainage, while still protecting the surface. In subsequent seasons, continue to add a generous layer of organic materials or cover crops as listed above, once or twice each year. Lamp’l adds a generous layer of compost just before planting his summer crops and again right before the fall plants or seeds go in the ground. Remember to restrict foot and cart traffic to designated pathways, so the sponginess of the no-till soil can be created and maintained over time for plant roots to grow and thrive. o 10

WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017

National Agricultural Library Joins Biodiversity Heritage Library

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) welcomes the National Agricultural Library (NAL) as its 19th member. NAL holds more than 8 million items, representing one of the largest collections of materials devoted to agriculture in the world. By statute, NAL is the primary depository of publications and information concerning the research and other activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). “The National Agricultural Library collection is a true national treasure,” said BHL Program Director Martin R. Kalfatovic. “Through membership in BHL, NAL has demonstrated a strong commitment to providing free and open access to this significant collection. We look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts to build BHL’s online collection and share these valuable resources with the world.” This membership will strengthen BHL’s coverage of agricultural topics, providing increased access to historic USDA and other high-demand, publicdomain items from its collection. In particular, the library will continue to digitize material from its Henry G. Gilbert Nursery and Seed Trade Catalog Collection, which consists of more than 200,000 American and foreign catalogs from the late 18th century to the present. To date, NAL has contributed more than 33,000 catalogs from this collection to BHL. “The National Agricultural Library is excited to become a member of the Biodiversity Heritage Library and collaborate more closely with the other Member institutions,” said NAL Director Paul Wester. “NAL views BHL as a key avenue through which the library shares its wide-ranging collections of agricultural, natural, and allied sciences with a national and international audience.” BHL is a consortium of major natural history, botanical, and research libraries that seek to contribute to the global “biodiversity commons” by digitizing and providing free and open access to biodiversity literature and archives from across the globe. For information, visit BHL’s website: biodiversitylibrary.org. o

Tips for Growing the Enchanting Amaryllis

The amaryllis flower symbolizes pride and enchanting beauty. Getting an amaryllis to bloom doesn’t require any green fingers. Once planted indoors, the beauty of this flower bulb emerges all on its own. According to the team at iBulb.org, it’s so easy, anyone can do it. The amaryllis, also known as Hippeastrum, is available in different colors, shapes, and sizes. It can be subdivided into large-flowering varieties, small-flowering varieties, and the double-flowering varieties. The flowers produced by large-flowering amaryllis often measure 8 inches across. The amaryllis displays an extraordinary growth process. You’ll be enjoying their absolutely huge flowers within six to eight weeks, said the team at iBulb. org. The growth process begins when the flower stems emerge from the bulb. Once this happens, the flower buds continue to swell until they burst into bloom. It’s astonishing to discover how an amaryllis bulb transforms itself into such a gorgeous flower, they said. If you’re interested in buying amaryllis bulbs, they are available in stores near you. They are most widely available from October through April. The selection is particularly large around the holidays. When making your choice, remember that the largest amaryllis bulbs will produce the largest flowers, and more of them, too. iBulb is the promotional agency for the flower bulb sector. iBulb promotes the use of flower bulbs, bulb flowers, and bulbs in pots by means of worldwide PR activities and advertising campaigns. More information is available at http://www.ibulb.org/. o Tips column compiled by Uyen Nguyen, a senior multiplatform journalism major at the University of Maryland. This autumn, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

GARDENnews

Quick Links to Washington Gardener Blog Posts • Mum Plant Profile • Potato Surprise • Ornamental Peppers Video • Moth Orchids: You Can Grow That! See more Washington Gardener blog posts at: WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com o

New Plant Spotlight

David Austin English Roses For spring 2018, David Austin Roses introduces ‘Roald Dahl’ to U.S. gardeners. The new English Rose (pictured above) has a delicious Tea fragrance, is a remarkably strong repeat bloomer, and is highly disease-resistant, according to Michael Marriott, technical director and senior rosarian of David Austin Roses in Albrighton, England. “To honor the writer of James and the Giant Peach, the flower color is marvelously, perfectly peach,” says Marriott. Dahl published the classic British children’s book, his first novel, in 1961. Two other English Rose varieties new to North America complete an impressive introductory line up: pretty ‘Imogen’ (pictured below) has soft-lemon-yellow flowers with a rare button eye of the type seen in antique Gallica and Damask roses, while ‘Bathsheba’ adds a fragrant climber with big, beautiful apricot flowers to the Austin collection. All three varieties are products of a 20-year Austin breeding program now achieving exceptional levels of disease-resistance, free-flowering bloom, fragrance, beauty, and charm. With the new introductions, a total of 116 Austin-bred English Rose varieties are now available to American gardeners at www.davidaustinroses.com. Starting in spring 2019, the three new English Rose varieties also become available in nursery pots at garden centers across the U.S. and Canada where David Austin roses are sold. o

November-December Garden To-do List

• Switch your deer deterrent spray if you’ve been using the same one for several months. Re-apply after heavy rains. • Have your soil tested at least once every three years. • Cover carrots and other root crops with straw to extend the harvest season. • Deadhead spent mums and plant them (if still in pots). • Don’t panic over leaf/needle drop on established evergreen shrubs and rhododendrons. It is normal at this time of year for them to shed a third. • Bulb foliage already starting to surface? Don’t fret. It is also normal and will not affect next year’s blooms. • Check for vole problems and set out traps. • Caulk and seal your home to prevent wildlife from coming indoors. • Protect fig trees from freezing by piling up leaves around them. • Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film build-up. • Collect plant seeds for next year’s planting and for trading. • Turn off outdoor water valve and store hoses. • Store terra cotta pots in a shed or protected areas. • Prune and mulch hybrid tea roses. • Harvest the last of your vegetables and till compost into the beds. • Plant garlic for harvest next spring. • Force spring bulbs for indoor blooms this January by potting them up, watering thoroughly, and placing them in your vegetable crisper for about 10 weeks. • Remove this year’s fruiting raspberry canes down to the ground. • Clean out your ponds and compost annual plants. Move hardy plants to deeper water. Cover with netting to block falling leaves. • Clean, sharpen, and store your garden tools. • Reduce fertilizing of indoor plants (except cyclamen). • Set up a humidifier for indoor plants or at least place them in pebble trays. • Vacuum up any ladybugs that come in the house. • Rotate houseplants to promote even growth. • Pot up Paper Whites and Amaryllis for holiday blooming. • Water evergreens and new plantings to keep them hydrated this winter. • Fertilize your lawn and re-seed if needed. • Transplant trees and shrubs. • Continue to divide and transplant perennials. • Rake leaves, shred, and gather in compost piles. • Start feeding birds to get them in the habit for this winter. • Attend a local garden club meeting. • Turn your compost pile weekly and don’t let it dry out. Work compost into your planting beds. • Plant evergreens for winter interest. • Weed. • Take a break from holiday stress to enjoy your garden. • Do not place live wreaths or greenery in-between your door and a glass storm door, especially if the doorway is facing south. This placement will “cook” the arrangement on a sunny day. • Sign up all your friends and family for garden magazine subscriptions as holiday gifts. o NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

