Washington Gardener November 2016

NOVEMBER 2016 VOL. 11 NO. 9

WWW.WASHINGTONGARDENER.COM

WASHINGTON WAS W WASHINGTO ASHINGTO

ggardener

the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

Meet Yao Afantchao: Ethnic Crop Specialist Local Gardening Events Calendar

New China Garden at the US National Arboretum

Nutritious and Delicious Lamb’s Quarter Your Monthly Garden Tasks To-do List

Top Tips for Preventing Diseases in Your Garden Giving Bulbs a Great Start Maryland’s State Herbarium at Risk

Magical Milkweed

RESOURCESsourc

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

www.sunfarm.com

Haven’s Natural Brew Tea conditions the soil so your plant’s root system can better absorb nutrients needed to build a strong, healthy root base. The manure tea can also be applied to compost piles to accelerate the composting process.

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Renewals & Renovations Yard By Yard Makeovers, LLC 7304 Carroll Avenue, #229 Takoma Park, MD 20912 301-270-4642 yardmakeovers@yahoo.com www.yardmakeovers.com

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Green Spring Gardens

www.greenspring.org

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WASHINGTON GARDENER

A “must visit” for everyone in the metropolitan Washington, DC, area. It’s a year-round gold mine 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.

NOVEMBER 2016

Your Ad Here

Are you trying to reach thousands of gardeners in the greater DC region/Mid-Atlantic area? Washington Gardener Magazine goes out on the 15th of every month. Contact wgardenermag@aol.com or call 301.588-6894 for ad rates (starting from $200).

The ad deadline is the 10th of each month. Please submit your ad directly to: wgardenermag@aol.com.

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INSIDEcontents

FEATURES and COLUMNS

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Milkweed stalks are strong and upright and can be mined for material to create rope and cordage.

Asclepias incarnata is at home in clay soils and has small, pink, honey-scented flowers. It is a good choice for wet, low-lying spots in your landscape.

Yao Afantchao is on the faculty of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), an urban land grant university that offers associate, baccalaureate, and graduate programs; certificate programs; and community outreach programs to learners of all ages. See www. udc.edu/causes.

ASKTHEexpert 22 Cover Crops; Mums; Holly Tree; Herbs in Winter BOOKreviews 20-21 Kid Gardeners; Late Bloomers; Sustainable Bayscapes; Chilies EDIBLEharvest 14-15 Lamb’s Quarter LOCALresources 19 UMD Herbarium at Risk HORThappenings 6 New China Garden at USNA NEIGHBORnetwork 8 Yao Afantchao NEWPLANTspotlight 11 Downton Abbey Roses PLANTprofile 16-18 Milkweeds WEEDwatch 7 Canada Thistle TIPStricks 10 Boxwood Blights; Planting Bulbs with Kids; Mulching Benefits

DEPARTMENTS ADVERTISINGindex BLOGlinks EDITORletter GARDENcontest LOCALevents MONTHLYtasklist NEXTissue RESOURCESsources

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ON THE COVER

Swamp Milkweed n July at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington, DC.

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Lamb’s Quarters are a wild food that is highly nutritious. You can prepare them in savory dishes, such as in a stir fry or as a pesto, much the same as spinach or Swiss chard. Photo by Katherine Lambert.

Next month in our December ’16 issue: Edible Fennel Gifts for Gardeners Native Plant Profile 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.

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EDITORletter

Credits Kathy Jentz Editor/Publisher & Advertising Sales Washington Gardener 826 Philadelphia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: 301-588-6894 wgardenermag@aol.com www.washingtongardener.com Call today to place your ad with us!

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Proofreader Stephen Barber Shelby Smith Interns Your editor in the November garden. Photo by Stephen Barber.

Keep Calm and Garden On So. The election. Yeah.

No matter what side you are on, these past few months have been full of hurt, bitterness, and anxiety. It has been a tough time for many of us to feel as if there is a point to it all.

If you are feeling the post-election blues, I suggest you deal with them the same way as you would any real depression: Get out and do something. Use your garden as a therapist. Dig holes. Prune. Whack those weeds. Work the soil. An hour or so a day of fresh air will work wonders.

The hard part, of course, is getting motivated to get up and out. The tendency is to wallow. If you keep your head filled with negative issues, you will never surface. Turn off the people in your social media who keep posting about politics and find people to follow conversations about growing and gardening.

Attend a garden club meeting and talk to fellow gardeners about what went well in their gardens this year.

Get out to a local public garden and stroll the grounds. Walk a labyrinth or follow a new trail, just because.

Take your camera out in your own yard, take photos of plants that you enjoy growing, and post them online to share with others.

Buy a few gardening books and peruse them when the weather is harsh.

Divide and share some of your garden bounty with friends and neighbors.

Visit a local garden center and purchase a few indoor plants to liven up your office desk and window ledges.

Make an arrangement of dried flowers, grasses, and seed heads from your own garden and use that as your Thanksgiving table centerpiece.

Volunteer at your church or school to help weed and restore existing plantings—maybe even plan a new garden.

Do a little guerilla gardening for an elderly neighbor who may not be able to get out and plant spring-blooming bulbs.

Once you get moving, you’ll find many more ways to channel your energy into doing something—anything—productive and positive.

Happy gardening!

Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener 4

WASHINGTON GARDENER

Cover price: $4.99 Back issues: $6.00 Subscription: $20.00 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 is a womanowned business. We are proud to be members of: · Garden Writers Association · Think Local First DC · 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 11, Number 9 ISSN 1555-8959 © 2016 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.

NOVEMBER 2016

READERcontt

Caption Contest

We asked our Facebook page followers to caption this photo of late-season roses reaching for the sun on a busy, urban sidewalk in Silver Spring, MD. Look for more monthly caption contests at the Facebook.com/ WashingtonGardenerMagazine page.

Reader Contest

Winning Captions: “Behind bars on charges of vagrant florescence. ~ Eddie Chang “Please, local dogs, just keeping on moving.” ~ Julie Bell “Stretch goals.” ~ Terence Smith “Don’t call it a come back! I’ve been here for years...” ~ Kevin Acer “Stop and smell me! It doesn’t cost a thing.” ~ Scott Applebaum “Please keep your shopping bags in check!” ~ Jennifer Smallwood “I’m thorn-free, but that doesn’t mean I’m not tough!” ~ Jason Ries

For our November 2016 Washington Gardener Magazine Reader Contest, Washington Gardener is giving away a ‘Splash’ Potted Amaryllis from Gardener’s Supply Company (http://www. gardeners.com).

Brilliant starbursts of the purest white brighten the centers of the cherry-red flowers. This stellar beauty’s double blooms resemble lilies, with layers of tapered, curved petals. Amaryllis are easy-to-grow, nofuss plants that produce magnificent blooms for months of color. This Holland-grown bulb is planted in a 7½" diameter ceramic cachepot.

Gardener’s Supply was founded in 1983 by a handful of enthusiastic Vermont gardeners. Today, they serve millions of gardeners nationwide, offering everything from seed-starting supplies and garden furniture to flower supports and garden carts. Though their company has grown, they remain passionately committed to providing garden-tested, earth-friendly products that will help their customers have more fun and success in their own home gardens.

To enter to win the ‘Splash’ Amaryllis, send an email to WashingtonGardener@rcn.com by 5pm on Wednesday, November 30, with “Amaryllis” in the subject line.

In the body of the email tell us which was your favorite article in this issue and why. Please also include your full name and mailing address. The winner will be announced at our blog and Facebook page on December 1. o NOVEMBER 2016

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HORThaenings

New Chinese Garden at the National Arboretum

By Shelby Smith

More than 200 officials from the U.S. and Chinese governments and the local gardening community witnessed a stone-laying ceremony on the construction site of the new U.S.-Sino China Garden on October 28.

The garden is a gift from China to celebrate the relations between the United States and the Chinese government. “The China Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum will offer a place to find peace, tranquility, and classical Chinese culture in our nation’s capital,” according to the press release. “Set on 12 acres in the heart of the U.S. National Arboretum located in northeast Washington, DC, the China Garden will welcome visitors to a blend of nature, art, and architecture.”

This project has been a long time coming and began its official progress in early 2008, when the U.S. Congress gave the National Arboretum the go-ahead to build the China Garden.

When finished, the garden will have five main parts, which will include several exhibits, themed gardens, and pavilions. This garden will have so much to see, including Chinese plants, art, and culture.

The main hope for the garden is to have a calming place where people can embrace several aspects of China in a relaxing atmosphere. The ceremony pamphlet said that visitors will be able to tour several of China’s cities in one hour, which will be featured as themed parts of the garden.

A completion date for the project hasn’t been set, but the full design and plans have been completed. The indoor exhibits have been purchased and wait to be put on display. For more information and a visual layout of the China Garden, go to http://www.usna.usda.gov/ChinaGarden/index.html. o Shelby Smith is a senior double major in multi-platform journalism and film studies at the University of Maryland College Park. She was sports copy editor for Unwind Magazine and has two years of writing experience with The Campus Current newspaper at Anne Arundel Community College.

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NOVEMBER 2016

Canada Thistle

By Jacqueline Hyman

Although many types of thistle exist, both nonnative and native, a largely invasive plant in the greater Washington, DC-area is Canada Thistle.

Canada Thistle (Circium arvense) is an invasive that “is designated a noxious weed in 43 states,” according to Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas. It was introduced accidentally to North America in the 1600s, according to the book.

The plant blooms from late June through August with purple to white flowers and “strongly prickled” leaves.

This perennial invasive can grow up to 4 feet tall.

“Canada Thistle is an aggressive competitor,” wrote Rochelle Bartolomei, native plant specialist at Montgomery County Parks, in an email. “It crowds out native plants and changes the composition of the plant community. It can create monocultures, preventing other native species from thriving and thereby reducing food sources for native insects and birds.”

Bartolomei said the plant thrives in disturbed soil, but that she finds it in many environments, such as sunny meadows, roadsides, cropland, and gardens. Thistle is not tolerant of shade.

The book notes that the seeds are dispersed through the wind, and that it “expands locally by vegetative means through lateral roots and root fragments.” Canada Thistle is dioecious, meaning it requires both male and female plants to produce seed. In addition, even a small part of the plant left in the soil can produce a new plant, said Bartolomei.

Canada Thistle is a tough plant to remove and is not very susceptible to chemical treatment. “I suggest cutting the plant to the base and painting a bit of Roundup on the root and basal leaves in summer. The plant will try to store resources at that time and will draw the herbicide into the root,” Bartolomei wrote. “You can also just keep cutting it to the base and eventually it will die off. Definitely don’t let it go to

seed.” Don’t compost it either!

Because the plants are intolerant of shade, Bartolomei said growing taller plants in the same area may be helpful, but “since it grows and flowers in the cool season, these taller plants may not be effective at shading it out, so repeated cutting back is the safest course.”

Bartolomei added, “To help reduce the spread of the plant, collect seed heads and dispose of them in a sealed bag, cut plants to the ground, and remain vigilant.”

Canada Thistle is very common and is found in many parks and other natural areas, such as gardens and farms. It is important to deal with this invasive species properly and ensure that it is being eradicated whenever possible. o Jacqueline Hyman is a junior journalism and English major at the University of Maryland.

She is the editor-in-chief of the Mitzpeh, an independent Jewish newspaper at UMD. She interned this past summer for Washington Gardener.

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Photograph by Jim Kennedy, www.flickr.com/photos/nature80020/sets/.

WEEDwatch

NEIGHBORnwork

Yao Afantchao, Ethnic Crops Specialist

Yao Afantchao coordinates the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program at the University of DC. Yao is the Ethnic Crop Development Specialist with the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences at the university, working to meet the needs of the District’s ethnically diverse residents. He advises food producers and residents on how to grow and cook a variety of healthy and flavorful international crops. He also introduces commercial growers to the expanding high-value marketing opportunities for ethnic produce and alternative crops in the Mid-Atlantic region.

What is your background?

I am self-taught and self-determined in the practice of creative agriculture. Over the years, I have benefited from numerous professional development opportunities offered by a number of agricultural universities. In the early ’70s, I was a trainer for the Peace Corps in Togo.

I have created an agricultural training center designed to educate subsistence farmers as well as school drop-outs.

This center was created with the help of the Opportunities and Industrialization Centers International. The funding was provided by the USAID. The project turned out to be a significant resource in rural development and poverty alleviation programs in Togo.

I got involved in urban food production here in the USA because I was inspired by the lack of the “home foods” that most immigrants covet. However, to achieve a successful outcome, it was necessary to research such factors as adaptability of the crops to the new climate, as well as yield studies and productivity rate. The initial research of the identified ethnic crops was conducted at the University of Maryland and now it is being done at the University of District of Columbia, at the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences.

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What’s your typical workday like?

There are two parts of my work. One is the hands-on gardening, education, and extension work, and the other is about administrative responsibilities. My typical workday depends upon the time of the year. In March, I am busy preparing for the season, producing seedlings for planting later, and doing outreach to the community. Around June and July, it’s mostly planting and transplanting some of the seedlings. Also, I am training future gardeners and producers of ethnic crops. August through October, we are busy doing harvesting, workshops, presentations, farm tours, and regular administrative duties.

What is your advice for beginner gardeners in DC area?

One of the most important pieces of advice I give is to adapt bio-intensive methods of growing food. The first step is to test the soil, to make sure the soil is not contaminated and to determine nutrient deficiency so they grow safe and nutritious food.

Do you have a favorite plant?

I have many favorites, but I am focusing on the Hibiscus Sabdariffa, also known as Sawa Sawa, for its abundant nutritional values, such as high content of anti-oxidants.

What questions do people ask you?

People asked to know about the definition of ethnic crops, the difference between them and local traditional crops. I answer by saying that ethnic crops are not traditionally grown here in the USA, but have been brought here, adding to the diversity and food supply of the region in which they are grown.

Is there any similar advice for African gardeners and American gardeners?

Gardeners and small-holder farmers in Africa should adapt to focus on biointensive growing methods, like practicing cover-cropping instead of artificial

By Shelby Smith

fertilization as a safe way of building their soil health. To small farmers, I recommend no-till methods as a way of conserving the soil and for the economic benefits from saving money by not tilling the soil.

What is your favorite dish to prepare using garden herbs or vegetables?

I enjoy Jute Leaf Soup prepared with seafood, which compares to gumbo in Louisiana, but there is one dish in particular that I enjoy sharing with more people: the Garden Egg* Dip. What are your plans for December?

I am going to be working with small farmers in countries in Central America, like Belize and Guatemala.

What are your plans for the next year?

Next year, I am completing a threeyear work plan for the North Eastern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, a program based on the research to see the feasibility of growing ethnic crops in the region. I will be doing the production of ethnic crops and the processing and packaging of the ethnic crops. The objective is to prove that there is an economic value to the ethnic crops.

What are you growing in your garden?

I am growing Waterleaf (Purslane) and Jamma Jamma (Huckleberry).

What is the best way for people to connect to you?