BOOKreviews

Gardening with Foliage First By Karen Chapman and Christina Salwitz Publisher: Timber Press List Price: $24.95 Reviewer: Jim Dronenburg In this book, the authors attempt to make the point that foliage is the starting point of garden design. They have assembled a collection of 127 garden vignettes—the photos are excellent, by the way, and there is a remarkable listing of photo credits and locations where the photos were taken. This in itself is a good idea, since it can point the way to places to visit and see firsthand. Of course, most of these places are in the Pacific Northwest, as are the authors. This leads to some interesting choices of plants, some of which are doubtfully—or definitely not—hardy here. Although each vignette is labeled as to hardiness zones, the individual plants are not and a careful reader of this book, spotting a plant he or she may want to have, should not be put off if the vignette is too tender—they should look up the individual plant mentioned. This book, like many others, is best regarded as a starting point rather than an ending point; it will be most useful when you are willing to do a little bit of homework in tandem with reading it. There is a large photo of each vignette, followed by individual photos and descriptions of the individual plants that make it up. The authors are both designers, 12

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as opposed to encyclopaedists, and as such, they do have their favorites. A quick glance at the index shows hydrangea, spiraea, fuchsia on 11 pages each, Japanese maple on 18, hosta on 16, heuchera and barberry in their various color forms on 21 pages each. They deal in a lot of golden/chartreuse foliage (it carries the ball in at least 20 of the vignettes and contributes to many others), and a fair chunk of garden ornament/prop/sculpture (which appeared to be the focal point of at least 10 vignettes). Somewhat counterproductive are the 43 vignettes where flowers appeared to carry the ball. Given that the flowers shown often had very short seasons (Oriental lilies, for example), your reviewer would have appreciated two photos in tandem—“with” and “without” the flowers, so you could more easily see the starting/standard point of the combination. Still, good combinations overall. The vignettes range from closeup sections of a (presumed) border to wide garden-room shots. Gardeners, of course, fall into two categories: “collectors,” who rarely look at a larger picture than each individual plant, and “painters,” who look primarily, if not exclusively, at the larger views in a garden. Your reviewer is a collector, and as such, does not appreciate the book as much as it really does deserve. A “painter” will be in Heaven. A good book to read, definitely. Jim Dronenburg is an accountant by day, and an Irish harper/singer by night, to support his expanding garden in Knoxville, MD.

Perennials Through the Seasons By John Markowski Publisher: CreateSpace Price: $12.99 Reviewer: Maeve Dunigan In Perennials Through the Seasons, John Markowski takes readers on a journey to view certain perennials at all stages of their plant lives. With ample pictures and many personal anecdotes, the author conveys a sense of his own love of gardening while teaching readers how they can create perennial magic themselves. This book is Markowski’s first venture into the world of gardening publishing. Markowski knows a lot about how

to tend to gardens and ensure success. The author has previously been featured on Fine Gardening’s website, and has been the featured garden blogger in numerous gardening publications, and has his own award-winning garden blog, “The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener.” “These are plants that I know better than my own family. Plants that I’ve coexisted with in my personal garden laboratory for more than a decade,” writes Markowski in the book’s introduction. For anyone hesitant about planting his or her own perennials, Markowski is the perfect guide. With unending knowledge and a sense of humor, he gives readers all the knowhow they need. Although this publication in no way provides a comprehensive list of perennials, or even a list of the easiest perennials to grow, it does provide perennials that Markowski has worked with personally. In this way, it gives a list of 20 perennials that are of great importance to Markowski. His love for these perennials shines through in every sentence. The book has a section for each of the 20 perennials, starting with Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and ending with Royal Candles (Veronica spicata). Because Markowski gardens in zone 6B (rural New Jersey), almost every plant he profiles in the book is a sure winner for our growing region as well. One of the best aspects of this book is that seemingly each individual section has a photograph to go along with

BOOKreviews it. In this way, readers can visualize exactly what Markowski is explaining. The photographs successfully tell the stories of these plants, and often feature visitors such as birds, bees, and butterflies. Not only that, they are simply gorgeous to peruse as you flip through the sections. Overall, John Markowski’s Perennials Through the Seasons is a handy guide for anyone looking to grow their own perennials.

Miniature Bonsai: The Complete Guide to Super-Mini Bonsai By Terutoshi Iwai Publisher: Tuttle Publishing Price: $16.95 Reviewer: Maeve Dunigan In Miniature Bonsai, Terutoshi Iwai teaches readers the art of creating beautiful little bonsai trees. With plenty of captivating pictures along with stepby-step instructions, anyone can pick up this book and get started on creating their very own miniature bonsai. Iwai is a bonsai researcher and instructor. His mission for this book was to allow anyone the ability to enjoy a super-miniature bonsai at home. Iwai was the first to develop the idea of bonsai that were only an inch or so tall, creating the “super-mini” variation, which is now popular across the globe. Iwai now travels Japan teaching the art form to students in various cultural centers. “’Super-mini bonsai’ refers to the smallest plants in the miniature bonsai category,” writes Iwai. “While cultivating bonsai is a slow process, super-mini