My email is yafantchao@udc.edu. o Shelby Smith is a senior double major in multi-platform journalism and film studies at the University of Maryland College Park. She was sports copy editor for Unwind Magazine and has two years of writing experience with The Campus Current newspaper at Anne Arundel Community College. *Garden egg (Solanum aethiopicum) or eggplant is commonly refered to in the Western world as “mock tomato” or gilo.

BROOKSIDE GARDENS’ WINTER WALK -THROUGH LIGHT DISPLAY RETURNS!

NOVEMBER 25, 2016 - JANUARY 1, 2017

FEATURING Live Music Garden Railway Holiday Gifts

Sun - Thur 5:30-9:00 p.m.

Fri - Sat 5:30-10:00 p.m.

(Closed December 24 & 25)

Advanced sale tickets $25 (available from the Gift Shop starting November 1)

$25 per car/van (Sun - Thurs) $30 per car/van (Fri - Sat) For safety reasons, pedestrians are not admitted.

BrooksideGardens.org Information Line: 301-962-1453

Last car admitted 30 minutes before closing time.

Call or visit our website for admission prices for buses, vans, and limos.

NOVEMBER 2016 WASHINGTON GARDENER

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TIPStricks Compiled by Stephen Barber

Potential Solutions for Boxwood Blight

Boxwood blight (BB) was first identified in the U.S. in the fall of 2011 and has since been detected in at least 22 states across the U.S., in both nursery and landscape settings. Two closely related fungi, Calonectria pseudonaviculata and C. henricotiae, cause boxwood blight on three plants: boxwood (Buxus), Pachysandra, and sweet box (Sarcococca).

AmericanHort and its research affiliate, the Horticultural Research Institute, a leading force in the boxwood blight fight, continues to monitor, support, and communicate BB research activities to the industry. Research has been focused on management measures.

Preventing disease is a very important to maintain a healthy garden. Here some great tips to keep yours diseasefree from AmericanHort.com.

Sanitation and disinfection are two critical components of all disease control programs. Soil in nursery beds and benches can harbor BB microsclerotia, overwintering structures in dead leaves that will be viable for years. Several commercially available sanitizers, such as ethanol and bleach, were evaluated for their efficacy against microsclerotia in lab studies. Ethanol was very effective in Dr. Nina Shishkoff’s (USDA-ARS) trials and completely killed conidia in leaf debris in studies conducted by Norm Dart of Virginia Tech. Studies at CAES have shown bleach to be effective against BB spores as well.

Mulching can help hinder the development of a plant disease. Mulch should reduce disease development by reducing pathogen dispersal via rain splash.

A number of fungicides were highlighted for their control activity, including pyraclostrobin and propiconazole.

Biological controls like endophytes, microorganisms that live in or on a plant without causing disease, have been identified associated with boxwood leaves and roots. Often biological control agents have complex interactions with plants, this work can be tedious and time-consuming.

AmericanHort will present a webinar series later this year to discuss this research in greater detail. o 10

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NOVEMBER 2016

Fall Means Mulching Time in the Garden

Landscape mulches come in wide arrays of colors and textures. Pine straw is common in some areas, shredded hardwood bark in others. Mulches can even be cocoa hulls or gravel. They help conserve moisture and suppress weeds, but how well they do those jobs, or how often they need to be replenished, varies from mulch to mulch, according to Susan Day, professor at Virginia Tech. Research is showing that mulches benefit the environment by reducing erosion, reported the Soil Science Society of America.

David Mitchell, a graduate student working with Day, studied how mulches would affect water runoff and sediment transport. He studied eight different mulch types and their performance.

A few results stand out, and research reports are in preparation now with full details.

First, all mulches have a huge effect on total suspended solids running offsite. Bare soil lost about five times as much sediment as soils with mulches covering them. Thus, mulches help control erosion.

Second, geotextiles underneath mulches (such as “landscape fabric” meant to suppress weeds) appeared to accelerate water runoff production in Mitchell’s studies.

Finally, each mulch wears differently, and absorbs a lot of runoff on its own, independent of the soil beneath it.

“Think of mulch as a temporary forest floor,” says Day. “It affects the traditional realms of esthetics, moisture conservation, and elimination of competition for landscape plants, but it is also an important cog in the machinery of the water cycle by keeping the soil surface receptive to water. This improves water quality by allowing the water to get into the soil, instead of the stormwater control system. Soil is an important part of the water cleansing cycle.”

Mulching acts like a forest floor of fallen leaves or pine needles. This simulation of a natrual environment is very good for your garden. By using mulch, you can suppress weeds, help soil retain moisture, reduce water runoff, reduce erosion, and provide an attractive element to your garden. o

Growing Bulbs With Kids

In a study for the Dutch Institute for Nature Education and Sustainability, researcher Agnes van den Berg listed the positive effects that contact with nature has on the health and development of children. Her study showed that contact with the natural world helps children develop their creativity and imagination, their motor skills, and their self-confidence.

How do you begin planting flower bulbs together? Good preparation is half the work. First, locate a spot in your garden that could use some color in the spring. This might be in a border, but also consider a pot or planter. Try something different this time: Ask your child(ren) for advice about what color these flowers should be. It’s called “relinquishing control.” Wait and see how proud your child will be when the flower bulbs start to bloom in the chosen color (even if it might not fit right in with your own choice of colors for the garden). Once the color has been selected, you can put your heads together and look for the prettiest flower bulbs in pink, yellow, or whatever.

This could be at a garden center, home improvement store, or online. The most familiar kinds are tulips (Tulipa), daffodils (Narcissus) and crocuses (Crocus).

Other kinds include Glory-of-the-Snow (Chionodoxa), Checkered Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris), and Winter Aconite (Eranthis). You can find the entire range of flower bulbs at www.bulb.com.

Here are some great tips for getting your bulbs started, courtesy of iBulb.

• Select a day with plenty of fall sunshine would be just perfect. While gardening, you could all soak up some vitamin D. • At the spot where you want to plant your flower bulbs, rake the soil to make it nice and loose.

• Dig a hole in the ground, making it about three times as deep as the flower bulb is in diameter.

• Plant the flower bulbs in the hole, making sure the “nose” is pointing up.

• Cover the flower bulbs with the excavated soil.

In the spring, your flower bulbs will bloom, and you and your children can enjoy looking back on when you planted them together. o

GARDENnews

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts • Eggplant Parmesan Sliders • 2017 Garden Book Club Picks • Snapdragons: You Can Grow That!

• 10 Things To Do with Your Halloween Pumpkin See more Washington Gardener blog posts at: WashingtonGardener.Blogspot.com o

November-December Garden To-do List New Plant Spotlight New Downton Abbey® Roses For Spring 2017, Weeks Roses is introducing two colorful new varieties in its acclaimed Downton Abbey® Garden Rose Collection, along with a new rose that supports the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation. The new Downton Abbey roses are called Violet’s Pride™ and Edith’s Darling™, and the rose that helps support the treatment for children with brain and spinal cord tumors is called Children’s HopeTM Rose.

Violet’s Pride (pictured above) is named for the Lady Violet character played by Maggie Smith on the popular show. Lady Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, is a fierce woman who always cares for and protects her family. The petals of each Violet’s Pride rose reflect the iconic shades of Lady Violet’s lavender dresses. Violet’s Pride is a prolific bloomer that produces medium-large double blossoms with 35-45 petals. The blooms boast a fruity fragrance with a hint of grapefruit. The flowers are held proudly on top of a vigorous, evenly rounded bush with dense foliage.

New for 2017 in the Downton Abbey® Garden Rose Collection is Edith’s Darling, a fitting tribute to the Lady Edith Crawley character and her beloved daughter, Marigold. The blooms of Edith’s Darling are a soft apricot color that is delightfully old-fashioned.

The petals on each flower grow softly darker toward apricot-gold in the center.

Each 3-inch bloom boasts 50 to 65 petals. The fragrance is much like a fruity, fresh-cut apple.

The new Downton Abbey-licensed roses and other popular roses grown

by Weeks Roses in California are available at garden center nationwide. For details, visit www.WeeksRoses.com. o

• 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 2016

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TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ November 16–December 15, 2016 • November 18, 2016–January 8, 2017 Winter Walk of Lights Bring the family to enjoy the magic at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. Every year, the garden is transformed into a half-mile animated walk of lights. Revisit perennial favorites such as the Lakeside Lights, Fountain of Lights, and Holiday Nature Walk—and look for new displays. 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.

• Saturday, November 19 10am-1pm UDC Farm Gleaning Day 2016 Held at Firebird Farm, 12001 Old Baltimore Pike, Beltsville, MD, It’s the end of the growing season and the harvest is plentiful. We will be collecting this season’s bounty for distribution to Washington metro-area food banks. Volunteers will be allowed to keep part of the day’s harvest for themselves. Bring a bag. Come share in Firebird Farm’s sustainably grown produce and assist those in need.

• Saturday, November 19, 11am–5pm 8th Annual Thomas Jefferson Wine Festival Wine was a “necessary of life” for Mr. Jefferson. Join thousands of likeminded oenophiles at Mr. Jefferson’s secluded Bedford County plantation to celebrate his vision for Virginia wine and taste wines from some of Virginia’s finest vineyards at the eighth annual Thomas Jefferson Wine Festival. Enjoy music from local bands, graze on local fare, shop for handmade gifts in the artisan market, and enjoy the wine tastings. The Thomas Jefferson Wine Festival is held in a large, heated tents on the south lawn, rain or shine. Because this is an adult event, there are no children’s activities scheduled. Outside food and drink are not allowed. Admission is $25 in advance, $30 at the door; designated driver and non-drinking tickets are $10 in advance and at the door. VIP tickets and amenities are $125 per person or $225 per couple; 12

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for details, visit poplarforest.org/events.

House tours will also be available at a reduced cost.

•Sunday, November 20, 2pm In Good Company: The Roses and Companion Plantings of the Smithsonian’s Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose Garden The Potomac Rose Society meeting is at Behnke Nurseries on 11300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD. Shelley Gaskins, Smithsonian Gardens Horticulturist, discusses the newly reopened Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose Garden and the exciting, year-long expansion and renovation project. The new Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose Garden will incorporate healthy rose varieties along with companion plantings to attract beneficial insects.

It is designed to be a healthier garden, providing four seasons of interest with less reliance on pesticides.

• Monday, November 21, 8:00pm Perennials that Give a Lot and Ask for Little Talk With 40 years’ experience in growing perennials and maintaining them on a daily basis, Karen Rexrode will have a few favorites to share. The ones that don’t whimper or pout when the going gets tough, or need regular grooming.

This presentation will be about foliage and flowers, what Karen considers the best of the best. Silver Spring Garden Club hosts this program, which is free and open to nonmembers at Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, MD. •Thanksgiving Day, November 24– Monday, January 2, 2017 Season’s Greenings: National Parks and Historic Sites Immerse yourself in the sights, scents, and sounds of the season at the annual holiday show Season’s Greenings of the U.S. Botanic Garden. See thousands of blooms throughout the conservatory, from exotic orchids to a showcase of heirloom and newly developed poinsettia varieties. Throughout the conservatory, the displays celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and the 50th anniversary of the Nation-

al Historic Preservation Act, including displaying one of the largest indoor trees, decked out with ornaments from national parks. The best times to visit Season’s Greenings are weekdays early in December or on select Tuesday and Thursday evenings in December when the conservatory is open until 8pm with live seasonal music. Aside from these extended holiday hours, the conservatory is open every day of the year, from 10am to 5pm, free of charge.

• November 24, 2016–January 8, 2017 A Longwood Christmas This year, the sounds of the season resonate throughout Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA, with a musically inspired display. Organ sing-alongs, strolling carolers, and performances fill the gardens with festive cheer. Outside, the sounds of oohs and aahs fill the air as illuminated stars twinkle above, colorful fountains dance to holiday music, and a half-million lights brighten the night. Tickets on sale now. See details at longwoodgardens.org.

• Tuesday, November 29, 7:30pm The Science behind Wild and Designed Plant Communities Claudia West, ecological sales manager at North Creek Nurseries and co-author with Thomas Rainer of Planting in a Post Wild World, will talk to the Maryland Native Plant Society at the Kensington Library, Kensington, MD. Native plantings are gaining in popularity but also face severe challenges. Examples of failed projects are plentiful and hurt the image of the native plant movement. It is time for a new approach—a plant community-based method that has evolved in the world of ecological science. Join the movement by translating ecological principles of wild plant communities into design and management tools that will help create better native planting. This presentation will introduce the science behind stable and lasting plant combinations. Dive into the work of several European ecologists and planting designers, and define how their findings can help you create and manage the native plantings you envision. The program is open to non-

TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ November 16–December 15, 2016 members. Registration is not required.

For a listing of all events: http://mdflora.org/events.html.

• Saturday, December 3, 10am Fresh Greens Workshop Held at Merrifield Garden Center’s at Fair Oaks, 12101 Lee Hwy, Fairfax, VA. Peg Bier and Wilson Vertin will teach you how to make holiday wreaths, garlands, and arrangements with fresh flowers, pine, holly, cedar, boxwood, magnolia, and adornments. Details at www.merrifieldgardencenter.com.

• Saturday, December 3, 7pm DIRT: The Movie Presented by Fair Farms in Jefferson, MD. The movie is 90 minutes long. It is narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis. The film brings to life the environmental, economic, social, and political impact of soil. There is no charge for this event, but donations are gladly accepted.

Details at http://foxhavenfarm.org/ events/.

• Sunday, December 4, 12-4pm Gardener’s Holiday Open House Treat yourself to a day of holiday fun in the garden featuring holiday decorations and seasonal displays, live music, holiday breads and ornaments for sale, and free refreshments. This festive day, held at Green Spring Gardens, is for gardeners of all ages. Bring the children to a holiday puppet show by Bob Brown Puppets at 1pm and 3pm ($4/person; advance registration recommended).

Free admission. For more information, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/ greenspring.

• Sunday, December 4, 9:30am— 4:30pm Orchid Diagnostic & Repotting Clinic Questions about orchids? Visit with the Orchid Lady, Carol Allen. If you have questions about a specific orchid, bring it in, and let her take a look. If you need your orchid repotted, for a fee, she will take care of that and show you how.

Held at Behnke Nurseries on 11300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD. • Saturday, December 10, 10am–12n

Wreath Workshop: Herbal Capture the warmth of Christmas this season and craft your own herbal wreath at Tudor Place. Intertwine foliage with herbs and spices like cheery cinnamon or fragrant lavender to create a unique centerpiece sure to fill any room with holiday spirit. Dress it up or leave it simple to suit your seaonal decorating desires. Members: $45 and nonmembers $55. See www.tudorplace.org to register.

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.

• December 11, 10am–12n or 2–4pm Wreath-making Classes Brighten your home for the harvest and holiday season. Held at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Work with one of the estate’s horticulturists to decorate a wreath with dried botanicals representative of plants grown on the estate. For ages 16 and above. Cost includes supplies and general admission. Fee: $35 (includes general admission). Register at www.mountvernon. org/plan-your-visit/calendar/events/ wreath-making-classes/.