bonsai can be enjoyed as soon as they’re potted—and these plants are simple and satisfying to grow and pot. They take up no space at all, so they can add a little touch of green in unexpected places.” What’s great about Iwai’s guide is that it is broken up into detailed sections, allowing the reader to easily go from cover to cover, or to skim according to the information that they happen to be looking for. First, Iwai lists the basics of super-mini bonsai and how to prepare them. He then moves on to teaching the creation and maintenance of the tiny bonsai trees. After that, he explains how to display and enjoy the super-mini bonsai. Finally, Iwai lists all of the different kinds of super-mini bonsai that readers can enjoy. Everything you could possibly need to know to create your own super-mini bonsai is laid out before you; all that has to be done is follow Iwai’s instructions. Each section has clear, readable material that is easy to follow. The book’s strongest attribute is its pictures, which beautifully decorate each section and catch your eye with each turn of the page. Super-mini bonsai are fabulous subjects to photograph, since they vary in size, shapes, and color, and can captivate you with their elegance and whimsy. Whether groups of super-mini bonsai collections or solo shots of certain variations, the photographs in this book prove a tremendous success. Overall, Terutoshi Iwai’s Miniature Bonsai is the perfect tool for anyone looking for fun, simple, easy-to-follow ways to create super-mini bonsai of their own. Maeve Dunigan is a senior multiplatform journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park. This autumn, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener Magazine. Fairy Houses: How to Create Whimsical Homes for Fairy Folk By Sally J. Smith Publisher: Cool Springs Press List Price: $30.00 Reviewer: Uyen Nguyen Fairy Houses is 192 pages of pure attention to detail and exquisite photography. It is an instruction book for build-

ing “faerie houses.” The first chapter is meant to be inspirational—pictures to ignite our imagination. Smith shows readers what the fairy house world looks like with unique examples of the most elaborate fairy houses I’ve ever seen. The photos throughout the book are so vivid, but the pictures in Chapter One makes me feel as if I’m in a fantasy land. In Chapter Two, we get a blueprint of the fundamentals to fairy house building such as location (indoor or outdoor?), materials to use, and tools to have. Here we really begin to get the sense that Smith knows exactly what she is talking about. She debunks some fairy house myths such as the inability to build them outside in the winter: “some of my favorite houses are made from ice and snow.” Sally J. Smith is a Westport, NY-based environmental artist and photographer, who spent most of her life learning about the environment and understanding the ins and outs of beauty in nature. Her career also serves as an art of expression. She is even the subject of a PBS special: “Sally Smith: The Fairy Queen.” The third chapter gets into the “nittygritty” of creating fairy houses. Smith shows readers, step-by-step, how to build and design doors and windows. Each step even comes with its own visual aid. Then Chapter Four gets light-hearted as Smith talks about lighting and interior decorating. Here, readers’ imagination can really come into play. Book Reviews continued on page 21 NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

BROOKSIDE GARDENS PRESENTS THE

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A Cautionary Tale about Corydalis

By Sylvan Kaufman

As an avid gardener, I love getting new plants to try out in my garden from friend’s yards and from organized plant swaps, but not infrequently, the most common plants gardeners share are ones that spread rapidly. Before I accept a plant for my relatively small garden, I ask what its spreading tendencies are and where it likes to grow. I also watch out for other plants that might come up from the soil in the pots! My friend Carol knows she has a problem with mulberry weed (Fatoua villosa) in her garden and she always warns me about it coming in with the plants she has given me. I take care to remove much of the soil around the roots of those plants before planting them and to monitor for the mulberry weed. A few years ago, Forest Ecologist and Montgomery County gardener Carole Bergmann got some plants at a greater DC-area garden club plant swap in November. She planted them and in the spring, “I had a crop of beautiful lavender-red corydalis” in addition to the plants she had chosen at the plant swap. The corydalis’ seeds or roots were in the soil in the pots of the plants she chose. The corydalis sprouted right around the other plants she had planted. She was familiar with the plant’s close relatives, the fumeworts—all pretty little spring-flowering plants—but she did not know this purple-flowered one. So many of the plants appeared in both dry and

damp, shady areas in the garden that her husband got out the flame weeder, fearing the plants would take over the garden. The plants turned out to be Corydalis incisa, incised fumewort, now considered to be at high risk of becoming a serious invasive plant species in our region. Corydalis incisa grows as an annual or biennial spring ephemeral plant. The first year, it produces a rosette of leaves that die back in summer if the plants do not flower their first year. The leaves distinguish it from other Corydalis species because the edges of the leaves have many large teeth. The next year, the leaves reappear in the winter. In early spring, flower stalks emerge bearing rose-purple flowers. Each individual plant can produce thousands of seeds. The seeds spread several feet when the seed pods explode; ants and water may carry the seeds. These plants will grow in dry or wet soil in part-shade to shade. Corydalis incisa is native to eastern Asia, and was probably introduced to the United States as an ornamental plant, although it is not widely sold. Incised fumewort appeared in the Bronx, NY, near the New York Botanical Garden and has spread along the Bronx River, forming a nearly continuous, dense population that displaces native plants like jewelweed, white snakeweed, and tree seedlings. Volunteers first found the plant near the river in 2005

Incised fumewort (Corydalis incisa) grows in shady areas as a spring ephemeral plant Photo by Ruth Douglas.

Plant Sharing:

WEEDwatch during a study the area’s biodiversity. In Virginia, a population of the plant was found in one place about three years ago and it has since been found in three different counties. If you are familiar with how fig buttercup (Ficaria verna) has taken over streambanks in our region, you will understand how incised fumewort could quickly become a similar problem. In Maryland, the Invasive Plant Advisory Committee has recommended that the state regulate incised fumewort as a Tier 1 invasive plant under the state’s ornamental invasive plant law. Tier 1 plants are banned from propagation and sale in the state. The plant earned its high-risk ranking because of its voluminous seed production and rapid spread. Fast action can keep this plant from being Maryland’s next big invader. If the plant is growing in your yard, pull it out and put it in the trash. Many county and state parks have Weed Warrior groups that will look for new species like this that are potential threats and quickly remove them before they become a huge problem. Carole Bergmann started the Montgomery County Weed Warrior program in 1999 to train volunteers to educate citizens about invasive plant identification and management. Several other programs have been modeled after it because of the program’s success. Plants have lots of ways of spreading themselves around—birds, squirrels, ants, wind, water, and gardeners, too! If someone admires a plant in my garden, I am sure to tell them its good and bad points. I do not offer seeds or divisions of plants that I am not familiar with, because I don’t want to be that neighbor who gave you that horrible plant you cannot get rid of. When I get plants from friends and nurseries, I watch to make sure no weeds or unknown plants come up from the soil the plants were potted in. I strive for a low-maintenance garden, and have no intention of letting some thug plant take over. o Dr. Sylvan Kaufman is an ecologist and coauthor of Invasive Plants: Guide to Identification and the Impacts and Control of Common North American Species. She is a member of the Maryland Invasive Plant Advisory Committee. She can be reached at sylvan@sylvangreenearth.com. NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

Bountiful Brussels Sprouts by Elizabeth Olson

This delightful vegetable is closely related to cabbage and has a lighter, sweeter flavor that is also sometimes described as nutty. Its growth habit is fascinating and provides much interest to the kitchen garden. Each Brussels sprout plant forms a single thick stalk that can grow to 2 feet tall or taller, depending on the cultivar. Large, loose, cabbage-like leaves form on stems around the stalk and also top it. Cultivars produce either green or purple/reddish-purple sprouts. The sprouts resemble mini-cabbages and have very thin, overlapping leaves. They start to form near the base of the stalk and continue to form up the stalk, one at each leaf axil. Brussels sprouts are very nutritious. They are a source of calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and dietary fiber, as well as Vitamins A, B6, and C.

Culinary Uses

Fresh Brussels sprouts can be shredded finely and added to slaws. However, the sprouts are usually cooked—most often whole, although large sprouts can be halved lengthwise. They are delicious when prepared in one of several ways. Brussels sprouts can be oven-roasted (with olive oil or grape seed oil), sautéed (great with pan drippings), steamed (until just tender and still brightly colored), or microwaved (the stem ends should be trimmed and a little bit of water added to the bowl).

How and When to Grow Brussels Sprouts

The plants do well in the greater Washington, DC, growing region. They 16

WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017

Brussels sprouts ‘Jade Cross.’ Photo courtesy of All-America Selections.

EDIBLEharvt

are known for being more cold-hardy than cabbage, but otherwise have very similar cultural requirements. Many cultivars can be planted in spring, but the most-reliable harvest occurs in autumn from transplants installed in the kitchen garden in mid- to late summer. The plants prefer full sun, but will tolerate afternoon dappled sun or light shade. Tender transplants can be protected from summer sun with a shade cloth until they are established. Other members of the cabbage family are broccoli, cauliflower, collards, kale, and kohlrabi. Brussels sprouts should be included in the same crop rotation schedule. The scientific name for Brussels sprouts is Brassica oleracea, and it is sometimes listed as Brassica oleracea, Gemmifera group.

Harvest and Storage Tips

Mature sprouts are closed, firm, and heavy for their size. The sprouts will have the best quality when they are harvested while still tightly formed. Well-grown and hardened-off plants will have sprouts that keep well on the plants in cool to cold weather. Brussels sprouts are famous for having enhanced flavor (sweeter, even nuttier) after light frosts in autumn. The top leaves provide some protection to the sprouts from hard frosts, but gardeners may add some extra protection with a floating row cover. In snowy areas, deep snow will act as insulation and the sprouts can last on the stalk in the garden even longer. The sprouts mature in the same order in which they formed: from the bottom of the stalk upward. They can be harvested individually as they

mature, or the entire stalk can be cut at the soil line, the leaves trimmed to the bases of their stems, and the entire stalk stored in the crisper drawer of a refrigerator. Harvested Brussels sprouts can be preserved by freezing.

Recommended Cultivars

Modern breeding efforts have produced cultivars that have a somewhat condensed harvesting season. In other words, more of the sprouts reach maturity at the same time. Gardeners who want to harvest only a few at a time and have a prolonged harvest season may want to consider planting the heirloom ‘Long Island Improved.’ Other differences in cultivars include height and days to maturity from transplanting, as well as size and uniformity of the minicabbages. The days to maturity from transplanting for the following cultivars are listed next to the names. Green • ‘Diablo’ (F1). 100 to 110 days. • ‘Gustus’ (F1). 95 to 100 days. • ‘Hestia’ (F1). 90 to 100 days. AAS regional winner for 2015. • ‘Jade Cross’ (F1). 80 to 85 days. AAS national winner for 1959. • ‘Long Island Improved’ (heirloom). 100 to 110 days. Stocky plants produce mature sprouts over the course of several weeks. Purple/Reddish Purple • ‘Falstaff’ (F1). 100 to 105 days. Some seed companies list a ‘Falstaff’ cultivar that is open-pollinated. Gardeners should read the seed package or plant tag carefully for a detailed description. • ‘Red Rubine’ (heirloom). 85 to 90 days. Best results in cooler summers. Brussels sprouts provide a tasty dish for any dinner, especially Thanksgiving. Gardeners who want to grow their own Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving in 2018 should check the days to maturity listed above and select cultivars accordingly. Bon appétit! o Elizabeth Olson is a Maryland Certified Professional Horticulturist. She is also an avid home gardener who is fascinated by the plants that she grows. She can be contacted through Washington Gardener magazine.

KNOWitall

Ask the Expert by Debra Ricigliano

Small Tree Suggestions

Our small home association needs to replace a maple tree that is declining. It is in a sunny, relatively dry spot at the entrance of our development. We are leaning toward a small to mediumsized tree. The tree is in a spot where it will not receive a lot of care. Do you have any suggestions for a low-maintenance tree that would make this area more attractive? First, it would be wise to contact Miss Utility before planting. To help improve the planting area, amend the soil with compost or organic matter. Do not just amend the planting hole, but also work materials into the entire potential root zone of the tree. Watering is essential for at least the first two years after planting. Proper care during early establishment is essential for the long-term health of the tree. A “gator bag” or another type of tree watering bag should be placed around the trunk before the growing season to keep the tree watered especially during dry periods. This includes droughty periods that occur in the fall. The following are some trees that fit your criteria. Japanese tree lilac (Syringa reticulata), smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria), Japanese snowbell (Styrax japonicus), or a tree form of a crape myrtle like ‘Natchez’. Two native tree suggestions are American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) and hackberry (Celtis occidentalis).

Damaged Tree Bark

Recently a car backed up into the trunk of my beautiful Japanese maple tree. The bark is scraped off on one side. Is there something I should apply to the wound to help it heal? Examine the trunk to see if there is any loose bark around the wound. If so, it should be carefully removed. It is not advisable to apply any type of wound dressing to the damaged area as research has shown that this actually hinders the tree from forming callus tissue. The tree will not grow more bark over

the area, but will wall off the dead tissue to help prevent decay and insect organisms from entering the tree. Keep the tree watered during drought periods, since healthy specimens have a greater chance of recovery from such an injury.