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

Events are also posted on the Twitter feed (@wdcgardener) and Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ WashingtonGardenerMagazine.

• Through January 8, 2017 Lasting Impressions: The Artists of Currier & Ives Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library announces an exhibition of some of today’s most sought-after works that will explore the role of Frances (“Fanny”) Bond Palmer (1812–1876) and Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (1819–1905), two of the most prolific artists for the iconic publisher of Christmas cards and Americana. Their work is widely regarded as one of the greatest pictorial recordings of 19th-century America. Lasting Impressions will be a part of Winterthur’s annual Yuletide at Winterthur tour, November 19, 2016—January 8, 2017. For information on programming and other special attractions related to Lasting Impressions: The Artists of Currier & Ives, visit Winterthur.org.

Save These Future Dates: •The Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) is currently celebrating its 47th year of success. MANTS will hold its 2017 show from January 11-13 at

• Washington Gardener Magazine’s 2017 Seed Exchanges are on January 28 at Brookside Gardens and February 4 at Green Spring Gardens. Start saving and labeling your seeds now!

Still More Event Listings

How to Submit Local Garden Events

To submit an event for this listing, contact: Wgardenermag@aol. com—put “Event” in the subject line.

Our next deadline is December 10 for the December issue, for events from December 16—January 15. o

Advanced Landscape Plant IPM PHC Short Course January 3–6, 2017 For more information please visit: landscapeipmphc.weebly.com For registration information contact:

Kiley Gilbert University of Maryland Department of Entomology 4291 Fieldhouse Dr. College Park, MD 20742 Tel: 301-405-3911 Email: kgilber4@umd.edu 

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EDIBLEharvt

Eat Your Weeds: Lamb’s Quarters

Text and photos by Katherine Lambert

Eat weeds? You heard right! There’s a rich and satisfying world of nutrition at your feet in your own backyard or in that vacant lot or abandoned field.

Personally, there are few culinary adventures that tickle my fancy more than to walk out of my house and pick some lovely, fresh green plants for a morning smoothie, a salad, a soup, or a sauté. They are free and delicious, and make me feel nourished and connected to the earth.

Most wild foods—a less-derogatory and more-appealing term for edible weeds—are more nutritious than their cultivated relatives. Flavors are often stronger and earthier, since they haven’t been bred to appeal to modern palates intoxicated by sweet and bland food.

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Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium berlandieri) is also known as Wild Spinach or Goosefoot. An analysis of the nutritional composition of this plant shows that it has amounts of calcium, beta carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and phosphorous that blow the amounts found in cultivated greens like spinach, kale, and chard out of the water. And that’s not even counting all the substantial amounts of phytonutrients, Omega 3 fatty acids, protein, trace minerals, and fiber they contain.

Traditional cultures have eaten these wild greens going as far back as the Iron Age and they were especially valued in the spring, when they were consumed as a tonic. We eat the seed of a cultivated relative of Lamb’s Quarters—it’s called quinoa. We also eat its

close cousins: beets, Swiss chard, and spinach, among others.

Lamb’s Quarters is native to North America and found throughout the continent. It was a staple of Native American diets and is still cultivated in Mexico.

Gathering and Eating Lamb’s Quarters

Lamb’s Quarters can be found almost any place where the ground has been disturbed. They are often seen growing out of sidewalk cracks and along roadsides. It is best to harvest them in a spot far off the road to avoid contamination from traffic and dogs.

To identify Lamb’s Quarters, look for the triangular-shaped leaves with silvery undersides. The leaves are said to be

EDIBLEharvt shaped like goose feet. The new leaves will have a dusty appearance, as you can see in the photo above.

Plants in mid-summer can be up to seven feet tall, but usually you’ll find plants that are around three to five feet high.

Wild foods are often at their best in the spring, but Lamb’s Quarters can be harvested a-plenty in mid-summer. It is like the best spinach you’ve ever eaten, only better—and prepared and eaten in much the same way.

The young leaves can be eaten raw in salads and, if one has the patience, the small seeds can be harvested in the fall to be eaten like a grain. Go easy when eating the raw leaves, since they contain high amounts of oxalic acid, which interferes with the absorption of calcium and can be problematic for some individuals with conditions such as kidney stones or gout. Cooking decreases the quantity of oxalic acid. Oxalic acid is also found in many other foods, such as spinach, parsley, Swiss chard, beets, quinoa, buckwheat, chocolate, and peanuts.

To eat this nutritious plant throughout winter, you can dry collected leaves or you can blanch and freeze the leaves.

How to Prepare and Cook Lamb’s Quarters Strip off the leaves. The average plant yields about eight cups of raw leaves and they cook down to about two cups.

(Like spinach and other greens, Lamb’s Quarters cooks down substantially.)

Don’t worry about removing the tiny stems attached to the leaf, they are tender. Wash them in cold water as you would any other greens.

One of the best ways to prepare any wild green is the steam-saute method, taught to me by the inimitable and talented cookbook author and chef, Myra Kornfeld.

In a large saute pan over medium heat, saute some minced or sliced garlic (two to four cloves, depending on your taste) in about 2 Tbs. of olive oil for 30 seconds or until it is slightly softened.

Add in the washed greens with a sprinkling of salt, stirring them occasionally with the garlic, for about three minutes until they turn bright green.

Add in a ¼ cup water and cover, cooking over medium heat for about 15 minutes until the greens are dark and tender and the water has mostly cooked away.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, then serve with a fresh squeeze of lemon. Enjoy! o

Katherine Lambert is a nationally Certified Nutrition Specialist, a Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist in the state of Maryland and a ServSafe® food handler. She is a Montgomery County Master Gardener and the current president of the Takoma Horticultural Club.

You can read her Food Wisdom blog at www. foodwisdomnutrition.com.

Y ou Can Make a Difference. . . by

Sharing Your Harvest

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.

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PLANTprofile

Milkweed: Common or Swampy, Whorled, Purple, or Butterfly

By Judith Mensh

Sweet-scented, summer-blooming with dusty pink and purple umbels, an upright stalk, downy outside and hollow inside, opposite leaves tending to tilt upward, it’s Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), thriving through scores of generations throughout North America. Each area developing its own version, or ecotype. Common Milkweed was once a summer staple along with wild raspberries that grew along our daily routes.

Asclepias syriaca begin their nectar-rich bloom in June and continue through August, after which their distinctive pods (technically called follicles) develop. In the fall, the seed pods ripen and dry out, splitting to reveal dandelion-like down, only more so, each seed attached to a long, silky fluff. On windy days, these white ghosts float out of sight and we never gave a thought to 16

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their landings. Flyers, we called them.

Today, flyers may not tickle the nose of many children, since their numbers have dropped dramatically, due to development and use of pesticides.

When we gaze upon Milkweed, growing along roadsides or around sunny clearings along a trail, we are connecting across the generations, looking back through time—a window into coevolution with the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Milkweed leaves provide a safe haven for the Monarch to lay its eggs. When the eggs become caterpillars, the leaves that sheltered them provide their sole food. By chomping these leaves (and their toxic chemicals), they are able to develop lifetime protection from predators along the way.

Later, as adult butterflies, they visit for nectar, and, of course, to lay their eggs.

It is well documented that the use of

pesticides in commercial growing operations has depleted the Asclepias population mercilessly, with the collapse of the Monarch population not far behind.

Remediation is in process, having started in the 1980s, when wildflowers were introduced into the medians of highways, replacing the ill-advised mown turfgrass approach that had ruled the landscape for decades. Milkweed features prominently in these seed mixes, along with Echinacea, Rudbeckia, and Solidago.

Unfortunately the “w” word is forever attached to this plant. Let’s relegate the weed word to invasive nonnative, uninvited volunteers such as Hairy Galinsoga (Galinsoga ciliata), Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). and Kudzu (Pueraria lobata); there are many that deserve this suffix, but Asclepias spp. does not. Perhaps it might become Milkplant, Silkplant, or Butterfly Flower.

Earlier regional names included Wild Cotton, Virginia Silk, and Rose Milk Flower. In Britain, it’s Silky Swallowwort.

Although Milkweeds are not yet found in kitchen gardens, both survivalists and foragers-for-fun respect the Milkweed as a source of both food and fiber. The tall stalks of the Milkweed contain long strands of cellulose easy enough to free and prepare to use as rope. The very young sprouts of Milkweed and the unopened flower buds are considered tasty (when properly prepared).

The toxic milky latex most Asclepias exude effectively discourages foraging by animals on the ground, while it cements its relationship to Monarch butterflies, which ingest Milkweed leaves at the caterpillar stage. This diet renders the Monarch as unpalatable to predators as the plant is to foragers.

Milkweed History

Milkweed arrived in Britain as a member of the early wave of 18th-century European plant explorations of North America, which included many of our now-familiar natives: Chelone, Rudbeckia, and Solidago, common garden flowers of today. Milkweed, named Asclepias spp. by Linnaeus in 1753, is currently identified as a member of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. (There is

PLANTprofile also native Asclepias in South Africa.)

Included on the list of 18th-century garden plants grown at George Washington’s Mount Vernon was the bright orange-and-yellow-flowered Asclepias tuberosa, commonly called Butterfly Weed.

For plant collectors such as the keeper of the British National Collection of Asclepias, the over-100 species are perhaps equally of interest, and as tourists, we too can appreciate this living encyclopedia of a plant genus. Yet, time and experience have shown that our strongest approach to the Monarchs and the Milkweeds is to support their natural habitat with its particular and very specific genus, as found in the wild. To protect, reconnect, and rebuild the Monarchs’ regional flyways requires guaranteeing a stable source of food and a safe, uninterrupted corridor to fly along. Collecting species is fun for some, but this genus is all about going local and participating in community responsibility.

Milkweed was used in traditional medicine by the indigenous peoples over the millennia. Its medicinal qualities are extensive. Roots are harvested in the fall after the above-ground plant has died back, but not yet disappeared for the winter. Fields of Milkweed were commonly found growing near Native American dwellings. Its ubiquity earned it the title “common” Milkweed sap, the sticky white latex substance exuded by this genus, was used topically to treat warts, and the rhizomes, dried and prepared, treated ailments of the lungs and the digestive and reproductive systems.

Milkweeds come to us over the ages, evolving in sync with one particular butterfly, a strategy seen throughout the insect/flower world. Modern science has identified poisonous cardioactive glycosides in Asclepias spp. Currently, there is interest in developing the potential of Milkweed as a commercial crop, for its fluff, proven to be of a water-resistant buoyancy valuable as filling in life preservers. These same qualities have proved to be invaluable as a clean-up material for oil spills.

Today the emphasis is on the irrefutable and essential need of Milkweed by Monarchs.

Cultivars for DC Region

Optimal Conditions

Sunshine and adequate moisture are essential for Milkweed to become established. Most, as in the A. tuberosa, have a deep tap root, and are best planted where they can stay put, and establish itself over time. Its rhizome goes straight down, forming a tap root stabilizing the single-stalked plant above ground, and providing the plant with resources hidden deep, when needed.

If you have a low spot or a wet spot in your landscape, then the Swamp Milkweed (A. incarnata) can happily adjust and establish itself. As a wetsoil-tolerant plant, its roots are of the fibrous mass variety.

Growing Milkweed from seed is both a challenge and a pleasure. Learning to be a seed collector and propagator is a logical step for Asclepias cultivators.

With Milkweeds, we can’t be gardeners of the “everything must look perfect every day” variety, because we must watch the leaves being eaten by caterpillars with forbearance, even pleasure, knowing that soon a Monarch butterfly will emerge out of the wreckage. In the fall, we must tolerate it appearing to look unkempt, because we appreciate the positive consequences of leaving it be until spring.

Groups, clumps, drifts are good—begin with a minimum of three plants of each species. More is better. Sourcing regional varieties should be your top priority.

Asclepias tuberosa traditionally has been the star garden Milkweed, for a long time considered the only Milkweed deserving a place in the garden. Its bright-orange flowers provide a welcome shock of color. As for variations, there are some hybrid Asclepias available, mostly selected for color: A. incarnata ‘Ice Ballet’ (all-white), A. incarnata ‘Cinderella’ (rose pink), and A. tuberosa ‘Hello Yellow’ (all-yellow). There may be a fun factor, but otherwise there is little need for endless cultivars; there is need for endless plants of what we already have, Common Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, and Butterfly Weed (which has no milky ooze) in particular. Also found within our locale are A. purpurascens, a Milkweed for partial shade, and A. verticillata, a less-flamboyant member of the group, but equally loved by butterflies and other pollinators.

Acquire seeds and plants locally. If transplanting, do so from mowed areas only, never from a wild population.

Allow your plantings to self-sow and send out rhizomes, expanding over time; especially important because pollinators need groups and clumps of flowers to thrive. An expanse of lawn reimagined as a field of butterflies can be accomplished with regional Milkweed species providing the central theme, with support from other highnectar perennials and annuals.

A landscape that faces south and gets direct afternoon sun from the west, if not shaded by trees or buildings, presents the perfect environment for Milkweed to be cultivated.

Avoid A. curassavica, once popular as an annual, as it is a nonnative tropical Milkweed, associated with the spread of a disease that is attacking Monarchs, and is not an ecotype for our area.

Companion Plants

Sun-loving, nectar-rich plants, tall and stately, Asclepias works well with others, including: Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Eupatorium, Solidago, and Coreopsis.

Add some Sunflowers, Zinnias, and Hibiscus moscheutos; water; and wait for abundant rewards. Asters blooming in the fall make good companions, also New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis), Amsonia hubrichtii, and NOVEMBER 2016

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PLANTprofile Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’ grass.

If you have an open sunny area and allow your plantings a few years’ time to increase and form a group, you will be contributing to building a dependable Monarch way station.

Sources for Purchasing and Information

In early summer, a few Milkweed cultivars show up for sale in our local garden centers. For garden center employees, these perennials are usually a nightmare since aphids soon mercilessly claim the Milkweed, caring nothing about appearances for potential buyers. And then the black-and-orange Milkweed bugs arrive (harmless, but unappreciated).

To become familiar with our regional Asclepias and to acquire some, visit local native plant sales, held by our local public gardens. Nature by Design, in Alexandria, VA, is our local go-to retail native plants resource. They carry the five species endemic to our region: Swamp Milkweed (A. incarnata), Purple Milkweed (A. purpurascens), Common

Join Us For: Seed Swapping Door Prizes Planting Tips Expert Speakers Goody Bags

NEW This Year: Make-it Take-It Seed Crafting Table Washington Gardener Magazine current subscribers get $5 off the attendee fee!

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Milkweed (A. syriaca), Butterfly Weed (A. tuberosa), and Whorled Milkweed (A. verticillata).

The Xerces Society (www.xerces.org) web site provides an invaluable document titled “Milkweeds, A conservation Practitioner’s Guide” (2014).

The Internet provides many opportunities to join the Save the Monarchs movement. Many involve receiving free seeds when you promise to plant them and share them. You may participate by collecting and donating seeds to Monarch Watch. Milkweed seeds are currently in need of greater availability.