Cucumber Problems

Looking back to my vegetable garden this past summer, I had difficulty growing cucumbers. It seems there were numerous cucumber beetles on the vines. Some of the fruit had pitted skin, I assume from the beetles. Then the plants just collapsed and that was the end of my cucumber crop. What can I do to prevent this from happening again next season? Spotted and striped cucumber beetles are tough garden pests! They feed on all plant parts, including fruits. They also transmit bacterial wilt disease, the probable cause of your plants’ collapse. If you have not done so already, remove all weeds and garden debris because adult beetles will overwinter there. Use one or more of these strategies next season for ideally better results. Plant ‘County Fair,’ a variety of cucumbers with resistance to bacterial wilt; use a straw mulch to encourage spiders, which feed on the beetles; plant transplants rather than seeds because they are less vulnerable to feeding; and cover plants with floating row cover fabric to exclude the beetles (remove the fabric when the flowers open). Planting in June rather than May is another tactic to avoid beetle damage. As a last resort pyrethrum, neem, and

spinosad are organic pesticides that are moderately effective against this pest.

Lemon Tree Leaf Drop

I have a dwarf Meyer lemon tree. It produced a great crop of lemons this past fall. We brought the plant indoors when it got cold outside and we noticed the leaves are starting to turn yellow. What can I do to improve the health of my tree so that it will produce lemons again? The leaf yellowing is probably due to the decrease in light levels when you brought the plant back indoors. Less light could have prompted the plant to go through a rest period when growth slows and older leaves yellow and drop. This is a perfectly normal occurrence in the winter. However, there are other causes for leaf yellowing, such as overwatering, nutrient deficiencies and insects. Plants need less water when they are dormant and should only be watered when the growing media feels dry. Begin to fertilize every two weeks in late February with a fertilizer labeled for citrus plants. Typically, they are higher in potassium. Look for signs of spider mites or scale insects and if found treat with a labeled houseplant insecticide. Move the plant back outdoors after the danger of frost has past. o Debra Ricigliano is a Certified Professional Horticulturist. She has worked as a horticulture consultant for the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center since 1997. Debra enjoys gardening at her home in Highland, MD. She is a graduate of the Institute of Applied Agriculture at UMCP and a talented, all-around horticulturist. To ask a gardening or pest question, go to http://www.extension.umd.edu/hgic and click on “Ask Maryland’s Garden Experts.” You can also attach a digital photo. NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

SPECIALfeature

Latest Research Findings in Urban Forestry

Trees Matter Symposium 2017 Montgomery Parks held the sixth annual Trees Matter Symposium on November 1 at the Silver Spring Civic Center. Washington Gardener was a contributing sponsor of this event, which focused on the health and future of trees in increasingly urban settings. Leading experts from around the country, such as the head of Horticulture and Education at the United States National Arboretum and a professor of Urban Forestry at Rutgers University, presented their latest research on innovative ways to plant, protect, and preserve trees in urban and suburban environments. In our rapidly developing community, arborists, landscape and environmental industry professionals, engineers, designers, developers, and curious citizens were encouraged to take the opportunity to learn new techniques and concepts regarding what can be done to ensure the survival of trees.

Promoting Tree Diversity By Uyen Nguyen

Scott Aker, head of horticulture and education at the U.S. National Arboretum, kicked off the 2017 Trees Matter Symposium with a talk about the need to diversify the types of trees planted to withstand changes in the weather and the environment, and the emergence of new pests and diseases. According to Aker, we need to grow trees that are tolerant and can strive in less-than-ideal conditions, because “we don’t give them the best conditions” in the first place, he said. But planting a variety of trees might be too ambitious because of the “downward spiral of tree diversity,” which is the elimination of growing trees with a tolerance for tough conditions because they are not easily produced, accepted by consumers, or readily available at nurseries. People’s mindset and ideas about trees have not drastically changed. “When we get an idea in our head, we believe it wholeheartedly,” he said. “Of all the things we can grow, we are still dominated by few species.” 18

WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017

And don’t think climate change will increase our tree choices. Because of the late and harsher winters that come with our mercurial weather patterns, we won’t be able to grow palm and citrus trees in the future, Aker said. A lot of oaks are dying because they can’t withstand 80 degrees for three weeks and then 15 degrees the next. According to Aker, our trees should come from “the interior of our country.” We can plant them directly or use their genetics, since extreme weather is already happening in the Midwest, so they are very sturdy and tolerant. Some trees he suggests should be planted in our region include a mix of native and nonnatives, which includes: • The Acer griseum x maximowiczianum, because it is easier to propagate and grows faster than paperback maple. • Shagbark hickory, pignut hickory, pecan, and mockernut hickory, because they are all “pest-, disease-, and drought-resistant, and [have] strong wood.” • Smoke tree, because it is droughttolerant and has interesting summer flowers and attractive bark. • Black gum, because of its tendency to root sprout. • Chinese pistache and Persian ironwood, because they are drought-resistant. • Hophornbeam, because it is very tolerant of drought, heat, and poor soil. • Henry’s maple (Acer henryi), because it is tolerant of drought. “Nature does not like this lack of diversity that we have,” Aker said. That means we should be good stewards and “shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket.” In the future, we could grow ash again, and the trees mentioned could be planted more commonly, but first we need to overcome some challenges, Aker said. We should find reliable sources when trying to introduce new trees. Then, we need to find trees that will survive harsher climates and

understand how well they tolerate different changes in environments. If they can, their production and propagation should become easier. Lastly, we need to persuade people to accept and agree to introduce these particular trees. People should look past the physical appearance of trees and see what they can actually do, so these trees can be integrated into our community.

Urban Tree Life Cycles By Nicole Reisinger

Dr. Jason Grabosky, a professor of Urban Forestry at Rutgers University, explored how to define urban tree life cycles and expectations for their growth at the 2017 Trees Matter Symposium. In his presentation, “Developing an urban context to service life expectations for canopy management planning,” Grabosky introduced current and recent research that has yielded an immense amount of data regarding the life cycle and growth of trees. This extensive research is designed to help select the best tree for a particular location, be it residential or in an urban environment. “Different people have different expectations about their trees,” Grabosky said. “Different people have different expectations of what categorizes success. “Who is determining what is success?” he asked. Trees are planted with a perceived plant size, utility, and life expectancy. From its establishment phase to its desired design size, these phases and level of service are dependent on what kind of tree you select. “A dogwood is never going to get as big as a redwood; species make the difference,” Grabosky said. While trees provide a multitude of benefits to those who live among them, from increasing air quality to storm-water management, they are not native to urban settings. Trees are known to reduce anxiety and increase property values, and these benefits are

SPECIALfeature multiplied when trees are in a properly planned and maintained environment. A tree needs an appropriate amount of space relative to the size it is expected to reach. Soil quality is also a major factor in the success of a tree. “If you don’t have the soil, you won’t get the tree,” Grabosky said. For urban and community forests to truly thrive, and to maximize the ecosystem services they provide, they must be properly planned, well-maintained, and regularly managed. However, Grabosky warned that trees can be a “political liability and financial liability if poorly executed. “We’ve known well that tree planting is establishing a survivorship, but we really haven’t had that good, comfortable conversation of when should we be cutting that tree down,” Grabosky said. Sometimes cutting down a tree is more beneficial to the environment than leaving it up. Trees often have to be taken down due to safety concerns. “We preserve resources like cucumbers as pickles, we conserve functionality in our landscape, we conserve natural resources,” said Grabosky. “There’s a big difference between preservation and conservation. We have to be sure that we’re in the conservation business.”