Lots of information out there. Lots of programs to participate in. Sometimes we find ourselves looking for a cause to give our life meaning; here you go: Save the Monarchs; plant location-specific Asclepias. The Monarch connection— now the Monarch crisis—has brought a once-ubiquitous weed into the spotlight. A good indication of our changing awareness of what it means to garden: being stewards of a sustainable world.

Milkweeds are not just garden design elements, Milkweeds are a movement,

a cause.

A garden becomes more than an assortment of colors, sizes, shapes, scents, and textures when we step up to our stewardship role as citizens of the planet. Monarch butterflies are at risk. We can help. Find a sunny spot, plant some seeds, grow them on, and “they” will come. Not just the Monarchs, but also the bees, the bugs, the Milkweed Tussock moth, the ladybird beetles and their larvae, the slugs, the birds that eat the slugs... The seasons of nature continue, part of the pleasure of hearing the hum of summer days (but not from air conditioners!). o Judith Mensh is a local horticultural consultant. She is available to walk your yard with you and identify plants and possibilities.

She can be reached via email at JudithMenshNurtureNature@gmail.com.

Note that every attendee at the upcoming Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Exchanges will receive a pack of Milkweed seeds and we will make a donation from the event proceeds to Save Our Monarchs Foundation (SaveOurPollinators.org).

Washington Gardener Magazine presents the

12th Annual Washington Gardener

Seed onExchanges Saturday,

January 28, 2017 National Seed Swap Day! from 12:30 – 4:00PM at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD AND on Saturday, February 4, 2017 from 12:30 – 4:00PM at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA Registration will open on December 15, 2015 at www.washingtongardener.com.

LOCALrourc

Maryland’s Norton-Brown Herbarium in Jeopardy The Norton-Brown Herbarium in the College of Natural Resources at the University of Maryland College Park has been in existence since 1901. In it’s 115 years of operation, it has collected around 87,000 specimens of flowering plants, cone-bearing plants, algae, mosses, liverworts, lichen, and fungi from the state of Maryland.

This collection is considered to be an irreplaceable source of data in the study of plants. Despite this, the program has been defunded and will close at the end of 2016 unless $100,000 dollars can be raised.

Every year, the Maryland Herbarium takes in samples from Maryland and preserves them. The samples are used to identify local flora, create a historic record of plant distribution in the area, and track changes in environments and the human impact on them. It is also a repository of viable seeds of the area’s flora, including many rare plants. It is has been found time and again to be a primary source for guide books that detail local plant life.

Losing the Norton-Brown Herbarium would mean that we would sacrifice the source for many viable plant genetics. The preservation of seeds is vital to gardeners because without it, many potential plant varieties will be lost and seed companies will have no other resource for bringing them to market. Heirloom vegetable varieties are frequently sourced from herbariums and anyone who wants to grow true non-invasive Maryland plants will have lost the ultimate in plant sources.

Aside from the physical specimens, a great repository of knowledge will be lost.

Scientists, researchers, and horticulturalists will not have constantly updated source material about Maryland’s plant life. This will making publishing new work on gardening and plants in the Maryland and Mid-Atlantic region more challenging, because the primary source material will be forfeited.

For many, it seems inconceivable that a land grant school would even consider defunding the herbarium. A land grant school is a designation for a higher education institution for schools granted land under the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 to focus on teaching agriculture and science, among other things. Due to this, it seems that the University of Maryland is ignoring its mandate as a land grant school to focus on agriculture or science. The herbarium is an essential part of both the university’s agriculture and plant sciences programs.

As our nation heads into troubled times ecologically, institutions such as the Norton-Brown Herbarium are even more essential. Without it, we lose an important tool for the conservation of plant biodiversity. We will also lose important tools for studying and conserving Maryland’s water quality.

If you are interested in helping the Norton-Brown Herbarium, a fundraiser has already been started to raise money to pay for its operating costs. You can find a link by going to giving.umd.edu and finding the Norton-Brown Herbarium fund. o

by Stephen Barber

Flatbed scan of an herbarium specimen of Oplismenus undulatifolius (Uebel, 1,651C) collected at Liberty Reservoir, Baltimore County, MD, by Ed Uebel [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Stephen Barber is a country boy from Keedysville, MD, who moved to Washington DC, to become a farmer. A lifelong gardener, he found his love of the craft from growing cannabis in the woods and fields around his rural Maryland childhood home. He has taken his gardening indoors, and works as a video journalist in the legal cannabis industry, sprouting up in the nation’s capital. Check him out every Wednesday on the Washington Gardener’s blog where he will be providing tips on indoor gardening. He is a senior at the University of Maryland, where he is majoring in broadcast journalist.

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BOOKreviews gardener can grow and admire.

Chili peppers make a wonderful summer vegetable to grow; they are both an edible and an ornamental. Every gardener could grow at least one or two plants other than the common bell peppers. Every year, the annual Silver Spring Garden Club’s GardenMart, held the second Saturday of May at Brookside Gardens, has some interesting peppers to try; many that are described in this book.

This book is of interest to anybody growing chilies and in having colorful and visually interesting vegetables in his or her garden—no matter how big or small. The book itself makes a handy reference work and certainly a good gift for anybody interested in gardening.

Peter Pepper is a long-time pepper grower and enthusiast. He gardens in both Montgomery County, MD, and Prince George’s County, MD.

101 Chilies to Try Before You Die

By David Floyd Published by Firefly Books List Price: $18.95 Reviewer: Peter Pepper This little encyclopedia-like reference book brings together “the bucket list” concept with growing and eating chili peppers. This book lists 101 different chilies that one should grow and eat before you pass on.

For each chili, the reader receives a short anecdotal history and description such as its origins, its uses, and what it is good for. You also get some quick references describing the chili and its species, and where seeds can be obtained from. Highlighted for the reader is the Scoville rating system and the number of Scoville heat units each chili has.

The Scoville rating is the modern way to measure the heat produced by capsicum in the chili. (A common sweet bell pepper has almost none, while a hot habañero can have 200,000 units, so watch out!) On the facing page of each description is a beautiful photographic image of that particular chili.

This is an interesting book because it gives the reader a quick description of many types of chilies; colorful, flavorful, and just so interesting we have to grow them. Although there is perhaps too much emphasis on hot chilies, there many mild chilies are still listed that the 20

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Sustainable Landscape Maintenance Manual for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

By Cheryl Corson Published by Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council List Price: not applicable Reviewer: Shelby Smith This manual provides a very detailed, step-by-step process to help designers, clients, and contractors to manage landscapes properly.

First off, the table of contents is your best friend. It is broken down into several sections, which will help you find more information on anything you will need. A list of references at the end of each chapter can lead you to other sites or documents, if you need more information.

This manual covers almost everything you could think of that has to do with landscaping around the watershed of the Chesapeake Bay. It gives you a lot of lifestyle tips, like getting to know public agency personnel and your state’s environmental rules and regulations before you make any landscaping decisions.

There are facts for not only individuals, but groups of people as well. I could see this information being shown at contractor and master gardener meetings. You could spend a long time learn-

ing about all the elements that have to do with landscaping, and this manual has that information.

A series of quick steps helps make sure you are using the best equipment, materials, and procedures to sustain your landscape properly. Chapters on soil and water give facts and steps on regulations, modernizations, and recommendations when using them.

Sometimes reading a PDF can be overwhelming with too much text, but this manual breaks up the paragraphs with a lot of relatable links, pictures, and charts. This manual reads very easily and doesn’t have a lot of confusing jargon. The steps are short and to the point.

I would recommend this manual for anyone who is planning to start or maintain a landscape in the Chesapeake Bay area. This is helpful for both professionals and amateurs.