Trees as Bird Habitats By Maeve Dunigan

The annual Trees Matter Symposium was a way for area tree experts, including arborists, landscape industry professionals, engineers, designers, housing developers, and even interested citizens, to learn new strategies and concepts regarding tree health. One of the researchers chosen to speak was Dr. Susannah Lerman, a research ecologist in the Urban Forests, Human Health, and Environmental Quality Unit of the U.S. Forest Service. Lerman’s research revolves around how to use different strategies to reconcile urban development with conservation. She hopes that her work will improve people’s understanding of ecological processes in urban systems, focused specifically on wildlife. Lerman is a member of the Citizen Science Association, Wildlife Society, Ecological Society of America, and a member of the Diversity Committee for the Ameri-

can Ornthological Society. In 2010, she was granted the Switzer Environmental Fellowship, and in 2012, the National Science Foundation SEES Fellowship. Lerman’s presentation, “The birds and the trees: managing the urban forest wildlife,” focused on the newest wildlife module for i-Tree, an urban forest assessment tool. This tool, according to the symposium’s program, “quantifies and qualifies available habitat within the urban forest by linking bird habitat suitability models with urban forest structure.” Lerman started by describing typical urban bird habitat studies. In these studies, researchers seek to explain how birds respond differently to different land uses. The number of bird species varies considerably according to land use types. Bird populations are very dependent on insects, and often these insects are a product of native trees, so these

native trees are incredibly important. More than 80% of Americans live in cities, which are more expansive than protected areas. “[These cities are] where we are having our primary interactions with the natural world,” Lerman explained. We cannot only study the habitats of birds living in typical protected [park] areas; research on urban habitats is also phenomenally important. Lerman explained that scientists could determine the habitat potential of a certain urban forest area using the i-Tree assessment tool. This tool also can evaluate possible habitat improvement plans, and provide researchers with new information regarding how to satisfy habitat requirements for 10 different northeastern birds. o The summary authors are all journalism students at the University of Maryland and are editorial interns at Washington Gardener. NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

INSECTindex

Haunted by the Spotted Lanternfly by Carol Allen

Can it still be Halloween? Although the season of ghoulies and ghosties is now past for most folks, it continues on for those of us who monitor invasive insects. A speaker at a recent conference gave an update on yet another pest discovered in Pennsylvania and moving closer to the Washington metro area. A past looming specter I reported on was the Viburnum Leaf Beetle, which has now, unfortunately, made its way into Maryland. (See the February 2015 issue of Washington Gardener.) This new horror is the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula). It was discovered in Berks County, PA, in September 2014 and has spread to five adjacent counties in Pennsylvania. These counties are now under quarantine where it is illegal to move the following objects into new areas: • Any living stage of the Spotted Lanternfly, including egg masses, nymphs, and adults. • Brush, debris, bark, or yard waste. • Landscaping, remodeling, or construction waste. • Logs, stumps, or any tree parts. • Firewood of any species. 20

WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017

• Grapevines for decorative purposes or as nursery stock. • Nursery stock. • Crated materials. • Outdoor household articles, including recreational vehicles, lawn tractors and mowers, mower decks, grills, grill and furniture covers, tarps, mobile homes, tile, stone, deck boards, mobile fire pits, any associated equipment, and trucks or vehicles not stored indoors Seriously! The Pennsylvania quarantine areas include the upper parts of Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties. What makes this particular invasive pest a serious threat is it feeds on a very broad range of host plants, as well as its egg-laying behavior. Like the Gypsy Moth, egg cases can be found on just about any surface outside and near host trees. It is easy to see how nursery plants, firewood from a camping trip or even something as innocent as buying a grill in Pennsylvania and bringing it home could potentially move this pest into our area. The Spotted Lanternfly is native to China and can also be found in

Southeast Asia. In 2006, it invaded Korea and rapidly spread through that country, becoming a major pest. Although it is called a lanternfly, it is a member of the order Hemiptera and is a plant-fluid-sucking insect in the leafhopper family. It gets its fanciful name from its enlarged head, which was believed to be luminous. The adults range in size from about 1.75 cm for the males to about 2.5 cm in the females and can be seen in October and November. When the lanternfly is at rest, the forewings are folded over the body and a pattern of black spots on a gray background is seen. It is in flight that the dramatic hindwing is revealed. The forward part is black and white, and the hind part is bright-orange with small black spots. It is also at this time of year that eggs are laid on trees and just about any nearby smooth surface. The insect overwinters in the egg cases. The cases are approximately 1" in length and can contain 30–50 brown, seed-like eggs laid in four to seven rows. The female then covers the eggs with a yellowish-brown, waxy substance that will take on a gray, cracked appearance as it ages. It is this overwintering egg case that should be found and removed. Egg cases can be immersed in alcohol or hand sanitizer to kill them, then double-wrapped and placed in the trash. The eggs hatch in May and there are four nymphal stages. In the first three, the insect ranges from 0.5 to 2 cm in length and is black with white spots. In the fourth instar, the juvenile insect is red-orange with black spots. In the last instar and as an adult, the pests aggregate to feed and can cause so much damage that host trees weep sap and branches wilt from their damage. Dripping, pooling, sugary sap can be covered with sooty mold and will attract bees, wasps, and ants. Favored host plants include Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) and grapevine (Vitis spp.)—though they have also been found feeding on apple, birch, cherry, lilac, maples, poplar, stone fruits—more than 70 species in all. Successful breeding behavior seems to be targeted to Tree of Heaven, and these trees could be used to monitor