This manual is only available as a downloadable PDF from http://cblpro. org/study-materials/.

Shelby Smith is a senior double major in multi-platform journalism and film studies at the University of Maryland College Park. She was sports copy editor for Unwind Magazine and has two years of writing experience with The Campus Current newspaper at Anne Arundel Community College.

The Kid-Gardener’s Planting Book for Parents

By Chris Eirschele Publisher: Decoded Science List Price: $39.99 Reviewer: Stephen Barber This book is a fantastic resource for parents who want to share their love of gardening with their children. As the child of a gardener, who instilled her love of the craft in me, I love the premise of this book. I also feel that this

BOOKreviews chairs. In a day and age that is becoming more accessible for people with disabilities, it is important to develop and teach gardening techniques that are inclusive to disabled children. This part of the book would also be useful for teachers trying to create a class garden that is accessible to all of their students.

Overall, I feel that Kid-Gardener’s Planting Book For Parents is not only a great book, but an important one. If children are never taught the joy of gardening, they may never know about the pursuit. Books like these will be very helpful in getting the next generation of gardeners going.

book is important for the continuation of the pursuit in an age where kids are going outside less and less.

The first section of the book is dedicated to which plants your child should choose for their garden. This is an important section, because some plants are quite difficult to grow and ensuring that children have a high chance of success with their first try is important to keeping them engaged.

This section also covers which attractive floral plants are the easiest to grow, helping parents decide on a plant their kids will like.

The chapter on terrarium building is particularly engaging. The KidGardener’s Planting Book For Parents outlines effective plant choices and easy-to-apply methods for terrarium construction. This is great for child gardeners to have something they can take with them and share at show-and-tells and with their friends.

There are also a couple of in-depth sections on insects and their interactions with a garden. I remember as a child that I was fascinated by insects.

This section provides great information about how they all play into a garden’s ecosystem I know I would have loved.

An important part of the book for those who have children with special needs is a section that outlines how best to enable children with disabilities to garden. This section outlines how to create tables and raised flower beds that are accessible to children in wheel-

Stephen Barber is from Keedysville, MD. He moved to Washington, DC, to become an urban farmer. He is a senior at the University of Maryland, majoring in broadcast journalist.

Late Bloomer: How to Garden with Comfort, Ease, and Simplicity in the Second Half of Life

By Jan Coppola Bills Publisher: St. Lynn’s Press List Price: $18.95 Reviewer: Teresa Speight This is a terrific book for those who have chosen to garden after deciding to slow down in life. Most people have had super-busy lives and have not really taken the time to smell the roses.

Jan Coppola Bills left the corporate world and became a garden designer, advanced master gardener, and writer as she decided that she needed a life change. Organizational management is Jan’s background, so it stands to reason that this book is organized by “Simplicity and Sustainability” and ends with “Organic Remedies from My Online Friend’s.”

As we age, no one wants to have a garden that is hard to maintain. Topics such as Small Garden Abundance, Tend, Don’t Toil, and Weed Out the Weeds are chapters that hold a wealth of knowledge.

When Jan discusses balance, ease, and beauty, these three points can make all the difference in enjoying the garden or having a garden that just isn’t appealing to the owner or the visitor.

My favorite chapter is Perfectly Imperfect. Bills says there is no “perfect”

when it comes to plants or gardens.

There is always a little something to do, because the garden is never finished.

I love this concept because it encourages consistent engagement with the garden, especially for the late bloomers among us.

I recommend this book if you have just begun your garden journey upon entering the next phase of life. It’s a great read with useful hints and tips, no matter what age you are! o Teresa Speight is a native Washingtonian, who resides in District Heights, MD. She owns Cottage in the Court Landscape Consulting. She can be reached at cottageinthecourt@gmail.com.

Love Reading?

These books were reviewed by volunteer members of the Washington Gardener Reader Panel. We are looking for a few additional volunteers who live in the greater Washington, DC, region to serve on our Reader Panel. This will consist of about two email exchanges per month.

Reader Panelists may also be asked to review new gardening books and test out new garden plants, tools, and seeds.

To join the Washington Gardener Volunteer Reader Panel, send an email with your name and address to: wgardenermag@aol.com. We look forward to having you be a vital part of our local publication and its gardening mission. o NOVEMBER 2016

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KNOWitall

Ask the Expert

by Debra Ricigliano

Too Late for Cover Crops

This fall I did not get the chance to plant a cover crop in my vegetable garden. I imagine it is too late to do that now, so what can I do to cover the soil to prevent erosion?

Yes, it is too late to sow a cover crop for this season. In addition to erosion control, cover crops improve soil structure; increases soil fertility, and suppress weeds. After you clean up old plant debris, add a couple inches of compost or well-rotted manure and then cover the bed with shredded leaves. You can either till this into the garden in the spring, plant right through it, or use the leaves to mulch walkways. The added organic matter will also help improve the soil in your beds.

What to Do with Mums

The chrysanthemums that I planted in my perennial bed bloomed beautifully for me this fall. They are now finished blooming and the flower heads are all brown. What do I do with them now?

I have already put some extra mulch around them, but should I cut them back now?

If the chrysanthemums you planted are winter-hardy, they do not require special care for the winter. Leave the brown foliage and dead flower heads for now and prune them in late winter or early spring. Prune them back to the basal foliage (leaves that are close to the ground). To produce stockier, wellbranched plants next fall, pinch off about 1- 2 inches of the new growth when the plants get to be about 6-8 inches tall next spring. This should be done two times up until early July.

No Berries on Holly Tree

We moved into our new home recently and there is an American holly tree in our front yard. However, I am very disappointed because the tree has no berries. What can I do to make sure the tree gets berries next year?

There could be a number of reasons why your holly tree does not have ber22

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ries. Most hollies, including American hollies, are dioecious, so both a male and a female plant are needed for fruit. It is possible that you have a male tree; only female trees produce berries.

Or perhaps your tree is not a named cultivar of an American holly such as ‘Satyr Hill,’ ‘Goldie’ (yellow fruit), ‘Amy,’ and many others. These are known for heavy fruit set. If it is a young tree, it can take between four to seven years to become established and flower.

Sometimes a late frost can damage flower buds, preventing them from forming berries. Also, periods of dry weather during flowering and fruit formation can reduce fruit, so keep your tree watered during dry periods.

them to decline. If you have a sunny, cool room or even an unheated area like an enclosed porch, you can move the container there for the coldest part of the winter. Keep the soil on the drier side. If it is kept outdoors, move the container to a sheltered location where it is protected from harsh winds. Also, wrapping the container in bubble wrap will help protect the container and the roots from freezing temps. o

Will Herbs Survive Winter

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.

The herbs you planted can take cold temperatures, but whether they survive the winter depends on the type of winter we experience. As you know, that can be very unpredictable. It is difficult to provide the proper indoor conditions to keep herbs happy indoors. Heat, dry air, and not enough sunlight cause

Got a gardening question you need answered? Send your questions to wgardenermag@aol.com and use the subject line “Q&A.” Please also include your first name, last initial, and the city and state you are writing from. Then look for your answered questions in upcoming issues.

I am still harvesting herbs that were planted in a large container in the spring. It contains thyme, sage, flatleaved parsley, and rosemary. Will they survive the winter if I leave the container outdoors or should I bring it indoors?

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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 UT! • 40+ Free and Low-cost Local D O Garden Tips SOL • Spring Edibles Planting UT! Guide O LD for a Fresh Start • Testing Your SOSoil UT! • Redbud LD O Tree Selection and Care O S • Best Viewing Spots for Virginia Bluebells

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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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.

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