INSECTindex movement of populations. The Spotted Lanternfly is vulnerable to the chemical controls of pyrethroid, organophosphate, and neonicotinoid insecticides.* Biocontrol using parasitoids has not been established in North American and generalist predators may be deterred by the insects absorbing the cytotoxic alkaloids found in Tree of Heaven. Birds have been observed vomiting after ingesting the pests. Trapping of the nymphs may be an effective control—the young will drop when disturbed and will climb up the tree again, repeating this process with as minor a disturbance as wind. Ringing the base of the trees with brown sticky bands has proven to be a significant control, catching hundreds of the insects. Trials using essential oils have found that lavender oil can act as a repellent and spearmint oil as an attractant. Both these oils may have a future in controlling the insect. Besides the threat of economic and aesthetic damage on important woody plants, the aggregation behavior may prove to be a nuisance factor in populated areas. The Spotted Lanternfly has also demonstrated the same kind of behavior as Ladybird Beetles and Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs in entering homes in Asia for winter shelter. In Maryland, if you suspect you have seen this pest, capture an insect or at least an image and notify the Home and Garden Information Center, Ask A Gardening Expert page (http://extension.umd.edu/learn/ask-gardening), to report your observation. In the meantime, watch this video to learn more: https://youtu.be/f1GHhfY7a4k. 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. Spotted Lanternfly photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Bugwood.org. *Please use pesticides safely! Read and heed all label directions!

Book Reviews, continued from page 13

Chapters Five and Six is where everything pulls together; it is the architectural part. Readers learn about building roofs, bases, and exterior design in Chapter Five, then how to actually build two different types of fairy homes “from the ground up.” The organization and small details usually overlooked in other books are what takes this how-to book to the next level. At the back of the book, you can find a conversion chart—for all of the measurements mentioned in the book—and an index with each keyword. Although the introduction says that this book is not for beginners; whether you are a crafty young adult, architect, engineer, stage designer, or even a filmmaker, you can find inspiration from these intricate designs. And if you think you are none of those things, this book would make a great gift for anyone in your life who is creative. Uyen Nguyen is a senior multiplatform journalism major at the University of Maryland. This autumn, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

The Naturalist’s Notebook By Nathaniel T. Wheelwright and Bernd Heinrich Publisher: Storey Publishing List Price: $19.95 Reviewer: Nicole Reisinger The Naturalist’s Notebook by biologist Nathaniel T. Wheelwright and bestselling author Bernd Heinrich provides a unique guide that encourages readers to develop their observational skills so they can capture a record of the natural world around them. The authors want you to look for nature regardless of where you live. Whether you’re in rural Connecticut or bustling DC, it always surrounds you. This notebook has a journal in the back so the reader can keep a comprehensive timeline of their own backyard. Wheelwright outlines 10 guidelines he finds essential for one’s growth as a naturalist: Cultivate curiosity, learn the names and taxonomy of plants and animals around you, become familiar with their basic ecology, go on walks with

knowledgeable naturalists and take notes, ask “how?” and “why?” Most importantly, always scrutinize, touch, smell, listen, and measure; conduct simple experiments; teach each other, analyze your observations; and put knowledge into action. The Naturalist’s Notebook is a charming, yet practical, guide that gives any lover of the outdoors the chance to develop their own insights about the world around them. The book highlights plant life, insects, birds, and a range of other topics to help the reader establish new habits and techniques. The fifth chapter takes the readers through each season and suggests simple experiments the budding naturalist can conduct when making her daily observations. From heating a potato to measure heat loss in the winter to planting seedlings to determine survival odds in the spring, these little experiments can enhance readers’ learning and understanding, and turn them into citizen scientists. Throughout the book, Wheelwright shares anecdotes about his experiences as a naturalist. This personal approach gives readers an example to emulate and some ideas to consider while conducting their own research. Heinrich’s beautiful illustrations capture the beauty of the natural world and inspire the reader to do the same. There is even a glossary for readers to create their personal abbreviations so they can keep track of their notes. The journal portion is divided into each season, with each month represented in its respective season. Each week of the 12 months is displayed on a two-page spread with five rows delineating the year. This allows the reader to easily compare nature’s changes throughout the years week-by-week. If anything, inserts with additional pages should be available for purchase to extend one’s observational recordings beyond a five-year limit. This charming book with its gilt-edged pages and classic illustrations would make a great holiday gift for any nature lover or outdoor enthusiast. o Nicole Reisinger is a senior multiplatform journalism major at the University of Maryland. This autumn, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener Magazine. NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

HORThaenings Attendees could choose one of three tracks to follow through the progression of the conference, focusing on practical sustainable landscape practices, the biodiversity in landscaping, or communication. The Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council is a partnership of individuals and organizations dedicated to researching, promoting, and educating professionals and the public about conservation landscaping to protect the Chesapeake Bay.

ed any time between mid-October to Thanksgiving. They can also be forced for indoor bloom to make your home look and feel like spring, even during the harsh days of winter.

Fall Maryland Home & Garden Show

2017 Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit

The George Mason University hosted a summit on October 5 and 6 with talks by community leaders and agricultural experts about topics ranging from sustainability, food waste, policy, agriculture in the classroom, and starting a business. Washington Gardener’s very own Kathy Jentz spoke about the importance of social media and how horticultural professionals can use it to their benefit. Field trips to local urban farms, community gardens, and agricultural resources were a highlight of the event.

CCLC Turning a New Leaf Conference 2017

The Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council held the 2017 Turning a New Leaf Conference on November 3 at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport in Herndon, VA. The conference highlighted presentations from leading experts from the conservation landscaping community. It provided an EcoMarketplace where businesses could promote their products and services, and several networking opportunities for people to share new ideas. Adele Ashkar from George Washington University won the 2017 Marcy Damon Conservation Landscaping Award for her contributions to educating professionals and promoting sustainable landscaping in the Chesapeake Bay region. 22

WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017

The annual fall Maryland Home & Garden Show at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium hosted hundreds of home, garden, and craft vendors from October 20 to 22. The show was packed with experts to help with every home and garden need. Fall is the best time to install your landscape and transform your backyard, so some of the best gardening professionals were there to showcase their skills and help attendees prepare their homes and gardens for the coming winter months. Whether for help with embarking on a major home improvement project or simply needing to freshen things up, hundreds of contractors were there to offer services in addition to experts from the National Association of Professional Organizers. Attendees could also get a head start on their holiday gift shopping by browsing the selection of juried arts and crafts. From antique appraisals by Annapolis antique expert Todd Peenstra to tailgating tips by Midwest BBQ duo Mad Dog and Merrill, there was something for everyone.

Spring Bulb Sale at Takoma Park Street Festival

The Takoma Horticultural Club had a booth at this year’s Takoma Park Street Festival on October 1. This marked the festival’s 36th year and was the biggest to date, with performances by 18 bands and more than 200 local artists, nonprofit organizations, food vendors, and many more. They sold spring bulbs to raise funds for the club; spring bulbs are best if plant-

Washington Youth Garden Garlic Planting Party

The Washington Youth Garden at the National Arboretum held its sixth annual Garlic Planting Party on October 21. Tony Sarmiento of Silver Spring, MD, (above) is an award-winning garlic grower and donated some bulbs to the event. Complete with crafts, games, food, apple cider, and music, this event welcomed kids of all ages to engage with gardening as a learning tool to help encourage healthy eating and environmental awareness. o This issue’s “HortHappenings” were compiled by Nicole Reisinger. She is a senior multiplatform journalism major and history minor in the University of Maryland Philip Merrill School of Journalism. She grew up maintaining gardens with her family and has worked with a premier floral designer in Annapolis, MD. This autumn, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener. See many more photos from events listed here, as well as many more photo albums of recent local garden events, at the Washington Gardener Facebook Page: facebook. com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine. Recent albums include pictorials from the events listed on this page. Click on the PHOTOS tab, then select from the ALBUMS.

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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

MAY/JUNE 2005 • Stunning Plant Combinations • Turning Clay into Rich Soil • Wild Garlic • Strawberries

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

JULY/AUGUST 2005 • Water Gardens • Poison Ivy • Disguising a Sloping Yard • Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2007 • Succulents: Hardy to our Region • Drought-Tolerant Natives • Southern Vegetables • Seed Saving Savvy Tips

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 • Container Gardens • Clematis Vines • Sponge Gardening/Rain Gardens • 5 Insect Enemies of Gardeners

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 • Gardening with Children • Indoor Bulb-Forcing Basics • National Museum of the American Indian • Versatile Viburnums

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 • Backyard Bird Habitats • Hellebores • Building a Coldframe • Bulb Planting Basics

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 • Dealing with Deer • Our Favorite Garden Tools • Delightful Daffodils

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 • Garden Decor Principles • Primroses • Tasty Heirloom Veggies • U.S. Botanic Garden MARCH/APRIL 2006 • Top 10 Small Trees and Large Shrubs • Azaleas • Figs, Berries, & Persimmons • Basic Pruning Principles MAY/JUNE 2006 • Using Native Plants in Your Landscape • Crabgrass • Peppers • Secret Sources for Free Plants JULY/AUGUST 2006 • Hydrangeas • Theme Gardens • Agave • Find Garden Space by Growing Up SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 • Shade Gardening • Hosta Care Guide • Fig-growing Tips and Recipes NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006 • Horticultural Careers • Juniper Care Guide • Winter Squash Growing Tips and Recipes • Layer/Lasagna Gardening

MARCH/APRIL 2008 • Patio, Balcony, Rooftop Container Gardens • Our Favorite Garden Tools • Coral Bells (Heucheras) MAY/JUNE 2008 — ALMOST SOLD OUT! • Growing Great Tomatoes • Glamorous Gladiolus • Seed-Starting Basics • 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

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 • Indoor Gardening • Daphne Care Guide • Asparagus Growing Tips and Recipes • Houseplant Propagation

MARCH/APRIL 2009 ! OUT Tips D • 40+ Free and Low-cost Local Garden SOL ! T • Spring Edibles Planting Guide OU LDfor a Fresh Start • Testing YourSO Soil ! Selection and Care UTTree • Redbud O LD Viewing Spots for Virginia Bluebells • SOBest

MARCH/APRIL 2007 • Stormwater Management • Dogwood Selection & Care Guide • Early Spring Vegetable Growing Tips • Franciscan Monastery Bulb Gardens

MAY/JUNE 2009 • Top Easy Summer Annuals for DC Heat • Salad Table Project • Grow and Enjoy Eggplant • How to Chuck a Woodchuck

SUMMER 2009 • Grow Grapes in the Mid-Atlantic • Passionflowers • Mulching Basics • Growing Hops FALL 2009 • Apples • How to Save Tomato Seeds • Persimmons WINTER 2009 • Battling Garden Thugs • How to Start Seeds Indoors • Red Twig Dogwoods • Unusual Edibles to Grow in Our Region SPRING 2010 • Community Gardens • Building a Raised Bed • Dwarf Iris • Broccoli SUMMER 2010 • Fragrance Gardens • Watering Without Waste • Lavender • Potatoes FALL 2010 • Vines and Climbers • Battling Stink Bugs • Russian Sage • Garlic WINTER 2010 • Paths and Walkways • Edgeworthia • Kohlrabi SPRING 2011 • Cutting-Edge Gardens • Final Frost Dates and When to Plant • Bleeding Hearts • Onions SUMMER 2011 • Ornamental Edibles • Urban Foraging • Amsonia/Arkansas Blue Star • Growing Corn in the Mid-Atlantic FALL 2011 • Herb Gardens • Toad Lilies • Sweet Potatoes • Cool Weather Cover Crops WINTER 2011/EARLY SPRING 2012 • Green Roofs and Walls • Heaths and Heathers • Radishes SPRING 2012 • Pollinator Gardens • Brunnera: Perennial of the Year • Growing Yacon SUMMER 2012 • Tropical Gardens • Captivating Canna • Icebox Watermelons SPRING 2013 • Great Garden Soil • All About Asters • Squash Vine Borer SUMMER/FALL 2013 • Miniature/Faerie Gardens • Beguiling Abelias • Growing Great Carrots WINTER/EARLY SPRING 2014 • Ferns for the Mid-Atlantic • Chanticleer Gardens • Beet Growing Basics

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NOVEMBER 2017 WASHINGTON GARDENER

Jentz Prints

Antique Botanical Prints for the decorator, collector, connoisseur, and art lover. Jentz Prints can be purchased on most Saturdays at the Eastern Market, and most Sundays at the Georgetown Flea 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, to make a private appointment, or to get a detailed show schedule, please contact Jentz Prints by email at UllrichJ@aol.com. You can also find Jentz Prints on eBay.com under the seller ID: printyman. 24

WASHINGTON GARDENER NOVEMBER 2017